:snip

: That's too much to accept, and I will not accept it, in either case. Dead and dying Balrogs, like dead and dying dragons, do not fly. That is the simplest explanation and there is no evidence to indicate that Tolkien was depicting anything more complicated.

: : : And note that two winged dragons died after falling from the
: : : sky, because they, like the balrogs, were mortally wounded.

: : They were probably dead already before they fell from the sky.

: Like the Balrog Gandalf mortally wounded, and the Balrog that Glorfindel mortally wounded.

How could a mortally wounded Balrog

a) continue to fight Gandalf on the way down
b) survive the fall
c) run up the endless stairs to the peak
d) continue to fight Gandalf for several *days* on the peak

:snip

: : The Encyclopedia of Arda has a rather long and unbiased
: : discussion concerning the subject of Balrog wings...

: I have long and unbiased discussions concerning the subject of Balrog wings (I assume nothing, I have no personal agenda, I accept the story as told without revising it).

: The Encyclopedia of Arda, on the other hand, sets out to strongly imply (and thus prove) there are no wings and uses, as all other failed no-wings arguments, the illogic that the word "like" means there weren't real wings there.

: They fail to take into consideration (as do many "no wingers") the fact that their argument, if it were valid, would mean there was no shadow because it, too, is introduced with the word "wings".

: Furthermore, they make the same misapplication of "metaphor" that other people have. They are clearly relying upon the disproven arguments which have been posted to the news groups to make their case.

: And the fact they completely misrepresent the argument in favor of wings in order to shoot it down reveals just how biased they actually are.

: I do not link to the Encyclopedia of Arda because it's a highly untrustworthy work. It's simply not a credible source of information, and their apparently deliberate bastardization of well-documented discussions does neither them nor Tolkien fandom any credit.

Agree with you there. They still say Gil-galad in Fingon's son!

Russ