Shelob: Reality or Nightmare?

And she 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. 

I realise that the picture is not of a spider. Yes, I realise that this is about a spider. No I will not put a picture of a spider on my blog. Why? They are completely disturbing. The furthest I will go is a dragonfly- although, know this, I'm still not happy about it.

Shelob's description (and portrayal on screen) is, quite frankly, terrifying: and that's for someone who doesn't mind spiders. I run screaming like a headless chicken when I see a daddy-longlegs, needless to say I hope a 'Shelob' never comes to exist. Not only does she have paralysing venom, she'll use it so as to eat you alive. Wonderful.

Wikimedia commons "labeled for reuse"

In the movie rendition, she is made out to be at least the size of a horse, and in the book we are also led to believe she carries quite a bulk. Thankfully, as far as we know, no such giant arachnids, or bugs for that matter, exist today. But could they? And did they before?

During the time of the Dinosaurs, fossilised Dragonflies have been found, the size of ravens. It's been said that the oxygen rich atmosphere (upwards of 30%), led to these giant terrors. Researchers believe the excess oxygen allowed them to grow to astronomical sizes, whilst still performing essential functions. However, a new study, seems to show, that it's the larvae's vulnerability to surplus that catalysed this nightmare enduring growth. The solution to their problem would be to grow larger, thus the intake of oxygen would be lessened, relative to their alarming bodies.

So rest easy, knowing that, Shelob won't be coming to eat you in your sleep anytime soon.

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.