Ungoliant

Translated from Quenya, the name Ungoliant literally means "dark spider" ( ungwë - "darkness", liantë - "spider"). She was also known as the Spinner of Darkness ( Eng.Gloomweaver ), which is a translation of the Sindarin Gwerlum and the Quenian Wirilomë .

Doom of the Valar

J.R.R. Tolkien speaks of Ungoliant as a creature of darkness, commanding darkness embodied in the form of a huge spider, and also that Melkor was one of the first to attract her to his service:

... The Eldar do not know where she came from to the world, but, they say long before Melkor raised his hand to Manwe’s possessions, she emerged from the darkness surrounding Arda, and was originally from the first powerful spirits whose essence distorted Melkor.

- Tolkien J.R. R. (edited by K. Tolkien). The Silmarillion : Ch. 8 " On the Eclipse of Valinor ." - Per. N. Estelle.

The Ungoliant came from the Mayars , deposed by Melkor into darkness and passed into his service. She emerged from the darkness surrounding Arda , and entered it, probably in the days of the crushing of the Lamps of the Valar and the death of Almaren . Since the peculiarity of Ungoliant was that she experienced a constant and insatiable hunger for the world, which she caught in her tenets, then in Arda Ungoliant settled not far from the only source of Light at that time - Valinor, where the luminiferous Trees of the Valar grew. A hazy Avatar in the far south of Aman, where she spread her light-catching tenets, became her habitat. There she hid from Melkor, whom she did not want to serve. Literally devouring light, it produced hopeless darkness.

When Melkor first came to her, Ungolianta was frightened of him and fled in fear into the depths of her den, fearing reprisals for the deserting. However, Melkor came to her, wanting with her help to destroy the Valar Tree and kidnap the Silmarils. He said that she was hiding because of her stupidity, at the very time when she could hold on to his side and not experience more hunger.

It was the promise to satisfy her insatiable hunger Melkor that seduced Ungoliant to invade the lands of Aman:

... if everything is fulfilled, your hunger will subside, I will give you with a full handful everything that your lust wishes

- Tolkien J.R. R. (edited by K. Tolkien). The Silmarillion : Ch. 8 " On the Eclipse of Valinor ." - Per. N. Estelle.

Under the cover of the mist that Ungoliant had filled in, Melkor freely entered the Ezelohar hill, while all the inhabitants of Valimar, together with Valar, were present at the general holiday in Tirion. When Melkor pierced the Tree with a black spear, Ungoliant sucked the luminiferous juice of the Valar Trees and devoured all the Dew trees in the nearby Varda springs, and Valinor quickly plunged into pitch darkness. At the same time, she grew so large that Melkor himself was afraid of her ^[1] .

During the escape from Valinor plunged into darkness, the cloud of Darkness, expelled by Ungoliant, ensured Melkor's safe departure to Middle - earth - the chase of the Valar led by Orome and Tulkas was blinded by this darkness and lingered for a long time on the northern borders of Aman , so that the enemies of the Valar could slip away.

Ungoliant, along with Melkor, reached Middle-earth through Helkarakse .

Coming to Middle-earth and Death

After the abduction of the Silmarils, Ungoliant received from Melkor all the other valuables captured in Valinor as a reward and devoured them. However, Melkor did not want to give the monster to Silmarilla , treacherously violating his own word given by Ungoliant in the Avatar, telling her that he did not promise to feed her the whole world. When she tried to take the Stones of Feanor by force, entangling Melkor with her web and squeezing the bonds of darkness, she was put to flight by the balrogs , who had rushed to the monstrous cry of the Enemy from the dungeons of Angband . Their fiery scourges tore the shadow of darkness, freed Melkor and forced Ungoliant to flee south.

After fleeing from Valinor and breaking up with Melkor, Ungoliant hid in the mountain gorges of Nan Dungorteb . There she mated with giant spiders (the offspring of spiders that Melkor bred back in Utumno ), and then devoured them. Probably the descendants of Ungoliant are Shelob and other spiders that have crawled through the mountains of Ered Gorgoroth , Mirkwood and the mountain ranges surrounding Mordor ^[2] .

According to the text of The Silmarillion, the insatiable hunger of Ungoliant eventually led her to devour herself. However, in one of the alternative sketches of the tales of Earendil 's travels, it is alleged that he met her in the south and killed her.

• In the album “ Nightfall in Middle-Earth ” by the German metal band Blind Guardian, the song Into the Storm is dedicated to the confrontation between Melkor and Ungoliant for the possession of the Silmarils after the defeat of the Two Trees and the violation of their oath by Melkor.
• Irish band Cruachan , playing in the style of " Celtic metal ", dedicated Ungoliant to the song of the same name from her album " The Morrigan's Call " (2006). It is interesting that the first composition of the same album bears the name Shelob ( English Shelob ) - the last daughter of Ungoliant ^[3] .
• The song Ungolianth from the album “Minas Morgul” by the Austrian black metal band “ Summoning ” (most of the lyrics are based on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien ).
• In the MMORPG Ragnarok Online, Ungoliant is a mini-boss (in the guise of a giant ant).