Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Nirvana II]

the question is not "Do Valaraukar have wings?",but "Are Valaraukar solid?" . Think of what a Balrog is made of. Darkness and fire. If they really are made of that, then they could probably choose to have wings or not to have wings.

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

Shape-shifting of any variety was something Tolkien made a habit of mentioning.

The only few examples came from ... Beren, Luthien and Sauron, and Beorn and his offspring.

He went out of his way to say that these were special instances of that sort of power being used ... nothing like that was even mentioned referring to Balrogs.

Anyway, Morgoth was the one who wrapped them in their shadows, they just volunteered for the super-villain makeover. They couldn't just change at will ... it's not like they were made of smoke. Just surrounded by it.

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

Somehow, I kept getting shot down...

But why won't anyone subscribe to the theory I put forth?

'Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge,' said Gandalf. 'Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.'

1. The Balrog that Gandalf fought can swim.

2. The same Balrog is a slimy creature... not just something of darkness and fire.

3. The same Balrog was awaken by Pippin's itchy fingers.

Pippin felt curiously attracted by the well. While the others were unrolling blankets and making beds against the walls of the chamber, as far as possible from the hole in the floor, he crept to the edge and peered over. A chill air seemed to strike his face, rising from invisible depths. Moved by a sudden impulse he groped for a loose stone, and let it drop.

Mind you, this was a well with water in it.

It point to something fishy - something so grosteque as to be attributed only to the perverted mind of the foul Enemy of the World, who in ages past twisted and mocked all that came within his grasp. The 'wings' that the Balrog had are fins that that Morgoth manufactured.

While these measly 'evidences' can hardly support the grounds that Balrogs in general have fins, they do create the basis for beliefs that Balrogs have wings that serve no other purpose than decoration.

Ahem... You can stone me now.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Hot, crispy nice hobbit

While these measly 'evidences' can hardly support the grounds that Balrogs in general have fins, they do create the basis for beliefs that Balrogs have wings that serve no other purpose than decoration.

Ahem... You can stone me now.

So...

Was the Balrog a "flying fish"? Or just the swimming kind?

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

While I can hardly claim any expertise on Balrogs, I am skeptical as to the relationship between fishes and Maiar...

I am more of the opinion that Evil Bio-engineer Professor Morgoth mutated the excess appendages of his deluded servants into something too obsene to be imagined...

"How's my pretty demon-fish roasting?" - Morgoth