Hérna er smá um Balrogs, sem voru þjónar Morgoths.

Balrogs eru Majar eða forsögulegur andi, sem Morgoth, Myrkradróttin á fyrstu öld Miðgarðs, fékk í þjónustu með sér. Þeir voru í áþreifanlegu formi meðan þeir voru á Miðgarði. Orðið Balrog þýðir “Demon Of Might” á Sindarin, en á Quenyan Valarauko. Það sem hér kemur er úr Silmerillinum og er copy/paste:


For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into the darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valarauko, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror.“ ”And in Utumno he gathered his demons about him, those spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. Balrogs they were named in Middle-earth in later days.“


Balrogs voru í laginu eins og menn, nema mun stæri. Þeir voru umluktir eldi
og sáust vel í myrkri. Besta lýsingin á Balrog er í kaflanum ”The Bridge of Khazad-dûm“:
Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror seemed to be in it and go before it…Its streaming mane kindled and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs….His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadows about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils.” (Fellowship of the Ring)

Aðal vopn Balrogs var Eld Svipa, Whip Of Fire, sem var var svipa með mörgum endum (multi-tailed whip) sem logaði af eld. Á fyrstu öld notuðu Balrogs Svartar axir og Kylfur. Balroginn sem Gandalf barðist við var bæði með Eld Svipu og Eld Sverð.

Balrogar voru venjulega Majar, en þeir voru líka ódauðlegir eins og Valar, og voru þá með mikla krafta. Þeir voru eld andar (spirits of fire) sem þýddi að þeir gátu stjórnað eld og skapað hann, þeir gátu líka stjórnað og notað galdra.

“…I found myself suddenly faced by something that I have not met before. I could think of nothing to do but to try and put a shutting-spell on the door…Then something came into the chamber- I felt it through the door, and the orcs themselves were afraid and fell silent. It laid hold of the iron ring, and then it perceived me and my spell. What it was I cannot guess, but I have never felt such a challenge. The counter-spell was terrible. It nearly broke me. For an instant the door left my control and began to open! I had to speak a word of Command. That proved too great a strain. The door burst in pieces. Something dark as a cloud was blocking out all the light inside, and I was thrown backwards down the stairs.” (Fellowship of the Ring)

Þetta er eitt dæmi um krafta Balrogs, Balroginn vissi að þa ðværi galdur á hurðinni og hann vissi líka að annar Maji hafði sett hann þar. Hann notaði líka “counter-spell” til að ná stjórn á hurðinni. Þótt að Balrog hafi notað galdur þarna þýðir þa ðekki að þeir séu ekki sterkir og kröftugir. Þeir eru majar og hafa vit fyrir því að eyða ekki orku í þa ðse mþeir get gert á auðveldari hátt.

Balrogs eru verulega sterkir og tignarlegir. Eitt dæmi um þa ðer þegar Gimli og Legolas sjá hann í námum Moría:

He drew, but his hand fell, and the arrow slipped to the ground. He gave a cry of dismay and fear…But it was not the trolls that had filled the Elf with terror…Gimli stared with wide eyes. ‘Durin’s Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.“ (Fellowship of the Ring)

Eins og sést má eru Balrogar trylltir andstæðingar og á ALDREI að telja þá auðvelda bráð.

The Balrog never speaks or makes any vocal sound at all. Above all he does not laugh or sneer…”

Þetta segjir að Balrogar tala ekki né gefa frá sér nokkur hljóð.

Sumir segja að Balrogar geti flogið:

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…“

Tolkein sagði að þetta þýdi að myrkrið líktist vængjum. Og ef að Balrog væri með vængi hefði hann ekki notað orðið ”líktist“.

Balrogar þjónuðu Morgoth á fyrstu öld, og voru þeir verndarar Ungoliant, forsögulegu kóngulónni:Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the ruined halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and now swiftly they arose, and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire. With their whips of flame they smote asunder the webs of Ungoliant, and she quailed, and turned to flight…”

Balrogar drápu Fjanor (frægasta og kröftugastan allra Nolda), Fingon (The Most Noble Of Noldor), Ecthelion (Verndari Gondolin) og Glorfindel
(Álfa höfðingja í Gondolin, er það sá sami Glorfindel og í LOTR?)

Balroginn í Khazad-dûm drap Durin VI árið 1980 og Nain I árið 1981 bæði á annari öld. Sá sami balrogur barðist á móti Gandalf og gæti verið sagt að Balrog hefði eiginlega drepið Gandalf og hefði Gandalf drepið hann á sama tíma:

I through 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…“

Hérna er einnig bréf sem Tolkien skrifaði:

”Thus Gandalf faced and suffered death; and came back or was sent back, as he says, with enhanced power.“

Greinilega voru balrogar mjög kröftugir og drápu margar krötugar mannverur.

Einhverjir Balrogar höfðu nöfn og vitað er um þessi:
Gothmog, Captain of Angband, Lord of Balrogs. Það var hann sem bannaði Fjanor og Fingon. Og þegar Gondolin féll, drap Gothmog Ecthelion en var drepinn sjáfur líka. Þetta er úr Silmerilinum:”Thus it was that he (Fëanor) drew far ahead of the van of his host; and seeing this the servants of Morgoth turned to bay, and there issued from Angband Balrogs to aid them. There upon the confines of Dor Daedeloth, the land of Morgoth, Fëanor was surrounded, with few friends about him. Long he fought on, and undismayed, though he was wrapped in fire and wounded with many wounds; but at the last he was smitten to the ground by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, whom Ecthelion after slew in Gondolin.“
”Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, high-captain of Angband, was come; and he drove a dark wedge between the Elvenhosts, surrounding King Fingon, and thrusting Turgon and Hurin aside towards the Fen of Serech. Then he turned upon Fingon. That was a grim meeting. At last Fingon stood alone with his guard dead about him; and he fought with Gothmog, until another Balrog came behind and cast a thong of fire about him. Then Gothmog hewed him with his black axe, and a white flame sprang up from the helm of Fingon as it was cloven. Thus fell the High King of the Noldor; and they beat him into the dust ywith their maces, and his banner, blue and silver, they trod into the mire of his blood.“

Mögulegt er ða einhverjir Balrogar séu eftir á Miðgarði og fela þeir sig djúpt oní iðrum jarðar:

The Balrogs were destroyed, save some few that fled and hid themselves in caverns inaccessible at the roots of the earth…” (Silmarillion)

Þetta er einnig um Balroginn í Moría:

The Balrog is a survivor from the Silmarillion and the legends of the First Age. So is Shelob. The Balrogs, of whom the whips were the chief weapons, were primeval spirits of destroying fire, chief servants of the primeval Dark Power of the First Age. They were supposed to have been all destroyed in the overthrow of Thangorodrim, his fortress in the North. but it is here found (there is usually a hang-over especially of evil from one age to another) that one had escaped and taken refuge under the mountains of Hithaeglin (the Misty Mountains). It is observable that only the Elf knows what the thing is - and doubtless Gandalf.“

Gandalf og Legolas virtust hafa verið einu sem vissu nákvæmlega hvað þetta var á brúnni í Khazad-dûm. Gimli þekkti þetta aðeins undir nafninu ”Durin´s Bani"

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