Q: Where Did Shelob’s Offspring Live?
ANSWER: In April 2017 I received the following question from a reader: “I am re-reading the LotR and am in the middle of Shelob. A comment is written about her offspring, leaving the Ephel Duath and going to hills in the east and also Mirkwood … Do we know anything more about the hills in the east?”
The short answer is “no”. I searched The Lord of the Rings for references to “the eastern hills” and found several, all referring to different locations. Treebeard and the Ents, for example, diverted the Isen river as it flowed through the eastern hills around Isengard. And Theoden and his warriors saw the morning sun glinting above the eastern hills near Helm’s Deep. And of Shelob Tolkien wrote: “Far and wide her lesser broods, bastards of the miserable mates, her own offspring, that she slew, spread from glen to glen, from the Ephel Dúath to the eastern hills, to Dol Guldur and the fastnesses of Mirkwood.”
Based on the way he used the phrase in the two earlier passages, I would have to guess that Tolkien was referring to hills found east of Shelob’s Lair. Those would probably have to be the foothills of the Ephel Duath or some other hills inside Mordor. I get the impression that the path of migration is Shalob’s Lair -> “the eastern hills” -> Dol Guldur (north of Mordor) -> “fastnesses of Mirkwood” (north of Dol Guldur).
So while it might seem on first glance that Tolkien is naming a new feature of Middle-earth here, he most likely is merely referring to the hill-lands east of the Ephel Duath, the mountains in which Shelob lived. Why didn’t her children go west into Ithilien? The southern Vales of Anduin were inhabited by Elves and Men for many thousands of years. I would presume that some spiders did migrate westward, but that would have ended poorly for them.
The scholars of Gondor were aware of Shelob and they had named the valley around her lair Cirith Ungol (the same name used of the fortress guarding the pass). The name is Sindarin and means “pass of the spider”, although it is usually translated as “spider’s cleft”. Faramir knew the name of the pass, although he had only heard that some great horror dwelt there. He didn’t know the pass was named for Shelob herself. She had faded into legend by his generation, suggesting it had been long since anyone from Gondor had actually encountered the spider. Maybe the last time she tasted Gondorian blood was around the time Minas Ithil fell (Third Age year 2002).
It makes sense that the spiders would have followed the mountains north. Gorgoroth does not appear to be a hospitable region. They would not have found much food there, especially thousands of years before Sauron returned to Mordor. We know the spiders only reached Mirkwood sometime after Sauron started taking shape again.
So I imagine that what Tolkien had in mind was something like this: Shelob and her broods stayed in the mountains for thousands of years. When Sauron recovered enough of his strength to take shape again around Third Age year 1000, he began summoning evil creatures to serve him as he built a new fortress in southern Greenwood the Great on Amon Lanc, a former Elvish stronghold. When he gathered enough of these evil creatures he began sending them north to inhabit the forest.
Hence, the spiders probably never attempted to move out of the mountains before the Third Age, and then they only did so because Sauron compelled them to do so. While it’s perfectly reasonable for a role playing game or fan fiction author to introduce great spiders into the far eastern or southern lands of Middle-earth, I think Tolkien’s words in The Lord of the Rings only imply that Shelob’s broods stayed rather close to mom until Sauron returned and began using them for his own purposes.
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All these years I’ve imagined that “Far and wide…” encompassed a good bit more than the eastern foothills of Ephel Dúath. While we don’t know exactly what Tolkien meant by “eastern hills,” there are several chains of hills on the CJRT map that accompanies The Fellowship of the Ring that might qualify, including those at the eastern end of the Plateau of Gorgoroth and near the western shore of the Sea of Rhûn.
I don’t qualify as either an author of fan fiction or a game designer. In this particular matter I think the author simply wanted all readers’ imaginations to fill in the gaps. My own imaginings scattered Shelob’s offspring throughout the eastern lands – just one more reason for those who identify with the West to shun the disreputable East.
We know very little of the East, other than that the Children of Ilúvatar awakened there and the “good” ones migrated to the West; the more willing they were to go West, the more favored they were by the Valar. The maps don’t tell us whether the Sea of Rûhn is in the Near East or Far East. The Wainriders come out of the East, as do, of course, the Easterlings of Sauron’s army. There were the “…Istari who went into the east of Middle-earth, and do not come into these tales.” We know Saruman spent some time venturing into the east (and we know what became of him), and Gandalf told Faramir, “Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.”
All this is to say that JRRT clearly biases readers against the East; to such an extent that any use of the word, even if not capitalized, should tend to evoke images of a vast, dangerous, and mysterious region. Though not present on the maps, “Here Be Monsters” might well be emblazoned across the East. I can see no reason why giant spiders wouldn’t be part of that population.
Would there have been adventurers who knew about Shelob and tried to kill her for fame or whatever?
Sam was able to injure Shelob and force her to retreat. I have a feeling that some great warriors would be able to do better given that they possess some magical weapons
Well from the quote it seems certain that part of Shelob’s brood spread around Mordor’s interior and along the Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow. So maybe somewhere in Morgai, other parts of mountains and hills of Mordor, whether they spread even further is unknown but maybe. Who knows maybe some braver giant spiders spread further east, maybe some would venture south as well? If Ungoliant ventured into ‘forgotten south of the world’ possibility of spiders down in Harad is a thing :), though not necessarily of Shelob’s brood or maybe exactly hers. In general Shelob’s lair itself was a labyrinth of tunnels, whether some other giant spiders lived there is anyone’s guess, though since only Shelob is reference it might not be so. Maybe her habits of taking “miserable mates her own offspring that she slew” would drive most of her children away, also Shelob would probably want to have her hunting ground and lair only for herself. Her offspring though would have lots of room in the mountains and lots, and lots of Orcs to eat :).