Reading “The Lord of the Rings”: Chapter 4: “Treebeard” (Book Three)

Having escaped the horrors of their captivity among the Orcs, Merry and Pippin make their way through Fangorn. There, they encounter the Ent Treebeard, with whom they strike up an unlikely friendship. Their arrival sets of a chain of events that sees Treebeard the other Ents begin their long march to war against Isengard, and the chapter ends with their arrival on Saruman’s doorstep.

It is, I think, impossible to dislike Treebeard. He’s one of those characters in Tolkien that manages to cast a spell from the moment that he appears, with his signature mix of ancient wisdom and innate kindliness. This is all the more striking when one considers the fact that, as revealed in Christopher Tolkien’s The History of the Lord of the Rings, Treebeard originally appeared to be an antagonist rather than one of the heroes. To be sure, there’s something more than a little enigmatic about him, and there is far more to him that his benevolent appearance might suggest. After all, he does tell Merry and Pippin that he’s not really on anyone’s side because, unfortunately, no one is really on his side, either. However, it’s clear that he hates Orcs and the other creatures of Sauron and that he feels particularly betrayed by Saruman, who has closed his mind off to the people and creatures, like Treebeard, that were originally his allies. In some…