Does the Silmarillion Contradict Third age History? How Powerful Were Those First age

[Zigûr]

According to The Return of the Shadow, Professor Tolkien planned for a Balrog being in Moria around 1940 (after originally planning that it would be a Ringwraith on the bridge instead). When did he first conceive of Balrogs as being Maiar? That's the key question.

Certainly in Letter 144 he does refer to them as "primeval spirits", although that doesn't necessarily mean Maiar as we understand it now. When was the concept of the Maiar properly solidified? When he was writing The Lord of the Rings, there were still "Children of the Valar".

I'm not really sure what point I'm trying to make to be honest

EDIT: I believe Christopher Tolkien thinks that the term "Maiar" was first used in 1958 (according to Morgoth's Ring) but that doesn't prove much about finding a date for the idea of what would eventually be called "Maiar".

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Certainly in Letter 144 he does refer to them as "primeval spirits", although that doesn't necessarily mean Maiar as we understand it now.

Good point. I simplified the matter too much above, although I was centering on "primeval spirits" compared to Melkor-made creatures. The terms Maiar and Umaiar (for Balrogs) do appear in the early 1950s (if CJRT's guess about AAm* is correct), but the matter is not so simple, as you correctly suggest (for example: Maiar "the beautiful" at a point in this phase, and the Valarindi, the children of the Valar).

I should have gone with "primeval spirits" versus Melkor-made

I'm not really sure what point I'm trying to make to be honest

I rarely am sure what point I'm trying to make