Welcome to my new project. While this isn't a real story I wanted a place to publish this and I thought I just try this out. First of all I'm a major Tolkien geek I read all his books about once a year, so it's fair to say that it's a bit of an obsession. I regularly encounter articles or statements about Tolkien and his works which can be misleading or just plain wrong and most of these could have been prevented with just a bit of insight. That's why I've decided to post a series of articles or essays to explain some of the main misconceptions about Tolkien's works. A few of the topics I want to cover are: Who or what exactly is Tom Bombadil, why couldn't the eagles be a taxi service and what is the exact difference between orcs and goblins. The goal for these essays is to be easily accessible and you don't necessarily have to be an obsessed Tolkien fan like me to understand them. Therefor e I have included a list of terms at the end of the essay. During these articles I might refer to the movies and a reader might get the impression that I hate these. I just want to say that this is not true; although I do think that the movies made some major mistakes in general I can understand the changes made for them and I actually enjoy watching them. Now here follows my first essay on the wings of Balrogs.
The question of Balrogs having wings or not is probably as old as the lord of the rings itself. It stems of course from the first time any reader met a Balrog on the bridge of Khazad-dûm in chapter 5 in the second book of the fellowship of the ring. In this chapter the Balrog is metaphorically described as having wings and spreading them wall to wall. A lot of readers read this and say yes they have wings however there are plenty of reasons why they wouldn't have them. So for me the short answer to the question is no and I hope to tell you why I think this is the case.
I'll start with a bit of historical background on the Balrogs; I think this will be helpful to better understand them. The first Chronological appearance of the Balrog is in the Silmarillion. The Balrog started off as Maiar spirits that joined the fallen Valar Melkor and became spirits of fire and some of his most deadly servants. Melkor later became Morgoth and is basically the Lucifer figure in Tolkien's work. Its also worse noting that Sauron was just a servant of Morgoth and
"For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror."
In the mythology as it stands by the end of Tolkien's life there we're never that many Balrogs maybe 12 at most. The Balrogs where instrumental in saving Morgoth from the wrath of Ungoliant, while she had imprisoned Morgoth. The next time the Balrogs show up is in the battle under the stars where they kill the maker of the silmarils Feänor. Balrogs seem to be little used during the wars of the first age the next time they turn up is at the sack of Gondolin. Gothmog met his end during the attack being slayed at the gates of the city by Ecthellion lord of the fountain. Who was killed by Gothmog in turn. Another major Balrog fight happened when the survivors of Gondolin fled through a mountain pass where they were ambushed by a Balrog this one was slayed by Glorfindel who also died doing it. The final time in the Silmarillion where the Balrog show up is at the very end where the Valar fight their final fight against Morgoth in the war of wrath. That's where it's said they were all destroyed or fled. The Balrog hidden in Moria is an example of the ones that might have fled. He was eather awoken or released from prison by dwarves searching for mithril in Moria. This caused the death of Durin the king of the dwarves and the exodus of Moria. This is the Balrog that Gandalf the grey faces on the bridge of Khazad-dûm and kills on the top of the mountain resulting in his own demise.
At first glance a reader might understandably make the misconception that Balrogs have wings. There are several argument in favor of this and the ones against are a lot harder to spot however as I said it seems pretty clear. As I said the primary argument in favor of them having wings comes from the following passage.
"His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm."
A reader might see this and quite reasonably assume that he has wings it says so right there doesn't it? And the argument seems to become even stronger in the following one just a few sentences later.
"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; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm"
When you read this it clearly says it has wings doesn't it, it would be if Tolkien didn't like his symbolism that much. In my opinion Tolkien is just continuing his symbolism of the shadows he made in the first part. Comparing the shadow the Balrog forms around him to wings in the first passage and taking that reference by saying the shadow now extended from wall to wall.
The more careful readers and proponents to the wing theory will bring up a reference in the appendixes of the return of the king where a Balrog apparently flew from Thangorodrim (Morgoth's fortress) towards Khazad-dûm.
"Thus they roused from sleep2a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth."
This is of course a reference to the dwarves awakening Durin's bane. Now it's very easy to read this as a modern reader and say look there it flew so that's that. But it's not that simple Tolkien uses the word fly quite often throughout his works but usually not to mean actually flying in its modern sense. A lot of the times he uses it to mean to flee ran a way or retreat. This was quite a common use of the word in the time of Tolkien and the medieval literature he loved so much. The most famous example of this use is actually in the bridge of Khazad-dûm chapter.
"Fly, you fools!' he cried, and was gone. "
Now this of course is what Gandalf ways to the company right before he plummets of the bridge and unless he suggests that the company should sprout a pair of wings and actually fly away take this to mean as a recommendation to get a way as soon as they possibly can. A fellow Tolkien fan I met during a conference made the joke once that Gandalf was actually speaking to the Balrog there making the suggestion that he should start flying. Which funny as it is is still a translation error.
Now this is all of course circumstantial evidence and doesn´t prove that they don´t have wings. However as I said there are several arguments against them having wings as well. Which are a lot harder of not impossible to shoot down. The simplest of these is the fact that The Balrog that Gandalf fights never decides to fly. Here he is falling down in a chasm and at no point he thinks hey I can fly. Now of course people will say that the chasm might have been to narrow for it to fly however there is a lot of evidence in Tolkien's letters that the Balrogs weren't actually that big. Hit this point is even more lessened by the fact that the Balrog eventually dies by being thrown down the mountain side right out in the open at the top of the endless stairs. And to add insult to injury, this isn't even the only one to die because of gravity Glorfindel slays his Balrog by throwing it down a mountain too.
"Many are the songs that have been sung of the duel of Glorfindel with the Balrog upon a pinnacle of rock in that high place; and both fell to ruin in the abyss. "
So there are 2 out of the three Balrogs slaying where a mountain and a great height was involved and in none of these passages is there a reference to one of them flying. This might not seem conclusive yet however there is one more piece of evidence to consider. In the Silmarillion there is a hidden minor subplot of Morgoth lack of an air force. In the earlier versions of the book it was more clear but even in the published one there still is some evidence of it.
"For Manwë to whom all birds are dear, and to whom they bring news upon Taniquetil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of the North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth "
These eagles are said to make their nests atop the very mountains on which Morgoth's fortress is build. Now if Morgoth had giant fire demons that could fly they wouldn´t be able to spy on them. And then there is the story of Gondolin. It took some dirty tactics and luck for Morgoth to even find the location of this city and without the treachery of Meaglin his forces would never have been able to attack the city. Now if the Balrogs could just get over the mountains by flying this wouldn´t be much of a problem would it. but what about the dragons one might say, well the original dragons in Tolkien´s books couldn't fly. Glaurung was described as a big worm and of him it is said specifically that he couldn´t fly. He actually has to jump a gorge for crying out loud!
Glaurung father of dragons. The strength and terror of the Great Worm were now great indeed, and Elves and Men withered before him; and he came between the hosts of Maedhros and Fingon and swept them apart.
Flying dragons wouldn't come in to play till the end of the 1st age and the war of wrath when Morgoth finally would gain his air force. All of the above has left me to conclude that Balrogs don't have wings. I hope you enjoyed my first essay and understood my points I hope you will read the next one I write as well.
Well I hope you enjoyed this essay I hope to make many more like them. I just want to give credit and a shout out to the Tolkien professor who has taught me so much if you're interested in learning a lot more about Tolkien then I could ever tell you check out his podcast it will change everything you thought you knew. I´m afraid to say that I did sort of steal some of his points for this essay but I really tried to add my own ideas to it and I hope you didn´t mind professor. If you agree disagree with the points I made please put it in a review or send me a PM. This is also the way to go if you want to suggest a topic for my next essay. Also I just want o add that I`m not a native speaker and I´m pretty sure I made many grammatical and spelling mistakes I hope you can forgive them
List of terms
Gondolin: or the hidden rock is an elven city during the first age. It was the last of the three great elven kingdoms to fall. It was hidden from Morgoth by an encircling mountain range known as the encircling mountains. Established and led by its king Turgon it withstood the wrath of Morgoth for a very long time until it's location was betrayed by an elf named Meaglin.
Khazad-dûm: or the Dwarrowdelf is the dwarven mine city that would become known as Moria after the awakening of Durin's bane.
Maiar. The Maiar originally of the order of the Ainu and helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the great music they came in to Arda and became bound to it. The Maia are in general weaker than the Valar however the line isn't a very clear one. Some examples of major Maia are Sauron, Gandalf and the Balrogs.
Moria: Or the black pit in Sindarin is the name given to Khazad-dûm after the awakening of Durin's bane in the third age. It is important to note that this name was only its name after the coming of the Balrog and before that the elves had much traffic with the dwarves in Khazad-dûm. The western door that the fellowship uses was actually made for their use and so they would have no need to give it an ominous name like the black pit. This is especially true since when the dwarves where still living there, there was actually had quite a lot of light.
Sindarin: is one of the two elfish languages developed by Tolkien which he used in his books the other being Quenya. Tolkien once said that the books sprouted from the languages instead of the other way around. This might seem as a bit of self- aggrandizement. But in Tolkien's case this is actually true as you will notice when you pay careful attention to his works. Sindarin is spoken by the Sindar elves which are the elves that never made it over to Valanor.
Silmaril: The silmarils where the jewels made by Feänor which were stolen by Melkor and resulted in most of the wars in the first age.
Quenya: is one of the two elfish languages developed by Tolkien which he used in his books the other being Sindarin. Tolkien once said that the books sprouted from the languages instead of the other way around. This might seem as a bit of self- aggrandizement. But in Tolkien's case this is actually true as you will notice when you pay careful attention to his works. Quenya is spoken by the eldar or the elves that did make it over to Valanor.
Ungoliant: Was a Maia spirit and was an ally of Morgoth and helped him to destroy the trees. She's the mother of Shelob and once actually captured Melkor and threatened to kill him if he wouldn't hand over the silmarils.
Valar: The Valar where originally of the order of the Ainu and helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the great music they came in to Arda and became bound to it. The Valar are the most powerful of that order. A few examples of Valar are Melkor, Manwe and Varda.