Shelob - wikipedia Shelob For the song Shelob 's Lair, see Music of The Lord of the Rings film series. Shelob Tolkien 's legendarium character Race Spider Book ( s ) The Two Towers ( 1954 ) Shelob is a fictional giant spider from J.R.R. Tolkien 's Middle - earth legendarium. She appears at the end of the fourth book, second volume ( The Two Towers ), of The Lord of the Rings. Her lair lies in Cirith Ungol ( `` the pass of the spider '' ) leading into Mordor. Gollum deliberately leads Frodo Baggins there in hopes of recovering the One Ring when Shelob attacks Frodo. The plan is foiled when Samwise Gamgee greatly injures Shelob with Frodo 's Elvish dagger, Sting, and the Phial of Galadriel. Contents 1 Literature 2 Name 3 Adaptations 4 See also 5 References Literature Shelob was an `` evil thing in spider - form... ( the ) last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world '', living high in the Ephel Dúath mountains on the borders of Mordor. There are numerous references to her predating the events of The Lord of the Rings by many ages. Although she resided in Mordor and was unrepentantly evil, she was independent of Sauron and his influence. This creature makes her first appearance in the chapter `` The Stairs of Cirith Ungol '', though she is formally introduced in the next chapter `` Shelob 's Lair '' where the author says `` 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 ''. Her descendants include the Giant Spiders defeated by Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Shelob 's lair was Torech Ungol, below Cirith Ungol ( `` Pass of the Spider '' ), along the path that Sam Gamgee and Frodo Baggins took into Mordor, where Shelob had encountered Gollum during his previous trip to Mordor, and he apparently worshipped her. The Orcs of the Tower of Cirith Ungol called her `` Shelob the Great '' and `` Her Ladyship '', and referred to Gollum as `` Her Sneak ''. Sauron himself was aware of her existence, but left her alone, as a useful guard on the pass, and occasionally fed prisoners to her. In the story, Gollum led the Hobbits into her lair to himself recover the One Ring after she consumed them. She cornered them ; but Frodo used the Phial of Galadriel 's light to drive her off, and used Sting to cut the webs blocking the tunnel. Gollum waylaid the pair and tried to strangle Sam, while Shelob paralysed Frodo ; whereafter Sam fought off Gollum and then wielded Sting against Shelob. Seeking to crush Sam, she instead impaled herself upon Sting ; and was nearly blinded by the Phial of Galadriel ; whereupon she fled. Thinking Frodo dead, Sam took the Ring from his friend and left his body behind, but discovered by listening to a pair of Orcs that Frodo was alive but senseless, under a minor influence of venom. Name As Tolkien admitted in a letter to his son, Shelob `` is of course only ' she + lob ', '' - lob being an archaic English word for spider, influenced by Old English loppe or `` spider ''. The word is not related to `` cob '' nor `` cobweb ''. Old English attercoppe ( meaning `` spider '' ) is derived from atter meaning `` poison '' and coppe meaning `` head '' ; Tolkien used `` attercop '' as well as `` cob '' and `` lob '' in The Hobbit, where Bilbo Baggins sings songs taunting the giant spiders in Mirkwood : `` Attercop, Attercop, Old Tomnoddy '' and `` Lazy Lob and Crazy Cob ''. Adaptations Shelob fights Sam Gamgee in Peter Jackson 's film adaptation of The Return of the King. In the 1981 BBC Radio adaption of The Lord of the Rings, Shelob is portrayed by BBC Radiophonic Workshop member Jenny Lee via a series of treated vocal effects. As part of the technical crew Lee had contributed sound effects elsewhere in the series, but received an acting credit for her work on Shelob. In Peter Jackson 's film trilogy, Shelob 's appearance is delayed until the middle of the third movie, The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King, wherein Shelob has a retractable venomous wasp - like stinger between the spinnerets, which she uses to paralyze Frodo. She also appears to have a gaping mouth, equipped with four chelicerae and two fangs. Of her eyes, only four are visible. In a DVD commentary, Jackson says Shelob 's appearance is mostly based on the New Zealand tunnel - web spider. In the video game The Return of the King, based on the film, Shelob is one of the bosses and her defeat is required to beat the level `` Shelob 's Lair ''. In The Lord of the Rings : The Battle for Middle - earth II, Shelob is a hireable hero - unit of the Goblin faction. In the video game Lego The Lord of the Rings, she is the enemy of the level The Secret Stairs, briefly, as Frodo and Gollum run away from her. She then appears at the start of the next level, Cirith Ungol, wherein the player ( s ) can use the characters of Samwise Gamgee or the Orc, Shagrat. Shelob is a major character in the video game Middle - earth : Shadow of War, where she serves as both the narrator and an ally to player character Talion. In the game, Shelob uses her Maian shape - shifting ability to assume the form of an attractive human woman. Following criticism of this decision, creative director Michael de Plater explained his interpretation that Gollum and Shelob were `` the unsung heroes of The Lord of the Rings '', with Shelob sensing Frodo 's weakness and making a pact with Gollum to hasten him to Mount Doom and the confrontation that destroys the ring. De Plater envisioned Shelob as a dark counterpart to Galadriel, noting how both manipulate lesser beings, but that Shelob is more honest. See also Middle - earth portal Fictional characters portal Lord of the Rings Middle - earth peoples References Jump up ^ The Two Towers, book 4, chapter 9 : `` Shelob 's Lair. '' Jump up ^ Thomson, George H. ( 1967 ). `` '' The Lord of the Rings `` : The Novel as Traditional Romance ''. Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature. Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, Vol. 8, No. 1. 8 ( 1 ) : 43 -- 59. doi : 10.2307 / 1207129. JSTOR 1207129. Jump up ^ Chiodini, Johnny ( 15 August 2017 ). `` Why Shelob is a woman in Shadow of War ''. Eurogamer. Retrieved 15 August 2017. J.R.R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King Production and reception Composition Themes Influences Translations Russian Swedish Reception Fandom Study Related works The Hobbit The Adventures of Tom Bombadil The Road Goes Ever On The Silmarillion Unfinished Tales The History of Middle - earth The History of The Lord of the Rings Bilbo 's Last Song The Children of Húrin The History of The Hobbit The Tale of Beren and Lúthien Characters Aragorn Arwen Bilbo Boromir Butterbur Celeborn Ceorl Denethor Elladan and Elrohir Elrond Éomer Éowyn Faramir Frodo Galadriel Gandalf Gildor Gimli Glorfindel Gollum Legolas Merry Mouth of Sauron Old Man Willow Pippin Radagast Sam Saruman Sauron Shelob Théoden Tom Bombadil Treebeard Witch - king Wormtongue Adaptations and other derivative works Books Bored of the Rings ( 1969 ) The Last Ringbearer ( 1999 ) Muddle Earth ( 2003 ) Theatre Fellowship ! ( 2005 ) Lord of the Rings ( 2006 ) Radio The Lord of the Rings ( 1955 ) The Lord of the Rings ( 1979 ) Hordes of the Things ( 1980 ) The Lord of the Rings ( 1981 ) Der Herr der Ringe ( 1992 ) Film Animated The Lord of the Rings ( 1978 ) The Return of the King ( 1980 ) Peter Jackson series The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring ( 2001 ) The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers ( 2002 ) The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King ( 2003 ) Fan - made The Hunt for Gollum ( 2009 ) Born of Hope ( 2009 ) Video games Journey to Rivendell Game One Game Two : Shadows of Mordor War in Middle Earth Vol. I ( 1990 ) Vol. I ( SNES ) Riders of Rohan Elendor Volume II The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King War of the Ring The Third Age The Battle for Middle - earth Tactics The Battle for Middle - earth II The Rise of the Witch - king The Lord of the Rings Online Mines of Moria Siege of Mirkwood Rise of Isengard Riders of Rohan Helm 's Deep Conquest Aragorn 's Quest War in the North Lego The Lord of the Rings Guardians of Middle - earth Middle - earth : Shadow of Mordor Middle - earth : Shadow of War Tabletop role - playing games The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game Middle - earth Role Playing The One Ring Roleplaying Game Board games Middle Earth Lord of the Rings Risk : The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition War of the Ring Other games The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game The Lord of the Rings : The Card Game The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game Middle - earth Collectible Card Game Toys Middle - earth Lego sets Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shelob&oldid=804109299 '' Categories : The Lord of the Rings characters Fictional spiders Fictional demons and devils Middle - earth animals Fictional characters introduced in 1954 Literary villains Hidden categories : Articles using Infobox character with multiple unlabeled fields All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Bosanski Català Čeština Español Français Italiano עברית Latina Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 6 October 2017, at 20 : 10. 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Question: who is the she that gollum refers to
Answer: Shelob