The Giant Spiders of Middle-earth

“Somehow the killing of this giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark . . . made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath. ‘I will give you a name,’ he said to it, ‘and I shall call you Sting.’ ”

I loved when Sam fought Shelob. He's definitely the most badass gardener in middle earth.

The fact Glorfindel and Ecthelion ran for their lives from the Nan-Dungortheb "Valley of Dreadful Death.."...also Beren wouldn't even speak of his journey through the Ered Gorgoroth.

The possibility that Beren might have encountered Shelob honestly becomes really cool when you consider the Phial of Galadriel. The light provided by the Silmaril won by Beren and Luthien, enduring many thousands of years to be used by another hero against the same foe? Yeah, that's some good stuff right there. Heck, even if Beren didn't actually encounter Shelob specifically, you could probably make an argument for that same echo occurring: that journey, with the horrors and loneliness and weariness it inflicted on Beren, eventually led him to Doriath and his meeting with Luthien. The love they then found for each other allowed them (aided by the sacrifice of a noble king and a most exceptional Hound) to obtain the jewel that would indirectly protect others from an evil of that same kind, unfathomable years later. And that's not even getting into the already present significance of that same Silmaril aiding the downfalls of both of Arda's Dark Lords, which could go so many layers deeper than is relevant to this specific point!

Ungoliant is the closest thing Tolkien has ever written to a Lovecraftian eldritch horror. Among the creatures in the Legendarium, you get the sense that Ungoliant doesn't belong in Arda but exists in opposition to it. The more it devours the stronger it gets. You have to wonder if Morgoth did Arda a huge service by banishing Ungoliant with the help of his Balrogs. If Ungoliant went on to devour everything before her, she might seriously threaten all of existence and require Eru's direct intervention.

When your arachnophobia is so great it causes you to think of them as literally demonic.

Perfect Halloween special Yoystan let’s go grab sting

Better to learn about them here, then by visiting Shelob's Lair for an in person lesson on the terror of these beings.

We never get to explore the Mountains of Shadow in the northern part of Mordor. We don't know all the fell things that lived near the mountains close to Barad'Dur. It would take a great watch to clear the mountains of the evils of Sauron.

I love monster spiders in any work of fiction. They serve such a cool archetype

Yoystan is the best source for this info

You managed to give me goosebumps!! Great video ❤ Besides any psychological reasons, I blame my arachnophobia to reading The Hobbit when I was young 😅

1 thing, I hate about Spiders: Breathe in, Breathe Out is everyone is every media doing scary Fictional spiders ooooh...I don't have a fear of them, but I hate how overused they are, I know people scared them but still!!! This is 1 reason why I love Indiana Jones, he hates Snakes With that being said the Spiders in Arda have a Narrative and Out of Universe reason to be in there and they are terrifying...Even to Morgoth: the OG Dark Lord!!! And I said in my Previous Comment basiced on your Video, "What Kept Morgoth out of Middle Earth? Spiders!!!" It’s funny because it could be True too!!! Thanks Mellon for a Spooky Video on days before Halloween, Until Fingon's ECH...Marion Baggins Out!!!

I'm always fascinated about the spiders of tolkien's world

Spiders. It's always spiders. Build. Me. An. Army. Worthy. Of. Mordor.

I love spiders, they’re so cool and sweet. Once I found a particularly big house spider (nearly as wide as my hand) so I picked her up and put her in my room to get rid of the mosquitos. I wish Tolkien had a few nice ones like Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web.

Ungoliant went on to selfcanibalize herself when Shelob and her other chip managed to escape and then Shelob adopted the same habit of eat her own children before they fled and ended up infesting the greenwood

I’d love to see more artists renditions of the Ered Gorgoroth. This place that is so twisted and haunted by evil that Beren would never speak about it to anyone for fear of madness. The spiders there being more similar to Shelob than the spiders of Mirkwood

Thanks for all the vids! Shoutout to all the artists for the great artwork!🎃🍬

Shelob. "Last child of Ungoliant to trouble an unhappy world". After reading of her in Tolkien's work, I couldn't abide spiders for years!