Shadow of War trailer shows a surprising take on Shelob

The team behind Middle-earth: Shadow of War have re-imagined the ginormous spider Shelob as an attractive woman with a posh English accent, in a new trailer for the Shadow of Mordor sequel, which you can watch below. The trailer later shows Sexy Shelob turning back into a big arachnid, so there is some continuity with the books and films.

When she's not wrapping Elijah Wood up in silk, or getting stabbed up by one of the Goonies, Shelob likes nothing better than turning semi-undead rangers against their elvish ghost pals—the above trailer showing the spider queen sowing seeds of doubt in protagonist Talion's mind.

The uneasy relationship between the ranger and his spectral buddy Celebrimbor seems to play a large part in Shadow of War's narrative, which you'll be able to experience for yourself on October 10th.

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.