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Dread Horseman
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Re: Balrogs DO have wings!!!
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Quote:<hr> The shadow IS a physical character istic of the Balrog and that was described using a simile and then tolkien refered back to that simile as is his common practice( he uses a simile to descrivbe something then later on refers to the simile when taliking about the object again)
THE SHADOW IS NOT METAPHORICAL IT IS AN ESTABLISHED CHARACTERISTIC OF A BALROG<hr></blockquote>I’ve never quite been able to understand what people who hew to this theory picture when they think of a Balrog. If I were to see a Balrog, would it look like a walking black cloud (sort of like Pig-Pen from
Peanuts only bigger, meaner, and more stinky)? That sort of vision is no more authoritatively established than wings are.
In my view, the “shadow” is just a way to describe the utterly black Balrog in the gloom of Khazad-dűm. Consider this sentence: <blockquote>
Quote:<hr> With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished.<hr></blockquote>Here “shadow” clearly refers to the Balrog – it’s not some weird black vaporous emanation that plunges down and vanishes, leaving the Balrog standing there on the bridge without his cloud cover. I’ve cited several other similar instances where Tolkien referred to his bad guys as being “like shadows” – as was his common practice –
http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/u...&t=000383x=100here</a> in the other thread.
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