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We could let her do it.
~ Gollum referring to Shelob killing Frodo and Sam for him.
There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form, even such as once of old had lived in the Land of the Elves in the West that is now under the Sea, such as Beren fought in the Mountains of Terror in Doriath, and so came to Lúthien upon the green sward amid the hemlocks in the moonlight long ago. How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come. But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness.
~ J.R.R. Tolkien's description of Shelob.

Shelob, also known as Shelob the Great, is a supporting antagonist in J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, specifically in The Two Towers, and a supporting antagonist in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Return of the King. She is also a major character in the 2017 video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

She is one of the Great Spiders of Middle-earth and the greatest of the spawn of Ungoliant. She lived in the pass of Cirith Ungol, located just above the Winding Stair and on the boarder of Mordor, and preyed on any living creature unfortunate enough to wander into her lair. Whilst trying to regain the One Ring, Gollum would lure Frodo and Sam into Shelob's lair, hoping she would kill them both and leave him the ring.

She was voiced by Pollyanna McIntosh in Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

Biography[]

Shelob guards the second entrance to Mordor, being the pass of Cirith Ungol. Gollum takes the hobbits Frodo and Sam this route as an alternative way into the Black Land (the only other known way to enter Mordor being the Black Gate) and they encounter Shelob. Gollum had met the giant spider before and convinced her not to eat him and leads the hobbits to her, so that she will eat them so he can recover his "precious" (the Ring). Shelob poisons Frodo, and Sam thinks that his master is dead, but this is not the case: Shelob's venom basically knocks you out and makes you go completely limp, and seem dead. However, like her smaller cousins, Shelob likes her prey fresh and if anyone lives long enough to wake up from the poison, anyone will probably have no worse than a headache.

Shelob

Shelob chasing Frodo

Shelob is an ugly beast, bloated from years of hiding in her caves and eating whatever comes her way. She is the spawn of Ungoliant (an ancient fallen angel in spider form whom Morgoth had employed long ago to help him destroy the Two Trees of Valinor). She is spider-like, but has a set of horns on her head. She has a long stinger coated with poison to stab her prey with, and pincer-like mandibles on her mouth. Having lived underground so long, she hates light, and so when the hobbits enter her tunnel, the only thing that seems to deter her is the star-glass that Galadriel gave Frodo. If her prey is crafty and manages to get past her, then they will reach yet another problem. As if it is not enough that the tunnel Shelob lives in twists and winds enough to make anybody lost, but the one exit has been blocked with a great spider-web Shelob herself spun. However, as Frodo and Sam discovered, it is not completely impenetrable. Sting - Frodo's elven sword - can cut through it.

Shelob fighting

Shelob battling Sam.

Shelob is very hard to kill, and the only person to have ever managed to subdue her is Sam, who stabbed her through the layers of her stinking flesh (where it is more vulnerable) deep enough to leave - not a fatal wound - but an injury that drove her away and would keep her sulking for quite a while.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War[]

In the Second Age, Shelob had been Sauron's ally and lover prior to him betraying her for an opportunity to corrupt Suladân with a Ring of Power. Surrounded by soldiers, Shelob slaughtered them in rage and retreated to Cirith Ungol, swearing revenge.

After the forging of the New Ring, Shelob has a vision of Talion and Celebrimbor overthrowing and enslaving Sauron before going on to conquer Middle-earth as the Bright Lord. To prevent this vision from coming to pass, she abducts Celebrimbor and forces Talion to relinquish the new ring to her. She shows Talion visions of Minas Ithil's downfall and transformation into Minas Morgul, sending Gollum — who worships her as the Dark Mistress — to assist him. When Talion fails to prevent Minas Ithil and its palantir from falling into the hands of the Nazgûl, Sauron learns that Shelob has been conspiring against him and sends the Nazgûl to kill her. Shelob is able to hold her own against the wraiths, who are repelled by Talion and Eltariel. Weakened by the battle and Eltariel's Light of Galadriel, Shelob returns the New Ring to Talion and retreats into her lair.

Shelob's efforts to sow mistrust between Talion and Celebrimbor ultimately result in Talion seeing the undead elf for the aspiring tyrant he is, causing Celebrimbor to take the new ring and possess Eltariel, leaving Talion for dead. Shelob appears to the dying Talion in a vision, revealing her reasons for helping him and urging him to take Isildur's Ring of Power and keep fighting. Shelob observes Talion's decades-long struggle against Sauron's forces and eventual transformation into one of the Nazgûl, prophesying that his actions have bought time for the One Ring to be discovered and for an expedition to destroy it to be launched, ensuring Sauron's ultimate defeat.

When the Ringbearer, Frodo Baggins, approached her lair, Shelob sensed he would ultimately succumb to the One Ring and attacked him in order to hasten his progress to Mt. Doom, where Gollum would unwittingly do what Frodo could not and destroy the One Ring.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Shelob, Ungoliant, Queen Beruthiel and Thuringwethil of the vampires are the only Middle-earth villains to be female.
  • Shelob's appearance is based off of a New Zealand funnel web spider according to Peter Jackson, who has a phobia of spiders.
  • Gollum indirectly mentions Shelob near the end of Ralph Bakshi's 1978 film, saying that "she might help us...".
  • In Peter Jackson's trilogy, unlike the books Shelob appears in The Return of the King rather than The Two Towers. Because (as explained) if she had appeared in The Two Towers, there would be very little for Sam and Frodo to encounter in the final film.
  • Shelob is one of the only noteworthy villains to still be alive at the end of Lord of the Rings, as Sam never succeeded in killing her, only driving her back.
    • The other noteworthy creature is the Watcher in the Water. Interestingly enough, both creatures are not humanoid, and are closer to animals.
  • Shelob having the ability to shapeshift into a human woman is a storytelling choice exclusive to the Shadow of Mordor games, with Monoliths intention behind the decision being to make her a dark parallel to that of Galadriel.
    • Ironically enough, this parallel was coincidentally further deepened in the television show The Rings of Power, in which Sauron is briefly the love interest of Galadriel, with a flashback in Shadow of Mordor revealing that Shelob and Sauron had secretly been past lovers.

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