Treebeard

This article is about the ent of Fangorn Forest. For the chapter, see Treebeard (chapter).

Treebeard in the Motion Picture trilogy
Treebeard
Biographical information
Other names	Fangorn
Titles	Oldest of the Ents ? Shepherd of the Trees
Birth	YT ?
Death	Unknown
Spouse	Fimbrethil
Weapon	Bare hands, feet, and legs
Physical description
Race	Ents, Onodrim
Gender	Male
Height	Around 14 feet
Hair	Leaf, twig and moss like
Eyes	Deep brown shot with green light
Media portrayal
Actor	CGI and full size practical animatronic
Voice	John Rhys-Davies

"Things will go as they will; and there is no need to hurry to meet them."

—Treebeard

Treebeard, also known as Fangorn, was the oldest of the Ents left in Middle-earth, an ancient tree-like being who was a "shepherd of trees". He had a very tall and stiff-limbed appearance, with bark-like skin and leafy hair.

In Chapter 5 of The Two Towers, Gandalf calls Treebeard "...the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the Sun upon this Middle-earth." In The Return of the King, Chapter 6, "Many Partings", Celeborn addresses Treebeard as "Eldest."

History

"Hrum, now, well, I am an Ent, or that's what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do."

—The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book III, Chapter IV: "Treebeard

Before the Third Age

Treebeard was believed to be the oldest Ent who ever lived. He was so old that he remembered the time of Elves teaching the trees to speak, recalling how they wanted to talk to everything. In the time when Middle-earth was merely a giant forest, Treebeard roamed the land, presumably with his love, Fimbrethil. But after the loss of the Entwives, he and the remaining Ents dwelt in the Forest of Fangorn, isolating themselves from the outside world.

Third Age and War of the Ring

"I do not like worrying about the future. I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even Elves nowadays."

—The Lord of the Rings: Treebeard

Treebeard grabs Pippin.

With the arrival of the Istari in the year TA 1000 of the Third Age, Saruman came to Fangorn and befriended Treebeard, and would often visit him. The two would talk, discussing various subjects, with Saruman gathering information about the forest itself, and in particular its intertwining paths.

As the years passed and with no Entings due to the loss of the Entwives, the number of Ents fell. Some Ents in their old age became still and silent, almost becoming tree like as they slumbered. Treebeard, Finglas, Fladrif, Quickbeam and around fifty remained, some younger, some older. When Sauron's shadow began to spread across the land once more, Treebeard and the Ents remained in Fangorn, continuing to tend the trees, and taking no part in the affairs of Men, Elves and Wizards. However, they were brought into the war when Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took escaped from Saruman's Orcs, became lost in Fangorn Forest and befriended Treebeard. Upon learning that Saruman was cutting down the forest to power his war effort, an angry Treebeard called all the ents together for an Entmoot. After three days of deliberation, they decided to attack Isengard, in an event known as the Last March of the Ents.

Leading the attack, Treebeard helped to bring down Isengard's walls and utterly destroy them, save the tower of Orthanc and Saruman himself who sat in his tower with his manservant Grima Wormtongue. The Ents also broke the dam wall which had starved the once green and beautiful Wizards Vale of all its water, flooding Saruman's pits, mines, and machines of war. Once Isengard was cleansed, Treebeard remained to guard over Saruman, but was ultimately unable to keep him, due to the power of Saruman's voice and the fact that Treebeard could not bear to lock any living thing up.

After the War of the Ring and Beyond

After Aragorn was crowned king, he promised Treebeard that the Ents could prosper again and spread to new lands with the threat of Mordor gone, and renew their search for the Entwives.  However, Treebeard sadly lamented that forests may spread once more, but the Ents would not, predicting that the few remaining Ents would remain in Fangorn forest until they slowly dwindled in number.  However, he still held some hope for finding the Entwives, as he asked Merry and Pippin to watch for them near the Shire, and to bring word if they were to find them.

Treebeard's ultimate fate is not known. While he aged very slowly and was extremely long-lived, he was not immortal.^{[citation needed]}He most likely underwent the same fate of all the Ents: eventually settling down in one place, growing roots and leaves, and essentially becoming a tree himself, ceasing conscious thought.

In her final words to Treebeard during their parting at Isengard, Galadriel said she would "Not [see him] in Middle-earth, nor until the lands that lie under the wave are lifted up again. Then in the willow-meads of Nan-tathren we may meet in the spring. Farewell!" This suggests that in the future, perhaps after the Dagor Dagorath, when the lands of Beleriand will be recovered again, Treebeard and, possibly all the other Ents, will awaken again and that he will meet her again in Nan-Tathren.

Portrayal in adaptations

Treebeard.

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

"Side? I am on no one's side, because no one is on my side."

—The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

In Peter Jackson's films The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Treebeard is a combination of a large animatronic model and a CGI construct; his voice is performed by John Rhys-Davies, who also plays Gimli.

In the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), the Ents at the Entmoot initially decline Merry and Pippin's request for help. Treebeard is carrying the hobbits through the forest, when Pippin gets an idea. He asks Treebeard to carry them towards Isengard, because that is the last place Saruman would look for them. When Treebeard gets close to the forest's edge, he sees the devastation wrought by Saruman's orcs. The trees have all been chopped down to serve as fuel for Saruman's war machine. Treebeard then makes a momentous decision, and calls for the other Ents.

"Come, my friends. The Ents are going to war. It is likely that we go to our doom. The last march of the Ents."

—The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

They attack Isengard and manage to flood it. In the book, Treebeard and the Ents decide to attack Saruman without any such coercion. They were already most likely aware of this situation.  When Gandalf arrives at Isengard in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Treebeard refers to Gandalf as "young master Gandalf".

Video games

Treebeard is featured in The Lord of the Rings: Conquest in both the good and evil campaigns. In the first he appears in the Battle of Isengard level, where the player must deliver Gríma Wormtongue's key to Orthanc to him. In the second, an alternate timeline in which Frodo took the One Ring for himself sees Treebeard killed by the Balrog known as Durin's Bane.

He also appears in LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game, in which he is a playable character when one of the Hobbits is riding on his shoulder.

Voice dubbing actors

Foreign Language	Voice dubbing artist
Spanish (Latin America)	Maynardo Zavala
Spanish (Spain)	José Antequera
Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD)	Guilherme Lopes
German	Wolfgang Hess
French (France)	Vincent Grass
Czech	Jiří Zavřel
Slovak	Emanuel Romančík
Italian (Italy)	Carlo Baccarini

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles.

• It's believed that many of Treebeard's mannerisms were based on Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis, a loud, bombastic man known for his powerful stride and overwhelming presence.
• The Top Trumps card game lists Treebeard as being 17,051 years old.

Appearances

Books

• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King

Adaptations

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Boombaard
Albanian	Pemëmjekër
Arabic	لحية الشجرة
Armenian	Ծառմորուս
Azerbaijani	Ağac saqqal
Belarusian Cyrillic	Древобород
Bengali	ট্রিবিয়ার্ড
Bosnian	Drvobradi
Breton	Barvgwez ?
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Дървобрад (Treebeard) Фангорн (Fangorn)
Cambodian	ពុកចង្កាដើមឈើ ?
Catalan	Barbarbrat (Treebeard) Fàngorn (Fangorn)
Cebuano	Kahoy bungot
Chichewa	Mtengondevu
Chinese (Hong Kong)	樹鬍
Corsican	Arburu barba
Croatian	Drvobradaša
Czech	Stromovous
Danish	Træskæg
Dutch	Boombaard
Esperanto	Arbobarbon
Estonian	Puuhabe
Finnish	Puuparta
French	Sylvebarbe / Barbebois (New translation)
Galician	Bárbore
Georgian	თრეებეარდ
German	Baumbart
Greek	Δεντρογένης
Gujarati	વૃક્ષ દાઢી
Hebrew	(Treebeard) זקן עץ (Fangorn) פאנגורן
Hindi	ट्री दाढ़ी
Hungarian	Szilszakáll
Icelandic	Tréskegg
Indonesian	Jenggot pohon
Irish Gaelic	Féasógcrann
Italian	Barbalbero
Japanese	木の髭 (Treebeard) ファンゴルン (Fangorn)
Javanese	Wit jenggot
Kannada	ಟ್ರೀ ಗಡ್ಡ
Kazakh	Ағаш сақал (Cyrillic) Ağaş saqal (Latin)
Korean	나무수염 (Treebeard) 판고른 (Fangorn)
Kurdish	Darrî (Kurmanji Kurdish)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Дарак сакал
Laotian	ເປັນໄມ້ຢືນຕົ້ນຈັບຫນວດ
Latin	Arborbarbam
Latvian	Koksbārda
Lithuanian	Medisbarzda
Malaysian	Pokokjanggut
Marathi	वृक्ष दाढी
Macedonian Cyrillic	дрвобрада
Manx	Faasaagbilley ?
Mongolian Cyrillic	мод сахал
Nepalese	वृक्ष दाढी
Norwegian	Treskjegg
Persian	چوب ریش
Polish	Drzewiec
Portuguese	Barbárvore (Brazilian Portuguese) Barba de Árvore (Portugal)
Punjabi	ਟ੍ਰੀਿ ਬੀਅਰਡ
Romanian	Copacbarba
Russian	Древень (Treebeard) Фангорн (Fangorn)
Scottish Gaelic	Feusagcraobh ?
Serbian	Дрвобради (Cyrillic) Drvobradi (Latin)
Sinhalese	රුක් රැවුල
Slovak	Stromobrad
Slovenian	Drevobrada
Somalian	Geedgadhka
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Bárbol
Sundanese	Tangkal Janggot
Swahili	Mtindevu
Swedish	Lavskägge
Tamil	மரம் தாடி
Telugu	చెట్టు గడ్డం
Thai	ทรีเบียร์ด (Treebeard) ฟังกอร์น (Fangorn)
Turkish	Ağaçsakal
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Дре́влен (Treebeard) Фанґорн (Fangorn)
Uzbek	Дарахт соқол (Cyrillic) Daraxt soqol (Latin)
Vietnamese	Câyrâu
Xhosa	Umthi ndevu
Yiddish	טרעעבעאַרד
Zulu	Isihlahla sentshebe