[Voronwe]

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Haunting Spirit
Posts: 95</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE>
Re: Dragons, Balrogs and other nasties

I think the reason Morgoth was still able to exert control over his servants, even at the end of the second age, was because he was either their corrupter or their creator. They must have had a very strong loyalty towards him - as Mithadan says, they were bound to him. As far as I know, the only servant of Morgoth who stopped obeying him was Ungoliant.

Sauron, on the other hand, had less of a claim on evil as Morgoth did, and more of a capacity for attracting or stirring up evil. Certainly the ring, being completely evil in nature, must have magnified this power. I believe that the arising of Sauron in the third age may have helped to 'wake up' the Balrog in Moria. It's worth pointing out that this would have happened without the use of the ring.

I can't imagine Sauron having any control over dragons, which were extremely selfish creatures as a rule. Dragons must have been around at the time of the last Alliance, and there's no mention of Sauron using them then. If Smaug had still been alive during the war of the ring, he would probably have emerged of his own accord, seeing the opportunity for more plunder.



-Voronwë
<font size="2">"For Aldarion had become enamoured of the Great Sea, and of a ship riding there alone without sight of land, borne by the winds with foam at its throat to coasts and havens unguessed; and that love and desire never left him until his life's end."</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000143>Voronwe</A> at: 1/18/01 4:39:47 pm