The Lord of the Rings: The Road to Isengard (Part Two)

 

The Tale

As the company finally passes the eaves of the strange woods, Legolas turns to look back in regret. He suddenly cries out and would ride back, despite Gimli’s protests. The Elf has seen strange eyes in the shadow of the boughs. Gandalf bids him stop; now is not his time.

Even as he speaks three tall, strange figures come striding out of the woods. ‘As tall as trolls they were, twelve feet or more in height; their strong bodies, stout as young trees, seemed to be clad with raiment or with hide of close-fitting grey or brown. Their limbs were long, and their hands had many fingers; their hair was stiff, and their beards grey-green as moss.’

They are not looking at the riders. They look northward and putting their hands to their lips let out a long, horn-like call, that is answered with another call and more of the strange creatures approaching from the north. Uneasy, some of the riders set their hands on their swords, but Gandalf tells them that there is no danger; these are no enemies, but herdsmen, and are not concerned with them at all.

The figures vanish back into the trees, and Theoden asks in wonder what were they. Gandalf answers ‘There are children in your land, who, out of the twisted threads of story, could pick the answer to your question.’ They are Ents, the Ents that the Entwood and Entwash are named after in his own tongue. To them, all the years from his ancient ancestor Eorl to today are a passing hour.

The king is silent a while, then says he is beginning to understand ‘the marvel of the trees.’ His people have long busied themselves with ‘the life of Men’, paying little attention to old legends or the farther world. And the stories are fading.

Gandalf says he should be glad: he has unknown allies, even if he thought they were only tales. Theoden replies maybe, but in the coming war, who knows what strange and marvelous things could pass away, and him just only finding out about them.

‘It may,’ said Gandalf. ‘The evil of Sauron cannot be wholly cured, nor made as if it had not been. But to such days are we doomed. Let us now go on with the journey we have begun!’

Bits and Bobs

And so, we are given a refresher course on what Ents are like; in some ways a clearer, more concise description, how they appear from the outside, as it were.

We are also given some insight into the world of philology, Tolkien’s field of learning. In old names and preserved in the twisted threads of story, ancient truths and facts about the past can be divined with care and study. These details, ignored or taken for granted, preserve the bones of forgotten history.

Gandalf packs a lot of philosophy into those last statements. Evil cannot be cured or ignored; the past Good cannot return, though it may be healed in unforeseen ways. For example, Adam’s Fall cannot be undone as if had never happened; that chance is past. But it can be redeemed and go a different, even more glorious way. In the meantime, we have to ‘go on with the journey we have begun.’