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Newly Deceased
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Re: Balrogs DO have wings!!! Not.
Yes, my argument was highly speculative and I didn't intend it to be a conclusive evidence, but it was just one I hadn't seen here before. <img src=smile.gif ALT="
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Early Balrogs vs. post-LotR Balrogs
First, I'd like to say that the Balrogs were wingless from BoLT to the early 50s. In BoLT they are referred to as a "cavalry" (and they couldn't get up to Gondolin without the dragons) and for a later reference of unarguably wingeless Balrogs, you might want to see Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin: in the story Voronwe tells that no servant of Morgoth hadn't yet assailed the air. There is also a statement in The Lost Road that winged Dragons were Morgoth's first flying servants. But as I said, these are pre-LotR and cannot be used as a conclusive evidence. Especially when there are comments like "with winged speed", and all the explicit statements of winglessness disappeared.
Fall of Gondolin & Balrogs
It sure is difficult to adapt something from the BoLTs to fit the later stories, but I don't think that the Balrogs pose such a great challenge (except for the wings question). The large numbers of them could somewhat easily be changed into Balrogs lesser in numbers, but greater in power, as has been suggested on that thread. I don't really know about the Boldog business though - they aren't mentioned in any of the published writings, and IIRC Tolkien described them more as great Orc-chieftains than lesser Balrogs. By the way, couldn't trolls be used instead of large Balrog-hosts? Or maybe not - didn't the battle start just before sunrise?
Sizes
Yes, I was speculating... but that's at least how I saw the hall and the Balrog.
Yes, the bridge is 50 feet (I'll try to use feet this time; meters are just more natural for me <img src=smile.gif ALT="
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Chamber of Mazarbul, doors
Remember that Boromir was able to close the larger door alone, so it can't have been really huge, even if it was strong. I'd say that the descriptions of the doors indicate more strength and less size (I'd say that the "high" door was about 10 feet high), but it's of course only my vision of them and it's hard to argue about matters of taste.
Erebor comparison
Well, Smaug wasn't able to enter all the corridors in there, even if the main entrance was mighty in size. And we have to remember that Tolkien didn't call his dragons "Worms" for nothing: they were a lot thinner and longer than the ones generally seen in fantasy.
Balrog's shadow
The references to the Balrog's cloud, shadow or darkness around it are, in my opinion, too numerous to cast aside as unclear line of sight, darkness of the halls or observatins made in haste and fear. For example, "The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew." In that point the Balrog is clearly seen and there's a silent moment after Gandalf's threat. To me, this would tell that the Balrog was always surrounded by deep shadows, whose form it could freely change (even to the shape of wings).
This was somewhat off-point, but at least now you know what I believe of Balrog wings <img src=smile.gif ALT="
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Size of the Balrog
I agree that it wasn't man-sized, but I don't think that it was much taller than 10 feet. Such length, combined with its wings/shadow could still give the impression of it dwarfing Gandalf. And if it wasn't taller than that, it would have had to "hide" its wings.
I realize that some of this isn't at all convincing to you, as you probably see the Balrog very differently than I do... But we can still exchange our visions <img src=smile.gif ALT="
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Thanks, Fingolfin <img src=smile.gif ALT="
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--
Elenhin
"My god, it's full of stars!"
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