Ents are a race of beings in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world Middle-earth who closely resemble trees. They are similar to the talking trees in folklore around the world. Their name is derived from the Anglo Saxon word for giant. The ents appear in the lord of the rings as ancient shepherds of the forest and allies of the free peoples of middle earth during the war of the ring. The ent who figures most prominently in the book is treebeard who credibly claims to be the oldest creature in middle earth. At the time the lord of the rings takes place there are no young ents endings because the wives female ents were lost. Things are akin to horns whom treebeard describes as a transitional form of trees that become animated or conversely as ents who grow more treelike over time. Inspired by Tolkien and similar traditions animated or anthropomorphic tree creatures appear in a variety of media and works of fantasy.