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Gandalf was fully incarnate and thus required physical sustenance. He was put in this state intentionally so it was complete. Balrogs of the Third Age were likely incarnate, but their incarnation was inadvertent, and due to repeatedly engaging in certain activities of the physical realm (eating and conceiving children, Tolkien says, are the most "incarnating" of all). Balrogs were, however, at one time only "clothed" spirits, with a self-fashioned physical raiment. We know that they were eventually fully corporeal because their later deaths were final and there is no indication that anyone feared their re-embodiment.
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