Quote:
|
What struck me is that Tolkien, the master of words and their usage, usually doesn't say something needlessly. In this scene he used the words "like wings" in his description. Might this mean that he intended to only describe the shape and size of the shadow, rather than the Balrog?
|
As fate would have it, the professor used this “like-shadow” construction on numerous occasions. Some examples are
here. I think the whole “simile” argument falls apart fairly quickly if you widen your scope beyond those few sentences in “The Bridge of Khazad-dûm”.