Thread: How did a Balrog get beneath Moria and when?
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Old 03-04-2011, 03:55 PM   #16
Cirdan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Galin View Post
'There came wolves and serpents, and there came Balrogs one thousand,...' (Of the Fourth Battle: Nírnaith Arnediad, Quenta Silmarillion) [] 'There came wolves and wolfriders, and there came Balrogs, and dragons...' Of The Fifth Battle (The Silmarillion)
1000!?! I imagined 50 at most during the Wars of Beleriand with perhaps many more (a hundred?) being destroyed by the Valar during remotely-earlier conflicts. 1000 or more Balrogs is a ridiculous amount of raw firepower -small wonder that Tolkien considered scaling it back! Perhaps in his earlier conception they were less powerful being slightly above that of trolls?

Thanks, Galin!
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