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This article deals with J. R. R. Tolkien's Balrogs. For more Balrogs see Balrog (disambiguation)

A Balrog is a fictional demon from J. R. R. Tolkien's Arda legendarium. A Balrog (Sindarin for "Demon of Might"; the Quenya form is Valarauko) is a tall, menacing being in the shape of a man, having control of both fire and shadow. One was noted to wield both a flaming sword and fiery whip of many thongs. The Balrog induces great terror in friends and foes alike and can shroud itself in darkness and shadow. It can only be defeated by some living person or thing of equal power, and amongst its own evil allies is rivalled only in its capacity for ferocity and destruction by the dragons, but the Balrogs are more powerful than dragons.^[1] The Fellowship of the Ring encountered a Balrog in the mines of Moria, in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring.

Contents 1 First Age 2 The Lord of the Rings 3 Weaponry 4 Appearance 4.1 Winged or wingless 4.2 Size 5 Name 5.1 Etymology 5.2 Plural form 5.3 Other names 6 Number 7 Adaptations 8 References 9 See also 10 External links

According to The Silmarillion the Balrogs were originally Maiar, of the same order as Sauron, Saruman and Gandalf, but they became seduced by Morgoth, who corrupted them to his service in the days of his splendour before the making of Arda. During the First Age, they were among the most feared of Morgoth's forces. When the fortress of Utumno was destroyed by the Valar, many of them fled and hid in the pits of Angband and deep in the earth.

As Maiar, Balrogs originally had the ability to change their shape at will, and to move "unclad in the raiment of the world" meaning invisible and without form. However, it seems that Melkor, Sauron, and their assorted Ainur servants could lose this ability to change shape. Melkor became locked into the "tyrant of Utumno" shape, gigantic and terrible, but was unable to heal his burnt hands and forehead from the Silmarils and his injured face and feet from his single combat with Fingolfin. However, Sauron only lost his ability to assume a fair-seeming form after his physical body was destroyed in the downfall of Númenor.

While not specifically stated by Tolkien, it seems that Balrogs were partially fixed in their fiery demonic forms in the same way. Tolkien describes them as "spirits" of fire and "great shadows." As a result, it is uncertain whether the Balrogs were somewhat ethereal.

The Balrogs were first encountered by the Elves during the Dagor-nuin-Giliath in the First Age. After the great victory of the Noldor over Morgoth's Orcs, Fëanor pressed on towards Angband, but the Balrogs came against him. He was mortally wounded by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs. Though his sons arrived shortly thereafter and fought off the demonic Balrogs, Fëanor died of his wounds, and his spirit departed for the Halls of Mandos.

Later, during and after the fall of Gondolin, two specific instances of Balrogs being slain at the hands of Elves occurred. During the assault on the city, Ecthelion of the Fountain fought Gothmog in the square of the king where they "each slew the other." Later Glorfindel fought a Balrog who waylaid an escape party from the fallen city; both perished in the struggle after falling off a mountainside. This is according to the published Silmarillion. In an early version of the stories, The Book of Lost Tales, more Balrogs were killed, but then they were "less terrible and ... more destructible"^[3] than later conceptions.

The Balrogs were nearly all destroyed at the end of the First Age. It was stated in The Silmarillion that all the Balrogs were destroyed in the War of Wrath save some few that fled and hid themselves in the bowels of the earth. Years later, in the year 1980 of the Third Age, the dwarf miners of Khazad-dûm delved so deeply that they disturbed or released one of these, which became known as Durin's Bane after it killed Durin VI. In the year 3019, the Fellowship of the Ring also ventured through the mines of Moria and were attacked in Balin's tomb-chamber by a company of Goblins. The Fellowship was forced to flee the chamber, and when Gandalf tried to place a lock-spell on their exit door, the Balrog appeared and cast a counterspell. Gandalf was forced to speak a word of command, but the door could not stand the strain. Gandalf was severely weakened in the encounter. Gandalf and company fled, followed by the Balrog. It caught up with them on the bridge of Khazad-dûm. Gandalf stayed back to hold off the Balrog, and they both fell into the abyss. Both survived the fall, and continued their fight all the way to the peak of the mountain, where Gandalf slew the Balrog and himself perished at the same time. Gandalf was sent back as the more powerful Gandalf The White; it is explicitly said in the text that this revivification was due to the direct intervention of Ilúvatar. The degree to which this bodily death was permanent to the Moria Balrog is unclear from the text, but given the themes of mankind's liberation from the supernatural, it was probably permanent, lasting until the Last Battle and the Second Prophecy of Mandos.

The Balrog of Moria used a sword ("From out of the shadow a red sword leapt flaming") and many-thonged whip of flame in its battle with Gandalf. In the First Age, they also used black axes and maces, as described in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad (Battle of Unnumbered Tears).

Tolkien's writings are unclear as to the exact appearance of Balrogs. Whether Balrogs were winged or not, or indeed had retained the Maia ability to change shape is unknown.

The debate on its wings mainly comes from The Bridge of Khazad-dûm, a chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring. There are two references in this chapter. The first states:

"His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings."

While this reference clearly uses the term "wings" as a simile, the controversy comes from a reference later in the same chapter:

"...suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall..."

In brief, Tolkien's use of the phrase "like two vast wings" thus leads some to believe that the Balrog had no physical wings, arguing that the "wings" described in the second reference are really the shadow simile, now used as a metaphor. However, others interpret the use of the words "wings" and "winged" to describe Balrogs as referring to actual winged creatures.

Taken by itself, it is unclear whether this second reference to wings remains metaphorical or is to be taken literally — whether the wings were actually physical, distinct from the shadow (and following this, whether they can actually support the creature in flight), or, as suggested by the first reference, rather that the shadow of the Balrog just looked like wings.

Proponents of physical wings believe the Balrog was simply not fully visible at first, but when it drew itself up it fully revealed its wings. If it did have wings capable of flight, it probably need not have fallen all the way down the void, depending on its size.

There are other mentions of Balrogs travelling with "winged speed", but this term is also used for other characters throughout Tolkien's work^{[citation needed]}, and is a common expression in other literary works, such as William Shakespeare's ^[4].

Earlier drafts of the Bridge chapter, as described by Christopher Tolkien in The Treason of Isengard seem to point to Balrogs as being non-winged:

“

In B it is said only that the Balrog 'stood facing him': in C 'the Balrog halted facing him, and the shadow about him reached out like great wings'.(17) Immediately afterwards, where in Fellowship of the Ring the Balrog drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall', neither B nor C has the words 'to a great height' nor speaks of the 'wings'.

”

Elsewhere, Tolkien states that Morgoth was unable to develop winged creatures prior to the winged dragons led by Ancalagon due to Manwë's dominion over the air. As Balrogs existed long before the dragons this would argue against wings. However, the original Balrogs were members of the Maiar and their servants; they assumed the form but were so evil they were unable to change to anything else again^{[citation needed]}. Balrogs also do a lot of falling when they could be flying. Comparing Tolkien's descriptions of Balrogs with those of winged Dragons in flight gives a much clearer idea of how Tolkien writes about flying creatures. The description of the flight of Smaug in The Hobbit is indicative.

As discussed further in the text, it appears that throughout the drafts of the chapter the Balrog description was dramatically increased with first the addition of an ominous shadow, then a Balrog with a shadow that seemed to wrap itself around Gandalf, and, finally, a Balrog wrapped in shadows which seemed to look like wings.

As the Balrog is a "demon", some may think Tolkien pictured it with wings based on winged demons.^{[citation needed]}

The Tolkien fan community is divided on its interpretation of Balrogs as winged or wingless. Notable Tolkien artist John Howe typically depicts his Balrogs as possessing physical wings, a notion which was carried across to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which Howe was a conceptual artist. Other artists like Ted Nasmith prefer to depict the Balrogs as wingless.

The size of Balrogs is also a matter of dispute. For example, in his notes, Tolkien states:

"[the Balrog] strode to the fissure, no more than man-high yet terror seemed to go before it."'

The History of Middle-earth Volume VII (The Treason of Isengard), X The Mines of Moria II: The Bridge

However, this draft was rejected, and such a statement does not appear in the published version of The Lord of the Rings. The published version actually states:

"What it was could not be seen: 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."

The Lord of the Rings Book II, Chapter 5 "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm".

Additionally, Tolkien states that:

"suddenly it [the Balrog] drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall..."

The Lord of the Rings Book II, Chapter 5 "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm".

These two statements made in the actual works suggest that they were greater in size than men.

However, in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien also notes that the entrance to the Chamber of Mazarbul was sized so that

"...orcs one after another leaped into the chamber." and "...clustered in the doorway."

The Lord of the Rings Book II, Chapter 5 "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm".

While some contend that such a doorway seems unlikely to be passable for a creature much larger than man-sized without destroying the passage, others interpret this as a large number of orcs passing through a particularly large passageway, through which a Balrog could fit.^{[citation needed]}

Also, some assume that Balrogs, as "spirits of fire" "swathed in shadows", were ethereal in having no definitive solid matter at any given time. This and a similar view is surely in support of the idea that Balrogs could possibly retain some of their shapeshifting abilities as Maiar, or at least could walk the earth without raiment as shadow, flame, or otherwise. As a result, it is quite possible that an ethereal spirit made of fire and shadow could pass through even a narrow opening, regardless of whether the ethereal spirit was immense.

There is nothing in the works of Tolkien to dispute the possible ethereal make-up of Balrogs or that they at least had the power to become so. Rather, Tolkien often refers to them as "spirits" or "great shadows"; both of which, if taken literally, would have no trouble passing through openings be they large or small. Furthermore, there is nothing to wholly dispute the Balrogs' initial shapeshifting abilities which they would have had as Maiar. Sauron, also a Maia, often assumed multiple physical forms through the Ages, including that of a great wolf, a vampire, a dragon, ^[5] a handsome man, and finally a large terrible warrior (at which point he had lost the ability to change his shape). Similarly, the Balrogs could also have retained some of their ability to walk without raiment in assuming the form of both shadow and flame.

In The Fall of Gondolin Tolkien says about Glorfindel's duel with the Balrog: "...it pierced the Balrog's belly nigh his own face (for that demon was double his stature)..."^[6]

In Turambar and the Foalókë a comparison between dragon and Balrog of power, not size, is made, "yet of all are they (dragons) the most powerful, save it be the Balrogs only."^[7]

The term Balrog is defined as Demon of Might in the published Silmarillion. No further information on the name is given.

The name, but not the meaning, is relatively early: it appears in the Fall of Gondolin, one of the earliest texts Tolkien wrote (ca. 1918). At the time the name is described as "an Orc-word with no pure Quenya equivalent: 'borrowed Malaroko-'". Its meaning at the time was Cruel demon.

In the Gnomish (=early Sindarin) wordlist from the same period Balrog is given as balc 'cruel' + graug 'demon', with a Quenya equivalent Malkarauke. Variant forms of the latter include Nalkarauke and Valkarauke.

By the 1940s, when the writing of The Lord of the Rings had begun, Tolkien had come to think of Balrog as Noldorin (Sindarin) balch (cruel) + rhaug (demon), with a Quenya equivalent Malarauko (from nwalya- (to torture) + rauko (demon).

The last etymology given for Balrog, written as part of Quendi and Eldar, gives the Quenya form Valarauko (Demon of Might), defining Balrog as the Sindarin translation. This etymology was adopted in the published The Silmarillion.

The Sindarin plural form for Balrog is not clear. Tolkien consistently used Balrogs, but this is generally considered an anglicization because Sindarin does not form plurals in that way. In one case Tolkien used Balrogath,^[8] similar to Periannath for 'Halflings', Dagorath for 'battles'. However, the '-ath' suffix was often used as a 'class plural' (cf. giliath for 'all stars of the firmament'), and thus 'Balrogath' might mean 'Balrogkind' rather than simply 'Balrogs'. Linguists disagree on how a simple Sindarin plural would be formed, but most often suggest either *Balroeg or *Belryg.

The plural form for Quenya Valarauko is attested as Valaraukar.

In one of Tolkien's early Middle-earth writings, Lay of the Children of Húrin, "Lungorthin, Lord of Balrogs" is mentioned. It is not, however, certain if this was another name for Gothmog, or whether it simply meant "a Balrog lord". According to Christopher Tolkien, the latter is more probable since the name Gothmog was mentioned in the earliest Middle-earth writings, as well as the final version of Tolkien's legendarium. Also important to note is the fact that Gothmog is mentioned as a "son of Melko," a concept later dropped by Tolkien along with every other "children of the Valar" concept; instead, Tolkien replaces these children with Maiar, as the balrogs are later shown to be. In addition, during Gandalf's battle with the balrog on the bridge of Khazad-dûm Gandalf refers to the balrog as "flame of Udûn" meaning hell fire and that another word for Utumno, the first stronghold of Morgoth was also named Udûn and so it was a flame of Utumno, maybe referring to the balrog's principle weapon, a whip of many thongs shrouded in fire.

The Balrogs were originally envisioned as being immense in number:

"The early conception of Balrogs makes them less terrible, and certainly more destructible, than they afterwards became: they existed in 'hundreds' (p. 170), and were slain by Tuor and the Gondothlim in large numbers: "thus five fell before Tuor's great axe Dramborleg, three before Ecthelion's sword, and two score were slain by the warriors of the king's house."

The Book of Lost Tales 2, commentary by Christopher Tolkien on The Fall of Gondolin.

"There came wolves and serpents and there came Balrogs one thousand, and there came Glaurung the Father of Dragons."

The Lost Road, Quenta Silmarillion chapter 16, §15.

As the legendarium became more formidable and internally consistent, and the Balrogs more terrible, this number was much reduced. In the end Tolkien stated that there were "at most" seven Balrogs:

"In the margin my father wrote: 'There should not be supposed more than say 3 or at most 7 ever existed.'"

Morgoth's Ring, Section 2 (AAm*): note 50 (just before section 3).

The note to change the number of Balrogs to at most 7 comes from roughly the same time they "became" Maiar in Tolkien's mind.

For movie adaptations of the book, the issues regarding Balrog wings and size needed to be resolved. The Balrog in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version resembled a winged lion complete with a mane, who walked upright, not much larger than man-sized but considerably heavier, and it did fly.

Peter Jackson's film versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, released in 2001 and 2002 respectively, ultimately decided on a very large winged monster made that resembled lava covered with a dark crust. However, during the fight with Gandalf, the Balrog could not fly. This may have been because the physical characteristics of the wing did not permit flight (they did not have any sort of flesh on them, but like the rest of the Balrog's body appeared to be made out of shadow and fire, thus the Balrog's wings may not have needed substance to be capable of flight), or the Balrog may have been too injured and busy fighting Gandalf to fly. It was also killed only when Glamdring was struck by lightning, temporarily infusing the energy into the sword. John Howe designed this version of the creature, explaining in The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring book; "It doesn't say they don't have wings, so why not? That was Peter's tongue-in-cheek approach, too!"

Concept art was drawn up for a "slime balrog"; the balrog fell into the lake and its fires were extinguished, and the "shadow" aspect of it emphasized, a "thing of slime" (as described in the book) and pure darkness. The concept was not used in the film for budgetary reasons.

In the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, and its sequel, both based on Jackson's movies, the Balrog can use its wings, although only in short leaps.

Though the Balrog of Moria was never named by Tolkien himself, Iron Crown Enterprises later dubbed him Muar for their Middle-earth role playing (MERP) products.

In the game, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, the Balrog uses its wings to fly into the air, and comes crashing down, sending a tremendously damaging shockwave of flames at the player.

In the game, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, a Balrog named Thaurlach was included in the second major update to the game, Book 11. It appeared as a final encounter in the Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu, the new 12-player instance located at the far northeast corner of Angmar. The balrog has been imprisoned, and thus, has lost so much of its power that a party of 12 players, along with an elf-lord, are capable of killing it. As of the time of the update, the Balrog has the second-highest amount of health of any creature that can be fought.

• Maiar

• The Truth About Balrogs essay series by Conrad Dunkerson.
• Encyclopedia of Arda article on Balrogs
• Do Balrogs have wings? Do Balrogs fly? Pro-wings argument by Michael Martinez

v • d • e Ainur from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium
Ainulindalë (Music of the Ainur)
Lords of the Valar	Manwë · Ulmo · Aulë · Oromë · Námo (Mandos) · Irmo (Lórien) · Tulkas
Queens of the Valar (The Valier)	Varda · Yavanna · Nienna · Estë · Vairë · Vána · Nessa
The Enemy	Morgoth (a.k.a. Melkor)
Maiar	Eönwë · Ilmarë · Ossë · Uinen · Salmar · Sauron · Melian · Arien · Tilion · Gothmog  · Curumo (Saruman) · Olórin (Gandalf) · Aiwendil (Radagast) · Alatar and Pallando · Durin's Bane