# What did you imagine Shelob was?



## Celebthôl (Mar 27, 2003)

When you first got to the chapter "Shelob's lair" how did you first think Shelob looked? And (unless there are some excelent linguists (sp) ammong us), did you even think she was a Spider?

At first i visioned a hooded lady (kind of like a monk) but short and she was like a druid type person/creature, i also thought she was a goodie, kind of in hiding in a hidden patch in the mountains.

This obviously changed when i learnt she was a giant yukky spider, but what (if you did) did you imagine her to be when you read the chapters title?

Thôl


----------



## YayGollum (Mar 27, 2003)

Poor Smeagol. We didn't get to come up with our own crazy little picture of Shelob. We had an evil father that told us the part of LOTR with Shelob in it. He also showed us a bunch of pictures, too. oh well. Shelob was always a giant spider. *sniff*


----------



## Celebthôl (Mar 27, 2003)

awww, thats a shame, i hate when people do that type of thing...so probs Smeagol


----------



## ~*Belmir*~ (Mar 27, 2003)

Unfortunately for me I had seen the first and second movie before I had read the TTT. I know Shelob is not in the movie, but I have 'wonderful' friends who have read the books and told me about Shelob. But... I'm sure that I had no previous knowledge of Shelob, I wouldn't have even thought it was a she!


----------



## Niniel (Mar 27, 2003)

The first time I read LOTR I was so occupied reading that I had no time to think about what I read. So I just read on, not imagining anything, until I found out she was a spider.


----------



## Aragorn21 (Mar 27, 2003)

Well my bro told me about LOTR before I read them so I knew it was a spider (you know, he did a pretty bad job telling me  )


----------



## ~*Belmir*~ (Mar 27, 2003)

Lol! I can relate to that!


----------



## Tuilin (Mar 28, 2003)

Hm...I dont think I remember.
I dont even think I read the headings.
I just read on and didnt even notice I was in another chapter.


----------



## legolasismine (Mar 28, 2003)

Okay before I found out she was a spidr,I pictured her looking like Galadriel I don't know why I just pictured her that way,and pictured her really evil!


----------



## BlackCaptain (Mar 29, 2003)

I imagined her as a Maia of course, and like Celebethol described her. I thought her to be almost like Sauron's brother. And i stress 'LIKE'


----------



## faila (Mar 29, 2003)

for somereason the description of her location made me think spider......... Whenever Im reading I automatically imagine and I always thought of her as a spider.


----------



## FrankSinatra (Mar 30, 2003)

*Well*

I did not at all think spider, strangely.

I imagined some kind of extended troll maybe, i dont really know what i imagined.


----------



## baragund (Apr 1, 2003)

I imagined Shelob as a giant spider from the beginning, and I had no "preview" to spoil the picture I was making in my mind's eye. Tolkien's description of Shelob as a spider and her lair with the rope-thick webs that Sam could only cut using Sting were pretty vivid to me. Also, I was fresh from reading The Hobbit and still clearly remembered the spiders in Mirkwood.

Oddly, I had a harder time picturing Ungoliant. I would go back and forth between spider and extremely fat and ugly woman.


----------



## Feanorian (Apr 1, 2003)

I first envisoned her as a monster that would eat or draw the life out of Sam and Frodo kind of like a spider but not exactly i knew she was some kind of large, nasty, female, poisonous monster. although my older brother had read it he never spoiled it for me. I did it spoil it for my other older brother though


----------



## Celebthôl (Apr 2, 2003)

> _Originally posted by jimzeller _
> *I imagined Shelob as a giant spider from the beginning, and I had no "preview" to spoil the picture I was making in my mind's eye. Tolkien's description of Shelob as a spider and her lair with the rope-thick webs that Sam could only cut using Sting were pretty vivid to me. Also, I was fresh from reading The Hobbit and still clearly remembered the spiders in Mirkwood.
> 
> Oddly, I had a harder time picturing Ungoliant. I would go back and forth between spider and extremely fat and ugly woman. *



i dont mean after Mr Tolkien had described her, i mean when you read the title of the chapter, "Shelob's Liar", before the spider thing had been brought up


----------



## baragund (Apr 2, 2003)

Oh, I see.. I know just what your mean, now. You're right, between the title of the chapter, Shelob's Lair, and some cryptic references by Gollum to an unnamed "she" when he decided to lead Frodo and Sam there, I didn't know what to expect.


----------



## Thorunn (Apr 8, 2003)

I was so busy reading and did't think ahead and was surprised when I found out it was a spider


----------



## e.Blackstar (Apr 9, 2003)

I kind of thought of a Smeagol-ish creature, but waaaaaaay bigger.



Yay! My hundreth post!


----------



## Annushka (Apr 15, 2003)

I don`t remember how but I always knew that Shelob was a spider. The thing is I still can`t imagine her as one. I always picture her as a huge, fat, grey, ugly old lady with spider leggs and terrible <smile>


----------



## Ol'gaffer (Apr 16, 2003)

I allways imagined that Shelob was some sort of spirit or something. Like one of the ancient monsters in Homers tales. Like Skylla and Charybis. 

But when I read the chapter I realized how off I was.


----------



## de_uda (Apr 19, 2003)

Personally, i thought of her as a sort of hairy crustacean.
As it was hard to stab her, as if she had a hard shell, but also the hairy darker texture of a spider.


----------



## CelebrianTiwele (Apr 20, 2003)

i never imagine stuff when i read. i just, read. i used to but i got to where i read so much it didn't matter how the characters looked. it just mattered about they're personalities. but i don't ever remember imagining shelob as anything but a spider. even now i imagine her as a cartoon spider. like charlotte in charlotte's web. lol. sad


----------



## The_Swordmaster (Apr 22, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Feanorian_
> I first envisoned her as a monster that would eat or draw the life out of Sam and Frodo kind of like a spider but not exactly i knew she was some kind of large, nasty, female, poisonous monster. although my older brother had read it he never spoiled it for me. I did it spoil it for my other older brother though



Yea I thought Shelob was some kind of monster also. I also kinda pictured an gaint octopus monster thing.


----------

