Did Sauron imprison the Moria Balrog?

[CAB]

In Appendix A of the Lord of the Rings it says that the Balrog of Moria was “roused from sleep” or released from prison by the Dwarves. It also states that the Balrog had been there since the end of the First Age. I can think of no other examples of someone sleeping for over 5000 years in the history of Middle Earth. This option seems very unlikely to me, so I am going to focus on imprisonment.

Who could be found in this part of Middle Earth early in the Second Age capable of imprisoning the Balrog? Galadriel? Maybe, but she and Celeborn didn’t seem to be aware of what was the evil force in Moria when the Fellowship came to Lorien. Who else? I would guess only Sauron.

Here is the scenario I would like to propose. The Balrog escapes from Morgoth’s defeat at the end of the First Age, while Sauron is captured. Later, Sauron escapes and comes further east with thoughts of becoming the new Dark Lord. The logical thing for him to do is search for the strongest help available, the Balrog, who he finds hiding under the Misty Mountains. The Balrog refuses to accept Sauron as it’s new master. It may be afraid of the Valar, want to be it’s own boss, or have another reason. Sauron’s reaction isn’t to kill the Balrog, but to imprison it. This would seem to be a much more cruel punishment, a fitting revenge for someone like Sauron.

Much later, the Balrog is released by the Dwarves. It kills many of the inhabitants of Moria and takes possession of the place as it’s new home. Why doesn’t it leave Moria and seek vengeance against Sauron? Because it is scared. It doesn’t want to be stuck in a stone box for another few thousand years. The Balrog would rather stay in a strong place (probably much like the Witch King in Angmar) so it can defend itself against Sauron.

c. 2480 Orcs begin to make secret strongholds in the Misty Mountains so as to bar all the passes into Eriador. Sauron begins to people Moria with his creatures. - Tale of Years, The Return of the King

Some would argue that this quote proves that Sauron was in control of the inhabitants of Moria. I would disagree. If he was, why did the attacks on Lorien during the War of the Rings at the end of the Third Age come only from Dol Guldur? Also, why wasn’t there a stronger force stationed at Moria? It seems to be especially strong in a military sense. It has access to both sides of the mountains, is close to Lorien, and controls the Redhorn pass. Also, it all but unconquerable from without. Sauron himself, at the height of his power in the Second Age was unable to take Moria. I would guess that the Orcs that Sauron sent to Moria were quickly converted by the Balrog to it’s own cause.

There is also the Balrog’s fight with Gandalf. Apparently Gandalf took the upper hand during the fight and the Balrog fled from him. It ran and ran from the roots of the mountains all the way up the Endless Stair to the peak of Silvertine. It fled all this way, got outside where it could escape and did what? It turned and fought Gandalf to the death?! Does that make any sense? I would guess that it was so afraid of leaving it’s stronghold and becoming vulnerable to Sauron, that it was forced to face Gandalf again. Gandalf probably fully expected the Balrog to jump or fly off (I am not trying to start that debate) at this point.

I have a few other points but this is becoming a long post, so I will leave it at that for now.

[durinsbane2244]

BRILLIANT! that makes sense! sauron would be quite mad if the balrog didn't help, imagine TWO fallen maia fighting in ME! i doubt he forsaw how much death and havoc the balrog would cause, but it worked in the end...except that gandalf came back!

[Earniel]

You make an interesting case, CAB, but I am not yet convinced.

It is said that at the end of the First Age the surviving Balrogs fled and hid in the dark places of the world. The Balrog were originally Maiar so I can certainly take magic into account for 'sleeping' so long. They're immortal so they don't have to worry about time. They can afford to wait as long as they like.

The last war against Morgoth must definitely have been very frightening for Morgoth's side, which I can quite understand. After all, the dragons were nearly wiped out, the Balrogs too were defeated (and while their numbers were subject to change in Tolkien's drafts, not many survived whatever their original number was.) and Morgoth's armies scattered or crushed. I don't mind assuming this spooked the Balrog enough to go and hide and don't show his face for millennia in fear of being hunted.

Taking a millennia long nap is then quite a good decision, IMO. You don't get bored in between, you don't draw attention to yourself, you don't have to eat and who knows, in a few thousands of years everyone has forgotten about you and nobody will be looking for you anymore.

Sleeping is one thing, waking is another. I doubt even as a Maia of fire, the Balrog would have an alarm clock. So propably he slept soundly (I was going to say like a baby but it doesn't really fit a Balrog) until woken.

About the prison. One way I'd say it could be done by the Valar's forces, if they spotted the Balrog fleeing and supposing they found its hiding place. It is possible that they could not draw the Balrog from its hiding place, after all this was before the Khazad-dum was dug, right?, so there wouldn't have been much tunnels. If they couldn't draw him out, imprisonment might have been the best course and they could have sealed him off, deep into his hiding place.

But since nothing in writing speaks of the Valar and their forces imprisoning a Balrog, this is of course just a theory. Although, since the whole account of the war with Melkor is rather sketchy, while it should have lasted years and changed the land tremendously, it is possible that a lot of things happened in the fight that weren't written and thus we don't know about.

But still, if the Valar had imprisoned the Balrog, or whether Sauron imprisoned the Balrog, I can't put it past me that Tolkien wouldn't have written at least a short mention of it. He wrote of Balrogs fleeing and hiding to explain the Moria Balrog, why wouldn't he have added who imprisoned him too?

Which is why I'm inclined to believe that no one imprisoned him knowingly. After the war, the land must have been in quite some upheaval, after all large portions of land sank beneath the waves. Geologically if a portion of the land goes down, another usually goes up and forms mountains. And in 5000 years I'm assuming quite some tectonic and geological activity goes on. I think the Balrog merely got trapped in his hiding place.

I've gotten so wordy that I'll give my view about the fight with Gandalf and the absense of attack from Moria on Lorien later.

[Gordis]

Very interesting indeed CAB.
I agree that the Barlog has been imprisoned, intentionally or unintentionally.

There is no way to know if it really happened the way you proposed, or by one of the ways described by Earniel.
I suppose that, most likely, the Barlog made it from Angband at the beginning of the War and hid in a deep hole out of fear and then got incarcerated by falling rocks during the earthquakes of the War of Wraith, when the whole Baleriand was destroyed.

Originally Posted by CAB

Why doesn’t it leave Moria and seek vengeance against Sauron? Because it is scared. It doesn’t want to be stuck in a stone box for another few thousand years.

Perhaps, if it were not Sauron who imprisoned him, he just didn't want to confront his former colleague?
But I agree that the Barlog was NOT in Sauron's service.

[brownjenkins]

I like the idea CAB.

[brownjenkins]

Though the "geological" imprisonment that Eärniel mentioned is how I always imagined it when I read the book.