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{{rewrite}}
{{race infobox
| name=Spiders
| image=[[File:John Howe - Spiders of Mirkwood.jpg|250px]]
| caption="Spiders of Mirkwood" by [[John Howe]]
| pronun=
| othernames=
| origin=
| location=[[Mirkwood]], [[Torech Ungol]], [[Nan Dungortheb]], [[Avathar]]
| affiliation=[[Morgoth]], [[Sauron]]
| rivalry=
| language=[[Westron]]
| people=
| members=[[Ungoliant]], [[Shelob]]
| lifespan=
| distinctions=
| height=
| hair=
| skin=Black or grey
| clothing=
| weapons=
| gallery=spiders
}}
The '''Spiders''' were eight-legged creatures that captured their prey in intricate webs. Many spiders of [[Middle-earth]] reached a colossal size.

==History==

There was a sinister side to the spiders of Middle-earth that entered it with the monstrous [[Ungoliant]] in the years before the [[First Age]]. A gigantic creature of spider-shape, it was she who destroyed the [[Two Trees of Valinor|Two Trees]] of [[Valinor]] by sucking the light out of them, and escaped with [[Morgoth|Melkor]] into the lands of Middle-earth. Though Ungoliant disappeared into the far south, she left the northern lands infested with her offspring. During the First Age, the mountains of the [[Ered Gorgoroth]] were infested with these monsters, and became a place of dread.

The most infamous of Ungoliant's children lived far to the south and east of the Ered Gorgoroth, on the borders of the land of [[Mordor]]. This was [[Shelob]], who haunted a network of tunnels watching the pass of [[Cirith Ungol]], making a living on hapless [[Orcs]] and anyone else who happened to come down the passage. She had offspring of her own, smaller than she but with a cruel intelligence, that spread throughout the [[Ephel Dúath]] and north into [[Mirkwood]]. The [[Sauron|return of evil]] seems to have emboldened the spiders' hungry tendencies. It was creatures like these that [[Bilbo Baggins]] encountered in ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and after fighting them he gave his sword its name [[Sting]].

Tolkien says of Shelob, "Most '''like''' a spider she was," [emphasis added], and the offspring of Ungoliant differed from normal spiders in respects beyond their enormous size.  Bilbo sees the Mirkwood spiders' eyes as "Insect eyes,"<ref>{{H|8}}</ref> and Shelob's eyes are "clustered" and "many-windowed", with "a thousand facets", like insects' compound eyes.<ref>{{TT|IV9}}</ref>  However, normal spiders do not have compound eyes.  Tolkien may not have been over-concerned with the difference between spiders and insects, as in the same chapter of ''The Hobbit'' he refers to spiders as "hunting and spinning insects". Another difference is that when spiders grow, they moult their skins, but Shelob's hide was "ever thickened from within with layer on layer of evil growth."<ref name=Rateliff>John Rateliff. 2007. ''The History of the Hobbit: Mr. Baggins'', volume 1.  Harper-Collins, p. 322</ref>

Shelob is consistently described as "stinging" and having a "sting".<ref>{{TT|IV9}}</ref><ref>{{TT|IV10}}</ref><ref>{{RK|VI9}}</ref> That has been taken to mean a sting like that of some insects, which normal spiders do not have.<ref name=Rateliff/>  However, in the quotation from "Letter 163" in the "Inspiration" section below, Tolkien used the verb "sting" in the rare sense of a spider's bite.  Thus all his references to Shelob's stinging may mean biting.

==Names==

In [[Sindarin]], the word for "spider" is '''''ungol'''''.<ref name=UI>{{HM|UI}}, p. 490</ref> It is found in such names as [[Shelob's Lair|Torech Ungol]], [[Ungoliant#Etymology|Ungoliant]], and [[Cirith Ungol]].

In [[Gnomish]], one of [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s early conceptions of an [[Elvish|Elven]] language, the word for "spider" is ''cing'' or ''cingwin'' (a struck-out word was ''gung''). A deleted [[Qenya]] word for "spider" was ''ung-we''.<ref>{{PE|11}}, pp. 26, 43</ref>

==Inspiration==
Tolkien made inconsistent comments on his feelings about spiders.  In a letter to [[W. H. Auden]] (quoted more completely below), he wrote, "I do not dislike spiders particularly, and have no urge to kill them. I usually rescue those whom I find in the bath!"

However, in an interview with [[Jan Broberg]] in 1961, Tolkien said, as translated by John-Henri Holmberg, "I don't like spiders. It's not a pathological fear, but I rather won't have anything to do with them.<ref>Quoted by {{webcite|author=[[Christina Scull]] and [[Wayne G. Hammond]]|articlename=Addenda and Corrigenda to ''The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide'' (2006), Vol. 2: Reader's Guide: Arranged by Date|dated=Dec. 23, 2010|articleurl=https://www.hammondandscull.com/addenda/guide_by_date.html|website=hammondandscull.com}}</ref>

Likewise the writer Richard Lupoff asked Tolkien whether the giant spiders in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom books had inspired Shelob, and Tolkien replied in a [[Letter to Richard Lupoff|letter]],

{{quote|Source hunting is a great entertainment but I myself do not find it particularly useful. I did read many of Edgar Rice Burroughs' earlier works, but I developed a dislike for his Tarzan even greater than '''my distaste for spiders'''.  Spiders I had met long before Burroughs began to write, and I do not think he is in any way responsible for Shelob.  At any rate I retain no memory of the Siths or the Apt.|[[Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure]]}}

Tolkien was bitten by a tarantula when he was a small boy in South Africa. Many writers have suggested that the incident underlies the horrifying and deadly giant spiders in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref name=Horne>Mark Horne.  2011.  ''J. R. R. Tolkien''.  Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 2</ref><ref>{{webcite|author=Emily Asher-Perrin
|articleurl=https://www.tor.com/2016/11/04/we-can-probably-blame-the-tarantula-that-bit-j-r-r-tolkien-for-most-giant-spiders-in-fantasy|articlename=We Can Probably Blame the Tarantula that Bit J. R. R. Tolkien for Most of the Spiders in Fantasy|dated=Nov. 4, 2016|website=Tor.com|accessed=March 22, 2016}}</ref>
Tolkien saw no reason to accept that explanation, and he specifically said that his purpose in putting spiders into ''The Hobbit'' was to scare his son Michael, who had a fear of them. But some commentators have avoided committing themselves to saying the analysis must be false,<ref name=Horne/><ref>Deborah Webster Rogers; Ivor I. Rogers. 1980. ''J. R. R. Tolkien''. "Tolkien had been bitten by a tarantula in South Africa, and Michael had a horror of spiders, as do many people; so the author could be drawing on either personal or public feeling in his portrayal of arachnids."</ref> as seen also in the quotation from Humphrey Carpenter's biography below, and Tolkien did not commit himself either.

{{quote|...when Ronald [Tolkien] was beginning to walk, he stumbled on a tarantula. It bit him, and he ran in terror across the garden until the nurse snatched him up and sucked out the poison. When he grew up he could remember a hot day and running in fear through long, dead grass, '''but the memory of the tarantula itself faded, and he said that the incident left him with no especial dislike of spiders.''' Nevertheless, he wrote more than once of monstrous spiders with venomous bites.|''[[J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography]]''}}

{{quote|I knew that the way [for Frodo, Sam, and Gollum] was guarded by a Spider. And if that has anything to do with my being stung by a tarantula when a small child, people are welcome to the notion (supposing the improbable, that any one is interested). I can only say that I remember nothing about it, should not know it if I had not been told; and '''I do not dislike spiders particularly, and have no urge to kill them.''' I usually rescue those whom I find in the bath!|{{L|163}}}}

Regarding the spiders in ''[[The Hobbit]]'':
{{quote|I put in the spiders largely because this was, you remember, primarily written for my children (at least I had them in mind), and one of my sons [Michael] in particular dislikes spiders with a great intensity. I did it to thoroughly frighten him and it did!|From an interview of [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] on January 15, 1957 by Ruth Harshaw for the "Carnival of Books" radio show. (According to ''[[The Annotated Hobbit]]'')}}

{{quote|Throughout his life, Tolkien’s son Michael had what he called “a deep-rooted abhorrence of spiders.”|''[[The Annotated Hobbit]]''}}

==Portrayal in adaptations==

'''1982: [[The Hobbit (1982 video game)|''The Hobbit (1982 text adventure game)'']]'''

:In the text adventure game, spiders don't make any explicit appearance, although you will see "Pale Bulbous Eyes" as you and your party travel along the [[Old Forest Road]]. If you stay on the road for too long, something will leap down from the trees and kill you.

'''2003: ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'':'''
:''See [[Shelob#Portrayal in adaptations|Shelob: Portrayal in adaptations]]''

'''2007: ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'':'''
:Non-player (NPC, computer controlled) spiders are found in a number of areas of Middle-earth. Players can play a spider in the Player-versus-Player (PvP) area of the [[Ettenmoors]] once the player reaches level ten. Spiders in ''The Lord of the Rings Online'' have the ability to root and spit poison from a distance.

:The appearance of spiders vary from zone to zone for NPC spiders and from rank to rank for player controlled spiders. They all look like very large spiders from the size of a cat up to the size of a large elephant.

'''2012-4: [[The Hobbit (film series)|''The Hobbit'' film series]]:'''
:The spiders of Mirkwood are portrayed in the first two films, ''An Unexpected Journey'' and ''The Desolation of Smaug''. In the former, they attack [[Radagast]]'s dwelling in [[Rhosgobel]], but are driven away by him. Radagast discovers that they came from the ruins of [[Dol Guldur]] (implying that they are drawn to the power of [[Sauron|the Necromancer]] lurking there), and deduces that they are descendants of [[Ungoliant]]. In the latter film, their role is faithful to their portrayal in the novel. As in the book, they are capable of speech (although Bilbo is only capable of understanding them while wearing the [[One Ring|Ring]]). When one of the spiders screams about how Bilbo's Elvish blade "stings" it, it is then that Bilbo decides to give his weapon a name.

'''2017: ''[[Middle-earth: Shadow of War]]'':'''
:[[Shelob]] is an integral part of the plot of the action game. She is seen in her typical spider form in the game, as well as a humanoid form, which is a first for the character. She temporarily takes possession of [[Celebrimbor]]'s ring during the game's tutorial section in the city of [[Minas Ithil]]. This game does not take place Legendarium canon, and [[Shelob]] has never been confirmed in any publication to be able to take any other form. According to the developers, they meant for her to be a Maia like Ungoliant, though the latter has never been established to be one of the Ainur. Lesser spiders of her brood can be used in the game as distraction to orcs.

==See also==
*[[:Category:Images of spiders|Images of spiders]]
{{references}}
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Other races]]
[[Category:Servants of Sauron]]
[[Category:Servants of Melkor]]
[[de:Spinnen]]
[[fi:Hämähäkit]]

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Editing Spiders

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 Shelob is consistently described as "stinging" and having a "sting".<ref>{{TT|IV9}}</ref><ref>{{TT|IV10}}</ref><ref>{{RK|VI9}}</ref> That has been taken to mean a sting like that of some insects, which normal spiders do not have.<ref name=Rateliff/>  However, in the quotation from "Letter 163" in the "Inspiration" section below, Tolkien used the verb "sting" in the rare sense of a spider's bite.  Thus all his references to Shelob's stinging may mean biting.
-==Other names==
+==Names==
 In [[Sindarin]], the word for "spider" is '''''ungol'''''.<ref name=UI>{{HM|UI}}, p. 490</ref> It is found in such names as [[Shelob's Lair|Torech Ungol]], [[Ungoliant#Etymology|Ungoliant]], and [[Cirith Ungol]].