The Night King vs. The Balrog

[The Arbiter]

Arena. Live action versions.

Bonus: Book Balrog.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Dark Fire should pretty much avail him, the Flame of Udûn.

EDIT: Also, which book version of Balrogs are we talking about Fall of Gondolin, or the 'retconned' ones. As their power level varied, IIRC. Or are we talking Durin's Bane specifically ?

[The Arbiter]

Dark Fire should pretty much avail him, the Flame of Udûn.

EDIT: Also, which book version of Balrogs are we talking about Fall of Gondolin, or the 'retconned' ones. As their power level varied, IIRC. Or are we talking Durin's Bane specifically ?

.......yes.

Edit: Totally bamboozled tbh. I know very VERY little about anything beyond the main lotr trilogy of books/movies. Feel free to discuss whichever you'd like!

[Pendaran]

Honestly, given Durin's Bane, I don't think there's a lot of mileage in trying to bring up the earliest take on the Balrogs for anything, Tolkien clearly ended up settling on that they were the whole fewer in number corrupted Maiar deal.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Honestly, given Durin's Bane, I don't think there's a lot of mileage in trying to bring up the earliest take on the Balrogs for anything, Tolkien clearly ended up settling on that they were the whole fewer in number corrupted Maiar deal.

That's fair enough, but I love bringing up the Fall of Gondolin whenever I can.

Which, ahem, you should definitely the Silmarilion Arby. It makes absolutely no sense, and will leave you more confused than satisfied; but it's great ... and has things like a crazed werewolf biting off a dude's arm, a dragon being killed by an elf with a laser forehead and crushing mountains, and a giant spider woman slapping the crap out of Melkor so bad he summons his Valkyries (the Balrogs).

[MichaelC]

The books are really vague on the Balrogs, right down to their appearance. I always pictured more of a fallen angel type of creature, with shadows and fire instead of the halo of light angels usually get. But the description is so vague that you can make a case for anything from what I described to the thing in the movies.

[The Dork Knight]

Arena. Live action versions.

Bonus: Book Balrog.

Night King for both, arguably. Certainly movie version.

[Tomzilla]

Night King was basking in Drogon's flames and was strong enough to hurl an icy javelin across a respectable distance. Coupled with his esoteric powers and abilities, I'd say he has the advantage.

[big_adventure]

Movie version:

I don't see the Balrog surviving the death ice javelin any better than a dragon did.

And the fire is going to be totally useless against him, based on what dragon fire does in GoT versus what the Durin's Bane's fire does in LotR.

Book version:

If we are talking Durin's Bane, well, it fought and fell really far and long with Gandalf. There was some lightning flashing about. It died. I guess it's a better showing than the movie version, but, for all that we have that description above, it's not like we have a blow by blow retelling of the scuffle, and it's not like Gandalf has any other physical combat feats to compare to. So... I don't know. The fire should still be totally useless. And I don't know how it's going to handle the NK's javelins. If it can take shots from those, it might well be a very, very long fight, in which we find out the NK's limits.

[Pendaran]

If we are talking Durin's Bane, well, it fought and fell really far and long with Gandalf. There was some lightning flashing about. It died.

That's a remarkably understated way of putting that.

[The Arbiter]

That's a remarkably understated way of putting that.

What's the full story?

[Pendaran]

What's the full story?

One that's been posted a few times, making that a remarkably understated way of phrasing that. Sadly the thread where in response to something like that I typed up the whole fight died a few board crashes ago, so I guess I have to redo that, unghle.

[Pendaran]

There it is:

'Name him not!' said Gandalf, and for a moment it seemed that a cloud of pain passed over his face, and he sat silent, looking old as death. 'Long time I fell,' he said at last, slowly, as if thinking back with difficulty. 'Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death: almost it froze my heart.'
'Deep is the abyss that is spanned by Durin's Bridge, and none has measured it,' said Gimli.
'Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge,' said Gandalf. 'Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.
'We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin's folk, Gimli son of Glóin. Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day. In that despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel. Thus he brought me back at last to the secret ways of Khazad-dûm: too well he knew them all. Ever up now we went, until we came to the Endless Stair.'
'Long has that been lost,' said Gimli. 'Many have said that it was never made save in legend, but others say that it was destroyed.'
'It was made, and it had not been destroyed,' said Gandalf. 'From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak it climbed. ascending in unbroken spiral in many thousand steps, until it issued at last in Durin's Tower carved in the living rock of Zirak-zigil, the pinnacle of the Silvertine.
'There upon Celebdil was a lonely window in the snow, and before it lay a narrow space, a dizzy eyrie above the mists of the world. The sun shone fiercely there, but all below was wrapped in cloud. Out he sprang, and even as I came behind, he burst into new flame. There was none to see, or perhaps in after ages songs would still be sung of the Battle of the Peak.' Suddenly Gandalf laughed. 'But what would they say in song? Those that looked up from afar thought that the mountain was crowned with storm. Thunder they heard, and lightning, they said, smote upon Celebdil, and leaped back broken into tongues of fire. Is not that enough? A great smoke rose about us, vapour and steam. Ice fell like rain. I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side where he smote it in his ruin. Then darkness took me; and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell.

[big_adventure]

That is a much prettier version.

Sadly it does leave us without somewhat-objective feats on how that helps it in this rumble. Broke the mountain side sounds nice, but is it "smashed a 100 foot long skid where it fell" or "cracked off a giant avalanche." We don't know. We know that he didn't survive it.

[The Dork Knight]

That is a much prettier version.

Sadly it does leave us without somewhat-objective feats on how that helps it in this rumble. Broke the mountain side sounds nice, but is it "smashed a 100 foot long skid where it fell" or "cracked off a giant avalanche." We don't know. We know that he didn't survive it.

At the very least it tells us that the battle was fierce enough that people presumably far away enough to observe the mountain, would see a storm at the top, as a side effect of the battle