Ungoliant
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Ungoliant () is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's
legendarium Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...
, described as an evil spirit in the form of a spider. Her name means "dark spider" in
Sindarin Sindarin is one of the fictional languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his fantasy stories set in Arda, primarily in Middle-earth. Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the Elves. The word is a Quenya word. Called in E ...
. She is mentioned briefly in ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...
'', and plays a supporting role in ''
The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavri ...
'', enabling the Dark Lord
Melkor Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''. ...
to destroy the
Two Trees of Valinor In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Two Trees of Valinor are Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold Tree, which brought light to Valinor, a paradisiacal realm also known as the Undying Lands where angelic beings lived. The Two ...
, darkening the world. Her origins are unclear, as Tolkien's writings do not explicitly reveal her nature, other than that she is from "before the world"; this may mean she is a Maia, an immortal spirit. Scholars have likened the story of Ungoliant and Melkor to
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politica ...
's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 16 ...
'', where Sin conceives a child, Death, by
Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...
: Sin and Death are always hungry. There are limited parallels in Norse myth: while there are female giants, they are not usually spiders, though the Devil appears as a spider in an early Icelandic tale, and a female giant in the ''
Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
'' is named Nott ("Night"), she and her brood dwelling in and personifying darkness.


Etymology

''Ungoliant'' means 'dark spider' in Tolkien's invented language of
Sindarin Sindarin is one of the fictional languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his fantasy stories set in Arda, primarily in Middle-earth. Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the Elves. The word is a Quenya word. Called in E ...
. It is a
loan word A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...
from qya, Ungwë liantë . She is also known as ''Gloomweaver'' (Sindarin: ' , Quenya: ' ).


Internal history

Tolkien's original writings say that Ungoliant was a primeval spirit of night, named Móru,, ch. 6 "The Theft of Melko" who aided
Melkor Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''. ...
in his attack upon the
Two Trees of Valinor In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Two Trees of Valinor are Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold Tree, which brought light to Valinor, a paradisiacal realm also known as the Undying Lands where angelic beings lived. The Two ...
, draining them of their sap after Melkor had injured them. She also consumed the reserves of light from the wells of Varda. Afterward the light of the trees persisted only within the
Silmaril The Silmarils (Quenya in-universe ''pl''. ''Silmarilli'', ''radiance of pure light'' Tolkien, J. R. R., "Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part Two" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne), in ''Vinyar Tengwar'', 46, July 2 ...
s of
Fëanor Fëanor () is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's '' The Silmarillion''. He was the eldest son of Finwë, the King of the Noldor, and his first wife Míriel. As a great loremaster and creator, he improved the Sarati alphabet, inventing ...
. Ungoliant helped Melkor evade the Valar by shrouding them both in the impenetrable darkness she produced., ch. 8 "Of the Darkening of Valinor" Melkor had promised Ungoliant to yield anything she wished in return for her aid, but betrayed this promise by withholding the Silmarils, and summoned the
Balrog A Balrog () is a powerful demonic monster in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. One first appeared in print in his high-fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings'', where the Fellowship of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin's Bane in the Min ...
s to repel her., ch. 9 "Of the Flight of the Noldor" Ungoliant fled to the Ered Gorgoroth in
Beleriand In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work ''The Silmarillion'', which tells the story of the early ages of Middle ...
. At some point she gave birth to the Giant Spiders, including the character Shelob of ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...
''. In ''
The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavri ...
'', it is stated that when she went into hiding her hunger was such that she would mate with other spiders only to devour them later, with her offspring used as food once fully grown. ''The Silmarillion'' hints that Ungoliant's unremitting hunger drove her to devour herself.


Analysis

According to the Tolkien scholar John Wm. Houghton, the story of Ungoliant and
Morgoth Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', '' The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''. ...
is comparable to the account in
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politica ...
's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 16 ...
'' in which Sin conceives a child, Death, by
Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...
. Both Sin and Death are always hungry; Satan says he will feed them, and leads them to the world. Joe Abbott, writing in '' Mythlore'', comments that Ungoliant and Shelob are similar monsters, "product of a singular concept". He observes that they are female giants, something found in Northern folklore. Those are not usually in spider form, but he notes an early Icelandic example where "the Devil appears as a spider and has his leg cut off". On Ungoliant's race, he notes Tolkien's remark in ''The Theft of Melko'' (in ''
The Book of Lost Tales ''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series ''The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analyses ...
'') that "Mayhap she was bred of mists and darkness on the confines of the Shadowy seas, in the utter dark that came between the overthrow of the Lamps and the kindling of the Trees, but ''more like she has always been'' bbott's italics and she it is who loveth still to dwell in that black place ''taking the guise'' of an unlovely spider." He draws attention to Tolkien's suggestions that Ungoliant has always existed and that she is simply choosing to appear (in the "guise") as a spider, and states that this means she must be an immortal Maia, a spirit-being able to take on physical form. He offers the parallel of Nott ("Night"), an Icelandic female giant in the "Gilfaginning" in the ''
Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
'' of
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
. Nott was dark, like all her kindred, just as Ungoliant and all her brood dwell in and "personify" darkness.


Legacy


In science

Ungoliant is the namesake of two species of spider: ''Nemesia ungoliant'', a species of ''
Nemesiidae Nemesiidae, also known as funnel-web trapdoor spiders, is a family of mygalomorph spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1889, and raised to family status in 1985. Before becoming its own family, it was considered part of "Dipluridae". Desc ...
'' which was described in 2007, and ''
Ochyrocera ungoliant ''Ochyrocera ungoliant'' is a species of spiders of the family Ochyroceratidae. It is endemic to Brazil. It was named after Ungoliant, an evil spider spirit created by J.R.R. Tolkien, described in the book ''The Silmarillion''. See also * List ...
'', an
Ochyroceratidae Ochyroceratidae is a six-eyed spider family, with 165 described species in ten genera. They are common inhabitants of caves and the tropical forest litter of South Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and South America. Considered an ecological counterpar ...
species that was described in 2018.


In popular media

Ungoliant has been the subject of several
heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...
songs. Her conflict with
Morgoth Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', '' The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''. ...
over the
Silmaril The Silmarils (Quenya in-universe ''pl''. ''Silmarilli'', ''radiance of pure light'' Tolkien, J. R. R., "Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part Two" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne), in ''Vinyar Tengwar'', 46, July 2 ...
was the subject of
Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.Nightfall in Middle-Earth ''Nightfall in Middle-Earth'' is the sixth studio album by German power metal band Blind Guardian. It was released on 28 April 1998 through Virgin Records. It is a concept album based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Silmarillion'', a book of tales ...
''. Austrian
black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
band Summoning had a song called "Ungolianth" on their 1995 album ''
Minas Morgul Minas or MINAS may refer to: People with the given name Minas * Menas of Ethiopia (died 1563) * Saint Menas (Minas, 285–309) * Minias of Florence (Minas, Miniato, died 250) * Minas Alozidis (born 1984), Greek hurdler * Minas Avetisyan (1928 ...
''. On their 2006 album ''
The Morrigan's Call ''The Morrigan's Call'' is the fifth studio album by Irish folk metal band Cruachan released in 2006. Track listing Personnel *Keith Fay - guitars, vocals, keyboards, bouzouki, mandolin, banjo, bodhrán, percussion *Karen Gilligan - vocals *J ...
'', the Irish
Celtic metal Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that developed in the 1990s in Ireland. The genre is a fusion of heavy metal and Celtic rock. The early pioneers of the genre were the Irish bands Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander. The genre has since ...
band Cruachan featured a song "Ungoliant" as well as one named after Shelob. Ungoliant is mentioned in the 2012 film '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'', the first film of
Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
's film trilogy of ''The Hobbit'', when the wizard Radagast the Brown conjectures on the origin of malevolent giant spiders endemic to
Mirkwood Mirkwood is a name used for a great dark fictional forest in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of t ...
.


References


Primary

::''This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.''


Secondary


Sources

* * * {{Middle-earth Middle-earth animals Fictional spiders Fictional demons and devils Fictional characters who can manipulate darkness or shadows Characters in The Silmarillion Literary characters introduced in 1977 Female literary villains Middle-earth deities and spirits Middle-earth monsters pl:Lista zwierząt Śródziemia#Ungolianta