[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

Man, oh man, do I hate spiders. But I guess it's true, when you spot a spider it's usually not drawn out over a long period of time. You pick up a rock or turn on a light or something and there it is, and all you can do is freak out and be repulsed by it. And he certainly did go into the hardcore detail in Shelob's Lair. As opposed to the Balrog, or Smaug, he didn't leave much to the imagination. He just took the nastiest things about spiders and drew a picture in our brains. After all, the Balrog, or Smaug, or the fell steeds of the Nazgul, didn't exactly inspire fear into the readers themselves, while Shelob did give a twinge of nervousness.

I hadn't connected 'she' with 'lob' until after I read it, but I suppose someone who knew what lob meant certainly did have a good idea about what lay ahead. I think we find out soon enough once we see her eyes. And then the eyes themselves are actually foreshadowing just how repulsive and gross and nasty the rest of her was.

Tolkien was a master at his art.