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Abstract
[...]the Mirkwood spiders in The Hobbit come out only after dark, when the forest is "pitch-dark- not what you call pitch-dark, but really pitch: so black that you really could see nothing" (VIII. 193). Lauro argues that Shelob's darkness is more than a mere lack of ordinary light, but is in fact "ontological," signifying "a privation of being," since in Tolkien's world all true being is predicated upon light (Lauro 68). [...]Shelob is physically harmed by the light from the phial of Galadriel: "Shelob's agony is the undoing of darkness with the creative power of light" (Lauro 70). [...]when Frodo and his two companions meet Gildor and his company of elves in the woods of the Shire, the constellation "Remmirath, the Netted Stars" shines over their meeting (LotR L3.81). [...]to reach Galadriel's hall in Caras Galadon, the Fellowship climbs a "broad white ladder" (?.7.354) of many steps, but are told they may rest along the way; likewise, to reach Shelob's Lair, Frodo and Sam must climb two sets of stairs, the first "as steep as a ladder [...] narrow, spaced unevenly, and often treacherous" (IV.8.708), and the second winding back and forth across a cliff -face- but Gollum allows them to rest between the two climbs.