The Entwives & What Happened To Them | Tolkien Explained
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- Опубліковано 20 вер 2024
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THUMBNAIL: Quickbeam - MTG (Tomas Duchek) & Sauron - Matt DeMino
Entwife - Soni Alcorn-Hender
Ents - Steamey
Rhovanion, The Brown Lands - Šárka Škorpíková
Ancient Garden - Ralph Damiani
Ancient Knowledge - Ralph Damiani
fathers of the dwarves - steamey
yavanna kementari - aegeri
inside forest - Sara Morello
dwarves - merlkir
Ent - Matthew Stewart
Ent - Turner Mohan
Ent - The White Council
Orome - Šárka Škorpíková
Yavanna Kementari - Lída Holubová
awakening of the elves - kuliszu
treebeard - Angus mcbride
Treebeard - John Howe
Treebeard and the Entmoot - Ted Nasmith
bluebell forest - Sara Morello
man with an ent - Catherine Karina Chmiel
The Council of Elrond - Alan Lee
Mirkwood - J.R.R. Tolkien
Forest edge - Felix Englund
Treebeard - Soni Alcorn-Hender
bluebell forest - Sara Morello
Forest Creek - Felix Englund
Treebeard - Ivan Cavini
Treebeard - Ted Nasmith
The White Flame - Ralph Damiani
Fair Forest - Peet
The Last Alliance - Jenny Dolfen
sauron the deceiver - skullb*st*rd
Ent - Anke Eissmann
Treebeard - Anke Eissmann
Treebeard, Merry, Pippin - Daniel Dougherty
Treebeard - Alan Lee
Treebeard - Daniel Falconer
Treebeard - Alan Lee
treebeard - Jerry Vanderstelt
The Tree Shepherds - Ted Nasmith
Treebeard - Ivan Cavini
Professor JRR Tolkien - skullb*st*rd
Professor Tolkien - Kinko White
Tom Bombadil - John Howe
Ents - Sergio Artigas
misty twilight in the shire - kuliszu
Sam in the Autumn - Soni Alcorn-Hender
Sam Gamgee - Anna Kulisz
Professor Tolkien - Kinko White
Tolkien, the Professor - Kinko White
The Forest of Fangorn - Alan Lee
Forest farm - Felix Englund
Fantasy forest - Felix Englund
#entwives #tolkein #lordoftherings
Check out Magic: the Gathering: Wilds of Eldraine: bit.ly/WOExNOTR
@NerdofTheRings Mat Need Potter Channel.?🙏🙏🙏
One thing I’m confused about is how do the characters of Lotr receive their house name. Why is ecthelion called ecthelion lord of the house of the fountain and glorfindel is called lord of the house of the golden flower?
Where do these names come from
.. They were chopped into firewood - Thats literally what orchish-forces are also known for doing, To fuel their masters industries. +
It's a testament to the power of Tolkien's creation that generations of readers have wondered about the fate of the Entwives.
YES!! I always want to know know what happened to the ent wives, but part of what makes Tolkien so great is the mysteries he leaves out there for the reader to wonder about...
@@samblack727 100% spot on, the mystique around his storytelling is one of his greatest strengths.
Pretty sure they all got burnt by Sauron.
We also wonder what happened to the two Blue Wizards.
@@samblack727 Part of me thinks that Tolkien was tapping to some knowledge that we know nothing about. The mystery is compelling but made me think that maybe, maybe that his story might not just be mere story but tales of old that no longer perceive to this day and age.
I love how real Tolkien made his world feel by saying he doesn't know what happened. As if he is a historian talking about a real history.
90% of written history is wrong
After the amount of work he put into it, for him it was very real. Your right, the fact that he simply says he does not know as if speaking about reality is amazing.
sometimes I feel like authors feed us way too much information about their worlds, stripping them of their magic (Star Wars for example, with the amount of exhautive canon and legends lore), so I appreciate this approach
@@blueshit199There's also a possibility of writing yourself into a corner, like how JK Rowling did trying to continue HP lore by writing The Cursed Child. JRR Tolkien stopped where it should.
Given his great enjoyment of faerie, it's not surprising. To him, his world may have felt like another realm over which he was equally author and chronicler. And while he knew intellectually it was fiction, it gave him the joy of faerie mystique in his heart to consider his world another realm.
The Ents are among the most amazing forms of life in Tolkien’s world and yet they have suffered immensely….
And most people don't even know about it.
They spoke for the trees
Well they are trees, walking trees. From Tolkien perception, the Ents and Entwives represent the living world of trees. The author is utterly dismayed how Men industry is toiling and desecration over the wonders of the natural world.
@@rogueascendant6611 Tolkien also based Isengard’s industrialization on Europe entering the industrial age for WWI and the Hobbits returning to a spoiled Shire on when he return to his hometown after fighting the war. Parks were torn up, trees cut down, and the air was less pure
you gotta love how treebeard is all offended like: "I am no tree!" but the n he says that his name is "TREEbeard"
I've always thought the Entwives after having their gardens destroyed decided to make peace with the physical world and drifted into a deep sleep, becoming one with nature as they morphed back into normal trees. The Ents may have passed them by many times without even knowing it. They are a relic from the old world still clinging to the way things were, but one day they will learn to let go and make their own peace, settling into permanent sleep where they will finally be reunited with the Entwives
What a bittersweet tale. I love how Tolkein's work still has mysteries that could potentially go unanswered, it keeps the lore alive and fascinating. Every authors dream is for his writing to be so enduring time is powerless against it.
Fanfic idea: fourth age story in which Radagast manages to reunite the ents and entwives. Bonus feel good points this leads to him being welcomed back to Valinor.
Pretty awesome idea! If there's anyone more qualified and deserving of this mission, it would be Radagast
I pretty much think that the Entwives migrated eastward of the known world.
After all the land of Middle Earth is a huge place. No maps from Tolkien handworks actually depicts the goings of the other side of the world, to the northern point - farthest south - and to the unknown land beyond in the east. But in time after the Third Age, the Entwives will follow the Ents that will turn into normal trees and forever into that state as the lingering tales of old would be nothing but fairy tales in later ages.
Dope
maybe some of them live with the blue wizzards aswell
Olives and Figs 😂
They are gone folks, massacred by evil. I think that was the idea. Pure innocence destroyed by pure evil. It leaves a deep emotional hole in our hearts and imagination.
I wonder how Tolkien would react to all these fans and adores of his work today? He had fans, but no it’s a sub-culture in pop-culture. I thank God for this man, and for Nerd of The Rings, for this lore and great stories
It's thanks to the Internet that this wonder happened. Before it, it was just fan clubs, with little to no contact between the fans from different countries. But with the rise of the internet, we were able to connect and talk to each other. Some may say that evil came from the internet, but you can't deny that it helped and still helps people with similar likes find each other.
Tolkien is not a fan of movies since it's a short telling and not the whole book.
Personally Tolkien would have criticism but also appreciates the works Peter Jackson put in the Lord of the Ring trilogy. But in response to The Hobbit, Tolkien will respond in high demand to put the whole thing into court law since the movie is rather disgraceful on his books. The Rings of Power is even worse. Forget suing, the director, producer, whomever put woke culture in the Second Age will be fined and jailed for months or years.
Videos like here that gives context and modified music are something that Tolkien greatly loved.
@@rogueascendant6611 Oh look, another idiot incel who thinks woman (or GASP! someone non lily white! the horror!) on screen for more than a millisecond is wOkE...
@@rogueascendant6611 Now I'm no lawyer, but I doubt someone can sue for creative differences.
I really like how Tolkien describes his universe as if seeing it from afar like he was watching it grow not building it maybe that’s why it’s so loved!!
Tolkien's conceit was always that he wasn't the author of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings but rather that he had found a copy of the Red Book of Westmarch or possibly the Red Book itself which was basically Bilbo's and Frodo's memoirs and some other scholarly work that Bilbo did (that he called Translations from the Elvish). He claimed he was merely the translator of its contents.
I saw a fan theory a while ago that the entwives went on to found the Shire and protected the halflings that developed into harfoots, river folk, and hobbits. And that it’s not a coincidence no one knows where the ent wives went and that no one knows where the Shire is (besides Gandalf).
their magics kept it safe until The Ring arrived, and even then it took Sauron 50yrs {and torturing Gollum} to find it. .... makes perfect sense to me
The shire gets destroyed by Saruman and his orcs and then rebuilt by the hobbits in the books. There’s a reference to this in the movie when Frodo is looking into the mirror and sees the shire destroyed.
If I have never said this, I just fuckin love this channel. We all love the world of Tolkien but this channel is simply the best version or depiction of how these stories need to told from use of pictures to music to Matt graf and his team’s insane analysis, research and god damn beautiful narration. This channel is an absolute work of art celebrating the world of Tolkien. I am guy that enjoys many levels of art and If I can I would only want to meet Matt graf in my life. He is a true inspiration and biggest celebrity in my life no other person can top. Thank you so much for all of this ❤
I don't know about Ents passing beyond the circles of the world like humans. They had more in common with the Elves, both immortal races with missions tied to Arda. Moreover there is what Galadriel said to Treebeard about meeting again: "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." That implies her belief in them having a role in Arda Healed after the Dagor Dagorath.
I always felt bad they didn’t find the Entwives.
I like to think that the Ents and Entwives are looking for eachother in the last place they knew they were, but taking different routes so they never meet along the way.
@@Xune2000I love this theory. Yes I like to think they're out there somewhere. Both searching the Ents and also hiding from those who might do them harm.
1:15 One of my favorite lines from the Silmarillon is from Aulë to Yavanna when she was granted the Ents. “They’re still going to need firewood.”
I don't even want to imagine what it feels like to have all the women of your race gone. The loneliness and hopelessness must be unbearable.
Especially for a people that live such long lives. It would be true agony, imo.
Are you serious I'd call it a lucky escape
It would be much quieter.
Ah, incels shown up in force I see...
bros would turn gay at a snap of a finger or construct ourselves sentient robots faster than we develop rockets to go to the moon lol
I’ve only just learned anything about Entwives beyond the fact that they were “lost”. I love the idea that they were likely fruit trees & loved agriculture & farming while the Ents loved the forests & the trees so that their interests grew apart & eventually they drifted apart physically, too. I hadn’t heard a good deal of the info in this video, especially the names of some of the Entwives. Very cool.
It's interesting how it seems like all the sentient beings who were not Eru's children are doomed to go extinct. All the creatures Melkor had corrupted pretty much went extinct after the war of the ring, the Dwarves (and possibly the Hobbits) are doomed to fade away, and the Ents will most likely never find their wives and will eventually all turn into regular trees.
There is a reason Tolkien never reveals the fate of Men.
Hobbits are counted as Men, thus they are Children of Iluvatar, in Tolkien’s world though eventually they will diminish.
There are still people in Middle Earth that could be considered relatives of Hobbits. For example the Pygmies could be considered African cousins of the Hobbits.
@@RyanGr33n The fate of Men is pretty much the absolute domain of Eru. It's fair to say that when he made the Elves - they were too similar to the Valars. Their fate were sealed and bound to the world and universe upon coming into existence. But Men on the other hand, were given free will and the realization to go beyond unlike Elves who remained unchanged in their technology and knowledge.
Hobbits are Men and therefore Children of Illuvatar and the Dwarves are as well " by adoption", according to the text.
My headcanon will always be that entwives are protectors of the shire and live in/around the old forest. It is the only happy scenario and it explains how shire has been able to stay hidden for so long.
I just reached the song about entwives in the two towers, and this was my first theory. I wanted to see if anybody else had it so came straight to youtube.
Found you.
The Hobbits do resemble entwives in personality and temperament.
Stellar work, NotR! For you to bring up a Quora post, it had to be something special; that was something I was not expecting. For a fan to have a special item of such regard, it must be amazing (even though it may be just a story).
Keep on working, big man!
Elrond's remark about times when a squirrel could carry a nut from Rivendell to the great sea reminded me of a saying about the pre-colonial eastern US. Something like: there was a time when a squirrel could carry an acorn from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic ocean without touching the ground. I wonder which came first.
according to something found on Quora, this description of Eastern America was invented in the 18th or early 19th century, which definitely pre-dates Tolkien. Considering his background, it's highly possible he read these accounts and was enamored with the idea.
Great video as usual, it's a mystery I've wondered a lot about over the years as well. I like that tidbit that Tolkien mentioned about potentially even the forces of tyranny needing to use some of the tools or expertise of the wives. That really opens up the door for a wonderful expanded universe type setting where the evil forces had captured them after burning their gardens and use them as some kind of logistical or supply resource in chains or against their will. And you would think after the war some would either break free or you can imagine a story where maybe one ent searching and searching for centuries did discover them in bondage and helped to breathe him. It's just a story that they could really dig into given the ambiguity about them.
Every video of yours leaves me in awe of Tolkien's inspired genius.
5:29 I wonder how long the ents must have searched for someone like Treebeard to have called it 'a long time'.
Most of the third age, probably
Tolkien stating heartbreak.And how the ent guys moved on.I love tolkien for this.
Aside from the Entwives, another enigma would be the Huorns of Fangorn.
I’ve got an elderly neighbor who literally looks and sounds exactly like Treebeard from the films. He’s got the same facial structure, nose, and beard. His voice is slow and deep too. Every time I see him I think, hello Treebeard 😂
i like how Tolkien seems to let things happen naturally instead of just forcing events in his stories to happen or how he doesn't answer every mystery throughout the lore but leaves some open ended/unsolved. you'd think it have some negative effect on the story and the world he created but it's the complete opposite because of how he wrote/built/constructed everything within it and just makes it that much more immersive. it's all beautifully interwoven together.
That last line from Tolkiens letter was dark the anguish in his voice was very good
I believe Treebeard also specifically mentioned that the Entwives grew orchards of fruit trees, as well as flowers and herbs. I have also heard theories that, as the Ents looked like wild trees, such as Oak, Elm, and Ash, the Entwives may have resembled fruit trees.
So the Entwives would have resembled trees such as Apple, Cherry, Peach and Apricot. If one of the last variety had wandered north into Mirkwood and fought some of the giant spiders there, would that be "Apricot vs Attercop"?
I agree that the Entwives would be derived from fruit and orchard trees, apple and plum, walnut and almond, instead of the beech and ash, alder and birch of the Ents. I suppose entings would grow from their fruit.
The mystery of the Entwives is the saddest thing. I think I like Tolkien's first letter best - that "I hope so" resonates most for me. I too hope: that somehow, someday, the Ents and Entwives will meet again.
I remember reading these passages of Treebeard's account of looking for the Entwives. It was heartbreaking to know how they went out to look for them for years until they just became a memory. 😢😢💔
I always just picture this guy sitting there in his room doing these voices for his videos lmao it always makes me laugh. I'm not making fun. I love these videos and all things lotr it just cracks me up that he gets so into his voices. He does an amazing gollum
I wonder if Tolkien had any idea that 100 yrs later we'd still be IN LOVE with his writings and doing theses on them.
Amazing work as always. Thank you nerd of the rings, I like your voice acting of the Ends. Ends and their wifes is a plesent mistery for a lot of Tolkien fans. Thank again.
I’ve been going through all of your videos to see which ones I haven’t seen yet, and you bless us with this today! Wonderful
I love Tolkiens work and world building. It does drive me as insane as real life at times. So many unknowns and mysteries about the past. I have gotten too used to having worlds fleshed out in books that I had little in the way of lingering questions. With his works it makes you think and look at the facts he gives and speculate.
I find it hilarious how people have been asking themselves and each other this question for DECADES, and yet nobody thought that *Tolkien just isekai'd them to Lewis' Narnia to "keep them secret, keep them safe".* 🤣
This is awesome. Been waiting for this for a while. Sad what happened to entwives and yet understandable.
I dont know why, but i found most of the stories from middle earth quite depresive, sad and beautiful at the same time. It is what makes my oppinion on Tolkiens world so special and different.
The ents are my favorite species from Tolkiens world, I love the lore, thank you for this video, you have awesome content
Could you make a video about Minas Tirith? It’s Architecture and history?
I am endlessly impressed by your voice acting in your videos! Amazing job
I was literally watching The Two Towers yesterday and asked myself this question.
Thanks for this video
No purge ever kills 100% of their target. There are always survivors who scatter in all directions.
For a long time, I've wondered if, after the destruction of their gardens, the Entwives that were seen heading West settled in the area known as The Old Forest.
Love the treebeard voice 😂 made me smile
I think the Wives whom weren't killed found other homes except Fanghorn and just fell into deep sleep. Loved the Oxenmooot bye the way. The Astromer was great. I've been an Astronomy geek since I was a kid. I didn't realize Tolkien made it such a significant part. I'll have to go back and re-read. 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦
What about a hobbit reffering to sentient trees in the shire? I always had this idea about the ent-wives =)
Iv just started the silmarillion and I now know I’m reading and understanding it correctly ❤ it’s quite challenging for me 😅❤ you have help me so much with learning and understanding more of tolkeins world ❤
I have a crack theory that the Entwives are at least partially responsible for the creation of Hobbits.
I had gotten the impression that the entwives became orchard trees, like apple, pear, cherry etc.
They are not dead, only lost. Every person who ever lost a dear one has an immediate connection to the subject. It is the way we think as we try to handle the pain of losing the ones who are gone.
Not me crying the entire video
Oh Tolkien, the man who wrote a masterpiece
using everything around him, streams and trees.
Middle earth was flat, spread out like map,
then wrapped it up, rolled into a sphere.
Like something similar happened
in the not to distance past,
hidden from us, like the timeless gap, like in Genesis 1:1-1:2.
There was a civilization that was here,
not human but angelic it appears.
The age of Angels depensation of ancient days.
(Koosees)
In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the sequel to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, produced by Monolith Studios, the forest spirit Carnan strongly resembles the description of an Entwife and shares their characteristics of being a protector of life, though she's never confirmed to be one.
Dude, I have to say...I love your voices you give to the characters. But how you actually try to talk slower, like an ent, is now my favorite.
It would be logical for Sauron to have captured some of the Entwives to help grow crops for the Men that resided in the south of Mordor i(ie slaves and wicked Men that served Sauron). Sauron killed the rest but kept a few around Nurn.
I doubt he would have kept them alive once they had taught those Men what they (the Entwives) knew.
I think it is a lesson to all worldbuilders that even one of the best of them, Tolkien himself, didn't know everything about the world he'd created.
I firmly believe that while most of the Entwives were killed when Sauron burned their gardens, a small number of them escaped West to get further away from Sauron…and ended up in the Shire, where Sam’s cousin Hal did indeed spot one of them in an event which Sam relayed at the Green Dragon.
In one of the drafts of the epilogue which Tolkien ultimately excluded from LOTR, Sam’s daughter Rosie-lass is worried about the Entwives and wonders if they will ever be found. I like to imagine that she, of all people, eventually did find at least one while walking through the woods of the Shire as a tween or adult.
I like the idea that Entwives were destroyed as it gives gravitas to the destructive power of corruption/evil in the world and horrific realities of war. The fact that Sauron burnt the innocent Entwives (probably knowingly), and their gardens reinforces the true wickedness of his character.
I would believe that unlike the Ents, the wives are more the wandering type. I am sure they are still traveling and spreading gardens.
Niether Morgoth nor Sauron had total dominion over the east, north east or south. And looking at the greater land mass, there is plenty of uncharted lands.
Maybe, but I have a lot of trouble believing that the Entwives would be capable of travelling over the ocean to the other continents of Middle Earth.
@@timonsolus
If you look at the maps the land does not stop past mordor to the south, south east, east and north east. So plenty of territory the men of the west and Ents had not traveled.
In the lore the ents traveled far to search, but did not mention locations to indicate how far.
And each time they all returned to fangor.
I am just more an optimist in my views.
@@oldmangreywolf6892 : With 7 yards to a stride, and a lifespan measured in millennia, the Ents were capable of travelling a VERY long way.
@@timonsolus
Fine you win on technicalities.
Your world is absolute the ent wives are all extinct. Sauron wins.
Are you happy now?
@@oldmangreywolf6892 : Actually, my theory is that many Entwives are alive and living in the Shire. But they were so happy there that they all fell fast asleep in utter contentment, and became trees. It’s very doubtful that even being sung to by the Ents will be enough to wake them up now, so they are trees until the Dagor Dagorlad.
Can you do a video of top mysteries of lord of the rings? Like the list you had earlier, maybe ungoliant, balrogs, etc.
Have you ever considered doing an audiobook? I have loved your videos for many years now, and I just think your voice and character voices would be excellent for an audiobook.
God being a nerd must have been so fun back then, oh i drew a map of my favorite book series. Imma show it to the creator. Oh he just dropped some unwritten lore on me
Some things are better left to mysteries and imagination. I love that Tolkien himself didn't really knew or tried to come with an answers.
Just started reading The fellowship to my daughter tonight. Fourth time through and still great!
I have a love/hate relationship with Tolkien fantasy. I love the stories, but the endings always leave me feeling depressed.
The ents are martyrs.
I have to unfortunately agree that there will never be a reunion between Ents and Ent-wives, even if they still live.
The more I think about the more I realize that a lot of Tolkien's work hinges on the appeal to nature fallacy (for those of you who don't know thats a logical fallacy of because something is "natural" or "part of nature" then that means it's good)
Tolkien - sees a forest on a drawn map in a place that shouldn't have any trees in it, chuckles to himself and writes there "Here may be Entwives"
50 years later, another theory is born
It's very sad, but also a reminder of the cost of war.
Man i thought i was interested but now your my sleep channel better than golf
i think there is nomore things about lotr to post, bro posted the whole thing
im proud of ya
I love that Tolkien created something that he wanted to have its own existence. He wrote as if he was a historian, not a creator. "I don't know what happened. I would like to think that maybe this or that happened."
Once he breathed life into his world, he took care to revere it as an independent thing and didn't believe in forcing characters into awkward and "uncharacteristic" behaviors out of laziness. No deus machina, unlike so many lazy, commercialized writers of now.
At the end you point out that A person claims Tolkien pointed to a place on a map where "no forest grew and said 'here may be Ent-wives'".
I think this brings forward the fallacy this hunt often suffers.
The Ent-wives are often searched for under the eaves of forests, but they are not forest dwelling beings. The forest is the love of the Ent. The Ent-wives are garden-makers. They tended the fields. They lived under open skies where the sun could bleach their hair and freckle their cheeks. Unfortunately the fields do not offers as much protection as the forest, but both needed tenders.
We, much like the Ents, have never found the Ent-wives but we've been looking in the wrong places.
I always liked the idea that, in their time apart, with the difference in their focus, the ents and entwives may have become different enough as to no longer be able to recognize each other, the ents growing ever taller like the trees of the forests they shepherd while the entwives became ever smaller, like the flowers they tended and the insects that pollinate them. In this way they might have survived the war literally beneath the notice of the men and orcs battling above them.
literally nothing to support that idea in the canon, of course, simply an idle notion that appealed to me.
I always assumed that as Sauron and Morgoth could make nothing new, only corrupt what already was, they took the Entwives and made them into Trolls.
Treebeard: "We lost the Entwives."
Pippin: "So you have no bitches?"
Sauron's minions turned them into toothpicks!
Thank you so much for this video! I have always wanted to know what happened to the entwives.
Man, I had been curious about the Entwives for a while now, but didn’t think their story was so sad. I had dreams of Inkhearting my way into the books and going to find them.
If they are gone, maybe they have spirits that have taken on kind of a mentor position, and are nurturing the living who now tend to their gardens. Like Sam.
Your videos always make a great morning watch. Thanks for this :)
I think the ent wives are not to be re united in "this world". Seems Tolkein made that clear. Cool vids man!
What happened is all the male Ents caught some weird tree fungus, went mad, and eliminated the Entwives in a fit of rage. Imagine a tree being game ended by another tree in slow motion.
I liked your impression of the Ents, but it should have taken you several hours to say it..
Iiiiiiiiiiii haaaaavvveeee faaaaaaiiiiilllllleeeeedddd. :(
haha.
i've always wondered about this separation, good topic! But I ask myself: why are the Ents, or presumably Entwives, upset about this? There's no messy divorces or custody battles in Fanghorn these days (though i assume the river-seats are all left up).
That was an excellent video, and something to think about. Maybe they are where the blue wizards are. Just a thought.
Based off of his works norse influences, its obvious that the Entwives were simply Ents that knew how to do math.
And as that skill was forgotten by the Entish people they slowly became regular ents like the rest of them.
My guess is the Entwives vanished and slept. They went into hiding in fear of Sauron’s shadow and awoke when they felt his vanquish. They either scattered or hid together in a single place on Middle Earth, then when they were awakened from their deep slumber by the darkness being dispelled and missing, the Entwives set out into the changed world looking for the Ents they yearned to reunite with. There were still final battles to be fought after Sauron’s final demise that lead to the eradication of the Orcs. Perhaps the Entwives were somehow encountered during this collective campaign across the lands by Orcs and the Free People, the same tree folk who still feared the Orcs. Some Entwives would be reunited with their Ents, and they would together venture out again in search of the remaining Entwives who had not yet realized their home where the Ents resided had been rediscovered. It’s also possible some would decide to create new forests or gardens on different parts of the world, settled where none previously stood, so the Ents may find them waiting there, at least some of whom (the Ents) would no doubt feel a newly rekindled desire to search for the Entwives again in an age now devoid of an Enemy standing somewhere in darkness who coveted the world for themself.
I've been writing and running a LotR 5e Tabletop game since the start of 2023 and I have given the fate of the Entwives a place in that story. They've been speaking to my imagination since first watching the movies when I was 8, over two decades ago, and I'm so happy I get to essentially 'fan fic' a theory on their fate.
Maybe Yavanna has something to do with the mystery regarding the whereabouts of the Entwives as she is responsible for their care.
Early in the first book someone mentioned a giant walking tree seen north of the Shire. Treebeard seemed to know nothing of ents in that area. Given that the Shire sounds like the kind of place the entwives would like. I always wondered if there were entwives up there, and the Shire might even be under their protection. Just speculation on my part.
The Ents are sentient, incarnate beings, presumably with fea and hroa, and kindled with the Flame Imperishable by Eru, same as Elves, Men, and Dwarves. What we don't know, is if they are bound to Arda, like Elves (I believe this to be likely) , or if they share the Gift of Men, and they go to wherever the fea of Men go (presumeably the Timeless Halls) to await the Dagor Dagorath. That the Ents are counted among the Children of Iluvatar, seems certain to me, and no record is ever mentioned of any Ent ever serving Morgoth or Sauron. Perhaps Fimbrethil is waiting in Mandos to greet Treebeard when his time in Middle-Earth is done. As for the sighting on the North Moor by Sam's cousin Hal: I'd like to think that was an Entwife. My reasoning: JRRT spent many, many years writing and refining the LOTR stories, and there is not a single paragraph in those pages that serves no purpose in the story. He was also fond of inserting occasional mysteries into the story, and either refusing to clarify these plot holes, or simply saying "I don't know". The true nature of Tom Bombadil, Ungoliant, the Nameless Things, the Watcher in the Water, the true name of the Witch King, or detailed info on the ultimate fates of the Blue Wizards and Radagast - we know that Radagast never returned to Valinor, and we have no certain news of the Blue Wizards ever going home, yet they were Maia and therefore immortal? What happened to them as the ages passed, and the pre-industrial world of Middle-Earth gradually became our world of jet airliners, 8 billion people, the ISS and space probes to Mars, and nuclear power, that we know today? Tolkien inserted that conversation in the Green Dragon Inn regarding the Tree-Man of the North Moors for a reason, and I think It's his way of telling his readers that at least a few of the Entwives survived the War of the Last Alliance and migrated West and North to Eriador, to get as far away from Sauron as they could. The only other beings in Middle Earth that Hal might have seen "walking 7 yards to a stride", would be Balrogs, Mountain Trolls, Stone Giants, Beorn in Bear form, or Huorns, Ents, and Entwives. Hal thought it was a "walking elm tree"; if it had been a Troll or Stone Giant, or Beorn, he wouldn't have described it as "like an Elm tree". Ergo, unless Hal was drunk or stoned on loco weed instead of Southfarthing Leaf, he saw an Ent, and Entwife, or a Huorn.
""All right," said Sam, laughing with the rest. "But what about these Treemen, these giants, as you might call them? They do say that one bigger than a tree was seen up away beyond the North Moors not long back."
"Who's 'they'?"
"My cousin Hal for one. He works for Mr. Boffin at Overhill and goes up to the Northfarthing for the hunting. He saw one."
"Says he did, perhaps. Your Hal's always saying he's seen things; and maybe he sees things that ain't there."
"But this one was as big as an elm tree, and walking, walking seven yards to a stride, if it was an inch."
"Then I bet it wasn't an inch. What he saw was an elm tree, as like as not."
"But this one was walking, I tell you; and there ain't no elm tree on the North Moors."
"Then Hal can't have seen one," said Ted. There was some laughing and clapping; the audience seemed to think that Ted had scored a point. "All the same," said Sam, "you can't deny that others besides our Halfast have seen queer folk crossing the Shire, crossing it, mind you; there are more that are turned back at the borders."
I just wish that Sam had talked to Fangorn (Treebeard). I want to know the answer to the question of what the "tree people" were that Sam talked about in the Green Dragon at the beginning of LOTR. If the Ents withdrew to Fangorn forest, and the Entwives like gardens (like the Shire), isn't it likely that the "walking tree" seen by Hobbits was one of the Entwives? At some point, Sam must have learned about the Ents. Why didn't he ask about this when the Fellowship travelled back to the Shire?
I don't recall where or how I heard about the fate of the entwives but one theory is that they are in some form of stasis, reverted to their forms before attaining consciousness. In another way of putting it, the entwives are sleeping and cannot hear the calls of the ents. Again I don't remember where I encountered that theory but I would like to believe it were so.
I just went over this in the book again. I have hope a few entwives are out there still 😔
Hello @Nerd of the Rings. I just wanna say great video and I liked your theories on what happened to the entwives. For me I have a personal headcannon moment that when Sauron invaded the entwives gardens Yavanna herself came in armor looking much like her husband Tulkast the champion of the valar and said, “Sauron leave my daughters alone lest you face my wrath!” Sauron then commands his army to leave them alone knowing full well of her powers from his master Morgoth and Yavanna then took only the entwives back to Valinor for safety. I think after that she commanded the entwives to stay in Valinor where they would be safe but I think during the 4th age she sends a message tell the ents and Treebeard where the entwives are now that Sauron was destroyed and they reunited with each other.
The nerd of the rings ♥️🔥🔥🔥
Ahhh, finally discussing the fate of the entsIuts.
I have a head-canon that sleeping Ents and Entwives are indestinguishable from normal trees, even to other Ents and Entwives. Because of this, despite the fact that both Ents and Entwives look for one another, they have passed by each other's slumbering forms with no idea. It's a somewhat amusing yet somewhat sad idea, but I quite like it.