Yes, as I've said twice before, the tank analogy has served its purpose -- comparison -- and has become stretched.
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Ungoliant was as far as anyone can tell was also a Maiar, yet Morgoth put his power into her to increase her strength.
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Actually, I don't know of any evidence to support this (that Ungoliante was a Maia). I would find it hard to believe she had a spirit of any less potential than a typical Vala, since it is said that, after being fed from the trees and jewels, Morgoth was unable to master her. As for the 'with my power' bit, I can't find where that comes from. It's in the published
Silmarillion, but the original text doesn't seem to be contained in HoMe. Unless I missed it somewhere, I would be careful not to assume too much based on Morgoth's wording. The concept of Morgoth actually channeling his power into another being is rather dubious. But you're right about the "Morgoth element": all physical matter had this evil property. The matter that Balrogs created their physical bodies with; the matter that Ungoliante used to create her physical form; and likely the same matter that was used in the devising of Dragons. Spirits like the Balrogs or Ungoliante were probably somewhat attuned to this little bit of Morgoth in each of them.
I pointed out above that Dragons were
bred by Morgoth. There is the possibility that they were a Balrog/reptile hybrid, as hideous as the idea is. In any case, they occupied a different position than the Balrogs in Morgoth's armies. They never held ranks or commanded troops, and were never spoken of as 'most deadly of Morgoth's
servants,' but rather as 'most fell among Morgoth's
creatures.' I think the former is clearly a much broader statement.
[ March 05, 2002: Message edited by: obloquy ]