The Lord of the Rings - Ent

STL de ent en (The march of the ents)

The Ents are an ancient race that appeared in Arda after Elves and Dwarves, just before humans, as indicated in The Lord of the Rings by Treebeard himself reciting the lists he learned in his childhood about the races inhabiting the world. They were created by the valië Yavanna with the permission and mediation of Ilúvatar. Yavanna wished that the trees could defend themselves, after learning that the sons of Aulë, the dwarves, used the wood, cutting down many of them. Thus, the Ents emerged as "tree herders" to protect the forests from the dwarves and other dangers. Although the Ents were sentient beings at the time of their awakening, they did not know how to speak until the elves taught them. Treebeard, the most important ent at the time of The Lord of the Rings, speaks of the elves "curing the Ents of their dumbness" which was a great gift that could not be forgotten ("they always wanted to speak to everything, the old elves").1 The ents did not care to keep their own language secret, as no other race could master it, due to its complexity, strange vocalization, and its slowness in conveying a message.

In The Two Towers, the second volume of The Lord of the Rings, the Ents-usually patient and deliberative-get angry with Saruman, because his troops have felled large numbers of their trees and thus killed a large number of Ents. They convened an Ethic Chamber, a meeting of the Ents of Fangorn Forest in Derndingle. After a long deliberation (albeit from their perspective a quick action), the Ents march towards Saruman's fortress in Isengard: the Last March of the Ents. They were led by Barbol, the elder, and accompanied by the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Tuk. They destroyed Isengard in a general assault and trapped Saruman in the tower of Orthanc.

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