May 14, 2002

Ents in the Shire
Tavra

Ok, about the ents in the Shire. I think that Tolkien maybe just put it in the books in one of first drafts, and decided at the end that it was fine for it to be there.

But why did he put it in in the first place? Well, I think I have an idea. There's this book called "The Return of the Shadow." My sister has it. Anyway, it's pretty cool. It's 'written' by Tolkien, and edited by tolkien Jr. (Chris). It is the first of about.... I don't know. Anyway, the first of a bunch of books that are just a bunch of Tolkiens original drafts. Well, in his first drafts, when he thought he was only writing a cute, boring, short sequel to the Hobbit (that's what he thought at first!) he had Treebeard as a (this is funny) sinister guy who wants to kill the hobbits. And he lives near the Shire. So, that's probably what Hal saw at first, but as the drafts got edited, added to, enlarged, and changed from a cute story to an epic, Treebeard (thankfully)was changed to the un-hasty-like fellow that many of us like. And that one in the Shire? Well, I don't know what it's supposed to be in the finished story, but the first drafts might be where it came from.

To Diana: of course non-LOTR fans can come to this sight. I'm sure they would recognize a good humoured joke though, unlike a certain someone:).