# Dose the Balrog have wings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735 "2002-07-07T03:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/1 "2002-07-07T03:44:34Z")
ok ok I have heard the of a legendary flame war about if the balrog Gandalf fights in the mines should or should not have wings? can some tell m e more about this or is it just a Rumor? ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/2 "2002-07-07T03:51:19Z")
Be careful, Lear’s\_Fool, you’ve just stepped into one of the hottest debates in Tolkien Geekdom (ranking right next to “Who the heck is Tom Bombadil?”) I’ll wander off and look for cites now… _wander wander wander_ ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/3 "2002-07-07T03:51:25Z")
[Well, here’s a link to read](http://www.xenite.org/tolkien/do-balrogs-have-wings.html). ---
**Author:** ![taklon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@taklon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taklon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/4 "2002-07-07T06:24:30Z")
If the Balrog had wings they must have vestigial only otherwise it would not have fallen down the chasm, with full-blown wings it would have flown out surely. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/5 "2002-07-07T06:43:02Z")
> [@](#): > > If the Balrog had wings they must have vestigial only otherwise it would not have fallen down the chasm, with full-blown wings it would have flown out surely. Assuming that the effort to fight with Gandalf on the way down wasn’t too distracting. Yes, the Balrog had wings. We saw 'em. We read about 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/6 "2002-07-07T10:55:39Z")
(from “Bored of The Rings”) (The Ballhog has fallen into the crevasse) The Orcs shout disdainfully as Ballhog plummets, “Fly you fool!” ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/7 "2002-07-07T12:39:25Z")
‘Ai, ai! A Balrog wings debate! A Balrog wings debate is come!’ ‘What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.’ ---
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/8 "2002-07-08T01:46:35Z")
my gusse was that the balrog could fight but gandalf just used his magick to keep him from doint that they are pretty much the same thing ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dose-the-balrog-have-wings/117735/9 "2002-07-08T20:49:04Z")
Anyone with half a brain knows that wings don’t always operate in confined spaces. The crevasse was just that, a big crack, some room laterally, but fore and aft room was sadly lacking. A creature the size of a Balrog would require some decent wingspan to get good lift. I’d be suprised if it could expand it’s wings fully let alone use them without wacking the side of the chasm and ruining the lift. The Balrog HAD to have wings, it’s the only way it, and Gandalf, could have **survived** that fall. The Balrog had it’s wings open the entire way and, while they were too confined to get lift, it was able to slow their descent. The entire debate stems from varying descriptions of Balrogs in both published and unpublished works by Tolkein. The unpublished works can largely be discounted because we will never know if he intended to go back and clarify the descriptions or not. The published works indicate that Balrogs, at least the one in Moria, had, or could create them on demand, wings. Steven