Purifier of the Darkwood Spider Nest

Though the darkness has receded from Dol Guldur, seeds of evil still lie buried beneath the rotting leaves of the Greenwood. Legolas, Thranduil’s healer, is an Elf skilled in the spirits of plants and the secrets of antidotes. He takes on the task of purging the remnants of the spider lairs. He creates “Blight-Cleansing Oil,” infused with the light of the Evening Star and the deadly juice of hemlock, intending to burn away these stubborn remnants of darkness. But when he ventures deep into the heart of the lair, he accidentally rouses an ancient egg of Shelob. The deadly spiderling instantly burrows into his arm, ravenously devouring his flesh and will. Faced with a spider swarm about to erupt and consume the entire forest, Legolas makes the cruelest choice: he severs his arm with his sword, drenches himself in the poisonous Blight-Cleansing Oil, and sets the piled-up dead leaves ablaze. The towering flames become a wall of life, holding back the surging tide of darkness. When the surviving Elves discover hardy new shoots sprouting amid the scorched earth and ashes, the one-armed healer Legolas has already become the forest’s quietest and most passionate guardian. His sacrifice and the green shoots of new life together whisper of the Greenwood’s unyielding spirit.