Tolkien stated that he was disappointed by Shakespeare's handling of the coming of "Great Birnam Wood to High Dunsinane hill" he wanted a setting in which the trees would actually go to war. Akin to Ents are Huorns, whom Treebeard describes as a transitional form of trees which become animated or, conversely, as Ents who grow more "treelike" over time. At that time, there are no young Ents (Entings) because the Entwives (female Ents) were lost. The Ent who figures most prominently in the book is Treebeard, who is called the oldest creature in Middle-earth. The Ents appear in The Lord of the Rings as ancient shepherds of the forest and allies of the free peoples of Middle-earth during the War of the Ring. Their name is derived from an Old English word for " giant". Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth who closely resemble trees their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Onodrim, Shepherds of the Trees, Tree-folkĮnts are a species of sentient beings in J. The name deus ex machina was probably chosen, because the god's appearing in the sky (or from above), was an effect which was achieved by means of some sort of a crane (the "machine").Treebeard and Hobbits by Tom Loback, 2007 *) deus ex machina, the ' god from the machinery' has its origin in the Greek drama where it meant the timely appearance of a god to unravel and resolve the plot. Had he not used them in this 'function', he probably could have had them involved in the plot more often. The eagles are IMO a somewhat different case, because Tolkien used them as sort of "dei ex machina" *), using them too often would have meant to overstress their credibility and that is IMO the reason why Tolkien calls them ".a dangerous 'machine'" in his letter. Tolkien's Elves are probably the best example of how unique the creatures of Middle-earth could become, they reached a state of refinement and sophistication, which is absolutely without parallels in extant mythologies. True, Inderjit, I think that - as time went by - Tolkien successively freed himself from his sources, Middle-earth and its " creatures" became more unique and references, or even mentionings of creatures "borrowed" from other mythologies became sparse. Thus, I do not think that Tolkien ever pondered about which creatures to "add" to his subcreation and which not, rather, I think he added what he saw fit and whatever had caught his interest one way or another.īut what I find fascinating, is the mix of knowledge and fantasy, which makes Tolkien's creatures so unique, IMO The giant spiders may have come in for a different reason, though. his essay Sigelwara-Land).Įnts are in Northern and Anglo-Saxon tradition portrayed as giants, what Tolkien added to make them walking and talking trees has probably roots in Macbeth (Birnam Wood) and the Câd Goddeu, the 'Battle of the Trees', a Celtic myth.įastitocalon is another example where mythological and philological roots meet. Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics).īalrogs, the 'fire-demons' resemble not only the fiery sons of Muspell of Germanic/Northern myths, but probably also stem from Tolkien's philological interest in the roots of the Old English word Sigelhearwan (cf. If we put aside the brownies, fays, pixies, leprawns (BoLT1) or the enchanted leprechauns (" Goblin Feet") or the dragon-moths, sea-worms, -cats and -cows ( Roverandom) and creatures of the like, which seem more or less casually mentioned, what remains has in most cases either mythological or philological roots, or both.ĭragons seem to have fascinated Tolkien from his youth and it appears he dedicated much thought to them and their mythological roots (cf.
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