Are the Balrog and Gandalf the same?

When Gandalf confronted Moria’s Balrog, the two opponents couldn’t been less alike in physical terms. In truth, however, the Balrog and Gandalf were once both of the same ilk. Like Gandalf, the Balrogs began as primordial spirits known as Maia, who had existed since before time began and took no physical form.

Is the Balrog in The Hobbit?

Lord Of The Rings: 10 Facts About The Balrog From The Books The Movies Leave Out. These interesting facts about Balrogs taken from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books were excluded from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings and Hobbit movies.

Does the Balrog have a name?

Balrogs, also called Valaraukar, were originally Ainur created by Ilúvatar, probably those who joined Melkor during his discordance in the Music of the Ainur.

Who is the Balrog in Moria?

Durin’s Bane
A Balrog (/ˈbælrɒɡ/) is a powerful fictional demonic monster in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. One first appeared in print in his high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, where the Fellowship of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin’s Bane in the Mines of Moria.

Why did the Balrog wake up?

Third Age. In TA 1980, a Balrog awoke in Khazad-dûm when the Dwarves had mined too deep for mithril. It drove the Dwarves out of their home and slew King Durin VI, and the Balrog was thereafter called “Durin’s Bane”.

Who woke up the Balrog?

For more than five millennia, the Balrog hibernated in his deep hiding place at the roots of the mountains in Khazad-dûm. He remained undisturbed throughout the Second Age and most of the Third, before the mithril-miners of dwarf-King Durin VI awoke him in T.A. 1980.

Are the Eagles Maia?

In earlier texts, Tolkien once envisioned the Great Eagles as bird-shaped Maiar. However, he had remembered that he abandoned the concept of the Children of the Valar, and that Gwaihir and Landroval were descendants of Thorondor during the events of The Lord of the Rings.