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Timeline Event

Ents gather for an Entmoot (approximate date)

Event Type: Military/Strategic

Age: 3rd Age - Ring War

Dates: March 1, 3019 ~ March 2, 3019

Description:

The actual beginning date of this event is 30 February 3019, but it cannot be represented using modern date software.
An event in the prelude to the Destruction of Isengard by Ents; see that entry for an overview:
'Hoo, ho! Good morning, Merry and Pippin!' [Treebeard] boomed, when he saw them.... 'I have been many a hundred strides already today. Now we will have a drink, and go to Entmoot.'....

'Where is Entmoot?' Pippin ventured to ask.

'Hoo, eh? Entmoot?' said Treebeard.... 'It is not a place, it is a gathering of Ents — which does not often happen nowadays. But I have managed to make a fair number promise to come. We shall meet in the place where we have always met: Derndingle.... We must be there before noon.'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard

Several Ents had already arrived. More were coming in down the other paths, and some were now following Treebeard.... Altogether there were about two dozen standing on the wide grassy floor of the dingle, and as many more were marching in....

[When] the Ents all gathered round Treebeard, bowing their heads slightly, murmuring in their slow musical voices, and looking long and intently at the strangers, then the hobbits saw that they were all of the same kindred, and all had the same eyes... the same slow, steady, thoughtful expression, and the same green flicker.

As soon as the whole company was assembled, standing in a wide circle round Treebeard, a curious and unintelligible conversation began. The Ents began to murmur slowly: first one joined and then another, until they were all chanting together in a long rising and falling rhythm, now louder on one side of the ring, now dying away there and rising to a great boom on the other side. Though he could not catch or understand any of the words — he supposed the language was Entish — Pippin found the sound very pleasant to listen to at first; but gradually his attention wavered.... He yawned.

Treebeard was immediately aware of him. 'Hm, ha, hey, my Pippin!' he said, and the other Ents all stopped their chant. 'You are a hasty folk, I was forgetting; and anyway it is wearisome listening to a speech you do not understand. You may get down now. I have told your names to the Entmoot, and they have seen you, and they have agreed that you are not Orcs, and that a new line shall be put in the old lists. We have got no further yet, but that is quick work for an Entmoot. You and Merry can stroll about.... There are still some words to speak before the Moot really begins. I will come and see you again, and tell you how things are going.'

He put the hobbits down. Before they walked away, they bowed low. This feat seemed to amuse the Ents very much, to judge by the tone of their murmurs... but they soon turned back to their own business.

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard

'What is Isengard like?' said Pippin. 'I wonder what Ents can do about it anyway.'

'So do I,' said Merry.... 'It does not seem the sort of place for Ents to tackle. But I have an odd feeling about these Ents: somehow I don't think they are quite as safe... as they seem. They seem slow, queer, and patient, almost sad; and yet I believe they could be roused. If that happened, I would rather not be on the other side.'

'Yes!' said Pippin. 'I know what you mean. There might be all the difference between an old cow sitting and thoughtfully chewing, and a bull charging; and the change might come suddenly. I wonder if Treebeard will rouse them. I am sure he means to try. But they don't like being roused. Treebeard got roused himself last night, and then bottled it up again.'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard

At last there came a pause in the Ent-voices; and looking up they saw Treebeard coming towards them. with another Ent at his side.

'Hm, hoom, here I am again,' said Treebeard.... 'I am afraid that you must not get impatient yet. We have finished the first stage now; but I have still got to explain things again to those that live a long way off, far from Isengard, and those that I could not get round to before the Moot, and after that we shall have to decide what to do. However, deciding what to do does not take Ents so long as going over all the facts and events that they have to make up their minds about. Still, it is no use denying, we shall be here a long time yet: a couple of days very likely. So I have brought you a companion.... Bregalad is his Elvish name. He says he has already made up his mind and does not need to remain at the Moot. Hm, hm, he is the nearest thing among us to a hasty Ent. You ought to get on together. Good-bye!'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard

At nightfall he brought them to his ent-house.... They talked for a while as darkness fell on the forest. Not far away the voices of the Entmoot could be heard still going on; but now they seemed deeper and less leisurely, and every now and again one great voice would rise in a high and quickening music, while all the others died away. But beside them Bregalad spoke gently in their own tongue, almost whispering; and they learned that he belonged to Skinbark's people, and the country where they had lived had been ravaged. That seemed... quite enough to explain his 'hastiness'... in the matter of Orcs.

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard

The next day they spent also in his company, but they did not go far.... [There] was little sunshine, and in the distance the voices of the Ents at the Moot still rose and fell, sometimes loud and strong, sometimes low and sad, sometimes quickening, sometimes slow and solemn as a dirge. A second night came and still the Ents held conclave under hurrying clouds and fitful stars.

The third day broke, bleak and windy. At sunrise the Ents' voices rose to a great clamour and then died down again.... The hobbits could see that Bregalad was now listening intently, although to them, down in the dell of his ent-house, the sound of the Moot was faint.

The afternoon came.... Suddenly they were aware that everything was very quiet; the whole forest stood in listening silence. Of course, the Ent-voices had stopped. What did that mean? Bregalad was standing up erect and tense, looking back northwards towards Derndingle.

Then with a crash came a great ringing shout: ra-hoom-rah! The trees quivered and bent as if a gust had struck them. There was another pause, and then a marching music began like solemn drums, and above the rolling beats and booms there welled voices singing high and strong.
We come, we come with roll of drum: ta-runda runda runda rom!
The Ents were coming: ever nearer and louder rose their song:
We come, we come with horn and drum: ta-rûna rûna rûna rom!
Bregalad picked up the hobbits and strode from his house.

Before long they saw the marching line approaching....

'Hoom, hom! Here we come with a boom, here we come at last!' called Treebeard.... 'Come, join the Moot! We are off. We are off to Isengard!'

'To Isengard!' the Ents cried in many voices.

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 28Jan05, 31Jan05

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