Morgoth's Ring (53 page)

$55b This indeed Melkor had expected; but he had other things to do before he would return to Middle-earth, and ere the pursuit set out, indeed ere the messengers came to Valmar, he had turned back and in great secrecy passed away far to the South. For Melkor was yet as one of the Valar, and he could still (though with pain) change his form, or walk unclad, as could his brethren; though that power he was soon to lose for ever.

$55c Thus unseen he came at last to the region that once was called Avathar,* beneath the eastern feet of the Pelori; a narrow land it had become, eaten away by the Sea, and was long forsaken. There the shadows were deepest and thickest in the world. In Avathar, secret and unknown save to Melkor, dwelt Ungoliante, and she had taken spider's form, and was a weaver of dark webs. It is not known whence she came, though among the Eldar it was said that in ages long before she had descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, when Melkor first looked down in envy upon the light in the kingdom of Manwe. But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust, taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness. To the South she had fled, and so had escaped the assaults of the Valar and the hunters of Orome, for their vigilance had ever been to the North, and the South was long unheeded. Thence she had crept towards the light of the Blessed Realm; for she hungered for light and hated it.

$55d In a ravine she lived and wove her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. All light she sucked up and spun it forth in dark nets of gloom. But now she was famished, and in great torment; for all living things had fled far away, and her own webs shut out from her all light that could come to her dwelling, whether through passes in the walls of Aman, or from the heavens above. Yet she had no longer the strength or will to depart.

$56 Now Melkor sought for her, and he put on again the form that he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno: a dark Lord, tall and terrible. In that form he remained ever after. And when Ungoliante saw him coming she was afraid, knowing his hatred for all who tried to escape from him. She shrank into her deepest lair, and tried to shroud herself in new shadow; but such darkness as in her famine she could weave was no defence against the eyes of Melkor, Lord of Utumno and Angband.

$56a 'Come forth!' he said. 'Thrice fool: to leave me first, to dwell here languishing within reach of feasts untold, and now to shun me, Giver of Gifts, thy only hope! Come forth and see! I have brought thee an earnest of greater bounty to follow.' But (* [footnote to the text] The Shadows (in ancient Quenya).) Ungoliante made no answer, and retreated deeper into the cloven rock. Then Melkor was angered, for he was in haste, having reckoned his times to a nicety. 'Come out!' he cried. 'I have need of thee and will not be denied. Either thou wilt serve me, or I will bury thee here and under black stone thou shalt wither into naught.' Then suddenly he held up in his hands two shining gems. They were green, and in that lightless place they reflected the dreadful light of his eyes, as if some ravening beast had come hunting there. Thus the great Thief set his lure for the lesser.

$56b Slowly Ungoliante came forth; but as she drew near Melkor withheld the lure. 'Nay, nay,' he said. 'I do not bring thee these Elvish sweets in love or in pity; they are to strengthen thee, when thou hast agreed to do my bidding.' 'What is your bidding, Master?' she said, and her eyes gloated upon the gems.

$56c There in the black shadows, beyond the sight even of Manwe in his highest halls, Melkor with Ungoliante plotted his revenge. But when Ungoliante understood his purpose, she was torn between great lust and great fear. She would not dare the perils of Aman, or the power of the dreadful Lords, without a great reward; for she feared the eyes of Manwe and Varda more even than the wrath of Melkor. Therefore Melkor said to her:

'Do as I bid, and if thou art still hungry when we meet again, then, I vow, I will give to thee whatsoever thy lust may demand.

Yea, with both hands!' Lightly he made this vow (as he ever did), thinking little of its fulfilment, and he laughed in his heart; for if she achieved his design, he would have no need, he thought, to appease her, or any one else in Arda, great or small.

$56d 'Come then!' he said. 'Here is the earnest!' And he delivered the gems to her, not only the first two but many others that he had stolen in Valinor. Then swiftly Ungoliante began to grow again and to find new strength. A cloak of darkness she wove about herself: an unlight, in which things seemed to be no more, and which eyes could not pierce, for it was void. Then slowly she wrought her webs: rope by rope from cleft to cleft, from jutting rock to pinnacle of stone, ever climbing upwards, crawling and clinging, until at last she achieved the very summit of Mount Hyarmentir, the highest mountain in that region of the world, far south of great Taniquetil. There the Valar were not vigilant; for west of the Pelori was an empty land in twilight, until northward one came to the tall fences of the woods of Orome; and eastward the mountains looked out, save for forgotten Avathar, only upon the dim waters of the pathless Sea.

$57 But now upon the mountain-top dark Ungoliante lay.

For a while she rested, and with eyes faint from labour she saw the glimmer of the stars in the dome of Varda and the radiance of Valmar far away. Slowly her eyes wakened and took fire, and her lust increased until it overcame her fear. She began in stealth to creep down into the Blessed Realm.

$57a Still in the dark depths Melkor stood, gnawing his mind, between evil hope and doubt; but when he had stood, revolving his chances, as long as his urgency allowed, he turned away and went down to the shore. There he cursed the Sea, saying: 'Slime of Ulmo! I will conquer thee yet, shrivel thee to a stinking ooze. Yea, ere long Ulmo and Osse shall wither, and Uinen crawl as a mud-worm at my feet!' With that suddenly he passed from Avathar and went to do his will.

$58 [see AAm $$109 - 10] Now it was a time of festival, as Melkor knew well. In Aman all tides and seasons were at the will of the Valar, and there was no winter of death; but even as it was the delight of the Valar to clothe themselves in the forms of the Children of Iluvatar,* so also they would eat and drink and gather the fruits of Yavanna, and share the bounty of the Earth which under Eru they had made. Therefore Yavanna set times for the flowering and the ripening of all growing things in Valinor: upspringing, blooming, and seed-time. And after the l coming of the First-born Children, the Eldar, at these times they made feasts, at which all the dwellers in Aman would assemble in mirth. The greatest of the feasts was at the first gathering of fruits, and this was held upon Taniquetil; for Manwe decreed that at this time all should join in the praise of Eru Iluvatar, and the peoples of Valinor, Valar, Maiar, and Eldar, poured forth their joy in music and song.

$58a This day had now come once more, and Manwe prepared a feast greater than any that had been held since the entry of the Eldar into Aman. For though the escape of Melkor portended toils and sorrows to come, and indeed none could tell what further hurts would be done to Arda, ere he could be subdued again, at this time Manwe desired to unite all his people once more in joy, healing all that was amiss, and (* [footnote to the text] As is told in the Ainulindale'. [The same reference to the Ainulindale ($25) is made in AAm $109.]) strengthening them with the blessing of Eru to hold ever in heart the hope of Arda Unmarred. He bade all come who would, but the Noldor above all; for he hoped that there they would put aside the griefs that lay between their lords, and forget utterly the lies of their Enemy. Therefore he sent a messenger to Formenos, saying: 'Feanor son of Finwe, come and do not deny my bidding! In my love thou remainest and wilt be honoured in my hall.'

$58b [see AAm $111] There came the Vanyar, and there came the Noldor of Tuna, and the Maiar were gathered together, and the Valar were arrayed in their beauty and majesty; and they sang before Manwe and Varda in the halls of Taniquetil, or played and danced upon the green slopes of the Mountain that looked west to the Trees. In that day the streets of Valmar were empty, and the stairs of Tuna were silent, and all the land lay sleeping in peace. Only the Teleri beyond the mountains still sang upon the shores of the Sea; for they recked little of seasons or times, and gave no thought to the cares of the King of Arda, or to the shadow that had fallen upon Valinor; for it had not touched them, as yet.

$58c [see AAm $112] One thing only marred the hope of Manwe. Feanor came indeed, for he read the message of Manwe as a command; but Finwe would not come and remained in Formenos, and with him were the sons of Feanor. For said Finwe: 'While the ban lasts upon Feanor, my son, that he may not go to Tuna, I hold myself unkinged, and I will not meet my people.' And Feanor did not come in raiment of festival, and he wore no ornament, neither silver nor gold nor any gem; and he denied the sight of the Silmarils to the Valar and the Eldar, and left them in Formenos, locked in a chamber of iron.

Nonetheless he met Fingolfin before the throne of Manwe, and was reconciled in word. For Fingolfin held forth his hand, saying: 'As I promised, I do now. I release thee, and remember no grievance.'

Then Feanor took his hand in silence; but Fingolfin said:

'Half-brother in blood, full brother in heart I will be. Thou shalt lead and I will follow. May no new grief divide us!'

'I hear thee,' said Feanor. 'So be it!' But they did not know then the full meaning that their words would bear.

$58d [see AAm $113] It is told that even as Feanor and Fingolfin stood before Manwe, there came the Mingling of the Lights, and both Trees were shining, and the silent city of Valmar was filled with a radiance of silver and gold. And in that very hour Ungoliante came hastening over the fields of Valinor.

Hunger and thirst now drove her. No longer she crept but ran, as the shadow of a black cloud upon the wind fleets over the sun-lit earth. Now she came to the Green Mound of the Corolaire, and her Unlight rose up even to the roots of the Trees. Then with her black beak she pierced their rind, wounded them deep; and their juices gushed forth and she drank them up. But when no more flowed she set her mouth to the wounds, and sucked them dry, 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 Ungoliante thirsted; and she went to the great Wells of Varda and drained them dry. And as she drank, she belched forth vast vapours, and in their midst she swelled to a shape more huge and hideous than even her most lustful dream had hoped ever to achieve. At last, knowing that the time was short, she hastened away, north, to the tryst that Melkor had made with her, and did not mean to keep.

$58e Outside he had lurked, until the failing of the Light announced that Ungoliante had done her work. Then through the Kalakiryan, now only a dim ravine in walls of shadow, he came striding back, Lord of Utumno, a black shape of hate, visiting the places of his humiliation with revenge. All the land fell swiftly through grey twilight into night as Melkor stood within the Ring of Doom and cursed it; and he defiled the judgement seat of Manwe and threw down the thrones of the Valar.

$58f Then he went on to his second mark, which he had kept secret in his mind; but Ungoliante was aware of him, and turning swiftly she overtook him on his road. Aghast indeed was Melkor to see her, monstrous, grown to a lust and power that he could not master without aid. He could not contend with her, even if time allowed; and he could not escape. She took him into her Unlight, and they went on together to the one place in the land of the Valar that he would have hidden from her.

$59 [see AAm $114] So the great Darkness came upon Valinor. Of the deeds of that time much is told in the Aldudenie * that Elemmire of the Vanyar made and is known to all the Eldar. Yet no song or tale could contain all the grief and terror (* [footnote to the text] The Lament for the Two Trees.) that then came upon the Blessed Realm. The Light went out; but the Darkness that followed was more than loss. In that hour the dwellers in Aman knew the Unlight, and it seemed not lack, but a thing with being of its own, that made by malice out of Light had the power to pierce the eye, to enter heart and mind and strangle the very will.

$59a [see AAm $115] Varda looked down from the Holy Mountain, and she beheld the Shadow soaring up in sudden towers of gloom. Valmar was blotted out, and all the land foundered in a deep sea of night. Soon Taniquetil stood alone, a last island in a drowned world. All song ceased. There was silence in Valinor, and no sound could be heard, save only from afar there came on the wind through the pass of the mountains the wailing of the Teleri like the cold cry of gulls. For it blew chill from the East in that hour, and the vast shadows of the Sea were rolled against the walls of the shore.