Balrog from Lord of the Rings (part 1)

[Pseudonym]

Thong of Fire

Now there's a mental image I didn't need.

 

[mmu1]

If you want to get technical, Isildur didn't kill Sauron - except in the movie, because they wanted to squeeze it all into a short prologue...

Elendil (Isildur's father) and Gil-Galad (the king of the Elves) killed Sauron, but it cost them their lives as well.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Well in the Silmarillion it goes...
"But at the last the siege was so strait that Sauron himself came forth and he wrestled with Gil-Galad and Elendil, and they both were slain, and the sword of Elendil broke under him as he fell. But Sauron also was thrown down, and with the hilt-shard of Narsil Isildur cut the Ruling Ring from the hand of Sauron and took it for his own. Then Sauron was for that time vanquished, and he forsook his body, and his spirit fled far away and hid in waste places; and he took no visible shape again for many long years."

 

[Steel_Wind]

Isildur had a luckly shot at his weakness. A weakness that Sauron placed upon himself when he put his essence in the ring.

True enough. But to get real picky and the "I'll see your 10 and raise you twenty" Sauron outright surrendered to Ar Pharazon (another mortal) when his army plain peed their armor and fled the battlefield in sheer terror at the coming of the Army of Numenor.

I know I know... Sauron got the last laugh (but he still got his evil ass dragged off in chains).

Whatever the case - the Balrog of Moria is still a great CGI effect

 

[Desdichado]

If you want to get technical, Isildur didn't kill Sauron - except in the movie, because they wanted to squeeze it all into a short prologue...

Elendil (Isildur's father) and Gil-Galad (the king of the Elves) killed Sauron, but it cost them their lives as well.

Uh, no. Technically none of them "killed" Sauron, as far as I know, although it's hard to tell if he was "killed" or merely defeated. Isildur cut of his finger and defeated him, after Sauron had killed Elendil and Gil-galad. There's no talk of either of those killing Sauron, though. That's completely incorrect.

 

[TanisFrey]

True enough. But to get real picky and the "I'll see your 10 and raise you twenty" Sauron outright surrendered to Ar Pharazon (another mortal) when his army plain peed their armor and fled the battlefield in sheer terror at the coming of the Army of Numenor.

I know I know... Sauron got the last laugh (but he still got his evil ass dragged off in chains).

Whatever the case - the Balrog of Moria is still a great CGI effect

Sauron surrendered to an army of the Dunedain or special human, special mortals. And without a fight so he could attack them from the inside. He allowed the chains.

Yes, I agree based on what other posted that Sauron is not a Balrog

 

[TanisFrey]

And if *I* were doing it, they'd probably be something like the Archdevils and whatnot. I can't remember what the Celestial equivalents to Dispater, Demogorgon and Orcus are called, but they don't have divine rank. Sure, they've got CRs in the 30s, though.

Deties and Demigods does sugest that demons, devils, angels could have divine rank 0. At least a limmited form of divine rank

 

[mmu1]

Uh, no. Technically none of them "killed" Sauron, as far as I know, although it's hard to tell if he was "killed" or merely defeated. Isildur cut of his finger and defeated him, after Sauron had killed Elendil and Gil-galad. There's no talk of either of those killing Sauron, though. That's completely incorrect.

Fine - defeated, then...

As for references on this, here's one from Appendix B in LotR:

3441: Sauron overethrown by Elendil and Gil-Galad, who perish. Isildur takes the One Ring. Sauron passes away and the Ringwraiths go into the shadows. The Second Age ends.

And another one from Gandalf's conversation with Frodo when they confirm that Bilbo's ring is the One:

"It was Gil-Galad, Elven-King and Elendil of Westernesse who overthrew Sauron, though they themselves perished in the the deed; and Isildur Elendil's son cut the Ring from Sauron's hand and took it for his own." (emphasis mine)

I suppose it's not as definitive as saying "Elendil and Gil-Galad defeated Sauron in hand to hand combat", but to say it indicates Isildur defeated Sauron is a hell of a stretch.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I kind of read those references to mean that Gil-Galad and Elendil were the two lords of the hosts that battled Sauron and thus are named as having defeated him when their forces defeated him. The leader gets the credit and all that. But you have a point, I can see where you can read it to assume that he was defeated by those two and Isildur cut the ring from the finger of his corpse or something to that effect.

 

[mmu1]

I kind of read those references to mean that Gil-Galad and Elendil were the two lords of the hosts that battled Sauron and thus are named as having defeated him when their forces defeated him. The leader gets the credit and all that. But you have a point, I can see where you can read it to assume that he was defeated by those two and Isildur cut the ring from the finger of his corpse or something to that effect.

That'd be a significant departure from the style Tolkien's work has maintained throughout, though. He was trying to follow a particular model of heroic fantasy, and it was almost always the case that his villains would be defeated due to the heroic acts / sacrifice of individuals, not armies of men. (at least directly) Think of Gandalf and Balrog, Eowyn (and Merry) and the lord of the Nazgul, Smaug and... oh, hell forgot the archer's name..., and any number of figures in the Silmarillion that defeated powerful foes in individual combat.