[Leaf]

Originally Posted by Tar-Jêx

Revised theory:
The Balrog was definitely awoken by the Fellowship's interference and calamity of the goblins, and Gandalf seemed to know that it was coming instantly. It would have gone towards the source of commotion, which was the Fellowship.

How do we know that the Balrog was definitely awoken by the noise the Fellowship made? A few years earlier plenty of Dwarves were digging, mining and fighting with the Orcs in Moria for an extended period of time (a few years!), yet it didn´t care for this a little bit. But when someone drops a stone into a well it awakes and hunts the intruders down?! That seems kinda weird to me.

The Balrog could not have known about the ring and was attacking the Fellowship because they woke him up.

The Balrog didn´t need to know anything about the Ring to get drawn by it. The watcher in the water most certainly didn´t know anything about the ring, yet it still tried to grab Frodo first. The same goes for the orkish captain that attack Frodo with his spear. Even Shelob chose to ignore Sam to chase Frodo.