History Main / Treants

* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': Groot is a rare science fiction example of this trope, appearing as a towering, plant-like humanoid alien chiefly composed of wood. A bit of a borderline case, as he doesn't share many traits associated with this trope such as an association with forests, although he does posses some degree of control over plant life.

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Several Ents make a came appearance at the end of the pilot episode.

** Older lore mentions Treemen as also inhabiting Avelorn, one of the kingdoms of the High Elven realm, itself a forested land thick with magic and ruled over by the avatar and high priestess of the elven goddess of life. Some sources further claim Avelorn to be home to the largest population of Treemen in the world, by implication eclipsing even Athel Loren's. This was however phased out as the franchise developed, and more recent sources make little to no mention of Avelorn's Treemen.
** An early campaign riffing on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' features a group of treemen led by a certain Klinty attacking [=McDeath's=] castle, which was prophesied not to fall until [[Creator/ClintEastwood Klinty's Wood]] came to it. Being treemen, they're also exempt from the NoManOfWomanBorn clause.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': In "The Tree Man of Arbora", a tree-like being brought to life near a meteor crater grows arms and legs and begins wandering about, consuming enormous quantities of water. It displayed enormous physical strength, easily ripping the hood off of a car to get at the water in its motor and breaking a dam apart with its bare fingers. It at one point disguises itself in a forest by standing still and becoming indistinguishable from normal trees, until a boy carving letters into its trunk angers it back into motion. At the end of the episode, Superman takes the creature to the planet of Abora, which is entirely populated by tree men.

* ''VideoGame/TheRewinder'' has the Tree Sage, a humanoid tree who's actually a nature spirit using the wood as it's body.

* ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'': Ents are rather common monsters, and their wood serves as pretty solid building material. Vandalieu accidentally creates his own ents with his magic while building an orchard, and the most prominent, Eisen, evolves into a gorgeous PlantPerson.

* ''Literature/ETTheBookOfTheGreenPlanet'': On E.T.'s home planet, Jumpums are giant trees that, as their name suggests, jump around.

*** In the GothicHorror-inspired plane of Innistrad, most treefolk, known as https://scryfall.com/search?q=lumberknot&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name lumberknots]], are at most only crudely humanoid, appearing as little more than aggressive, mobile trees with woody, fanged slashes for mouths. They're technically trees [[DemonicPossession possessed by spirits]]. Innistrad is also home to the first spirit treefolk to appear in the game, [[http://magiccards.info/avr/en/207.html Yew Spirit]].

** In ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'', treants are not a naturally occurring race, but are rather formed when a water spirit merges with a living tree growing next to a natural source of water (both extremely rare and precious things in the barren, sterile deserts of Athas) to protect the water and the life growing around it. Due to their origin, Athasian treants can innately cast a number of water-based spells, although they cannot control trees like other treant varieties.

*** In the GothicHorror-inspired plane of Innistrad, most treefolk creatures are nothing like humanoid, appearing as little more than aggressive, mobile trees with woody, fanged slashes for mouths. They're technically trees [[DemonicPossession possessed by spirits]], and are often referred to as lumberknots. Innistrad is also home to the first spirit treefolk to appear in the game, [[http://magiccards.info/avr/en/207.html Yew Spirit]].

** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'':

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', again following loosely from the original book, features a scene with some Treant-ish immobile apple trees. They get angry when Dorothy tries to pick their fruit, but then the Scarecrow [[BriarPatching deliberately goads]] them into hurling apples at him.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'': Treants, generally resembling walking trees of various sorts -- generally leafless, sometimes with topes broken off into stumps, and with faces in their trunks -- appear as monsters in various games, debuting in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''. They're weak to fire attacks and often found in forest areas, and Triffids, Ents and Elder Treants appear as [[EliteMook stronger]] {{Palette Swap}}s of the basic Treant.

** An early campaign riffing on ''{{Theater/Macbeth}}'' featured a group of treemen led by a certain Klinty attacking McDeath's castle, which was prophecized not to fall until [[Creator/ClintEastwood Klinty's Wood]] came to it. Being treemen, they're also exempt from the NoManOfWomanBorn clause.

Subtrope of PlantPerson. See also TheLostWoods (where they'll often live), WiseTree, NatureSpirit, ForestRanger and GaiasVengeance. For when they turn hostile, see also WhenTreesAttack.

** In-universe, the Ents were explicitly created by the nature goddess Yavanna to protect the wilderness from the axes of civilization (and to keep the trees from becoming homicidal). They have an odd sort of immortality: they don't age and live more or less forever, but over time become stiffer, sleepier and more "treeish", rooting themselves and not stirring for increasingly long periods, eventually becoming indistinguishable from normal trees. They still live extremely long before this happens, giving them a ''very'' patient and long-term view on things: they consider reaching a decision after three days of continuous debate almost unseemly hasty. While once fairly widespread, they have become very rare by the time of the trilogy, only living deep within [[TheLostWoods Fangorn Forest]].

** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': [[TheLostWoods The forest of Cormanthor]] is home to a large population of treants, which resemble different trees -- such as birch, willow or oak -- depending on which part of the forest they come from. They are also noted to live in symbiosis with other forest creatures, such as grubs that feed on a kind of mold that infests treants' bodies, toxic fungi that grow around their legs and ward off gnawing rodents and bats that nest in their branches and eat parasitic insects.

** The Treemen are the mightiest inhabitants of [[TheLostWoods Athel Loren]], formed when powerful spirits merge with living trees. Incredibly powerful and ancient, they command great respect from lesser forest spirits and the Wood Elves alike, and are rightfully feared by those outsiders who don't think they're myths or long extinct. They also inhabited Athel Loren long before the Wood Elves and are quite xenophobic, to the point that many see the Wood Elves, who have inhabited and defended the forest alongside the Treemen for millennia, as unwanted interlopers, and want them out of their woods. They've undergone a fair amount of design evolution over time; early treemen largely resemble ogre- or troll-like humanoids made out of wood, with broad heads, no necks, and long and sometimes multiple arms; 8th edition redesigns them to be more humanoid, with distinct necks and smaller heads, large clawed hands, and clusters of leafy branches growing from their necks and shoulders.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'': Trevenant are Pokémon resembling humanoid trees that inhabit [[TheLostWoods the Winding Woods]] of Kalos. Highly protective of their forest, they can control regular trees and show great kindness to the Pokémon that inhabit their land and nest in their bodies, but will ruthlessly attack anyone who exploits their woods. Physically, they're a bit unusual, being about human-sized, walking on six roots instead of legs and being technically the ghosts of humans who died lost in the forest.

This is a very specific type of PlantPerson, usually found in HighFantasy worlds, resembling humanoid trees (often nondescript deciduous trees, but more specific or exotic types show up from time to time). They're typically very long-lived if not immortal, and if so will often be portrayed as very old and wise. You can expect them to be big, too -- they'll usually be the same size as giants, when both races exist in the same setting. These kind of beings will often be [[SuperStrength incredibly strong]], or have a GreenThumb that gives them the ability to control regular plants. The degree to which they are humanoid can also vary. At one end of the scale, they may essentially be giant humans made out of wood and with leafy hair. At the other they may simply be mobile trees, with only rough limbs and facial features, and completely indistinguishable from regular trees when still.

* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' V, the level 6 Sylvan creature is a Treant. Fittingly, they are very slow, but very resilient, having almost as much endurance as some level 7 creatures.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
** [[https://magiccards.info/query?q=t%3Atreefolk&v=scan&s=cname Treefolk]] are a staple type of large Green creatures. For the most part fairly standard examples, they usually appear as reclusive forest dwellers and wardens of the wild, often on good terms with the local elves. Some planes have their own variations:
*** In Lorwyn, the treefolk are the most ancient and long-lived of the intelligent races, and are viewed with great respect by their younger neighbors. They reproduce by spreading large amounts of seeds that grow into regular trees, some of which eventually awaken into new treefolk. They differ in size, physical and magical abilities and role in treefolk society based on the species of tree they resemble -- for instance, oak treefolk are the largest and strongest of their kind, black poplars are healers and rowans are magicians. They're also the only species on the plane to be on generally decent terms with Lorwyn's highly xenophobic elves.
*** In Lorwyn's dark mirror Shadowmoor, the treefolk become warped, skeletal mockeries of their old selves, often only barely humanoid and highly aggressive towards other beings.
*** In the GothicHorror-inspired plane of Innistrad, most treefolk creatures are nothing like humanoid, appearing as little more than aggressive, mobile trees with woody, fanged slashes for mouths. They're technically trees [[DemonicPossession possessed by spirits]]. Innistrad is also home to the only spirit treefolk in the game so far, [[http://magiccards.info/avr/en/207.html Yew Spirit.]]
** Outside of true treefolk, Green-aligned {{elemental|Embodiment}}s such as [[https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/179 Conifer Strider]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/dom/187 Verdant Force]] commonly appear as towering humanoid trees or agglomerations of plant matter. They often exist as protectors of forests and other wild places against advancing civilization, whether they arise spontaneously for this role or are purposefully created out of preexisting plantlife by powerful entities.
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* In ''Franchise/MagicTheGathering,'' Treefolk are a common creature type. Though most frequently [[ColorCodedMagic Green-aligned,]] they sometimes show up in White and Black as well. Frequently, they have high toughness, and often care about a creature's toughness as well--such as [[https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/247/doran-the-siege-tower Doran the Siege Tower,]] who causes creatures to assign damage equal to their toughness instead of their power, or [[https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/274/colfenor-the-last-yew Colfenor, the Last Yew,]] who lets you return creatures to your hand from your graveyard depending on their toughness.

This is a very specific type of PlantPerson, usually found in HighFantasy worlds, resembling humanoid trees (often nondescript deciduous trees, but more specific or exotic types show up from time to time). They're typically very long-lived if not immortal, and if so will often be portrayed as very old and wise. You can expect them to be big, too -- they'll usually be the same size as giants, when both races exist in the same setting. These kind of beings will often be [[SuperStrength incredibly strong]], or have a GreenThumb that gives them the ability to control regular plants.