Strongest Creatures
 

What is the strongest creature or creatures in Middle Earth? In terms of physical strength?

My list is;

1. Ents
2. Dragon
3. Balrog
4. Istari
5. Beorn
6. Cave Trolls
7. Elven Lords

While the power and who would in a versus is another issue, I am looking for pure strength.

I put Ents first as the feats they accomplish are unbelievable. Tossing tons of rock and iron posts hundreds of feet in the air like leaves and crumbling rock like paper is stronger than a Balrog or Dragon. I loved the scenes as depicted in the movie too, I though they captured the power of Ents perfectly. The scene where the dam bursts and they stand against the power of the water flooding down almost defies belief.

Who would win between a Balrog and an Ent?

Balrog are corrupted Maia but Ents are as old and likely created during the song that created Arda. Treebeard has been around since the beginning and that plus his physical strength should at least give him a chance.

Where does it say they toss huge pieces of rock hundreds of feet in the air? I think a dragon in full flight would crush an Ent.

And if we're talking physical strength, the Istari shouldn't be on the list. They are frail old men.

Round and round the rock of Orthanc the Ents went striding and storming like a howling gale, breaking pillars, hurling avalanches of boulders down the shafts, tossing up huge slabs of stone into the air like leaves. The tower was in the middle of a spinning whirlwind. I saw iron posts and blocks of masonry go rocketing up hundreds of feet, and smash against the windows of Orthanc. --TTT

“Will you really break the doors of Isengard?” asked Merry.

“Ho, hm, well, we could, you know! You do not know, perhaps, how strong we are. Maybe you have heard of Trolls? They are mighty strong. But Trolls are only counterfeits, made by the Enemy in the Great Darkness, in mockery of Ents, as Orcs were of Elves. We are stronger than Trolls. We are made of the bones of the earth. We can split stone like the roots of trees, only quicker, far quicker, if our minds our roused! If we are not hewn down, or destroyed by fire or blast of sorcery, we could split Isengard into splinters and crack its walls into rubble.” --TTT


“But arrows are no use against Ents. They hurt them, of course, and infuriate them: like stinging flies. But an Ent can be stuck as full of orc-arrows as a pin-cushion, and take no serious harm. They cannot be poisoned, for one thing; and their skin seems to be very thick, and tougher then bark. It takes a very heavy axe-stroke to wound them seriously. They don’t like axes. But there would have to be a great many axe-men to one Ent: a man that hacks once at an Ent never gets a chance of a second blow. A punch from an Ent-fist crumples up iron like thin tin.

When Treebeard had got a few arrows in him, he began to warm up, to get positively ‘hasty’, as he would say. He let out a great hoom-hom, and a dozen more Ents came striding up. An angry Ent is terrifying. Their fingers, and their toes, just freeze on to rock; and they tear it up like bread-crust. It was like watching the work of great tree-roots in a hundred years, all packed into a few moments.”--TTT

Fair enough. :)

Regardless of how heavy those pieces were, though, I think a dragon could throw them further. They're much bigger than Ents.

How about Tom Bombadil?

I never pictured Gandalf as frail. I'm sure when he fought the Balrog, he did more than cast spells from standoff distance.

You seem to be forgetting the mighty mûmak. Its size and weight would make it a lot stronger than an ent. If a mûmak could somehow throw a rock, I guess it would throw further than the ent and the dragon.

Not as far as a dragon. Those things are ginormous.

As a mighty tree can crumble stone and twist metal over many years, the Ents possess such, great strength they can do it in seconds. Just by gripping stone they can chew through it like bread crust. That is incredibly powerful.

Another incredible feat was resisting the waters of the River Isen when they tore down the dam. A couple of feet of fast moving water can sweep a car off the road and they were able to stand against the volume of water of a mighty river released in an instant. That is mind boggling strength.

Ungoliant
 

I think people are forgetting Ungoliant here. She was someone who scared even Morgoth; and when he refused to hand the Silmarils over to her, overpowered him. :eek: He only escaped from her with the help of the Balrogs.