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The White Councilwere there ent-wives in the Shire?Tolkien and Inklings Discussion |
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The White Councilwere there ent-wives in the Shire?Tolkien and Inklings Discussion |
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Posted by Shadowfax on August 31, 1999 at 06:21:07 Fangorn reports that the Ent-wives left there husbands long ago on account of differences in opinion. Ents loved the wild woods, whereas their wives preferred orderly orchards and fields. Later the lands of the Ent-wives were ravaged by the enemy. The Ent-wives were presumably driven away, killed or taken into slavery. Fangorn, however, remains hopeful about meeting them again, and asks the Hobbits to let him know if ever they learn of their wherabouts. He assumes the shire could be a likely abode for them from the Hobbits' descriptions of the ordered countryside and gardens. No confirmation is ever given of whether Fangorn's guess was right, or whether his dream of meeting his missed ones ever comes true. There is however, one interesting passage right at the beginning of LOR where (I can't find it right now) someone in the innspeaks of having seen a giant walking tree marching across the shire countryside in huge strides. Tom Shippey in his Road to Middle-earth, and also some other sources, suggest this may be an Ent-wife. I don't agree with this, for the following reason: The Ents are described as being large, wild, and thus similar to the trees they care for. It is said the shepherd becomes like his sheep and vice-versa, and as Ents live very long lives, they have all the time to become exactly like their trees. Now, similarly, I would expect Ent-wives to become like their trees. An Ent-wife, would thus not take the shape of a huge elm, but rather the smaller more cared for appearance of a tree of the orchard. The walking tree striding across the shire, is in my opinion an Ent, or maybe a Huorn, and not an Ent-wife. Does anybody have any opinions on this?
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