JRRT: The Story of the Arachnid in the Tolkien Universe
First, some background.
In college at Georgia Southern University, I was lucky enough to take an English class (ENG 399) that was "taught" by a South African professor whose name escapes me right now. This class focused on the Lord of the Rings writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. These days I am convinced that I could produce a syllabus and teach a class with more depth, importance, and meaning than this class I took, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to get college credit to study LOTR. This short paper was one of the class assignments.
Spiders hold a special place in the mythology of Middle Earth. They act as important turning points in The Hobbit and The Two Towers. Bilbo learns to trust in himself after killing his first spider, alone in the dark forest of Mirkwood, and he is a much more resilient individual forever after. In a similar manner, Sam is forced to rely on himself when Shelob drugs Frodo on the borders of Mordor. Sam ceases to be the "baggage" that he may have been throughout the journey to that point. He takes a truly active part in the history of the Ring, become the last Ringbearer--if only for a short time.
Shelob dwells in the mountainous passes on the western border of Mordor, and no tale is told how she came to that place in Cirith Ungol or how long she has dwelled there. "But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dur; and she served none but herself. . ." (The Two Towers, p. 422). Long has she lived in the dark tunnels of her lair, feeding upon anyone or anything foolish enough to blunder into her dank webs. Shelob's offspring spread all over Middle Earth, most notably into the dark corners of Mirkwood forest, north of Mordor. It was these offspring of Shelob's that Bilbo Baggins so enraged with his songs of "Attercop" and "Lazy Lob." "But none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world" (The Two Towers, p. 423).
Ungoliant, the mother of all the spiders of Middle Earth, has an equally ambiguous beginning. During the First Age of Middle Earth, Melkor, the Vaia who introduced evil into the world and was exiled from the wonderful world of Valinor, joined forces with Ungoliant to destroy the Trees of Light that illuminated Valinor. No one knows where Ungoliant originated from, but there are tales of her descending from the original darkness. Indeed, Tolkien's earliest writings point towards this fact. One of the earliest names given the Great Spider was Moru, which means "the Primeval Night." She had several other names including Gwerlum (Gloomweaver), but she was known commonly as Ungoliant, an adaptation of the elvish Ungwe Lianti (The Book of Lost Tales, Part I, p. 152).
Melkor found her in a deep ravine in Avathar, far in the southern regions of Middle Earth, well removed from the vigilance of the Vala in the north. There she lived, "and took shape as a spider of monstrous form, weaving her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. There she sucked up all light that she could find, and spun it forth again in dark nets of strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode" (The Silmarillion, p. 73). Melkor persuaded Ungoliant to aid him, and dissuaded her fears by promising to her whatever she desired when his revenge was achieved.
Ungoliant created a cloak of darkness that covered her and Melkor and totally veiled them from sight. Her darkness was so thick that nothing could pierce it. She slowly climbed the southern mountains that guarded the blessed land of Valinor and then wove a rope ladder for Melkor to climb. He ascended to the high peak and looked down in the land, perceiving that all were prepared for a festival and their guard was lowered. Wrapped in the dark cloak, he and Ungoliant swiftly descended to the mound of Ezellohar, where Telperion and Laurelin, the Trees of Valinor stood giving light to the land.
The Valar realized Melkor's deed when a vast darkness was cast over the land and they gave chase after the two, but Ungoliant's Cloud was so impenetrable that Melkor and the Great Spider easily evaded capture and fled to the north, As they fled, Melkor attacked the stronghold of Formenos and stole the Silmarils, the three jewels that help the light of the Trees and were made by Feanor before the destruction of Telperion and Laurelin. Upon hearing this, Feanor cursed Melkor and named him Morgoth, "the Black Enemy of the world," which he was forever after called.
As Morgoth and Ungoliant neared his stronghold of Angband in the north, Morgoth tried to evade the Spider, for he had grown fearful of her growing power and blackness. Ungoliant guessed his mind and demanded the treasures of Formenos for her reward as he promised. Morgoth gave to her all but the Silmarils, which he desired for himself. The fought long and Morgoth's cries of pain and hatred awakened the Balrogs that dwelt deep below Angband. They swiftly came to their master's aid and cut Ungoliant's strangling webs with their whips of flame. She fled before them, covering her trail with her dark vapor and went south into the Ered Gorgoroth, "the Mountains of Terror," in the region of Beleriand. She then disappeared from any further tales, but her horrible offspring that bred within that dark valley earned it the name of Nan Dungortheb, "the Valley of Dreadful Death." Nothing is told of the final fate of Ungoliant, but The Silmarillion hints that she devoured herself in the end to satisfy her never ending hunger.
Spiders are very rare in Tolkien's story line, but they hold very important roles. Ungoliant helped cast the first darkness upon Valinor and aided in the theft of the famous Silmarils--the First Age's parallel to the Rings of Power. The spiders of Mirkwood almost halted the Dwarves quest to the Lonely Mountain, but more importantly, they cemented Bilbo's dependence upon The Ring. It was a great help in rescuing his friends and was "help" to him for many years to come. Years later, the last of the great spiders, Shelob, unwittingly had the fate of Middle Earth swaying back and forth within her dark lair as she struggled to capture and kill the two Ringbearers. Spiders are not as numerous as Orcs or as terrifying as a Nazgul, but they hold a pivotal place in the history of Middle Earth.
In college at Georgia Southern University, I was lucky enough to take an English class (ENG 399) that was "taught" by a South African professor whose name escapes me right now. This class focused on the Lord of the Rings writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. These days I am convinced that I could produce a syllabus and teach a class with more depth, importance, and meaning than this class I took, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to get college credit to study LOTR. This short paper was one of the class assignments.
The spider lay dead beside him, and his sword blade was stained black. Somehow the killing of this giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into his sheath. (The Hobbit, p. 154)
On the near side of him lay, gleaming on the ground, his elven blade, where it had fallen useless from his grasp. Sam did not wait to wonder what was to be done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage. He sprang forward with a yell, and seized his master's sword in his left hand. Then he charged. No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate (The Two Towers, p. 428).
Spiders hold a special place in the mythology of Middle Earth. They act as important turning points in The Hobbit and The Two Towers. Bilbo learns to trust in himself after killing his first spider, alone in the dark forest of Mirkwood, and he is a much more resilient individual forever after. In a similar manner, Sam is forced to rely on himself when Shelob drugs Frodo on the borders of Mordor. Sam ceases to be the "baggage" that he may have been throughout the journey to that point. He takes a truly active part in the history of the Ring, become the last Ringbearer--if only for a short time.
Shelob dwells in the mountainous passes on the western border of Mordor, and no tale is told how she came to that place in Cirith Ungol or how long she has dwelled there. "But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dur; and she served none but herself. . ." (The Two Towers, p. 422). Long has she lived in the dark tunnels of her lair, feeding upon anyone or anything foolish enough to blunder into her dank webs. Shelob's offspring spread all over Middle Earth, most notably into the dark corners of Mirkwood forest, north of Mordor. It was these offspring of Shelob's that Bilbo Baggins so enraged with his songs of "Attercop" and "Lazy Lob." "But none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world" (The Two Towers, p. 423).
Ungoliant, the mother of all the spiders of Middle Earth, has an equally ambiguous beginning. During the First Age of Middle Earth, Melkor, the Vaia who introduced evil into the world and was exiled from the wonderful world of Valinor, joined forces with Ungoliant to destroy the Trees of Light that illuminated Valinor. No one knows where Ungoliant originated from, but there are tales of her descending from the original darkness. Indeed, Tolkien's earliest writings point towards this fact. One of the earliest names given the Great Spider was Moru, which means "the Primeval Night." She had several other names including Gwerlum (Gloomweaver), but she was known commonly as Ungoliant, an adaptation of the elvish Ungwe Lianti (The Book of Lost Tales, Part I, p. 152).
Melkor found her in a deep ravine in Avathar, far in the southern regions of Middle Earth, well removed from the vigilance of the Vala in the north. There she lived, "and took shape as a spider of monstrous form, weaving her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. There she sucked up all light that she could find, and spun it forth again in dark nets of strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode" (The Silmarillion, p. 73). Melkor persuaded Ungoliant to aid him, and dissuaded her fears by promising to her whatever she desired when his revenge was achieved.
Ungoliant created a cloak of darkness that covered her and Melkor and totally veiled them from sight. Her darkness was so thick that nothing could pierce it. She slowly climbed the southern mountains that guarded the blessed land of Valinor and then wove a rope ladder for Melkor to climb. He ascended to the high peak and looked down in the land, perceiving that all were prepared for a festival and their guard was lowered. Wrapped in the dark cloak, he and Ungoliant swiftly descended to the mound of Ezellohar, where Telperion and Laurelin, the Trees of Valinor stood giving light to the land.
Then the Unlight of Ungoliant rose up even to the roots of the Trees, and Melkor sprang upon the mound; and with his black spear he smote each Tree to its core, wounded them deep, and their sap poured forth as it were their blood, and was spilled upon the ground. But Ungoliant sucked it up, 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 (The Silmarillion, p. 76).
The Valar realized Melkor's deed when a vast darkness was cast over the land and they gave chase after the two, but Ungoliant's Cloud was so impenetrable that Melkor and the Great Spider easily evaded capture and fled to the north, As they fled, Melkor attacked the stronghold of Formenos and stole the Silmarils, the three jewels that help the light of the Trees and were made by Feanor before the destruction of Telperion and Laurelin. Upon hearing this, Feanor cursed Melkor and named him Morgoth, "the Black Enemy of the world," which he was forever after called.
As Morgoth and Ungoliant neared his stronghold of Angband in the north, Morgoth tried to evade the Spider, for he had grown fearful of her growing power and blackness. Ungoliant guessed his mind and demanded the treasures of Formenos for her reward as he promised. Morgoth gave to her all but the Silmarils, which he desired for himself. The fought long and Morgoth's cries of pain and hatred awakened the Balrogs that dwelt deep below Angband. They swiftly came to their master's aid and cut Ungoliant's strangling webs with their whips of flame. She fled before them, covering her trail with her dark vapor and went south into the Ered Gorgoroth, "the Mountains of Terror," in the region of Beleriand. She then disappeared from any further tales, but her horrible offspring that bred within that dark valley earned it the name of Nan Dungortheb, "the Valley of Dreadful Death." Nothing is told of the final fate of Ungoliant, but The Silmarillion hints that she devoured herself in the end to satisfy her never ending hunger.
Spiders are very rare in Tolkien's story line, but they hold very important roles. Ungoliant helped cast the first darkness upon Valinor and aided in the theft of the famous Silmarils--the First Age's parallel to the Rings of Power. The spiders of Mirkwood almost halted the Dwarves quest to the Lonely Mountain, but more importantly, they cemented Bilbo's dependence upon The Ring. It was a great help in rescuing his friends and was "help" to him for many years to come. Years later, the last of the great spiders, Shelob, unwittingly had the fate of Middle Earth swaying back and forth within her dark lair as she struggled to capture and kill the two Ringbearers. Spiders are not as numerous as Orcs or as terrifying as a Nazgul, but they hold a pivotal place in the history of Middle Earth.
***
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983.
_____, The Hobbit. New York: Ballantine Books, 1966.
_____, The Silmarillion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977.
_____, The Two Towers. New York: Ballantine Books, 1965
_____, The Hobbit. New York: Ballantine Books, 1966.
_____, The Silmarillion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977.
_____, The Two Towers. New York: Ballantine Books, 1965
posted by David at 8:37 AM
3 Comments:
Retyping this paper onto my laptop today made me realize how badly it is written and frankly, how much I plaguerized the phrasing and style of Tolkien while writing it.
Shameful.
Plus, it's not very informative and doesn't really deal with the transformative role of spiders in any depth. Instead, I ramble on and on about Melkor and Ungoliant.
The reason for the Silmarillion focus, I believe, was my desire to inject some of Tolkien's deeper myths into the class, which was completely focus on the three books in the LOTR storyline. I had hoped when I signed up that it would weave more of the total Tolkien universe together into a coherent whole.
Still, I was getting credit for the class and I got away with turning in such a substandard paper.
Hey man, come clean!!! What grade did the South African Hack/Prof give you???
-MM
I got a 92 on the paper! (Shameful grade inflation, probably.)
Post a Comment
<< Home