Were Balrogs winged?

[Mister Underhill]

Dread Horseman
Posts: 668
Re: umm...

Also wings on Balrogs would be a very promenant features but in the silm there is no mention of them ever being present on a Balrog, nor in HoME(not even in "THe War of the RIng&quot . The only time wings were described on a Balrog the term was used in the presence of the same word used as a simile for the darkness.

As readers of HoME know, the conception of Balrogs changed drastically over the course of Tolkien's writing life (e.g., from vast hosts of them to "no more than seven" ever existing), so referring to older versions of texts is next to pointless. But since the last part of that first sentence sounds like a challenge, how about this from HoME X?

Far beneath the halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, the Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their lord. Swiftly they arose, and they passed with winged speed over Hithlum, and they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire.

Edited by: Mister Underhill at: 6/18/01 5:32:32 pm