Shelob

Most Lord of the Rings fans know Shelob as just basically a giant spider. However, there’s more to her enormous size and frightening appearance. In the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [1], Shelob was a giant spider who struck into Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee while they traversed through the tunnels of her lair. There, he was able to stab and paralyze Frodo by one of her poisonous stingers. In this article, we’ll shed light on who this enormous spider really is, why she was at Mordor, and where she came from. Most Lord of the Rings fans know Shelob as just basically a giant spider. However, there’s more to her enormous size and frightening appearance. In the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Shelob was a giant spider who struck into Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee while they traversed through the tunnels of her lair. There, he was able to stab and paralyze Frodo by one of her poisonous stingers. In this article, we’ll shed light on who this enormous spider really is, why she was at Mordor, and where she came from.​

Shelob was an enormous spider, the most massive spawn of Ungoliant, and was a primordial spider. She lived in Mordor during the Third Age and was well recognized for feeding haphazardly and preying on people. This means that she feeds on them on random. It didn’t matter if it was an Orc, Man, or Elf—she just doesn’t choose. While the early life of Shelob is entirely unidentified, there was an assumption that the place for her birth was at Ered Gorgoroth.

It was also known that she ultimately was Ungoliant’s last child. During the Second Age, it was known that she ate even her very own children. Moreover, when she fled from Beleriand, she made a shadowy lair for herself. This lair can be found in the Mountains of Shadow in Ephel Duath, which was nearby Cirith Ungol with the passages just right atop the Minas Morgul. It was important to note that she was already in Mordor way before Sauron went there and converted this place into his realm. For centuries, she remained in Mordor, spinning labyrinths upon labyrinths of spider webs in a vast cave network.

She did this to capture her prey more effectively and efficiently. Her prey comprised of just about all kinds of creatures—big or small. Shelob primarily devoured beings who get lost and wander through her cave, into her network of webs. However, she would stealthily hunt her prey when she comes across a particularly delicious meal, or rather, creature.​

The Dark Lord Sauron was particularly aware that Shelob was residing within the Mountains of Shadow. However, he just permitted her to dwell on there. This is because Shelob made for an exemplary guard, however incidental, for the Cirith Ungol passage. Moreover, it could be said that Sauron was even particularly fond of Shelob as she commonly refers to Shelob as his pet cat. There were times that Sauron would provide for her prey—which often included servants or prisoners that exasperate him. Also, if reports are reverted to Sauron regarding Shelob’s recent slaughters, the Dark Lord shakes these off for the reason that it humors him. Shelob, would also at times, devour Orcs that man the Cirith Ungol tower. Even with this happening, Sauron still didn’t make any kind of significant endeavor to obstruct her. This made the Orcs block her lair using large stones on occasion to be able to prevent her from devouring their guards.​

Sometime after he was liberated from Mordor, while trying to escape, Gollum wandered into Shelob’s Lair [2]. Shelob was able to catch him. However, Gollum wasn’t devoured by the giant spider because he promised to provide her with meats that are more sumptuous and taste better than him. The Orcs that guard the Cirith Ungol Tower had also observed Gollum on many instances and thought that he was overly wiry and bony for the enormous spider to even bother eating him. Later, Gollum would try to fulfill his promise to Shelob by directing the Hobbits Frodo and Sam through her lair. His plan was to leave behind the Hobbits in the den so that Shelob could eat them. Gollum was indeed gunning for the situation wherein Shelob devours the two Hobbits, and once she was done with them, she’d toss away all the parts that she just can’t eat. At that point, Gollum plans on rummaging through their remains and efficiently retrieving the One Ring. His plan, however elaborate, would fail, though. While Sam and Frodo indeed got stuck in a tunnel that had too much of the spider’s cobwebs, they were able to, fortunately, escape her. The hobbits were able to cut through the dark and thick webs using Sting, Frodo’s Elvish sword. Moreover, Lady Galadriel’s gift to Frodo, the Phial of Galadriel proved to be useful at this point. This is what they used to repel her at first. And when Shelob still tried to hunt them, the Hobbits made use of the light from Earendil’s Star [3]. It gleamed from the Phial, causing an insufferable piercing pain to the giant spider’s senses. Shelob managed to return to her hunt shortly and was able to surprisingly stab Frodo using her stinger just before they reached the end of the tunnel on the side of Mordor. The sting paralyzed Frodo. To be able to save his friend, Sam, summoning all his bravery, attacked Shelob and succeeded in stabbing one of the spider’s eyes. He also managed to afflict some injuries to her leg. Moreover, Sam finally sliced through her large abdomen.​

After her altercation with the Hobbits, no one knows if the great spider was able to recuperate from her injuries nor if Shelob was indeed slain. Her destiny would indeed be left unknown for Middle Earth’s people. Shelob was last seen at the time when Sam wore the Ring. The Hobbit was able to hear the enormous spider agonizing in her suffering from a long-distance away. This was because his hearing was enormously improved when he put the Ring on.​

Being an Ungoliant offspring, Shelob can be described adequately as partly spider and partly demon, which is using the appearance of a giant spider. Although her demon part is of an unknown extent, like common spiders, she had a venomous stinger, several eyes, and spindly legs. When it comes to hunting prey, Shelob is known to make her prospect stop moving using her sting, which paralyzes and immobilizes them. Doing this first lets her enjoy her meals whenever she wants to. Moreover, if she so desires, she could also smash her prey to their demise by way of falling on them rapidly. She had a head that had a criss-cross pattern of scars. She also had quite a few missing eyes. As described by the Orcs, who usually see her crawling around her lair, Shelob would most commonly immobilize her prey first and then trap her in her thick dark cobwebs. She keeps her victims alive for a period and ends up devouring them.​

Gollum talks about the enormous spider indirectly towards the conclusion of his 1978 film. While talking to himself, he mentions that Shelob might help them. However, she didn’t show up. Moreover, Shelob appears first in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by Peter Jackson instead of The Two Towers in the books. As clarified by Jackson, if their encounter transpires during Two Towers, there would only be very few challenges left for Sam and Frodo in the last installment. In this version, Shelob is shown as a creature that is CGI or computer-generated. She was described to be eight feet long and had a cross length of seventeen feet.​

Shelob [4] also appears in the form of a human. The game depicts her as possessing the ring of Celebrimbor for a long time while she provides her visions to Talion regarding the destiny of Minas Morgul, previously Minas Ithil, as well as the Nazgûl. Shelob was also shown in the game as someone conniving with Sauron. This was during the time when he disguised himself as Annatar. It was implied in the game that Sauron was her lover before she got betrayed. Furthermore, the Shadow of War’s mobile version depicts Shelob as a Maia. The creator J.R.R. Tolkien, however, didn’t provide and classified what her nature really is.​