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Topic: the Balrogs wings
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Posted: June 24, 2000 at 18:18:54: by Jan
If you read the passage, that describes the Balrog in THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, it clearly states; " His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings." LIKE two vast wings, not AS two vast wings, as it would say if the wings were really wings. Two paragraphs later it says " It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall" So now they are described AS wings, not LIKE wings. In THE TWO TOWERS, Gandalf describes his battle with the Balrog, describing its death thus; " I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountainside where he smote it in his ruin " Here is no mention of wings, nor the ability of flight so it can only be concluded that the `wings`were only to be seen in the chamber of the bridge of Khazad Dūm, when the Balrog was at its most potent.( Or the Balrog was already mortally wounded. Yet if this was so then the words in his ruin seem some what out inacurate. )

So what is the Balrog ?, as has been pointed out, the earlier Balrogs were hardly of the same calibre, and so JRRT must have “revised“ them to bring them up to strength. Aragon describes it in the court of Celeborn; " an evil of the ancient world it seemed " which supports this argument and Legolas then goes on to say; " it was a Balrog of Morgath (`said Legolas `) of all elf-banes the most deadly, save the one who sits in the dark tower " After the chamber of records in Moria, Gandalf first meets a `presence“against which he struggles to hold a door. As the door is destroyed, he catches a glimpse of " something dark as a cloud was blocking out all the light inside " Later in the chamber of the bridge, as Legolas drops an arrow in fear the Balrog is fully described... " it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror seemed to be in it and to go before it. It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it. Then with a rush it leaped across the fissure. The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbibg tongue of fire; in its left hand it held a whip of mny thongs. “Ai! ai!“ wailed Legolas. `A Balrog! A Balrog is come!`"

Later we are further enlightened as the Balrog reaches the bridge " It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils " The Balrog is described in some detail, both as a firey shadow, then later as a maned, winged and flaming nostriled creature man like but larger. There can be little doubt that the Balrog was not a creature confined to a single form. Its presence alone is tangible enough that an aura of fear preceeds it. A characteristic it seems to share only with the Nazgūl. Smaug also is a creature of flame, yet he has no aura of fear, and neither has Shelob, although the malignancy of her gaze is clearly felt by Frodo and Sam. The Nazgūl are clearly undead, raised by the power of the ring, as wraiths, creatures belonging to another level of reality, yet able to walk in middle earth with far more potency than any man, dwarf or elf. Clearly the Balrog is a creature that has slept in the depths of Moria for many many years, it is named as Durins bane on many occaisons and Celeborn even refers to it as having been awoken by the dwarfes. It is also obvious that the Balrog is intimate with fire, but is not destroyed by water, so cannot be elemental in nature. ( Smaug fears the great lake will quench him before he can pass through it to lake town, but not kill him ) and when the Balrog and Gandalf arrive at the bottom of the abyss it is indeed quenched. It becomes " a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake ". So obviously is has a corporeal body. And although it springs once more into flame after reaching the top of Celebdil, and the dark shadow could be construed by Gandalfs words " But what would they say in song ? Those that looked up from afar thought that the mountain was crowned with storm " it does not posess the power of flight needed to save itself from its ruin. I cannot find any where in THE LORD OF THE RINGS any indication that the Balrog could fly. It could create wings of darkness, and the fellowship could perceive them, it could breath fire, which although it cannot fly is airborne, if only briefly, it can control shadow, is indeed described as shadow, which is not hampered by earthly gravity, but for all that it falls into the abyss, despite its wings, and is slain by falling from a mountain top.

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