Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[Aiwendil]

narfforc wrote:

The sentence does not say.

You are right. I think there are two distinct types of "factual" questions about Middle-earth. There are those that have relatively certain answers (even if those answers are difficult to find) and those that do not. The question of Balrog wings falls into the latter category, I think. I am a pro-winger if divisions must be drawn - but I do not think that there is anything like a forcing argument for either side. This is in contrast to questions such as, for example, "is Ingwe the same person as Imin from the Cuivienyarna?", in which case I think there is a compelling argument for the answer "no", even though others may disagree.

That, I think, is why the Balrog wing question, the Elvish ears question, and the Tom Bombadil question are so notorious - not because they're any more interesting than other questions, but because they are simply not answerable, in any kind of satisfactory way.

HerenIstarion wrote:

But my statement above stands as it is - hosts of balrogs indeed marched on feet, otherwise, why should 'boarding' Gondolin walls have been such a problem?

I would just like to remind those who are not so familiar with HoMe that this argument is not quite as forcing as it might at first sound, since the Fall of Gondolin was written in the 1910s, at which time there can be little doubt that they were wingless.