From Ungoliant to Shelob (A History of Giant Spiders)

Ungoliant is the first spider you meet in the entire Middle Earth series. She is working under Melchor, but after destroying town and devouring anything she sees. She finishes her job for him, and wants a reward, but Melchor is afraid of her, but he reluctantly holds takes a Silmaril in his hand, but she eats it, and it drives her mad (I don't remember how he gets it back :/). Then there are the smaller spiders in The Hobbit. They are not as terrifying to read about, but to a hobbit and 13 dwarves, several of those spiders are quite frightening. They capture the heroes, but they miss Bilbo. He frees his companions and holds off the spiders with Sting. The last spider is Shelob, the terror at Cirith Ungol (the pass). She is not quite as big as Ungoliant, but almost as scary (definatly for Sam and Frodo). She guards the pass into Mordor and kills all who try to enter Mordor. Frodo gets captured, so Sam comes in to save him. He uses Sting to stab her belly. What happens after that, no one knows. We know Shelob was wounded, and we know she lived, but there is no other history about her.

Stuff

The sons of Feanor from the Silmarillion, are the ones who are after Melchor (aka. Morgoth) because he stole the Silmarils, the brightest jewels in Middle Earth, they were made by Feanor, and his sons want them back, so they can hold the worlds light, and so it will get back in the right hands. Beren, a man, steals one, and it ends up with a king, the other drives Maedhros to his death, and the death of the Silmaril, and the other, his brother throws another in the ocean, and so in time they all get lost, and their legend lived on, but never are the Silmarils found, or even seen by another man or elf or dwarf again.

Finrod Felegund

My favorite character in the Silmarillion is Finrod Felegund, he is a powerful king, who ends up fighting Melchor hand to hand. He gets killed in doing so, but he also chops of Melchor's foot, and cripples him for life.