June 9, 2002

Re: Balrogs and Intelligence
Richard P.

Yes!!! Thank you Tomas!!! Thats basically the point I was trying to get across... that regardless of how wise you are, if the other guy is bigger than you, your gonna get squished; and that just because the Balrog can break Gandalf's spell doesn't make it wise... it may simply be acting on instinct.

Also.... for those Tolkien purists.. I noticed someone saying that only Tolkien could say that the books were flawed and that it was wrong for a reader to say wether Lord of the Rings was flawed or not. (Or something like that... forgive me if I'm wrong, I haven't looked back at the original post.)

The point is, Tolkien DID describe nearly all of his work as flawed. In fact, he was one of the biggest critics of his own work. He constantly bemoaned the fact that the book was too short, and said that some characters (Arwen included) needed to be expanded in the text. However, due to publisher pressure he had to publish before he wanted to. This is also the real reason for the titles 'The Two Towers' and 'Return of the King'.
To say that the Lord of the Rings, or any of Tolkien's work is flawed is ok, because he himself said that.