-- Balrogs --

I havent read all of the Silmarillion yet or maybe I just missed it but I've always been a little hazy on the balrogs.

Where did they come from exactly and what role did they play in the ealier ages?

Where there many of them and if so what happened to them?

This kind of goes with the first one but what are they exactly? Are they like the orcs in a way, a corrupted form of another race, or where they just created?

That actually brings me to another question..... from what I understand orcs and the other evil creatures were created by Sauron and Morgoth in some sort of way. If this is so, does anyone know how this was done and what they were created from? (I thought I heard somewhere that orcs were corrupted forms of elves but I'm not too sure)

Balrogs are corrupted Maiar, like Sauron, but Maiar with a talent with fire. (Similar to the Maia who rode in Laurelin's preserved last flower as the Sun). Melkor suborned them and turned them into generals and terror inducing shock troops at times.

*edit*
Forgot to add, Orcs are indeed corrupted Elves the way I read the Silmarillion. If you recall, in the second section, it speaks of Elves captured by Melkor who were taken to Angband and corrupted. No one knew for certain what became of them, but it was after that, that Orcs appeared. Evidently, PJ is aslo going along with this, somewhat. His Elves and Orcs both have pointed ears. *shrugs*
*end edit*

One text says there were only seven Balrogs. This, however, does not fit with the Silmarillion.

Mandos, but of course that is because Tolkien was revising the idea, there's no discrepancy. As The Silmarillion wasn't published, he didn't have to feel bound by what he said in it. Actually his Balrogs weren't really revised from the Book of Lost Tales ones, except the survivor we see in Moria. So he did not have much to feel bound by.

Tolkien later seems to have decided Orcs were corruptions of Men, not Elves. I like to believe both.

I always thought Morgoth made orcs in a mockery of elves....

This looks familiar!
For some discussion on Orc Origins, have a look here:
pub2.ezboard.com/fbenjami...=241.topic
I prefer the ideas set out in the Silmarillion, but that's just my preference.
Oh and please excuse the sloppy link. I'm sure there's a much nicer looking way of doing that, but I'm afraid my computer skills don't stretch that far.

Your computer skills shall surely be greatly enhanced by clicking on the 'Post A Link' on the left side of you screen when posting.

I'll remember that in future.