[Nerwen]

I was going to say: what I find really funny here is the way so many of the posters talk about the scene of the Balrog's entrance as though the Company had sat around discussing the newcomer's identity at leisure, and maybe taken a poll on it.

"Gosh, I wonder what that thing can be? Maybe a really tall Orc? What do you think, Aragorn?"

"Nah, I vote for fire-troll. I'm sure they exist. Gandalf?"

"Nonsense, you fool of a Ranger. It can only be a wyvern– er, we do have those in Middle-earth, don't we?"

In fact the whole passage describes what must be a very short space of time– probably only a few seconds!