May 28, 2002

Re: Balrogs
Richard P.

Hmmmm........ you sure gave me some things to think about in my Balrog argument just there! However.... I'll try and answer back!

Firstly, the ability of the Balrog to cast a spell does not necceseraly indicate any great intelligence... just good memory. The Balrog is a Maia and as such has an inherant amount of power in its being. This power is not restrained or diminished through taking on human form or by restrictions placed on the Istari by the Valar. Therefore all the Balrog has to do is remember the right words, say or think them and the spell will work. It would seem to me then that when the Balrog sensed Gandalf's spell, it reacted instinctively to counter the spell. The reason that Gandalf then has problems is because, unlike the Balrog, he has to think using a mortal humans brain of what to do next, then remember the spell, and then cast it, without using so much magic that he destroys his own body.

Carrying on with Balrog intelligence, I think that all they know is how to destroy things. That is their purpose. When they defected to Morgoth and became Balrogs they effectively renounced what they were previously and became beings of pure desrtuction. Thats all they know, all they think about and all they want to do. They gave themselves over to the dominion of Morgoth, and that HAS to effect their intelligence. Usually when Morgoth created something he allowed part of his own being to pass into it. This would make an already corrupt Maia even more evil, and also give Morgoth an element of control over his underlings.

Of course the spanner in the works of my Balrog - Minimal Intelligence theory is Gothmog, who was the Commander of the Legions of Angband. I think that that job requires a fair bit of intelligence, but as it mainly involves a lot of planning of death and destruction on a large scale maybe I can get away with saying that it is what comes naturally to him!

As to the Balrog running away from Gandalf, I'll continue to stand by that for the moment. I haven't currently got the book in front of me but I believe in those passages the words "fled from me" and also "pursued" were used, surely implying some kind of a chase?

I still think that the Balrogs were subservient creatures, that they had no real "intelligence" as defined by having extra knowledge not needed to survive. For instance, we don't say that a cheetah is intelligent for the way in which it hunts, we say it is using its instincts... I think this is exactly what the Balrog in the Mines of Moria does.