news culture The Rings of Power: When Episode 7 of the Amazon Series summons one of the most terrifying creatures in the history of Middle-earth
Among the most fascinating creatures imagined by Tolkien in his writings, the Balrog ranks very high. Mentioned at the very end of Episode 7 of Rings of Power, the demon is already casting its shadow over the future of the series. But what place do the Balrogs really hold within the legendary?
summary
- The ancestral origin of the Balrogs
- “You can’t get through! »
- The Balrogs stronger than the Ungoliant spider?
- Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs
- The end of the Balrogs?
The ancestral origin of the Balrogs
If the general public discovered it through the prism that Peter Jackson has given us through his films, the Balrog, with its nightmarish excess, has long captured the imagination of readers and artists alike. The Balrog that appears in Lord of the Rings represents only one specimen among a whole race of demons that appeared at the dawn of time. Morgoth, the Dark Enemy, is adept at humiliating and desecrating that which has been created by others, and has indeed corrupted Maiar into demon-like scourges. Before they were better known as the Balrogs, they were the Valaraukar, fiery demons whose unimaginable power could overcome any army in the world’s earliest ages.
in the The SilmarillionTolkien tells us that Of the corrupted Maiar who followed Morgoth on his descent into darkness, the Balrogs were the most fearsome : “Fire spirits, terrible plagues, terror demons”. Among the abominations that gathered en masse in the fortress of Utumno, “their hearts were on fire, but they were shrouded in darkness, and terror preceded them; they wore streaks of fire”. A description that has ignited the imagination of generations of artists with the recurring motif of this flaming whip, inseparable from the vision we now have of these fire demons.
“You can’t get through! »
In the film trilogy Lord of the rings, Peter Jackson has also embraced this powerful image by imposing a Balrog more intriguing than ever by its excess and power from another time. The scene where Durin’s bane takes on Gandalf in the mines of Moria even serves as an introduction to the second film, to tell us what really happened after the mage fell over the chasm. An incredible sequence that left a lasting impression on minds to definitely register the Balrogs as opponents that evolve on a completely different level than ordinary mortals, like dragons.
The Balrogs stronger than the Ungoliant spider?
When the giant spider Ungoliant, tormented by hunger and a desire to absorb the light of the Silmarils, turned on Morgoth and ended its alliance with him by attempting to devour him, Morgoth owed his rescue only to the immediate intervention of the Balrogs. Hidden in the depths of Angband, The demons heard the terrible howling of Morgoth and came to their master’s aid, unleashing their anger on Ungoliant. “They cut through Ungoliant’s webs with their threads of flame, and she was startled and fled, vomiting black fumes to protect herself.”
Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs
Still on the pages of Silmarillion, we learn that the most powerful of all Balrogs is called Gothmog and that he alone is responsible for the deaths of two of the most famous elves of their time: Fëanor, creator of the Silmarils, and Fingon, a High King of the Noldor. Both Lord of the Balrogs and great captain of Angband, Gothmog, is only much later defeated by Ecthelion during the Fall of Gondolin, where the two opponents will perish together. Be careful not to confuse Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs with Gothmog, Lieutenant of the Witch-king of Angmar who takes command of the Orc forces during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields the return of the King ! Very present in Peter Jackson’s third film, this gothmog is barely mentioned by Tolkien in the book.
The end of the Balrogs?
During the War of Wrath, Tolkien affirms that “the Balrogs were destroyed except for a few who fled and dug into caves inaccessible to the roots of the earth”. If they were numerous during the First Age, the Balrogs were reduced to an extremely low number thereafter : no more than 3 or 7, according to the author’s latest information on the subject. But the series Rings of Power reminds us that while the Balrogs remained hidden for the entire duration of the Second Age, they did not completely disappear. At the end of the seventh episode Indeed, we can surmise that if the dwarves dig too deep in the galleries of Khazad-dûm in search of mithril, they risk awakening one of those terrible fire demons…
Watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video.
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