Spiders

Sapient spiders (Great Spiders) are servants of darkness that plagued the lands and the children of Illuvatar. They are called the Children of Ungoliant, and the Elves call them the Umaiar demon. They are vicious creatures that can comprehend the speech of one another. They are menace wherever they go. Spiders are evil creatures that can speak to one another and hate encounters with light. They were descendants of Red Gorgoroth that originally lived during the First Age in the south of Middle-earth and spread out with time. They were able to migrate to Greenwood the Great en masse after the shadow of Sauron was cast over the forest, later called the Mirkwood as a result of their large numbers.

After Manwe released Melkor from captivity, he caused corruption and spread falsehood amongst the Nordon, his lies were uncovered, and he escaped. He fled to seek the support of Ungoliant, the Spider, and destroy the Two Trees of Valinor. He achieved his aim and took possession of the Silmarils, but Ungoliant’s urge to devour light took over her and she demanded to have the Silmarils. Melkor refused and Ungoliant charged at him, but the Balrogs of Melkor repelled her and chased her away. Ungoliant roamed Middle-earth while putting darkness in all things that showed light by devouring them. Ungoliath would go on to have intercourse with large spiders to produce descendants of equally vicious. Her descendants were a great menace to Arda in later years. Ungoliant was an embodiment of evil. It is believed that she devoured herself, but this is uncertain. Another claim was that her fate was unknown.

On the quest to the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins and his companions of thirteen dwarves met the spiders of Mirkwood. The vicious spiders caught all thirteen dwarves and Bilbo Baggins on the web with no way for escape, until Bilbo became conscious and pierced the one that carried him in the heart with his Elven’s blade. He got rid of one and had the rest to fight alone. He knew he stood no chance, so he put the ring on and was able to hear their speech. He fought and freed his companions. The heir of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, along with his companion Sam Gamgee also had different encounters with the Shelob inside of her lair in the cave before Cirith Ungol on their way to Mordor. Shelob attacks Frodo twice, and he was overpowered when she paralyzed him with her poison in the second encounter. Shelon began to weave Frodo on her web until Sam interrupted and fought with her until he stuck his web in one of her eyes and made her flee to her hole in agony.

Tolkien's conspicuous feature of spiders in his work made many people believe that he had an encounter with the animals. People held the belief that he was stung by a Tarantula in his childhood, but this is untrue. The reason he had them in his works many times was that his son was terrified of it. This is also the reason why he portrayed them as vicious and a menace.

• Frodo caught in Shelob's web.
  The spider appeared in The Return of the King part of the film The Lord of the Rings, when the hobbit, Frodo Baggins was tricked into Shelob’s Lair by Smeagol.
• The spiders also appeared in the scene where Sam Gamgee fought Shelob off. The Spiders appeared in the Hobbit part of the Trilogy, where spiders of Dol Guldur attacked the dwellings of Radagast but got repelled by his sorcery. Under the voice of the actors,
  Brian Sergent and Peter Vere-Jones, the spiders spoke after capturing the dwarves as Bilbo Baggins listened and understood their speech when he had the ring in his finger.

• In the Warner Bros Game of The Lord of the Rings, War in the North, [1] a new version of spider called Saenathra took the wizard, Radagast the Brown hostage. The players would need to attack Saenathra and kill it to save the Radagast.
• In the Minecraft Mod game of The Lord of the Rings players encounter spiders in Mirkwood and Nan Ungol.
• In the LEGO game of The Lord of the Rings, spiders are depicted in this game as Sauron’s servants that have his mark on their dorsal part. A player scales the stage when he kills six of them in Shelob’s Lair.
• The spider in The Lord of the Rings was adapted in many other games. In The Hobbit Game Wild, Wicked and Wrath lead the Spiders of Mirkwood and are the main enemy in the round of Flies and Spiders.
• In Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King, [2] Shelob, and others worked for Goblins and fought on their sides. Goblins would train them that would attack enemies from small lairs when they move too close.

1. ^The Lord of the Rings, War in the North.
2. ^Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King.