The Balrog vs The Witch King

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by obloquy

It doesn't matter how Legolas knew: Tolkien told us unequivocally that Sauron was greater than the balrogs.

The only questions that have to be asked in this discussion are, which character actually took up the aegis of Morgoth after his fall? Which character had the power to restore evil in Middle-earth and maintain a semblance of rule while Morgoth was exiled (more than once, mind you)?

Hint: it wasn't a Balrog. They hid. They showed neither the propensity for leadership, nor even an inkling of will to turn defeat into the possibility of victory. They had no personal power to draw all the evil elements of Middle-earth into a vast and insidious web that ensnared all of the East and most of the West.

It is obvious that Sauron alone among the followers of Morgoth had the will and the power to become Dark Lord in his master's stead. It was Sauron that rebuilt Angband into a more terrible bastion than Utumno ever was. It was Sauron who haunted the steps of the West for two Ages, was the primary cause of the destruction of Numenor, decimated the realm of Arnor, nearly crushed Gondor, and it was against the domination of Sauron that the Valar sent the Istari to Arda.

If Gandalf could defeat a Balrog, what could be said of Sauron, who was Gandalf's primary foe, and the only reason the Istari were in Middle-earth in the first place? If one really considers the story itself in its entirety, then the answer and the question itself is superfluous.