[Mithfânion]

I'm basically looking for books, be they Fantasy/horror or regular fiction in which the legendary Green Man plays a role. Now, the Green Man has various guises, from a Cernunnos, God of the Forest type of character to a less powerful, more human Wild Man of the Woods sort of character. I'm interested in any and all representations. In any case they are represenatations of humans or non-humans very closely tied to nature, oftentimes protectors of the Earth/ Forest and that is what I need to find more information about. Even if they are not called The Green Man in the books but very closely resemble that character anyway, please list it.

So for instance The LoTR has the Ents, which are an example of this. Whereas in Chadbourn's Misrule trilogy you have Cernunnos and in Kay's Fionavar Tapestry you have Cernunnos, The Curdardh, also a Forest Guardian and I believe one features in De Lint's Greenmantle as well. Maybe Robert Holdstock uses the character as well?

[Ajax12]

How about the The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series.
The Briar King sounds about right concerning what you are looking for and he is an integral part of the series. And the quadrilogy itself is an excellent excellent read. But it seems to be very much under appreciated.
Coming back to the topic , check these books out.
Cheers!

[Mithfânion]

Well I've read the first two in the series. Aside from the quality of the series which I must admit wasn't that high, the Briar King did feature prominently in book 1 though it was still all a bit vague. But then in the second book I don't recall seeing him at all, or only very little. I dropped the series at that point, with the Briar King storyline unresolved; in fact I can't remember if he was in book 2 at all. Anyway, does he come back into play in a major way in book 3 and 4 then?

[Raule]

Maybe Robert Holdstock uses the character as well?

Yes, Holdstock uses the green man legend in both Lavondyss and The Hollowing.

[Radone]

Mith,

The Briar King comes back to play a central part in the final two novels. There are also the Forestals in Thomas Covenant. They are forest guardians who are fierce in their protection of the forest, to the point that they are ruthless against any who intrude into their lands. Do the Ogier from Wheel of Time count?

[Ajax12]

The books only get better from then on! The briar king does return and is a major character in the last 2 books. There a interesting little twist added in his favour. :)
Other than the ending of the fourth book , which seemed to be a bit rushed (the book is great though) i suggest you complete the series.

[Mithfânion]

Donaldson's Forestals I know, yes, Caerroil Wildwood was my in fact my favorite character from the first trilogy even if his appearance is brief. I understand the less powerful Caer Caveral makes an appearance in the second one but didn't feel like trudging through another Covenant trilogy to get to that point.

Raule: Thanks, good to know.

[LuBu]

The Green Man, the last surviving Nym, in Jordan's Eye of the World. I forget which other book in the WoT series went into greater detail about the Nym . . . but, I do know it was when Rand experienced his ancestors' memories.

[Whiskeyjack]

Here are a couple others:

Terry Brooks in his Shanarra and Heritage series has a King of the Silver River, who makes several appearances and serves as the guardian of a timeless earth.

Also, David Farland has his protagonist become the Earth King in a green-man sort of way in the first book of his Runelords series, who then combats several nature-corrupting forces throughout the remaining books.

[xvart]

There is also The Green Man in The Wheel of Time. He makes a rather brief appearance, though.

xvart.