Treebeard is an Ent in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
Ents are ancient, tree-like shepherds who protect the forests of Middle-earth. Treebeard, whose Sindarin name is Fangorn, is the oldest of the Ents and gives his name to Fangorn Forest, where much of his story takes place.
Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard after escaping from the Uruk-hai. Their account of Saruman’s destruction of forests helps persuade the Ents to attack Isengard. The Ents’ march against Saruman is one of the major turning points in The Two Towers.
Treebeard is not a tree and not a wizard. Ents are a distinct people created by Tolkien, and their slow speech and long deliberations are central features of the narrative. Tolkien drew on older traditions about talking or animated trees, but Treebeard and the Ents have their own role in his mythology.