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John Howe - Ents.jpg
General Information
MembersTreebeard, Beechbone
Physical Description
DistinctionsTree-like appearance
Average height10-25 ft.
GalleryImages of Ents





Ents were a very old race that appeared in Middle-earth around the same time the Elves did, although it is unclear who arrived first. They were created by Eru Ilúvatar at the behest of Yavanna, after she learned that Aulë's children, the Dwarves, were wont to fell trees. Ents were envisioned as Shepherds of the Trees and their duty was to protect the forests from Orcs, Dwarves and other perils. The Elves had tales of teaching the trees to talk, and they also taught the Ents to talk. Although the Ents were sentient beings at the time, they did not know how to speak until the Elves taught them. Treebeard said the Elves "curing the Ents of their dumbness" was a great gift that could not be forgotten. [2]

Ents were tree-like creatures, having become like the trees that they shepherded. They varied in traits, from everything to height and size, colouring, and the number of fingers and toes. An individual Ent more or less resembled the specific species of tree that they typically guarded. For example, Quickbeam guarded rowan trees and thus looked very much like a rowan. In the Third Age of Middle-earth, the Forest of Fangorn was apparently the only place Ents still inhabited, although the Ent-like Huorns may still have survived elsewhere, as in the Old Forest.

Rise and Decline

Entwives in Farewell to Fangorn by Luca Bonatti

Almost nothing is known of the early history of the Ents — they apparently lived in and protected the large forests of Middle-earth in previous ages. At the end of the First Age they were sumoned by Beren and Lúthien to attack a band of dwarves. Treebeard told of a time when nearly all of Eriador was one huge forest and part of his domain, but these immense forests were cut by the Númenóreans of the Second Age, or destroyed in the calamitous War of the Elves and Sauron of the 17th century of the Second Age. Treebeard's statement is also supported by remarks Elrond Half-elven made at the Council of Elrond. Elrond said that "Time was once when a squirrel could carry a nut from tree to tree from Rivendell to the Great Sea...", further indicating that all of Eriador was once a single vast primeval forest, of which Fangorn Forest was just "the Eastern End of it" according to Treebeard.


Treebeard boasted to Merry and Pippin about the strength of the Ents. He said that they were much more powerful than Trolls, which Morgoth supposedly made as imitations of the Ents. He compares this with how Orcs were Morgoth's imitation of Elves.

The March of the Ents

"The Ents are going to war!"

During the War of the Ring the Ents—usually a very patient, deliberate people—did become angry at Saruman, whose armies were cutting down large numbers of their trees. They convened an Entmoot, a meeting of the Ents of Fangorn Forest at Derndingle.

The Tree Shepherds by Ted Nasmith.


Appearance and traits


Etymology and Names

Ent is supposed to represent the language of the Vales of Anduin.[4]

The Sindarin name for Ents, as a race, is Onodrim, and as individuals Onod (pl. Enyd).[4] The Quenya name of the Ents is possibly Onyalie with the individual being *Onya[5]

The word Ent is derived from Old English ent, meaning "giant" (from eoten, Norse jotun), although the Ents were unrelated to the giants or the jotuns.[4][6] It has been noted that ent "probably means some kind of giant", but that the exact usage or meaning of the word in Old English is unknown.[7]

Portrayal in Adaptions





2003: Sierra's War of the Ring:





Ents are the now the units of the Elven faction.

2007-: The Lord of the Rings Online:

Prior to the release of Rise of Isengard) expansion, the only Ent appearing in the game was the one called Longbough, who could found in the Eavespires in Evendim.[8] Rise of Isengard expansion and subsequent updates introduced more Ent characters, among them Quickbeam, Gnarlstump, Thickbark, Greylimb and Twistroot. A creature similar to Ents is called Bog-lurker, said to have assisted the Ents in the shepherding of the trees.[9]


  3. Tolkien's calculations in Marquette paper MSS 4/2/19
  5. Analysis of the phrase Anaxartaron Onyalie by Patrick H. Wynne.
  8. Longbough at (accessed 23 September 2011)
  9. Monster: Bog-lurker at (accessed 23 September 2011)