Little Question...
Bartosz Soska
i like Tolkien's novel very much. I've not read his books in English, so I
don't know about some things in Middleearth...
My question is: what' ve happend with Ents' wifes?? Did Tolkien write about
them more than in the Lord of the Rings??
Thanks a lot for answers....
coyotes rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges
<Gandal...@poczta.onet.pl> wrote:
no definite answer
he suggested they might all have been killed
or captured and enslaved to work on the farms of nurn
if the latter they have been so warped by their long cpaivity
that rapproachment with the ents would be difficult
Öjevind Lång
However, in "The Two Towers", Treebeard mentions a prophecy that the Ents
and the Entwives will be reunited when they have both lost all they had. So
there may have been a somewhat less grim outcome.
Öjevind
coyotes rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges
> and the Entwives will be reunited when they have both lost all they had. So
> there may have been a somewhat less grim outcome.
when beleriand rises from the ocean again
as in arda repaired or arda release two point one
Conrad Dunkerson
> My question is: what' ve happend with Ents' wifes?? Did Tolkien write about
> them more than in the Lord of the Rings??
"I think that the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed
with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance (Second Age
3492-3441) when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned
their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin (Vol II
p79 refers to it)[1]. They survived only in the 'agriculture'
transmitted to Men (and Hobbits). Some, of course, may have fled east,
or even have become enslaved: tyrants even in such tales must have an
economic and agricultural background to their soldiers and metal
workers. If any survived so, they would indeed be far estranged from
the Ents, and any rapprochement would be difficult -- unless
experience of industrialized and militarized agriculture had made
them a little more anarchic, I hope so. I don't know.
[1] ... all the gardens of the Entwives are wasted; Men call them the
Brown Lands now."
Letters #144
Conrad Dunkerson
> However, in "The Two Towers", Treebeard mentions a prophecy that the Ents
> and the Entwives will be reunited when they have both lost all they had. So
> there may have been a somewhat less grim outcome.
"In the willow-meads of Tasarinan I walked in the Spring.
...
And now all those lands lie under the wave,"
TT, Treebeard
"Not in Middle-earth, nor until the lands that lie under the wave are
lifted up again. Then in the willow-meads of Tasarinan we may meet in
the Spring. Farewell!"
Galadriel, RotK - Many Partings
Tasarinan (Valley of the Willows) was a forest in Beleriand where the
Narog and Sirion rivers met. That whole region fell under the ocean
at the end of the First Age. When Galadriel says that they will not
meet in Middle-earth I take that to mean that they might meet again in
Valinor - though she then describes a meeting in Beleriand, which was
always considered part of Middle-earth. In any case Beleriand being
again raised above the waves is an impossibly distant event if it
comes at all - my guess would be after the Dagor Dagorath (final
battle).
This seems consistent with the 'Ents & Entwives' song;
"Ent: When winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall
slay;
When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day;
When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain
I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again!
Entwife: When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at
last;
When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past;
I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again:
Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain!
Both: Together we will take the road that leads into the West,
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest."
TT, Treebeard (a few pages after the prior passage)
The starless night and sunless day and the death of wood and hill all
seem to point towards a final cataclysmic event - again, I would
suggest Dagor Dagorath. The 'road that leads into the West' seems
likely to be the road to Valinor (the 'West').
Tolkien also wrote of this passage;
"But I think in Vol. II pp. 80-81 it is plain that there would be for
the Ents no re-union in 'history' - but Ents and their wives being
rational creatures would find some 'earthly paradise' until the end of
this world..."
Letters #338
Steuard Jensen
<bf5pj0$ftd$1...@flis.man.torun.pl>:
> My question is: what' ve happend with Ents' wifes?? Did Tolkien
> write about them more than in the Lord of the Rings??
He really didn't write much about the Entwives outside of _The Lord of
the Rings_, I'm afraid. And most of those other comments were in
letters that he wrote in response to readers' questions. You can find
them scattered about _The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien_ (though that may
be hard to find in Poland).
In addition to the excellent answers that others have already supplied
here, I will add only that there is a discussion of this question
linked from the Tolkien Meta-FAQ, at
Look for it in the "Eventual Fates of Creatures and Characters"
section. I don't think that discussion includes all of the
information people have presented in this thread (the FAQs are only
meant as a starting point for discussion, after all), but it does
include some quotes and comments that have not been mentioned here
yet. While you're there, take a look at the rest of the Meta-FAQ:
there's a lot of cool stuff there (and no, not all of it was written
by me :) ).
Steuard Jensen
the softrat
Unfortunately no, Tolkien never discovered the answer to the mystery
of the disappearance of the Entwives.
the softrat ==> Careful!
I have a hug and I know how to use it!
mailto:sof...@pobox.com
--
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the
cheese. -- Steven Wright
Öjevind Lång
[snip]
> This seems consistent with the 'Ents & Entwives' song;
>
> "Ent: When winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall
> slay;
> When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day;
> When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain
> I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again!
> Entwife: When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at
> last;
> When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past;
> I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again:
> Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain!
> Both: Together we will take the road that leads into the West,
> And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest."
> TT, Treebeard (a few pages after the prior passage)
>
> The starless night and sunless day and the death of wood and hill all
> seem to point towards a final cataclysmic event - again, I would
> suggest Dagor Dagorath. The 'road that leads into the West' seems
> likely to be the road to Valinor (the 'West').
>
> Tolkien also wrote of this passage;
> "But I think in Vol. II pp. 80-81 it is plain that there would be for
> the Ents no re-union in 'history' - but Ents and their wives being
> rational creatures would find some 'earthly paradise' until the end of
> this world..."
> Letters #338
I think you are very probably right. Let me just add that I think the poem
about the Ent and the Entwife is one of the best in LotR.
Öjevind