Shelob's sting & Frodo's mithril coat
 

This has been bothering me...<P>How can PJ explain this? How could Shelob's sting penetrate Frodo's mithril coat, when the Cave troll in Moria was not able to even make him bleed with his spear?<P>Continuity mistake?

It's explained in great detail in this thread: <P><A HREF="http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=002585" TARGET=_blank>Branded in the Tower of Cirith Ungol?</A>

yeah but still its MITHRIL!!!! You cant pentrate that stuff....

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>yeah but still its MITHRIL!!!! You cant pentrate that stuff....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> As I postulate on the thread that <B>Finwe</B> has so kindly linked above, it doesn't have to penetrate it. If Shelob attacks from above and front, then she can get around the vest from the top. I don't think she could penetrate it straight through, but she could probably divert it by a proper angle of attack. In the book, the wound is at the back of the neck, which also is unprotected by mithril. It just goes to prove Murphy's Law in Middle Earth (at least with regards to Frodo and injuries)! <P>Cheers!<BR>Lyta

I always figured that she stung him <I>above</I>the neckline of the vest. That scene was particularly weird for me because, even though the very concept of a giant spider is fantastic, the movie-makers mixed up his anatomy.<P>For a spider, the stinger is in the front and the spinarette in the back were Shelob's stinger was. The really strange thing is, in one of the movie books I saw, there is a picture of Shelob with the right anatomy, even though it's a movie picture.<P>Hmmm...I obviously nitpick too much for my own good. I'm starting to wonder how many PETA lawsuits PJ is going to have on his hands after Shelob's abuse at the hands of mean ol' Samwise Gamgee. A paradox indeed.

If PETA cares about spiders that big, then I'll eat my embroidered bedroom slippers! Once you get to a certain size, <I>especially</I> if you're a spider, you do NOT need to be taken care of my PETA!