TMI: How do Ents get on with things, then, if they're not very flexible? Or do you just... pollinate each other? Do you bear fruit? Is that where Entings come from? Fruit?
"Hrrmm… To be honest, I have difficulty remembering. But we do not "get on with things" as humans or elves or such do, it is entirely more treeish, and we must have a blessing from the Valar."
[[ Mun's answer under cut XD ]]
[[ After much research on the matter, I’ve developed my own headcanon regarding this. I wanna thank you for the question, Anon! It was a very good one and it really made me think a lot about Treebeard and Ents in general.
In a nutshell, as you may or may not know, Ents were created as a result of the creation of the Dwarves. Yavanna saw that the Dwarves were cutting down her trees for wood. She made a request of Eru to allow the trees some way to defend themselves. Spirits were sent to Middle Earth, which took the form of those which they would protect. These became the Ents, or Shepherds, as they watched over the forests the way a shepherd watches over sheep.
Entwives came into being as companions for the Ents. Where the Ents tended to trees and allowed the forests to take their natural course, the Entwives preferred to tend to smaller plants and controlled and shaped their growth in gardens. Because of this, they split from the Ents, to build their gardens away from the forests, even bringing knowledge of agriculture to Men.
It is my theory that for an Ent and his wife to bear offspring, they would have to take the matter before the Valar. If Eru approved of their union, they would, much like plants, bear flowers. The pollination between the two (likely hurried along by more intimate closeness of the two), would result in the female bearing fruit. My theory is that, much like the other races, Ents would only have a small number of offspring at one time, let’s say one to three, depending on their fertility.
The seeds of the fruit would be delicately tended to by the Entwife, (as she structures growth and deals with smaller plants), and when it came of age, it would then remain with the appropriate parent (depending upon weather the child had an affinity for gardening or tree herding.)
My personal headcanon is that this was not necessarily dependent upon gender (though they were probably pushed one way or another due to gender roles, as we see with such characters as Eowyn.) My reason for this is the sighting of tree-like giants near the Shire. In my mind, Entwives are considerably smaller than their male counterparts and, like the Ents, take on the form of that which they tend to, so things like crops and flowers, verses trees. Perhaps the Ent spotted near the Shire was a rare male who decided to remain with the Entwives and help with their gardens.
And yes, a further headcanon of mine is that Entwives (at least some of them) have in fact settled in or near the Shire, and perhaps some even became the Hobbits themselves. If an Ent can become more treeish, why couldn’t they become more manish?
Alright, I’m done. Sorry for rambling on like that XD ]]
TMI: Did you and Fimbrethil ever move beyond mere courtship and into coupling?
"Hrooom, that is going back a long ways. Yes, yes we did, of course. The memory has faded... I do remember Entlings, though I've long since forgotten if they were ours or others."
