Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

You know me, Underhill: post now, research later.

It will be good to have more time to draw pictures of Florence and listen to The Goldberg Variations. Perhaps, too, the audience will be captive enough to listen to my new theory: if one were to put all of Tolkien's writing from all sources into chronological order, take every twelfth word and write them as one continuous stream of letters, then take every twelfth letter of the sequence and translate the resultant words from their respective languages, it will give the sinister connection between the Cotton Library fire of 1731, this picture by Louis Wain, a freemason's headstone in Repton churchyard and the disappearance of the S.S. Waratah. The Medici popes and the Kennedy assassination might be involved too, but that depends on the size of the publisher's advance.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Squatter

I don't remember any direct statement from JRRT that Balrogs don't have wings.

I don't remeber any direct statement from JRRT that Hobbits don't have wings, either - & Gandalf did clearly tell them to 'Fly!' I think we have to ask what Hobbit wingspans might be...

[Morsul the Dark]

strangely we have an "elastic statement" I notice both sides use the same quote to support their ideas.

but here's what it all comes down to:

I don't remeber any direct statement from JRRT that Hobbits don't have wings, either - & Gandalf did clearly tell them to 'Fly!' I think we have to ask what Hobbit wingspans might be...

It would be...oh I'd say......three and a half feet tall so about 9 foot wing span?

Here's the thing if you were to think of a bird....the wingspan is usually(now I'm estimating) about three times longer than its height... so A Balrog at 15 feet tall..

That's why he called Aragorn "Wingfoot". Going REALLY FAST. I imagine Balrogs, having a great deal longer legs than humans (if they stood around fifteen feet tall, their legs would be roughly nine feet long), .

Keeper ofDolGuldur said this

One would assume the wingspan at about 45 feet

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/attachm...tachmentid=182

considering they fold away from the body kind of like a vulture they would go down to 20 feet across... and still leave room or whip snapping and sword wielding.

now The Guy who be Short brought up an interesting point

Now, Balrogs are creatures of fire and shadow. Leather wings would simply burn off. Ergo, Balrogs don't have wings. Well, not leathery ones.

as for the material one would assume they have glands which secreet flame resistent chemicals kind of like sweat.

[the guy who be short]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

as for the material one would assume they have glands which secreet flame resistent chemicals kind of like sweat.

Perhaps they wore Kevlar? That wasn't really meant to be taken seriously though - I'm quite sure the majority of those "Winger" oddballs believe the wings are made of shadow and fire like the rest of the 'Roggies, thus the inability to fly

The shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.

If the Balrog had wings, why that terminology? Why liken shadow to wings if the Balrog already had wings? Surely Tolkien could just say "The shadowy wings reached out" or something like that? Bottom line, why use a simile for something that exists already.

[Mister Underhill]

Do you mean like when he says about the Balrog when we first see it: ""it was like a great shadow..."?

[the guy who be short]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

Do you mean like when he says about the Balrog when we first see it: ""it was like a great shadow..."?

Exactement. Obviously the Balrog wasn't a great big shadow, thus the use of simile.

[Folwren]

Originally posted by the guy who be short:
If the Balrog had wings, why that terminology? Why liken shadow to wings if the Balrog already had wings? Surely Tolkien could just say "The shadowy wings reached out" or something like that? Bottom line, why use a simile for something that exists already.

Exactly my reasoning. Any writer, any English major, or any English Professor, will know the difference between a subject and an adjective. He mentioned the wings to explain the shadow, whereas had he wanted the Balrog to have real wings, he would have mentioned the shadow to explain the wings.

I like your points, TGWBS.

- Folwren