Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
The spirits summoned by Manwë and Yavanna though seem to be lesser beings brought for service. Upon their arrival, they began to fulfill a specific purpose as ordered by the summoner. The same cannot be said for Ungoliant
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I argue that it can.
I gave the quotes above, but I'll repeat them here too just to put them in context. First:
Quote:
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But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust
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So when Ungoliant originally came, she
wasn't an independent agent, she had a Master.
The obvious question is "who was that Master?" and we get the answer in Melkor's statement to her:
Quote:
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Thrice fool: to leave me first...
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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.