Fangorn

Fangorn, also called the Entwood, is an ancient forest in Middle-earth lying at the southern end of the Misty Mountains, on the borders of Rohan and near Isengard. One of the oldest forests in the world, it is the dwelling of the Ents, the tree-herds, and of the eldest of them, Treebeard, from whom the forest takes its name (Fangorn is Treebeard's own name in the Elvish tongue). It is a dark, deep, and watchful wood, full of old memory and slow-burning anger.

Fangorn is a remnant of the vast primeval forests that once covered much of Middle-earth in the Elder Days. Its trees are very old, some grown strange and wakeful, and the wood is wary of axes and fire and of all who would do it harm.

Geography

Fangorn lies at the feet of the Misty Mountains where they meet the gap of Rohan, with the river Entwash rising within it and flowing out across the plains of Rohan. The forest is steep, tangled, and shadowed, climbing toward the mountains. Within it stands Treebeard's dwelling Wellinghall beneath the mountain Methedras, and the dell of Derndingle where the Ents hold their councils, the Entmoots. The wood is the last refuge of the Ents and of the wandering Huorns, half-tree and half-Ent beings of great and dangerous power.

History

Fangorn is a survivor of the great forests of the Elder Days, shrunken over the ages as Men and others cut and cleared the woods. The Ents had long dwelt there, herding the trees and grieving the loss of the Entwives, who had departed long before and were lost. By the time of the War of the Ring, the Ents were few and the forest seldom troubled, until Saruman of Isengard began to fell its trees with axe and fire to feed his furnaces and his war.

In the story

Merry and Pippin, escaping their orc captors, flee into Fangorn and meet Treebeard, who carries them to Wellinghall and summons the Entmoot. Roused at last to wrath by Saruman's destruction of the trees, the Ents march on Isengard, break its walls, and flood it, undoing Saruman's power. Meanwhile the Huorns of Fangorn move to Helm's Deep and destroy the fleeing army of Isengard after the Battle of the Hornburg. It is also at the edge of Fangorn that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are reunited with Gandalf, returned as the White.