Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Mister Underhill]

Ah (or should that be 'Ai'?), the Balrog Wars. I am fortunately comfortably retired from same, but this thread brings back memories, particularly this, Morth:

Originally Posted by Morthoron

'Winged speed', ladies and gentlemen, 'winged speed': [snip]

I deployed this same argument during a campaign over nine years ago (OMG). I think just about every scrap of Balrog information and evidence, no matter how tenuous or tangential, has been battled over here at one time or another, but it's nice to see one of the more obscure arguments independently confirmed, as it were.

Ten years later and something I said back then seems even more true today -- arguing Balrog wings is like arguing religion or politics. The odds of actually converting someone to your way of thinking are practically nil.

In fact, the ground is so tenaciously contested that this, from Kuru --

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I may be willing to partially concede a small point. [regarding some basically inconsequential detail about the doors of the Chamber of Mazarbul]

-- was a MAJOR victory, of which songs shall be sung and epic poems shall be written hereafter. Seriously, I gotta get going on those poems. They're not gonna write themselves. Anyway, there was feasting, wine, and wenches that night, I assure you.