10-04-02 Latest News

What's the Story with Shelob?
Demosthenes @ 4:38 am EST

In the wake of the recent release of the Two Towers full trailer, many questions have emerged among the aficionados of the films. One of the most popular seems to be "Will we see Shelob in The Two Towers?"

This question, is in fact easily answered, largely because Peter Jackson himself answered it for us all several months ago. At a Barnes and Noble Q&A session all the way back in March, Jackson said that "If we started Return of the King after Shelob - the way the books do - there'd be very little for Frodo and Sam to do."

If you haven't read it previously, the old AICN (March 22) report is here. Naturally, major spoiler warnings for both Two Towers and Return of the King apply!

Considering that, in RoTK, the journey of Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom amount only to three chapters, this decision makes sense. (No, I'm not saying that the film will finish there.)

It also helps match up the action chronologically. The scene with Shelob happens much later in relation to the activities of the others of the fellowship during the Two Towers. If you delve deeply into the book, the events of Shelob's lair occur on March 13. At the same time the Pelennor Fields are being overrun by thousands of orcs, and Minas Tirith is besieged - events that are several chapters into the Return of the King.