(LOTR) A poll from the LOTR site that failed there, but might be of interest here

[Squire James]

I think most of us agree that Celeborn, Aragorn, and Legolas would go down fast. While I don't know much about Celeborn, I must assume Galadriel didn't marry him for his power!

Treebeard would go up like a light, but afterwards land a few punishing blows that will let the Balrog know he's been in a fight. If he had the rest of the Ents with him, well, the Balrog is in for a baaad day!

Shelob is just way too vulnerable. If Sam could wound her, the Balrog's gonna eviscerate her.

I imagine the head Nazgul and King of the Dead would say goodbye to anything resembling a mortal body they may have possessed. Since a mortal body isn't particularly necessary for them, however, the Balrog probably couldn't kill them. Then again, I can't see them killing the Balrog either. I figure the Balrog eventually just starts ignoring them.

Saruman could probably do anything Gandalf could do if he had the guts, perhaps better. All this doesn't matter, because Saruman's pretty spineless and wouldn't go near the Balrog. The Balrog certainly couldn't catch him.

Which leaves Elrond and Galadriel, the two biggest question marks.

Very little is known about Elrond's combat prowess, though his Last Alliance days certainly suggested he had some. My sense is that he isn't quite the stuff of epic heroes like Feanor's relatives, or even his own ancestor Beren. My wild guess is that he would do slightly worse than Gandalf, and the Balrog might not have fallen. Then again, maybe he could dump a river on the Balrog and have a more-or-less fair fight that he has a chance of winning.

If I were judging Galadriel purely by the contents of the core Lord of the Rings trilogy, ignoring the appendices, I'd say she wouldn't stand a chance. Other evidence definitely swings things in her favor. According to the Return of the King appendix, Galadriel threw Dol Guldor down. This could have meant she and her forces beseiged the castle and took it, but then it could also mean she threw the tower down! Balrogs are pretty mean, but then so was Dol Guldor... and unlike Elrond she is one of those relatives of Feanor. While her realm was somewhat hidden, I'm sure Sauron knew where Galadriel was. Not only was she still alive, she frequently scried on Sauron without a Palantir and without falling to his will! My guess would be (assuming the Dol Guldor comment is taken literally) the Balrog goes down hard, and Galadriel goes down only if the Balrog gets lucky.

 

[Desdichado]

Of course if Gandalfs victory was based in using Narya, the ring of Fire (although Gandalf (or should I say Olorin) was maiar of fire, just like Balrog), the probably only Sauron (at least with The One ring), Elrond (has Nenya, ring of water) and Galadriel (has Nenya, ring of Air) could have survived the battle.

Those rings are not --by any stretch of the term-- rings of combat prowess, though. I wouldn't take the presence or absence of a ring as significant in this situation.

As for Sauron, Tolkien wrote in The War of the Jewels that Morgoth was, by far, the most powerful of the Valar, and had the most native power. Amongst the Maiar who served him (he apparently didn't rank Maiar other than those who served him) Sauron was by far the most powerful -- an order of magnitude more powerful than even Gothmog, the chief of the Balrogs.

However, there's a lot of variables. Sauron doesn't seem to have spent his energy on being a force of pure physical destruction, as the balrogs did. He's more the director, not the actual agent of destruction, so he may not really be all that hot in combat, scenes from the beginning of the movie notwithstanding. After his defeat and loss of the ring, there's no telling what kind of power he retained, or even if he had a physical body to be attacked and to make attacks. We also don't know where on the spectrum this particular balrog falls, except to relate him to pre-reincarnation era Gandalf, which doesn't really tell us too much either.

I'd say Saruman could probably fare nearly as well as Gandalf, at least before he "spent" his natural force on evil -- a common theme in Tolkien, that evil dissipates and weakens you. None of even the first generation Noldor out of Valinor seem to have done well against the balrogs, except Ecthelion, who was slain himself for his trouble, so I don't give good odds to anyone else on the list, except perhaps Galadriel herself and Elrond.

For those of you who say that Elrond was not Noldor, I don't know exactly what you mean. Elrond was chief of the remaining Noldor in Middle-earth, a direct descendent of Finwe, the original Noldorin elf, and son of Earandil, who killed Ancalagon the black in single combat -- a feat even the best of the rest of the Noldor can't match.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Galadriel and Elrond, while "Epic" in nature, were not warriors - at least not of the caliber that could have beaten the Balrog. If he had gone looking for them, their Rings would have hidden their realms, and defended them had he found them. I'd guess he would have been driven off, if not destroyed, but after much loss.

They are the only ones on the list that would have had a chance.

Of course, of the characters that we meet in the trilogy that aren't on the list, there is someone who probably had a real chance against the Balrog - Glorfindel. Whether he is, indeed, the Glorfindel who defeated a balrog in the Silmarillion is debatable, but assuming he isn't, he still was a powerful being that could well have matched the Balrog in a fight.

 

[Wolfspider]

Yes, Glorfindel! How could we forget him? He certainly would have been a contender.

What about ol' Tom Bombadil?

So, any thoughts on the Middle Earth fight club?

 

[Phoenix8008]

Heck, Gandalf himself didn't beat the Balrog. He just knocked it back down into the abyss for a while. If the Balrog cane striding out the east gate of Moria I think even Gandalf would have run away if it were possible.

 

[Wolfspider]

Oh, I believe the balrog of Moria is quite dead. (And all the Free People of Middle Earth should be thankful for that!) What gave you the impression that it survived its encounger with Gandalf the Grey?

 

[Turlogh]

Gandalf did beat the Balrog. After they fell they wacked at each other for a bit and then Gandalf followed the Balrog back to the surface. Then they had the final showdown and they both died.

 

[Wicht]

Of course, of the characters that we meet in the trilogy that aren't on the list, there is someone who probably had a real chance against the Balrog - Glorfindel. Whether he is, indeed, the Glorfindel who defeated a balrog in the Silmarillion is debatable, but assuming he isn't, he still was a powerful being that could well have matched the Balrog in a fight.

I thought it was understood he was a different Glorfindel. I personally would think he would lose.

Of the entire list I would say that Sauron and Saruman were the main two to stand a chance against a Balrog. Elrond might stand a chance. Galadriel's power was not in strength of arms and I would not wager on her winning. Even with Gandalf, he did not relish the fight and I would wager Gandalf was a better fighter than Saruman whose skill lay in his tongue and crafty mind.

I am reminded of a line from the Silmarillion where Feanor, the most powerful elf ever, is told that though he had been made Thrice as great as he was he would never stand a chance against one of the Valar. Granted the Maiar were not the same as regards power but I have to imagine they are more of a force to be reckoned with then most of the mighty elfs. I also grant that Balrogs could be killed physically, but to just enter into a fight with one would be pretty iffy for any elf no matter how powerful. Even if the elf won chances are he would still perish.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I've seen people quote chapter and verse of material where Tolkien flat-out says the two Glorfindels are the same. Personally, I prefer the idea that they aren't, but I'm nobody. Whether he could beat the Balrog is also debatable, but of those in the Trilogy besides Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, or Bombadil, Glorfindel, as a great lord of the Elves (as Gandalf refers to him), would have the best chance.

Re: the Balrog being defeated. SPOILER:




The opinion that Gandalf didn't beat him seems to possibly come from only seeing the movie, or only reading the first book in the Trilogy. It later becomes clear that Gandalf destroyed the Balrog.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the Two Towers, and wish not to have important parts of it spoiled, read no further!

The Two Towers: The White Rider -

"'Come, Gandalf, tell us how you fared with the Balrog!'

'Name him not!' said Gandalf, and for a moment it seemed that a cloud of pain passed over his face, and he sat silent, looking old as death. 'Long time I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death; almost it froze my heart.'

'Deep is the abyss that is spanned by Durin's Bridge, and none has measured it,' said Gimli.

'Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge,' said Gandalf. 'Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.

'We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin's folk, Gimli son of Gloin. Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day. In that despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel. Thus he brought me back at last to the secret ways of Khazad-dum: too well he knew them all. Ever up now we went, until we came to the Endless Stair.'

'Long has that been lost,' said Gimli. 'Many have said that it was never made save in legend, but others say that it was destroyed.'

'It was made, and it had not been destroyed,' said Gandalf. 'From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak it climbed, ascending in unbroken spiral in many thousand steps, until it issued at last in Durin's Tower carved in the living rock of Zirakzigil, the pinnacle of the Silvertine.

'There upon Celebdil was a lonely window in the snow, and before it lay a narrow 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. Is not that enough? A great smoke rose about us, vapour and steam. Ice fell like rain. I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side where he smote it in his ruin. Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell.'"