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Originally Posted by mhagain
So to summarize the evidence: - Ungoliant came to Arda (and remembering that Arda is just a part of Ea) at the time as Melkor overthrew the Lamps. I consider this beyond doubt.
- At this same time Melkor called spirits "that he had perverted to his service" from elsewhere in Ea. This is also beyond doubt as Tolkien explicitly wrote it.
- Ungoliant had a Master who she subsequently left, and that Master was Melkor. This is also beyond doubt: Tolkien wrote it.
So the reasonable conclusion is therefore: Ungoliant was one of those spirits. |
It's really a small point of contention, as I agree with most of what you say. There is nowhere any definite proof though that Ungoliant's arrival in Arda was
because of Morgoth: only that she did his bidding for a time. Even Sauron was not "called" by Melkor from the Void. With the quote you've given in full context:
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And Melkor knew of all that was done, for even then he had secret friends and spies among the Maiar whom he had converted to his cause; and far off in the darkness he was filled with hatred....
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Melkor did not summon those spirits from Outside: they were there in Eë already, and though their corruption was unknown to the Valar, their identities were not.
Ungoliant, however, was an unknown entity to them.
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For though the Valar did not yet understand fully what had befallen, they perceived that Melkor had called upon some aid that came from beyond Arda.
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The Silmarilion Of the Flight of the Noldor
To me the evidence points to Ungoliant being a unique quantity where Melkor's servants were concerned. She was apparently more powerful, able to use her shadows to defeat and confound the Valar themselves, and also unknown to them. That is why I lean toward her being an Ainu who entered on her own, then allied herself with Melkor.