Dragons vs. Balrogs? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 03-10-2002, 02:05 PM

I will clarify.

Balrogs were originally Maia, creatures of Iluvatar. That is, they were created by Iluvatar. Melkor was a creature of Iluvatar, created by him. Melkor and the Balrogs were of a single nature: Valar. They incarnated themselves, taking from the nature of Arda to clothe themselves in materiality.

The Dragons, by contrast, were of two natures. There are two possibilities: 1) Iluvatar created great serpents and created Maia, and Melkor corrupted them to evil and joined the Maia into the animal serpents. 2) Melkor made Dragons by turning normal serpents into Great serpents, investing them with Maia.

If the spirits of Melkor in Dragons were not Maia, what else could they be? They could not have been mere serpents to which Melkor added intelligence, because 1) that's not what Tolkien says; 2) Melkor was incapable of creating a new thing; all he could do was corrupt what Iluvatar or the other Valar had made. And for that reason I favor #1 above.

If by this I show agreement with the farmer/pig analogy, as limited as it is, so be it.

Glaurung is a creature of Morgoth, which means Morgoth created him. And invested him with a "spirit of Morgoth". This is probably a servant-spirit of Morgoth, that is, a corrupted Maia. If this is still insufficient proof that Dragons' spirits are Maia, then there is still a preponderance of hte evidence.

03-10-2002, 02:05 PM	#11
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	I will clarify. Balrogs were originally Maia, creatures of Iluvatar. That is, they were created by Iluvatar. Melkor was a creature of Iluvatar, created by him. Melkor and the Balrogs were of a single nature: Valar. They incarnated themselves, taking from the nature of Arda to clothe themselves in materiality. The Dragons, by contrast, were of two natures. There are two possibilities: 1) Iluvatar created great serpents and created Maia, and Melkor corrupted them to evil and joined the Maia into the animal serpents. 2) Melkor made Dragons by turning normal serpents into Great serpents, investing them with Maia. If the spirits of Melkor in Dragons were not Maia, what else could they be? They could not have been mere serpents to which Melkor added intelligence, because 1) that's not what Tolkien says; 2) Melkor was incapable of creating a new thing; all he could do was corrupt what Iluvatar or the other Valar had made. And for that reason I favor #1 above. If by this I show agreement with the farmer/pig analogy, as limited as it is, so be it. Glaurung is a creature of Morgoth, which means Morgoth created him. And invested him with a "spirit of Morgoth". This is probably a servant-spirit of Morgoth, that is, a corrupted Maia. If this is still insufficient proof that Dragons' spirits are Maia, then there is still a preponderance of hte evidence.