Oh, great. To judge from this new spoilericious pic of a Shelob action figure, our favorite arachnid villain will look a lot like a gigantic hobo spider wearing armor. This may be the first thing in the LOTR films to really give me the creeps. (As well it should, since the Shelob incident is among the top two or three most traumatic events in the whole story...but I've talked about that before...) [Edited later in the day to add: TORN now reports that this is not movie-Shelob, since this is an action figure made several years ago. Anyway, supposedly movie-Shelob is based on some evil-looking black NZ spider. Not that this will make me any less creeped out.]
Hobo spiders, for those who are blessed enough to live somewhere other than the NW or Europe, are nasty big brown hairy spiders that like to hang out in your bathtub, woodpile, basement, or slippers, have a tendency to go running across the carpet just when you thought you were safe, and can give a bite that sometimes turns extremely ugly (necrotic, as in "dead flesh"), resembling the bite of the brown recluse. In the Northwest here, we do not have the brown recluse, but the similarity of the bite confused experts for a while, before they worked out the source as the hobo spider. Hobo spiders, see, are new to the area: they are from mainland Europe and got into Seattle on a boat, and have now spread at least as far south as Corvallis, Oregon (we definitely had them there), and east into Idaho. All I can say is: thanks a lot, Europe. First Scotch broom and now this. *sigh*
I encountered three or four hobo spiders lurking on the beds and in the corners of the vacation house this weekend, and thereby did not sleep very well Friday night. And then I came down with a cold. So in some way I can blame spiders (or Europe) for my illness. Yes.
Btw, that fast-breaking Shelob pic was courtesy of
wee_tolkien, which is absolutely the best, funniest, coolest, snarkiest source for your Tolkien-related news, and you must join at once if you have not done so. They provide two concise updates per day, which is much tidier than sifting through the numerous "Legolas rox!!!" posts of, say, lordoftherings (which is a fine community anyway and I am still a member and all that).
Hobo spiders, for those who are blessed enough to live somewhere other than the NW or Europe, are nasty big brown hairy spiders that like to hang out in your bathtub, woodpile, basement, or slippers, have a tendency to go running across the carpet just when you thought you were safe, and can give a bite that sometimes turns extremely ugly (necrotic, as in "dead flesh"), resembling the bite of the brown recluse. In the Northwest here, we do not have the brown recluse, but the similarity of the bite confused experts for a while, before they worked out the source as the hobo spider. Hobo spiders, see, are new to the area: they are from mainland Europe and got into Seattle on a boat, and have now spread at least as far south as Corvallis, Oregon (we definitely had them there), and east into Idaho. All I can say is: thanks a lot, Europe. First Scotch broom and now this. *sigh*
I encountered three or four hobo spiders lurking on the beds and in the corners of the vacation house this weekend, and thereby did not sleep very well Friday night. And then I came down with a cold. So in some way I can blame spiders (or Europe) for my illness. Yes.
Btw, that fast-breaking Shelob pic was courtesy of
wee_tolkien, which is absolutely the best, funniest, coolest, snarkiest source for your Tolkien-related news, and you must join at once if you have not done so. They provide two concise updates per day, which is much tidier than sifting through the numerous "Legolas rox!!!" posts of, say, lordoftherings (which is a fine community anyway and I am still a member and all that).- Current Mood:Arachnophobic
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Comments
In the house I grew up in (in Turner, near Salem), I was always finding spiders of one kind or another all over the place - the tub, the garage, the yard, and everywhere else. I haven't encountered any lately that weren't outside and not in the shower or something, but I am ever vigilant...
Apparently other spiders (i.e., non-hobo spiders) are just fine to have around, as they will sometimes prey upon hobo spiders! I usually let them live, unless they startle me unforgivably.
We had black widows in the garage in California, but not up here so far. *fingers crossed*
UGLY and aggressive little bastards. :(
Well, now you have that in common with Frodo...a spider bite scar. :)
They have the habit of scuttling around at super-fast speeds, and seem to be bloody indestructible! Dave hit one with a bicycle pump, and a shoe three times before it died!
Hmmm. I always imagined Shelob more as the tarantula type... ah well.
Shelob in the film is actually supposed to be based on some NZ tunnel-web (maybe funnel-web) spider. I guess this action figure is not really connected to the final film version. But, still, venomous spiders. Yeeecks.
And they've got a very impressive leg span.
Hopefully we'll get a glimpse of her in the preview due out this month!
But the nice thing about them is that they can't climb very well, so as long as the blankets on the bed aren't touching the floor and the shoes on a shelf they can't reach you. Yet another incentive for the kids to make their beds in the morning. >.>
Isn't the Sydney funnel-web the most poisonous spider in the world? Why don't they model Shelob on that?
Yes, I definitely had that in mind last night when I kept waking up to find half the covers on the floor. Heh. Great.
I do believe the Sydney funnel-web is the most poisonous spider in the world. None too pretty, either. But I guess what they're officially using is a NZ tunnel web spider (see this page on TORN for all the hair-raising details).
I'm going to flip out on December 17th too.
Arachnaphobics unite! ;)
:)
That does look like the pics of the spiders they said they were using as Shelob models, now that I think of it. Can't remember where I saw those articles, but it was a spider about like those.
*shudders again, just for good measure* Jeez, poor Frodo and Sam.
*cheeky mood today*
Here in AK the spiders are really small, but still pretty creepy. I'm sure we don't have any poisonous spiders. We don't even have snakes. Yes yes...sticking around here is sounding better by the minute.
*sighs*