# Not as serious; Balrog--wings or not?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-as-serious-balrog-wings-or-not/146075>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 1, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-as-serious-balrog-wings-or-not/146075 "2003-01-01T19:16:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-as-serious-balrog-wings-or-not/146075/1 "2003-01-01T19:16:31Z")

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Maybe this should be elsewhere; feel free to move it, O Mods!

OK, so I’ve heard yes; I’ve heard no. Does the Balrog in LOTR:FOTR have wings or are they metaphorical adaptations of the shadow? Any ideas? Quotes from the text greatly appreciated!

~Ferry

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-as-serious-balrog-wings-or-not/146075/2 "2003-01-01T19:20:39Z")

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It’s been done – and overdone – before. Do a search for “balrog +wings” in Cafe Society, setting for about three months back.

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**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-as-serious-balrog-wings-or-not/146075/3 "2003-01-01T19:26:15Z")

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Ah. Sorry.

~Ferry.

ps Mods, please close this

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-as-serious-balrog-wings-or-not/146075/4 "2003-01-01T19:28:39Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> ```
> The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and **the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.** It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.
> `You cannot pass,' he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. `I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'
> 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 still 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.
> 
> ```

(bolding mine)

The text is ambiguous. In the first reference they are clearly shadow, which might imply the second reference is also shadow, but I don’t see how one can say for sure either way.