Shelob

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

Shelob was one of the offspring of the ally of Morgoth, Ungoliant, and like her ancestress, was a dark spirit, possessed of spider form, with a particularly intense thirst for blood. She lived in the pass of Cirith Ungol, where she fed off those beings unfortunate enough to fall into her web, such as orcs, birds and beasts, and in one instance, almost managed to sink her teeth into the flesh of Frodo Baggins, the Ringbearer, who was nearing the end of his journey into Mordor. Sauron was aware of her presence in the nearby mountains, and sometimes fed prisoners to her, or renegade orcs. He occasionally refered to her as "My cat". The name Shelob means "she-spider".

[edit] Biography

Shelob was the spawn of Ungoliant, an ancient monster, taking arachnid form, created in turn, possibly, by the twisted musing of Melkor. Ungoliant had fled, many years prior to Shelob's creation, after trying to betray Morgoth, to Ered Gorgoroth, where her nest, filled with eggs, was hidden. She found it entirely desecrated and left Middle Earth. However, Only Shelob survived the destruction of the nest. For thousands of years she resided in the mountainous region, making a labyrinth of web within a network of caves, to better entrap her would be prey. Her prey included all creatures, great and small, that wandered into her web, although, if a particularly juicy morsel was available, she would silently pursue it, and kill it. At one point, the creature Gollum wandered into her cave. He survived the encounter, but kept in mind the whereabouts of the said cave, and years later, he led Frodo and Sam to it, in the hope that Shelob would kill them, and he could then take the One Ring from their corpses. However, Frodo and Sam both managed to avoid being eaten, though Frodo was captured by scouting orcs, after being paralysed by Shelob's venom. Sam was forced to fight the creature using Sting, in order to save his master. Frodo had previously managed to fend Shelob off, using the Phial of Galadriel, which the lady Galadriel had bestowed upon him, but to no eventual avail. When Sam finally wounded Shelob in her chest, the spider retreated to her cave, screaming. It is unknown if Shelob died from her wounds or when the One Ring was destroyed and all of Sauron's forces were beaten, but she was supposedly residing in the same region even unto her death, but her offspring, which included those that attacked Bilbo and his companions, made a new generation of spiders, although, sometime after men took dominion over all the world, these were gone, or disappeared beneath the earth like the dwarves. Only the smaller of spider specimens remained a window to Shelob's legacy.

[edit] Appeared in

Shelob appeared in:

The Return of the King (Movie and video game)

And The Two Towers (Book)

In BFME as a evil hero in "Shelob's Lair" and as a playable evil hero in the level "Cirith Ungol"

In BFME2 as a playable evil hero of the goblin faction .

[edit] Appearance

Like all spiders, Shelob had eight, spindly legs, multiple eyes, and venomous mandibles. Her appearance often announced the doom of her prey before its beginning, and she immobilised her prey usually with her paralysing bite that enabled her to feed on them at her leisure. Although sometimes if the foe warranted it she would simply despatch her unfortunate victim with her spiked legs and large bulk. Her face was crossed with a number of scars, placed there by her more vigilant of prey, and she had a number of missing eyes. In size, she must have measured around twelve feet in height, eighteen in diameter, as depicted in her film appearance, though no conclusive theory is known, as there are many conflicting sources.