But in short, these blessed (or cursed) Balrog had wings, yes or not? Ancient diatribe, on which useless rivers of ink have been spent. It is well known and established, in fact, that the Balrogs of The Silmarillion and that of The Lord of the Rings belong to two very distant concepts.
Originally Tolkien thought of them as demons massive, yes, but not enormous, very fast on their legs, armed with claws and whips of steel, and darts of fire, and armoured; and that went at battle by hundreds, organized in companies (see The Fall of Gondolin).
Many years later, however, in writing the Bridge of Khazad Dûm, a very different image came to his mind. It was strongly in contrast with the original idea, yet fascinating to the point that he did not hesitate to develop it and describe it, even at the cost of calling into question the past. With Durin's Bane, in fact, two giant wings appeared, the whip became of fire, and a flaming sword took the place of the claws. The power of the demon was now such that Tolkien himself remained dumbfounded, and noted that there could not be supposed that more than three or seven such creatures did exist.
Hence, two types of deeply different Balrogs: the minor one of the Silmarillion, and the major one of the LotR.
Now that the author is no longer able to solve this arcane, correcting his writings in one way or another to give organic to the ultimate idea, I think it’s useless to try to read between the lines what he does not have never written or thought, and it is childish to try to show that there is only one type of Balrog throughout all his works and his life.
What I consider reasonable, however, is to respect the writings as they are and to adapt to what is read there. Hundreds of Balrog on foot? And so be it. Three or seven huge and flying Balrogs? And so too be they.
Here, then, that necessarily, so that all fits and nothing contradicts, the hundreds of "minor" Balrogs of Morgoth are leaded by a handful of "majors", at the head of which is Gothmog, and one of which is Durin’s Bane (to the friends the Flame of Udûn, as Gandalf reminds us), and others could be Lungorthin and Glorfindel's bane at Cirith Thoronath.
Well, to conclude, here is all turned into game. The basic demons are the customed Bloodletters of Khorne; the armored ones I obtained by using the body, and sometimes the helmet, from the Greatax Regiment of Mantic. The contrast with the Balrog of GW is a bit 'too much, but it is his fault because he is really too gigantic; compared with the Elves, however, I believe they fit enough... thanks to the "occult heels" with which I equipped them (double base to raise them)!
Hasty pictorial technique of mass, as always.
Many thanks to El Canter, who opened my eyes with his "balroghini" (“little Balrogs”).
More images here:
http://sitodellanello.altervista.org/jo ... Itemid=325
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