Ungoliant (Mother of Shelob) & the Spiders of the First Age | Tolkien Explained

She is one of the most terrifying beings in all  of Tolkien’s writings. She would plunge the whole world into darkness before making Morgoth - the  original dark lord himself - fear for his life. Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover  Ungoliant and the spiders of the First Age.

Ungoliant is among the creatures of Middle-earth  whose origin is a complete mystery. Some believe she may have been one of the Maiar, though  she is not among the known Ainur who are named by Tolkien. In the Silmarillion, we are  told "Some have said that in ages long before she descended from the darkness that lies  about Arda.

. . and that in the beginning she was one of those that [Melkor] corrupted to  his service.

But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust, taking  all things to herself to feed her emptiness. " In the early days of the world, Ungoliant  makes her dwelling in the lands of Avathar, south of Valinor. "In a ravine she lived,  and took shape as a spider of monstrous form, weaving her black webs in a cleft of  the mountains.

There she sucked up all light that she could find, and spun it  forth again in dark nets of strangling gloom. " Though this giant, spider-like creature  disowned the Dark Lord, she would ally with him once more for a brief time. After Melkor  fuels discord among the Noldor living in Valinor, he flees.

Making his way south, he comes  to Avathar, seeking the aid of Ungoliant. Together they make their way north in secret -  Ungoliant cloaking them in an utter darkness. Known as the Unlight of Ungoliant, this ability  could be pierced by no eye, for it was a void.

Masked in darkness, they come to the Two Trees, which give light to all the lands of Valinor.  Morgoth strikes each tree at its base, and Ungoliant puts her wretched fangs to the  wounds and drinks the light. She also drains the Wells of Varda so that the only remaining light of  the trees lies in the three silmarils of Feanor.

With the world plunged into darkness,  Ungoliant and Melkor flee Valinor. But first, they would stop at Feanor’s home of  Formenos, where Melkor kills Feanor’s father, Finwe, and steals a great many jewels,  including the silmarils. Those who survived near Formenos would say that a blind darkness  had come northward, and that in its midst there walked some power for which there was no  name, and the Darkness issues from it.

We are given a hint at how powerful the webs  of Ungoliant were, and how completely dark and void her Unlight was in the Silmarillion  chapter “The Darkening of Valinor”. . .

But Manwë from his high seat looked out, and  his eyes alone pierced through the night, until they saw a Darkness beyond dark which  they could not penetrate, huge but far away, moving now northward with great speed;  and he knew that Melkor had come and gone. Then the pursuit was begun; and the earth shook  beneath the horses of the host of Oromë, and the fire that was stricken from the hooves of Nahar  was the first light that returned to Valinor. But so soon as any came up with the Cloud of Ungoliant  the riders of the Valar were blinded and dismayed, and they were scattered, and went they knew not  whither; and the sound of the Valaróma faltered and failed.

And Tulkas was as one  caught in a black net at night, and he stood powerless and beat the air  in vain. But when the Darkness had passed, it was too late: Melkor had gone whither  he would, and his vengeance was achieved. His evil tasks complete, Melkor flees with  Ungoliant to Middle-earth, crossing the Helcaraxe and coming to the Western shores.

In exchange for  her help, Melkor had promised to reward her with both hands after their escape from Valinor. One  by one, he gives her the jewels he had stolen, yet, in his right hand he withholds the silmarils  - having desired them too greatly for himself. Having devoured the light of the two trees  and the lesser jewels, Ungoliant had now grown far more massive and powerful than before. 

Melkor, on the other hand, had exhausted himself in the process of his deeds. She traps Melkor in  her webs, and the Dark Lord himself, among the mightiest of the Valar, fears for his life, giving  a cry of desperation that echoes about the land. Ungoliant would indeed have killed Melkor in this  moment.

However, his cry was heard by his balrogs, who flew with winged speed across the lands  of Beleriand to his rescue. Overcome by the fiery whips of the balrogs, Ungoliant flees to the  Ered Gorgoroth - the Mountains of Terror. There, she would spawn many offspring, who infest the  valley to the south, which would come to be known as Nan Dungortheb - the Valley of Dradful Death. 

We are told that at one point, Ungoliant attempts to enter King Thingol’s realm of Doriath, but is  repelled by the power of Queen Melian the Maia. [Ungoliant] went down into Beleriand,  and dwelt beneath Ered Gorgoroth, in that dark valley that was after called  Nan Dungortheb, the Valley of Dradful Death, because of the horror that she bred there. For  other foul creatures of spider form had dwelt there since the days of the delving of Angband,  and she mated with them, and devoured them; and even after Ungoliant herself departed, and  went whither she would into the forgotten south of the world, her offspring abode  there and wove their hideous webs.

As for the spiders of the first age,  they continued to dwell in Nan Dungortheb long after Ungoliant had left. Aside  from spiders, all living things avoided that valley - even the courageous Noldor, who  would only pass it on paths closest to Doriath. It is said that the waters that came  into the valley from the mountains were defiled and would fill the hearts of those  who drank from them with both madness and despair.

We are told: Ungoliant . . .

abode long  time under the shadow of the precipices in which Dorthonion fell southward. And  they became known as Ered Gorgoroth, the Mountains of Terror, and none dared  go thither, or pass nigh them; there life and light were strangled, and  there all waters were poisoned. We are told of two people who dared to cross this  cursed land - and succeeded.

The First is Aredhel, the daughter of the high king Fingolfin. She rides eastward from her brother’s city of  Gondolin with a group of elves. However, their party is separated by the shadows of the land. 

While her companions are chased away by spiders, Aredhel makes her way to Himlad,  successfully crossing the valley. The second instance comes in the tale of Beren and  Luthien. After his father’s company is destroyed by orcs, Beren is a lone outlaw in the woods of  Dorthonion.

Eventually, the forces of Morgoth would come all too close to catching him,  forcing him to flee south. He passes over the Mountains of Terror and the Valley of Dradful  Death, finally coming to the realm of Doriath, where he first meets Luthien the fair.  While a remarkable achievement to traverse this land alone, Beren never again spoke of his  journey, lest the horror if it return to his mind.

As for Ungoliant herself, her disappearance is as  mysterious as her origin. However, it is said that she went into the forgotten south of the world  shortly before the First Age began. Tolkien tells us: "Of the fate of Ungoliant no tale tells. 

Yet some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine  she devoured herself at last. " Her descendants would torment the peoples of  Middle-earth for thousands of years, across realms, and ages of the world. Her most famous  offspring would inhabit the mountains between Mordor and Gondor, and spawn dark spiders of  her own.

Shelob, the dark terror of Cirith Ungol as well as her spawn - the spiders of Mirkwood.  Though Ungoliant would be long gone, her evil brood would bring terror to the world of men and  elves into the latest known days of Middle-earth. Next week, we celebrate the second anniversary  of the channel with one of my longest and most thorough videos yet.

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