|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
Fri, 9:59am
Post #1 of 2
(363 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Balrog Wings, Dragon Wings
|
Can't Post
|
|
1. Introduction
In the Tolkien fandom there has been a long-standing debate about whether the Balrog of Moria is a) winged or b) wingless, and neither side has been really able to convince the other. Rather than rehashing the old arguments, I think a different type of solution, found in a different place than expected, will show a valuable new perspective to hopefully resolve the issue for good.
The key to this all is going to The Book of Lost Tales for overlooked information that lets us break away from the mental constraints of the wingedness-binary to consider a potential third option. In this post I will present my proposal that the Balrog of Moria was naturally wingless but had learned the secret of magical wings.
The Book of Lost Tales may be have been written very early on, but it also gives several glimpses into Tolkien's thought processes on various things that are not explained properly or at all in the briefer subsequent texts. The subject of wings is one of these skimmed-over topics and one that I think has remained valid in its essentials even for Tolkien's later work in Middle-earth.
2. Wings
2.1 The Wings of the Valar
Now we get to the main point of this post despite the material initially sounding unrelated to Balrogs.
According to The Book of Lost Tales, Manwë and Varda can use wings and all their folk are stated to be able to fly. Varda's wings are confirmed in two different passages in two different chapters, demonstrating that her wings were a consistent part of her character in Tolkien's early imagination and not a fanciful detail written down once and then forgotten.
#1:
Behold, Manwë Súlimo and Varda the Beautiful arose. Varda it was who at the playing of the Music had thought much of light that was of white and silver, and of stars. Those twain gathered now wings of power to themselves and fared swiftly through the three airs. [..]
With them came many of those lesser Vali who loved them and had played nigh them and attuned their music to theirs, and these are the Mánir and the Súruli, the sylphs of the airs and of the winds.
-- The Book of Lost Tales, part 1, The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor
According to this passage, the wings of the Valar are something that is "gathered" rather than something that is always present.
The Mánir and the Súrili belong in the narrative space that would later come to contain Manwë's Eagles.
#2:
Varda seeing this took of that radiance in the bason and mingled it with molten silver to make it more stable, and fared upon her wings of speed, and set stars about the firmament in very great profusion, so that the skies grew marvellously fair and their glory was doubled
-- The Book of Lost Tales, part 1, The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr
It is unclear if "wings of power" and "wings of speed" are the same thing or if Varda can choose to use different wings for different purposes, as in different spells. Regardless of how it's done, I think these two above passages amply confirm Varda's magical wings.
2.2 Balrog Wings
Let us have a refresher about the Balrog scene that sparked so much discussion.
In the scene the Balrog of Moria demonstrates an aura of shadow:
Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror seemed to be in it and to go before it.
It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it.
-- The Bridge of Khazad-dûm
Initially the Balrog is described as man-shaped, not shaped like a winged man, implying that at the start of the scene the Balrog doesn't have wings visible to the other characters.
The Balrog is surrounded by an aura of darkness that clearly does not obey the natural laws of optics. This would be a cloud of unlight rather than a natural shadow.
Then the unlight around the Balrog appears to form two wings:
His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.
-- The Bridge of Khazad-dûm
The text gives the impression that the shadow moves and expands without an apparent physical cause while the Balrog halts momentarily and should not be causing radical changes in natural shadows.
The shadow is here described as being "like two vast wings", implying that the shadow actually wasn't wings, only that it looked like wings.
Then we get the segment much-quote by the pro-wing faction:
The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall
-- The Bridge of Khazad-dûm
The wings that are spread from wall to wall would be the same darkness that reached out in the previous quote. This quote should make even clearer that the natural behavior of light and ordinary shadow in the scene could not cause such effects. Meanwhile the darkness that was "like wings" becomes just "wings" implying that the wings that weren't there at the start of the scene have now become complete and real.
2.3 A Note on Gandalf
In an earlier scene Gandalf demonstrates that his innate powers and aura are not so different from those of the Balrog of Moria:
Gandalf's eyes flashed. "It will be my turn to get angry soon," he said. "If you say that again, I shall. Then you will see Gandalf the Grey uncloaked." He took a step towards the hobbit, and he seemed to grow tall and menacing; his shadow filled the little room.
-- A Long-Expected Party
Gandalf and the Balrog are both Maiar, so it would stand to reason that their abilities are similar at the core. Manifesting one's aura sounds like it would be a basic technique usable by all the Maiar, even those confined to a human body such as Gandalf.
We do not see Gandalf forming wings from his aura, but I suggest that he theoretically could learn to do so, if he knew the magical technique and devoted enough time to mastering it.
2.4 The Wings of the Enemy
According to The Book of Lost Tales, Morgoth wanted to learn to fly, but initially didn't know how.
Then arose Thorndor, King of Eagles, and he loved not Melko, for Melko had caught many of his kindred and chained them against sharp rocks to squeeze from them the magic words whereby he might learn to fly (for he dreamed of contending even against Manwë in the air) [..]
-- The Book of Lost Tales, part 2, The Fall of Gondolin
The idea of torturing a bird for secret information on how to fly may sound like a silly and irrelevant comedic interlude, meant to demonstrate Morgoth's villainous stupidity, but the Eagles are Maiar rather than true birds, making the idea not so silly after all.
Also despite the passage in The Fall of Gondolin making it sound like none of the captured Eagles ever spilled the secret, the later appearance of the flying dragons suggests otherwise, indicating that Morgoth eventually did learn the secret of magical flight and spread the knowledge to his minions. Dragons and Balrogs both ranked high in the service of Morgoth, and both types would have greatly benefited from learning how to fly, so I think it makes sense that they both did, or at least were given the opportunity for doing so.
Smaug in The Hobbit has all the indications of a being that has been designed to be ground-bound, yet has learned to fly anyway, even if doing so leaves his soft stomach exposed. His wings being magical in nature and formed from his aura would explain why they are not weak points for attacks. Quite possibly Glaurung too could have developed wings, but he dies before the Fall of Gondolin.
(Incidentally, it is entirely possible that even Sauron, who after all was one of Morgoth's top lieutenants and very skilled in many types of magic, could manifest wings for himself and fly in the Third Age, or even before, without needing to transform into a bat. This ability could well have saved him during those times he was thought to have been defeated but wasn't, especially if he had the ability to fly while invisible or hidden by darkness. However Sauron's wings are entirely speculative due to lack of evidence in either direction.)
Regarding the magical capabilities of the Balrogs, the Balrog of Moria forming solid and functional weaponry from fire demonstrates real and significant levels of power and mastery.
2.5 More Wings
Before wrapping up this post, I would like to add a segment about the potential plausibility of Elf wings, an idea long thought wholly incompatible with Middle-earth to the point of ridiculousness and obviously something that could never happen, thanks to authoritative passages such as this one:
This old word [Elf] was indeed the only one available, and was once fitted to apply to such memories of this people as Men preserved, or to the makings of Men's minds not wholly dissimilar. But it has been diminished, and to many it may now suggest fancies either pretty or silly, as unlike to the Quendi of old as are butterflies to the swift falcon - not that any of the Quendi ever possessed wings of the body, as unnatural to them as to Men.
-- Appendix F, II On Translation
The passage talks about how the Elves of Middle-earth are unlike the popular depictions of pretty flower fairies and comedic goblins. Tolkien says that the dissimilarity is like the difference between butterflies and falcons, which indeed are very different in many of their aspects. For example, butterflies are pretty little insects harmlessly fluttering about while falcons are swift predators. However, both butterflies and falcons have wings and are capable of flight.
Notably, supernatural wings created with magic are not "wings of the body". Therefore, Elves flying on supernatural wings of the spirit is actually something that is within the realm of possibilities in a future time in which the secret of the wings has become less of a secret. Potentially some Elves even knew how to do so in the Third Age. In particular, the Vanyar of Valinor could plausibly have learned about wings due to their long association with Manwë and Varda. This would fit well with the Vanyar being the most "angelic" of the Elves.
4. Conclusion
From the above examples we see that the idea that the Balrog of Moria manifested its wings to existence during the bridge of Khazad-dûm scene finds support both from the scene itself and from elsewhere in Tolkien. We find that wing-creation abilities are far from unique in Tolkien's world and that all the Balrogs had the backstory to very plausibly have known the secret of the wings.
I might also want to add that that in many fictional depictions angels can hide and manifest their wings at will, though the color of the wings is what it is. This could easily have influenced Tolkien in his writing of the Balrog encounter. Even in the flaming sword wielded by the Balrog can be seen an allusion to Genesis 3:24, furthering the angel connection.
Rather than a relatively simple combat monster, we get an image of the Balrog of Moria as a black-winged angel, using advanced spiritual techniques with power and practiced skill. I think this portrayal is much superior to the usual more bestial depictions.
|
|
|
|
|
