The Fate of the Entwives

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Galin

I think the being in the tale was compared to an Elm (as far as height, at first), but Tolkien had not yet invented the tale of the Entwives -- at least when this earlier part of the book was first written anyway (at this point possibly mannish 'giants' were part of The Lord of the Rings however, and these 'remained' in some sense in my opinion).

Also full grown Elm trees are notably taller than Ents to my mind. Of course, Treebeard himself was very tall in draft writing, but significantly reduced in size by the time the chapter Treebeard came to be written.

Another consideration is that, as ents seem to take on the qualities of the trees they tend and the Entiwives are said to have had a fondness for the smaller, more cultivated olvar (or is that kelvar, I always get the two confused). One would expect them to resemble such trees themselves. Quite simply,in my opinion, an elm is, for lack of a better term, too male a tree to be an entwife. A willow maybe (though of course Old Man Willow(even though he is likey a huorn, not a rouge ent) is described as Old Man Willow), but when I imagine Entwives, I imagine them as most closely resembling fruit or nut trees; apples, plums, hazels, etc. Of course, this is only how I see them