[Lolidir]

first of all Gandalf killed the balrog. assuming that the balrog lived that would mean that Gandalf would have died, and there was no way that that was going to happen, so that takes care of the balrog. as for Smaug. it is hard to say how thing would have happened. i think that is Snaug were to have survived Laketown and everything things would have ended there. if you go back to The Hobbit and look it states that the dwarves and Bilbo were trapped in the tunnel and if Smaug was to survive they wouldnt have been able to escape. so there you have it. you wouldnt have had LOTR if Smaug was to survive.

i must agree with Knight of Gondor. Tolkien was writing the book and he didnt let that happen. if he did only he would know where he was going to go with the story.