New Tolkien Letter Solves Old Mystery of Hal and the Ent, Sparks New Questions!

This is the definition of a red letter day! Christie's has just posted notice of the upcoming auction of a previously-unknown letter of J.R.R Tolkien's, written on February 28th, 1966, to a Miss Jenny Hall of Hillcrest, Hatfield, Herts.

I am so grateful to my friend, Graeme Cheadle, for bringing my attention to this letter, and it's hard to imagine a topic that would delight me more, because this missive solves the great mystery of what Sam Gamgee's cousin Hal saw on his hunting trip beyond the North Moors. Not only does Professor Tolkien confirm that the walking elm tree was an ent but, amazingly, that Gandalf had asked a couple of ents to keep a watch on the Shire! Moreover, the handwritten postscript to the letter gives us a whole new dimension to Treebeard, who apparently knew more about hobbits than he lets on to Merry and Pippin. All of this is so deeply exciting to me. It confirms for me that my intuition was right when I painted "What Hal Saw Beyond The North Moors".

About a year ago, I published this blog post titled Did Hal See An Ent Beyond the North Moors of the Shire when I debuted this painting on this exciting topic, sparking wonderful debate throughout the Tolkien community. So many readers reached out to me with their theories, including that Hal did see an Ent, or that he might have seen an Entwife, or, quite creatively, that perhaps he saw a Huorn that had wandered out of the eerie Old Forest. I loved reading all of these guesses. As you can see from the painting, my own best guess was that it was, indeed, an Ent that cousin Hal witnessed as he was hunting while on a break from his work for Mr Boffin at Overhill. The conversation was extra enjoyable to me, because it was a little like being part of the original chat that takes place in the Shire in The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 2: The Shadow of the Past:

“But what about these Tree-men, these giants, as you might call them? They do say that one bigger than a tree was seen up away beyond the North Moors not long back."
"Who's they?"
"My cousin Hal for one. He works for Mr. Boffin at Overhill and goes up to the Northfarthing for the hunting. He saw one.'” - The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 2: The Shadow of the Past

Famously, Sam's neighbors are quite dismissive of this tale when he shares it at the Green Dragon Inn at Bywater, but I've always believed the Gamgees about this sighting and it feels like a very special gift to finally have confirmation from dear Professor Tolkien about what Hal saw. If you'd like to spend a minute savoring this moment in Middle-earth history, here's the video I created to capture what I formerly hoped (and now know!) really happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctTFtWq0Kjo

New Questions For Tolkien Readers

Here's a close-up of the handwritten postscript to this wonderful letter. It moves me so much to see this familiar handwriting. And while the epistle has now solved the mystery of what Hal saw, here are some new questions for the Tolkien community to consider:

QUESTION 1: We now know that, like the Rangers, at least one or two Ents were guarding the Shire, all unbeknownst to the hobbits and that the walking elm tree was one of these, sent by dear Gandalf. A whole new vista of Middle-earth history opens up with this revelation! When and where do you think Gandalf had this conversation with the ents to ask them to watch over the Shire? Was it in Fangorn forest? Somewhere else? Can you attempt to pinpoint this exchange logically anywhere in the known timeline? As for me, I find I love Gandalf even more after reading the newly-found letter, because it is another demonstration of his special love for the Shire.

QUESTION 2: We also have confirmation that the Ent Hal saw was (sadly) not an Entwife, as some readers previously hoped. I know I'm not alone in thinking that Third Age western Eriador seems like a really good place for the lost Entwives to be located, given not only the farms and gardens of the hobbits, but also the cornlands of the lost Great North Kingdom that preceded hobbit migration over the Brandywine. Given what we now know from the letter to Miss Hall, what is your current thought on whether the Entwives yet lived? If some were still in this agricultural region, might the Ents guarding the Shire have found them? Does the new information make you think it more or less likely that the Ents ever found the Entwives?

QUESTION 3: Why was Treebeard so cagey with Merry and Pippin? This is fascinating to me! We have the entire episode in the chapter 'Treebeard' in The Two Towers in which old Fangorn reveals that the hobbits are not part of the Ents' old lists of the lore of living creatures. Tolkien's postscript reveals that Treebeard knew more about events and about hobbits than he pretended to Merry and Pippin. Is this an instance of him not wanting to be so hasty that he revealed he already knew plenty about the Little Folk? Was he merely being polite in allowing the hobbits to suggest their own description of themselves be added to the list lore? If Gandalf's request for a couple of ents to guard the Shire took place in the forest of Fangorn, then it seems Treebeard would have known about it. Perhaps it was the very first instance in which the ents had heard of hobbits, meaning there hadn't been enough time in ent-time to add them to the lists. Such interesting speculative possibilities here! What do you think?

QUESTION 4: How many Hobbit-Ent encounters occurred prior to Merry and Pippin's visit to Fangorn forest? A close reading of what Sam Gamgee says at the Green Dragon seems to suggest that there was previous local talk about "these Tree-men, these giants, as you might call them." Like Fredegar Bolger's nurse's bogey-stories, there appears to be enough chat in the Shire about some kinds of large walking beings for Sam to reference Hal's sighting as just one of a rumored phenomenon of such encounters. What might Merry and Pippin have heard of all this? Remember that the Brandybucks have their own private entrance into the Old Forest, and know that the trees there are alive in strange-seeming ways, but Merry and Pippin seem quite stunned by their meeting with Treebeard, so it seems unlikely that either of them had seen one of the Shire-guarding ents. Yet, clearly, some of their neighbors had. How many hobbits do you think had a sighting similar to Hal's and either revealed it to disbelieving friends or held it back for fear of being scoffed at, like Sam was when he told his cousin's tale?

QUESTION 5:

What other mysteries might be addressed by Tolkien letters made public in future? Not long ago, I heard a Tolkien scholar remark that we are unlikely to find any more new substantial manuscripts of the Professor's. This is, of course, sad, but don't forget - there are the letters! Tolkien was a prolific correspondent and I little doubt that there are many letters still kept in private treasuries or floating about out there in the world that could tell us so much more about Middle-earth. What if there are letters that explain the remarks at the beginning of The Hobbit about who the hobbit lads and lasses were whom Gandalf took off on adventures, or why the Old Took's three daughters were 'remarkable', or where Isengar Took landed when he went to sea, or whether Goldilocks Gamgee is the origin of the Big Folk tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Devoted early Tolkien readers asked the author so many wonderful questions, and he replied with so many remarkable answers. What other mysteries would you most love to see solved in a newly-discovered Tolkien letter?

Invaluable Extra Glimpses of Tolkien's Faërie

The news today of the letter gives me a full-body thrill because it offers us one more new glimpse into J.R.R. Tolkien's unsurpassed Faërie. Gandalf, Treebeard, Merry, and Pippin seem to live again in a new way because we have learnt something new about them. All my fondness for the legendarium is kindled afresh by such a happening.

Writing this blog post today gave me occasion to go back and review the one I'd written when I debuted the painting of "What Hal saw beyond the North Moors" and reminded me of the curious thing that happened while I was working on that canvas.

There are no elm trees in my neighborhood (most of this noble species has fallen to disease) and, yet, when I took a break from painting and went for a walk in my driveway, I found a shimmering, golden elm samara lying like a magical treasure in my path. In some fairy-tale way, I felt the Professor had sent a little seedpod of encouragement floating along to me. Fanciful, perhaps, but then, no one could really account for what Sam's cousin saw, either. As it turns out, there was a very good explanation of what Hal experienced, and I suspect that my visitation by an elm samara in the midst of painting what looks like an elm tree walking has a genuine explanation, too. Like the elves, I've become a believer in things that are "more than chance."

I'm so happy that we've all gotten to read this letter today. I wonder who will buy it. Good wishes to any who have the budget for such a treasure, and I hope the listing remains live after the auction so that many can encounter this new old lore for free. What a wonderful discovery. And now, I'm off to paint something new, feeling quite refreshed by this morning's news.