The Balrog vs The Witch King

[CSteefel]

Originally Posted by Mansun

Can the enhanced Witch King match such a foe? It appears not, since he would need to be at least in equal power to Sauron, Saruman, Gandalf & the Balrog of Morgoth to be so. This ends the debate once & for all - Gandalf, Balrogs, Saurman, Sauron are all essentially closely matched, that we know. The Witch King, however powerful a sorcerer, cannot fall into this supernatural category & must therefore be deemed a weaker opponent. The Witch King cannot kill a Maiar without being of equal power at least.

Within your rigid hierarchy, how then do you explain both Glorfindel and Ecthelion killing a Balrog? Certain even a high Elf is considered below a Maia.

And does this mean that Radagast could defeat the Witch King? After all, he is a Maia.

In any case, the Witch King does not follow strictly the Middle Earth hierarchy (even if it were true, which it evidently is not), since he holds one of the Nine Rings and thus gets some of his power directly from Sauron. So one cannot simply describe his power as that of a man, or even as a sorcerer of old...