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Website homepage → Tolkien Forums → Other Tolkien Books → Spiders and Orcs
 

Topic: Spiders and Orcs

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mouth of sauron
Samwise Gamgee - rank 9
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Date: Apr 12, 2006
Spiders and Orcs
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Here is the end of a quote from The Hobbit:


"The spiders were the only things they (wood Elves) had no mercy upon"


Now although these spiders were decendents of the great Ungoliant I was always led to beleive that Orcs/Goblins were the greatest enemy to the Elves and there most hated enemies. However this quote seems to contradict that and imply that the spiders were.
A little confusing



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The Might
Witchking of Angmar - Rank 10
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Date: Apr 14, 2006
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"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"
as we see from this quote the spiders can not be the worst enemies of the Woodelves.
The elves were good even with their worst enemies, but not to the giant spiders. It may well be that the greatest enemies were the goblins, but still these were shown some mercy possibly because they were more akin to the elves then the spiders and because they had feelings and could also in some cases be shown pity, unlike the spiders. Also by treating goblins well, elves could obtain informations from them through interogation, but a captured spider couldn't say anything to help the Elves, so there was no point to let him free. It may also be that the spiders were consideredto be more dangerus and so were shown no mercy.

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Honor, Freedom, Fatherland
Ungoliant
Maiar
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Date: Apr 15, 2006
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On this, I tend to agree with The Might. The spiders were certainly not their worst enemies, and I can't think of any practical use for them such as obtaining information. I suppose they were more of a nuissance (a rather dangerous one) than anything else...this is purely speculative, I can't prove this and I may be entirely wrong!

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The Might
Witchking of Angmar - Rank 10
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Date: Apr 15, 2006
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No you aren't, the quote shows it...

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Ungoliant
Maiar
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Date: Apr 16, 2006
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The quote doesn't specifically say that though, which means that it is always possible that there could be another fact or interpretation which we aren't yet aware of...

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The Might
Witchking of Angmar - Rank 10
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Date: Apr 16, 2006
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Well is is not that hard to see you are right.
If the Elves say they were good to their worst enemies, but not to the giant spiders, you let's say...mathemathically and logically understand that giant spiders can not be the worst enemies. For if they had been, the Elves would have treated them well.

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Ungoliant
Maiar
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Date: Apr 16, 2006
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Oh my poor brain! By the way, I hate (I mean strongly dislike) math and it usually doesn't make sense to me so perhaps that wasn't the best way to put it..."Mathematically and logically" is a sure way to get me confused, lol! Anyhow, I do see your point, and yes it does make sense!

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The Might
Witchking of Angmar - Rank 10
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Date: Apr 16, 2006
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sorry about that I usually think logically...

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Ungoliant
Maiar
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Date: Apr 17, 2006
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Actually, I'm not all that bad with the logical stuff...wait where does the math come in anyway!

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Olorin/Gandalf
Chief Maiar
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Date: Apr 17, 2006
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Im a mathemagician and a logician!!!
PS its maths not math, grrrrrrrrr!!!!

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Ungoliant
Maiar
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Date: Apr 17, 2006
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Umm...*looks concerned* Right, maths then!

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Gothmog
Soldier of the East - Rank 4
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Date: Sep 30, 2006
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I did agree with The Might until he added in math/maths, in which case I got way confused with what he said.

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The Might
Witchking of Angmar - Rank 10
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Date: Sep 30, 2006
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I do tend to get people confused when it comes to explaining matters about spiders and orcs

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Gothmog
Soldier of the East - Rank 4
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Date: Oct 12, 2006
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What?

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The Might
Witchking of Angmar - Rank 10
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Date: Oct 12, 2006
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nothing Gil-Galad
it was meant as a joke actually
sorry for my lack of humor

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Gothmog
Soldier of the East - Rank 4
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Date: Oct 12, 2006
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You are forgiven.

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