[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

But don't you think his wings might have got in the way?

*ducks*

Oh, good that you mentioned it, Spm! You are right, the fact that he burrowed is actually another proof that he didn't have wings.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I'm still unable to figure what made the Balrog decide to go where it did. If it wanted only to hide, there had to be much better options, far away from any Elves, Dwarves, or Edain. Perhaps it wanted to be close to the action, should Sauron require its services? But then, why did it not openly aid him rather than lying dormant for thousands of years until awakened, then skulking around in the dark bullying cannon-fodder Orcs?

As for the question why not to help Sauron: why should he? They were basically of the same rank (maybe not officially in Morgoth's army hierarchy, but Morgoth was gone now), and I can't imagine Sauron coming to offer Balrog his aid - so why should it be the other way around? Also, cf. my points earlier: Durin's Bane was simply a coward. It all fits.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I refer you to my points earlier. As I said, I don't think the Balrog's hideout was connected to Moria at all until the dwarves broke into it while mining. For the sake of argument, it could have once been part of Moria proper, then sealed off by a rockfall or something– see above. However, I think it's much simpler to assume that Durin's Bane didn't deliberately choose a populous city to take its millennia-long nap in, but rather entered through some probably distant opening, travelled underground, and finally went to sleep in a cave that just happened to be near Moria.

And likely not all that close originally.

I'd guess that at the time the Balrog took up residence, its cave or whatever was a long way from any workings of the dwarves– it was only much later that they mined deep enough to reach it.

Exactly, I agree. Aside from that, I find it an interesting coincidence that Balrog was found so close to the lodes of mithril. Perhaps he stopped where he did also because he found it nice to sleep on tons of the precious metal?

As for how the Balrog knew Durin's Stair– well, it had plenty of time to explore Moria after its release, didn't it?

Exactly. Gandalf said he knew the underground tunnels "all too well", Durin's Stair, for him, would be just one of the many appendices of the tunnels. I find it more interesting why he chose to go to the top of Zirakzigil, of all places. I mean, he could have lead Gandalf to some deep tunnel who knows where, you know what I mean? Well, this is indeed off-topic, but I have never thought of that before, yet there must be an explanation. "Something else at work", the will of Eru driving even the Balrog to get outside, so that Gwaihir might pick up Gandalf? Or Balrog being hurt so much that he was afraid even of the "nameless things" around (just as much as Gandalf was), being worried that they would finish him once he's done with Gandalf? Who knows.