Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. Today’s post is an exploration of various Faery Beings that are the embodiment of the Forest brought to life. Specifically, I will be examining the Green Man, the Green Knight, Dryads from Greek myth, and Ents from Middle-Earth in this post. It is beyond fascinating to see just how prolific the personification of the Woodland is throughout various myths, legends, and literary examples!
Dryads are the Tree Nymphs of Greek myth, the actual living embodiment of the Tree. The Green Man has been seen in architecture (often churches) in Britain since at least the medieval period. There is a lot of discussion over whether the Green Man originated as a Pagan Forest God or if he is more of a Forest Spirit that later became utilized as a protective spirit for churches. One thing that is pretty accepted is that the Green Knight of the Arthurian legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an Arthurian evolution of the Green Man! Then there are the Ents, the Shepherds of the Forest of Middle-Earth, and they appear as giant living and moving Trees. The most famous and important Ent in The Lord of the Rings is Treebeard!
Dryads are known to be very protective of the Tree and the Forest in general since, as the embodiment of the Tree, it is often stated that they cannot survive if the Tree is killed. There are also tales in Greek mythology where human women, or Nymphs that are not Dryads, get transformed into Trees by the Gods. The two examples that come to the forefront of my mind when I think of this are the Nymph Daphne, who is transformed into a Laurel Tree to save her from the unwanted advances of Apollo, who had become obsessed with her, and Myrrah, the human woman who is the mother of Adonis, who is transformed into the Myrrh Tree to prevent her father from killing her. In both of these cases, the Tree the woman becomes is later Sacred to a Deity. The Laurel Tree became Sacred to Apollo, as it was as close as he could be to Daphne. The Myrrh Tree became Sacred to Aphrodite, as it is from the Myrrh Tree that Adonis is eventually born. Of course, there is so much more to these myths, but the basic story shows the Sacredness of the Forest and how the Woodland is embodied in Greek myth!
The Green Man is often celebrated as a Deity, or at least as a powerful Spirit of the Forest by modern Pagans, but it is unclear where he actually originated. As I mentioned above, the Green Man is often depicted in medieval churches, and these are the earliest depictions of him that are extant, which is why it is difficult to ascertain whether he was worshipped as a Great God of the Woodland by the Ancient Celts, or is more of a personification of the Woodland used as a protective apotropaic symbol during the medieval period, only later to be adopted as a God of the Woodland. Either way, the importance of the Green Man in Britain and across the world, especially for modern nature-based beliefs, is huge! This leads nicely into the connection to the Green Knight. In the Arthurian tale, the Green Knight is actually Sir Bertilak, who had been transfigured via Faery Glamour into the Green Knight by ‘Morgan the Goddess’ as he refers to her! This is one of the earliest texts where Morgan le Fay is expressly stated to be a Goddess, however, in the text, it can also be read as Bertilak simply showing her respect rather than his actual belief in her divinity, which is likely how the author got away with using this term. In creating the Green Knight, Morgan le Fay is bringing the very Forest to life to challenge the norms being set by Camelot, the Wildness of Nature being at odds with and challenging the gentility of the Court! It is via the Green Knight that Morgan can set forth challenges for Gawain to prove his worthiness as a Knight and possible future heir to Arthur. It is also via the Green Knight that we can surmise that the Wildness of the Natural World is present in Gawain, and he could be able to encourage others to remember a reverence for nature!
Finally, the Ents in The Lord of the Rings are literally depicted as Trees who walk and talk. They take the concepts laid forth by each of the previously discussed Woodland Spirits and are actualized as great protectors of the Natural World. The Ents are called Onodrim, meaning tree hosts, by the Elves, and it was the Elves who taught the Ents to speak! So, we are once again seeing a connection between the Fae and living embodiments of the Forests, which makes sense given just how deeply connected to the Natural World the many species of Fae tend to be. The Ents took on the role of Shepherds of the Trees, protecting several Forests in Middle-Earth from all sorts of perils, notably ruin by the Orcs. One facet that makes the Ents unique is that they were said to have become more treelike over time, as they have lived for millennia, becoming more and more like the Trees they shepherd! I really enjoy the sections of The Lord of the Rings featuring Treebeard, as he is highly entertaining, and I find him soothing in his protective energy. It is also quite nice that the Ents do not rush in any way, be it the speed with which they act or even the tempo at which they speak, as every choice is made with great forethought!
At the end of the day, there have been stories of the Woodlands and Forests being brought to life since time immemorial, which I think serves to show just how magickal and sentient those places truly are. I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of various beings that fall into the category of Embodiments of the Forest. Who is your favorite Spirit of the Forest? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a magnificent statue of an Ent. I found the picture on https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/bua68a/the_ents/?rdt=54242.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
- Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
- The Fairy Bible by Teresa Moorey
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien