Shelob
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Shelob is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. In the original story she appears in the second-to-last chapter of The Two Towers, the second volume of The Lord of the Rings. In Peter Jackson's movie trilogy based on the books Shelob's appearance is deliberately held over until the middle of the third movie, The Return of the King.
Shelob was a huge creature in spider form, high in the mountains of Mordor, the last of the spawn of Ungoliant. Her lair was along the path that Sam Gamgee and Frodo Baggins took while seeking Mount Doom. Apparently she had some sort of understanding with Gollum, whom the Orcs of the Tower of Cirith Ungol called "Her Sneak".
She attacked and stung Frodo, who lapsed into a death-like coma. Sam managed to defeat her by letting her impale herself upon Frodo's sword while trying to crush him, and she fled to her lair wounded, although the tale does not tell if her wound was mortal.
Thinking Frodo dead, Sam took the One Ring from him and left his body behind, but was horrified when a party of Orcs took it, only then revealing in their conversation that Shelob's venom was not intended to kill its victims but only to render them unconscious and keep their meat fresh.
In the movie, Shelob can be seen to have a retractable venomous sting at the rear end between the spinnerets, resembling a wasp's sting. This is very much unlike real spiders which inject venom with their fangs but accurate relative to the novel. Shelob also appears to have a gaping mouth, whereas real spiders can ingest only liquid. In the book, on the other hand, "clusters" of eyes are mentioned, which may suggest compound eyes like those of insects; the Shelob in the movie does not have compound eyes, which is appropriate. A hunting spider, as Shelob appears to be, would have two large eyes facing forward, and a few smaller ones on the top of the head (or more accurately, cephalothorax).
Shelob occupied Terech Ungol beneath Cirith Ungol, and may have occupied Beleriand, possibly in the Ered Gorgoroth.
Shelob's brood (upon whom she often fed) included the giant (but much smaller than Shelob) spiders who captured Bilbo Baggins' dwarf allies in Mirkwood Forest.
The name "Shelob" was derived from "lob", an archaic English word for spider. A variation, "cob" is the derivation of the word "cobweb".
Shelob's lineage
Ilúvatar? | Ungoliant | Shelob | Spiders of Mirkwood