Ents
The Ents are an ancient people, the shepherds of the trees, who have dwelt in the forests of Middle-earth since before the Elves sang or the first hammer rang. They are the oldest living things that still walk beneath the Sun, and their slow, deliberate nature is reflected in their language, Entish, which takes a very long time to say anything in because they do not speak unless it is worth taking a long time to say. Treebeard, whose name is Fangorn in the Common Speech, is the eldest of the Ents, the guardian of the forest that bears his name, and he remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn, having been here before the river and the trees, before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights, when the Elves passed westward and before the seas were bent.
Nature and History
The Ents were awakened by the Elves in the Elder Days, who taught them to speak and learned their tree-talk. They are a race of tree-herds, more like Elves than Men in their ability to get inside other things, yet more changeable than Elves and quicker at taking the colour of the outside. They are also steadier and keep their minds on things longer. In the early days, the Ents and the Entwives lived together, but their hearts did not grow in the same way: the Ents loved the great trees and the wild woods, while the Entwives desired order and plenty, making gardens to live in. When the Darkness came in the North, the Entwives crossed the Great River and made new gardens, and after the Darkness was overthrown, their land blossomed richly. But in the time of the war between Sauron and the Men of the Sea, the Ents crossed Anduin to find their wives, only to discover a desert, burned and uprooted. The Entwives were never found, and the Ents have not increased, for there have been no Entings for a terrible long count of years. This loss is a deep sorrow that runs through their long lives.
The Awakening and the March to Isengard
For long ages, the Ents remained withdrawn in Fangorn, untroubled by the Great Wars that concerned Elves and Men. But Saruman, their neighbour in Isengard, began to fell trees wantonly, feeding the fires of Orthanc and destroying many of the Ents' friends, creatures they had known from nut and acorn. This treachery, combined with the coming of Merry and Pippin who brought news of the wider war, finally roused the Ents' long slow wrath. At the Entmoot in Derndingle, after three days of deliberation, the Ents made up their minds with a suddenness that amazed even Treebeard. They marched to Isengard, a host of some fifty Ents, singing "To Isengard! Though Isengard be ringed and barred with doors of stone, we go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door." Their power was terrible: they tore down the great gates, ate into the walls like rabbits in a sand-pit, and reduced the southern walls to rubbish. When Saruman fled to Orthanc, the Ents could not break the wizardry of the tower itself, but they drowned the entire ring of Isengard by breaking the dams and pouring all the gathered waters through a gap in the northern wall, turning the fortress into a steaming lake.
Relationship with Other Peoples
The Ents have a special kinship with the Elves, who cured them of dumbness long ago, a gift that cannot be forgotten. They are altogether against the Orcs and their masters, and they hate Saruman for his treachery and his wanton destruction of trees. Treebeard is especially interested in Gandalf, the only wizard that really cares about trees, and he is also curious about the Hobbits, whom he finds to be a new thing under Sun or Moon. He takes Merry and Pippin under his protection, and they become friends, with Treebeard putting their names into the Long List. The Ents are also deeply connected to the Huorns, Ents that have become almost like trees, dangerous and wild, who can move very quickly if they are angry and wrap themselves in shadow. The Huorns played a crucial role in the Battle of Helm's Deep, creating a forest that trapped the fleeing Orcs, from which none ever came again.
Significance
The awakening of the Ents is one of the most decisive events in the War of the Ring. Their destruction of Isengard removes Saruman as a threat to Rohan and Gondor, and their intervention at Helm's Deep completes the victory over his armies. Treebeard himself reflects on the meaning of their march, acknowledging that it is likely their doom, the last march of the Ents, but that if they stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find them anyway. He hopes that their last march may be worth a song. After the war, Treebeard takes over the management of Isengard, creating the Treegarth of Orthanc, a garden filled with orchards and trees. He releases Saruman, against Gandalf's advice, because he hates the caging of live things. The Ents remain as guardians of the forest, but Treebeard knows that the world is changing, and he feels it in the water, in the earth, and in the air, and he does not think they will meet again with the Elves and Men who are departing.
