Treebeard is the giant tree-like Ent who helps the hobbits in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. His Sindarin name is Fangorn, and he is the oldest of the Ents introduced in the story.
Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard in Fangorn Forest after escaping from the Orcs who captured them. At first, Treebeard is cautious and slow to act. The hobbits tell him about the destruction caused by Saruman, whose industrial activity is damaging forests and enslaving trees.
Treebeard eventually calls an Entmoot, a gathering of Ents, to discuss Saruman’s actions. The Ents decide to march on Isengard, Saruman’s stronghold, and overwhelm it. Treebeard’s role connects the plot to Tolkien’s concerns about environmental destruction and industrialization, while the Ents also draw on older traditions of talking trees and beings associated with ancient forests.