|
You can compare the moments when Sauron is introduced and there are balrogs coming also as a separate group. Sauron is mentioned separate from the other balrogs, so he was not one of them. You might say that it's because he was one of Morgoth's captains, thus an important individual figure, but other good evidence is if you look at Gothmog: he was a leader, like Sauron, but we are told he was a balrog. With Sauron, you never read about such a thing.
In other words, Sauron was a Maia of Aulė - while the Balrogs were, I believe, Maiar of Varda (it is said they were originally like Arien). Saruman was also a maia of Aulė - and Sauron was, I believe, no more a Balrog than Saruman was.
__________________
"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories
|