Durin, Nain, and the Balrog

[Celebdil]

Originally Posted by hewhoarisesinmight

What I wonder is why the Balrog did not fight at the Battle of Azanulbizar I'm sure it could have slaughtered the Dwarven army and also how Balin's realm in Moria lasted the length it did when I'm sure the Balrog could have wiped it out with a flick of its whip. Was it just lazy?

Are balrogs really this powerful? Could say, Gandalf, fight a company of a few hundred angry dwarves and live? After all, Saruman died from a single attack by Wormtongue, though he was caught unawares. And if Maia are really this powerful, couldn't Saruman have killed the hobbit army at Bag End? Gandalf did kill a bunch of orcs with his staff in that cave in The Hobbit, but I don't think he could have killed an entire company of dwarves without being killed himself. So it seems to me that the dwarf army should have been able to hunt and kill the balrog, but maybe the balrog ran away, forcing the dwarves to split up to look for him and then attacked smaller groups with better odds. Maybe this is how Durin died.