Durin's Bane

"Durin's Bane" refers to the particular Balrog of Morgoth that had fled following Morgoth's defeat during the War of Wrath to live and slumber deep within the depths of the Dwarven kingdom of Moria.

Although its true name and history are largely unknown, this Balrog became an important figure during the War of the Ring, eventually being awakened by the Dwarves of Moria, wreaking destruction upon them. Moria was left to the Balrog and became known as a place of darkness and fear for hundreds of years, and it was not until the Fellowship of the Ring had passed through Moria and inadvertently awakened the Balrog that it was finally slain in a great duel with the wizard Gandalf.

History
Durin's Bane was one of the Maiar spirits that existed before The Creation of the world (of the same race as Sauron, Gandalf and Saruman), who descended into Arda with the Valar. It was eventually seduced and corrupted by Melkor, becoming one of the Valaraukar and joining with the other balrogs in the service of the Dark Lords. The balrog fought in many battles of the War of the Jewels, up to and including the War of Wrath. It somehow managed to survive Morgoth's defeat, fleeing east and taking refuge beneath the Misty Mountains.

For more than five thousand years, the balrog lay dormant at the roots of the mountain Barazinbar beneath the dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm. It remained undisturbed throughout the Second Age and most of the Third Age, until the miners of Dwarf-King Durin VI awoke it when they mined too deeply and too greedily in their search for mithril. The balrog slew Durin, and was thereafter known as Durin's Bane.

The dwarves attempted to fight the balrog, but its power was far too great. Despite their efforts to hold Khazad-dûm against it, King Náin and many of the dwarves were killed, and the survivors were forced to flee. News of the disaster reached the Silvan Elves of Lothlórien, who called the balrog the Nameless Terror (not knowing its true nature at the time) and began to refer to Khazad-dûm as Moria (dark abyss).

For five hundred years, Moria was left to the balrog. Sauron began to put his plans for war into effect around the year TA 2480 of the Third Age, and sent orcs and trolls to the Misty Mountains to bar all of the passes. Some of these creatures came to Moria, where they stayed in uneasy alliance with the balrog, whom they feared.

Tolkien did not clarify whether Sauron was aware of the Balrog's presence prior to this time, and thus the full extent of their alliance remains unclear.

The Balrog had a small but important role at the Battle of Azanulbizar, the climactic battle in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. In TA 2799, the dwarves finally defeated the majority of the orcs occupying Moria, but Dáin II Ironfoot, having slain the orc Azog, felt the terror of the Balrog at the gate and declared that Moria itself remained beyond their power to conquer. Despite an attempt to recolonize Moria by Balin in TA 2989, Durin's Bane remained a menace in the ancient kingdom of the Dwarves, its true nature hidden to the outside world.

n January of TA 3019, the Fellowship of the Ring traveled through Moria on their way to Mordor. There, they were attacked in the Chamber of Mazarbul by orcs. The Fellowship fled through a side door, but when Gandalf, who was also a Maia, tried to place a "shutting spell" on the door to block the pursuit behind them, the Balrog entered the chamber on the other side and cast a counterspell. Gandalf spoke a word of command to stay the door, but the door shattered and the chamber collapsed. The company fled with Gandalf, but the orcs and the balrog, taking a different route, caught up with them at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. At the Bridge, Legolas instantly recognized it as a Balrog, and Gimli recognized it as Durin's Bane. Gandalf then challenged it in order to allow the others to escape.[1]

The balrog ignited its whole body in flames, then attacked with its flaming sword, which melted into red-hot liquid metal when it met Gandalf's own sword, Glamdring. The Balrog ignited its body a second time, then took out its red-hot whip and swung it about. Gandalf then smote the Bridge before him with his staff. The staff broke asunder, a blinding sheet of white flame springing up, and the bridge cracked at the feet of the Balrog, who fell forward into the abyss. But as the Balrog fell, it swung its whip upwards. The thongs of the whip wrapped around Gandalf's legs, dragging him over the edge and into the darkness below with the Balrog.

After a long fall, the two crashed into a great subterranean lake, which Gandalf later said was as cold as the tide of death and almost froze his heart. The water quenched the Balrog's fire, reducing it to "a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake". Despite this relatively weak state, Durin's Bane renewed its attack on the wizard, and the two fought in the water, with the Balrog clutching at Gandalf to strangle him, and Gandalf hewing the Balrog with his sword, until finally the Balrog fled into ancient tunnels of unknown origin. There, Gandalf pursued the creature out of the tunnels, back into Moria and up the Endless Stair. The chase ended atop the peak of Zirakzigil, or Celebdil, when the Balrog's bodily flames were renewed, restoring much of its power. There, beginning on the 23rd of Solmath, the pair of Maiar fought what was later known as the Battle of the Peak.

After a climactic battle that spanned for an increasingly broad amount of days, Gandalf prevailed and finally slew the Balrog, casting it down from the peak and sending it crashing onto the mountain side. The wounded and exhausted Gandalf died shortly afterwards, but was eventually "sent back, for a brief time, until his task was finished". The great eagle Gwaihir the Windlord (lord of the Great Eagles of Middle-earth) found him and carried him to Lothlórien where he was healed and clothed in white – he had become Gandalf the White.

The ultimate fate of Durin's Bane is not known, as only its physical form died, as with all Maiar when they were "killed," but what happened to the spirit of the balrog was not revealed. It is also unknown if it was the last of its kind, or if there were other Balrogs who managed to escape the War of Wrath and remained hidden in long forgotten places.

Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings
Durin's Bane appears in Ralph Bakshi's animated film, and follows Tolkien's description in that it is bigger than a man, but not huge. However, its appearance has been mocked by reviewers, noting that it appears to have wings similar to a butterfly, appears to have fuzzy feet, has the head of a lion-like creature, and roars repeatedly. After its fall into the chasm of Khazad-dûm, it changes into a half snake, half demon-like creature.

The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy
The Balrog was also portrayed in Peter Jackson's live-action film trilogy, where it was a large, black creature covered in flame. Although Tolkien described it as being taller than a man but not huge, Durin's Bane in the film was practically enormous, at least twenty feet tall or so. Rather than having a voice of any kind, when it roared, it sounded similar to an erupting volcano - the vaporous presence of heat emanating as its breath. Its weapons, rather than physical in nature, were completely comprised of flame, taking the form of a sword first and a whip second. More than its use of obliteration, it was flames that were its key weapon of choice against Gandalf. The fight between the two plays out very much like the version in the book: Gandalf shatters the Balrog's fiery sword (using a magical shield which Gandalf forms around himself, in conjunction with Glamdring), and then strikes bridge of Khazad-dûm, breaking it in half, and causing the Balrog to fall into the deep abyss below. As the Balrog falls, its whip latches onto Gandalf's legs and drags him into the abyss.

The balrog appears in a few flashbacks in The Two Towers. The first flashback shows the events that take place following Gandalf's plunge into the abyss of Khazad-dûm: Gandalf hurtles down the chasm after the balrog, recovering his sword Glamdring in midair and catching up to the balrog. He and the balrog attempt to kill each other as they continue to fall down the seemingly endless abyss, with Gandalf managing to land several blows on the balrog while it makes constant attempts to strike at Gandalf with its fists and claws. They fall for a few minutes, until they at last crash violently into the underground lake, temporarily extinguishing the balrog's flames.

The second flashback shows Gandalf and the balrog now dueling atop Mount Zirakzigil during a great storm, in which Gandalf manages to imbue his sword with electricity from a lightning strike and stabs the balrog through the heart, mortally wounding it and causing it to fall from the peak and crash onto the mountain side, its flames forever extinguished.

Appearances

 * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (mentioned)
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film)