Among all of the disturbing creatures that fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy encounter during the films, one of the most memorable is the giant spider, Shelob, that sent chills shivering down the spines of audiences. Although her appearance makes it difficult to forget about her, little background information is given about her in the films.
Examining the origins of Shelob arguably make her an even more terrifying presence. Further, to know where she comes from intensifies the scene when Frodo and Samwise must face the giant arachnid. This is because she does not have the usual egg sac beginning for a spider.
Shelob is first seen in the books in the Twin Towers, but in the Lord of the Rings films, Frodo encounters her in Return of the King, in order to more evenly distribute the action. Her name essentially means exactly what she is, “she spider.” She is actually a demon woman that has taken the form of a monstrously large spider. This is a significant piece of information about the character because it demonstrates that Shelob has far more intelligence than the average spider.
Her background, while it was not mentioned much in the film, is recorded in Tolkien’s books. She has a past that long proceeds her involvement with the party carrying the ring. In fact, her beginning came even before the continents of Aman and Middle Earth were split. While she was a creature of darkness, she was born to another source of darkness, but one that could consume light to become more powerful.
To truly understand the origin of Shelob, it’s important to first look at her mother, Ungoilant, who was also a demon that took the form of a giant spider but she was much more monstrous in size. Her name means “dark spider.” She mated with giant spiders and produced several offspring, though Shelob was the most well known of them. Ungoilant is most famous for her role in draining the light of the Two Trees in Aman. Little is known of her origin-- only that she is descended from darkness. It is said that she met her end by eventually consuming her own massive body.
Shelob was born in the Ered Gorgoroth, and as the final surviving child of Ungoliant, she fled during the War of Wrath to the Mountains of Shadow, located in Ephel Duath, above Minas Morgul. Though she was very near Sauron’s territory, he allowed her to exist there as a sort of guard spider for those looking to infiltrate Mordor.
As she was protected by Sauron as a pet and her actual form is that of a demon, she is truly an evil creature. She is known to dislike the elves, given that their many sources of light are one of her primary weaknesses. Galadriel is also often noted as her enemy because she is the keeper of the light.
Shelob is not to be confused with the Mirkwood spiders that Bilbo encountered in The Hobbit series. Though, those spiders are likely her descendants. As she was known to sometimes eat her young, these descendants were evidently connected to the few who escaped. Shelob is related to most, if not all, of the spiders in the LOTR world-- not just the spiders of Mirkwood-- like the spiders of Nan Dungortheb.
Her look and size are based on the New Zealand Tunnel-Web Spider. The spider has a large, smooth, thick exoskeleton with large fangs and large spinnerets on its abdomen. It certainly makes for an intimidating monster when its size is increased to being larger than a human.
One very important detail about Shelob is that she once caught Gollum and, to avoid being eaten, he offered to bring her even tastier prey in exchange for his life. This very directly connects to Frodo’s meeting Shelob, given that Gollum is who led him into Shelob’s lair. Of course, in this situation, Gollum hoped to also use his arrangement with Shelob to get rid of the hobbits and obtain the ring.
While Sting was effective in fending off the giant spiders for Bilbo in The Hobbit, it did not quite hold up to Shelob’s tough hide on its own. By using the phial of light given to Frodo by Galadriel, along with Sting, Frodo was only able to fight the spider off for a short while before she eventually injects him with her venom and he’s left paralyzed.
Fortunately for Frodo, Samwise swoops in to the rescue, using a combination of the phial of light and Sting to injure her badly enough for them to escape. It was never confirmed that Sam killed Shelob though her injury was definitely serious. She may still roam the Mountains of Shadow, taking unsuspecting creatures who get lost in her webs as victims. Or, perhaps, she decided to go out the same way as her mother, and she ate herself since she was already injured.
Fans will likely never know for certain what her fate was but the many possibilities that could have been the case are enough to stir up conversations and theories among fans for years to come. No matter what ended up happening to her, there’s no doubt that she was a creature that was born to darkness and would return to darkness when her time did come. Though she was the symbol of death to so many that passed through her lair, she was ultimately just another trial to overcome for the hobbits carrying the ring in the Lord of the Rings storyline.