The Tale
The narrative backs away for
a moment to explain Shelob and her presence in the mountains of Mordor. She had
dwelt there for ages, ‘an evil thing in spider-form’, such as Beren had fought
of old in the Mountains of Terror. How she had made her way here is unknown,
but she was there before Sauron and before he had built the Dark Tower. She
glutted herself on all life and wove webs of shadow, ‘her vomit darkness’. The
bastards of her lesser mates, ‘her own offspring,’ had spread to the hills and
forests of Mirkwood. She had no master, and ‘none could rival her, Shelob the
Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world.’
Years ago, Gollum had found
her in his prying into dark places. ‘[He] had bowed and worshipped her’ and she
spared his life but ensnared his will in her dark will. He had promised her
food in return; she cares nothing for rings or any other power made hands. She
only wants to feed on life and grow greater, until neither mountains nor
shadows can hold her. She has been hungry for ages as Sauron’s power has grown,
and no Men or Elves come her way anymore, only Orcs. ‘Poor food and wary.’ But
now Gollum has brought her ‘sweeter meat.’
Gollum has often thought ‘when
the evil mood was on him’ about betraying the hobbits into her snares. And then
when she discards their bones and clothes, he could find the Precious, and ‘save’
it in a twisting way according to his promise, ‘a reward for poor Smeagol who brings
nice food.’ And then he’ll make Her pay. He’ll make everyone pay.
As for Sauron, he knows
Shelob is there. He lets her stay, guarding the pass better than anything else
he could have come up with. Let her eat an Orc now and then; he has plenty of
those ‘useful slaves.’ Sometimes he will even release a prisoner to ‘his cat’ (his
cat he calls her, but she owns him not)’ to hear report of the ‘play’
she has made with her prey.
‘So they both lived,
delighting in their own devices, and feared no assault, or wrath, nor any end
to their wickedness. Never yet had any fly escaped from Shelob’s webs, and the
greater now was her rage and hunger.’
Bits and Bobs
Just a couple of pages
covered this week (I am not feeling very assiduous today) but as it is a sort
of parenthesis in the action, explaining Shelob, it seems well enough.
In earlier drafts of the story the pass was going to be guarded by many large spiders, but Tolkien decided it would be better to have one of surpassing size and terror. Many have theorized that Tolkien had a fear of spiders because he was bitten by a tarantula (baboon spider) as a small child in Africa. He claimed to have no particular ‘phobia’ about them, though he preferred not to have anything to do with them. In a letter to W. H. Auden, he claimed to even take special care in rescuing any that got caught in the bath(tub). Still, spiders appear as monsters not only in The Lord of the Rings but also The Hobbit and The Silmarillion as well.
Gollum’s wretched and
unappetizing appearance seemed to once more have served him well as far as
survival has gone, as has his willingness to throw anyone or anything ‘under
the bus’ to survive and be re-united with his Precious. Looking back at various
descriptions, his own somewhat spidery look and actions might be linked to
Shelob’s dark overshadowing. Of course, he means to betray Shelob, the minute
he has the power.
This pairing of Shelob and Sauron reminds me that they have both been the objects of a certain ‘glamorization’ in popular culture lately. Sauron has made many adoring appearances in his ‘fair form’ (here fair verging on almost pornographic), lending his ‘seduction’ of the Noldorin Elves a meaning that Tolkien never dreamed. Also, Shelob in the video game Middle-Earth: Shadow of War appears as a beautiful woman.
Whether this is an illusion or just an alternate form is not clear. Perhaps this has been inspired by the Jorogumo, a Japanese yokai, or spirit, that changes between woman and spider. In any case, it treads an uneasy line between the two lies, that sexy is evil and evil is sexy.
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