Michael Hemmer: Ungoliant and the Unlight

     In Tolkien's mythos, Ungoliant is an evil primordial being of unknown origin. Although she is spiritual in nature, she later takes on the physical form of a monstrous spider (Yes she is the distant mother of Shelob, the spider Frodo and Sam Fight in the movies). She is largely characterized by a greedy and insatiable craving to consume light, which she then spins into webs of darkness or "unlight". At this time, in the first age, the light of the world is produced by two beautiful magic trees in Valinor, home of the Valar. At this time, Melkor, the fallen and evil Valar, convinces Ungoliant to accompany him to Valinor and drink the sap and light from the trees, stealing their light and poisoning them. This caused Ungoliant to swell to vast and hideous size, causing even Melkor to fear her. Although Valar pursued the two foes, the pair escapes because Ungoliant spins webs of unlight to obfuscate their position. 

    I think that this idea of "unlight" is fascinating and relates to Lewis's fiction. The unlight is unspeakably horrific, as it not only is an absence of light, as a normal shadow, but actively muffles and swallows up light it touches. The irony regarding the unlight and the character of Ungoliant is a critique of living by destroying. Ungoliant, as I mentioned before, is entirely characterized by her consumption of light. She becomes incredibly powerful in this way, yet it is also her undoing. The webs of unlight that she spins destroys the light that she must feed on. In other words she is constantly destroying and working against herself. Thus is the nature of evil. Although self-serving, it is also self-destructive. The epitome of this concept is found in Ungoliant's death. As in her ever-growing and insatiable hunger, she eventually devoured herself in the darkness.