Ok, actually now to shoot myself in the foot. Later in the same passage, the Mines of Moria there is evidence for the Balrog being much larger. Again, its all circumstantial and supposition.
"Gandalf stood in the middle of the span". We know the bridge was 50 feet from the text, so Gandalf is 25 ft from the edge.
"It stepped forward slowly onto the bridge..." then "From out of the shadow a red sword leaped flaming"
"The Balrog fell back..."
"With a bound the Balrog leaped full upon the bridge..."
Obviously I left several lines out, but these are the key action sequences. Gandalf 25ft from the edge in the middle of the bridge, Balrog stepping slowly onto the bridge (then drawing himself up to great height) and swinging his sword at Gandalf. Gandalf parries with Glamdring, staggers the Balrog and knocks him back, then the Balrog recovers and bounds FULL onto the bridge.
Either this indicates that the Balrog was never fully on the bridge, or was knocked completely back by Gandalfs sword blow. If knocked completely off the bridge, it flew back 20-25 ft, while its blow merely staggered Gandalf a step. If Gandalf was so powerful, how could the Balrog have killed him as well?
The alternate interpretation is that the Balrog was only just at the foot of the bridge when he struck at Gandalf, requiring a reach of some 20 ft or so. That argues for an immense Balrog. By Tolkiens use of the word FULL we can be pretty sure that after Gandalfs blow the Balrog was knocked completely off the bridge, back to its foot.
Compromise solution, that fits the mental image I get from reading that passage too.
A 12ft Balrog steps on the bridge, take 2, 3 strides (covering approx 12 ft) It is now about halfway between Gandalf and the foot of the bridge. He pauses, straightens to his full height and swells his shadow in an attempt to impress and intimidate Gandalf. Then, while Gandalf is hopefully distracted the Balrog leaps forwards, sword swinging. Gandalf is alert however and parries the blow. Glamdring shatters the Balrogs sword and the power released and the Balrogs off balance position send him flying back at least his own body length (12ft), he skids another couple feet, and comes to rest back at the foot of the bridge (remember, a 12 ft Balrog would have a reach of about 6 ft, and a sword 6-8ft long. From his 12ft position on the bridge he needed only leap ~4ft to reach Gandalf). Big bad Balrog gets back up, bounds onto the bridge and all hell breaks loose (well at least the bridge does)
Oh, how I wish for GI Joe action figures to work it out for you!!
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