Spiders

Giant, sapient spiders, also known as the Children of Ungoliant, lived in particularly dark and perilous places in Middle-earth. Those who spoke were vicious and malevolent creatures, and their presence was typically considered to be a burden.
==Description==
These spiders could speak to one another, as shown in The Hobbit. Like Orcs, they detested the light, yet thirsted for and sought to devour it.
They lived in the south of Middle-earth in the First Age, having descended from spider-creatures of the Ered Gorgoroth, but by the Third Age they spread to other areas far away. After the shadow of Sauron fell upon Greenwood the Great, many spiders came and lived there, and the forest became known as "Mirkwood".
Shelob, in Mordor, was their relative.
==History==
The first Dark Lord, Melkor, used Ungoliant to help him destroy the Two Trees of Valinor and steal the Silmarils.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter VIII: "Of the Darkening of Valinor" Ungoliant, who had an insatiable desire to devour light, demanded the Silmarils. Melkor refused and she attempted to kill him. Ungoliant was subsequently driven off by Melkor's Balrogs, and she ultimately wandered across Middle-earth, consuming anything that gave light such as gemstones; and often mated with other large spiders. Her offspring were a great bane on the world in later years. She was described as surrounded by "an aura of darkness". Her fate is unknown, but it is said that, always hungry, Ungoliant ended by devouring herself.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter IX: "Of the Flight of the Noldor"
The hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his thirteen Dwarf companions encountered giant spiders in Mirkwood on their Quest to the Lonely Mountain. They managed to capture and entangle in webs each of the thirteen Dwarves. Only Bilbo's magic Ring and his Elven blade (Sting) allowed them to escape from being eaten.The Hobbit, Chapter VIII: "Flies and Spiders"
Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee encountered the lone, giant spider Shelob in her lair, within caves in the Pass of Cirith Ungol, as they were trying to enter Mordor in their quest to destroy the One Ring. Frodo was ambushed by her twice, and paralyzed by her poison on the second encounter.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Four, Ch. IX: "Shelob's Lair" Sam used Sting to attack Shelob and wound her, which caused her to flee.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Four, Ch. X: "The Choices of Master Samwise" Her fate is unspecified.
==Influence of spiders in Tolkien's life==
Contrary to popular belief, the reason that Tolkien featured spiders so prominently in his stories was not because he was bitten by a tarantula when he was young, but rather because his son was afraid of them. From this they are portrayed negatively, always appearing as antagonists.
==In adaptations==
thumb|231x231px|A Mirkwood Spider as depicted in 1977
===The Hobbit (animated film)===
In The Hobbit (1977), the Dwarves and Bilbo are captured by giant Mirkwood spiders. Unlike in the books, these spiders can speak plainly without Bilbo putting on the Ring. They are voiced by Jack DeLeon. Also, Thorin Oakenshield is captured as well by spiders (as also in The Hobbit trilogy), while in the book Thorin is captured instead by Thrauduil's Elves after the Dwarves intruded on the third and final feast.
===The Lord of the Rings (1978) & The Return of the King (1980)===
In the animated films of 1978 and 1980, Shelob is not shown; she is only mentioned briefly by Gollum towards the end of the The Lord of the Rings (1978).
===The Hobbit film trilogy===
Giant spiders appear briefly in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, where they are seen attacking Radagast's home in Rhosgobel, only to retreat back into the forest, seemingly repelled by his magic. Radagast later tells Gandalf that they came from Dol Guldur.
In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the spiders capture the Dwarves in Mirkwood. As in the book, the spiders are capable of speech that Bilbo can understand when he is wearing the One Ring. They were voiced by Brian Sergent and Peter Vere-Jones in the film. There are also large ghostly-white spider-like creatures that lived below the trees in Mirkwood, in Peter Jackson's film . These creatures live underground, and emerge from trapdoor-like lids. In , when Bilbo Baggins falls from the trees when killing a spider in Mirkwood, he loses the One Ring. As he goes to retrieve it, a crab-like spider emerges and walks over the Ring in front of Bilbo. But before it is able to strike, Bilbo (who is aggressively drawn to the ring) severs one of its mandibles with Sting, and stabs its underside. The creature collapses, and he kills it by striking its head.
===The Lord of the Rings film trilogy===
The capture of Frodo by Shelob and her battle with Sam are depicted in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
===Video games===
*Giant spiders appear in many Lord of the Rings video games, including The Return of the King.
*In The Battle for Middle-earth II and its expansion pack, "Spiderlings" are a unit of the Goblin faction; Shelob also appears as one of their heroes. The Goblin faction has a "spiderling lair" fortress extension that spawns smaller spiders that attack nearby enemies. Goblins may also ride them, as Spider-rider units.
*For The Hobbit video game three spiders were invented named Wicked, Wild, and Wrath. These three spiders are the queens of the Spiders of Mirkwood and are three of the bosses of the Flies And Spiders level.
*The Lord of the Rings: War in the North features a giant spider named Saenathra, who takes Radagast captive, and must be defeated for Radagast to be freed. Like the Mirkwood spiders in The Hobbit, Saenathra can speak.
===LEGO: The Lord of the Rings===
In LEGO The Lord of the Rings, the player must go through Shelob's Lair and kill at least six small spiders bearing Sauron's mark on their back.
===The Lord of the Rings Minecraft mod===
In The Lord of the Rings Minecraft mod, spiders are found in Mirkwood and Nan Ungol. There are three delineations: Mordor spiders, Mirkwood spiders, and Utumno Ice spiders.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Groot spinnekoppe
Albanian 	Marimanga të mëdha
Amharic 	ታላላቅ ሸረሪዎች
Arabic 	العناكب
Azerbaijani 	Böyük Hörümçəklər
Belarusian Cyrillic	вялікія павукі
Bengali 	গ্রেট মাকড়সা ?
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Големи паяци
Catalan 	Grans Aranyes
Cebuano 	Dakong kaka
Chinese (Hong Kong)	巨形蜘蛛
Croatian 	Veliki Pauci
Czech 	Velicí Pavouci
Danish 	Store edderkopper
Dutch 	Grote Spinnen
Esperanto 	Grandaj Araneoj
Finnish 	Suuret Hämähäkit
French 	Grandes Araignées
Galician 	Grandes Arañas
German 	Riesenspinnen
Georgian 	დიდი ობობები
Greek 	Μεγάλη αράχνη
Gujarati 	ગ્રેટ કરોળિયા
Hebrew 	עכבישים ענקיים
Hindi 	महान मकड़े
Hmong 	Zoo kawg thiab kab laug sab.
Hungarian 	Nagy Pókok
Indonesian 	Laba-laba besar
Irish Gaelic 	Damháin alla mór
Italian 	Randi Ragni
Japanese 	すごいクモ類
Kazakh 	Ұлы өрмекшілер (Cyrillic) Ulı örmekşiler (Latin)
Korean 	거미
Latin 	Magna Aranearum
Latvian 	Liels Zirnekļi
Laotian 	ແມງມຸມທີ່ຍິ່ງໃຫຍ່ ?
Lithuanian 	Didžiosios Vorai
Macedonian Cyrillic	големи пајаци
Malaysian 	Labah-labah Gergasi
Marathi 	कोळी
Maltese 	Brimb Kbira
Norwegian 	Stor edderkopper
Pashto 	لوی ماډلونه
Persian 	عنکبوت ‌ها
Polish 	Wielkie Pająki
Portuguese 	Grandes Aranhas
Romanian 	Marii Păianjeni
Russian 	Гигантские пауки
Serbian 	Велики Пауци (Cyrillic) Veliki Pauci (Latin)
Sicilian 	Ragni
Sinhalese 	මහා මකුළුවන්
Slovak 	Veľké pavúky
Slovenian 	Super pajki
Spanish 	Grandes arañas
Swahili 	Buibui Kubwa
Swedish 	Stora spindlar
Tamil 	கிரேட் சிலந்திகள்
Thai 	แมงมุมที่ยิ่งใหญ่
Turkish 	Büyük Örümcekler
Urdu 	عظیم مکڑیاں
Uzbek 	Буюк ўргимчаклар (Cyrillic) Buyuk o'rgimchaklar (Latin)
Welsh 	Corynnod mawr
Yiddish 	גרויס ספּידערס
==References==
 
Category:Non-canonical Servants of Sauron
Category:The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey characters
Category:The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug characters
Category:Characters in Middle-earth: Shadow of War
de:Große Spinnen
es:Arañas
fr:Araignées géantes
he:עכבישים ענקיים
it:Ragni
pl:Wielkie Pająki
ru:Гигантские пауки