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thrainseye
The Shire
Oct 2 2015, 1:51am
Post #1 of 19
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mirkwood spider shelob
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someone have a size compassion between shelob and mirkwood spiders (movieverse or at least book). soon the ee will arrive, long live Dain!
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Oct 2 2015, 2:13am
Post #2 of 19
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Other than the films, I don't think there are solid figures, but I would go something like this: - Mirkwood Spiders: Size of a wolf to a pony. - Shelob: Size of a grizzly bear or larger.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
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Bracegirdle
Valinor
Oct 2 2015, 3:12am
Post #4 of 19
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Mirkwood spiders – Big Shelob – Bigger Ungoliant – Biggest Or Otaku's guestimate seems as good as any...
”. . . computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” - Popular Mechanics, 1949
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TheOnlyOneAroundWithAnySense
Rohan
Oct 2 2015, 3:26am
Post #5 of 19
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Taking the hobbits from both (film) series as controls...
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I think the Mirkwood spiders are roughly 2 1/2 the size of the average hobbit whereas Shelob is about 3 1/2 - 4 (thinking mainly of when Bilbo and Frodo are both encased in webbing, respectively).
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Oct 2 2015, 4:10am
Post #6 of 19
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Tolkien described Shelob as "huger than the great hunting beasts" (I'm guessing that he meant something on the order of a lion or tiger); she was large enough to be able to crush Samwise under her vast bulk. My kodiak bear estimate is probably on the conservative side. Shelob might have been as large as a hippopotamus. I see the demon-spiders of Mirkwood as being at least as large as a wild boar and up to the size of a full-grown horse.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
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dormouse
Half-elven
Oct 2 2015, 11:41am
Post #7 of 19
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..just put 'Too big' beside them all!
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Bracegirdle
Valinor
Oct 2 2015, 12:46pm
Post #8 of 19
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The real (book) Bilbo was able to ”beat the creature off with his hands”. (Describing his encounter with the first spider before he drew his sword.) We could estimate that Bilbo was about 3’ 6” and 110-120 pounds. (Remember, he was a robust little fellow.) Your “2 ½ the size of the average hobbit” would bring in the Mirkwood spiders in the neighborhood of 280-300 pounds and sized accordingly. This seems excessively large. I’m 6’ and 165#. I wouldn’t care to take on a 400# spider. No siree Bob! I get the “ickys” just mashing the ½ inch wall crawlers. Cheers
”. . . computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” - Popular Mechanics, 1949
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Darkstone
Immortal
Oct 2 2015, 1:03pm
Post #10 of 19
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At least five, seven if you include the trilogy as individual films!
****************************************** "Mister Frodo, hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good frying pan at your side. I’ve been from one side of this garden to the other, I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful Providence controlling everything. There's no Music of the Ainur that controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
(This post was edited by Darkstone on Oct 2 2015, 1:09pm)
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Oct 2 2015, 1:59pm
Post #11 of 19
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Although it’s hard to equate a vertical (Hobbit) creature with a horizontal (spider) creature size-wise I see them more Hobbit-sized (or only slightly larger), as I quoted above, Bilbo was able to ”beat the creature off with his hands”. Well, are you assuming that all of the spiders were the same size? My upwards estimate was only for the very largest of the creatures, seen in DoS when the Elves come to the aid of the company. Horse-sized, though, might be too large to describe even the largest Mirkwood spiders of the book (although only the Necromancer knows what might have been lurking in the heart of the Forest!).
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
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TheOnlyOneAroundWithAnySense
Rohan
Oct 2 2015, 6:10pm
Post #13 of 19
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Surely we can agree the films are real
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I have 'em sitting right next to me on my shelf. As I was sticking strictly to the movies, I maintain my estimation of the size of these much-too-large-wherever-they're-found arachnids. Considering that a de-legged Mirkwood spider is about the same size as Bombur (seen easily perched upon his robust stomach) and that - while he is, of course, the largest of the dwarves - Bilbo is a bit smaller than all of them, I think 2 1/2 times larger than the average hobbit is a fair guess. Shelob, in contrast, can hold Frodo up in midair and spin her web upon him with little effort and almost no movement from her stationed limbs, and the simple mass above him is just dauntingly huge (seen even more clearly in the wide shot where Sam confronts the 'terror').
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Bracegirdle
Valinor
Oct 2 2015, 7:21pm
Post #14 of 19
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Psst, TheOnlyOneAroundWithAnySense
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Film? Film? There’s a Film?
Surely we can agree the films are real I have ‘em sitting right next to me on my shelf. It’s called “sarcasm”. Being a book-firster of which there are a couple here on TORn I tend to jump in where I’m uninvited on occasion. Which is fair game as all opinions are of a value. (Even mine (occasionally) and yours.)) Yes, this is “The Hobbit” Movie Discussion Board but most boards (if the thread is long enough) tend to delve into both the films and the books. And BTW WELCOME to TORn. Enjoy yourself and express your thoughts early and often!
”. . . computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” - Popular Mechanics, 1949
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Bumblingidiot
Rohan
Oct 2 2015, 7:38pm
Post #15 of 19
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Shelob's hide is too thick for Sam to be able to puncture it with Sting - it requires her putting her full weight down onto the sword for it to injure her. That suggests she's in a completely different league to the Mirkwood spiders. OK, that's not much help... I tend to spend as little time as possible thinking about spiders.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."
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Susan
Bree
Oct 2 2015, 9:46pm
Post #16 of 19
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Considering the scene in ROTK when Shelob has Sam pinned up on the wall, she looks to be about 7 feet long, with a legspan of maybe 14-16 feet and a height of about 5 feet (I'm using Sam's height of 3'6'' as a measure, but these numbers may be a bit large). As for the Mirkwood spiders, like Bracegirdle said, they look to be more hobbit sized: maybe 4 feet in length, 10 in legspan, and 3 in height. But overall, I wholeheartedly agree with Dormouse. Too big. (Actually, all spiders are too big for my taste ).
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TheOnlyOneAroundWithAnySense
Rohan
Oct 2 2015, 10:16pm
Post #17 of 19
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I understand sarcasm just fine
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That's why my response was something of a "joke" (tried to use the winky to give it away). Thank you for the kind welcome! I've lurked on these boards for quite some time and I know what a special community this is - just glad to finally be a part of it!
(This post was edited by TheOnlyOneAroundWithAnySense on Oct 2 2015, 10:17pm)
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