Other names
Appearance
Magic
Working with other evil beings
Summary
Other names:
Balrog of Moria, Balrog of Khazad-dum, Durins' Bane,
the Terror, a Balrog (Sindarin), a Valarauko (Quenya)
Appearance:
Apparently it was in appearance as other balrogs,
since the elf, Legolas, named it as soon as he saw it. It is
referred to as a fiery shadow.
"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."
A part of the fearsomeness of the balrog that
confronted Gandalf and the Fellowship was that he was difficult to see
clearly, as
a shadow was around him and possibly of him. This trait could be
one reason some of the evil spirits were called shadows, rather than
purely the usual reason that "shadow" refers to ghostly beings in
general. The terror around it sounds similar to that of the
Nazgul.
The core shape seems humanoid - upright body, two
arms, two legs, one head since no second was mentioned; multiple
heads do not seem to be in Tolkien's writings.
It is capable of a great leap, as it jumped over the
fissure that stopped the orcs.
It has a longish mane. "Its streaming mane
kindled, and blazed behind it."
Fire seems attracted to the balrog, as flames came
up from the fissure and wrapped around it (unless this was part of
magic
in the fire, to reach up at those above). The fire kindled the
mane
on the humanoid part of the balrog, which seemed to be no problem,
perhaps
even welcomed by the balrog. The fire may even have given the
balrog
energy, showing up as an addition to the fiery part of its nature.
It had hands and arms and a mind capable of handling
tool-weapons familiar to the mortal denizens of Middle-earth. "In
its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its
left it held a whip of many thongs." It used its red sword
against
Gandalf's white Glamdring. The swords seemed to fight both
physically
and magically, the fires of the two meeting, so that the balrog's sword
flew into molten pieces.
It stopped and did a display to try to appear
frightening to Gandalf. Its shadow "reached out like two vast
wings",
it cracked its whip, and "Fire came from its nostrils."
After Gandalf quenched its fire, "it drew itself
up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall".
It needed to make a frightening display after having its fire dampened.
That was a huge chamber. The shadow reaching out like wings were
probably not fleshly wings and the added height was also probably from
its shadow self.
Physical wings from wall to wall would not have been functional in such
"cramped"
quarters and would have to remain folded most of the time in twisty
tunnels,
not habitually used by then for flight. Gandalf broke his own staff,
which
released a sheet of white fire and broke the bridge against which it
was
struck, causing the balrog to fall into the fissure. The "wings" could
not
prevent the fall, if only for fear of breaking them against the pit
sides.Or
they did not work, maybe from disuse from cave life. If they had
existed,
the balrog could easily have tangled in them in such a fall.
If balrogs normally had such giant fleshly wings,
they should have been mentioned in the earlier books for the
awesomeness of them, even non-functional. But if the wings existed at
all, they were probably non-functional shadow or even memories of wings
from the times of shadow demon attacks on Arien of the Sun. Those
shadow demons are not named, but sound suspiciously like the early
Balrog Maiar. Manwe and Varda did not require wings to fly, but winged
creatures were known so that the Maia could have thought of making
their shadows wing-like to attack the new light. For at first Melkor
and some of his demons could fly, but their evil caused them to be
deprived of this ability. It was long before Melkor could breed winged
dragons. Melkor's dragons in the Book of Lost Tales were machines the
story line later changing to organic dragons..
Magic:
The balrog perceived Gandalf and his shutting spell
on the stone door when it took hold of the iron ring of that
door. It made a counter-spell that caused the door to leave
Gandalf's control. Gandalf countered with a word of Command, but
the door could not stand up to the powers used and then burst.
The wall and roof fell. Either magic or physical strength allowed
the balrog to survive the cave-in, so that
it continued to pursue the Fellowship after a while.
The terror around it sounds related to that of the
Nazgul, even causing people as brave as Legolas to drop his arrow in
fear
and Gimli to let his axe fall.
It was at least partly magical fire. Gandalf
said, "The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go
back
to the Shadow!" Its fire no longer showed but its darkness
increased. Fire kindled its mane and seemed natural to it.
Udun, a Sindarin name, was then in Mordor, a deep
dale behind the Morannon, where were the tunnels and armories, forts
and and
towers, watchfires, around which orc-holds clustered; Sauron's
armies
collected there for the fight against the new King - including an
accidental
short-term mustering of Sam and Frodo. It was the repaired old
Utumno,
in Quenya language, Melkor's old underground fortress where he gathered
balrogs and may have bred orcs and great spiders, mostly wrecked during
the Battle of the Powers. In maps, Udun shows in the upper left
corner
of the mountains around Mordor. "The Shadow" could refer to
Melkor or
where Melkor was, the Void, or to the Darkness, or even to its shadow
nature.
Working with other evil beings:
The balrog of Moria was in league with the orcs, as
they parted to let it pass and followed it across the stone gangway as
if in support of its attack on the Fellowship. The orcs beat
drums near it, the reason not explained but has shamanistic
overtones. Also the orcs and balrogs were working with trolls, as
two dropped stone slabs across the fire to allow their passage.
The balrog killed out the dwarves from Moria after they disturbed it in
the deep place.
Summary:
The balrog of Moria had a generally humanoid shape,
larger and stronger than human. It had a longish mane. It
was capable of great leaps. Its core humanoid maned shape was
covered in
shadow that could stretch out like wings and had fire in its
makeup. It could handle a sword and whip. It held the power
of terror. It could do spells, such as countering the shutting
spell of Gandalf on the
door. It had presence of mind enough to swing its whip to catch
its
opponent, even though falling down a terribly deep hole. It
cooperated with or led orcs and trolls against the Fellowship.
Wings look great visually so we will see pictures
with winged balrogs, and the suggestion is certainly present. The
actual description is so full of shadowy dread that it is hard to see.