June 22, 2002

Balrog Comment and Radagast Fantasy
David K.

I have been following, rather reluctantly, the Balrog discussion, and find it interesting that no one has yet pointed out the fact that the Balrog was apparently awake, active, and involved in the Dwarf/Orc war. Perhaps he just was looking to kick some a** or maybe he was leading from behind the scenes?

Second, my brother and I were discussing Radagast, and what was his ultimate fate, and wouldn't it be nice to know more/see more about him. We were discussing how he was sent as a balance to Saruman (nature vs. technology). Then I suddenly realized that it would have been very cool if instead of Treebeard getting angry, inciting the Ents, and attacking Isengard, what if Radagast finally had enough of Saruman's attacks on nature, and HE incited the forests and animals (or maybe just the Ents) and led the attack on Isengard. He would thus at least complete his duty of balancing Saruman. I'm not in any way saying this is a better story line than the original. It was just sort of interesting to think about.