balrogs

[Melko Belcha]

As other people have said, the Balrogs became much more powerful in the post-LotR writtings. Of Tuor and The Fall of Gondolin in the published Sil comes from the 1930 Quenta Noldorian, the last version written of The Fall of Gondolin. Who knows how Tolkien would have treated the Balrogs in that story if he ever got to writting it again.

[Attalus]

Originally posted by matthew
Lightening? Where did you get that impression?

Those who looked up from afar thought that the mountain was crowned with storm. Thunder they heard, and lightning, they said, smote upon Celebdil and leaped back broken into tongues of fire. Is that not enough?

-TTT, "The White Rider"

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Originally posted by matthew
"Lightning? Where did you get that impression?"
_________________________________________

Well, there's a somewhat ambiguous passage in LOTR
Book Three "The White Rider"
that hints at Gandalf's use of lightning:

There upon Celebdil was a lonely window in the snow, and before it lay a lonely space, a dizzy eyrie above the mists of the world. The sun shone fiercely there, but all below was wrapped in cloud. Out he sprang, and even as I came behind, he burst into new flame. There was none to see, or perhaps in after ages songs would still be sung of the Battle of the Peak" Suddenly Gandalf laughed. "But what would they say in song? Those that looked up from afar thought that the mountain was crowned with storm. Thunder they heard, and lightning, they said, smote upon Celebdil, and leaped back broken into tongues of fire."

The lightning could be just that, or caused by the Balrog, but it could also have been caused by Gandalf. Incidentally, this would make the TT depiction of the fight very possibly correct (just don't tell Black Breathalizer)
Also, was there a storm or did the hypothetical observers see evidence of the Gandalf vs. Balrog fight?