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07-24-2006, 08:41 PM | #1 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Around
Posts: 18
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How big were Balrogs? And what did they look like?
Well, does anyone know? I'm pretty shure they were not intended to look like they did in the movie. I thought they were more human like and closer in size than in the movies. In the Fellowshilp of the ring I thought it said that its wings spread from wall to wall, but I was not shure if it said it looked like wings or they actually were physical wings. If anyone has a quote please post it.
Gil-Galad 2.0 |
07-24-2006, 10:40 PM | #2 |
Dreamweaver
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: The Misty Mountains, where the spirits go...
Posts: 3,560
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well, i'm about 5'7", brown hair, and-oh...sorry...
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Lord, what fools these mortals be! ---------------- We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. ---------------- Shanti, shanti, shantih... |
07-25-2006, 04:26 AM | #3 |
Captain Jack
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: High Charity
Posts: 598
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Well they were bigger then ungoliant because in the silmarillion JRR tolkein said when ungoliant trapped melkor the balrogs came and fought off ungoliant so i would say they would be relativly big.
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Captain Jack Sparrow: When you marooned me on that god forsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing, mate: I’m Captain Jack Sparrow. Cortana: So have you got a plan to get out? Master Chief: I was gonna shoot my way out. Mix things up a little. |
07-25-2006, 12:44 PM | #4 | |
The one true King of the human race, direct descendant of Adam and heir to the kings of old. "You owe me your fealty." The Tar Minyaturion
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Certainly not bigger than ungoliant, especially after she consumed the fluid of the trees. There was just many of them with their flaming wips and remember morgoth was there as well. I always thought they were bigger than man size, more like a troll with flaming wings and maia power. Definately not as big as in the movies.
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Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Ecclesiasticus 2:1-5 1 My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation... ...4 Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate. 5 For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity. Romans 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; Last edited by The Telcontarion : 07-25-2006 at 12:45 PM. |
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07-25-2006, 03:40 PM | #5 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA
Posts: 10,820
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Yeah. If someone with a flaming whip came after me, I'd skeedaddle, even if he was shorter!
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
07-25-2006, 03:43 PM | #6 | |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: here and there
Posts: 3,514
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damn ... iwas gonna say ask BIG Bal |
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07-25-2006, 05:45 PM | #7 |
Dreamweaver
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: The Misty Mountains, where the spirits go...
Posts: 3,560
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ha! hm...you, sir, (referring not to BB but to poster), are certainly interested in my kind!
__________________
Lord, what fools these mortals be! ---------------- We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. ---------------- Shanti, shanti, shantih... |
07-28-2006, 06:34 AM | #8 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 301
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Balrogs...wings....AAAHHHH!!!! (flees , screaming)
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07-29-2006, 12:03 AM | #9 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 18
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Balrog size
Well, I agree with Telcontarion. I do recall reading in the LOTR about "the moria" balrog being a "dark form, of man shape maybe, yet greater". It doesn't say they were the size of a standing 18 wheeler. And also I recall Feanor being surrounded by many of them in the Silmarillion. Feanor fought long and hard. Could you imagine Feanor (man size) getting jumped by a handfull of these "movie" balrogs, being the size of 18 wheelers. What about Glorfindel wrestling with one of these monsters after the sack of Gondolin? I doubt balrogs were meant to be of the movie size.
By the way, balrogs did not have wings. In the LOTR it reads "and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings." It doesn't say they had wings. Key word shadow. |
07-29-2006, 12:53 AM | #10 | ||||||
Salt Miner
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: gone to Far Harad
Posts: 987
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Letter 246 says,
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I think that we can use Tolkien’s descriptions of Sauron in the Third Age as a means to understanding how the other Umaiar looked. (While Gollum was imprisoned in Mordor, he was tortured and questioned by Sauron himself. Gollum reported that he was missing a finger: “He has only four on the Black Hand…”) Quote:
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07-29-2006, 04:19 AM | #11 | |||
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 421
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07-29-2006, 02:09 PM | #12 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA
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Well, Superman flies, and he doesn't have wings. But more importantly, the context makes me think it means "fleeing" more than "taking flight".
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
07-29-2006, 02:52 PM | #13 | ||||
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 421
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To return to a previous point: Quote:
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Last edited by Landroval : 07-29-2006 at 03:00 PM. |
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07-29-2006, 08:03 PM | #14 | |
The one true King of the human race, direct descendant of Adam and heir to the kings of old. "You owe me your fealty." The Tar Minyaturion
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: By the shores of cuivinien
Posts: 694
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Quote:
__________________
Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Ecclesiasticus 2:1-5 1 My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation... ...4 Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate. 5 For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity. Romans 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; Last edited by The Telcontarion : 07-29-2006 at 08:08 PM. |
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07-29-2006, 09:56 PM | #15 | ||
Salt Miner
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: gone to Far Harad
Posts: 987
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By the way, Saruman was also of the of the folk of Aulë, and he was also a maker, though not, perhaps, as great as Sauron; at least, not in the form he appeared in Middle-earth. (For “being embodied the Istari had needs to learn much anew by slow experience, and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off…” Unfinished Tales, “The Istari”) The passage from Morgoth’s Ring that I cited earlier continues, saying that Quote:
I think that Sauron took on a shape that sounds remarkably like the descriptions we have of balrogs after “the bodily form in which he long had walked perished.” (RotK, “Appendix A”) The thread is about how balrogs looked, and I think we can use Tolkien’s more numerous descriptions of Sauron’s appearance to understand better how he envisioned the balrogs. Last edited by Alcuin : 07-29-2006 at 10:09 PM. |
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07-29-2006, 10:09 PM | #16 |
The one true King of the human race, direct descendant of Adam and heir to the kings of old. "You owe me your fealty." The Tar Minyaturion
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: By the shores of cuivinien
Posts: 694
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Well I do agree that in appearence he he looked similar, not exactly so.
__________________
Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Ecclesiasticus 2:1-5 1 My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation... ...4 Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate. 5 For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity. Romans 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; |
09-06-2006, 06:23 PM | #17 | |
Hobbit
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 32
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"But when wolf came for Beren, Felagund put forth all his power, and burst his bonds; and he wrestled with the werewolf, and slew it with his hands and teeth" -Felagund, the greatest of the Noldo, and to walk Middle-Earth. |
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09-10-2006, 01:10 AM | #18 | |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 421
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09-11-2006, 09:33 PM | #19 | |
Hobbit
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 32
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Quote:
__________________
"But when wolf came for Beren, Felagund put forth all his power, and burst his bonds; and he wrestled with the werewolf, and slew it with his hands and teeth" -Felagund, the greatest of the Noldo, and to walk Middle-Earth. |
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02-25-2009, 04:40 AM | #20 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Nashua, New Hampshire
Posts: 48
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Wow. This thread seems to have died. I might just try and put this to rest though. I've looked at a lot of sites, and I've read the areas in the Sil and the Fellowship. I agree with some people that, from a purely reading/enjoyment standpoint, it only really matters what you want them to look like. But in essence, the Sil says that the Maia also had the power to change form at will. Since a Valarauco is a Maia, it seems that as it says in the Fellowship "It drew itself up to a great height....it's wings were spread from wall to wall" that they could stay man size if need be, but being Maia, could also become larger and more terrible. And thus could also have wings if necessary. In answer to the common problem of "well how did it fall from the bridge then if it could fly" well, if I could change shape I think it would take a good chunk of power and some time. The things sword, which it would seem is created by it's power of flame, was thrown up in shards and it seems Gandalf prevented it from somehow getting another. Thus the Valarauco had neither time nor power to spare. Does this seem reasonable to you guys? Please tell me what you think.
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