Middle-earth: Shadow of War is one of the most anticipated games of 2017. It’s hopefully going to vastly improve the Nemesis system that made the first entry in the series famous. But it’s also introducing some new stuff. (Let’s ignore the microtransactions for the time being.) The biggest thing on fans minds is the introduction of Shelob as a sexy human female.
She’s a scary spider, so how in the world did this transition take place? As it turns out, Monolith’s Creative Vice President Michael de Plater is a huge Lord of the Rings fan. He’s based his entire outlook on the in-game Middle-earth: Shadow of War lore on a fan theory from the original trilogy. The boiled down version is that Shelob is actually an anti-hero. She realizes that Frodo will not be strong enough to destroy the One Ring in Mount Doom, and so she employs a minion in Gollum. With this in mind, it would appear that Shelob tried to eat Frodo (in Two Towers ) in an effort to have Gollum simply finish the task of destroying the ring.
De Plater goes even deeper into Tolkien-lore by explaining that Shelob’s mother was Ungoliant. These creatures are spirits that can take on the form of a spider if they so choose. This explains the seemingly bizarre choice to show Shelob as a human woman in Shadow of War . It would be easier to show her as a human when speaking to Talion and narrating the story, rather than as a giant spider. I mean that’s what the vast majority of public could probably reasonably reconcile in their minds. Personally, I’d love to see a giant spider as a game’s narrator. Maybe that’ll be a DLC option later down the line.
Source: Eurogamer