Even though Unfinished Tales has been - ahem - discredited as not canon (to which I must vehemently disagree), I read some of the descriptions of Glaurung. He appears to be far tougher than Smaug was ever described to be. That may be because of the audience of The Hobbit. However, the unique thing about Glaurung, whom JRRT describes as the greatest of the dragons, is that he HAS MORGOTH'S SPIRIT WITHIN HIM. Therefore I must side with obloquy regarding the puissance of spirit (sorry I'm sobre now), while NOT overlooking the fundamental reality of physicality. Glaurung's puissance was evoked in two ways: (1) his reeeelly bad smell and firey breath and largeness of size; and (2) his cunning which was given to him by Morgoth. Of the two, his cunning and his strategems were by far the more powerful of the two, meaning that his SPIRIT/intelligence got him further than his strength; and I do not deny the importance of his physical strength.
The soldier - tank analogy is helpful, but we better not get too tied to it. I can't say why, I'm not smart enough. It does speak to a sense that I had, but the best words I could put on it were - um - a man and a dog. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
If we were to pit Glaurung against a Balrog, now there we might have a real battle! No cowardice there.
By the way, I'd like to set the record straight on one thing. The Balrogs are not bodiless. They are beings made of fire, as far as I can tell, but they DO have a physical presence.
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