Attack of Shelob

Gollum came back to find Sam and Frodo sleeping. The menacing glint left his eyes and he shook his head as if debating himself as he peered back up the path he had come. He reached out for Frodo, to caress him, as an old weary hobbit might do. This stirred Frodo and woke Sam who was angry and accused Gollum of sneaking around again. This brought the menacing look back into Gollum's eyes. He did not take too kindly to being called a sneak. Sam, though not trusting Gollum, did apologize; saying he had not meant to fall asleep and was merely taking it out on Gollum. He then asked where Gollum had been. "'Sneaking'" (p. 324, The Two Towers). He told Sam that it was the next day. Sam woke Frodo who greeted him with a smile as if he'd forgotten where they were. Frodo asked Gollum if he was fed and rested. Gollum was not for he had been sneaking. Frodo exhorted Gollum to not call himself names. "'Smeagol has to take what's given him,' answered Gollum. 'He was given that name by kind Master Samwise, the hobbit who knows so much'" (p. 325, The Two Towers).

Frodo tried to calm the tension by asking Gollum if they could find the way from there. If so Smeagol would be released from his service to Frodo to go where he wish save to the servants of Sauron. Gollum was insistent they would still need his help. After some climbing they found themselves at the entrance of a tunnel; a foul stench came from it. Saying there was no other way Gollum led the hobbits in. It was pitch dark, not since Moria had Sam and Frodo experienced such darkness. The path was smooth, straight, and sloped ever up. The smell grew ever worse to the point that this was the only sense that seemed to work. Every now and again Frodo and Sam could tell there was an opening the in walls as they walked as if many passages ran off the main path. They were concerned about Orcs and yet an unknown peril weighed heavy on them. "Sam left the tunnel-side and shrank towards Frodo, and their hands met and clasped, and so together they still went on" (p. 327, The Two Towers). The very descriptions of this cave are creepy and intense; even though I knew what was going to happen I was on the edge of my seat because Frodo and Sam don't know.

After time uncounted Frodo stumbled as he passed a large opening to his left. All foul smells and warnings of danger came from that place. With great effort he rose and dragged Sam ahead; the further they went from that spot the more free they felt. However, soon they came to a fork in the path the wrong choice would almost certainly spell disaster. It was then that they realized Gollum had disappeared. In dread Sam felt his sword and remembered the dark Barrow from whence it came. This turned his attention to Tom Bombadil and in turn the Elves. "'Far off, as in a little picture drawn by elven-fingers, he saw the Lady Galadriel standing on the grass in Lorien, and gifts were in her hands. And you, Ring-bearer, he heard her say, remote but clear, for you I have prepared this" (p. 329, The Two Towers). Sam called for Frodo to use the phial she had given him. Frodo remembered her words as well: "A light when all other lights go out" (p. 329, The Two Towers).

The phial let out it's shining light "...as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril on his brow" (p. 329, The Two Towers). Frodo cried out in Elvish a saying he did not understand and felt a great malice bear down on him. "But there are other potencies in Middle-earth, powers of night, and they are old and strong. And She that walked in the darkness had heard the Elves cry that cry far back in the deeps of time, and she had not heeded it, and it did not daunt her now" (p. 329, The Two Towers). Frodo and Sam saw the light returned in the reflection of hundreds of eyes and they ran but it was no use. Drawing up all his courage Frodo unsheathed Sting, now shining blue, and held up the phial again. The eyes halted; such bright light had not been seen for years and it had been nearly as long since She was challenged. Filled with doubt the eyes left. Seizing their chance Frodo and Sam ran up the path coming to the brink of the tunnel exit.

They were stopped by huge thick spider-webs. Sam could not cut them with his sword and began to curse Gollum. Then Frodo tried with his Elvish blade saying: "'There were webs of horror in the dark ravines of Belerian where it was forged'" (p. 331, The Two Towers). Sting sliced through the webs like a knife through warm butter. Finally the last webs were cut and Frodo ran out heedless of any peril calling for Sam to run after him. Sam followed but still turned back with the phial (he held it while Frodo cut) to see if any danger followed them. But had Sam known his enemy he would not have only searched behind; for this tunnel was Her lair and She had many exits from it.

"There agelong she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form, even such as once of old had lived in the Land of the Elves in the West that is now under the Sea, such as Beren fought in the Mountains of Terror in Doriath, and so came to Lúthien upon the green sward amid the hemlocks in the moonlight long ago. How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come. But still she was there, who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dur; and she served none but herself, drinking the blood of Elves and Men, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness. Far and wide her lesser broods, bastards of miserable mates, her own offspring, that she slew, spread from glen to glen, from the Ephel Duath to the eastern hills, to Dol Guldur and the fastness of Mirkwood. But none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world" (p. 332, The Two Towers).

Gollum had met her years previous and had promised to bring her food. For years, since Sauron ruled Mordor, no Elves or Men had come her way. She feasted on Orcs if they dared to venture near her lair and Gollum promised sweeter meat. She did not care for Rings or power. She cared only for the death and destruction for Her life to continue. In his mind Gollum devised a plan: to bring Frodo and Sam to Her; and after She feasted he would pick out the Ring for his keeping. "'And when we've got it safe, then She'll know it, O yes, then we'll pay her back, my precious. Then we'll pay everyone back!'" (p. 333, The Two Towers). Of course Sauron was well aware of Shelob. He minded not when she fed on his Orcs for she was a better defense of the tunnel than any he could make. "And sometimes as a man may cast a dainty to his cat (his cat he calls her, though she owns him not) Sauron would send her prisoners that he had no better uses for: he would have them driven to her hole, and report brought back to him of the play she made" (p. 333, The Two Towers).

Not seeing sign of the present danger Sam was aware of Sting as Frodo ran ahead; still glowing blue. He knew Orcs must be near and hiding the light of the phial he ran after his master. But this was a mistake. As soon as the phial was hidden Shelob attacked. Sam watched in horror as she moved quickly past him toward Frodo; he tried warn Frodo but something stopped his cry. It was Gollum. "'Got him!' hissed Gollum in his ear. 'At last, my precious, we've got him, yes, the nassty hobbit. We takes this one. She'll get the other. O yes, Shelob will get him, not Smeagol: he promised; he won't hurt Master at all. But he's got you, you nassty filthy little sneak!'" (p. 335, The Two Towers). Gollum's hand began to squeeze Sam's neck. In a rage for Gollum's interference with his saving Frodo, more than for his own life, Sam twisted quickly out of the grasp and began to fight Gollum. He was able to land two blows with the walking stick given by Faramir on Gollum; the second across his back breaking the stick.

Gollum realized quickly he made a mistake in gloating over Sam and not just killing him. As Sam picked up his sword Gollum knew it was not a fight he could win. "Everything had gone wrong with his beautiful plan, since that horrible light had so unexpectedly appeared in the darkness" (p. 336, The Two Towers). Sam chased Gollum back into one of Shelob's caves and then turned back for Frodo. To his dismay he found the great spider over the lifeless body of Frodo. Sam picked up Sting and his onslaught was great. He slashed Shelob's leg and stabbed out an eye. He slashed under her belly but her hide was thick. The text notes that not even the hand of Beren or Túrin wielding a great sword would have been able to penetrate it. She raised her obese body to crush Sam beneath and falling to his knees Sam held Sting above his head with all his might to stave off the attack. And though no mighty man could penetrate Shelob's skin her own strength and weight bearing down on the Elvish blade was more than adequate.

Shelob had never known more pain. She writhed and spat and bled all over. Gathering herself she sought to poison the little enemy to death. Sam remembered the phial and withdrew it from his cloak once again. A combination of the bright light and Sam's indomitable spirit dismayed her and she fled. No tale is told of Shelob's end. Sam wearily went to the body of Frodo; he had been stung on the neck by Shelob and Sam could find no signs of life. "'Frodo, Mr. Frodd!' he called. 'Don't leave me here alone! It's your Sam calling. Don't go where I can't follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!'" (p. 340, The Two Towers). This scene brings tears to my eyes. Sam then remembered the vision that he saw in Galadriel's mirror. "And then black despair came down on him, and Sam bowed to the ground, and drew his grey hood over his head, and night came into his heart, and he knew no more" (p. 340, The Two Towers).

Meanwhile, more ill news came to Minis Tirith. The forces of Mordor had taken the River. Faramir was withdrawing the defenders to the Causeway Forts in the Pelennor. The host of the enemy was great but it was the King of the Ringwraiths that was the chief fear as told by the messengers. "'Than I am needed there more than here,' said Gandalf, and rode away at once, and the glimmer of him faded soon from sight" (p. 91, The Return of the King). Pippin was alone and could not sleep. Battle was nigh.

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 3019, March 12th
Today's reading comes from: The Two Towers, pages 323-340; The Return of the King, page 91