Why Didn’t Saruman Defeat The Ents?

Among the many things Saruman does in The Lord of the Rings, not dealing with the Ents when he had the chance is considered one of the biggest plot holes in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. After all, it could have prevented his downfall.

In The Two Towers, Treebeard even reveals that Saruman was once friends with the Ents and used to frequently visit them. So it’s not as if Saruman simply didn’t know that the Ents were right outside of Isengard. He was well aware of them, yet chose to destroy their forests and ignore their presence.

For being such a powerful white wizard, this seems like such a foolish mistake to make. Surely, Saruman had his reasons for averting his attention from the Ents in The Lord of the Rings. So why did Saruman choose not to defeat the Ents?

Saruman Didn’t Suspect The Ents Would Attack

The most straightforward answer is that Saruman simply had no reason to think the Ents would ever attack him or Isengard.

Like Treebeard mentioned, Saruman used to be friends with the Ents. This meant he knew their ways fairly well, or at least he thought he did. Based on everything Saruman knew, the Ents have never chosen to engage in battle, no matter what the threat to them or their forests might have been.

In the past, both Morgoth and Sauron committed horrible crimes against the Ents, and the Ents never retaliated. Early in Middle Earth history, Morgoth went so far as to tarnish the Ents themselves. He did this by using them to create Trolls, which turned out to be less wise and less powerful than the Ents. Sauron on the other hand completely wiped out the Entwives (Ent women), leaving the Ents as a dwindling species. In neither situation did the Ents do anything to protect themselves.

So why would they choose to fight now if they have always avoided conflict in the past? Saruman had good reason not to suspect any type of conflict to come from them.

Saruman Knew How Powerful Treebeard And The Ents Were

Even if Saruman had thought the Ents would attack, it’s likely he would do everything in his power to avoid that situation if he saw it coming.

Just because the Ents have historically been peaceful creatures, doesn’t mean they aren’t extremely powerful, and dangerous. Merry and Pippin even note just how much physical strength they have. Ents are old and wise creatures, capable of tearing apart rocks and boulders with their bare hands.

And Saruman knew just how powerful the Ents truly were. If he had waged a war against the Ents, he knew the Ents stood every chance of coming out the victor. Risking this outcome could have severely devastated his plans. And that wasn’t something he was going to leave to chance.

Not only were the Ents creatures of extreme power that had the ability to wipe out Saruman’s forces at Isengard, but they held a value Saruman couldn’t even begin to comprehend as a strength. The Ents were merciful beings. To Saruman, mercy was a weakness. However, it was something he could expect from the Ents, even if he didn’t see their attack coming.

Saruman’s Power Was Restricted

Lastly, had Saurman wanted to defeat the Ents, he would have been doing so with extremely restricted power.

Throughout the course of The Lord of the Rings, Saruman has been focusing all of his strength and resources on industrializing Middle Earth. Yes, Saruman is a servant of Sauron and sent the Uruk-hai to capture the hobbits to obtain the One Ring. But the chances of him handing the ring over to Sauron had his orcs managed to get it were slim to none. Saruman’s main goal was to take over Middle-Earth, and he started this journey by industrializing his stronghold of Isengard. If Saruman was able to get a hold of the One Ring, it would have made it much easier for him to completely take over Middle Earth.

But with everything Saruman was balancing, it stretched his resources extremely thin. He was essentially putting everything he had into industrializing, which meant he didn’t have much power or resources to use elsewhere.

He already knew what the Ents were capable of with their strength. Going up against them with limited power meant Saruman would have to use what little resources he had available to be able to stand a chance against them. That was something he couldn’t afford, especially since he needed to pour his power and resources into his other endeavors, such as attacking Rohan.

However, in Saruman’s case, he severely underestimated how passionate Treebeard and the rest of the Ents were when it came to protecting their forests in The Lord of the Rings. While the Ents typically like to take things slow, with the help of Gandalf, Merry, and Pippin, they were able to march on Isengard and defeat Saruman and his forces.