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<blockquote data-quote="ColonelHardisson" data-source="post: 370959" data-attributes="member: 363">The crebain are Sauron's spies, almost certainly.I'm not sure I follow your reasoning about Sauron and whether or not he would have detected the presence of someone like Glorfindel. Gandalf he would have detected if he used magic with a free hand, but since Gandalf had the body of a man, he would probably show up as a dim figure such as Aragorn or the Hobbits. Glorfindel would have been a lot more detectable. Sauron almost certainly knew of the Balrog, but just as with Shelob, he was content to let the creature remain where it was to help keep the Free Peoples off-balance. The orcs that took Moria in the first place had to have come from Dol Guldur, which was held by Sauron's forces even after he left. This suggests that Sauron did, indeed, know the Balrog was there, and may have been in sporadic communication with him. Sending messengers to each other may have been tough, though, given the lands such messengers had to go past or through to get to Mordor.Besides, what would Sauron have done more quickly had he known about the Balrog's demise? The Fellowship was in Lorien for quite a while, but we know Sauron had spies about, including the Nazgul. Legolas shoots one down not long after the Fellowship leaves Lorien. So Sauron was still moving quickly, he just didn't know exactly what was going on. As discussed in the book, he feared someone claiming the Ring and using it; he knew that hadn't happened, but he knew something was going on.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ColonelHardisson, post: 370959, member: 363"] The crebain are Sauron's spies, almost certainly. I'm not sure I follow your reasoning about Sauron and whether or not he would have detected the presence of someone like Glorfindel. Gandalf he would have detected if he used magic with a free hand, but since Gandalf had the body of a man, he would probably show up as a dim figure such as Aragorn or the Hobbits. Glorfindel would have been a lot more detectable. Sauron almost certainly knew of the Balrog, but just as with Shelob, he was content to let the creature remain where it was to help keep the Free Peoples off-balance. The orcs that took Moria in the first place had to have come from Dol Guldur, which was held by Sauron's forces even after he left. This suggests that Sauron did, indeed, know the Balrog was there, and may have been in sporadic communication with him. Sending messengers to each other may have been tough, though, given the lands such messengers had to go past or through to get to Mordor. Besides, what would Sauron have done more quickly had he known about the Balrog's demise? The Fellowship was in Lorien for quite a while, but we know Sauron had spies about, including the Nazgul. Legolas shoots one down not long after the Fellowship leaves Lorien. So Sauron was still moving quickly, he just didn't know exactly what was going on. As discussed in the book, he feared someone claiming the Ring and using it; he knew that hadn't happened, but he knew something was going on. [/QUOTE]

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