This is in response to TarElendil's points on many Balrogs being slain at the fall of Gondolin. In the Book of Lost Tales, volume two, the tale of the Fall of Gondolin is told. Unfortunately that version of events is old and outdated. The balrogs that were conceived of in Tolkien's youth were very different from the one that later evolved to fight Gandalf. The balrogs were much weaker, they rode mechanical dragons, and there were thousand of them. By the end of Tolkien's life the balrogs had been rewritten to be much more powerful, the mechanical dragons were eliminated, and their numbers could have been reduced to as few as three to have ever existed. The slaying of many balrogs at the fall of Gondolin cannot really be accepted as evidence of their power.
[ June 26, 2002: Message edited by: Thingol ]
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Yet the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.
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06-26-2002, 09:53 AM
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