What if Glorfindel joined the fellowship to Lothlorien?

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Arathorn111

even if they didn't know that Durins Bane wans't a Balrog at least they would have excepted as much.

But why would they have any reason to anticipate the presence of an ancient demon of a kind that, as far as they knew, had been wiped out or vanished over six thousand years earlier?

Originally Posted by Inziladun

That returns to the fact that the true nature of Durin's Bane wasn't known by any of the Fellowship, or indeed by anyone in Rivendell. Both Aragorn and Gandalf had been through Moria previously, and neither had perceived, or apparently encountered, the Balrog.
Dáin had gotten a partial glimpse of it during the Battle of Azanulbizar, but had no inkling of what it was.
That being the case, Gandalf's logic for not including an "elf-lord" in the Fellowship is sound enough.

Exactly.
Admittedly I daresay Glorfindel's presence might have been useful, but as we've established he would have been too much of a target, even travelling from one Elven land to another, which they hadn't planned anyway. The point is, the Fellowship as it was didn't stand out on the 'spiritual radar' as it were, which is seemingly why it took until Rauros for Sauron (and Saruman) to find them in the wilderness. If they'd been more obvious, with Glorfindel, perhaps it would have been far easier for Sauron to assault them more powerfully and more quickly.