Balrog

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This article deals with J.R.R. Tolkien's Balrogs. For more Balrogs see Balrog (disambiguation)
A Balrog fighting Gandalf, as depicted by Ted Nasmith. Nasmith prefers his Balrogs unwinged (see below)
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A Balrog fighting Gandalf, as depicted by Ted Nasmith. Nasmith prefers his Balrogs unwinged (see below)
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A Balrog is a fictional demon-like creature from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. The Balrog (Sindarin for "Demon of Might"; the Quenya form is Valarauco) is a tall, menacing being in the shape of a man, having control of both fire and shadow. It has a fiery whip of many thongs. The Balrog induces great terror in friends and foes alike and can shroud itself in darkness and shadow. The Fellowship of the Ring encountered a Balrog in the mines of Moria, in The Lord of the Rings in the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring.

Contents

[edit] First Age

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 creation of Arda. During the First Age, they were among the most feared of Morgoth's forces. When his fortress of Utumno was destroyed by the Valar, they fled and lurked in the pits of Angband.

As Maiar, Balrogs would have originally had the natural 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 all lost a part of this ability to change shape. At the very least, we know that Sauron could no longer assume a form that was "fair" and that Melkor became locked into the "tyrant of Utumno", gigantic and terrible, and he even seems unable to heal basic wounds, his hands and forehead remained burned by the Silmarils and his face and foot wounds never healed after the duel with Fingolfin. Sauron was never again able to take a fair-seeming form after the flooding of Númenor and even lost his finger when the One Ring was cut from his hand, though he was able to do so prior to this event and did so quite frequently.

While it is not specifically stated, it seems that Balrogs were at least partially fixed in their fiery demonic forms in the same way. Even so, Tolkien describes them as "spirits" of fire and "great shadows." As a result, it is uncertain whether the Balrogs were somewhat ethereal or if they could still become so.

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, the only Balrog known by name. Though his sons arrived shortly thereafter and fought off the demons, Fëanor died of his wounds, and his spirit departed for the Halls of Mandos.

Later, during and after the fall of Gondolin, two Balrogs fell at the hands of Elves. Ecthelion of the Fountain fought Gothmog in the square of the king, where they both perished. Additionally, Glorfindel fought a Balrog who waylaid the escape from the fallen Gondolin; both perished in the struggle after falling off a mountainside.

[edit] The Lord of the Rings

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. However, it was later discovered that one had escaped and hidden in Moria. It was known as Durin's Bane after killing King Durin VI, not long after awakening. The history of this Balrog prior to that is not stated in any of Tolkien's texts.

Eventually, the Fellowship of the Ring also ventured through the mines of Moria and stumbled upon Durin's Bane. While the Fellowship fled the caves, Gandalf battled the Balrog, and both fell into the abyss under the bridge of Khazad-dûm. It was later revealed that both survived the fall and continued to battle until Gandalf eventually slew the Balrog and perished himself being later resurrected as Gandalf the White.

[edit] Weaponry

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 Nirnaeth Arnoediad (Battle of Unnumbered Tears).

[edit] Appearance

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.

[edit] Winged or unwinged

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. 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, or even if "shadow" was meant as an allusion to its menacing nature. Although, if it did have wings capable of flight, it probably need not have fallen all the way down the void. There are other mentions of Balrogs traveling 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 [1].

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 F[ellowship of the] R[ing] the Balrog drew itelf 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'.
   
”

In the younger Tolkien's comment on the changes in the drafts, he puts single quotes around 'wings', which further indicates that he at least thinks the wings were metaphorical, not physical.

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.

The Tolkien fan community is divided on its interpretation of Balrogs as winged or unwinged. 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 John Howe was a conceptual artist. Other artists like Ted Nasmith prefer to depict the Balrogs as unwinged.

[edit] External links

[edit] Size

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 oftentimes 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[citation needed], 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.

[edit] Name

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

[edit] Etymology

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.

[edit] Plural form

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,[2] similar to Periannath for 'Halflings', Argonath for 'king-stones', Dagorath for 'battles'. However, the '-ath' suffix was often used as a 'class plural', 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.

[edit] Other names

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. In addition, during Gandalf's battle with the balrog on the bridge of Khazad dûm Gandalf refers to the balrog as "flame of Udun" meaning hell fire, maybe referring to the balrog's principle weapon, a whip of many throngs shrouded in fire.

[edit] Number

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. So this note is the only applicable indication of Balrog numbers that Tolkien wrote. None of the earlier texts was changed to fit this new conception, however.

In any case three Balrogs is clearly a too low number, because at least two were slain at Gondolin: Gothmog and the one killed by Glorfindel. This leaves only one Balrog (Durin's Bane) and allows no other Balrog killings in Gondolin nor Balrogs being killed during the War of Wrath.

Even the number of seven Balrogs is problematic without heavy revision to the Gondolin chapter, which is partially due to the age of that chapter in Tolkien's writing compared to much later revisions to other parts of the Silmarillion.

[edit] Adaptations

The Balrog from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Enlarge
The Balrog from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

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 ape, 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 large winged creature. However, during the fight with Gandalf, the Balrog could not fly 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). It was also only killed 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!"

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.

[edit] Popular culture

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  • In the computer game Telengard, demons use a sword and a whip.
  • In the Japanese animated series Yu-Gi-Oh!, the character Alister uses a monster called Gorlab (a monster resembling Balrog; "Gorlab" is "Balrog" spelled backwards) in the second part of his initial duel with Seto Kaiba. This Balrog is a fiery demon with two horns on its head, large leathery wings, a tail, and a strip of orange flames down its back, like hair. In the English dub of the series, the creature's name is changed to Gorlag, and its flames are changed to a blue colour. None of these cards have been released in the real world trading card game.
  • In the U.S. and European release of Capcom's Street Fighter II video game, an African-American boxer named Balrog was featured as one of the boss characters. Originally called Mike Bison in Japan, the name was changed because of similarities with Mike Tyson. Abbreviated to M. Bison, the name was given in the American version to the final boss of the game, the original Vega in the Japanese version. Balrog was originally the Spanish fighter with the claw and mask.
  • Wizet's online MMORPG MapleStory features two versions of Balrog. A flightless Jr. Balrog, deep within the Cursed Sanctuary, and a duet of much stronger, flying Crimson Balrogs that attack players travelling on a ship to and from the continent of Ossyria.
  • In the version of Ultima Exodus that was released for the original NES in 1987, the final level contains winged ape-like monsters called Balrogs.
  • The Balrog in Peter Jackson's film bears a strong resemblance to the classic demon-skull drawing by Glenn Danzig, used on the album covers for the bands Samhain and Danzig (band), in addition to resembling the eponymous character from the Diablo computer games. In Diablo and Diablo 2 (in Hell (Act IV)), one of the creatures is the Balrog.
  • The Magic: The Gathering card Lord of the Pit was originally titled Balrog, but this was changed for legal reasons. [1]
  • The roguelike computer game Moria features a Balrog as its final boss.
  • In the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, the demon known as the Balor was modeled on a Balrog, including its weapons of a flaming sword and whip.
  • In the Game Boy Advance game Golden Sun: The Lost Age, there is a side-quest boss named Valukar, which name sounds similar to the Quenya name of the Balrog, Valaraukar. Valukar also bears a slight resembleance to the Balrog in Peter Jackson's films.
  • In Ultima Online and Ultima IV, large winged demons labelled 'Balrons' are present as combatable enemies, they are astonishingly similar to the representation within the film.
  • In the Dragon Warriors RPG, the Balrog was a monster described in the Out of the shadows rulebook. In this game, the Balrog was in fact quite similar to Tolkien's Balrogs. It was the most powerful and dangerous monster in the game.
  • In the video game Urban Chaos a Balrog is fought as a boss.
  • In the freeware computer game Cave Story, a major character is named Balrog, though his physical appearance leaves his relation to Tolkien's demon questionable.
  • The game Fantasy World Dizzy by Codemasters contains an enemy called a Balrog. It is depicted as being a four-legged creature not unlike a triceratops.
  • Munchkin, a card game by Steve Jackson, features a monster called the Bullrog, an obvious reference to the Balrog. It resembles a large minotaur-like bull covered in flames carrying a whip.
  • In the episode "Petergeist", from the television series Family Guy, the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog is parodied by the "Creepy Old Guy" and a demonic tree.
  • In the Blizzard computer game Starcraft, There is a brood of Zerg known as the Baelrog brood. Also in the Blizzard game Diablo 2 exists a race of monsters called Balrog collectively.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "In winged speed no motion shall I know:" - Sonnet 51, Last accessed December 2, 2006
  2. ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1993). Christopher Tolkien (ed.): Morgoth's Ring. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, Annals of Aman - Section 2. ISBN 0-395-68092-1.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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
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