The last time we saw a Balrog, it grievously wounded Gandalf.
Are the heroes of "The Rings of Power" ready to face off against this terrifying demon?
The latest trailer for Amazon's "The Rings of Power" featured a surprising cameo at the very
end of the footage. An ancient monster known as a Balrog makes a dramatic appearance. The reveal
is interesting because technically, there are no Balrogs in the stories of Middle-earth's Second
Age. They exist, or at least one of them does, but they just aren't doing much of anything.
These fiery monsters have existed since the beginning of time.
According to "The Silmarillion," some of the angelic beings known as the Maiar became
followers of Sauron's original master, the first Dark Lord Morgoth. As the book puts it,
"Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar,
the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror."
The Balrogs feature heavily throughout the First Age of Middle-earth history,
but when that age ends and the Second Age begins, they are destroyed or scattered
in the shattering War of Wrath. In a letter written in 1954, Tolkien adds,
"They were supposed to have been all destroyed in the overthrow of Thangorodrim,
[Morgoth's] fortress in the North. But it is here
found that one had escaped and taken refuge under the [Misty Mountains]."
So, after the First Age, the only Balrog that remains alive and identified
is the one hanging out under Moria. But even then,
we don't see it until long after the story told in "The Rings of Power" plays out.
While Balrogs are busiest in the First Age,
they have a rather momentous footnote later in Middle-earth's history.
An appendix to "The Return of the King" describes the menace haunting Moria as a,
"...terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain hidden at the foundations of the
earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth."
The book also says this happens in the 1980th year of the Third Age.
At this point, the Balrog is roused by Dwarves who are famously delving
too greedily and too deeply in search of precious mithril. When they wake the beast,
they set a series of events in motion that leads to the destruction of their kingdom. This sets the
stage for a deadly duel with Gandalf on a slender stone bridge a little over 1,000 years later.
"You shall not pass!"
What does all of this mean for " The Rings of Power"? Basically,
we don't see a whiff of a Balrog in the source material Amazon Prime's series is based on. So
why do we see a Balrog in the show's promotional footage? Apart from compelling visuals, there are
a few different theories for how the demonic monster could factor into the show's story.
The story of Durin's Bane, the Balrog in Moria, is one of fearful exile. The creature
flees when its master falls, and eventually hides deep under a mountain for 5,000 years.
We don't get an account of how the monster comes to that spot,
we only hear that it flees there after Morgoth is destroyed.
This leaves an unspecified opening in the story during which the Balrog makes its way to its
place of exile. Maybe the monster in the trailer is Durin's Bane, as it seeks a place of refuge
deep under the mountains. Perhaps it even causes some trouble along the way.
After all, "The Silmarillion" says that during the beginning of the Second Age,
men were grievously plagued by Morgoth's sinister monsters. It specifically references
unnamed "demons" among these creatures, which could easily describe a Balrog.
"This foe is beyond any of you."
If this is the case, the showrunners may have opted to weave the Balrog
into their plans, not as an opposing force blocking the path of the heroes,
but as a creature running from them. It's even worth noting that a footnote in "The Return of
the King" mentions that the phrase "roused from sleep," used to describe the Balrog's awakening,
could also mean "released from prison." If the Balrog is trapped under the Misty Mountains
until the Dwarves uncover it, maybe we'll witness the initial capture of the creature on the show.
Another option "The Rings of Power" might pursue is showing the Balrog in a flashback or even a
flash-forward. In terms of the former route, we know the Balrog flees to the Misty Mountains at
the end of the First Age. This is a period that will likely be recapped during the show
since it's the immediate backdrop to the story. Maybe, as the show discusses the War of Wrath,
we'll see a quick shot of a Balrog as it makes its way into the mountains.
This might not even be the same Balrog that we see in Moria in "The Lord of the Rings."
If that's the case, we could be seeing a different Balrog in a flashback summarizing
how gruesomely terrifying the First Age was. If this is another Balrog, it also stands to reason
that it could be present during the show as a completely made-up part of the story.
Then again, the shot we see in the trailer could also be a prescient flash-forward.
Perhaps someone in the show has a vision or a dream of the horrors to come.
At one point in the trailer, the Dwarven king Durin III makes a deeply foreboding statement.
"Beyond the darkness, tempting shadow, to bury us all beneath the mountain."
This sounds prophetic, and it's possible that this prophecy may refer to a Balrog.
One of the biggest deviations from the books in "The Rings of Power"
is the way it condenses Tolkien's original Second Age story into the lifespan of a
single generation. While time will go by as the story progresses, it will do so at a much faster
pace than the actual 3,500 years it takes for the Second Age to play out in the text.
This time compression shows that the creators are willing to make significant changes to the story.
If that's the case, it's reasonable to believe that they might weave the story of the awakening
of Durin's Bane into the narrative of their Second Age tale. Sure, it's an event that happens 2,000
years after the "Rings of Power" story ends, but when you've already compressed 3,500 years
of events into a single point in time, it sounds a lot more reasonable to explore this important
historical event. However fans might feel about it, this does seem like it could be an option.