[Fingolfin of the Noldor]

Actually 'she-lob' = female spider [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

In regard to "Big Spider = Evil" I don't think such a stance actually can be summarily dismissed. Indeed, I think such a concept has quite a bit of merit within the legendarium.

First 'giant' spiders are always represented as "evil" being of the 'brood of Ungoliant' who 'assisted the Dark Power' by an alliance of 'common hatred'. This can be applied from Nandungorthin to Mirkwood - Mirkwood to the Ephel Duath. Indeed they seem to be represented as cheif 'evils' when taken in context with other more commonly described evil:

But even before this wickedness of Morgoth was suspected te Wise in the Elder days taught always that the Orcs were no 'made' by Melkor, and therefore were not in their origin evil. They might be irredeemable (at least by Elves and Men), but they remained within the Law. That is, that though of necessity, being the fingers of the hand of Morgoth, they must be fought with the utmost severity, they must not be dealt with in their own terms of cruely and treachery. Captives must not be tormented, not even to discover information for the defence of the homes of Elves and Men. If any Orcs surrendered and asked for mercy, they must be granted it, even at a cost.* This was the teaching of the Wise, though in the horror of the War it was not always heeded.
-pg419 'Orcs' Morgoth's Ring

They gave him food and drink, plenty of both, if not very fine; for Wood-elves were not goblins, and were reasonably well-behaved even to their worst enemies, when they captured them. The giant spiders were the only living things that they had no mercy upon. -'Flies and Spiders' The Hobbit

(I am aware of the time disparity all I am trying to communicate in the above are the general concepts and ideas)

Indeed the 'evilness' of monsterous/giant spiders and creatures of spider form may trace back to an experience of Tolkien's when he we quite young and even he does not dismiss this:

...many months later, when Ronald was beginning to walk, he stumbled on a tarantula. It bit him, and he ran in terror across the garden until the nurse snatched him up and sucked out the poison...Nevertheless, in his stories he writes more than once of monstrous spiders with venomous bites (Carpenter 14)

But I did know more or less all about Gollum and his pan, and Sam, and I knew that the way was guarded by a Spider. And if that has anything to do with my being stung by a tarantula when a small child, people are welcome to the notion (supposing the improbable, that any one is interested). I can only say that I remember nothing about it, should not know it if I had not been told; and I do not dislike spiders panicularly, and have no urge to kill them. I usually rescue those whom I find in the bath! -Letter 163 -pg 217 The Letters of JRR Tolkien

[ July 27, 2002: Message edited by: Fingolfin of the Noldor ]