What was Shelob, and more importantly, what was Ungoliant?

[mhagain]

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

I argue that it can.

I gave the quotes above, but I'll repeat them here too just to put them in context. First:

But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust

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:

Thrice fool: to leave me first...

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.