The travail of Fëanor and the Thieves' Quarrel

After a while, the Valar sat on the ground in the Ring of Doom (for their thrones were broken or defiled) and the Maiar and Eldar were gathered about them in sorrow, for it was dark. But the reek of Ungoliant was driven now far away by the winds of Manwë and the stars of Varda shone overhead. And Yavanna went to the Trees and essayed to cure their deaths, but at her touch the branches fell lifeless to the mound, and many voices cried out in grief. Then Yavanna turned to the Valar and spoke before them, and she urged Fëanor to relinquish his jewels, that she might rekindle the Trees and thereby the malice of Melkor would be for naught. But Fëanor was bound to the Silmarils, and he was unwilling to unlock them, for by doing so, he thought, he would break his heart. But at that moment, the lies of Melkor returned to Fëanor, that the Silmarils were not safe with the Valar, and he thought that he was beset within a ring of foes. And he cried aloud that he would not relinquish the Silmarils of his own volition.

Then, the Vala Nienna went up to Ezellohar and mourned for the hardness of the World, and for the marring of Fëanor. But even as she did so, messengers came in great haste from Formenos telling how Melkor came north and broke open the doors of Fëanor, slew the High King Finwë (crushing his head with a great mace and burning his body as with a lightning stroke) and that all the treasures, even the Silmarils, were stolen. Then Fëanor cursed Melkor, naming him Morgoth, the Black Foe of the World, and he fled into the night in grief. Then many there wept, for the hour was full of grief and evil.

Meanwhile, Morgoth (for so he is now called in all the histories of the Eldar) with Ungoliant came to the barren shoreland regions of Araman, and passed northwards through the mists of Oiomúrë, and passed over the Helcaraxë, the Grinding Ice, and so came back to the Outer Lands. Together they went on in haste, for Morgoth could not escape her, and all her eyes were upon him. But drawing nigh to the ''ruins'' of old Angband (the account given in The Silmarillion is that they were ruined and that Morgoth rebuilt them, but what was Sauron doing all this time!) he grew more hopeful, seeing his chance to escape her, and she, perceiving his mind, stayed him, demanding that he fulfill his promise to her.

''Blackheart!'' she cried (calling him ''Master'' no more), ''I have done your bidding. But I hunger still.''
''What wouldst thou have more?'' groaned Morgoth, ''Dost thou desire all the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that. I am its Lord.''
''Not so much,'' said she, ''But there was a great treasury, of which you said naught to me, and would have said naught even now, if I had not watched you. I will have all that. Yea, with both hands you shall give it!''
''Thou hast had the half already,'' replied Morgoth. Indeed, for when she was with him during the sack of Formenos (against his will), he had let her devour somewhat of the treasury, so that she should not espy him at the chamber of iron where the Silmarils were kept. ''I hunger,'' she said though, ''I will have the other half!'' And so perforce, Morgoth surrendered to her the gems that he had in his possession, one by one, and she devoured them all, but she was unsated.
''With one hand you give,'' said Ungoliant, ''with the left only. Open your right hand!''

Now in his right hand Morgoth had the Silmarils, and although they were within a casket of crystal, they had begun to burn his hands with unbearable pain. ''Nay!'' said he, ''These things thou shalt not have, nor see. I name them unto myself for ever. Thou hast had already more than thy due. For with my power that I put into thee thy work was accomplished. I need thee no more. Go, filth! Gnaw thy lust in some hole far away, or I will put a fire in thy maw that shall burn thee for ever!''

But Ungoliant was unafraid, for she had grown monstrous and strong, and he was less because of the power that had gone forth from him, and she rose against him, and she cast upon him nets of thick and sticky web to strangle him. Then Morgoth cried aloud in anguish, and the cry of Morgoth in that hour was the greatest and most terrible that was ever heard; for the mountains shook, rocks were riven asunder, trees were split apart and the earth shook. Therefore that region (which was west of Ered Lómin and north of the Firth of Drengist) was afterwards named Lammoth, the Great Echo, for anyone who cried aloud in that region awoke those voices, and the plains between the mountains and the sea were filled with a terrible noise as of a multitude in anguish. That cry was heard all throughout Beleriand, and in Angband it was also heard. And arising from slumber, the Balrogs, those demons who first gathered about Melkor in the days of his primeval splendour, passed swiftly over Hithlum and came to Lammoth. Ungoliant trembled at their approach, and she turned to flight, belching forth black shadows to cover her, and with their whips of flame they pursued her into the Mountains of Shadow until Morgoth recalled them. Then, freeing their Master, they returned to Angband.

But Ungoliant went down into Beleriand, and would make in the direction of Doriath, but she was stayed by the power of Melian, and turning north she went to Ered Gorgoroth. In those dark valleys, she mated with other creatures of spider form, and devoured them, and she brought forth a hideous brood. Nothing is known of the fate of Ungoliant, but the Elves speculate that she ended long ago, when ''in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last.''