Ungoliant

Gloomweaver.

Wirilómë.

Gwerlum The Black

Muru / Móru.

Spider of Night.

Ungwë Lianti and Ungweliantë.

Both Gwerlum and Wirilómë may be translated from Noldorin to Gloomweaver

Ungoliant was an evil being from "Before the World" that took on the form of a spider. She was further corrupted by Melkor. Múru is an elvish word for Primeval Night (see "The Lost Road"). Múru is the representation of night, or darkness, that came before the creation of the universe (the dark night before "The Big Bang", so to speak) whereas Ilúvatar (the Supreme God) is the source of light. (Neither light nor dark can exist without the other: if you do not have light, you cannot see the dark and vice versa. The point here is that to see a ray of light, you need a dark area for the ray of light to pierce. Otherwise, a ray of light within other light is undiscernable.)

The lore of the old days tells that none of the Eldar knew when Ungoliant came into the world. Perhaps she came to the South out of the darkness of Eä during the time when Melkor destroyed the Lamps of the Valar, known as Illuin and Ormal. By that time, the South of Arda was long forgotten. And, because Melkor dwelt in the North, the interest of the Valar turned elsewhere.

( In early stages of the tales the Elves knew of her and called her Ungwë Lianti : The Great Spider who Enmeshes or Gwerlum The Black )

When the Valar established their new home in the uttermost West, Ungoliant crept toward the light of Valinor because she hungered for light (and yet hated it). She made her home in a deep cleft in Hyarmentir and took shape as a monstrous spider that sucked up all the light she could find, including any light that strayed over the defensive walls of the Pelori. Ungoliant spun forth the light into black webs of strangling gloom until light could no longer penetrate into her abode and she became famished for more light.

It may well be that Melkor, if none other, knew of her being and her abode. When he came to Arvalin, Melkor sought her out and negotiated her help to destroy the Two Trees of Valinor, in return for jewels to feed her insatiable hunger for the light that she hated.

Valian Years ( V.Y.) 0 - 3450.

V.Y.1900 - 3450. Did Ungoliant come from Eä, lusting for the light that originated there and later spilled out over the World? If she did, it was between these years but probably not until the Valar were feasting at Almaren when Melkor crept over the Wall of Things and entered Arda in the North where he assailed the Lamps of the Valar and overthrew them.

V.Y.3450 - V.Y.3500. The Valar departed to Aman. Ungoliant crept towards the realm and the light, from the South, and reached the Southern Pelori and Hyarmentir.

Related Links.: Battles: War of shaping Arda. Misc.: Making of the Lamps.

Now began the Valian Years of the Trees ( V.Y.t ) and a new reckoning of time.

In the V.Y.t 0, the Two Trees Silpion and Laurelin came into being. This may have been a time of feasting for Ungoliant.

V.Y.t 1400 - 1495. Melkor arrived in Arvalin and sought out Ungoliant.

V.Y.t 1495. During the great feast where Manwë declared that he sought to heal the evil that had arisen in Valinor, Melkor returned with Ungoliant. Melkor smote each Tree to the core with his black spear, and Ungoliant plied her foul lips to their wounds and sucked the blood of the Trees until they were drained. Thus the Two Trees were destroyed. Ungoliant then escaped to Middle-Earth with Melkor who had stolen and brought along many jewels, including the Silmarils. We may see, as a sign of the strength that lies in Ungoliant, that she, of all known creatures, were able to quale the sound of Oromë`s great horn Valaróma. "...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 they knew not whither; and the sound of the Valaróma faltered and failed."

V.Y.t. 1496. Upon her arrival to Lammoth, in Middle-Earth, Ungoliant claimed her reward for helping Melkor destroy the Two Trees. He gave her all the jewels he had stolen, except the Silmarils; Ungoliant then attacked Melkor because he withheld the Silmarils from her. Being afraid of her, Melkor called out for help and the Balrogs came to his aid.

Their whips of flame drove Ungoliant away and she fled into Nan Dungortheb. Ungoliant dwelt there for a time, with other creatures of spider form that had dwelt there since the delving of Angband. She mated with these other creatures and also devoured them, but her foul breed lived there and wove their hideous webs long after she went into the forgotten South of the World. One of her children, Shelob, escaped the ruin of Beleriand and made her way to trouble the world in the Third age.

Related links.: Encyc.: Ungoliant.