Trees in Middle-earth

Tolkien loved trees, especially this black pine in the Oxford Botanic Garden, and was often photographed with them.[1][2] His grandson Michael took the last known photograph of him with this tree, which he named Laocoön.[3]

Trees play multiple roles in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, some such as Old Man Willow indeed serving as characters in the plot. Both for Tolkien personally, and in his Middle-earth writings, caring about trees really mattered. Indeed, the Tolkien scholar Matthew Dickerson wrote "It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of trees in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien."[4]

Tolkien stated that primaeval human understanding was communion with other living things, including trees. Treebeard, a tree-giant or Ent, herds trees including the Huorns which are halfway between Ents and trees, either becoming animated or reverting to becoming treelike.

Some specific kinds of tree are important in Tolkien's stories, such as the tall Mallorn trees at the heart of Lothlórien. In Tom Bombadil's Old Forest, Old Man Willow is a malign and fallen tree-spirit of great age, controlling much of the forest. Early in the creation, the Two Trees of Valinor, one silver, one gold, gave light to the paradisiacal realm of Valinor.

Commentators have written that trees gave Tolkien a way of expressing his eco-criticism, opposed to damaging industrialisation.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Saguaro Thacker 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Townshend 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ O'Byrne 2019.
  4. ^ Dickerson 2013.