The Fate of the Entwives

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

But wouldn't entwives simply be the female form of all the kinds of trees? After all, for entlings to exist, one would expect some kind of same-species or same-genus fertilization. Or at the very least, it would be the entwives who would be fertile as the ents aren't capable of reproduction. For hollies, for example, one needs both male and female trees to cross pollinate in order to get holly berries.

Maybe, maybe not. Ents remember are not in and of themselves trees, they just look like them. If i recall correctly, when they first appeared on Middle earth, Ent's did not much look like trees, they were simply tenders of them. It was as time progressed that the ents grew more and more like the trees they tended, just as some trees (the Huorns) became more an more like the ents (convergent evolution). So it is entirely possible that the tree an ent comes to resemble may be due to his habits or inclination, not his heriatage. of the four named ents in LOTR we have examples that resemble four different trees, Fangorn/Treebeard (an oak) the one who went into hiding becuse he was attacked (an elm or an ash, if I recall) the one who was almost asleep (a birch?) and Skinbark, who is described as a rowan (which technically means he may be a fruit bearing tree, depending on which rowan was meant). With such a small base, it's a little hard to tell if an ent mating requires an ent of the same tree, or if the specific tree appearance is personal. And since we never get to see entlings at all, we have no clue what they look like, or indeed how they are produced, whether as seed or as baby. Huorns would presumably need a member of the same type since they are descended of tree (unless they are capable of using non awakened members of thier species) At least those that are dioecious (like hollies (more or less,) or self incompatable would, fully synecios species could probably propigate on thier own.
Actually I just had a really weird image in my mind. If ents do come to resemble the trees they tend, and if Ents lived in a much wider swath, I wonder if there might be in Far Harad skinny leafy topped ents who are so becuse they tend palms!