Balrog Breaking and Entering

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

You seem to be mistaking bravery for stupidity and to withdraw from a battle that cannot be won is not necessarily a sign of cowardliness. (it can be though)

Nope, but only in this case. Sauron was the typical coward, and I think on the side of evil the characters in LotR (or Sil etc.) were often more or less cowards. Sometimes defining bravery and stupidity depends only on the point of view, but very often you can tell withdrawal from cowardice, and the guys who survived from Angband seem to belong to the other bunch. Because otherwise you would be saying that all the other guys were just stupid not to withdraw, whereas certainly the question at the moment was something different, it was sort of a matter of honor - maybe not of bravery, but kind of stubbornness maybe, "no, we are not going to give up now, after such a long time we just won't admit that we were wrong all the time". Something like Saruman. Something unlike Galadriel. See, that's the difference. Three completely different approaches: Saruman, Galadriel, Sauron. Stubbornness, willingness to admit own faults, cowardly opportunism or just plain cowardice. And I would put the Balrog in the latter cathegory as well, because why would he flee, of all, while all his colleagues did stand and fight?