Treebeard Full Name: Treebeard Name Meaning: None Aliases: Fangorn, Eldest, Shepherd of the Trees Birth Date: FA Date of Death: Unknown Race: Ent Parents: Unknown Siblings: Unknown Spouse: None Children: None History: Treebeard was the oldest of the Ents, the great shepherds of trees. He was a good friend of Gandalf and perhaps a friend of Saruman in the early days. Saruman's treachery, however, saddened him. The Uruk-hai stormed through Treebeard's beloved woods, hacking and chopping for no reason. It was not until Third Age 3019, though, that his sadness turned to rage. On February 29th, he met Merry and Pippin in Fangorn Forest, who had just escaped from their Uruk captors. Treebeard thought at first that the hobbits were little orcs, but the hobbits managed to convince him that they were hobbits, or halflings. They even attempted to help Treebeard make up a verse about hobbits in the Ents' song of living things. Treebeard took Merry and Pippin to his Ent-house, where they told him what befallen the Fellowship. Treebeard became positively "hasty", as he would call it--his mind had now cleared and he saw that the only course of action was to fight Saruman and destroy his evil. The next day, Treebeard called for an "Ent-moot", or gathering of Ents, to discuss what should be done with the treacherous Saruman. Even though Treebeard himself had decided what must be done, he still needed the aid of the others, and undertook the task of convincing the slow-to-decide Ents. After a close to three-day Ent-moot, Treebeard succeeded in rousing his fellows to attack Saruman's fortress. The Huorns (less-alive Ents) marched to Helm's Deep; the regular Ents marched to Isengard. They filled the ring surrounding Orthanc with the waters of the Isen, until the ground became a standing pool and washed away the filth of Saruman. The Ents guarded Orthanc throughout the War of the Ring, but Treebeard couldn't stand to see a living creature imprisoned, so he freed Saruman from the tower, thinking that the wizard was now harmless. What happened to Treebeard after the final battle of the War of the Ring is unclear, but it is likely that he wandered Middle-earth for many years seeking the Ent-wives, particularly his lost beloved, Fimbrethil.   < <Back to character biographies index