From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message   
      
   "conrad.dunkerson@worldnet.att.net"    
   spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > On Friday, June 28, 2013 8:05:07 AM UTC-4, Troels Forchhammer   
   > wrote:   
   >> Actually I cannot think of any pro-wingers among Tolkien scholars   
   >> ...   
   >   
   > Well... I can think of ONE.   
      
   Who might that be?   
      
   _Scholars_ -- not readers, students, enthusiasts, fans, whatever they   
   wish to call themselves. And I do definitely not count myself among the   
   scholars.   
      
   > My personal theory is that Tolkien liked the concept of a winged   
   > Balrog enough to imply it, but avoided stating it explicitly so   
   > that he wouldn't have to revise the history to make it fit.   
      
   I don't think that the passage is in any way, shape or form intended by   
   Tolkien to imply a winged Balrog, and it is my personal theory that he   
   would be quite surprised to discover that so many people would read it   
   in that way.   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer   
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
         The major problem [encountered in time travel] is quite   
       simply one of grammar, and the main work to consult in this   
       matter is Dr Dan Streetmentioner's Time Traveller's   
       Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations.   
      - Douglas Adams, /The Restaurant at the End of the Universe/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)