Boldogs, Gothmogs and Sauron's New Clothes

[obloquy]

Ungoliante was an eala in her beginnings, yes, but other than that we know nothing about her. She came into Arda uninvited, and so does not fall into the categories of those who were stationed in Arda by Eru. The distinctions "Vala" and "Maia" are given to Ainur (which may itself be an Arda-specific class of beings) who occupy specific stations appointed to them by Eru.

Apart from this, she was never actually in Melkor's service, but that point is moot.

Edit: And it's a good thing the point is moot, because Tolkien disagrees with me. Here's his latest word on the subject from Annals of Aman:

Whence she came none of the Eldar know, but maybe she came to the South out of the darkness of Ëa, in that time when Melkor destroyed the lights of Illuin and Ormal, and because of his dwelling in the North the heed of the Valar was turned most thither and the South was long forgotten. Thence she crept towards the realm of the light of the Valar. For she hungered for light and hated it. In a deep cleft of the mountains she dwelt, and took shape as it were a spider of monstrous form, sucking up all such light as she could find, or that strayed over the walls of Valinor, and she spun it forth again in black webs of strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode, and she was famished.

It may well be that Melkor, if none other, knew of her being and her abode, and that she was in the beginning one of those that he had corrupted to his service.

Edit again: Reading more carefully reveals that Tolkien thinks she may have been one of those he corrupted to his service.

[The Saucepan Man]

uh.. wots an eala ???/

[obloquy]

Additionally, I think her ability to consume light is unusual enough for us to label her an enigma instead. This ability and hunger of hers puts her at odds with Arda, and furthers the point that her presence was unsanctioned by Eru.

An interesting thought but what are you basing it on?

I don't base it on anything, other than the fact that it's not addressed by Tolkien and therefore not said to be impossible. It would seem that the only thing that prevented the spirit from doing it itself was that it no longer possessed the power to do so.

[Neithan]

uh.. wots an eala ???

Ealar, singular Eala, are those bodyless spirits who were created befor Ea, of which the Ainur are one type.

Ainur (which may itself be an Arda-specific class of beings)

What? All I have to go on is the 77 Sil and the quotes that I have read on the Downs but the Sil says that the Ainur were created beforehand and that those who went into Arda were broken up into subgroups such as Valar and Maiar, but some of the Ainur stayed with Iluvatar.

[obloquy]

What? All I have to go on is the 77 Sil and the quotes that I have read on the Downs but the Sil says that the Ainur were created beforehand and that those who went into Arda were broken up into subgroups such as Valar and Maiar, but some of the Ainur stayed with Iluvatar.

Yeah, you're right about that. It is possible that the Ainur, even those who did not enter Arda, were made specifically for the creation and overseeing of Arda and that there were other classes of spirits. The point is just that we don't really know much about ealar.

[Formendacil]

Okay, I'll admit that I was going out a bit on a limb with Ungoliant...

Perhaps it would be wrong to call her a Maia, as such...

She is definitely an Ainu, though. There is no debating that all the spirits created by Eru in the beginning, in time for the Music, were the Ainur, and that all the spirits who came to Arda in the beginning of the world were, of necessity, Ainur.

Here's where I perhaps made my mistake, that of automatically classifying each and every Ainu who came to Arda as either a Vala or a Maia. This strategy would seem to be born out by the Valaquenta, but I'll admit that it might be more accurate to say that all the Ainur in Arda were ORIGINALLY classified as either Valar or Maiar, and that those who turned evil lost the designation. In any event, I am willing to admit that I could have been wrong in my application of the term.

Perhaps she wasn't a Maia, persay, but she MUST have been an Ainu. She must have been one of the those spirits who created the Music for Eru, or at least the offspring of such. What else can she have been?

And while the term Ainur is not really used in the context of the spirits attendant at the Music once they are in Arda, where the terms Valar, Maiar, Balrogs, Istari, etc. are more proper and correct, the fact remains that all of these must have in origin been Ainur.

[obloquy]

Why must she have been an Ainu?