HUORNS
Tolkien's character
Treebeard describes both Ents that become tree-ish, and trees that
become Entish. Meriadoc Brandybuck believed Huorns to be the former,
although Treebeard would not say much about them. Huorns can create
darkness to conceal their movements and are capable of moving quickly
and quietly. They still have voices and can speak to the Ents, but
unlike Ents, they do not seem able to speak intelligibly to other
races.
According to Treebeard,
Huorns have become queer, wild and dangerous. They watch over the
trees but are in turn looked over by Ents. Merry believes there are
hundreds and hundreds of them in the darkest dales of Fangorn forest.
It is possible that some of the trees of the Old Forest, especially
Old Man Willow, were Huorns as well. Both forests were once parts of
the same primeval forest. A connection is implied by Treebeard's
statement in response to Merry's question as to whether the Old
Forest was similar to the dark spots of Fangorn forest:
"Aye, aye,
something like, but much worse. I do not doubt that there is some
shadow of the Great Darkness lying there still away north; and bad
memories are handed down. But there are some hollow dales in this
land where the Darkness has never been lifted, but the trees are
older than I am."
History
Huorns could have
existed as far back as the First Age when the Ents appeared. They
make their first appearance in The Two Towers when they take part in
the Last March of the Ents and participated in the Destruction of
Isengard and the Battle of the Hornburg, destroying all orcs trying
to escape the battles.
Etymology
Huorn is the name
in the "short-language" of the Ents, given because the
Huorns "still have voices". It includes the Sindarin noun
orn which means "tree". The meaning of the hu
element is unknown, Tolkien himself seemed unsure. In the Huorn entry
in a wordlist published in Parma Eldalamberon Tolkien gives the
possible Sindarin roots hô, hyoba and hû. The
description of hô could be interpreted "speak, show"
which would correspond with the earlier names for Huorns in The War
of the Ring which all meant "talking trees".
Game
Statistics (for GURPS 4.0)
Attributes:
ST 30, DX 10, IQ 6, HT 20.
Secondary
Characteristic: SM +2, HP +20, Per +4, Will +4, Basic Speed 5.5,
Basic Move 8.
Advantages:
Constriction Attack, Damage
Resistance 8,
Doesn't
Breath, Doesn't
Sleep, Extended Lifespan 7,
Haigh Pain Threshold,
Indomitable, Injury Tolerance (Homogenous), Obscure
6
(Vision [cloud of darkness],
Defensive, Area of Effect 8
yards, Mobile, Persistant),
Plant Empathy, Reduced
Consumption 3, Regrowth, Resistant
to Disease +3, Resistant to Poison +3, Speak with Plants, Spines
(long), Terror (Always On), Unfazeable.
Disadvantages:
Bad Temper, Berserk, Cannot Speak, Fragile (Combustible), No fine
Manipulation, No Sense of Humor, Sense of Duty (Trees), Social Stigma
(Monster), Stubborness.
Skills: Brawling
14, Camouflage 15, Gardening 15, Herb Lore/3 14, Observation 13,
Power Blow 12, Stealth 13, Survival (Forest) 15, Throwing 12,
Tracking 12.Attacks: Punch 15 [3d+2], Kick 13 [3d+3], Throw (what the Huorn can reach, usually large boulders) 13 [various damage].
[Note: Description, History and Etymology taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huorn!]
