Thread: Balrog size
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Old 02-02-2002, 05:44 PM   #5
Thingol
Shade of Carn Dûm
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Long Island, New York
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During Glorfindel's fight with the Balrog in The Fall of Gondolin in The HoME series it says that the Balrog was well nigh twice Glorfindel's size. Assuming Glorfindel is around 6 ft. that would make the Balrog around 12 feet with a vast shadow surrounding it. The Balrogs were much less powerful when Tolkien wrote the Fall of Gondolin, but there is no indication, as far as I know, that he changed the stature of the Balrogs along with their power. Because Durin's Bane spent alot of time underground, I've always thought that he was little shorter, probably 8-10 feet, thats just my personal opinion though. If the Balrog was indeed tremendous he probably wouldn't have been able to stand on the Bridge of Khazud-Dum and he probably would have just swept Gandalf off the bridge with his sword stroke.
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