Evidently trees were very important to Tolkien. At least, they are in The Lord of the Rings, and throughout Tolkien’s legendarium. We see their significance in the ways the trees are personified, throughout the various forests pictured. We of course have the ents, the caretakers of the trees, and then there is the nature aesthetics of Lothlorien. The most striking aspect of Tolkien’s understanding of trees is simply their immense value. We get a sense throughout the stories that trees are so much more than simply a backdrop or setting, but a vitally important aspect of life. As Tolkien’s work celebrates the majesty of creation, trees are a terribly significant part of this. But why the significance? Ultimately the importance of trees comes down to both the relationship between trees and people and the sacred significance of trees and wood.
Trees have a deep relationship with people. We couldn’t survive without them. They purify the air that we breath, and they grow the food that we eat. More often than not, however, humanity takes a stance towards the earth of possession and taking. We cut down the trees, we grow the food, we turn the land into something that serves our purposes. Tolkien, however, in his writing, requests an attitude towards the earth that is more thankful. This is perhaps localized most directly in the characters of the ents, as well as in the Old Forest and Old Man Willow. Here the Ents are the caretakers of the trees, which is necessary in light of people not caring for the trees. Trees are discarded, as well as the land used as orchards or groves, which the ent-wives care for. The Old Forest represents a body of trees malevolent towards “free creatures”, because of the evils they had been subjected to at their hands. We have a body of trees crying out against people for the ways the people have mistreated them. Tolkien does not create an idyllic people-earth relationship here, but instead imagines the trees speaking for themselves and having agency. It seems that was is being explored here is how we as people ought to relate to trees. Tolkien is arguing for a certain respect that is due something from which we receive. Trees provide for us, so we ought to provide for and respect them in return. It’s a curious philosophical statement, that says we owe something, even to something unmoving and silent.
The religious background of trees, would have been, for Tolkien, of immense importance. In the book of Exodus, the ark of the covenant, where God himself resides, is made of wood, covered in gold. Then again in the gospels, Christ dies on a cross fashioned from wood. So wood, in the scriptures, takes on a sacred quality. The wood of the cross on which Christ died continues to be venerated around the world as sacred. For Tolkien this is an intimate part of his understanding of the trees. The candelabra in Exodus is also described as treelike, having branches, and many kinds of trees and wood are mentioned throughout. This would have been of vital importance to Tolkien. Wood and leaf images are of great importance, as evidenced by the silver elvish brooch in the shape of a leaf. In the religious context, it is not only that we owe something to the trees, but that the trees are themselves sacred. What does it mean that the trees are sacred? This already gives them importance and value. It’s simply a way of saying that they are significant because of how they are made. In the same way that Tolkien might say that human beings are intrinsically valuable because they are created by God, so trees have the same significance and value, backed up by sacred uses in the scriptures.
Ultimately Tolkien’s argument seems to be that trees are important, and that this demands a certain response. Tolkien himself had an immense love of trees, and this bleeds into every page of his writing. The sanctity of trees is in opposition to the way people treat and understand trees. The symbiotic relationship between trees and humanity demands that we steward and care for the trees. Tolkien represents this also by his connections between trees and Jewels, as mentioned earlier in the course. The significance of the trees, I think, is tied into a greater significance of the earth and everything in it. Throughout Tolkien’s legendarium there is a great significance to everything that exists. Nothing happens by chance and nothing is frivolous. This is immediately present in the songs and the importance of music, which finds its source in the very music of creation. It is also present in the fact that every story and character has a vital place in the immense backstory of the entire mythology. So for Tolkien, everything is significant and important, including the trees.
What does this significant mean for us, the readers? It means respect. Respect for not only trees but everything we find in nature. It is bigger than simply what nature provides us and bigger than simply the fact that wood can have sacred uses, but it is the fact that nature is bigger than us. And this idea is bigger than Tolkien, but it is terribly important in Tolkien. Nature is greater than we give it credit for. All kinds of trees, massive forests, terrible forests all represent the deep, ancient reality that is nature. Humanity would do well to step into the earth learning from nature, rather than seeking to bend nature to its will.
-CO
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