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re: The use of "like" -- if you do your homework on this topic, you'll find that Tolkien frequently uses "like" in ways that don't support the "like only means a simile" argument -- especially when he's introducing villains. I've linked to old threads and posts often enough in the past if you're really interested.
Kuru, I love you man, but you're all wet on this wing speculation business. That "narrow opening of the door" bit is one example of the selective reading of that article oblo posted. If you look back, you'll see that the door is only partly open when Frodo & Co. enter the Chamber of Mazarbul, which after all isn't the Broom Closet of Mazarbul. The "narrow opening" means the narrow opening of the nearly closed door.
As to the "realistic" (hahaha) analysis of Balrog anatomy, where its wings "must" go, how it would "need" to wield the whip, etc., I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, since we'd both have to completely make up our arguments to have an argument, and if I want to have a made up argument I can think of other topics I'd like to make up my arguments about.
What do no wingers suppose this "shadow" is that the Balrog exudes out into wing-like shapes anyway? I've always thought the filmmakers got the concept right, at the very least, in their portrayal of the flame and shadow part of the Balrog. What do no-wingers say is forming wing-like shadows if it's not wings? Is the Balrog exuding something? What? What anatomical device do we suppose can form whatever is exuded into wing-like shapes?
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