A ford that crossed the river Entwash some fifty-five miles northeast of Edoras in Rohan. When Éomer met Aragorn and his companions in the Eastemnet, he was leading his Riders for this ford. After he lent the horses Hasufel and Arod to the Three Hunters, he asked that they would follow him at some time across the Entwade to Edoras, (though their later adventures in Fangorn probably meant that they eventually came to Edoras by a different route).
Seven months before Éomer met Aragorn, beings fouler and more ancient had used the fords of the Entwade. On their journey north to the Shire in search of Baggins, the Nazgûl had passed west through Anórien, and on over the Entwade before turning eastward again to return to the banks of the Anduin. The Ringwraiths were travelling secretly and invisibly, on foot, so this journey through Rohan would have been a considerable detour for them. It seems, then, that the Entwade must have been the only suitable crossing-place on the Entwash for at least two hundred and fifty miles above its Mouths, and perhaps the only means of crossing the river at all.
Notes
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We have no record of the time that this ford came into use, and indeed given its indirect association with the Ents, it might have been very ancient indeed. Perhaps more likely, it was first used during the time that this region was known as Calenardhon and was occupied by the Gondorians. The ford's name derives from the language of the Rohirrim, who settled the surrounding land in III 2510, so perhaps they established the crossing (though of course they may simply have renamed a ford that was already in use).
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2 |
This name does not refer to a place where the Ents waded across the river, as tempting an image as that might be. The 'wade' of the name comes from Old English waed, a stretch of water or a ford, and it was named the Ent wade because it crossed the river Entwash flowing out the Entwood to the north.
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- Updated 25 August 2023
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