Artemis as Embodied in the Ents

Scott M. Potter

Written for Dr. Ginette Paris’ Archetypal Image in Cinema, Summer 2004

“[…] great nature’s key belongs to no divinity but thee” (Orphic Hymn 2 to Prothyraia).

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, released in 2002 and directed by Peter Jackson, is the second movie of a trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, The Lord of the Rings, copyrighted from 1954-5. Throughout the movie, Tolkien’s dislike for the leveling of Nature in the interest of Industrial progress rings loudly. Scene 5, The Burning of the Westfold, provides the clearest example, when the evil wizard Saruman [1] says: “The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machine of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of the orc” (The Two Towers). With this declaration and the images in the film, Jackson captures Tolkien’s mood well, for Isengard is bleak—looking gray and metallic, as in a huge mandala or disk of metal from which at the center thrusts upward a beacon of darkness, the Tower of Saruman. Surrounding the vicinity, orcs [2] chop down the remaining trees in a frenzy of flurried axe swings and with tentacled ropes they drag fallen trees down into the fires of Isengard. I contend that Tolkien tapped into the archetypal energy, field and constellation of Artemis, while engrossed in an attempt to justify the problems of world war and humanity’s striving for advancement through dominating Nature. In this paper, I will discuss aspects of Artemis, especially those connected with Nature, and then tie these into the portrayal of the Ents [3] and their role in the movie.

Note 1: See the Appendix for a list of characters and corresponding actors, along with writers and directors of the movie.
Note 2: Orcs were black elves, according to some, and soldiers and villains in the movie, slaves of Sauran, the dark lord, and Saruman, his co-conspirator.
Note 3: Ents were tree-herders who resembled trees and some of the original beings on Earth, after the supernatural.


That Tolkien, as pointed out in The Tolkien Reader, was concerned about the “sense of separation of ourselves from beasts” (84), or Artemis as Nature, is not commonly debated. Yet, what is often lost, but shows clearly in the movie, is that Tolkien was also concerned about the “absence of the sense of separation” (98), meaning that he saw humanity fast losing sight of its separation from the wild. Scene 8, Nightcamp at Fangorn, demonstrates this aptly, as orcs chop down trees for fire, instead of searching for dead wood littering the forest floor, and the forest reacts with angry groans and low mutterings that give some orcs pause. Treebeard [4], in scene 28, Isengard Unleashed, states: “Always smoke rising from Isengard these days… There was a time when Saruman would walk in my woods, but now he has a mind of metal and wheels. He no longer cares for growing things” (The Two Towers). Thus, the stage is set for the building anger of the Ents and their flocks of trees. Such wanton destruction of their kin and obvious withdrawal from communing with them occurs frequently at the hands of orcs controlled by Saruman and Sauran, which will lead to resounding retaliation. What remains obscure in the film, only mentioned briefly, is that the Ents have experienced prior tragedy due to the influence of humans, orcs and the dastardly powers of those in league with machines (Industrial Age), as the Entwives were destroyed during the destruction of a particular woods with which the Entwives were trying to protect and foster community. Therefore, the Ents have even more reason to despise humans and orcs than simply deforestation that is the spoiling of Nature or Artemis.

Note 4: Treebeard was the eldest Ent, or shepherd of the trees, and is sometimes called the oldest being on Earth. When Cronus castrates Uranus, “from the bloody drops Earth conceived the Furies, Giants and Nymphs of the Ash-Trees” (Grant 87). Therefore, the Nymphs of the Ash-Trees predate Aphrodite and the rest of the Olympians, which gives credence to Tolkien’s identification with Treebeard being one of the first beings on Earth.


Artemis represents nature, untamed and wild, or, nature unspoiled by humanity, among other things. Christine Downing, in The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine, states: “[Artemis] is the transition” (182). The transition Downing refers to is that of pre-pubescent girl into woman through the act of childbirth. I think that Artemis represents other elements of transition as well, namely that of transformation in general, especially the transformation that overtakes one while in the forest or on the mountain. In Scene 30, Arwen’s Fate, Arwen, daughter of Elrond the Elven king of Rivendell [5], struggles with a decision to relinquish her immortality for her love of a human: Aragorn. Elrond tells her she will be “Bound to your grief under the fading trees” (The Two Towers). Elrond thereby conjures a linkage between the dying trees and the death of her mortal lover.

Note 5: Rivendell is a kingdom of the Elves, those beings who taught the Ents to speak.


Perhaps the nature of transformation that overtakes one while in the woods is best described by Jackson from Scenes 42, The Entmoot Decides, to 44, Master Peregrin’s Plan. This transformation involves the hobbits [6] Merry and Pippin who, normally happy-go-lucky and conniving, transform their connivance into one that leads the Ents to go to war. Treebeard, in Scene 42, says: “The Ents cannot hold back this storm. We must weather such things as we always have done. This is not our war.” Merry responds with: “But you’re part of this world, aren’t you?” Treebeard then tells Merry to return home. Merry and Pippin have a forlorn discussion. Pippin suggests that maybe they should go home. Merry responds by saying the forests of the Shire will be burnt as well, stating: “All that was once green and good in this world will be gone” (The Two Towers). The transformation these two hobbits undergo while in the woods and under Treebeard’s protection is one of getting in touch with their anima. Downing writes:

Artemis is what Jungians call an anima figure […]. [Anima] is, as Hillman puts it, what gives events (or persons or ‘things’) the dimension of soul. Soul making is not confined to the making of our own soul but to the recreation (or rediscovery) of the world within which we live as a realm of souls, of living, meaning-full-in-themselves, beings (167).

Thus, the transforming hobbits, Mary and Pippin in the presence of Treebeard; and, Sam and Frodo [7] in the woods, find that deeper connection to Nature and thereby their own souls and the world at large, to be able to see significance beyond the Shire. Pippin’s transformation is exemplified in Scene 44; having experienced a change of heart, he convinces Treebeard to take them south, even though this brings them close to Isengard, because, as Pippin muses, the closer they are to danger the less harm will come to them. Treebeard consents, thus orchestrating an opportunity for Treebeard to witness the obliteration of trees surrounding Isengard.

Note 6: Hobbits are approximately four-foot tall beings who live a sheltered life in the Shire, one of whom carries the ring.
Note 7: Frodo Baggins is the hobbit ring-bearer in the movie and Samwise Gamgee is his companion-protector.


Moreover, the transformational aspect of Artemis illuminates in the deaths of others she kills or destroys. According to Pierre Grimal, in The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, she often kills via arrows of sudden death, including the six daughters whose mother offended Leto, Python the dragon (with Apollo), the titan Tityus, Gigantes Gration, the monster Bouphagus (son of a titan), Orion (the giant huntsman), the nymph or she-bear Callisto (which has also been identified as an aspect of Artemis herself), and the Aloadai giants. Her actions also lead to the deaths of the hunters Actaeon [8] and Meleager (61-2). Since the Ents are the personification of nature, they represent Artemis, and exhibit fierce Artemisian qualities in their war against Saruman and the assault on Isengard. The death-dealing aspect of Artemis embodied in the Ents, begins in Scene 46, The Last March of the Ents. Treebeard, Merry and Pippin arrive closer to Isengard, heading south as Pippin demanded, and Treebeard is telling them stories. The last involves field mice that tickle him awfully—he stops abruptly when he sees the annihilation of the woods. Treebeard poignantly says: “Many of these trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut and acorn. They had voices of their own.” Just as “[Artemis] knows each tree by its bark or leaf or fruit” (Downing 167), Treebeard knew many of the destroyed trees since they were nut or acorn. Treebeard then roars a thunderous primal scream that throbs through the woods, calling the Ents to Isengard. He says: “A wizard should know better! There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery. My business is with Isengard tonight…with a rock and a stone.” Shortly thereafter, the Ents begin to lumber out of the woods, to march on Isengard. Treebeard then gathers the Ents; “Come my friends, the Ents are going to war. It is likely that we go to our doom. The last march of the Ents” (The Two Towers). The battle plays in Scene 49, The Flooding of Isengard, as Ents throw huge boulders, kick and swat the orcs. After some intense fighting, the dam is broken down and the river washes away the orcs, flooding Isengard. Downing credits Otto with observing that the Greeks identified Artemis as “‘She Who Slays’” (160). Treebeard and the Ents at Isengard, in this sense, fully embody “She Who Slays,’ even as masculine beings. The incredible brutality of Artemis, once enraged or provoked, as in the case of the Ents, knows no limits until those deserving retaliation receive their comeuppance. Saruman and the orcs received theirs, through the unleashing of the river [9] that was dammed, and by the pummeling of the Ents. In The White Goddess: a historical grammar of poetic myth, Graves writes: “Artemis probably means ‘The Disposer of Water’ from ard- and themis” (390). Thus, ‘the Ents as Artemis’ notion increases in credibility since the Ents subdue Isengard by breaking down the dam and disposing the water of the dam.

Note 8: See Appendix for a brief look at the psychological significance of the Artemis-Actaeon story.
Note 9: The connection between water and Artemis has been made previously and so will only be mentioned here, as Dr. Ginette Paris’ website mentions, Artemis is also “purity of sources, and fountains and streams, […] ecology”.


In Myths and Legends of the British Isles, Richard Barber writes that the idea for the Ents, a forest that marches to war, originated, according to Tolkien’s letters, from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and the following line: “[…] nor vanquished till the wood of Birnam came to the castle of Dunsinane” (561). Indeed, as Tolkien puts it himself, the Ents are inspired by Shakespeare, albeit disapprovingly. “Their part in the story is due, I think, to my bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in Shakespeare of the coming of ‘Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill’: I longed to devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war” (The Letters 212n). Therefore, the Ents marching on Isengard in the movie comes to fruition, and the imaginative and very fearsome power of trees marching is portrayed vividly, a glimpse into the fury of Artemis covered in bark and leaves with roots as trampling feet. The very image of retribution as thunder evokes through the grumbling, groaning and grunting of the Ents as they march [10]. This is not the garden variety of you did me wrong so you pay kind of retribution; oh no, rather, this is of the ultimate punishment from the deep wild woods kind of retribution, one from which escape proves difficult to unattainable. The orcs are annihilated at Isengard. Saruman cowers in his dark tower, made to gaze upon the destruction of Artemis that has wreaked her retribution upon his agenda in full force through the vehicle of the Ents.

Note 10: “Artemis embodies a profound denial of the world of patriarchy, the world where some persons have power over others, the world of dominance and submission, where one can be hunter or hunted” (Downing 176). This explains or girds the psychological underpinning for the retribution at Isengard.


Consequently, Artemis, in her wild and untamed aspect, looks suspiciously like Ares or Athena, especially in the war and assault scenes. However, even though Artemis may take on what appears to be the mantle of Ares or Athena, upon closer inspection, the use of roots to crush the stones of the castle walls and weaken the dam, result in the unleashed fury of a fearsome flood upon the castle and its defenders. The fury of the flood and the use of hurled boulders at enemies combines the war-like qualities of Ares with the fury of Artemis at those who profane her abode. The decision to march on Isengard combines the strategic quality of Athena with the natural progression of Artemis to address the wrongs of particular perpetrators. I assert here that archetypes, as energies and processes, often combine with others, or in Jung’s thought, are contaminated, and that to try to separate out the Ares or Athena qualities of the Ents from the Artemisian proves arduous to impossible. Other archetypal energies make their appearances in the Ents as well, especially during their initial conference, in which Mnemosyne plays center stage under the guise of an Athena-like debate in slow motion, cloaked in the bark, roots and leaves of Artemis [11]. The Ents killed the orcs with a rage that was reminiscent of Artemis’ slaying of the six daughters, without remorse or mercy.

Note 11: See Appendix for a list of these active to inactive sub-archetypes in the Ents in the movie.


However, transformative elements in the film are shown in less final ways as well, like coming into a sense of otherness, understanding wildness, accepting nature’s right to exist, and a host of other attitudinal changes [12]. For example, Sam and Frodo have a heart-to-heart in the woods, whereas they experience most of their difficulties and fighting amongst the bleak caves and rocky mountainsides where not much grows at all. Yet not all is positive transformation, Jackson reminds us, as Gollum plans their deaths while in the same woods—representing the shadow side of the forest!

Note 12: Additionally, one can point to the transformative aspects that occur during hunting, outside the focus of this paper.


Furthermore, and perhaps overly obvious, transformation occurs to Nature itself as well as to those who interact with Nature. The kind of transformation addressed here, though, is more than Nature being destroyed or dominated (or in the case of Artemis, seen, as in Actaeon); it is of Nature changing its mind. This idea is manifested in Scene 35, Entmoot, when the Ents have an Entmoot, a meeting or council, to decide whether they will go to war, or not, against Saruman and Isengard. During the scene, Treebeard says: “The Ents have not troubled about the wars of men and wizards for a very long time. But now something is about to happen that has not happened for an Age. Entmoot…it is a gathering…” As the Ents arrive, he begins to name them; “Beech, Oak, Chestnut [13], Ash…good, good, good, many have come. Now we must decide if the Ents will go to war” (The Two Towers). In his very decision to call for an Entmoot, Treebeard demonstrates a willingness to change his mind, to consider other possibilities, which is akin to Artemis changing her mind, and analogous to Nature raining for forty days and then stopping. Treebeard and the Ents initially arrive at the decision to ignore the problems in Middle Earth. Treebeard, however, changes his mind again, upon seeing the destruction around Isengard, and decides to march to war after all, with the rest of the Ents, appearing when he calls them, who also change their minds, ready for war.

Note 13: In the second chapter, “The Battle of the Trees,” Graves explores the notion of trees battling or going to war based on the Red Book of Hergest, which contains The Book of Taliesin and the Mabinogion, and dates back to the thirteenth century (The White Goddess: […] 27). Graves suggests the chestnut was conjured by a wizard out of buds and blossoms, and did not take part in the battle of the trees. “The bashful chestnut does not belong to the same category of letter trees as those that took part in the battle […]” (41). The inclusion of the Chestnut by Jackson takes on greater significance when seen in this light.


Above all aspects of Artemis, though, loom the untamed and wild, and the bringer of death to those who have offended her (unspoiled Nature), in countless narratives and stories about her. In The Greek Myths: Complete Edition, Graves writes: “She tried her silver bow four times: her first two targets were trees; her third, a wild beast; her fourth, a city of unjust men” (84). In the movie, the Ents are the embodiment of the abovementioned unspoiled nature, from deep within forgotten woods, and as such, in their role as destroyers of Isengard and Saruman, offer nature’s revenge against the archetypal despoilers of nature. Not only does Artemis destroy, but she also protects. Downing writes: “As Aeschylus reminds us, she is not only the hunter but the protector of all that is wild and vulnerable [….]” (164). Treebeard shows his protecting nature when he laments the destruction of the woods in a rage. Moreover, the Ents, as tree creatures, definitely speak to being hunters, as well as the hunted, as the orcs mercilessly chop the trees down and later, in retaliation, the Ents annihilate the orcs at Isengard. Downing sees Artemis “as the goddess who comes from afar, whose realm is the ever-distant wilderness” (163). Treebeard says his home is in the hoops of the mountains, in other words, from afar. The Ents, as depicted in the movie, are tree-herders, shepherds of the trees, ancient creatures whose time predates humankind’s, and who have come to take the shapes or forms of trees through close and constant interaction with the trees. Artemis, in her transitional aspect, provides links from one state of being into another state. The Ents, hobbits and elves, being close to nature—not having experienced the suffering of the separation from nature that humanity, orcs, Saruman and Sauran have—form the link between the Ents and humanity and the rest of Middle Earth. Downing states: “The feelings evoked in [Artemis’] realm are of many hues—vulnerability, solicitude, rage, instability. They include the painful sense of implacable otherness, and even the ache of not having access to one’s deepest feelings” (172). Treebeard echoes some of these hues of feelings in the movie: “Nobody cares for the trees anymore…he no longer cares for growing things”…the roar of rage that no words can express. I would add that not having access to one’s deepest feelings is not necessarily a problem of access, as much as it is one of languaging. For, certainly, the access to one’s deepest feelings is more prevalent, if one is open to it, in the wildness of Nature than elsewhere. The problem comes when one tries to vocalize or verbalize the intensity with which one experiences Nature, not that intensity is impossible within Artemis’ wild realm. Artemis [14] is the dominant archetype of the Ents, as the embodiments of nature working against the machines and industry (represented by Isengard and Mordor, personified in Saruman and Sauran) that tears down forests and trees; and Treebeard, as the representative of the Ents, aptly embodies Artemis’ myriad characteristics, in numerous ways, as the personification of Nature, enactor of transformation, protector of the hobbits and Earth, slayer of the orcs, caretaker of Saruman, and most importantly, healer of the terrible psychic wound of the separation from nature. We would do well to heed the underlying message of the Ents and reach an accord with the trees.

Note 14: Artemis, like all Greek deities, is multivalent, and Kerényi interprets her as maiden, strong, wild, virgin-huntress, she-bear and lioness (145).

Appendix


1: Treebeard & Ent-related quotes and notes from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


5 The Burning of the Westfold
Isengard is bleak—looking gray and metallic, as in a huge mandala or disk of metal from which at the center thrusts upward a beacon of darkness, the Tower of Saruman. Surrounding the vicinity, orcs chop down the remaining trees in a frenzy of flurried axe swings and with tentacled ropes they drag fallen trees down into the fires of Isengard.

Saruman
The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise.

We will drive the machine of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of the orc!

We have only to remove those who oppose us.


8 Nightcamp at Fangorn
Orcs chop trees down in Fangorn to make a fire, not even bothering to look or scour the woods for fallen wood… The forest reacts with angry groans and low mutterings that give some orcs pause and elicits the following from Merry.

Merry
Folks used to say there was something in the water that made the tree grow tall and come alive. Trees that could whisper, talk to each other, even move.


11 Treebeard
Pippin and Merry escape the orc encampment to Fangorn Forest, as the riders of Rohan attack the orcs in the night.

Pippin
The trees; climb a tree!
Pippin and Merry climb Treebeard, who wakes up… Treebeard saves Merry who fell and was under attack from an orc who followed them into the forest, stomping the orc into dirt with one mighty trunk-leg-foot thump. Merry calls Treebeard a tree.

Treebeard
Tree, I am no tree! I am an Ent!

Merry
A tree-herder, a shepherd of the forest…

Treebeard
Treebeard, some call me…

Pippin
Who’s side are you on?

Treebeard
Side, I am on nobody’s side, because nobody’s on my side, little orc. Nobody cares for the woods anymore. […] Sounds like orc mischief to me. They come with fire. They come with axes. Gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning. Destroyers and usurpers, curse them!


12 The Passage of the Marshes
On their way to Mordor through the Dead Marshes, Frodo, Sam and Gollum hide underneath one of the few trees in the marshes to escape a sighting by the Nazgul flying overhead.


13 The White Rider
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli come upon the slaughter of the orcs to see if they can find the bodies of the hobbits, Merry and Pippin, whom they have been tracking to rescue for days. Aragorn notices the tracks the hobbits made as they struggled to Fangorn Forest. They enter the forest to find the hobbits.

Legolas
This forest is old, very old. Full of memory and anger.

The trees are speaking to each other.


14 Fangorn Forest
Treebeard has been charged with protecting the hobbits by Gandalf, and so he is taking them to a safe place.

Treebeard
My home lies deep in the forest near the hoops of the mountain.

The trees have grown wild and dangerous. Anger festers in their hearts. They will harm you if they can. There are too few of us left now, too few of us Ents left to manage them now.


28 Isengard Unleashed

Treebeard
Always smoke rising from Isengard these days…
There was a time when Saruman would walk in my woods, but now he has a mind of metal and wheels. He no longer cares for growing things.


30 Arwen’s Fate
Elrond
Bound to your grief under the fading trees.


35 Entmoot
The Ents have an Entmoot, a meeting or council, to decide whether they will go to war, or not, against Saruman and Isengard.

Treebeard
The Ents have not troubled about the wars of men and wizards for a very long time. But now something is about to happen that has not happened for an Age. Entmoot…it is a gathering…

Beech, Oak, Chestnut, Ash…good, good, good, many have come. Now we must decide if the Ents will go to war.

{Out of the trees named by Tolkien in The Two Towers on pages 83-4: beech-trees, oaks, chestnut, ash, fir, birch, rowan and linden, they are all what the hobbits were reminded of, recalled or thought of when they looked at the Ents, not that specific type of tree.}


40 Old Entish
The Ents pause during the Entmoot

Treebeard
We have just agreed. I have told your names to the Entfolk and we have agreed you are not orcs.
Merry and Pippin express their disbelief that this is all they decided upon, when war is threatening their friends at Helms Deep.

Treebeard
War, yes it affects us all. You must understand, it takes a long time to say anything in old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.


42 The Entmoot Decides

Treebeard
The Ents cannot hold back this storm. We must weather such things as we always have done. This is not our war.

Merry
But you’re part of this world, aren’t you?
Treebeard tells Merry to go back home. Merry and Pippin have a forlorn discussion. Pippin suggests that maybe they should go home. Merry responds by saying the forests of the Shire will be burnt as well.

Merry
All that was once green and good in this world will be gone.


44 Master Peregrin’s Plan
Pippin convinces Treebeard to take them south, even though this brings them close to Isengard, because the closer they are to danger the less harm will come to them. Treebeard consents.

Treebeard
I always liked going south… Somehow it feels like going downhill.
The plan was to get Treebeard to see the destruction around Isengard and then to take action.


46 The Last March of the Ents
Treebeard, Merry and Pippin arrive closer to Isengard and Treebeard is telling them stories. Field mice tickle him awfully—he stops when he sees the annihilation of the woods.

Treebeard
Many of these trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut and acorn. They had voices of their own.

Treebeard roars a thunderous primal scream that throbs through the woods, calling the Ents.
A wizard should know better! There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery. My business is with Isengard tonight…with a rock and a stone.
The Ents begin to lumber out of the woods, to march on Isengard.

Treebeard
Come my friends, the Ents are going to war. It is likely that we go to our doom. The last march of the Ents.


49 The Flooding of Isengard
Ents throw huge boulders, kick and swat the orcs. After some intense fighting, the dam is broken down and the river washes away the orcs, flooding Isengard.


51 The Battle for Middle Earth is about to begin
Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli crest a hill on horseback.

Gandalf
The battle for Helms Deep is over, but the battle for Middle Earth begins.

Sam and Frodo have a heart to heart in the woods, whereas they experience most of their difficulties and fighting amongst the bleak caves, and rocky mountainsides where not much grows at all. Gollum plans their deaths while in the same woods—representing the shadow side of the forest!


Cast in paper

Viggo Mortensen—Aragorn
Liv Tyler—Arwen
Hugo Weaving—Elrond
Elijah Wood—Frodo Baggins
Sean Astin—Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee
Ian McKellen—Gandalf the Grey/Gandalf the White
John Rhys-Davies—Gimli
Andy Serkis—Gollum/Sméagol
Orlando Bloom—Legolas Greenleaf
Dominic Monaghan—Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck
Billy Boyd—Peregrin 'Pippin' Took
Christopher Lee—Saruman the White
John Rhys-Davies—Voice of Treebeard


Movie Credits

Directed by
Peter Jackson

Writing credits (WGA)
J.R.R. Tolkien (novel)
Frances Walsh (screenplay) (as Fran Walsh)
Philippa Boyens (screenplay)
Stephen Sinclair (screenplay)
Peter Jackson (screenplay)

Produced by
Peter Jackson—producer
Michael Lynne—executive producer
Mark Ordesky—executive producer
Barrie M. Osborne—producer
Rick Porras—co-producer
Jamie Selkirk—co-producer
Robert Shaye—executive producer
Frances Walsh—producer
Bob Weinstein—executive producer
Harvey Weinstein—executive producer
8: Artemis & Actaeon Note

“(After a day’s hunting, Actaeon left his fellow huntsmen to find a quiet place to rest. Accidentally, he comes upon Artemis bathing with her nymphs. Outraged at being seen naked, she flings water at his face and thus transforms him into a stag […])” (Downing 177). My read of the Artemis-Actaeon myth has changed, for now. I think that Actaeon, as that part of the psyche in search of its essence or soul, found its Nature-soul, Artemis (which I see as being not solely anima and not gender-specific). And, furthermore, that this soul is the part of the soul that represents the separation of human from Nature, or the divinity within. Accordingly, Actaeon, or the human psyche seeking its divinity, was not ready to be reunited with Nature (the divinity within), and so was torn to pieces by his hounds (instincts) that seek Artemis (the stag and huntress of the stag). This lack of unification with Nature evidences throughout the movie, in nearly all characters, except for the Elves and Ents.


11: Archetypes & Sub-Archetypes of the Ents

The Ents exhibit the following archetypes and sub-archetypes that dominate at different times:
Aphrodite in the beauty of their leaves and language in its slow and sonorous booming
Apollo in the ability and process of reasoning
Ares in the assault on Isengard
Artemis in protecting hobbits and trees, slayer of orcs, healing separation from Nature wound, enacting transformation, water disposers, personification of Nature, in wreaking retribution for trespasses, connection with mountains, connection with cities, connection with the wild and untamed, connection with virginity (loss of Entwives) and passion (for the Entwives)
Athena in planning the assault on Isengard, and Entmoot council
Kairos in arriving at a decision to go to war, as the right moment for action, after
considering history and present and future ramifications of ignoring Isengard any longer
Mnemosyne in remembering times during the council, and stories with the hobbits
Praxis in actually doing the work of destroying Isengard, and then guarding the
defeated Saruman



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