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Re: the Balrog's height

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  Posted by RobRoy on June 26, 2000 at 16:29:01
In Reply to: Re: the Balrog's height posted by Mordomin on June 26, 2000 at 15:32:50:



: I think that Occams's Razor says that the Balrog merely stood to it's full height, rather than exhibiting some power of changing it's size that is nowhere else recorded in any other text regarding Balrogs. Or Maiar, for that matter.

Occam's Razor isn't fool-proof, especially over many centuries. For example, people used to think that the planets' orbits were the simplest shape around - a perfect circle. Occam's Razor would have ruled out elliptical or more oval-shaped orbits. But today we know that planets' orbits are indeed elliptical.

This is also true in this case, where Tolkien has supplied additional evidence in his use of the phrase "he drew himself up". In multiple cases, he never gives a height to which the person identified "draws" themselves. However, with the Balrog, and given Tolkien's consistent lack of exageration throughout LOTR, we can conclude that when Tolkien states "a great height" he is inferring that the Balrog is doing something other then popping his back.

-RR

Occam's Razor


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