Treebeard's Guide to
The Races of Middle Earth
Ho, hoom, hoom! Hrum, hro, hrum! Hrum! Hoo! Hello, again. Treebeard here!
Well, here's my idea of the races. We Ents have a song
which describes all the races:
Learn now the lore of Living Creatures!
First name the four, the free peoples:
Eldest of all, the elf-children;
Dwarf the delver, dark are his houses;
Ent the earthborn, old as mountains,
The wide-walkers, water drinking;
and hungry as hunters, the Hobbit children,
the laughing-folk, the little people,
Man the mortal, master of horses
Well, the song goes on and talks about beavers and bucks and swans and serpents, but I'm not going to talk about them, because most EVERYBODY knows what they are!HRUM! I've heard of other races, strange and far away, but they haven't come into My forest, and so we Ents
don't put them in the song! Hrum!
Ents are one creature I know about, yes, indeed. HRUOM! Well, we Ents are old, yes, older than the little hobbit-folk, or men, or elves! We came here long ago, very long!
We were not in the form you see here, though! Yes, we could but did not choose, to talk until they came.
The elves, that is! HRUMMP! The elves learned our language and taught us ours, and helped us, they did! The elves were good, yes. But they don't come here much! A few, sometimes, like Legolas, and his dwarf friend Gimli (a strange fellow!)! No, the elves have left, called by the sea and their own lands! No elves
in our Forest! No, no, no! We Ents are old and what you hasty folk would call "slow" I'm sure. Our speech is long and wise, and it takes days for us to get meetings together and whatnot! We are pretty mellow folk, by your hasty folks' idea! We don't charge
into war or rash decision-making unless the situation really calls for it! No, we don't! When we stormed Isengard, that was a wise decision and took a few days only to actually decide upon! But the orcs and creatures of Saruman the Sorceror had been pestering us and cutting us down for a long time, hmm, until our blood just boiled over! Yes, indeed, we Ents move when the time is right! Hrum!
Unfortunately, we have no Entlings, no children! For the Entwives have gone! Yes, gone far! They went off to plant and grow things, and their fair branches
we see no longer, no, no! We looked for them far and wide!
No Entwives, no, no, no! If you see them, tell us! We miss them and need them! Yes, we do. Hroo! Hope that was enough for you!
Men are rash and hasty folks. They are good and bad and mostly inbetween, yes! The Riders of Rohan, they are good for the most part, of what I know, anyway. But, hrum, some folk, like Wormtongue or Grima as you may call him, they are foul or at least spoiled and corrupt! Don't like them, no we don't! Hrum! Men mostly leave us alone, and a lot think we Ents are but legends. They're the ones
who called us "Ents" in the first place! Hrum! Don't come to my forest Fangorn much, no, no, no! But they are good and just, some of them, and brave! Aragorn, or Strider, is King of Middle-earth and a good man indeed! Good to us Ents! The wizards, like Saruman and Gandalf, I think, are not men but certainly are similar! Hrum! I'm not an expert on Men, for they don't bother us Ents much, and we don't bother with their hasty folk!
Elves are strange and wonderful indeed. Hrum! They, they helped us Ents to talk, they did! Strange and beautiful folk are they, and we Ents, or at least I, enjoy their company indeed! Good folk, hasty maybe, but good! Clever and fair, they are!
HROOM! All this talking tires me! A sip of Ent drink shall cool me down, hrm, hroo! There we go. Now again I shall talk!
Where was I? Oh...ummm...
Hobbits are a strange folk, short and squat, and good, yes! They were not on the Long List of the Ents, which I told you before, until two of these Halfling, hungry folk came to my forest! Meriadoc and Peregrin, I belief! Pippin and Merry! Two hobbits! Good, they were, and they incited us! To attack Isengard, they did! Hmm! Hoo! Good folk! Laughing and happy, hungry and hasty, but good!
Dwarves are also a little folk, and bearded all of them (except the women, I hope)! Hrum! Don't come to Fangorn much,
they do! Their place is underground, in the caves! Gold-diggers, ore-miners, stone-shapers! Rock-carvers! Dwarves are also rather hasty and
excitable, and are offended easily, they are! Hrum, hoof, hoio!
Orcs and Trolls are nasty, hasty, slimy creatures an no friend to Ents or Fangorn, no they aren't! Hrum! They are under
the will of Saruman and Sauron, bad creatures, they are! The orcs are smarter than the trolls but
both are just as foul and nasty, they are! Hrum! Come down and cut down trees, they do, even Ents! Monsters, they are, but
cowards, too, and easily frightened away! Like Isengard! They ran then, they did!
I know not much of other creatures, seeing as I keep to the woods, but perhaps you can learn more from others. Tom Bombadil, for instance, is coming here soon to talk a little. Until then, goodbye!
go back to fangorn forest
