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Things of Middle-earth

Unlight of Ungoliant, The

Type: Miscellaneous

Other Names: The Cloud of Ungoliant

Description:A cloak of darkness she wove about them when Melkor and Ungoliant set forth: an Unlight, in which things seemed to be no more, and which eyes could not pierce, for it was void.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 8, Of The Darkening of Valinor


And in that very hour Melkor and Ungoliant came hastening over the fields of Valinor, as the shadow of a black cloud upon the wind fleets over the sunlit earth; and they came before the green mound Ezellohar. Then the Unlight of Ungoliant rose up even to the roots of the Trees, and Melkor sprang upon the mound; and with this black spear he smote each Tree to its core, wounded them deep, and their sap poured forth as it were their blood, and going then from Tree to Tree she set her black beak to their wounds, till they were drained; and the poison of Death that was in her went into their tissues and withered them, root, branch, and leaf; and they died. And still she thirsted, and going to the Wells of Varda she drank them dry; but Ungoliant belched forth black vapours as she drank, and swelled to a shape so vast and hideous that Melkor was afraid. ...

So the great darkness fell upon Valinor. ... The Light failed; but the Darkness that followed was more than loss of light. In that hour was made a Darkness that seemed not lack but a thing with being of its own: for it was indeed made by malice out of Light, and it had power to pierce the eye, and to enter heart and mind, and strangle the very will.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 8, Of 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.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 8, Of The Darkening of Valinor


But even as Nienna mourned, there came messengers from Formenos, and they were Noldor and bore new tidings of evil. For they told how a blind Darkness came northward, and in the midst walked some power for which there was no name, and the Darkness issued from it. But Melkor also was there, and he came to the house of Fëanor, and there he slew Finwë King of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwë alone had not fled from the horror of the Dark. And they told that Melkor had broken the stronghold of Formenos, and taken all the jewels of the Noldor that were hoarded in that place; and the Silmarils were gone.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 9, Of the Flight of the Noldor


[After Melkor was freed from Ungoliant's web by his Balrogs,] she quailed, and turned to flight, belching black vapours to cover her...

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 9, Of the Flight of the Noldor


Together they went on, for Morgoth could not elude Ungoliant, and her cloud was still about him, and all her eyes were upon him..

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 9, Of the Flight of the Noldor

Contributors: Elena Tiriel 6.5.04

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