Ent - Named Ents

Named Ents

In the narrative of The Lord of the Rings, six Ents are identified by name. The main Ent character, and the first encountered by the readers and the hobbits, is Fangorn (Treebeard). The other ents are Beechbone, Bregalad, Fimbrethil, Finglas, and Fladrif.

• Fangorn: Also known as Treebeard. By the end of the Third Age, he, Skinbark, and Leaflock were the last remaining of the first Ents who appeared in Middle-earth sometime in the First Age, and as such, were among the oldest of creatures. In the long passage of time, the domain of the Ents was gradually reduced to Fangorn forest, named after Treebeard's Sindarin name.

• Finglas: Translated from the Elvish as Leaflock. By the time of the War of the Ring, Leaflock had become sleepy and treeish. He began to stand alone in a meadow and doze during the summer. At first, he would awake in wintertime, but eventually he remained in place year-round. He was covered in leafy hair. (It is not clear whether or not Tolkien derived the name from Finglas in Dublin, Ireland, or whether the name is merely coincidental.)

• Fladrif: Translated from the Elvish as Skinbark. He lived on the mountain slopes west of Isengard. Saruman's orcs ravaged this area, cutting down trees and killing Ents. Skinbark himself was wounded by them. He retreated far up the mountain slopes to live among the birches that he favoured and refused to come down.

• Beechbone: An Ent who was burned by Saruman's devices, though his ultimate fate is only implied. His injury, or possibly death, angered the rest of the Ents.

• Bregalad: Also known as Quickbeam, Bregalad was a relatively young Ent at the time of the War of the Ring, roughly "middle aged" and not nearly as old as Treebeard (though he was a full adult; there had been no Ent children since the disappearance of the Entwives). Bregalad guarded rowan trees, and as such he resembled a rowan himself. The word "quickbeam" is an English dialect word for the mountain ash or rowan tree. His Sindarin name (Bregalad) translates roughly as "Quickbeam" (from bragol "sudden" and galad "tree"). He received this name when he said "yes" before another Ent had finished asking a question; this showed that he was unusually "hasty" for his race. At the Entmoot, Bregalad lived up to his reputation for hastiness; he was the first to decide to attack Isengard, since Saruman's Orcs had destroyed many of his rowan groves. Seeing that Bregalad's mind was already made up, Treebeard sent him to watch over and care for Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, while the debate among the other Ents continued for days. He later played an important role in the attack on Isengard, nearly capturing Saruman himself.

• Fimbrethil: Treebeard's long-lost wife, also known as Wandlimb the lightfooted. The pair were beloved since before even Morgoth first arose in power during the youth of the world. Translated, her name meant according to the 1966 Index 'slim-birch' (according to Appendix F 'slender-beech'). As with all of the other Entwives, Fimbrethil had been missing since Sauron's forces destroyed the gardens of the Entwives during the Second Age. At the time of the War of the Ring, Treebeard had not seen his beloved Fimbrethil for over three millennia.