As the second season of Prime Video’s original series The Rings of Power finishes filming, fans eagerly await what will come next in this new series based on J.R.R Tolkien’s famous Lord of the Rings series. The Rings of Power takes us back to Middle Earth, where we have met the ancestors of the beloved hobbits, known as the Harfoots. The first season also introduced us to the mysterious Meteor Man, who we now know to be the wizard Gandalf the Gray. And, of course, we have met a major villain in the Lord of the Rings series, Sauron, or as he is known in The Rings of Power, Halbrand.
With all this brought to us in season one, we can expect that more new characters will be introduced to us in season two. In fact, another villain has been reported to make an appearance, although a brief one. How this character will be used and in what manner she will appear, we don’t know yet, but we can certainly speculate.
We can be sure that this villain will pose some threat to our main characters, and we might get the chance to see a bit more of her backstory. And who is this villain? You might shudder to hear that it is, in fact, Shelob, the giant arachnid who will be making her debut in the newest season of The Rings of Power.
Young Shelob Is Rumored to Make an Appearance in Season 2
In the original Lord of the Rings series, Shelob makes an appearance as Frodo and Sam are on their way to destroy the One Ring. As the hobbits pass through the mountains, Gollum leads them into Shelob’s lair of webs. Gollum was aware of her lair after surviving an encounter with her while making his escape from Mordor.
He had promised her that he would bring her fresh new victims to make meals from since he was scrawny and not worth the time for her to eat. Making good on his promise, he abandons Frodo and Sam in the lair, with another motive as well, to get the Ring back from the hobbits.
Upon entering the lair, Frodo uses his Elvish sword Sting to cut through the webs so the two can make their way through. When they encounter Shelob, they use the Phial of Galadriel to fend her off, casting its light on her and overwhelming her senses.
As they reached the exit of the cave, Shelob returned to attack Frodo, poison him with her stinger, and wrap him in her web. Paralyzed Frodo was unable to fight back, and it was Sam who came to his rescue, fighting and injuring the spider until he managed a fatal wound to her abdomen, which caused her to flee.
However, her appearance in The Rings of Power will predate this encounter, and we will get the chance to meet a much younger Shelob. Perhaps it will be in this series that Sauron will become aware of how she might be useful to him. Whether or not he makes an official alliance with her, we will have to find out.
But we do know from the original series that Sauron was fond of Shelob and allowed her to remain in the mountains to feast upon those who passed through. She acted as a more effective guard for the pass of Cirith Ungol than the orcs stationed there. Sauron was also known to send prisoners and servants to her when he was done with them.
A Chance to Dive Into Shelob’s Origin Story
Although not much is known about Shelob’s early history, there is some lore around her origin that The Rings of Power might get to explore that would further connect the series to The Lord of the Rings. Shelob is said to be part spider and part demon and is the last daughter of a powerful and monstrous spiritual being known as Ungoliant. Prior to Sauron’s rise in power, Ungoliant partnered with Sauron’s original master, the Dark Lord Morgoth, and the two worked together to destroy their enemies.
Eventually, they turned on each other, and Ungoliant was forced to flee from Morgoth’s army. According to the lore, Ungoliant spent some time in the Valley of Dreadful Death, where she mated with giant spider creatures and produced her own offspring, which is how Shelob came to be. Ungoliant’s fate is largely unknown, but many believe she eventually devoured herself.
From there, the lore is not too specific about Shelob’s early history except that she came to Mordor long before Sauron and, by this point in The Rings of Power, has likely already established her lair in the mountains. It is almost certain that Shelob will make her debut in the new season by attempting to kill some poor traveler who wanders into her caves.
We may also see where Sauron meets her or comes to know of her territory as he takes the land of Mordor for himself. Regardless, The Rings of Power has a unique chance to dive into Shelob’s character even more and bring a familiar (yet terrifying) face to the series.
