This week’s episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is one of the busiest in Season 2. “Eldest” brings the live-action debut of many Middle-earth creatures, however one of the highlights is the return of the Ents. As Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova), Isildur (Maxim Baldry), and Estrid (Nia Towle) battle to seek out widespread floor whereas looking for Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin), they’re stunned by Snaggleroot (Jim Broadbent) and Winterbloom (Olivia Williams), the Ents who’ve been kidnapping people. There is one thing inquisitive about it, although: Winterbloom is an Entwife, a feminine Ent. It’s the primary time one of her variety seems in live-action – however why?

Why Are There No Entwives in ‘Lord of the Rings’?

Most followers of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Legendarium had been first launched to Ents in Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, when Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) meet Treebeard (John Rhys-Davies) in Fangorn Forest. In the e-book, Treebeard tells the 2 Hobbits a lot about Ent tradition, from the truth that some sentences in Entish might take hours to say, to the truth that the Entwives have utterly disappeared from Middle-earth.

In a deleted scene from The Two Towers that solely options within the prolonged model, Treebeard recites to Merry and Pippin “The Songs of the Entwives.” Those verses converse of the Ents’ eager for their misplaced Entwives, and the way the Ents hope they are going to some day come again. In the e-book, the track is longer, with verses speculated to be sung each by an Ent, and by an Entwife. The lyrics speak about how completely different these two varieties of Ents are, however how, in the long run, they lengthy for one another’s presence. When Pippin asks how the Entwives died, Treebeard is fast to reply that he by no means mentioned they died, solely that the Ents misplaced them and may’t discover them.

This is why Winterbloom’s presence in The Rings of Power is particular: it is the primary time an Entwife seems in live-action, and one of the few occasions in any Tolkien-related work that one of them exhibits up in any respect. They are essential for the Ents’ survival, however, since they disappeared, the entire species has been in danger of extinction for the reason that finish of the Second Age, as Treebeard explains, with some Ents “going tree-ish” and no new Entings (younger Ents) being born.

How Are the Entwives Different From the Ents?

From a technical perspective, Ents and Entwives belong to the identical species, the distinction being their gender. They initially got here into existence by request of the Valar Yavanna Kementári, also called the Giver of Fruits and the one accountable for all issues that develop. Afraid the Children of Ilúvatar (Elves and Men) would pose hazard to nature, she pleads with Manwë, the chief of the Valar, for defense for the bushes, forests, and wildlife. Manwë, in flip, asks Eru Ilúvatar (Tolkien’s equal to God within the universe), and he creates the Ents as “tree-sheperds.”

Over time, Ents and Entwives show to be very completely different, however complimentary of their methods. While the Ents love the deep forests and wild, untamed nature, the Entwives desire extra ordered, cultivated lands. They are likely to gardens, fields, and orchards, educating Men the artwork of agriculture and plant cultivation. In The Rings of Power, for instance, Snaggleroot mentions that Winterbloom cared for many of the bushes which have been killed close to Pelargir​ and that she nourished them since they had been younger. Ents are fierce protectors of nature, however, for Winterbloom, what occurred is even worse.

Another distinction between them is their look. Ents look a lot just like the bushes they shield, being large and hulking, however the Entwives are described by Treebeard as wanting considerably completely different: “Entwives were bent and browned by their labor; their hair parched by the sun to the hue of ripe corn and their cheeks like red apples. Yet their eyes were still the eyes of our own people.” In The Rings of Power, although, Snaggleroot and Winterbloom each look very comparable, with Winterbloom having clearer leaves.

What Actually Happened to the Entwives?

Although Treebeard is adamant about the truth that the Entwives have not died in Middle-earth, it is arduous to make sure. In reality, all of the indicators level to a tragic destiny. According to Treebeard, the Entwives moved away to the east of the Great River Anduin, establishing their gardens between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood. The Entwives and Ents grew aside, each bodily and of their pursuits, and the Ents would go to them solely sometimes. One day, in the course of the War of the Last Alliance (the battle seen within the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), Treebeard wished to go to his spouse, Fimbrethil, however noticed no signal of the Entwives, and located their lands ravaged by conflict.

Tolkien by no means gave a correct reply to what actually occurred to the Entwives however questioned about it in a single of his letters. He says that, in the course of the War of the Last Alliance, Sauron (Charlie Vickers) pursued a scorched earth coverage, burning the lands alongside the Anduin to cease the allies’ advance. This is how the Entwives’ gardens got here to be generally known as the Brown Lands following their disappearance, and it signifies that most of the Entwives have in all probability died. Once fertile, they’re now barren. He additionally speculates that some of the Entwives might have fled to the East after this and both turned slaves to Sauron or have grown so estranged from the Ents that approaching them would in all probability be pointless.

According to Tolkien, given how the Entwives have by no means been discovered, they survive solely by the agriculture practiced by Men and Hobbits. They are additionally remembered in songs and lore, and their disappearance has had a lasting influence on the Ents. The seek for the Entwives represents themes of loss and longing typically current in Tolkien’s writings, symbolizing the rift between nature and cultivation, wildness and order.

Season 2 of The Rings of Power is streaming on Prime Video. New episodes air weekly on Thursdays.

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