Entwives

[Aganzir]

A very nice theory, claudea99. Welcome to the Downs.

I think pollination sounds the most comfortable way for the Ents to breed. Or how would an Enting develop inside an Entwife? How would the Entwives give birth to live young? It just doesn't seem to fit their physique.

The problem with your theory is, though, that why would there only be Ent seeds in the Brown lands? Why not in other places where there still were Ents, eg. in the Fangorn forest? For if the Ents were born from seed, surely it didn't matter if it was their mother or father who brought them up.

Now that I've got into full speed... More questions.
Ents look different depending on which tree species they guard, but I've always wondered if they choose their species themselves or are kind of born with it. The Entwives clearly preferred another kinds of trees than the Ents, and eventually both sexes looked different. From which parent did the Entings inherit their looks, or are all born looking the same and differentiate only after choosing their tree species?
And what about sex determination? In mammals there are X and Y chromosomes, but is it the same with Ents? Or do some environmental variables or such affect it?

About the Entwives living near the Shire, I don't think so.

Originally Posted by Letter #144

I think that in fact the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin. They survived only in the 'agriculture' transmitted to Men (and Hobbits). Some, of course, may have fled east, or even have become enslaved --- I don't know.