Balrogs

Yes. However we already have them move to the helcaraxe to intervene in the thieves struggle by moving through subterranean lava streams... So in a way we've already left the road of subtle magic here
 
So what will we do to make each Balrog look distinctive, i.e. so we don't confuse them during a battle? They can't all look like Durin's Bane. Do we give different patterns of horns? Different ways their flames move around them? Different weapons, i.e. Gothmog uses an axe (which he does in canon)?
 
Well, I didn't think we were planning to have characters or stories for them. We're talking about names, but will the names really ever be more than just a list? They're like missiles with arms (and no wings).
 
I would prefer them not to have horns, hooves, or tails. The John Howe D&D demon look seems pretty far from Tolkien's description, to my mind.

They might be different heights. Maybe some have "manes" and others don't.
I don't really think telling the non-Gothmog Balrogs apart is important, though.
 
I just read through Beren & Luthien again...

there´s a description of Morgoth´s Throne-room with his Throne in the Middle, surrounded by the Thrones of his Balrog-Thanes... and it is a feast-hall.

So I really think our Balrogath should look more like powrful nobles, disfigured and burned maybe, but not clumsy and crude and animalistic or anything like Trolls & Orcs.
 
Perhaps the more evil things a Balrog does, the less noble it looks and acts? By 3019 T.A., Durin’s Bane wasn’t able to speak.
 
Perhaps the more evil things a Balrog does, the less noble it looks and acts? By 3019 T.A., Durin’s Bane wasn’t able to speak.
A good idea and we are going to have to explain why Durin's Bane couldn't or at the very least did not speak. If we have the Balrogs constantly speaking, then we will have to explain why Durin's Bane can no longer/not want to speak.
 
His aura of fear and weapons speak for him? Why bother to speak when you can say all you wanted by killing the guy who stands in your way?
 
Why not? If one of them is named Ulbandi we do. Arien was a proto-Balrog.

I don't know if there'd be any visual difference.
 
His aura of fear and weapons speak for him? Why bother to speak when you can say all you wanted by killing the guy who stands in your way?
It's more about consistency. If we have Durin's Bane speaking when encountering foes, then it makes his silence against Gandalf strange.
 
I don´t even think the Balrogath have to talk very much... maybe Gothmog is the one big exception. But no, i don´t have any problems with female Balrogs... why not? One or two maybe... there should be at last SOME Ladies at Morgoth´s court!
 
I think these ideas might have come up on this thread earlier, re: female Balrogs and differentiating them in general, but I would like some of the pre-fallen Balrogs around Melkor in Season 1 to be female, in addition to Airen, who is still with them then. And so some of those who go off the destroy the lamps are female, but after that act (again, I think this was suggested earlier) all such distinctions become lost, at least visually. I'm sort of partial to the idea that the Balrogs looks interchangeable, except for Gothmog, after their fall.

Agreed Haerangil. It would be weird if the only female baddies are in Sauron's employ (Shelob and Thuringwethil). That could be taken as a statement about Morgoth we don't really mean. I think he's got enough bad-guy traits we don't need to throw in sexist to make him unlikable.
 
The vibe we are going for with the balrogs is 'fallen angels' - we showed them as (initially) beautiful creatures with wings, and during the destruction of the Lamps, they had a bit of a run-in with molten light that turned them rather hideous and monstrous (as well as wingless).

Obviously, you can keep such a creature extremely human looking. I can think of two TV shows that have more-or-less human looking angels and demons (2, Nick - not just Supernatural, but also Lucifer). We explicitly don't want that, as we want to see visible damage and keep them a creature of flame and shadow.

But that doesn't mean we need classic demonic attributes such as a goat's hooves and horns or a tail or bat's wings, either.


Also, I know we were discussing all of the various ways the different balrogs would die. Early in Season 3 (during Session 3-04, actually) Dave Kale mentioned in passing that a balrog could be killed by another villain. Now, obviously we don't want to see a balrog taken down by orcs. But perhaps a dragon could kill one at some point? Or one balrog could kill another? It is a possibility, anyway.
 
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