The Silmarillion, Chapter 8: Of the Darkening of Valinor

[Attalus]

The Silmarillion - Chapter 8, "Of the Darkening of Valinor."

This is a rather short chapter in the published Silmarillion: only 5 pages. When I first reread it for the purpose of writing this Introduction, I had read the earlier accounts in HoME 4Shaping Middle-Earth and had not seen much change. Melkor flees from his encounter with Feanor, his perfidy exposed and the Valar on his tail. He feints North, and Orome and Tulkas search in the area of his former fastnesses of Utumno and Angband, but do not find him. Actually, he has gone South, to the land of "Avanthar, which means the Shadows in ancient Quenya." (HoME X, p. 284, footnote) He recruits Ungoliant, who is described in the Sil as a giant spider. "The Eldar knew not whence she came; but some have said that in ages long before she descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, when Melkor first looked down in envy upon the Kingdom of Manwe, and in the beginning she was one of those whom he corrupted to his service. But she had disowned her master...." It is also noted that "she hungered for light and hated it." Morgoth locates her and persuades her to join him again, offering satisfaction for her hunger. So far, so good. However, HoME X adds much to this story, including detail about how Melkor convinced Ungoliant to join him, including how initially she hid from him, "knowing his hatred for all who had escaped from him." She shrank into her deepest lair, trying to weave a new shadow about her, but she was weak and famished, having consumed all available light, and was unable to hide. He heaps scorn on her, calling her "thrice fool," and tells her of feasts that he will give her. She is not convinced, not believing him, (smart!) and retreating further. Melkor loses his temper and threatens to pull the whole mountain down upon her if she persists in resisting, and, as a counter-argument, offers her two green, glowing jewels filched from Valinor as payment in earnest of what is to come. She relents and eats the gems and others, and grows strong again. In both accounts, Melkor and Ungoliant both steal back into Valinor and poison the Two Trees, but the accounts in the Sil and X diverge, here. In the Sil, Ungoliant sucks the sap and light from the Trees, then Melkor delivers the coup de grace with his spear. In HoME X, Ungoliant kills the trees by herself, while Melkor, like a spoiled child, broods over Ulmo's Sea, defiles the Judgement Seat of Manwe and tips over the Thrones of the Valar. He then flees North, and dark falls upon the land. This remarkable change is explained by Christopher Tolkien as to allow Melkor to try to keep Ungoliant as far as possible from the Silmarils, since she would lust after them, and she had grown very powerful. In the the new version, Melkor would use the darkness as a cloak to steal north to Formenos, where the Silmarils remain, under guard of Finwe and the seven sons of Feanor, for they had not followed Feanor to the Festival where all the rest of the Noldor and Vanyar were partying with the Valar. HoME X adds some pretty detail of this Festival, but the basic facts remain: Feanor was there, on orders from Manwe, but he is still sulking, and hasn't dressed up and hasn't got the Silmarils. Manwe tries to reconcile Feanor and Fingolfin, with good will on Fingolfin's part, and he (Fingolfin) says, "You will lead, and I will follow," not knowing how true his words will be. However, despite Melkor's plot to stand her up, Ungoliant "turns swiftly" and follows him. In either case, Melkor has achieved his revenge.

Comments: First: all this begs the question of: where the heck did Ungoliant come from? This, I think, attaches to the much larger question of the origins of the Dragons and the Trolls, and even the sacred topic of the origins of Orcs. The answer, IMHO, is that Tolkien put various monsters into his tale, not thinking deeply about it at the time, and later trying to come up with origins that satisfyed his cosmology. Secondly, though HoME X adds that Melkor had timed all of this in advance, how on Arda could he have known that Feanor wouldn't wear the Silmarils to the Festival? He couldn't have been that prescient, and if Feanaro had been a little more gracious, Melkor would have been foiled, having poisoned the Two Trees but having lost the jewels he lusted for. The answer is, Melkor knew nothing of the depths of Feanor's sulks, but expected him to boycott the Festival altogether, so he could kill him and take the jewels.