The Enchanted Forest Under Attack

Born largely of anxieties linked to the industrialisation of society in the 19th century, fantasy tales often depict the destruction by evil forces of ancient forests and the creatures that inhabit them. The most typical example remains unquestionably the actions of Saruman in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, who orders his henchmen to cut down trees to feed the furnaces inn his factories and thus equip his murderous army. Sometimes, the destruction of the forest is central to the plot of fantasy works, as is the case with Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997).