Frodo and Sam follow Gollum into the tunnel, but they’re greeted by a stench and a palpable darkness that are far from welcoming. Soon they are lost in a maze in the dark, unsure how long they’ve been there or how to get out… and something seems to be watching them with more than the usual number of eyes (and following with more than the usual number of legs). All this, plus medieval ideas on the nature of good and evil revisited, and Alan and Shawn each weigh in on the question of which Middle-earth character their co-host most resembles.
Please see the website The Fandomentals.com for the article “Darkness and Light in Shelob’s Lair”, and follow the author Katie Walkowiak on Twitter at @katiewalko.
Recommended Reading:
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings (Mariner Books, paperback) “Shelob’s Lair”, pp. 700-05
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit (Mariner Books, paperback)
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The Silmarillion (Mariner Books, paperback)
Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Mariner Books, paperback)
At least the tentacles in Cirith Ungol weren’t moist and luminous. Right? This is a plus?
I like what you said about the Hobbit of the Shire and I get where you’re coming from. But I took it a bit differently. To me, Tolkien’s use of Hobbit of the Shire seemed to imply some heroism or virtue. In the previous episode, Sam waxed philosophical (as much as Sam can anyway) about tales and stories. Since we are currently hearing the legendary story of Frodo and Sam, it is only logical that children reenacting this story would want to emulate their heroes and share traits with them. In our youth, we were all Knights of King Arthur or Jedi from Tatooine. In the same way, I believe Tolkien implies or attaches some heroic virtue on being a Hobbit of the Shire, in the same way he would with a Man of Gondor or a Lady of Light. As if Tolkien imagines young boys dressing in makeshift Hobbit costumes, cutting out cardboard swords for Sting, and borrowing light bulbs to use for their Phials of Galadriel. Simply my take, but I could be way off.