Ents are tree-heards that are inhabited by spirits which Yavanna sent forth in the First Age. They were to protect the olvar, inanimate living things, until the coming of Men. The Ents were awaken at the same time as the Elves, and the Eldar Elves taught the Ents to speak both Quenya and Sindarin. They later formed their own language and learned various others, such as Westron. Ents roamed free during the First Age, but did not come into any stories, save for when they destroyed the Dwarves that had raided Menegroth, the Underground Halls of Thingol.

Originally there were Ents and Entwives, but at some point in, probably, the early Second Age they became estranged, for the Entwives left to tend the smaller flowers and trees, while the Ents tended the forests. The Entwives taught to men the skill of agriculture, before falling out of recorded history forever. The Ents long searched the forest that ran from Fangorn to The Old Forest, but they never found the Entwives. Eventually the link between the Old Forest and Fangorn was severed, and thus each became an independent forest.

By the Third Age, many Ents had become "treeish" and no longer could move, only watch the world pass by. Some, however, like Fangorn (Treebeard) remained awake and kept a watchful eye over the forest. In 2950 of the Third Age the once friendly Saruman began to invade the Forest Fangorn and cut down the trees. In 3019, inspired by the words of Merry and Pippin, the Ents realized that something had to be done, so they stormed and flooded Isengard, perhaps the greatest of their accomplishments. By the Fourth Age the Ents remained only in Fangorn and faded out of existance one by one.

An Ent is believed to have been something like a fourteen foot tall, half man-half tree creature. Ents honored the trees to which they were related, because, for example, there would be birch Ents and maple Ents, and perhaps oak Ents. Ents spoke, for the most part, Entish, a very long and drawn out language, most certainly not hasty, that no other race could learn. Instead of words, Entish more or less used higher or lower pitched wails or moans, almost like a song if Ents were to speak in unison, as they would at an Entmoot.

An Ent:

By Alan Lee.