Luthien weilding Vilya

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

With Gondolin in mind, however, perhaps it's not unreasonable to suppose that the quantities of his strength which would have to be wasted in such an assault could be quite considerable for Morgoth; how many Balrogs could he afford to lose, or Dragons for that matter?

Melkor's armies have taken hits before. The one he sent out to take out Doriath was annihilated by Fëanor and his people. After Gondolin he had huge armies still to unleash against the powers that finally overthrew him. He seemed to be always updating his weaponry and building up his resources. He had those metal machines against Gondolin, then he held back the flying dragons and unleashed them against the powers. I think Melkor always had enough resources for his armies and such losses could be replaced. I suppose it might be a bit harder if there were 3 realms under the protection of the Three Rings. In the end, it would just be a slower death for the Elves.