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Eöl was the perpetrator for this particular family crime. He had meant it as a prank for his uncle; there was no deep love between him and Galadhon. Before Égnith and Bao's deaths, back when Eöl had been a very young boy with a more pleasant disposition, there had not been the animosity. Then again, Elu remembered pranks being the delights of both his younger brothers, and sending an inappropriate animal as a gift was something either Elmo or Olwë might have done. The giant spider arrived in Menegroth in a cleverly constructed box for Galadhon. Alive.
Elmo's son took one look at the eight shiny eyes, fuzzy legs, and delicate fangs, and declared that it was the most adorable creation in all of Arda. To everyone's dismay, he was not joking. Love-at-first sight struck again. Galadhon fed to it birds and named it Ungoleg, keeping it as a pet. The terriers and ferrets were terrified of becoming its next meal. The spider grew to the size of a large dog, slavishly devoted to Galadhon in only the way that a magic-warped arachnid could be. Melian swore that it was safe and would not eat anyone, least of all Galadhon, but few were reassured. Eöl was disbarred from family events for a few decades, not that he would have noticed.
When Galadhon married Denethor's kinswoman, he took Ungoleg and all of its supposedly tamed descendants with him to Ossiriand. Somehow, it was not a deal-breaker for the marriage. Ask neither how Ungoleg has reproduced nor how the Nandor had been convinced to accept Galadhon’s outlandish pets. The Iathrim exhaled in jubilant relief, none more than Oropher.
Celeborn did not like the giant spiders, but he was used to them. His brother was the one to inherit the brood after their father died. Galathil liked spiders. It was his greatest sin as a brother-in-law, according to Oropher. Nimloth thought that giant spiders were a normal pet to have as a child, though she warned Dior that the bats were to leave them alone. They were left behind in Ossiriand when Dior inherited the throne. Oropher wept in relief.
Thankfully, he was long-dead before the spiders moved in to the Greenwood.
