[Rumil]

I seem to remember that the Dwarves 'awoke' the Balrog because they mined too deeply in search of Mithril. That implies that the Balrog was found in one of the deepest mineworkings of Moria, which was, after all, a big place.

I wonder how the Dwarves tried to deal with it? I'd guess it killed the Dwarven miners who stumbled upon it, then perhaps Durin led an expedition down into the deeps to try and kill it, with unfortunately predictable results.

I suppose the smartest thing to try then would be to collapse the mineworkings above the Balrog and isolate it from the rest of Khazad-Dum. If tried, this may have held it up for a while, perhaps a year, while the Balrog found alternate passages and broke through obstructions.

The Balrog, (clearly tetchy by now as it had planned to sleep in for a few thousand years yet) would now have emerged into the main halls of Moria. Perhaps Nain tried to lead the Dwarven warriors against it in a last desperate attempt to save their subterranean empire. They could have tried to 'gang up' on it in one of the big halls, which would seem reasonable if they didn't have a full understanding of the power of the beast.

Was Nain perhaps unwilling to abandon his home, like a captain going down with his ship? Would it have appeared 'dishonourable' if he survived the battle without wreaking revenge on the killer of his father?

v. Wagnerian!