Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

Somehow, I kept getting shot down...

But why won't anyone subscribe to the theory I put forth?

'Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge,' said Gandalf. 'Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.'

1. The Balrog that Gandalf fought can swim.

2. The same Balrog is a slimy creature... not just something of darkness and fire.

3. The same Balrog was awaken by Pippin's itchy fingers.

Pippin felt curiously attracted by the well. While the others were unrolling blankets and making beds against the walls of the chamber, as far as possible from the hole in the floor, he crept to the edge and peered over. A chill air seemed to strike his face, rising from invisible depths. Moved by a sudden impulse he groped for a loose stone, and let it drop.

Mind you, this was a well with water in it.

It point to something fishy - something so grosteque as to be attributed only to the perverted mind of the foul Enemy of the World, who in ages past twisted and mocked all that came within his grasp. The 'wings' that the Balrog had are fins that that Morgoth manufactured.

While these measly 'evidences' can hardly support the grounds that Balrogs in general have fins, they do create the basis for beliefs that Balrogs have wings that serve no other purpose than decoration.

Ahem... You can stone me now.