Did Aragorn know about the Balrog in Moria?

[Lena]

Aragorn had been in moria before that we know...and Aragorn was known for having i guess foresight he could tell when something would go ill he is a skilled ranger and was raised among elves which could give him a sence of direction and knowing when something could go wrong. he had to have known about the balrog

[Merlion]

I have to agree that Aragorn's warning to Gandalf was pretty personal...it was one of the moments that showed just how close they were to each other(I was rather sad they left it out of the movie).
I think Aragorn just had one of his Numenorean flashes telling him that if they went into Moria it would go badly, on some level, for Gandalf. or at least that he was the one most likely to suffer unpleasant consquences.
And yes I would dearly love to know why Aragorn went into Moria. I dont really think it was a Gollum-run
Although it was made obvious that Aragorn didnt know what a balrog was it DOES seem strange given that he was raised by Elrond who was at the Breaking of Thangorodrim.
And it seems even odder that he didnt use the name when speaking to Galadriel and Celeborn since he'd already heard it from Gandalf and Leggy.

[Ulmo]

he had to have known about the balrog

We already went through this - he didn't know there was a balrog.

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Originally posted by Artanis
So you think Aragorn went all the way through Moria? I think that sounds almost impossible, even for him. I thought he went in from the east looking for something, or someone, Gollum perhaps, but then gave up and came out again where he had entered.

Well, his description of the adventure could be taken that way:

I once passed the Dimrill Gate, but though I also came out again, the memory is very evil.

My impression of it, though, since it follows so closely on Gandalf's "I passed through, and I came out again alive!" (Gandalf would have loved emoticons, no?), is that he also "came out again" the same way Gandalf had, on the Hollin side.

Maybe this was in his Thorongil days, when he was poking around all over the place just on general principles -- he couldn't have overlooked Moria and maybe was still young and crazy enough to try it

As for Gollum, he hadn't been in Moria very long...per the Tale of Years in Appendix B, he entered it some time in or around August of 3018, the year Frodo left, as he was being hunted both by the Elves (after his escape from them in Mirkwood) and by the servants of Sauron; it's said that "he took refuge in Moria; but when he had at last discovered the way to the West-gate he could not get out." And since Gandalf and Aragorn earlier had hunted Gollum together, and yet the passage of Moria was done by each individually, it couldn't have been then, either. Something else made each of them go through the darkened Dwarrowdelf.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by The Lady of Ithilien
Maybe this was in his Thorongil days, when he was poking around all over the place just on general principles -- he couldn't have overlooked Moria and maybe was still young and crazy enough to try it

He-he, full of manly hormones

You're right of course, he was probably not hunting for Gollum. Perhaps his desire to explore and gain experience and knowledge of Moria worked together with a need of finding a 'safer' way to pass the mountains. Or he may have had the need to travel unseen.

[afro-elf]

In Letter 144 JRRT wrote:
"The Balrog is a survivor from the Silmarillion and the legends of the First Age. So is Shelob. The Balrogs, of whom the whips were the chief weapons, were primeval spirits of destroying fire, chief servants of the primeval Dark Power of the First Age. They were supposed to have been all destroyed in the overthrow of Thangorodrim, his fortress in the North. But it is here found (there is usually a hang-over especially of evil from one age to another) that one had escaped and taken refuge under the mountains of Hithaeglin (the Misty Mountains). It is observable that only the Elf knows what the thing is - and doubtless Gandalf."

[Ulmo]

Thanks afro-elf - that letter had just to come to mind; I was returning to quote it and end the speculation with no real basis.