Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

Good point! Though I still feel he ought to have more power (let's just ignore the fact that he's a wrinkled old man who can actually wield a sword lol).

You may have something there.
As I think back to his battle, maybe it can be explained this way.

In the first stage (on the bridge) Gandalf's first aim and priority was to get the company safely out of Moria. Getting caught up in a fight might give orcs & trolls more chance to come on the scene and bar the gate or otherwise attack the fellowship. Thus, he sacrificed his staff in order to break the bridge and, he hoped, take the Balrog out of the picture long enough for them to escape.

He obviously did not expect that parting whip-stroke that dragged him into the abyss. A simple mistake, but very costly.

So, in the second stage, he lacked his staff (which is elsewhere shown to be VERY IMPORTANT - for lighting fires, as a lantern, for driving off flying nazgul, for use in healing Theoden <even in the books it was part of the process>, for disarming Gimli, Legolas & Aragorn when they thought him Saruman, and perhaps more). So his offensive power was significantly (and unexpectedly) reduced and he had to improvise. The result was he still killed the Balrog, but only after a long and damaging battle from which he received mortal wounds.

Had the battle been a more formally arranged bout - you know, Bally in the blue corner, Gandy in the red; unlimited rounds, unlimited choice of tactics, No Seconds, one-on-one, to the death - then perhaps Gandalf would have wiped the floor with the Balrog.

Unfortunately, real-life battles (especially the ones that matter) are rarely so cut-and-dried. They come in the midst of other engagements and the parties have to make do with what they have on the spur of the moment. And that, I think, tends to make such contests more chancy and less of a slam-dunk - even if one party is natively stronger.