LotR -- Book 2 - Chapter 05 - The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

[Huinesoron]

I concur that the Durin's Bane passage gives no indication that the Balrog always has wings, but I stand by my interpretation tgat when the Shadow that makes up its substance takes the form of wings, they are indeed wings.

Because yes, Tolkien initially says 'spread out like wings', to describe the change of shape ('spread out as wings' would be very clumsy, don't you think?). But only a few paragraphs later, when the fact that they are of Shadow has been established, he drops the comparative: 'its wings were spread from wall to wall'.

Not 'its like-wings'. Not 'it seemed it had wings that spread'. Just 'its wings'. Like the 'mane' of fire, the 'wings' of shadoe have become a feature of the Balrog - of this Balrog, at this moment.

hS

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Because yes, Tolkien initially says 'spread out like wings', to describe the change of shape ('spread out as wings' would be very clumsy, don't you think?). But only a few paragraphs later, when the fact that they are of Shadow has been established, he drops the comparative: 'its wings were spread from wall to wall'.

Not 'its like-wings'. Not 'it seemed it had wings that spread'. Just 'its wings'. Like the 'mane' of fire, the 'wings' of shadoe have become a feature of the Balrog - of this Balrog, at this moment.

Or Tolkien--trusting his reader (foolishly, it would seem)--converts the simile to a metaphor.

The endless nature of the Great Balrog Debate is kind of fascinating if I ever step back from it--even elf-ears as a debate doesn't feel like quite the same thing. It something of a sui generis issue: a single-passage interpretative battle without an exact analogue anywhere else in the fandom.

Following its well-worn steps would undoubtedly lead one of us eventually to the non-LotR texts about balrogs (which fail in the slightest to make me think that Tolkien visualised them as having wings)--but as that takes us beyond the scope of a chapter-by-chapter discussion, I shall refrain from going there.