Treebeard is a walking, talking, boring tree. That’s somewhat the bottomline of this character – or what Peter Jackson made of it, anyway.
We first meet this not-so-unique creature (Mind the voice! Mind the voice!) in Fangorn Forest, where Merry and Pippin try to shake off a hungry Orc. Treebeard involuntarily comes to their aid, only to try to squeeze our favourite duo to pulp seconds after. But once Treebeard is convinced that those furry-footed, goofy-looking mini-me’s dressed up in Elvish garments are not Orcs, he becomes a lot more easy-going and even sings the Hobbits a song.
Treebeard first takes the Hobbits to Gandalf, to ask for advice. Later we see him walk to his ‘home’ in Fangorn, where he discovers that Hobbits are best not left alone – in a winsome Tom Bombadil-imitation, Treebeard has to rescue Merry and Pippin from the strangling roots of an old tree.
At the end of ‘The Two Towers’ we see Treebeard act as the leader of the Ents, his people. He summons them to a meeting called Entmoot and asks them whether they want to join in the ‘war of Men’. The Ents, being all weird and treeish and not particularly active by nature, decide against it; much to the frustration of Merry and – after some thinking – even Pippin.
It’s Pippin’s deviousness that persuades Treebeard to take action: after seeing the destruction of the forest around Isengard, Treebeard calls the Ents (who betray their inactive nature by suddenly becoming hyper-speedy) and marches to Isengard. There, they destroy Saruman’s machinery and release the river Isen.
The last we see of Treebeard, is when Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas arrive in Isengard with Théoden and his company. Treebeard greets them, and proudly announces that they have captured the wizard in his tower. After Saruman falls off his pedestal, the poor old thing doesn’t even get a ‘Thank you, Treebeard, old chum’.
by Figwit
