#treants

From “The Day Loki Stole Thor’s Magic Hammer” in Journey into Mystery #92, May 1963. Stan Lee plot, Robert Bernstein script, Joe Sinnott pencils & inks, Stan Goldberg (?) colors, Marty Epp letters.

Treants - Unlike elves and dwarfs, who have a bit of plausible deniability from folklore and mythology, treants are explicitly taken from the works of Tolkien. To the point that there was a need for a legally distinct name for them, as "ent" is owned and copyrighted. What is lost in these translations is, I think, the good part of ents. They are basically a sort of giant (I believe ent is derived from eotan) that shepherd trees like sheep until they become almost indistinguishable from them. Most iterations of treants play them out as simply human-like trees.

Treants are a race of giants, but ones mostly ambivalent to the cosmological order. While it would be tempting to have them play a role like Silvanus or Leshy, this ambivalence is in itself a little intriguing. They have no positive or negative relationships with others, save that they treat their "flocks" with care. They are slow, but not dimwitted, keeping to themselves. During their long periods of dormancy they hear the whispers from Mother Earth. Whether they pay her mind or not is anyone's guess. Treants come from her, having stone-like bones and mud-like blood. As time goes on, their curly hair tangles and becomes infested with lichen and algae, and the lines in their skin run deep, making them appear tree-like.

Halflings - Or, let's be frank, hobbits. Hobbits are in the same boat as ents, see above. In the world of Middle Earth, hobbits are most often likened to humans. However, in terms of their origins and general nature, they seem to fit the bill of elves and fairies more. Elves are derived from the "high" mythology and epic sagas that Tolkien so loved, while hobbits/halflings are derived from "low" folklore. The idea of another race of people, generally smaller than us, living beneath the Earth, invisible to most, is ubiquitous across Western Europe. And heck, even the world.

Does this make halflings fairies? Sort of. I would consider the the fairy version of the penguin or ostrich. They lost many of the fantastical qualities that define fairies in favor of living shorter but more productive material lives. This meshes well with the innate luck that halflings tend to possess, and the fact that the original monster manual calls leprechauns "a species of halfling with strong pixie strain".

And the Monster boys to go with the Monster girls! There are only four for now but the fifth one might appear t̴͎̗̄̃ó̴͓̹̌͝m̶̂ͅo̵̧͆ŗ̶̖̻̅͝r̶͙͂̐̓ŏ̷̭̫͒͠w̴͈̐. 

If you’re interested, they each have a more detailed description and lore on their DeviantArt page, along with the monter girls:

Adam, Incubus

Anil, Vishnu’s Avatar

Kaj, Treant

Battle in Ashenvale

Old work for Blizzard WOW Chronic Vol.3. Grommash Hellscream and Warsong orcs fighting Cenarius, treants, and night elf archers and huntresses in Ashenvale.

Well hey there tomodachis, here were are again. My friends.It’s almost the finale for the first issue of Chlorofields. The next update will be the ending..but it’s a short one because updates will continue with season 2! I hope you all enjoyed the thing though. It’s been a trip and a half. I poured a ton of myself into this book so far and I’m excited to share it with you all. Thank you very much for all the reads, likes and other supports, everyone!

You can read the full comic on Tapas or deviantArt or with #chlorofields

https://tapas.io/series/Chlorofields

https://lumdrop.deviantart.com/gallery/65258441/Chlorofields-season-1-Shake-Off-the-Dust