The Balrog = Balor or Pit Fiend?

[Welverin]

There's a passage that states that the shadows that extend from the Balrog as it chases the Fellowship stretched across the passage like wings. It's a rather nebulous statement.

That one is, but as was pointed out to me a while ago two paragraphs later is one that isn't.

"The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm."

This is from FotR book 2, chapter 5 (page number is different between the papder back and hard cover copies I looked at).

 

[Umbran]

Yes, Welverin. If you read the article mentioned by The Serge, that remains nebulous...

The first statement is that it has something "like wings" which could be no more than tricks of smoke and shadow - merely an image, not a physical presence. Your quote may then be taken as a statement that it has actual wings, or merely a continuation about those "smoke and shadow" wings that aren't really there.

Maybe Tolkien was using a similie, and maybe he wasn't. Only he knows for sure, and he's dead. Let's not lose sleep over it, okay folks?

 

[Welverin]

Yes, Welverin. If you read the article mentioned by The Serge, that remains nebulous...

The first statement is that it has something "like wings" which could be no more than tricks of smoke and shadow - merely an image, not a physical presence. Your quote may then be taken as a statement that it has actual wings, or merely a continuation about those "smoke and shadow" wings that aren't really there.

Maybe Tolkien was using a similie, and maybe he wasn't. Only he knows for sure, and he's dead. Let's not lose sleep over it, okay folks?

I did go read. As is pointed out if you just take one statement on it's own it's rather clear cut, consider both and that's when it really gets nebulous.