Misc. Questions

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by The 1,000 Reader

The reason I believe a balrog would defeat Sauron is that Sauron, for all his names and titles, never won a single fight he entered. No offense to any Sauron fans out there, but after his screw-up in the Tale of Beren and Luthien, I doubt he was as great a captain or being everyone made him out to be. If anything, that event proved that he was incompetent and inexperienced. Morgoth also had no other dominating servants. He needed his balrogs on the battlefield, so he had no other choice. I doubt Morgoth would make an orc the leader of Angband.

Sauron was mighty in lore, not combat. Lieutenant is not the highest rank military wise. Also, if I am not mistaken, one reason Gandalf defeated the balrog was because it fell into the water, thus weakening it. Like someone said before, a reason Gandalf would not fight Sauron is the armies of Mordor and the nazgul. Gandalf may be a maia, but he isn't Superman.

A balrog is a great and powerful creature. Balrogs are warriors. Balrogs kill everything they see. If Sauron fought, say, Merry, he would laugh and make the fight linger, toying with Merry. If a balrog fought Pippin, for example, the balrog would just stomp him into the ground or slice him with its sword in one second. Who would you want to fight? A guy with many titles and an ego, or a giant, powerful creature that would kill you in a heartbeat?

This is just my opinion, and I am sorry if it offends you. If this topic should be continued, it should have its own thread, so that we don't end up ruining this thread.

Ah, no offence, just disagreement.

You say that Balrogs are great and powerful creatures. I say that Sauron could have been if he wanted. He retained the power to change his form until the Fall of Numenor- whereas the Balrogs were bound in their shadow and flame.

What's to say that Sauron couldn't have made himself that way?

You say that Sauron never won a fight. True, but you'll notice that he GROWS in his knowledge about how to fight and who to fight. Sauron is a born survivor. It took Three Ages to kill him. If a Balrog loses a fight, the Balrog is done for.

You say that Sauron is smart, not strong. I say that smarts is strength.

I will admit that Sauron is less of a natural warrior than a Balrog- but I do not for one minute think that in a one-on-one fight that the Balrog would win, especially at the height of his power in the late Second Age. Sauron's ability to change form could have endowed him with something easily Balrog-equivalent (and Gandalf was able to fight the Balrog in Old Man form). Furthermore, Sauron's greater smarts would likely win through.

As my final argument, I present Sauron's death.

Yes, that's right, his death- the "death" at the hands of Gil-galad and Elendil.

"But... but... you say," Sauron was DEFEATED by them- what proof is that?"

I'll tell you what proof.

Morgoth's power was greater than any of his servants'- that is why, even after his power had been dispersed throughout the entire matter of Arda that he was still more powerful than pretty much any challenger (although, as the Host of the West showed, not quite). After his casting into the void, and the total separation from the power dispersed in Arda, he remained a complete person. Sauron, similarly, had a spirit great enough that even with the destruction of the Ring, containing the greater portion of his power, he remained "as an impotent spirit", so to speak.

There is never any similar connection made for a Balrog. Kill them and they're gone- just like those other, less-than-Sauron Maiar, the Istari.