Do Balrogs Have Wings?

[HerenIstarion]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Sorry, I meant Letter #134.

I'm afraid not

134 From a letter to Rayner Unwin 29 August 1952

I am at last turning to my own affairs. The situation is this: I am anxious to publish The Lord of the Rings as soon as possible. I believe it to be a great (though not flawless) work. Let other things follow as they may. But as the expense of typing proved prohibitive, I had to do it all myself, and there is only one (more or less) fair copy in existence. I dare not consign that to the post, and in any case I am now going to devote some days to correcting it finally. For this purpose, I am retiring tomorrow from the noise and stench of Holywell to my son's cottage on Chiltern-top while he is away with his children.1.... I shall return on September 10th. After that I could call with my burden at Museum Street2 on some date convenient to you .... or, if that is not asking too much, you could call on me (as you so kindly suggest might be possible). ....
I have recently made some tape-recordings of pans of the Hobbit and The Lord (notably the Gollum-passages and some pieces of 'Elvish') and was much surprised to discover their effectiveness as recitations, and (if I may say so) my own effectiveness as a narrator, I do a very pretty Gollum and Treebeard. Could not the BBC be interested? The tape-reel is in the possession of George Sayer (English Master at Malvern) and I am sure he would forward it for your or anyone else's trial. It was unrehearsed and impromptu and could be improved.3
I should love to come to London, if only for the purpose of seeing you and meeting your wife. But I am cutting even the 'seventh International Congress of Linguists' (Sept 1), of which I am an official – time is so miserably short, and I am tired. I have on my plate not only the 'great works', but the overdue professional work I was finishing up at Cambridge (edition of the Ancrene Wisse); the W. P. Ker lecture at Glasgow; Sir Gawain; and new lectures! But your continued interest cheers me. I have a constant 'fan-mail' from all over the English-speaking world for 'more' – curiously enough often for 'more about the Necromancer', which the Lord certainly fulfils.

The firefly reference is from the second section of "Annals of Aman" (Morgoth's Ring

Thanks

Still can't seem able to locate it, will require a little bit of time I guess

[Nerwen]

Hang on, maybe I'm thinking of Letter #143.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Nerwen maybe wasn't evil in the beginning, but she obviously is now. You made it up, confess! I am not a HoME expert, but there are surely many around here, and I'd really wonder if such an argument as you quote existed, that it would not have been quoted here, even though if it were, surely there will be a debate whether it is or is not canonical.

[skip spence]

^Yes, I suspect that HerenIstarion must have misinterpreted Nerwen's post slightly, despite all his eloquence and masterful command of the English language, .

[Nerwen]

Letter #243 also contains information about Balrog reproduction. Apparently a Balrog is born every minute.

[skip spence]

There's a sucker born every minute, PT Barnum once said. I wasn't aware he was talking about Balrogs.

[Nerwen]

Well, now you know better.

[HerenIstarion]

I suspect that HerenIstarion must have misinterpreted Nerwen's post slightly, despite all his eloquence and masterful command of the English language

You suspect correctly, admit being caught there

this isn't very constructive

The following isn't either:

But those of you who believe they are actual wings as opposed to a wing-shaped shadow must have poor English reading skills indeed or you haven't read the books at all

Basically, to 'wildly interpret' you once again, what you say here boils down to 'all who don't agree with me on the issue are silly (to use the most mild expression). Even, as I've said earlier, I agree with you on the matter of absence of wings, I don't think your type of argument is valid enough to uphold it.

Do you know the opposite of clever?

I may forward educated guess, and sometimes I admit fitting the description, but not this time I'm afraid (apart from Nerwen's prank. I guess my knowledge of HoME is getting a bit rusty with years )