Of the Darkening of Valinor ~Silmarillion Chapter 8~

First off, apologies for the VERY late posting. My excuse is as follows: sibling, car crash, hospital. All is well and the aforementioned sibling shall be quite alright, but it has thrown off my regularity. Explanation complete, and now for Spiders and Trees 

Manwë pursued Melkor to the north, not knowing that his enemy had doubled back, and was beyond his reach. Melkor made his way to the distant lair of Ungoliant, a fallen Maiar in spider form. 
She hungered for light, consuming it and turning it to darkness, and Melkor persuaded her to aid him in his revenge against the Valar. 
During a time of festival in Valinor, the enemy arrived, and Ungoliant sucked the light and life out of Telperion and Laurelin. 
Thus were the two trees destroyed, and the world cast into darkness. 

I promise I will try to stop turning every post into a defence of Fëanor (scratch that, I make no promises) but this chapter shows on of the many reasons why anyone might want to strangle Manwë just a little bit. 

Melkor flees to the North, Tulkas and Oromë are sent north. Melkor is not found, nor any signs of him. A watch is set in the North. And with bajillions of Maiar and Valar and whatnot, not a soul is sent in any other direction. Even though Melkor still retains the ability to walk without visible form, it occurs to no one that he might have doubled back. Or snuck around. Or been clever and crafty and secretive. Or any of the things that he is known for. Sigh, I suppose we must all take a deep breath and remember that, while we know of doubling back as the oldest trick in the book, this all happened before sneaky maneuvers were common knowledge.

And now we (and Melkor) come at last to the lair of Ungoliant. If you thought Shelob was bad, meet her ancestor. 

"[S]he had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust, taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness ... In a ravine 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; and she was famished." 

There Melkor sought her out, and devised a plan. Promising to give her whatever she wanted when he had power, Melkor convinced Ungoliant to aid him. 

"Lightly he made this voe, as he ever did; and he laughed in his heart. Thus did the great thief set his lure for the lesser." 

Shrouded in a shadow of Ungoliant's making, the two made their way unseen to Valinor, during a time of festival. 

"Yavanna set times for the flowering and ripening of all things that grew in Valinor; and at each first gathering of fruits Manwë made a high feast for the praising of Eru, when all the peoples of Valinor poured forth their joy in music and song upon Taniquetil." 

Fingolfin

Fëanor had been commanded to attend the feast, but his father, Finwë and his people at Formenos refused to come so long as Fëanor was banished from Tirion. Fëanor arrived without the Silmarils, having jealously locked them up in Formenos, and did not wear the garb of celebration. 

(We shall remember that Fëanor had drawn sword against Fingolfin). He "reconciled" with his half-brother. And Fingolfin, being the wonderful lovely creature that he was, graciously forgave and offered friendship. 

"For Fingolfin held forth his hand, saying: 'As I promised, I do now. I release thee, and remember no grievance.' 

Fëanor

Then Fëanor took his hand in silence; but Fingolfin said: 'Half-brother in blood, full brother in heart will I be. Thou shalt lead and I will follow. May no new grief divide us.' 

'I hear thee,' said Fëanor. 'So be it.'"

I do not understand how anyone can be so bitter and obnoxious in the face of such a gracious gesture of love and friendship. Just goes to show what happens when you feed your pride and anger. As of only a chapter ago, he was angry at Fingolfin because he thought himself usurped. Now Fingolfin promises to be his follower, and Fëanor is already beyond caring. I think he hates that Fingolfin is, by this gesture, showing himself to be a better king. I can just see the gears turning in Fëanor's mind, as he convinces himself that Fingolfin is only doing this so that everyone will like him more. 

Two things I neglected to mention concerning the previous chapter: When the Silmarils were made, they were hallowed so that no evil thing, or creature with dark intent (or "unclean hands") could touch them without being 'scorched and withered'. It is later said that Fëanor took to only wearing them set in a crown upon his head. I think that when Fëanor drew a sword against Fingolfin, his hands became 'unclean' and the Silmarils burned him, so he took to wearing them in a crown so that they would not touch his skin (which is, for the record, exactly what happens with Melkor later on.)*

Now enter our two villains.....

"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. ... 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 light of Telperion and Laurelin thus extinguished, Valinor was shrouded in darkness. 

"Melkor had gone whither he would, and his vengeance was achieved."  

Unlight

*As far as I know, there is no actual proof of this, and Tolkien does not say as much explicitly. It is mere conjecture (but I still think I am right about it, as with my opinion of Tom Bombadil's origins...but that is a post for another day). 

For a full list of Silmarillion posts: theredbooknews.blogspot.com/silmarillion-posts
Family Trees and Diagrams (Silmarillion Series): theredbooknews.blogspot.com/sil
A List of the Valar: theredbooknews.blogspot.com/the-valar 
Maps: theredbooknews.blogspot.com/maps
Pronunciation Guide: theredbooknews.blogspot.com/pronunciation 

(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from the works of JRR Tolkien, unless otherwise mentioned. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them.)

Morgoth and Ungoliant by Protoguy: https://protoguy.deviantart.com/
Fingolfin by Venlian: https://venlian.deviantart.com/
Fëanor by Venlian: https://venlian.deviantart.com/
Silmarillion: Unlight by Lady Elleth: https://ladyelleth.deviantart.com/