What would the Balrog have done if the ring had fallen into his hands

[Blackheart]

Hrmmm... Orc discussions aside, I don't think anyone would have gotten the one ring away from the balrog, once he had possesion of it.

The One not only contained some of Sauron's power, it was forged by Sauron as a way to tap into the power/will that Morgoth had invested into Arda.

In fact, a Balrog might have been Morgoth's first choice if he'd had a say in it. Easier for his influence to direct. Morgoth's will remained in Arda and was present in the the Third age (and probably is to this very day).

The thing about the ring was that it allowed one to, for all practical purposes, become an avatar of Morgoth... (assuming you had the power to weild it) The vala of lust,fear, pride, envy, fire and darkness. (No wonder the ring had such a pull).

A Balrog, backed by such power would have suddenly aquirred all the ambition, drive, lust for conquest, and even evil intelligence (assuming he were a rather dull balrog) that he needed to become a world ruling Tyrant...

I've always thought that the ultimate aim of Sauron, or any other replacement, would be to open the doors of night, and re-admit Morgoth to middle earth... Certainly an arduous undertaking, and one would need the entire resources of arda perhaps to do so... Not to mention finding a way to breach the barriers to Aman...

But there are hints that eventually it gets done...

[Forkbeard]

Originally Posted by Telcontar_Dunedain

I meant when A shadow passed above the Company and Frodo would not say what he thought it was.

Oh, that was before Caradhras, while they're still in Hollin. It is unknown what that was, since no characters know and the author nowhere else tells us.

But I agree that it is at least possible that it was a Nazgul, although that begs some questions about the flying beasty the Nazgul ride--its one thing to fly a few hours between the Black Gate and Orthanc, its another to fly several hundred more leagues north in the winter weather.

More to the point though, even if a Nazgul, there's no indication that it "spotted" or discerned the Fellowship that night. We're told earlier that they can not see well in the natural world, and the shadow was high up and far off, so it didn't likely see them, nor does the text tell us it sensed them and flew closer for a better look by itself or its steed. Even if it did sense the Ring (see my comment above to Olmer) (and why not then try and take it or at least go in to see if it could take it), it doesn't follow that it then knew the makeup of the party, what it was intended to signify, and that Moria was their best choice.

FB

[Manveru]

mabye it was a nazgul that hadn't made it back to mordor after the flood. it was still getting some strength back after the disaster at the fords (maybe one of the lesser ones, or the lessest), it would have been invisible to the fellowship and frodo would have sensed the fear. after that it hurried back to mordor with his new news. or maybe he had stayed there to keep a watch on rivendell while the others went back to mordor. this is probably more believable actually because it was like 2 months since the fords.