Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

by Cody "Micajah" Bye

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, one of the most awe-inspiring moments in the saga was the Fellowship's flight through Moria, only to be trapped at the least moment by a flame-wreathed creature made of shadow and sporting equally menacing weapons of a sword and a whip. It was this creature, the Balrog, that forced Gandalf the Grey to give up his life to save the remaining members of the Fellowship. When he returned to the world of the living, he was Gandalf the White. The Balrog encounter in the bowels of Moria truly was a huge turning point in The Lord of the Rings saga, as it also inevitably broke up the Fellowship and caused Aragorn to take up the mantle of leadership after Gandalf fell. If anyone didn't believe it was a pivotal encounter, they'd be kidding themselves.

For a bit of short background info on the Balrog, these powerful creatures were originally Maiar, angel-like beings that belonged to the same order as Gandalf and Sauraman, but through the temptations of a Valar (similar to archangels), the Maiar were corrupted and became the Balrogs. However, many LOTRO lore afficionados have contended that having an encounter with a Balrog - aside from the Balrog in Moria - is an affront to the Tolkien lore. However, Ten Ton Hammer wanted to get to the bottom of why the developers at Turbine decided to introduce another Balrog into the game. In our recent interview, we made a request for an official developer response to the lore question. We've gathered this for you, along with several other developer comments made on the LOTRO Official Forums concerning their decision to put another Balrog into the game. If you're at all interested in why a Balrog will be in Book 11 and if they can be killed by mortals, continue reading and find out!

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The official developer response to why there might be more than one Balrog in Middle Earth:

It’s a common misconception that the Balrog known as Durin’s Bane, which drove the Dwarves out of Moria and was eventually slain by Gandalf atop Zirak-zigil, was the only one of its kind. This is not true, as is clear from Tolkien’s own writing. When Durin’s Bane first appears in The Fellowship of the Ring, both Legolas and Gandalf provide a clue when they refer to it as “a Balrog,” implying that there are certainly more; if there was only one, it would consistently be “the Balrog.” This is echoed later, when Legolas speaks of it in Lórien, and again in Appendix B, The Tale of Years, when Durin’s Bane first appears in Moria.

Little else is said about the matter in The Lord of the Rings, and nothing at all about what other Balrogs there might be, but other sources by Tolkien state that others existed, and a few survived the Elder Days and hid beneath the earth. This, of course, means that others might be found in remote locations, though even the Wise may know little about them. Such foes would, of course, be rare and extremely powerful; players will never encounter hordes of them, and they will always be extremely difficult to defeat.

Here's a similar response that was documented on the official forums and came in response to a question provided by a fan.

When did I say that Smaug didnt kill lots of other people before Bard came along? He obviously did, he tells Bilbo about it when they meet. Did i say otherwise??? I was just pointing out that Turin killed Glaurung singlehandedly, with one thrust of a sword.

As someone else pointed out, Bard also killed Smaug singlehandedly. Yes the Old Thrush passed word to Bard about Smaug's missing scales, but it was one shot from one bow that killed the dragon.- Originally Posted by Eol on the Official Forums  

Indeed, as a long-time fan of many fantasy novels and gaming, I am always amused when people declare that it should be impossible to kill 'x' or defeat 'y' because it would be too powerful based on the lore or backstory of said creatures.
It is something of a theme in Tolkien's works - especially LotR - that the meek shall accomplish great things. Lets run down the kill list real quick in 'game terms':

Smaug - One-shotted by a human Hunter
Glaurung - One-shotted by a solo human Champion
Shelob - Defeated by a hobbit Guardian/Gardner
The Witch King of Angmar - Do'ed by a female human Guardian and hobbit Champion
Sauruman - Jacked up by a Human Burglar
Sauron - Defeated by Human Champion (Guardian?), at full power(!), War of the Last Alliance. He did have a pretty big Raid group supporting him however.

Now, certain enemies are so powerful that it is highly unlikely that any lone mortal could defeat them. Balrogs fall under this category, and only a few First Age elves of immense personal power could really hope to contend with them one-on-one - but an army might, if they could hold ranks against such a foe. The same could be said for the greater Dragons - though we know that they CAN fall to mischance or herioc gambits.

Sauron himself saw that he was badly outmatched by the armies of Númenor in the Second Age, and surrendered rather than risking personal defeat at their hands. Could they have killed him? Probably. They almost certainly could have destroyed his physical form and banished him as a powerless spirit, as eventually happened with the destruction of Númenor.

As for Balrogs? Well, the lore is clear - they can be dispatched by mortals. The chief of the Balrogs, Gothmog, was slain in a duel with the elf-lord Ecthelion in the First Age. Ecthelion didn't make it either, but lets give the fellow his due.

Indeed of all the nasty bad-guys of Middle-Earth, only one clearly has his 'god-mode' flag set to true, and that is Morgoth himself. It is fairly clear from the description of his battle against Fingolfin that the high-elven king did in fact righteously P0W|\|Z the Dark Lord, but it was simply impossible for a mortal to physically dispatch a Valar, so in the end he was worn down and crushed. - a response to Eol's post by the developer Jesse "Vastin" King

I hope this officially answers the two biggest questions that have sprang up concerning the Balrogs! If you're at all interested in the reasoning behind introducing the Balrog or any other Book 11 questions - including housing - make sure you read our in-depth interviews with Jeffrey Steefel and Adam Mersky.

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