Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[The Saucepan Man]

Is anyone actually inclined to be persuaded one way or the other by the various arguments? As for me, whatever the arguments, I will only accept wingless Balrogs if presented with irrefutable proof that Tolkien intended them so. It's an emotional/intuitive thing, y'see.

Originally Posted by drigel

I think there would be more votes if there was a catagory for "had wings, but not used for flight"

I assume that, of those who have voted "Yes", a proportion are of the "winged but flightless" camp. On the basis that the vote has hovered around the Yes: 60% No: 40% mark more or less since inception, I would speculate that there would be a roughly equal three-way vote, although (on the basis of the comments made here) those of us who believe that Balrogs had wings and were fully capable of using them for flight unless constrained from doing so would might possibly fall into the minority.

As an aside, it is interesting that the ratio of "Yes" to "No" on this poll is remarkably similar to the result of the "Did Elves have pointed Ears?" poll. Are there any conclusions to draw from this? I suspect not, as the Elf ears poll is "confidential". Although we know that Fordim, at least, has voted "Yes" for Balrog's wings and "No" for pointed Elf ears. In contrast, I have voted "Yes" to both questions, and for broadly the same reasons.