Who Could & Couldn't Defeat the Balrog? Ft. Sauron
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
- We return to Middle Earth to explore who we think could defeat the Balrog of Morgoth... and also who Couldn't.
Featuring Sauron, Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, Galadriel, Elrond and even Aragorn.
Who else do you think could defeat Durin's Bane? Let us know in the comments below.
Continue the discussion with us on Discord :)
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00:00 Intro
01:55 Sauron, Gandalf, Saruman
06:48 A Life for a Life...
09:19 The one's who need a miracle...
Review Channel - / @thefandome
And for more of Liams work check out his fantastic Audio Book the Shifterverse here - / @shifterverse 
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The elf king Fingolfin. He took on MORGOTH and almost won at one point.
Tom Bombadill enters the chat! cant belive he was forgotten! Others from the third age only Smaug,Beorn,Treebeard,Helm Hammerhand(doubtful)Witchking,from second age Elendil,Ar,Phazaron,Gil Galad, A few great Dragons were probably alive in second age,First Age to many!
We did have old Tom Bombadillo in his own "sure thing" catergorey but because it has to be in his forests we thought it might be cheating 😂 Thanks for watching and your suggestions! Liam
@@shifterverse I think he might be rather strong even outside his forest but hes powers are hard to understand.
@@skaraturbothink he meant more Tom wouldn't fight unless it's in the forest . Tom could of ended multiple threats to middle earth but he rather tell the story , allow hero and villains to raise alongside fall, spend time with his wife and only did anything in defence of the forest .
Yeah ok@@silvertiger4441
Witch King?? In what Universe?
Were he still alive, Gil-Galad. He didn't get any credit in the films, but he helped defeat Sauron in the books. If you're putting Aragorn, Isildur and Elendil on this list, Gil-Galad is a definite winner in a matchup against a Balrog. I'd go so far as saying he has a better chance coming out alive than a mere mortal, but were he to be at peace with his own death, that Balrog is as good as dead.
Gil-Galad was probably the stronkest elf this side of the First Age, and that’s without wielding one of the Three
I think the thing that gives me pause is this;
It took both Elendil & Gil-Galad to bring down Sauron and even then Isildur had to finish him off by chopping off his finger (books). IIRC Gil-Galad was basically burned alive by Sauron which is kinda messed up!
However, if Elrond is on the list for the hail-marys then I agree Gil-Galad should be in that category, also of note, Gil-Galad might have seen the light of the trees of Valinor, so the argument for him being moved into the same tier with Galadriel is there to i imagine.
So yeah, actually I probably agree :p - Thom
@@TheFandomeClipsI agree but he is also related to Galadriel so also might have the power to defeat it.
@@TheFandomeClipsI think the movies have kind of influenced the view of Isildur's part in the fight a bit much though. If we are saying Elendil could possibly do it than Gil-Galad would probably have to be on the list as those two both lost their lives to kill him. In the books Isildur basically cut the finger from a corpse moreso than a warrior god spirit
While i agree that including the Numenoreans in the list warrants including Gil-Galad as well, i would not rate his chances as any better. The Numenoreans, before their fall, were said to be the equals or even mightier then the Eldar in stature and power, except for their mortality and vulnerability to disease. And both Elendil and Isuldur were not among the fallen. I would rate Gil-Galad as a comparable combatant. If he bore one of the rings, then maybe (as the video says, depending on how the rings work, and if they provide survivability advantage at all) he might be rated slightly higher. And Gil-Galad isn't exactly known for any previous heroic feats, like other elves of the First Age are. Not to say that he is no good, he should definitely be on the list if his mates are.
Some first age warriors would have a good chance i think. Fëanor, Fingolfin, Beren and Turin should be capable of 'trading' their lives at least. Considering that Fëanor held his ground against multiple balrogs before he was slain i think he would survive the fight with durins bane easily
Also Fingon, he stood his ground until another balrog joined the duel
Fingolfin went toe to toe with Morgoth and sort of held his own for a bit. I think he takes the Balrog with only moderate to medium high difficulty
If Elrond is a Hail Mary pick (which I agree with) then I would probably want to give at least that to his dear old dad Earendil. Granted it wasn't solo and he had his "ship" to help but he did manage the killing blow on Ancalagon the Black, i.e. the dragon that makes Smaug look like a cute little pet by comparison.
As for elves who could at least pull a mutual, I gotta think that Feanor has a shot. IT took several of them including Gothmog to take down a tired Feanor the first time and he survived for a bit after the right. Facing down a single Balrog, while fresh, I think he could pull it off.
And then there is Fingolfin. I mean the dude threw hands with Morgoth and actually hurt the big bad. As in permanently hurt him. So if we acknowledge Morgoth is winning vs the Balrog then I am betting on Fingolfin. Honestly I would think he has a good shot as mightiest of all elves ever.
Considering USING your Influence with MAGIC, and actual LARGE amounts of MAGIC to CORRUPT many beings in Midde earth..CREATE DRagons, mangle MAUIR for them to become BAlrogs..and all the other influence Morgoth creacted during AGE 1..he was probably 95% diminished bye the time he fought FIngolfin, and even any AVERAGE MAuir could take out Morgoth at that point even though he was a vallar. So I dont give that Battle between Morgoth and Fingolfin all that much credit really..
Sauron would rather turn Durin’s Bane to his service, excellent distinction there.
I think Tolkien magic is a type of lifeforce, like physical strength. Depleting your magical power will exhaust and even kill you just as tangible efforts. Either way, Tolkien wasn’t interested in creating a DnD like explanation for the mechanics so…🤷🏻
I can’t see Aragorn defeating a Balrog, but one of his Numenorean forebears presumably could, at the cost of their own life-ditto for Turin, in fact he’s the most likely of any mortal to slay a minion of Morgoth.
For a real Hail Mary, I’d suggest a tag team of Beren and Luthien (goodest boi Huan unfortunately wouldn’t be of much help); their strategy against Morgoth would likely work even better against a lesser Maiar.
We don't put much stock in Aragon ethier 😂 like we said, he needs a miracle Warlord 😂 we kind of put them in there as an excuse to talk about Narsil and try to dispel some myths about it 😂 Turin is a great suggestion! Liam
If you are picking characters from history then do not forget Azaghal, he was right up there with Glorfindel.
Luthien would most likely beat a balrog on her own
I think Elrond is more a trader than a hail Mary but the sentiment i agree with, one you didn't add which I think is a contender as well, is Gil-Galad
Thats true, we were picking characters from LOTR only and I totally forgot about Gil while remembering his chad human friend Elendil 😂 i think he would definitely stand a shot of trading quite decisively! Dude did take down Sauron with Elendil at the end of the day! Thanks for watching! Liam
Another name I'd add in retrospect but have no clue which category they would fall in, (most likely trader i think) would be the Witch King of Angmar. A debate I've had for years internally in LOTR fandom for years has been that question, who us likely the more powerful? During Bane or The Witch King?
Another great video thanks for the shoutout!
Speaking of Ungoliant, it was actually the balrogs that drove her off in the end
Took all of them to do it didn't it? She was just that powerful and other.
Thanks for watching CT-117
One character I didn’t hear that I’m curious about is the witch King
In the 6 books...Gandalf the white, Saruman, Glorfindel.
Noteable characters from the history, Glorfindel, Azaghal, Feanor and Fingolfin.
Tom bombadil
Great job, love to see new things
Thanks Sarbuland! Slowly but surely we're dipping our toes into other works 😂 Liam
@@TheFandomeClipswho would win in a fight Samug or vaghar
thank you good sir! we hope to please and keep things interesting! - Thom
What about Ecthelion of the Fountain. Dude personally killed two Dragons and three Balrogs while defending the South Gate during the fall of Gondolin. He was the last elf standing in Gondolin and, unarmed, sacrificed himself to slay Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, High Captain of Angband, Melkior's right hand, high daddy of the armies of Hell and eater of Durin's Bane for Breakfast. He was also probably the original wielder of Orcrist (later wielded by Thorin Oakenshield's ), with which he cleaved and butchered so many orcs and goblins during the Fall of Gondolin that the sword was still remembered and dreaded by goblins 7000 years later.
Problem with the Balrogs is that they are quite different from what they were in Silmarillion, where there were several dozens of them and only surpassed in Morgoths armies by the dragons. And back then it was a case of only the mightiest of heroes being able to beat one in a duel... with Ecthelion of Gondolin managing at the cost of his own life.
But the idea of the Balrogs evolved when it came to LotR where there had really never been more than a handful or two of them and had functioned more like Morgoths generals the same way Sauron did rather than line breakers... possibly to differentiate them from trolls.
And the idea evolved once more for the movie where they are a titanic demonic force with wings, rather than the shady creatures not much bigger than a man that they are in the books.
While I will give that due to Tolkien favouring the underdogs, everyone on the list are within a shot of defeating the Balrog from the movies... I would say however that its more plausible it just steps on anyone that isn't Smaug or a physical Sauron. Smaug could do it with physical force, the dragons were supposed to be mightier than the Balrogs. Sauron on the other hand will have to resort to some form of magic, even that mace of his likely only bruises the Balrog and basically they are the same creatures under the skin... the Wizards just happened to pick very fragile forms and actually weren't meant to swing the tides of battle with their magics.
My understanding is that, Tolkien mentioned that there were never more then balrogs at any given point? Also theyre physical SIZE and form isnt all that well descripted bye Tolkien other then creatures of fire/ash/Whip/Flaming sword?
@@varsington True, which is why I kinda feel like Jackson is justified in making the Balrog look like it did.
You wanted a monster that could lay low a great dwarven kingdom on its own and face off against the mightiest of heroes; it looks like it could do that.
I think you are underrating certain characters.
Elrond’s grandfather Tuor, a mortal man, went on a balrog killing spree during the fall of Gondolin. Elrond also has the blood of a very powerful Maia on his mother’s side. At the very least he kills it, and quite possibly he could survive, as definitely would Galadriel who has just sick power.
Aragorn is hard because yes his line has lost a bit in the years since Elendil, let alone Elros, brother of Elrond, but his lifespan exceeded that of recent descendants suggesting that the power of his line was somewhat restored him, making him more than a long shot. Elendil I think does kill the balrog at the cost of his life, as he and Gil-galad faced and threw down Sauron at his peak. No lucky Isildur finger cutting as was shown in the movie. They actually took down Sauron.
I also think the Witch King could put up a good fight.
There MAY also be a few other elves in middle earth of high enough lineage and power to kill the balrog and die in the effort, but the few named have nonexistent or conflicting lineage.
Elendil from what I've read is an absolute chad of a man, 8ft tall and could give top tier elves from the same age a run for their money.
We might have come across a little bit harsh with some of our picks but we'd rather pessimistic than optimistic or our comments just fill with "Your overrating this and that character, you've clearly not read about Durins Bane" 😂
The Witch King was in our considerations for a hail mary attempt, but like Tom Bombadil (Who needs the fight to take place in his forests) his peak power seems to be linked to his proximity to Mordor/ The potency of Saurons evil influence. At his peak, during his hour and close to Mordor we'd have to agree he could probably take it, but anywhere else and The Balrog will probably have the advantage.
Thanks for watching! Liam
You gotta remember though thay Tolkien retconned some of his works basically eliminating Tuor's feets when he said that at most 7 Balrog existed. Also, while characters like Elrond are powerful, he is still far enough removed from the lineage of his forefathers to not be a gimme. The only children of Eru that we know of that have matched and defeated Maiar 1v1 across the legendarium were all Some of the earliest of their lineage in the first age of the world. Elrond, Aragorn, Celeborn, etc are all powerful elves but they're not of the same tier as Galadriel or Glorfindel whom are both leaders of their houses and are either far more ancient than the others as the years of the trees was nearly 15k years of time or had bore witness to the trees and their light if not both. Basically anyone named at the time of the war of the rings that isn't a Maiar or Galadriel/Glorfindel would be a massive underdog in the fight as they're the only named elves that have powers said to be nearly on par with that of a Maiar
Pippin with a 12 gauge shotgun
Elendiel (isildur father) was JACKED I think he was like 8ft
Some other mentions
What about the Witch king he was an insane sorcerer and Sauron second in command
How bout Smaug?
Isildur and Elendil were both vastly more powerful than Aragorn.
Probably but no by so much i think! Aragorn was also pure blood Numenor
@skaraturbo Not really the most pure blood of them could live to be 400-500 years and Aragorn only lived to be 210 I believe
@@JohnSmith-tx1mz yes, Isildur was considered young at the age of 234
Hes still pureblood it says so in the book. It has to do with the blood but also it might be that evryone gets weaker slowly ever since the trees of light was destroyed@@JohnSmith-tx1mz
What’s your source on that
Tom Bombadil. Bright Blue his Jacket is, and his boots are yellow. Could have done it easily, not even a contest.
6.8 likes and 2.5k views? How is that possible lol. You deserve a lot more views that disparity aside
Thanks so much! We're experimenting at the moment using a second channel and the analytics to see if YT has decided to pigeon hole us as a thrones channel and only pushes our thrones content, so far our results are pointing in that direction 😂 Thanks for watching! Liam
Elrond is a full elf, despite being born from the lineage of man. Same as how Elros is a full human, but was blessed by Eru with a long lifespan.
Take note that this distinction is important, because the soul of Elros will depart Arda, whereas Elrond will remain. The change they underwent was soul deep.
His powers are that of an elf, and it can be agreed on that Eru does not make everyone equal.
It is clear that Elrond was destined for greatness, and his life positioned in such a way as to guarantee the role he ends up fulfilling in the end.
Ultimately, he was a cut above the rest. Having the most powerful ring (thematic with how Manwe embodies wind, so too does Vilea) definitely helps for something.
Although power scaling is different in LotR than with video games, the concept of power remains true, and whatever benefit that could be gotten from the ring would be greater for Elrond.
Other than this oversight, I liked your video.
Great video
Thanks Connor! Slowly but surely we're making our way into new franchises! Liam
When I 1st saw the Balrog, omg I was in total awe.! I beleive only beings who can use magic could defeat the Balrogs.
3:05 I laughed too.
I was going to say Smaug, but looking into it apparently in the Silmarillion Balrogs literally herded dragons around like sheep.
That's the issue, Tolkein originally had them as lesser fire spirits who were basically line breakers for Morgoth, then changed his mind later on to make their number between 3 and 7 in an offhand note. Depends on what you take as your source.
I think Smaug is a pretty cool choice though!
Thanks for watching! Liam
Possibly a controversial choice, but: The Witch King of Angmar
Thoughts everyone?
Not a controversial pick at all my friend! Problem we had with the Witch King when we were trying to decide if he could is he has inconsistent showings of just how afraid of him you should be and when he's actually got power.
At one moment he's Saurons most deadly servant willing to fight Gandalf the white (Saurons light side equal essentially) with some deluded degree of confidence he could take the old man, the next he's been manhandled off of weather top by Aragon and earlier Gandalf the Grey who were also facing other nazgul at the same time 😂 his power seems (at least in our opinion) to relate to his proximity to mordor and the potency of Saurons evil power and influence
With this we had him in a similar category to Tom Bombadil, if the circumstances favour him (close to mordor, his destinied hour, Saurons evil is at high potency ect) we think like Tom Bombadil in his forest, he could probably crush Durins bane, on neturel ground however, the demon is probably having flame grilled wraith for lunch 😂
Tom Bombadil would just keep a Balrog as a living stove...
Sauron technically is a Balrog
sauron may not have good physical combat history, but i think he would actually be able to convince the balrog into servitude - perhaps with cunning words or just sheer might of presence. he was presumably higher ranked under morgoth, after all. i think the balrog would end up serving him if they ever came into contact when sauron was strong.
ecthelion traded for a presumably significantly stronger balrog in gothmog, so i would speculate he could perhaps survive an encounter with this one. its very hard to say because not only is Tolkein vague about power levels like you say, our sources also arent necessarily aligned. the silmarillion was published after his death and he kept going back and changing his mind on many things over the decades of developing his legendarium. so its really hard to compare a first age legend like feanor to characters from LOTR, but if you were expanding to characters outside of LOTR, then you'd have to at least give mention to the likes of feanor (who took on a bunch of them and survived for a while, and was called the "greatest in body and mind" of all of the elves and men) and fingolfin (took on and wounded morgoth, not at his full power of course). other great elven warriors probably deserve mention too, i think thingol was very mighty. turin deserves mention for his dragon slaying and hurin for his prowess against orcs and the fact that he was called the mightiest man iirc. eardendil with a silmaril perhaps too. also gotta note that luthien played a song that put the entire fortress (or at least anyone in her path) of angband to sleep, including morgoth.
Good know we can cross Durin off the list. One down a countless about of more characters to go.
I think witch king of angmar might be able to win
Echtelion of Gondolin, Fingolfin (who wounded Melkor 7 times), Huan (that's cheating), Ancalagon the Black (dude literally might've been the size of a mountain), Glaurung, and perhaps Turin though i am not sure about that last one
Awesome picks, definitely would back Fingolfin! Liam
Is Talion and Celibrmbor from the video game an option?
7:33 equal to Feanor 😂😂😂😂 yeah that’s a f#*k no. 😂
"Galadriel was the greatest of the Noldor, except Fëanor maybe, though she was wiser than he, and her wisdom increased with the long years."
The word MAYBE makes me think they are close enough to equals.
@@TheFandomeClips wiser perhaps, but Tolkien himself said Feanor was the greatest of all the Children of Illuvatar.
Feanor was demonstrably more impressive: creating the palantiri, the Silmirils and took on several balrogs BY HIMSELF. He was also a master orator and the inventor of the Elven script that bears his name.
To be fair, I believe Tolkien wrote that Fingolfin was a better fighter though. Overall it’s quite clear Feanor was the greatest elf; flawed yes, but the greatest. Galadriel is not quite in the same league. 🤔
Glaurong and Grond.
It really does come down to whether you expect the fighter to survive or just kill the enemy before they die. This being a Balrog it seems to me just killing the damn thing is a victory even if you die. I would also point out we are operating here in a world where Sam, a simple Hobbit farmer, defeated Shelob the daughter of Ungoliant so the underdog does very much have a chance and the pound for pound fighter rule really does not apply the way it does in GOT. For instance I think Aragorn could certainly have the strength of will to kill the Balrog even if he almost certainly would die in the process.
Thats exactly how we feel James! Tolkien takes a bit more from mythology than true history like GRRM does. I think that's why you don't see many vids like this its so dam hard to quantify the fighters because the underdogs win fights they shouldn't. Sam in all honesty should have been a snack for Shelob which is basically a lovecraftian evil that resembles a spider, not just a big spider like many think. I think that's why we like the mountain vids so much, you can apply real world laws of combat to most GOT characters. Thanks for watching as usual! Liam
Not even chance against a balrog...Aragorn almost got WIPED out bye a Foot stomp in Return of the king bye an armored Cave troll. And cave trolls have Zero chance against a Balrog...
@@varsington Aha! TBF that cave troll was originally Sauron, until they deemed it. abad idea and painted over him with a cave troll instead :D Aragorns still getting dunked though. Unless there was some particular circumstances. - Thom
Wait, didn't Glorfindel traded his life to defeat a Balrog, and then came back to middle earth STRONGER? wouldn't that mean that he could theoretically have a shot at killing Durin's Bane maybe at a great cost but not necessarily at the cost of his life?
What about the dude that killed Gothmog during the fall of Gondolin?
What if Balrog turned good? Instead of a red fire its a blue fire and Gandalf manage to talk some maia sense to it and giving wisdom. Give it a purpose to live in a good way and defeat Sauron. Coz Sauron would only treat Balrog as a useful tool and not as a friend like Gandalf. Balrog and Gandalf got pretty much in common too both wielding power of flames and fire.
It's weird to stop and think of the actual relationship between Gandalf and the Balrog. The two of them come from the same divine stock, albeit ones which massively diverged from one another very early on. So it's kind of neat to think of there once being a time, very far back and before either of them entered the world, when the two were legit on the same team 🤔
I'm never sure how long Gandalfs Maia spirit existed for and if it would have been around at the time of the Balrogs creation. Food for thought though!
I know Saruman also trained under Aule like Sauron did. Guess the next one to train under Aule will be watched like a hawk though!
I think that Thorin Oakenshield with a dwarvish ring of power, uncurritpted by dragon sickness and with his elf sword
might be able to do the job and kill a belrog. He took on a flipping dragon. And bard the bowman actually killed a dragon. These two, at the cost of their lived could kill the belr
og
Much as Smaug was a beast of an enemy, he is not at the level of a Balrog. The dragon flame wouldn't touch a Balrog and I reckon his weapons are cleaving through the dragonhide like so much butter.
Dragons might be the most powerful mortal(ish) monsters to serve evil but Smaug is a lot weaker than his ancient kin.
What about Smaug?
Gandalf, Glorfindel, and Ecthelion were the only characters to actually kill a balrog right?
I belive so, I think in some of the older text some characters killed quite a few, but that was before they were revised from line breakers to fallen maiar
Any thoughts on Tom Bombadil?
Not sure he'd be bothered and the Balrog wouldn't try..I guess that answers your question if you squint a bit.
Durin's Bane, and Sauron himself have nothing on the Master Chief, or should I say Spartan 117. Isaac Clark is a close second.
Chief is underrated as hell, though I don't think it helps when people pit him against 40k space marines (purposely OTT super soldiers) and the Doom Slayer (kind of the god of anger in his universe) 😂
The show that will not be named? What show? Anyway let’s continue 😂😂😂
Always had Sauron pegged as more of a builder than a fighter and would put him in the trading deaths at full power and squashed by the Balrog if weakened, his influence does more than his fists the others stand a good chance but would also place the watcher in the water as a strong contender along with Legolas as a might since he's very ranged then Tom bombadil can sing the balrog to sleep
We wanted to put Tom Bombadillo as our only guaranteed win, but only if the fight takes place on his land. I don't think he has any power beyond his forests. What an epic duel though
Balrog- Brandishes flame sword and whip
Tom- "Bugger off ye fire devil"
Balrog- Buggers off 😂
Thanks for watching! Liam
Love the idea of Durins bane being a pesky child annoying Tom just telling him to get off his lawn, as a who could win I'd like to see a thanos video where you explain how each avenger could have won or got their ass kicked
It pretty much took all of them to take Thanos down.
Captain Marvel is the only one who could match him, right? ( We saw Hulk get smushed... Thor got the job done on a post gauntlet thanos...)
- Thom
Next I think you should do a video of people who EASILY beat the Balrog bc as soon as you start talking about Fingolfin or Feanor, Durins Bane is DUST.
I thought only third age was counted or else i could count about 50 without mention Valar or other Maias
@@skaraturboyour absolutely right pal! We picked just characters who appeared (or were heavily mentioned like isildur and Elendil) during the time of LOTR. If this vid does well we might have a second crack with the 2nd and 1st ages characters, like we did with our Mountain video.
If this vid does well we might delve deeper into the 2nd and third age and stuff from the silmirillion, we're just easing ourselves into LOTR content right now 😂 Thanks for watching! Liam
@@shifterverse Nice i hope so!
thing is, comparing lore from LOTR compared to QS is a bit hard considering the latter was published after tolkeins death and the man went back and forth a lot over balrogs. were there only a handful of them, with them being super elite? or were there whole armies of them, evidenced by when melkor summoned them against ungoliant? the ones that had to gang up on feanor may have been a different imagining of the balrogs, if you will, and weaker than durins bane.
Smaug?
I certainly wonder what the witch king might be capable of. He was able to semi challenge gandalf with the help of sauron most likely, and was clearly a great warrior, let alone his cunning in sticking around and taking out arnor while sauron was still unable to take any form. He may have a shot.. Other characters would be smaug, gandalf had no interest in taking him on one on one, and though yes, killed by an arrow, would be set up well against a balrog.In addition gil galad, likely could have, being around galadriel, but greater then elrond.
Gil Galad would definitely have to be on the massive underdog list though. He is for sure a great warrior, but he was more a leader than a powerful being. Probably greater in power than Elrond but not near the tier of power Galadriel is on
Where does Tolkien say the Balrogs "were created from the lesser of these beings"?
We don't really think you need a direct quote from Tolkien to be able to reach that conclusion.
Durins Bane was killed by Gandalf who while a maiar spirit himself was shoved into a frail old man body purposefully made to not be mighty and his power had been seriously gimped and restricted and even so he was still the one on the attack, chasing The Balrog who kept retreating.
Sauron on the other hand required god himself illuvitar to step in and destroy him the first time.
There's clearly levels to the Maiar game 😂
Thranduil had reseved a dragon fire and i bet draon fire is way hotter than bal rog flaming whip strike. And thranduil is totally fine. I think these high caliber elfs like elrond, thranduil, glorfindel could take on bal rog.
I have a question, who could take down a Mumakil by itself? So far only Legolas and army of the dead can take down Mumakil easily and another mumakil but Legolas single handling a mumakil all by himself very skilled but what if it was Aragorn standing there and facing The mumakil? Could Aragorn do the same thing or could Gimli? Maybe not but that would be interesting topic.
That would be funny but it would also require using solely the movies for our research because we don't get a description of anyone killing one by themselves in the books nor are the army of the dead present
@@calebowen2006 Not even Legolas? All he did was kinda parkour and shooting. I think he could do the same in the book coz we know Legolas is an elf with great skills.
I’m not that big into LOTR, but would a Dragon like Smaug stand a chance?
I tried to look into this when doing the script (and so did Thom), it basically comes down to which version of the Balrog your considering. Tolkien had two visions of the Balrog, the first were fire spirits corrupted by Melkor that served as line breaking infantry, pretty sure a dragon could tear one of these apart. The other is the more accepted concept and that is Balrogs are lesser Maiar spirits (basically what Sauron and Gandalf are) that joined Melkor and there was only at most 7 of them at the time. This version of the Balrog apparently herded dragons round like sheep so I'm guessing Smaugh wouldn't stand much of a chance vs this version 😂 thanks for watching even though your not into LOTR, we honestly really appreciate it! Liam
@@TheFandomeClips Nice to know.
And yeah only surface level, seen the movies, and read the hobbit back in high school
@@TheFandomeClips did feanor not canonically face more than 7? surely the quantity melkor summoned against ungoliant was more than 7? it is very murky though for sure
Witch King with luck maybe. Smaug, Tom Bombadil, from Silmarillion obviously many characters like Feanor who did nothing wrong and Fingolfin.
Tom Bombadil?
Assuming he's in his forests we think he'd sing the Balrog into the abyss, anywhere else though and I think the Balrogs got it 😂 Thanks for watching! Liam
shelob smaug giant eagles not mentioned .. i suppose tom bombadil;s wife goldberry was a mair there's also cardin tharandruil and celeberian ... but l the balrog was just a killing drone that would overpower anyone that wasn't tom bombadil
I'd be very keen to see what shelob could do, for those who have only seen the films she seems like nothing but a big spider, but she's basically the offspring of a lovecraftian entity in spider form
Gothmog could take Durin's bane. Gothmog literally the big brother.
But Gandalf beating the Nazgul (regular human kings that were giving essentially immortality, if they served Sauron) isn't really anything. It would be the same as a Valar beating a couple of trolls, doesn't really take anything for them to do, the power deferential is way to vast.
Yeah the Nazgul aren't regular humans, they are all pretty powerful sorcerers, especially the WKOA. They literally project fear and It takes a special kind of grit to face them down. Now Gandalf is more powerful inherently, but not in his Grey Form, he was restricted in what he could do as a condition of his been allowed to go to middle earth in the first place. Taking 5-9 of them on was a dam impressive feat.
Thanks for watching! Liam
I don't want to be that guy... But Balrogs were designed to be the apex of lethality. (until dragons came along) No other maiar could really just easily beat them.
((Sauron/Gandalf the White/Saruman the White wouldn't be able to kill a Balrog without also dying))
Gandalf did it in his Grey form and died for sure, but remember he was chasing the Balrog, the Balrog was running from Gandalf the Grey. He clearly knew Gandalf was the more powerful between them.
Gandalf the White is far more powerful than Gandalf the Grey and Sauron is the most powerful of the bunch, they can trash Durins Bane.
I find it very "Tom!" jarring in your narration "Tom!" when you keep shouting out "Tom!"
I can only apologise 😂 but since Thom is the reason there is a channel in the first place and on top of that does all the tedious crapwork that makes our vids look slick i feel he deserves recognition where its due, I like viewers to know its a team effort! I also like having someone else to blame when we get something wrong 😂 thanks for watching! Liam
Tom bombadil
Samwise Gamgee > Balrog
We did have to exclude some OP characters - Thom
The show was fine, and Galadreil's representation in it was fine. The issue comes with people believing that they can accurately track her character progression through 3000 years of her history. She was what she was, then she changed.
She was turned from an elf who learned from a eivine being, the queen of Doriath, the only living being Morgoth was scared of in this side of Arda(besides Ungoliant) to an overpowered killing machine with more of a feanorian-without-blacksmithing character
Gimli could ez pz