Gandalf is not the only character in The Lord of the Rings to fell a Balrog, but his achievement may be the most impressive, canonically speaking. In one of many epic scenes conjured up for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, Gandalf staunchly defends the Fellowship against a mighty Balrog in the Mines of Moria.

He succeeds in killing the beast after a grueling battle, but Gandalf himself perishes in the process. The presence of Balrogs in Middle-earth is, of course, far older than Gandalf’s era. These creatures were originally maiar – angelic beings, just like wizards – who pledged allegiance to Morgoth and thus became flaming, demon-like enтιтies who may or may not possess wings.

Once a central part of Morgoth’s army, Balrogs have dwindled out of memory by the time The Lord of the Rings happens, and are either ᴅᴇᴀᴅ or deeply hidden in dark places. During their pomp, however, some Balrogs were killed, allowing a select few heroes to join Gandalf as members of the Balrog Slayers Club. Alas, there is a catch.

The Other Characters Who Killed Balrogs In The Lord Of The Rings

The most notable Balrog-killer, Gandalf aside, would be Glorfindel the elf. During the First Age’s Fall of Gondolin – a battle triggered by Morgoth’s ᴀssault on the hidden elf realm of Gondolin – Glorfindel was one of many warriors retreating from the oncoming hordes.

While escaping, he engaged a Balrog in battle atop a cliff, managing to pierce it with a blade and driving it over the edge of the mountain. Both Glorfindel and his enemy died.

Such a large-scale spectacle was the Fall of Gondolin, even the Lord of Balrogs himself joined the fun. Known as Gothmog, this foul villain was vanquished by the elf Ecthelion performing a desperate last-breath rush. Disarmed and injured, Ecthelion utilized his spiked helm as a weapon to pierce Gothmog and tackle him into the Fountain of the King. Gothmog died from a combination of his wound and the water.

The third character to kill a Balrog belonged, surprisingly, to Middle-earth’s race of Men. Also occurring at the Fall of Gondolin, the legendary warrior Tuor was said to have slain no less than five Balrogs at the gates of Gondolin as he led the city’s defense.

At face value, these battles appear to make Gandalf’s victory over Durin’s Bane much less impressive. The wizard fought arduously against an opponent that verged on invulnerable, yet the First Age Balrogs were killed by Men and Elves with mere blades. This is where that catch comes in.

Why Gandalf’s Balrog Victory Is The Most Impressive

The story of Tuor’s Balrog-hunting exploits hails from an earlier draft of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fall of Gondolin, and was removed in subsequent versions, throwing its canon status into serious doubt.

While Ecthelion and Glorfindel’s respective Balrog bouts are more canonically secure, there is still an argument that Tolkien’s vision for the Balrogs shifted over time. Earlier versions of the author’s work listed the Balrogs as quite common things, numbering in their thousands, and only later did they become more seldom-seen, special beings on the level of maia.

Looking at the relative ease with which Ecthelion and Glorfindel killed their Balrogs compared to the almighty struggle Gandalf experienced, one might conclude that by the time The Lord of the Rings was published, Tolkien’s Balrogs had morphed into something altogether more powerful and harder to kill.

In general, Tolkien’s First Age writings portrayed villains serving under Morgoth as more susceptible to damage than the major evil-doers of the Third Age. For example, Sauron found himself beaten by a dog during his early exploits – something that would seem implausible to anyone watching or reading The Lord of the Rings.

Ultimately, therefore, no matter how much Gandalf labored and struggled against the Balrog, and regardless of the fact that both combatants were maia, his heroics in The Fellowship of the Ring remain, from a certain point of view, the definitive example of a Balrog being bested within the mythology of The Lord of the Rings.