Spiders of Mirkwood
Non-Humanoid
Intelligences > Spiders
> Spiders of Mirkwood
The origin of the large, evil, and orate Great
Spiders of Mirkwood
lies in Ungoliant.
Ungoliant bred with the weaker spiders of Nan Dungortheb. When
Beleriand was broken, Shelob,
the last child of Ungoliant, escaped to Cirith
Ungol in the Ephel Dúath encircling Mordor. There Shelob
bred with the weaker spiders making their offspring great and talking.
In the Third Age, when Sauron’s
power began to grow again in his fortress of Dol Guldur, many of the
Great Spiders of Mordor moved to Greenwood the Great, part of why it
came to be called Mirkwood. These spiders were encountered by Thorin
and Company
on the Quest of Erebor.
Weapons that have proved (from a point of
perspective) to be exceptionally useful against Great Spiders include
rocks and elvish blades such as Sting.
They love to eat talking creatures such as elves
best.
References: The Silmarillion,
The Hobbit, The Return of the King
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