Treebeard is an Ent in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
Treebeard, whose Elvish name is Fangorn, is the oldest of the Ents encountered by the story’s main characters. Ents are shepherds of trees: tree-like beings created to protect and care for the forests of Middle-earth.
Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard in Fangorn Forest after escaping from the Orcs who captured them. Their conversation helps persuade the Ents to take action against Saruman, whose industrial expansion is destroying trees and threatening the natural world.
Treebeard is sometimes confused with a Huorn, another tree-related being in Tolkien’s mythology. Huorns are more tree-like and less openly communicative, whereas Treebeard is an Ent with a distinct personality, long memory, and a central role in the assault on Isengard.