Dragons vs. Balrogs?

[Thingol]

I'm inclined to agree with Obloquy, for the most part Tolkien's works are independent from classical mythology. However, I just finished reading Beowulf, and the Dragon from the story bears striking familiarity to Smaug. For example the dragon is Beowulf is roused by a man who steals a jeweled cup from the dragon's hoard, just as Smaug is roused by Bilbo stealing a jeweled cup. The description of the dragon in Beowulf is also very similar to the description of Smaug. However, just because the Dragons that Tolkien borrowed are beings of incredible power and ferocity does not mean that this is proof that Dragons are more powerful than Balrogs. Tolkien certainly did not blindly copy the descriptions of Dragons from other works, he made many modifications to them. It is evident, at least to me, that Tolkien's Dragons are not on the same level as some of the Dragons described in Norse and especially Chineese mythology. In Tolkien's works the Dragons are more like beasts of pure physical power, and as I've said this does not necessarily give them an edge over the Balrogs. I do not know much about Norse mythology outside of Beowulf, so I really can't tell how closely Tolkien's mythos resembles already existing ones. I posted a thread in Books 2 discussing the originality of Tolkien's works, which is relevant to this discussion.

[ March 17, 2002: Message edited by: Thingol ]