Foreshadowing and Fear

[The Saucepan Man]

This is interesting, because one of my few clear memories from when I first read LotR is having anticipated (with a wonderful mixture of excitement and dread) what Frodo and Sam were to encounter in Shelob's Lair before starting the chapter.

And the clue for me was in the title to the chapter. Shelob's name is mentioned in the chapter: "She-Lob". Where had I seen the word "Lob" before? Why, in the Hobbit, when Bilbo fought the spiders - "Lazy lob". So what's a "She-Lob"? Ah yes, Gollum had been talking about a "she", so it must be a she-spider. OK, that gives away nothing about her size, but we instinctively know it's not going to be easy getting into Mordor, and the fact that her lair provides the title to the chapter gives us a big hint as to her imortance.

So, for me, the events of the chapter were perfectly foreshadowed. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

By the way, it's true about the name of the pass (Cirith Ungol) giving a hint here, Lord of Angmar, but I suspect that there are very few who have read the Silmarillion, or come across Ungoliant, before reading LotR.