Darkness symbolizes evil, obscurity, fear, and helplessness in The Silmarillion. Melkor repeatedly destroys the light created by the Valar and brings darkness to the world, using shadow as a shield to hide beneath and as a weapon to confuse and frighten enemy armies. By spreading fear of the unknown dark among elves and men, Melkor and Sauron are able to seduce some of the people of Middle-earth into following them and depending on their teachings and protection. Melkor’s physical form casts a large shadow, and he is referred to metaphorically in terms of shadow and darkness; his influence in Middle-earth is a shadow and the threat of his rule is the night.
Darkness is both a lack of the creativity and clarity of light and occasionally “a thing with being of its own,” like Ungoliant’s Darkness. Melkor attacks Valinor and uses Ungoliant, a spider-like creature, to destroy the Two Trees that provide it with light, plunging it into darkness. Ungoliant has the power to consume light and spin it into webs of darkness, but, when she consumes the sacred light of the Two Trees, she creates an actively malicious Darkness with the power to enter the minds of her enemies and incapacitate their wills.
When not used by Melkor and Sauron, darkness and shadow can represent a more benign obscurity, meant to guard and conceal, as it does in the cloaks of Lúthien and Tuor. In certain instances, such as the twilight under which the elves are born and the nighttime—both tempered by Varda’s stars which provide beauty and visibility—darkness can be restful, healing, and restorative. Still, because of the threat of Melkor’s monsters and the fear of uncertainty he spread among elves and men, the night is often perceived as a time of fear and danger.
Darkness Quotes in The Silmarillion
Then perforce Morgoth surrendered to her the gems that he bore with him, one by one and grudgingly; and she devoured them, and their beauty perished from the world. Huger and darker yet grew Ungoliant, but her lust was unsated. ‘With one hand thou givest,’ she said; ‘with the left only. Open thy right hand.’
In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silmarils, and though they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to burn him, and his hand was clenched in pain; but he would not open it. ‘Nay!’ he said. ‘Thou has had thy due. For with my power that I put into thee thy work was accomplished. I need thee no more. These things thou shalt not have, nor see. I name them unto myself for ever.’
Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever.
Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death’s shadow. For though Eru appointed you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain he shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos.
Then Fingon the valiant, son of Fingolfin, resolved to heal the feud that divided the Noldor […] Long before, in the bliss of Valinor, before Melkor was unchained, or lies came between them, Fingon had been close in friendship with Maedhros; and though he knew not yet that Maedhros had not forgotten him at the burning of the ships, the thought of their ancient friendship stung his heart. Therefore he dared a deed which is justly renowned among the feats of the princes of the Noldor: alone, and without the counsel of any, he set forth in search of Maedhros; and aided by the very darkness that Morgoth had made he came unseen into the fastness of his foes.
Then Morgoth looking upon her beauty conceived in his thought an evil lust, and a design more dark than any that had yet come into his heart since he fled from Valinor. Thus he was beguiled by his own malice, for he watched her, leaving her free for a while, and taking secret pleasure in his thought. Then suddenly she eluded his sight, and out of the shadows began a song of such surpassing loveliness, and of such blinding power, that he listened perforce; and a blindness came upon him, as his eyes roamed to and fro, seeking her.
Yet the lies that Melkor […] sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.
Here ends the SILMARILLION. If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwë and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.
Darkness Symbol Timeline in The Silmarillion
