A Balrog of Morgoth!

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image showing A Balrog of Morgoth!

Rough_Dan on March 17th, 2021 at 22:39 UTC »

Glorfindel chilling in Rivendell: "They really should have taken me on that trip"

JustAnotherAviatrix on March 17th, 2021 at 22:39 UTC »

Gimli freaked out when he saw it too, the poor dear.

"Durin's Bane!" *covers eyes*

excelsior2000 on March 17th, 2021 at 23:07 UTC »

I like this take. Probably the greatest or at least most famous Elf of all time died to Balrogs. Elves' longevity means stories don't tend to fade into myth and legend the way they do among Men, I would think, so I'm not so sure Legolas would have considered Balrogs to be just distant nightmares. But he'd damn sure have a fear of them that's inspired by considerably more knowledge than what most of the rest of the fellowship has. The hobbits probably never even heard of a Balrog (possible exception of Frodo, who seems to have had more interest in reading and Elven-lore than the others). Aragorn probably read about them, Boromir the same. Gimli only knows them as Durin's Bane, which means he doesn't really know anything.

Only two people have full knowledge of them, and only Gandalf stands a good chance of having seen one.