Tophat665

Geek alert:
The Balrog was a Maiar, kind of a Junior god, particularly associated with fire. A fire Demon, if you will. I believe they were Melkor's smiths, or those of the witch king of Angband (one and the same?)

Gandalf was also a Maiar, as was Saruman and Rhadagast (sp?) and two others whose names elude me at the moment. (You don't find this out, I think, in the <i>Lord of the Rings</i>, but rather in Tolkien's other writings, which Chris Tolkien has drained every bit of fun out of, the hack bastard.) There is a special name for them, and IIRC they were specifically sent forth from Westernesse by the Vaniar to counteract the Maiar that had gone feral for lack of a better term. Gandalf was the one particularly concerned with fire, as Saruman was with enchantment and persuasion, and Rhadgast was with birds and animal. They were all wizards, though, from the get go, so Gandalf does that thing with his voice to keep the trolls yapping till the sun comes up, and Saruman has his crows and orcs and does some weather witching, and I am sure Rhadagast gets by generally as well.

The point of this virtual dissertation is Gandalf's final instruction to the company before the balrog snares him with the firey whip and pulls him into the abyss, "Fly, you fools!" refers to his earlier admonishment, "This is a foe beyond all your powers. Run!"

Since Gandalf and the Balrog are, at the base of it, the same type of being, they have some sort of power parity. (Of course, Sauron is also of that class of being, but he is the most powerful, long the servant of the only evil Vaniar, and has forged and is linked to the one ring of power to boot. No parity there.)Of course, you should feel free to call bullshit on me. I'm working from decade old memory.

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