Take the Shelob Challenge

[MrSandman]

There's no in continuity way I could rig my lightsaber to...say.....explode violently or do something set a trap with it?

Nobody said I had to actually run up and commence the stabby stab in CQC

[Shai-Hulud]

There's no in continuity way I could rig my lightsaber to...say.....explode violently or do something set a trap with it?

Nobody said I had to actually run up and commence the stabby stab in CQC

You have access to a holodeck. You could call up a representation of a top engineer, download the saber plans into the program's library, and ask the holo-engineer to teach you how to do that.

If it's possible to rig a light saber to explode, the holo-engineer can figure it, and it's a legit tactic.

If you took out Shelob this way, you'd get a standing ovation when you entered Valhalla.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

I mean I'm still betting on landing blows enough to mess her up when she jabs me with her butt needle.

Though admittedly I did assume it was Movie Shelob at the start, book Shelob is ... well that'll probably land me in Valhalla more often that it doesn't.

Which gives rise to a very serious question ... or two.

Is this Marvel 616 continuity Odin ?

Also is this just Stormbringer disguised as a Lightsaber. If so ... where's Pendaran ?

[Shai-Hulud]

Is this Marvel 616 continuity Odin ?

Yes. Admittedly, I'm not keeping current, but assume "status quo" 616-Odin, that is, Asgard exists, he's on the throne, etc.

Also is this just Stormbringer disguised as a Lightsaber?

No. Too easy. Can't have Stormbringer possessing you and doing the fighting for you.

Though admittedly I did assume it was Movie Shelob at the start, book Shelob is ... well that'll probably land me in Valhalla more often that it doesn't.

Grandmaster didn't say which Shelob we'd be fighting. So we don't know in advance.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Yes.

So I either get slapped in the face with Amnesia Dust as soon as I get there, or he gives me a hammer.

I like those odds. Guy gives out hammers to anyone who shows up.

No. Too easy. Can't have Stormbringer possessing you and doing the fighting for you.

That's just what you want us to think. This is yet another ploy to corrupt Pendaran.

Of which I approve.

Grandmaster didn't say which Shelob we'd be fighting. So we don't know in advance.

Hm ...

That it's 616 Odin, and 616 Valhalla presumably, this just means I either end up in a magical city outside of Broxton, Oklahoma, or I end up in the realm of Asgard and ... well, I can come and go as I please really.

May as well.

[Shai-Hulud]

That it's 616 Odin, and 616 Valhalla presumably, this just means I either end up in a magical city outside of Broxton, Oklahoma, or I end up in the realm of Asgard and ... well, I can come and go as I please really.

I don't know what's going on in the present continuity. I'm afraid to look. These days, any conceivable indignity is possible.

We're assuming 616-Odin as Stan and Jack would have him. Archetypical Odin in his prime, ruling Asgard, not some cosmic outhouse somewhere, or whatever they've done to him lately.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

I don't know what's going on in the present continuity. I'm afraid to look. These days, any conceivable indignity is possible.

We're assuming 616-Odin as Stan and Jack would have him. Archetypical Odin in his prime, ruling Asgard, not some cosmic outhouse somewhere, or whatever they've done to him lately.

So yea.

I get a hammer, AND slapped in the face with Amnesia Dust.

Best deal ever.

[The MunchKING]

There's no in continuity way I could rig my lightsaber to...say.....explode violently or do something set a trap with it?

Nobody said I had to actually run up and commence the stabby stab in CQC

EU had that as a consequence of messing up building your lightsaber, so presumably it could do that if intentionally tampered with. The problem is it wasn't THAT big of a boom, and you don't know the science of it.

[Sharpandpointies]

The idea would be that, even as a martial arts instructor could grab your arms and position them to help you learn ("this way"), Obi-Wan could (presumably) help you cultivate some proper channels in your mind.

Mister Spock would be another option.

But it would be mental training, not him implanting robotic commands. So, "Here's how we confront fear within the mind, now do it yourself," kind of thing.

If it isn't some Force power that resists emotion control or the like, I'd again be leery about 'mental training to conquer natural states of fear' being functional against a supernaturally imposed emotion. That's kind of like saying 'training to bolster one up to resist being intimidated into following someone else's commands will work against telepathic control' (as a convoluted analogy).

Now, if it IS an actual Force power or something like that, and it could be trained into us, then I'm totally for that being a valid argument toward resisting Shelob's OhShit aura.

[The Chou Lives]

I am now mad it is 616 Odin. I... do not really like that guy ( Anthony Hopkins version yes, but not magic power flinging guy who is not even worthy of his own enchantments.)

[The MunchKING]

Here's the thing. Shelob isn't just 'big and scary'. I mean, she is. But Tolkien writes her having an actual supernatural ability to instill fear into mortals, fear that builds to the point of blind panic. It's a thing. NONE of us -- barring people who are using poster personas -- have any demonstrated ability to resist that kind of thing (for anyone other than a poster persona who says 'I can resist supernatural fear auras!', I ask them to demonstrate proof), like the kind of resistance Hobbits have (and they still cracked). And we're also missing the Phial of Galadriel, whose (literally) holy light allowed further resistance, and even the cowing of Shelob herself.

Oh it was explicitly a supernatural fear aura thing, not just 'Oh it's a ginormous spider that likes to eat people' thing? I thought everyone was just scared BECAUSE it was a big and powerful spider thing.

[The Chou Lives]

Oh it was explicitly a supernatural fear aura thing, not just 'Oh it's a ginormous spider that likes to eat people' thing? I thought everyone was just scared BECAUSE it was a big and powerful spider thing.

Shelob is a honest to goodness spider demon thing that has fear aura powers.

Because 9/10s all evil supernatural things In Tolkien verse have that in stat charts.

[Sharpandpointies]

Oh it was explicitly a supernatural fear aura thing, not just 'Oh it's a ginormous spider that likes to eat people' thing? I thought everyone was just scared BECAUSE it was a big and powerful spider thing.

Shelob is a honest to goodness spider demon thing that has fear aura powers.

Pretty much, yeah.

She's the 'daughter' of Ungoliant, a very powerful spirit that took the form of a spider back in the First Age. Shelob is literally thousands upon thousands of years old, having lived through (at least) the Second and Third Ages of the world. She's at least 'part' spirit herself, by dint of her ancestry. She's not just a big arachnid, she's a being of darkness, and like Chou says, a whole lot of said creatures in Tolkien's works have supernatural 'auras' (for want of a better term, this does the trick) that dismay, cause fear, confound, and basically make lives difficult for mortals (less-so for Eldar, but even they end up having issues with the more powerful beings).

She just doesn't have any grandiose plans, due to being a creature of hunger like her mom, so it's easy to miss the 'more than a spider' point.

And we don't actually see any fear aura or her choking out light with her own darkness in the movies (in the book, yes). Shelob in the movies does come across much more like 'big spider' and that's all.

[The Chou Lives]

: Someone notes his stuff and not on typo but valid section of commentary.:


: The Chou smiles, Cue massive sun light beam/Aura that changes things into more pleasant things.:

[Dalak]

: Someone notes his stuff and not on typo but valid section of commentary.:


: The Chou smiles, Cue massive sun light beam/Aura that changes things into more pleasant things.: