That is a truly excellent catalog of the effects of darkness in Tolkien (entirely right on Ungoliant, too).
I always have to wrestle with my mental images of Dwarven cities, because my default assumption for caves = dark, and of course they aren't supposed to be. Hm. I feel like there's something to be said here for the way that Elves live in forests, which can also tend to be dark places but are for the most part out in the natural light (Elves are, of course, also strongly associated with starlight) while Dwarves obviously make their own light. I'm not sure where to go with it, but it's interesting.
You know, I'd forgotten that Mirkwood really is called the most dangerous part of the journey (I suppose the dragon doesn't count because it's technically the end-point, not the journey); I just remember that I was terrified of it as a child, and I loved it.
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I always have to wrestle with my mental images of Dwarven cities, because my default assumption for caves = dark, and of course they aren't supposed to be. Hm. I feel like there's something to be said here for the way that Elves live in forests, which can also tend to be dark places but are for the most part out in the natural light (Elves are, of course, also strongly associated with starlight) while Dwarves obviously make their own light. I'm not sure where to go with it, but it's interesting.
You know, I'd forgotten that Mirkwood really is called the most dangerous part of the journey (I suppose the dragon doesn't count because it's technically the end-point, not the journey); I just remember that I was terrified of it as a child, and I loved it.