Do Balrogs Have Wings? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

narfforc · 01-26-2005, 09:01 AM

I agree, it is nice to discuss possibilities, to go beyond the written word, as long as we keep our feet on the ground. I am just not a big fan of "What If", especially when there is no basis for them. How can we get from the description of,

and the SHADOW about it reached out LIKE two vast wings.

to discussing whether the were bereft of flight in the dim past we know nothing about. The sentence does not say.

and its two vast wings reached out like shadows.

The important word here is LIKE. This translates into english as.

1. Resembling, similar to
2. Having characterisics of.

These are the words that Tolkien wrote, and as a Professor of English he would have known what LIKE meant

View Poll Results: Do balrogs have wings?
Yes	114	58.16%
No	82	41.84%
Voters: 196. You may not vote on this poll

01-26-2005, 09:01 AM	#11
narfforc Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Muddy-earth Posts: 1,297	I agree, it is nice to discuss possibilities, to go beyond the written word, as long as we keep our feet on the ground. I am just not a big fan of "What If", especially when there is no basis for them. How can we get from the description of, and the SHADOW about it reached out LIKE two vast wings. to discussing whether the were bereft of flight in the dim past we know nothing about. The sentence does not say. and its two vast wings reached out like shadows. The important word here is LIKE. This translates into english as. 1. Resembling, similar to 2. Having characterisics of. These are the words that Tolkien wrote, and as a Professor of English he would have known what LIKE meant