Just stumbled upon this thread again
Symestreem, the quote you refer to is preceeded with:
Quote:
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His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.
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and in itself runs as follows:
Quote:
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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
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emphases mine. It seems that drawing 'to a great height' is not quite physical process, but shadowlike, and so wings are of shadow - for if Balrog were of a given stature, the change of height would require some 'were' abilities (as, per instance, Beorn is werebear). But there is no textual evidence of Balrogs being shape-shifters.
But that seemed not too relevant to what the post #32 up above dealt with, so I haven't stressed on wing issue at all