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William Cloud Hicklin · 01-31-2009, 01:30 PM

It does however seem to be the case that a Dragon was essentially a terrestrial opponent, its powers entirely material. Horrendous, of course, and backed with a certain 'sorcerous' hypnotic power (a legendary attribute of serpents); but still just great beasts. Glaurung was killed by a man with a sword; Smaug by a man with a bow. Balrogs are another order of being entirely, creatures of enormous 'spiritual' or 'demonic' potency; when Gandalf said "This foe is beyond any of you," that included not only Gimli, but even Aragorn with Anduril. It plainly takes more than physical prowess to endure a Balrog- and even in those cases, there's no record of *anyone* who fought a Balrog and lived (except by reboot).

01-31-2009, 01:30 PM	#28
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,301	It does however seem to be the case that a Dragon was essentially a terrestrial opponent, its powers entirely material. Horrendous, of course, and backed with a certain 'sorcerous' hypnotic power (a legendary attribute of serpents); but still just great beasts. Glaurung was killed by a man with a sword; Smaug by a man with a bow. Balrogs are another order of being entirely, creatures of enormous 'spiritual' or 'demonic' potency; when Gandalf said "This foe is beyond any of you," that included not only Gimli, but even Aragorn with Anduril. It plainly takes more than physical prowess to endure a Balrog- and even in those cases, there's no record of anyone who fought a Balrog and lived (except by reboot). __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.