Unlight was a weapon and cloak of inexplicable, all-encompassing darkness used solely by the primal being Ungoliant. It was a thing of unspeakable horror and dread, for it swallowed all light caught in its path.
Usage & history[]
In the Years of the Trees, when Ungoliant lived in Avathar, she wove a great net of Unlight in a large ravine which became her lair. When Melkor came to Avathar and requested her aid in the destruction of the Two Trees, she followed him using the Unlight as a cloak to hide their approach. After poisoning the Trees and draining them of their light, she again used it to cover their escape; its great darkness hindered and defeated even the steadfast determination of Oromë and Tulkas.
Afterwards, Ungoliant used the dark webs of Unlight to torture Melkor when he refused to surrender the Silmarils to her. After being driven off by Balrogs, she dwelled in Ered Gorgoroth. After mating with the spider-creatures that lurked there, the resulting offspring (including Shelob) produced silk that was not only extremely thick and strong, but of a deep black color; it was able to pollute the surrounding area with a terrible, disorienting darkness.[1]
In other versions[]
In earlier versions, her mass of unlight to the south was so dark that it was one of the reasons Manwë had the Sun's path go along the equator instead of the prime meridian. In later versions, this rationale was removed.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Albanian | Pa dritë |
| Amharic | መብራት የለም |
| Arabic | غير الخفيفة |
| Armenian | Ոչ թե թեթեւ |
| Basque | Argirik ez |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Святла не |
| Bengali | না আলোহীন |
| Bosnian | Nema-svetla |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Не-светлина |
| Catalan | No-llum |
| Chinese | 非光 |
| Croatian | Nema-svjetla |
| Czech | Žádné světlo |
| Danish | Intet lys |
| Dari | غیر نور |
| Dutch | Geen licht |
| Esperanto | Sen-lumo |
| Estonian | Valgus puudub |
| Filipino | Walang liwanag |
| Finnish | Epävalo |
| French | Pas de lumière |
| Galician | Sen-luz |
| Georgian | არა-მსუბუქი |
| German | Unlicht |
| Greek | Μη-ελαφρύ |
| Gujarati | પ્રકાશ-ન હોય |
| Hebrew | לא אור |
| Hindi | नॉन लाइट |
| Hungarian | Nincs-fény |
| Icelandic | Ekkertljós |
| Indonesian | Tidak ada cahaya |
| Irish Gaelic | Gan solas |
| Italian | Mantello di Tenebra |
| Japanese | アンライト |
| Kannada | ಬೆಳಕಿಲ್ಲ |
| Kazakh | Жарық-жоқ (Cyrillic) Jarıq-joq (Latin) |
| Korean | 빛 없음 |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Жарык-жок |
| Laotian | ບໍ່ມີແສງ |
| Latin | Non lucem |
| Latvian | Bez-gaismas |
| Lithuanian | Ne-šviesa |
| Luxemboughish | Keng-liicht |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Нема-светло |
| Malayalam | വെളിച്ചമില്ല |
| Malaysian | Tiada cahaya |
| Maltese | Mhux-dawl |
| Marathi | प्रकाश नसणे |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Гэрэл-алга |
| Nepalese | बत्ति-छैन |
| Norwegian | Ikke-lys |
| Pashto | رڼا- نه لری |
| Persian | غیر سبک |
| Polish | Bezświatło |
| Portuguese | Sem luz |
| Punjabi | ਗ਼ੈਰ-ਲਾਈਟ |
| Romanian | Fara-lumina |
| Russian | Нет света |
| Serbian | Нема светлости (Cyrillic) Nema svetlosti (Latin) |
| Sindhi | ڪا به روشني ناهي |
| Sinhalese | නැත ආලෝකයක් |
| Slovak | Žiadne svetlo |
| Slovenian | Ne-svetloba |
| Spanish | No-luz |
| Swahili | Hakuna mwanga |
| Swedish | Icke-ljus |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Нур-нест |
| Tamil | ஒளி இல்லை |
| Tatar | Яктылык-юк |
| Telugu | కాంతి-కాని |
| Thai | ไม่ใช่แสง |
| Turkish | Hafiflik sizlik |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Без-світла |
| Urdu | غیر نور |
| Uzbek | Йоруғлик-йўқ (Cyrillic) Yorug'lik-yo'q (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Không có ánh sáng |
| Welsh | Dim golau |
| Yiddish | קיין ליכט |
References[]
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter IX: "Of the Flight of the Noldor"