Size of Spiders

[1stvermont]

Does anyone have any data on the size of the spiders of Mirkwood?

 

[Olorgando]

Smaller than Shelob, I'd bet, and bigger than the biggest spider still existing today.

But I'm also guessing that you were hoping for tighter upper and lower limits ...

 

[1stvermont]

I was. I am having a picture drawn and wanted to see if I could get the size down. Right now I am thinking about the height of a man's waist. What do you say to that my good sir?

 

[Ealdwyn]

Smaller than Shelob, I'd bet, and bigger than the biggest spider still existing today.

Yes, in LotR the spiders of Mirkwood are described as "lesser spiders".
I haven't read the Hobbit recently, but maybe there is something in the text for a size comparison?

 

[Starbrow]

Well, the spiders have to be large enough to wrap Bombur in spider silk and hang him in a tree.

This is the description of Bilbo fighting the spiders:

He darted backwards and forwards, slashing at spider-threads, hacking at their legs, and stabbing at their fat bodies if they came too near.

I imagine the spiders' bodies being easily in Bilbo's sword reach, so not quite as tall as Bilbo.

 

[Olorgando]

... Right now I am thinking about the height of a man's waist. What do you say to that my good sir?

Waist. I have dim memories of that concept ... is "belt-high" an equivalent?
That would be about 105 centimeters without shoes, or 41 and 1/3 inches, or 3 feet 5 and 1/3 inches. Hmmm ...
Bilbo was half Took on his mother's side, grandson of the Old Took and distant relative of the Bullroarer.
The Bagginses probably also had a good dose of the Fallohide strain ...
So Bilbo may have been closer to 4 feet than 3 foot 6 (Merry and Pippin at 4 foot 6 had some Ent doping ...)
And as Sting made short work of Shelob's nets that a relative of the Witch-king-wounding Barrow-downs weapon was totally ineffective against ...
and as for that, slicing spider legs to stumps could be more effective in reducing pursuit than the more dangerous getting in to close quarters for an outright kill ...