The Consciousness of Nature

 

THE TREES CAN TALK?

Hey there fellow Tolkienians! It’s NoahTheBlue2003 here, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of nature recently in The Lord of the Rings. I’ve been spending more time outside this summer, and I’ve been sitting down in the woods waiting for the trees to tell me my shirt looks nice after I read the section in The Two Towers about the ents. The following piece is inspired by the entmoot where we find Tree Beard call an “entmoot,” or a council meeting of the ents to discuss the war raging between Mordor and the rest of the kingdoms of Middle Earth.

I really liked the idea of the music that was representative of their constant debate over what the right decision is. At the beginning of the entmoot there seems to be great indecision as they are cited to be “chanting together in a long rising and falling rhythm… dying away there and rising to a great boom on the other side.” This long, inconsistent rhythm reflected the indecisiveness of nature as it continued for days. Finally, a silence fell followed by a large crash, with the ents “singing high and strong” during their march to Isengard. This shift in tone is reflective of their unison to rise against the forces of evil.

            The entmoot in The Two Towers was left open-ended as Tolkien’s writing followed the narrative of the two hobbits rather than the proceedings of the entmoot. With that, what transpired at the meeting has largely been left open to interpretation. I really like to think of nature as a collective spirit, and based on their age I feel like they would have spoken with a grave booming tone, kind of like large chiming bells if that makes sense? I tried to capture that with my stream of consciousness piece below. I hope you all like it!

 

 

The Consciousness of Nature

            The sky bleeds a dark shade of orange, as the sun drifts softly out of our reach, letting in the deep purple the moon spills out over its canvas before the blackness stomps out any light that remains. We breathe slowly, unevenly, fighting the urge to become more tree-ish than we already are.

            They have asked us of our participation in this dark war. They beg for our intervention in halting the dark powers that bleed out of the Black Gate of Mordor. But we ask ourselves what role we play in all of this. Never have we interfered in the war of men and elves before. We have always kept to ourselves, focused on the livelihood of our forest, and brought no trouble to those beyond our gaze. Life has proceeded as such for centuries, but as we turn towards the horizon, we see that Middle Earth is a different place now.

            Looking out in the blackness, we see nothing but destruction. The carcasses of our fallen brothers lay in wait for their bodies to be stripped and shredded to fuel the fire of Orthnac in Isengard that terrorize our homes. The fire has spread, slowly burning the world around us, but we do not know what we did to provoke such action. Now, we stand, hopelessly, watching as the armies of Mordor approach us, uprooting us from our homes and sacrificing us to fuel the fires of their new regime.

            We have agreed to no such shift in power; for we had no say. Long has the aching grown deeply in our souls as we watch our family and friends be stolen from us. The entwives left us long ago, and now we watch as the rest of our world topples around us, slowly, like a serrated axe, chopping, deeper and deeper, more painful with each passing stroke. Idly by we have stood, watching the flames of machine lick at our roots. But the world remains indecisive. The kingdom of men, the domain of dwarves, the land of elves, they all concern themselves with the safety of their own. We have always provided for them: shade for the weary and food for the needy, but now nobody rushes to our aid. Nobody else much cares about the forests of this world. Where is Gandalf and the wizards of old? Is it not their place to stifle the scuffles of silly mortals? Alas, the ways of the past are long gone.

            We have grown agitated, as the world around us turns a blind eye to those that continue to harvest our families in order to fuel malicious intentions: their machines of steel and iron. No longer will we stand by as orcs parade through our forests, robbing us blind of our way of life. No longer will we let the kingdom of men and elves decide our fate, for we decide our own!

            We long for the days of old, where our roots could stretch out throughout the land, digging into soft, rich soil. Looking out onto the world, we could see our kin for miles, splashing warm colors throughout the land to give some depth to the world. We miss our entwives and the world we used to live in. If the kingdom of men will not part the dark skies, then we shall open it ourselves. If the domain of dwarves refuses to quench the flames of Mordor, then we will bring forth the water. If the land of elves continues to ignore the darkness seeping out of Isengard, then we will bring forth the light!

The world needs balance, and we seek to provide the cool, steady hand for it to rest upon. We raise our voices in protest of the poisonous thoughts seeping out of Mordor. Nature serves no dark lord, for we stand in service to what is best for the world. And with this our encroachment begins. We set out to restore order to our Middle Earth, our home. Unto Isengard we will unleash our wrath, flooding the land with the strengths of the forest, fighting for us all.

            We join the quest for the restoration of balance in our world; we join the fellowship! From this day forth let it be known that nature is not a blind old woman to be pushed into a dark corner, away from the world. Our ents and trees rise in unison, stretching the legs of those who have slept for centuries. Groves of trees and ents alike glide over the crestfallen fields of Isengard to demonstrate to Saruman that we, the nature of Middle Earth, are not to be trifled with. All of nature seeks to bring back the order of Middle Earth and we rise to defend our home! For our spirit continues to hold strong, brimming with the pride of the world we have created; the world we are not willing to let be destroyed. Now and forever more, let it be remembered that nature refuses to bend to the will of a dark lord, unto Isengard we march!

Wait…Wait…Wait…Why Do They Even Talk?

Ok, first off I hope you liked my piece! I worked really hard on it and I feel like it does a good job of reflecting the shared thoughts of nature during the entmoot and the message that J.R.R. Tolkien imparts on his audience about the importance of nature in society. Tolkien spent most of his childhood in the Birmingham suburb of Edgaston, what the Tolkien Society calls “the quintessentially rural stereotype of England.” However, his beloved home was soon overtaken by the industrialization of England as factories began to sprout where flowers once bloomed, and smog began to flood the skies that were once filled with the songs of nature. Tolkien developed a deep love of nature in his childhood, and it permeated throughout his Lord of the Rings series. I resonate with this deep love of nature as I too grew up in a rural town, Salisbury, way out on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the boonies of the Chesapeake watershed. I don't even know what I would do if someone tried to take down my beloved Pemberton Park!?!

Throughout the story, Tolkien uses imagery as the characters looked upon Middle Earth, perceiving nature as another character in the story. During Pippin and Merry’s visit to Fangorn, they described the view they saw from the top of their hill saying, “the heads of the trees marched down the slopes towards the plain.” With this personification I felt like my eyes were pried wide open, and I saw the world in a new light. Like I totally felt like going out and trying to have a conversation with my favorite birch tree in my backyard.

 However, nature has felt largely disconnected from the rest of the characters during the book series. In fact, in The Two Towers Treebeard refers to some of nature as “growing sleepy, going tree-ish, as you might say.” This disconnection perseveres throughout the story, and I felt like I was showing how we don’t appreciate nature. I was a total nature lover growing up, and it stabs pain into my heart that the woods are being take away from us.

Up until the march on Isengard, nature was largely involved as a passive character, one with thoughts and feelings, however it has lacked any direct communication with the audience. They spoke in a language that is not understood by the rest of the characters, with the only inklings of complex thought coming from the correspondence with Treebeard or the reaction of the trees in the Old Forest to Tom Bombadil’s singing. However, the actions of nature reflect a much deeper understanding of the world around it. They were capable of sadness, as Treebeard reflected on the disappearance of the entwives and recounted the songs he would sing as they searched. They were capable of anger, as the trees chanted “Down with Saruman!” while they marched towards Isengard. And even more than this, they were aware of the sacrifice they were making in going to Isengard. Of their attack of Isengard, Treebeard said “likely enough that we are going to our doom… But if we stayed home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway.” I mean I got literal chills reading that quote. After reading that section I was ready to go out, chain myself to a tree, and save the planet. I am so moved by the nature in his books, and I hope you are all just as moved by my piece!