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^{#ref_{{{2}}} {{{1}}}} see Otolaryngology Image:Ent.jpg right|thumb|150px|An "Ash" Ent in the Lord of the Rings movie series {{otheruses}} '''Ents''' are a fictional race (fantasy) race from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. These Ents are very different from traditional Ents, appearing as humanoid trees. They appear to have been inspired by the talking trees of many of the world's folklores. See tree (mythology) for more information. As with ''Hobbit'', ''Ent'' is a term that in modern times is almost exclusively connected with J. R. R. Tolkien, and the usage of the term seldom evokes in people its earlier meanings.

Etymology
The word "Ent" was taken from Anglo-Saxon, where it means "giant". (Tolkien extracted the word from the Anglo-Saxon poetry fragments ''orÃ¾anc enta geweorc'' = "work of cunning giants" and ''eald enta geweorc'' = "old work of giants", which described Ancient Rome Roman ruins; see Orthanc. In this sense of the word, Ents are probably the most ubiquitous of all creatures in fantasy and folklore, perhaps second only to dragons. The word ''Ent'' as it is historically used can refer to any number of large, roughly humanoid creatures, including, but not limited to, giant (mythology) giants, trolls, orcs, and even Grendel from the poem Beowulf. In this meaning of the word, Ents are one of the staples of fantasy and folklore/mythology, alongside wizards, knights, princesses, and dragons, although modern English-speakers would probably not call them by their traditional name. Along with Ettin and Old Norse Jotun, "ent" came from Common Germanic ''etunaz''. See Jotun.

In Tolkien's works
{{spoiler}} Ents are a very old race that appeared in Middle-earth when the Elves (Middle-earth) Elves did. They were apparently created by Eru IlÃºvatar at the behest of Yavanna after she learned of AulÃ«'s children, the Dwarves (Middle-earth) Dwarves, knowing that they would be wont to fell trees. Ents were envisioned as Shepherds of the Trees, to protect the forests from Orc (Middle-earth) Orcs, Dwarves and other perils. 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 spoke of the Elves "curing the Ents of their dumbness" that it was a great gift that could not be forgotten ("always wanted to talk to everything, the old Elves did"). Ents are Tree (mythology) tree-like creatures, having become like the trees that they shepherd. They vary in traits, from everything to height and size, colouring, and the number of fingers and toes. An individual Ent more or less resembles the specific species of tree that they typically guard. For example, Quickbeam guarded Rowan trees and thus looked very much like a Rowan (tall and slender, etc.). In the Third Age of Middle-earth, the Fangorn forest 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. Treebeard boasted to Merry and Pippin about the strength of the Ents. He said that they were much more powerful than Troll (Middle-earth) Trolls, which Morgoth (in the Elder Days or First Age) supposedly made as imitations of the Ents, but did not come near to their power. He compares this with how Orc (Middle-earth) Orcs were Morgoth's imitation of Elves (Middle-earth) Elves. The Elvish name for Ents is ''Onodrim'', singular ''Onod''. They did not bother to keep their language secret as no other races could master it.

History
Almost nothing is known of the early history of the Ents â€” they apparently lived in and protected the large forests of Middle-earth in previous ages, and they briefly appear near the end of the First Age, attacking a band of Dwarves, apparently summoned by Beren and LÃºthien. Treebeard told of a time when apparently all of Eriador was one huge forest and part of his domain, but these immense forests were cut by the NÃºmenor NÃºmenÃ³reans 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. There used to be ''Entwives'' (literally "Ent-women"), but they started to move farther away from the Ents because they liked to plant and control things, so they moved away to the region that would later become the Brown Lands across the Great River Anduin. This area was destroyed by Sauron, and the Entwives disappeared. The Ents looked for them, but have never found them. It is sung by the Ents that one day they will find each other. In the Fellowship of the Ring, Sam Gamgee says his cousin Hal saw a treelike giant in the north of the Shire. When Pippin and Merry tell Treebeard about the Shire, Treebeard says the Entwives would like that land. At the end of the story after Aragorn is crowned King, he promises Treebeard that the Ents can prosper again and spread to new lands with the threat of Mordor gone. However, Treebeard sadly laments that forests may spread, but the Ents will not, and predicts that the few remaining Ents will remain in Fangorn Forest until they slowly dwindle in number or become treeish.

Language
Ents are not hasty creatures, they take their time; even their language is "unhasty". In fact, their languages of Middle-earth language appears to be based on an ancient form of Common Eldarin, later enriched by Quenya and Sindarin, although it includes many unique 'tree-ish' additions. There are actually two different languages: * Old Entish. Originally, the Ents had a language of their own, described as long and sonorous; it was a tonal language (like Chinese language Chinese). It is unknown if a non-Ent could even pronounce Old Entish correctly: it was filled with many subtle vowel shades, and was very longwinded. Only Ents spoke Old Entish; not because they kept their language a secret, as the Dwarves did with Khuzdul, but because no others could master it. It was quite an alien language to all others. The Huorns and trees of Fangorn forest could understand Old Entish and converse with the Ents and each other with it. The only extant sample, ''a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lindor-burÃºme'', the word for ''hill'' (or possibly even just part of the name of a specific hill), was described as a very inaccurate sampling. Even the Elves, master linguists, could not learn Old Entish, nor did they attempt to record it due to its complex sound structure. The grammar structure of Old Entish was also quite bizarre, often described as a lengthy, long-winded discussion of a topic. There may not even have been a word for ''yes'' and ''no'': such questions would be answered by a long monologue on why the Ent in question did or did not agree with the Ent who asked the question. The Ent Quickbeam was regarded as a very "hasty" Ent for answering a question before another Ent had finished: the end may only have been another hour away. Ents as a rule would say nothing in Old Entish unless it was worth taking a long time to say. For everyday language function, they usually resorted to "New" Entish. *"New" Entish (Never named as such in the text). Due to contact with the Elves, the Ents learned much from them. The Ents found the Elvish language Quenya to be a lovely language, and adapted it after their fashion to everyday use. However, they basically adapted Quenya vocabulary to Old Entish grammatical structure. Thus, unlike Old Entish, the individual words of "New Entish" that characters such as Treebeard spoke were easily translatable. However, in context they formed lengthy run-on sentences of redundant adjectives that could still stretch well over an hour in length. For example, when Treebeard essentially wanted to tell Merry and Pippin, "There is a shadow of the Great Darkness in the deep dales of the forest", he literally said in New Entish "Forest-golden-leaves, deep-dales-winter, forest-many-shadowed, deep-valley-black". Unlike Old Entish, a non-Ent conceivably could speak "New" Entish. Even when speaking the Common Speech, Westron, Ents fell into the habit of adapting it into their grammatical structure of repeating compound adjectives used to express fine shades of meaning.

The March of the Ents
In ''The Two Towers'', the second volume of Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', the Ents—usually a very patient, deliberate people—do become angry at Saruman, whose armies are cutting down (in their eyes, killing) large numbers of their trees. They convene an ''Entmoot'', a meeting of the Ents of Fangorn Forest at Derndingle. After lengthy deliberation (though from the perspective of the Ents, this is very quick action), they march on Saruman's fortress at Isengard: the last march of the Ents. They are led by Treebeard, the oldest Ent, and accompanied by the Hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. They destroy Isengard in an all-out assault and trap Saruman in the tower of Orthanc. Tolkien later noted that the destruction of Isengard by the Ents was based on his disappointment in Macbeth; when "Birnham Wood is come to castle Dunsinane", Tolkien was less than thrilled that it amounted to men walking on stage with leaves in their hats. He decided that when he did that scene for himself, he'd do it right.

Statue
There are plans to erect a statue of Treebeard, by Tim Tolkien, J.R.R.'s great-nephew, near the latter's former home in Moseley, Birmingham see http://www.moseleystatue.org .

Tolkien-like Ents in non-Tolkien fiction
In fantasy and role-playing games such as ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''EverQuest'', ''Magic: The Gathering'', and the ''Warcraft'' PC game series, Tolkien-like Ents are known as Treants or Treefolk, for copyright reasons (much like Hobbits are only referred to as Halflings in D&D and ''EverQuest''). Tolkien-like Ents are also depicted in the MMORPG ''RuneScape'', as well as the real-time strategy game ''Myth: The Fallen Lords''. In all their incarnations, these tree-people are very close in spirit to their Tolkienesque forebears, although D&D has also explored the concept of corrupt trees and tree-like monsters (akin to Old Man Willow and the huorns of Fangorn). {{ents}} Category:Ents * Category:Middle-earth races de:Ents#Ents es:Ent fr:Ent he:×?× ×˜ nl:Ent (Midden-aarde) ja:ã‚¨ãƒ³ãƒˆ no:Ent pl:Ent pt:Ent sl:Entje sv:Ent tr:Entler

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