Nearly every fantasy franchise features at least one element that defies explanation, and The Lord of the Rings is no different. In Middle-earth, that role would most likely go to the Entwives, whom we have only just seen an adaptation of for the first time in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. We know of their existence from a brief conversation in the second book. However, not only did they go missing, but we do not know how, why, or where they disappeared to. While J. R. R. Tolkien had his own thoughts and theories, leaving their fates vague was undeniably a smart decision by the author.
The Entwives Disappeared After Moving Away From the Ents
What little we do comes from a conversation between Treebeard (John Rhys-Davies) and the hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers book and the extended edition of the Peter Jackson adaptation. Treebeard explains that, if the Ents are the shepherds of the forest, then the Entwives are the cultivators of gardens. From a poem the Ent recites, we learned that they went missing when they crossed East of the Anduin, and Treebeard, trying to visit his wife, was unable to find the Entwives, with their land destroyed. We also learn the reason why the Entwives left was because they were becoming too fertile with the Ents, and it was creating a nature too wild for their liking, while the Ents preferred an untamed forest. This makes Treebeard’s situation all the more tragic; knowing that the Entwives went missing because the Ents inadvertently drove them away.
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J. R. R. Tolkien Has a Sad Outlook on the Possibilities of Ents and Entwives Ever Reuniting
The Lord of the Rings books imply that Treebeard still holds hope, as he tells Merry and Pippin that perhaps the Entwives are in the Shire, a place they would have adored based on his description. However, this hope is tragically dwindling as the Ents’ numbers shrink with no Entwives to mate with. In The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 144 To Naomi Mitchison, Tolkien gave his own opinion on the fate of nature-loving creatures. Tolkien believed that they had been “destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy.”
We saw the end of this war during the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, when Isildur (Harry Sinclair) cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand. However, Tolkien did also add that it was possible that some “may have fled east, or even have become enslaved.” But we shouldn’t see this as a guarantee of any kind of happy ending, as he also added that “any rapprochement would be difficult” after these two entities had been apart for so long.
Therefore, these soulmates were torn apart because of the wars of creatures who cared little for the land they fought on. However, that is arguably the point of The Lord of the Rings. He did not believe there could be a healing end for these personifications of nature because he lived through a time when technology became increasingly at odds with such environmental aspects. Not only is it better for the thematic elements of The Lord of the Rings to leave the Entwives as a mystery, but it also makes Tolkien’s world feel far more expansive and real if even the author doesn’t know every detail.
