Why Do Trees Need Herding? J. R. R. Tolkien’s Mastery of Trees in The Lord of the Rings

Abstract

Why Do Trees Need Herding? J. R. R. Tolkien’s Mastery of Trees in The Lord of the Rings Mary-Anne Potter (bio) and Deirdre C. Byrne (bio) Introduction J. R. R. Tolkien is known to have loved trees and advocated for them against the forces of industrialization. He wrote to The Daily Telegraph in 1972: “In all of my works, I take the part of trees as against all their enemies” (419).1 The “enemies” of trees include industry and machines; the entire modern era of manufacture and sale of commodities; the densification of housing; and the demand for more edible crops to support livestock for meat. The Ents represent Tolkien’s righteous anger against those who would turn the trees into material for imperialist ends. Saruman needs timber for his war effort on behalf of Sauron, but the Ents do not take this kindly, and Saruman receives the punishment he deserves for mistreating the trees. The march of the Ents and Huorns to Isengard, which they destroy, inspired by the Birnam Wood march to Dunsinane to defeat a tyrant in Macbeth, is emblematic of Tolkien’s “tak[ing] the part of trees” in The Lord of the Rings (LotR).2 This article explores Tolkien’s advocacy of trees, particularly focusing on contrapuntal voices in his depiction of trees in LotR. Tolkien’s hierarchy of values is shown in that all his forests are cared for by human, or humanoid, stewards.3 Environmental critic John Elder defines stewardship in LotR as “faithful and discerning action on behalf of a beloved landscape and community . . . the knowledgeable and practical service of living communities” (Dickerson and Evans xi). This sounds very loving, but implies superior human knowledge and insight. The trees do not act or speak on their own and are not represented from their own perspective; they are always seen, [End Page 277] and spoken for, by their stewards. We trace Tolkien’s propensity to speak for trees to his Catholic humanism, which leads him to adopt a position of control and mastery4 over his fictive creations. The question of “who speaks?” reminds us of postcolonial theorizing about subaltern voice and agency,5 and raises concern about who has the right to speak and act. We begin with an exploration of Tolkien’s, specifically LotR’s, Catholic humanism. We then discuss non-humanist paradigms that we find useful in thinking about the portrayal of trees in LotR. Finally, we read the relationships between forests and their eco-stewards in LotR (Lothlórien, the Old Forest and Fangorn) diffractively through nonhumanist paradigms. For Barad, diffractive reading “place[s] the understandings that are generated from different (inter) disciplinary approaches in conversation with each other” (92–93) to “produce a new way of thinking about the nature of difference” (73). Our diffractive reading of LotR concludes that, while the novel constitutes a paean to trees, it also keeps its author’s humanism intact. A Liberal Humanist Love of Trees Tolkien’s love of trees permeated his capacity to make sense of his context and life events, as well as his self-expression in language. Further, Tolkien’s Catholic humanism directs his response to trees. First, he often used arboreal images in his personal writings. Following the death of fellow Inkling and close friend, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien wrote: “So far I have felt the normal feelings of a man of my age—like an old tree that is losing all its leaves one by one: this feels like an axe-blow near the roots” (“Letters” 258). He also refers to LotR as “my own internal tree” (“Letters” 341), implying that the story takes root and grows from within his psyche. The story appears to have been Tolkien’s inner Yggdrasil: a World Tree and the central axis of his inner world. Frodo’s journey to Mordor serves as the trunk, from which numerous branches grow: Aragorn’s ascension to the throne of Gondor; the war with Sauron and Saruman; Gandalf’s ascension to White Wizard; the Elves’ departure; the hobbits’ growth to warriors and their liberation of the Shire, and so on. Patrick Curry reinforces the arboreal emphasis when he describes Tolkien’s...