J.R.R. Tolkien names Treebeard as the oldest Ent in Middle-earth. His Sindarin name is Fangorn, which is also the name of the ancient forest where he lives.
Treebeard appears prominently in The Two Towers. Merry and Pippin meet him after fleeing from the Orcs, and their conversations help awaken the Ents to the danger posed by Saruman’s destruction of the forests around Isengard.
Ents are tree-like shepherds created to protect the growing things of Middle-earth. Treebeard explains that the Ents are becoming fewer because the Entwives have disappeared, a mystery that Tolkien never resolves in a completed narrative.
Treebeard is sometimes confused with the forest itself because both are called Fangorn. In the story, Fangorn is Treebeard’s personal name in Sindarin and also the name of the woodland region associated with him.