'Her Ladyship'

SaulComposer

SaulComposer

Rohan
I have just completed rereading 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers' and began rereading 'The Return of the King'.
In 'The Two Towers' The Orcs of the Tower of Cirith Ungol called Shelob "Her Ladyship". Just to tell you that the wicked always exalt evil. They had some bad names for the good people such as Frodo and Samwise, but for them an evil assasin is called 'Her Ladyship', that is just so twisted, evil and horrible.
 
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Where the good guy will call the bad guy something like, "You evil, disgusting, lunatic!" And then the villain will reply, "Thank you." It's been done again and again, but in this situation with Shelob it has more class, in my opinion.
 
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They had better respect Shelob--she has Sauron's favor. Since Sauron occasionally commands orcs to drive captives into Shelob's lair, they know that it's worth their hide to say anything too disparaging about her.
 
They know not to get her angry but are taking the mick by calling her 'my lady'.
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I agree, I don't think it's said out of respect, it's more a kind of humorous/ironic way of talking about a creature they are both afraid of and disgusted by.

(It also emphasises the fact that Shelob is female, which I think is an important part of what makes her so creepily horrible.)
 
Don't get me wrong--what I said doesn't contradict you, necessarily. Evil respects those tough enough to endanger them if they don't pay homage. But the value system isn't necessarily a straightforward negative image of normal values. It has its own distinct logic.

They would feel tempted to grumble against Shelob, because Shelob makes life hard for them (notice how the orcs trade complaints about how hard it is to deal with Shelob versus the Nazgul.) Evil hates anything that interferes with complete self indulgence, whether good or bad. But they also recognize and respect that Shelob does so to meet her own self indulgent agenda. They can identify with her, as they cannot with someone who restrains them out of moral indignation.
 
Evil people can and do hate each other; just look at Ugluk and Grishnakh, neither of which is a shining example of virtue.

But as to your question, consider Shagrat's word from 'The Choices of Master Samwise':
I thought her Sneak brought her a toy, or that you'd perhaps sent her a present, a prisoner of war or something.
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I take from this that both the orcs of the City and of the Tower were often ordered to serve that lovely Lady, and their name for her makes sense.
 
Wicked and evil they are, fersher... and I interpret their dubbing Shelob "her Ladyship" as a respectful sarcasm, since she's anything BUT a Lady; but she his the queen of Cirith Ungol.
 
or what passes for affection among orcs, and mocking humor.

We sometimes call our dog “His Lordship”, as in, “Have you accompanied His Lordship on his perambulation this afternoon?” or, “It is time for His Lordship to dine. We’re getting low on kibbles, BTW.”
 
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