Another Balrog thread...
 

Fear not, I do not intend to discuss whether or not Balrog's have or have not wings. This topic deals with the relationship of Balrogs and the dwarven rings.

As I posted a link to the "Of the Rings of Power" thread, I started thinking. One quote in that thread caught my particular attention: The dwarven rings had more of Sauron's taint than some of the other's, such as the three for example. It was theorized in the aforementioned thread that the dwarven rings were made more powerful to ensnare the hearty nature of the dwarves. They were not transformed into wraiths, per se, but perhaps a more dire consequence was inflicted upon them.

I found out from Sharku that the Balrog in Moria (Durin's Bane) was awakened during the mid Third Age, when the dwarven lords were in possession of their rings, or had started to lose them. As the quote I provided states, the natural greed of the dwarves was inflamed by the rings, adding to their already ravenous goldlust. It is also said that the balrog was awakened due to the dwarves of Moria "delving too deep," obviously in the acquisition of more wealth.

My question therefore is this, is there any chance that the rings given to the dwarves had something to do with the reawakening of the Balrog? Not that Sauron had intended this from the start, but that perhaps the corrupt nature of the rings sought out the dark spirit of the Balrog, maybe as the Ruling Ring sought out Sauron? I'm not certain whether there is a definate answer to this question, but if anyone wishes to add their opinion, please do so, and sate my curiosity.

[ August 03, 2002: Message edited by: Feanaro ]

I doubt it. While the Seven certainly did affect the Dwarves, they would've delved "too deep" for mithril anyway.

Although the Seven did have a way of seeking out the demons of Morgoth (if I remember correctly, four were destroyed by Dragon-fire and three were taken by Sauron).

Well I dont have a definate answer for this, but it definitley is an interesting theory....The Rings do have a will of their own, but I dont know why the ring would have chosen to go towards the balrog. Maybe the rings are "programmed" so to speak to go towards dark things, so they may end up on Sauron's hand once again. And I always dwarves werent ensared, as the men were because they were too stubborn and set in their ways, to go under control.

I know this is off topic, but if sauron did end up getting ALL the rings, thats 20 of em. Would he put them all on his fingers Mr. T style, or would he have toe rings, haha, just a thought....

Actually, I've always wondered if the Balrog somehow lured the dwarves down to him so he could be released. In light of your ring theory, it kinda makes sense. Even if someone shoots this down, it's still an interesting thought.
lol about the Mister T idea!
Sauron: "Give me my ring, hobbit fool!!"

He was going to make a big bada superring of course.

Interesting theory, Feanaro. I definitely think it might be possible.

A very good theory, I think. When the ring was in Moria it could have aroused the Balrog, then the ring goes to Erebor and very well could have aroused Smaug to their location.

It's a feasible theory, and one that I pretty much agree with.

If there were powers of good that moved the members of the Fellowship to certain decisions, seemingly according to intuition, then there were surely foils of these that moved the vulnerable to misdeeds, or to actions that would benefit the "evil side".

An interesting theory. However, I must point out that the Rings were not made for the Dwarves nor for the ensnaring of the Dwarves. They were in fact made by the Elves of Eregion for the Elves of Eregion. All of the rings made under the gaze of Sauron were tainted, only the three most powerful made by Celebrimbor alone and without the knowledge of Sauron were un-tainted. Sauron, when he found that they could not control the Elves demanded the rings and when they were not given up he took by force all that he could find. He then gave Seven to the Dwarves and Nine to Men.

If the Seven that he gave to the Dwarves were more powerful than those he gave to Men, then this would be due to their being made after the ones given to Men and not because they had been made stronger to have more effect on Dwarves.

While it is possible that the Ring of Khazad-dum did have some influence on the awakening of the Balrog, you must remember that the reason the Rings of Power were made in the first place was the domination of the Elves and their use in Men and Dwarves was simply Sauron not wishing to completely waste the effort of getting the Elves to make them and his making of the One Ring.

You took the words right out of my mouth Lord Gothmong.

But in the case of the Balrog, I don't think the rings were attracted to it at all. It's known the dwarves were resistant to Sauron's attempts at controlling them, and the entire power of the ring was reduced to only inflaming the greedy nature. This tells me the dwarves had slightly more control over their rings compared to men. Therefore indirectly, Sauron released the Balrog.

It is possible however that Sauron knew what the effects the rings would be on the dwarves and then used this to increase the odds of them releasing the Balrog. It's obvious that Sauron had no control over the Balrog, if he did he would have used it at that time. So because Sauron couldn't use it for himself, why not get a people to release it so it could cause havok amongst the peoples of Middle Earth? Makes sense to me.

Check out my uh.. wots a maiar ???/ thread for more information.

It's located here!

Thanks to everyone who already posted an intelligent thought, I appreciate the input. Keep it coming!

[ August 09, 2002: Message edited by: Feanaro ]

Seeing as how the recent purging of The Books has done a great deal to entice the more serious posters back into the forum, I decided to bump this topic back up and see if anyone else had any thoughts to add.