Balrog 'v' Moria orcs

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Not to inject seriousness into this topic (well, OK maybe to make a serious comment) there is a lengthy and near legendary thread that, in part, addresses the issue of food in Moria. It is linked here: http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthr...ghlight=bridge.

Oh my eyes! The broken code!

Originally Posted by Andsigil

As for whether or not they could, collectively, beat a Balrog, there is a quote often attributed to Stalin during WWII which goes, "Quantity has a quality all its own". So, perhaps, yes.

I don't think, short of Sauron's actual presence, the orcs would or could have attacked the balrog. I believe the balrog would have exercised an influence on the orcs that I don't think even the Nazgul would have been able to overcome.

Had Sauron been present and needed to take down the balrog (and I could imagine such a scenario being possible, evil not getting along very well with itself) and Sauron not choosing to wade in himself, then yes, I think numbers would have told in the end.

[Axbolt]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Oh my eyes! The broken code!

I don't think, short of Sauron's actual presence, the orcs would or could have attacked the balrog. I believe the balrog would have exercised an influence on the orcs that I don't think even the Nazgul would have been able to overcome.

So if Sauron himself stayed out of it, the Balrog could be more powerful than the Nazgul? And beat them in a streight fight? That is an interesting idea

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Axbolt

So if Sauron himself stayed out of it, the Balrog could be more powerful than the Nazgul? And beat them in a streight fight? That is an interesting idea

Well, the Balrog, as a Maia that had chosen to serve Melkor, was basically a peer of Sauron.
Actually, by the time of the Third Age Sauron had expended a great deal of his own native power in the domination of his slaves, so a Ringless Sauron could really have been substantially weaker than the Balrog.

The Nazgûl, as further diluted extensions of Sauron's spirit, could not have stood against the Balrog. Nor, do I think, could they have had many options in harming it. Their main power was in terror, though their king did have a measure of sorcery through the utter submission of his will to his master.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The Nazgûl, as further diluted extensions of Sauron's spirit, could not have stood against the Balrog. Nor, do I think, could they have had many options in harming it. Their main power was in terror, though their king did have a measure of sorcery through the utter submission of his will to his master.

Additionally, the Nazgûl in their origins were lesser beings than the Balrog and their transformation did not change that.