Balrog Breaking and Entering

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

I'm sticking with my contention that Balrogs have redundant wings, just so they can put on a big, terrifying show when they want to. Non-functional, but potentially impressive. But that's just me.

After reading the thread, several quotes come to mind:

"There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." (Gandalf, "A Journey in the Dark")

"But even as mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane." (also Gandalf, later in the same chapter)

"Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin's folk, Gimli son of Gloin. Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he." (Gandalf, "The White Rider")

All these things make me think several things:

1. There are tunnels below Moria.

2. The creatures that made them are tremendously old.

3. The Dwarves know nothing about them.

4. The Balrog knew about them, even if it didn't make them.

5. The Dwarves' knowledge of such tunnels was either minimal or non-existent, until they woke up the Balrog.

I have often wondered about the "nameless things" that are even older than Sauron. Did Gandalf mean that literally, or merely in terms of their existence in Middle-earth? If they are literally older than Sauron, they would have to be some form of Ainur, since Tolkien never mentions that Eru made anything related to Ea before he made the Valar and Maiar. If they're merely older than Sauron in that they were in Middle-earth before he took up permanent residence there, I would be inclined to think that they were more of Melkor's "experiments." He may have planted them well below the surface of ME so as to avoid the notice of the Valar, sort of strange weapons in reserve (or perhaps even stranger time-bombs). Whatever they were, in fleeing the War of Wrath, the Balrog of Moria may simply have high-tailed it into the tunnels, not even knowing where he would end up, so long as it was somewhere he could avoid being noticed, and captured or destroyed.

Hope that made sense. I'm still on pins and needles waiting to find out if my husband will still have a job at the end of the month. They were supposed to tell him two weeks ago, but now it's probably going to be later this week. Danged Balrogs still exist in the modern world, I guess.