LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 05 - The White Rider

[Aldarion Elf-Friend]

Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age

In a similar way, Gandalf "throws away all" to fight the Balrog (you know---the wingless one ), even though he must have known it was a fight he could not win.

I'm confused. I thought that Gandalf had indeed defeated the Balrog, except that the Balrog, in his final blow up from the abyss, pulled Gandalf in after.

Here's something from the movie that blew me away - by the time Gandalf fell into the abyss, the whip had long since been released from his legs. Couldn't they have simply pulled him up at that point?