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12-31-2002, 01:43 PM | #1 |
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Balrog Beasts?
Unfortunately I had never read any Tolkein befor "The Fellowship.." came into theatres. So I never really had my owm interpretations of what everyone would look like. However since that movie came out i've read The Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion all twice.
But let's talk about balrogs......What did they really look like? What makes us think that these fire maias were so huge? In the book "The Fellowship.." Legolas sees the balrog as being in the shape of a man, yet greater. And I think I might recall a passage in the Sil about balrogs being of a man shape also. The quesiton is.....were balrogs big beastly creature like beings. Or were they rather in the shape of a man, yet greater? And for the record,,,,I really don't care whether they had wings or not, however, all of us that have any brains clearly know that they did. |
12-31-2002, 03:22 PM | #2 |
World's Tallest Hobbit
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Check it out: Barrow Downs Balrog Theme
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12-31-2002, 03:29 PM | #3 |
World's Tallest Hobbit
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Hey, I was just looking through some of the Forum links at the bottom of the page. Mental Pictures of a Balrog is a good one even though it's one our old forum. And I found one of my old posts from my first account. On the second page, it's got a Lindolir. Ha thats me. Wow, I don't remember thinking that Balrogs looked like birds...
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01-01-2003, 11:41 AM | #4 |
Speaker of the Dead
Join Date: Oct 2002
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I think one of the cool things that Tolkien did was that when he wanted some thing to be REALLY scary or ominous or creepy, with the exception of Minas Morgul, he didn't really describe it, leaving it to the reader's own imagination, which can create his or her worst nightmares much more efficiently and effectively. "Shadow and flame" doesn't really shape a solid monster in your mind, but it certainly does have the desired effect of evil.
In other words, I really had no firm image of the Balrog in my mind, but I knew it was scary. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ~*~Orual~*~
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06-19-2003, 11:35 PM | #5 |
Pile O'Bones
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Ok, it says "LIKE wings" (Emphasis mine) Why the like, if it had actual wings? And Ecthelion killed his by sticking it in the chest with the spike on his helm....Ecthelion would have been tall, and it was a couple feet taller then Ecthelion.
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06-20-2003, 05:16 AM | #6 |
Mischievous Candle
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when i first read lotr i thought that balrogs head looked like an eagles head...but i wonder if PJ has made balrog a bit more hidious than it was in Tolkiens mind.if gandalf(great wizard!) almost falls fighting with his balrog how could a mortal man ever fought with a balrog successfully?!
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Fenris Wolf
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06-20-2003, 11:51 AM | #7 |
Pile O'Bones
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None of them did, so far as I recall. Ecthelion, Lord of the Fountain, was an elven noble from Gondolin.
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06-21-2003, 12:12 AM | #8 |
Beholder of the Mists
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I too saw the film before I read FOTR (kind of, but that is a long story) so when I read that part of the book I basically thought of it looking the same way as in the film. But I always assumed it would be firey and scary. The only thing that I thought differently about the Balrogs after reading the Sil was that I thought that they would be smaller than the one in the movie, because in there it talks about how they were part of Morgoth's troops, so I just thought they would be a little shorter. The one in the movie looks like it would be about 15 stories tall, but then I also don't think they would be the same height as the average elf.
[ June 21, 2003: Message edited by: Gorwingel ]
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06-21-2003, 12:47 AM | #9 |
Pile O'Bones
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Yeah, the one in the film was waaaaaaaay to big. It walked around inside Moria, right? So it would have had to fit through doors. Most people, expecially dwarves, I'd guess, don't both with doors you could fit king kong through.
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06-21-2003, 04:11 AM | #10 |
Shadowed Prince
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Hmmm... I opened another thread on this before I knew about the search function! Sorry! [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]
Anyway, theres been lots of interesting discussion at my thread, so have a looksie anyway. here |
06-21-2003, 08:42 AM | #11 |
Mischievous Candle
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what about evolution...
first balrogs were tiny but nowadays they are huge [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]
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Fenris Wolf
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06-21-2003, 09:00 AM | #12 |
Deathless Sun
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I don't think that there was much evolution in Middle-earth, especially with Morgoth's creatures. They were all bred, and inter-bred, according to his tastes. They weren't left to breed among themselves.
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06-21-2003, 01:38 PM | #13 | |||
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Quote:
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06-22-2003, 03:07 AM | #14 |
Mischievous Candle
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well,i wasn't very serious with the evolution-thing [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
interesting facts though
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Fenris Wolf
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06-22-2003, 04:28 AM | #15 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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A big thumbs up from my side on that. It could be very well possible that the Balrog wsa that size and that he could roam around the mine. He was about same stature as the cave troll in the movie. Or are you claiming it was too big too? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
P.J. Might not have all things in one line, but he sure knew what he did with the descriptions. Don't you think he gave it some thought himself? He's not stupid. I saw the movie before I read lotr. I'm in a way glad I did, now I can picture all the things I like (I liked everything) so I'm kind of a spoiled reader. The Balrog was well done. The wings perfectly fitted the description. They looked like wings, but could might as well have been shadow, just like the book implies and BW has gestured in the Balrog bit on the downs mane page in the articles. So thumbs up [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Suilad, Anuion |
06-22-2003, 01:51 PM | #16 | |
Beloved Shadow
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Quote:
And actually, I believe that the troll was much too big (and way too tough to kill) in the movie. It did make for a nice fight scene though.
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06-23-2003, 07:51 AM | #17 |
Deathless Sun
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Well, killing a cave troll is never supposed to be a piece of cake! Unless you're Tulkas or Oromë! It should be difficult to do, and should take a long time.
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But Melkor also was there, and he came to the house of Fëanor, and there he slew Finwë King of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwë alone had not fled from the horror of the Dark. |
06-23-2003, 09:43 AM | #18 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Why?
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06-23-2003, 12:01 PM | #19 | ||
Beloved Shadow
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Trolls shouldn't take that long to kill. They should take about as long as it takes Aragorn, Boromir, Pippin, or any other member of the fellowship to whip out their sword and stab them in the vitals.
I made this post on another thread about trolls (the thread was questioning how big and tough they were really supposed to be). Quote:
Quote:
Remember, in LOTR Pippin killed a troll all by himself, and he's no Hurin. Trolls are tougher to kill than orcs, but they're not that tough. [ June 23, 2003: Message edited by: the phantom ]
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06-23-2003, 12:09 PM | #20 |
Deathless Sun
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That's fairly true. But I guess that the reason they overdid the Troll in the movie was to give the Fellowship some time to act all brave. It would have been strange for them to be walking calmly along, then suddenly been confronted with a bunch of Orcs.
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But Melkor also was there, and he came to the house of Fëanor, and there he slew Finwë King of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwë alone had not fled from the horror of the Dark. |
06-23-2003, 01:09 PM | #21 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Hello, you are talking about trolls, it was a cave troll.
Suilad, Anuion |
06-23-2003, 02:10 PM | #22 |
Mischievous Candle
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cave troll= a troll who lives in a cave [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
no, seriously, how are they different from each other? (and goooodbye the balrog-topic?)
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Fenris Wolf
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06-23-2003, 04:53 PM | #23 |
Sage & Onions
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I wonder if the Balrog could alter its 'aspect' in the same way that Gandalf and Galadriel seem to have done?
Gandalf seems larger and more powerful during his argument with Bilbo, as does Galadriel when she's offered the ring. Perhaps this is a power of ringbearers and Maia to create the illusion of great size and cow the 'lesser' folk. If that's right the Balrog could perhaps have normally been double elf height, but seemed larger to the hobbits.(I doubt it fooled Gandalf though).
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06-24-2003, 03:29 AM | #24 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Yes, it was a fiery beast and when it raized himself I think what P.J. ment is to show delusion by the beast. You know, to show that it was more intelligent than just a whip and a sword. You have to keep in mind, P.J. has a weird taste of explaining things.
(Heloooo to the Balrog topic [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]) Suilad, Anuion |
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