The White Council

Hold on, Hold on... (Was "The Moria Balrog")

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : The Balrog of Moria was a spirit of fire so the sun would not have affected it. Arien the Maia who tended the sun was also a spirit of fire. : : I don't think Sauron had a lot of control over the balrog. He would have to give a lot of effort to make it his subject, and he probably thought that the enemies of the elves and edain were his friends so he left the balrog in Moria. : : The balrogs were servants of Morghoth not Sauron though he was the most powerful of them (possible exeption, Ghothmog and Ungoliant)

: : Maglor

: I also think that Sauron did not have full control of the Balrog. It would have done according to Sauron's will in the mines, say by waylaying a small company that was passing through, but I don't believe Sauron could constrain it to come out, not yet. Or this is what I have been used to believing. But a former post (by David Freitag, if I remember right) made me for the first time seriously consider that maybe Sauron could have and was planning to use the Balrog in the War. One of the main reasons why I've believed that the Balrog was not fully in Sauron's service is that it was still in Moria and had not been called to Mordor to swell Sauron's power. However it is feasible that Sauron was keeping it hidden in the ideal place for a surprise assault on Lorien. The Balrog just happened to be killed by Gandalf before Sauron put his plans into effect (and thus Lorien was saved from near-certain destruction). : -Foradan

Right, there's another topic at the moment, discussing what could have hindered Gandalf. Welllllll Can Lorien hold Gandalf?? Take the above statement, the Balrog would have ravaged Lorien, and the elves would have been hard put to defend their home. Given that Gandalf was the mightier of the two, and killed the Balrog, doesn't it hold that Lorien CANNOT hold Gandalf? If Gandalf attacked Lorien, then wouldn't the result be akin to the Balrog attacking it? And therefore, if Gandalf can make a serious dent in Lorien's hat, then surely he can break free.....

Anyway, I guess it's a moot point

Gandalf