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Shelob was a huge creature in spider form, high in the mountains of Mordor, the last of the spawn of Ungoliant. Her lair was along the path that Sam Gamgee and Frodo Baggins took while seeking Mount Doom. Apparently she had some sort of understanding with Gollum, whom the Orcs of the Tower of Cirith UngolFor the US heavy metal band, see Cirith Ungol (band). Cirith Ungol is a fictional location in J. Tolkien's universe of Middle-earth. Pronounced Keereeth Oongoll the name is Sindarin for Spider's Cleft it is the pass through the western mountains of Mordor called "Her Sneak".

She attacked and stung Frodo, who lapsed into a death-like coma. Sam managed to defeat her by letting her impale herself upon Frodo's sword while trying to crush him, and she fled to her lair wounded, although the tale does not tell if her wound was mortal.

Thinking Frodo dead, Sam took the One RingThe One Ring also known as the Ruling Ring or Ring of Power is an artifact from J. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth universe. The Andvarinaut in the Volsunga saga is considered to have been the main inspiration. It was created by the Dark Lord Sauron duri from him and left his body behind, but was horrified when a party of Orcs took it, only then revealing in their conversation that Shelob's venom was not intended to kill its victims but only to render them unconscious and keep their meat fresh.

In the movie, Shelob can be seen to have a retractable venomThis article is about the toxin. For other meanings, see Venom (disambiguation Venom is a general term for the toxins used by several groups of animal species, for the purpose of defense and hunting prey. Most widely known are snakes, some species of whicous stingA sting (or stinger is: 1. Any sharp organ of offense and defense, especially when connected with a poison gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The cauda at the rear end between the spinneretA spinneret is a spider's silk spinning organ. They are usually on the underside of a spider's abdomen, to the rear. Most spiders have six spinnarets; some have four or two. They move independently and in concert to build webs. External links and referencs, resembling a waspA wasp is any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is not a bee, sawfly, or an ant. Less familiar, the suborder Symphyta includes the sawflies and wood wasps, which differ from the Apocrita by having a broad connection between the th's sting. This is very much unlike real spiders which inject venom with their fangs but accurate relative to the novel. Shelob also appears to have a gaping mouth, whereas real spiders can ingest only liquid. In the book, on the other hand, "clusters" of eyes are mentioned, which may suggest compound eyedragonfly A compound eye is a visual organ found in certain arthropods (some insects and crustaceans). The compound eye consists of between 12 and 1,000 ommatidia, little dark/bright sensors. The image perceived by the arthropod is "recalculated" from thes like those of insectSubclass Apterygota Symphypleona globular springtails Subclass Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) Subclass Dicondylia Monura extinct Thysanura (common bristletails) Subclass Pterygota Palaeodictyoptera extinct Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata ( dragonfls; the Shelob in the movie does not have compound eyes, which is appropriate. A hunting spider, as Shelob appears to be, would have two large eyes facing forward, and a few smaller ones on the top of the head (or more accurately, cephalothorax).

Shelob occupied Torech Ungol beneath Cirith Ungol, and may have occupied Beleriand, possibly in the Ered Gorgoroth.

Shelob's breed (upon whom she often fed) included the giant spiders (but much smaller than Shelob) who captured Bilbo Baggins' dwarf allies in Mirkwood Forest.

The name "Shelob" was derived from "lob", an archaic English word for spider. A variation, "cob" is the derivation of the word "cobweb".