XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: jcb@inf.ed.ac.uk   
      
   On 2013-06-28, Troels Forchhammer  wrote:   
   > at the time of writing and publishing _The Lord of the Rings_,   
   > Tolkien intended the balrog in Moria as well as Balrogs in general to   
   > be without wings and to be incapable of flight (as in flying in the   
   > air like a bird, bat, or a Christian angel or demon).   
      
   So, the question is, why and how and when did Balrogs become   
   incarnate?   
   Were they incarnate?   
   The Moria Balrog appeared to Gandalf to shift form; but if Balrogs   
   were not incarnate, and only wearing fánar, then (a) there's no reason   
   they couldn't fly, (b) kicking one off a mountain shouldn't kill it.   
   Moreover, if they weren't incarnate, they wouldn't need to travel in   
   physical space to, e.g., help Morgoth.   
   (Mind you, the Valar seemed to do a lot of unnecessary physical   
   travelling ...)   
      
   But if they were incarnate, what *was* the shape-shifting Gandalf   
   perceived?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)