What it means to be a Balrog?

                                         It is Not the Demise We Fear, But the Defeat

Long ago, we were spirits of the flame, following in the steps of Eru. But we awoke in the flame of Morgoth. Within his shadow, we were remade—not mere servants, we became warriors, spreading fear to all. During the wars of Beleriand, from the Dagor Bragollah to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, our presence bends the battle. Men and Eldar waver when they see us on the battlefield. “And in the front of that fire came Glaurung the golden, father of dragons, in his full might; and behind him issued the Balrogs in multitudes, and the black armies of the Orcs followed after” (182). We are the strongest, we are untouchable; one who enters our shadow escapes unbroken.

Yet even we Balrogs know what it means to fear. Isolated and alone, cut off from the might of our Master, we are as vulnerable as can be. The courage of certain creatures burns bright, making them thorns to us. Fingon in battle, Ecthelion in the streets, Glorfindel up in the mountains stay unrelenting. It is not death we fear, but rather the possibility of the diminished flame upon defeat. 

We stride confidently in battle, when Angband rises and when Morgoth’s voice echoes through the shadows.  Then we are as doom itself, unstoppable. But when the roar of war subsides, one truth remains: fire can be snuffed, shadows may shatter, and even the strongest among us may perish.