Hunger
Summary*
Not much mention is made if the giant arachnid who destroyed Laurelin and Telperion. Shelob, her descendant was killed by Samwise Gamgee many ages later, but what happened that day? How did it all end?
There is only one thing she has thought of all her life. Only one thing that she lived for. One thing that could not be contained no matter what she did, and so it was that their deal came to be. He promised her anything she wanted. She had believed him then. He was a fallen Vala, and he had the power to give her anything she desired. She serves him now, yet he turned his back on her. Denied her one request after all she had done, and he was going to pay for it. Vala or not, he would pay for crossing her.
She had asked for only one thing. Or three, depending on how you saw it. The silmarils that Feänor had forged. She wanted the light that shone through it. It blinded her, as had the two trees, but the beauty of those jewels she found beyond compare to destroy them. She had felt no remorse for destroying the two most treasured creations of Yavanna, yet she desired the silmarils that held their light. Laurelin and Telperion she had wrecked, but the three jewels stirred in her a great desire, and upon Morgoth's refusal, anger. She was Móru of the night. She had once spun her web of darkness to hide Morgoth, but now, the same darkness would be the end of him.
She was Wirilomë, who had not hesitated to eat even her own children to sate her hunger. She had ever only tasted her kind, never a Vala. Perhaps, she would know now. After all, he may have been powerful, but she had as much power if not more. She had been there before their creation, and she had not been one to waste her power on other creations. She would end him that instant. Perhaps his power would sate the growing monster within her. Perhaps he would sate her craving for more, for even her own offspring had not been enough.
She reared up on her hind legs- two of eight- in the terrible form that she had taken. Powerful or no, this would end today- with her death or his. She lashed out at Melkor, the venom oozing from them as she attempted to impaled him. Her mandibles clicked in anticipation of snapping her prey in two. The darkness swirled around her like a tempest waiting to be unleashed, even as Melkor scrambled to evade her. He had not expected this. He had not counted on her to be crazed by the silmarils just as he had been, and he would pay dearly for that if he did not act soon. There was no one to help him now, and so, Ungoliant surged ahead, backing him up until he had nowhere to run to. Nowhere to hide. His screams for aid echoed across the land,but there were none who walked the lands who would dare help him.
She struck once, she struck twice, and each time her vigour doubled, so did the volume of Melkor's screams. That is when she felt it. A sharp pain down her back. It burned. Burned like she was on fire. She turned around to face the new enemy- the one who had dared to step in between her and the one she had singled out as prey. Where she was darkness, they were fiery, glowing with anger. It took her a while to realize that the enemy had not set fire about her- they were on fire. A brood of their own created by the fallen Vala, surrounding her was an army of creatures that would be called the balrog- demons of might.
As they struck her with their fiery whips, she hissed out in pain. She could not see beyond it, think beyond it. She tried hiding herself in the webs of darkness that she wielded, but it was futile against the flames that engulfed her. She faced no choice but to flee. She, the hunter, had now become the hunter. She, who prided herself in being the strongest predator, now found herself the prey. She scuttled around in search of a place to hide, but the balrog were beyond her power. This was a fight she could not win.
What happened next it something no one is sure of. Some say Eärendil the Mariner killed her when he came across her accursed presence. If he killed her that day, then it is possible that the other tale were simply myth, but if that is not so, then her death was a cruel one, even for a cruel creature like her. For days, she wandered, finding no prey to feed on. She hid in fear of being found once more,yet plotting her own revenge. A few of her spawn managed to survive her, and there was no means for sustenance.
For days she went, her existence becoming more pathetic by the day. Her throat burnt, parched from thirst. Her appetite had grown by far from what it used to be and the odds were clearly against her. She could feel her stomach growl and rumble, but there was no remedy for that save food- food which she found to be scarce. In a dark cave in a corner of the world, she lay in waiting, too worn out to scuttle around while fending for herself. She sustained herself on a few unfortunate victims that crossed paths with her, unknowing of the monster that awaited them in the dark, but soon, rumours ran rife once more, and even the few unlucky ones stopped coming.
Surrounded by the darkness that had once been her haven, she started losing her mind. She looked all around her for her release, yet she found none. With a rabid look in her eyes, she gazed at the one thing she could see- in a reflection in a small puddle beside her, she saw a large spider of enormous proportions, and it reminded her of one thing- food. Eight large hairy legs she had- of course one would be expendable if it meant life. Little by little, she ate herself, the pain only a welcome respite for she had long forgotten how to live without it. That was the way she lived,and that was the way she died. Consumed by the one thing that meant her entire existance- hunger.