[Shelob]

" I'm not saying that Sam screams out "Oh no! THEY'VE CAPTURED MR FRODO!!!" and then a big THE END flashes up on screen." ~Eomer of the Rohirrim

Actually, I think that would have been an Awesome end...Entertaining in the least....



More to the point though...When The Two Towers came out I had been waiting for the Shelob scene (against all odds), once I realized it wouldn't be in TTT however I almost screamed. After another year of waiting and after finally seeing it in The Return of the King though I figured it did at least as well there as it would have in it's rightful place.

In TTT it would only have detracted from the Importance of The Battle of Helm's Deep. Given that the focus of the film was The Battle of Helm's Deep it would risk losing the balance and importance of the film. I'm not sure if that makes sense...
...Look at it like this:
You have the battle, seemingly "the battle to end all battles". The audience is now ready for the winding down of the movie, they've either been presented with a lot of new information (if they've not read the books) or are eagerly awaiting what they know is to come (if they have read the books). The Film begins to wind down, everyone is expecting this and so no one's really expecting anything to happen.
Now here's the choice they had, either you can leave it at this wound-down state, with a few hints at what is to come or you can leave them with a sudden, unexpected (in terms of action, for those who know the books Shelob should not be a suprise) Almost Death of Most Importance Person.

The first option, the one they went with, leaves no one suprised. Those unfamiliar with the books are left with the rather irksome "She" and those familiar with the book now have one thing more than they expected to look forward to. Yes the scene loses it's rightful place in TTT, but the main focus of the film (The Battle of Helm's Deep) doesn't lose anything by being overshadowed by the cliffhanger (I, personally, doubt the hints of "She" could overshadow an ant...they were really disappointing).

The second option, the one which more closely follows the books, risks overshadowing The Battle of Helm's Deep, as well as everything else which happened in the film. Those unfamiliar with the book leave worrying about Frodo and devote all their thought to that and those who are familiar with the books aren't likely to lose as much of the importance, but would probably have spent the next year playing with the minds of those unfamiliar with the books. The Final thought on everyone's mind as they left the theatre would not be "They won the battle, but have yet to win the war.", or something to that effect, but rather "Spider! Frodo! Ring! Orcs! BAD!", or something to that effect....

Looking at what the scene does to RotK...It gives those unfamiliar with the books something to fret about...It gives those of us familiar with the books the Shelob scene (FINALLY!...*cough* anyway, moving on)....It ensures that something happens to Frodo and Sam, y'know--before Gollum attacks them and Frodo decides to keep the Ring for himself, I know they have to sneak in amongst orcs but it's still not a lot, esp. compared to what happens to everyone else... Yes it ruins a chance for an amazing cliffhanger (either as an actual cliffhanger or one like Eomer's above), but TTT doesn't loose a whole lot and RotK gains a fair bit--it may not be a perfect trade but I think it's a fair one.


...and after all that defending of where it is, I really do agree with Eomer...I want Shelob in The Two Towers where she belongs.