What happened during the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog?

What exactly happened during Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog?

Gandalf covers this for the most part in chapter 5 of The Two Towers. He gives a pretty clear description of the events that occurred and how they got from the “deepest pits to the highest peak”:

Gandalf tells us that, after reaching the underground lake, he and the Balrog fought in the depths until they found the Endless Staircase, after which they continued fighting as they climbed to the top of the mountain. There, the battle reached its climax, and Gandalf struck down his opponent and defeated him. However, this came at the cost of his own life. The wizard’s spirit was taken to the Undying Lands, but he was soon returned to complete his mission. At Galadriel’s request, Gwaihir flew for his body and took him naked to Lothlórien, where he was reborn as Gandalf the White.

The Battle of the Summit is a part of the story, because the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog lasted much longer. Let’s review some chronological data from Appendix B:

January 15: Bridge of Khazad-Dum and fall of Gandalf. The Company arrives at Nimrodel late at night.

January 17: The Company arrives at Galadon in the afternoon.

January 23: Gandalf pursues the Balrog to the top of Zirak-zigil.

January 25: Take down the Balrog and die. His body lies on the top.

February 14: The Mirror of Galadriel. Gandalf comes back to life and falls into a trance.

February 16: Farewell to Lorien. Gollum, hidden on the west bank, watches the game.

February 17: Gwaihir takes Gandalf to Lórien.

So, presumably, Gandalf and the Balrog fell into the deep waters sometime on January 15. Although the fall was long, it would be strange if it took until January 16, or longer, to reach the bottom. They then fought for an unknown period of time before the Balrog fled and Gandalf pursued it through the tunnels and then up the Endless Staircase. On January 23, after EIGHT DAYS of fighting, chasing and climbing, Gandalf and the Balrog reached Durin’s Tower and resumed combat on the summit of Zirak-zigil. So, Gandalf was still alive when the Company told Galadriel and Celeborn that the wizard was dead.

Gandalf killed the Balrog on January 25 and then died. His body came back to life on February 14, after being dead for 20 days. What happened during those 20 days?

In any case, those dates should be remembered when reading Gandalf’s account of the battle with the Balrog:

January 15

January 15 to 23:

January 23 to 25:

February 25 to 14:

February 14 to 17:

Now Gandalf says that he struck down his enemy, and that he struck the mountainside and died. There is no indication of how Gandalf finally killed the Balrog, but since he did not lose his sword, Glamdring, we must assume that he managed to keep it during the fall, the fight in the depths, the ascent, and on the top of the mountain. He therefore probably used her to kill the Balrog.

Tolkien himself sheds some light on the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog in Letter #156:

From this we can draw a couple of conclusions: Gandalf’s “promotion” was a direct result of his sacrifice, and that sacrifice was necessary so that the “Authority” could intervene.

Now, we know that Frodo was “destined” to be the bearer of the Ring. Was Gandalf also “destined” to confront the Balrog?

It is clear that Gandalf initially pressured the Fellowship to avoid passing through Moria, but the group voted against it and attempted the mountain passes first. We also know that Gandalf was not aware of what specifically the threat that existed in Moria was, but he knew there was something. Did Gandalf want to discover the source of the threat in Moria? Was it divine intervention that brought him there? Or was it simply a coincidence that he encountered the Balrog and Gandalf managed to destroy possibly the greatest threat, besides Sauron, to Middle-earth?

The truth is that some knew that there was something dangerous in Moria. Glóin warns this at the Council of Elrond:

In the context of the story, the name that no one dares to say out loud is Sauron, so Glóin’s words are an obvious clue as to what kind of enemies might await them in Moria.

I don’t think anyone in Middle-earth knew that Durin’s Harm was, in fact, a Balrog. In Letter #144, Tolkien writes the following:

It is interesting that Aragorn somehow foresaw that Gandalf would be in danger if he entered Moria. When Gandalf asks who will follow him to Moria, Aragorn warns him:

The fact that Gandalf enters Moria despite Aragorn’s warning-prophecy does not mean that the wizard does not believe in it. Celeborn and Galadriel discuss this, and she even seems to suggest that Gandalf had an ulterior motive in entering Moria:

A counterargument could be that there is no indication that the Balrog is a threat to Middle-earth, at least for the moment. He has resided in Moria for over a thousand years at this point in history, but no one outside, save a few Dwarves, is aware of his presence. Certainly, Gandalf never mentions that addressing the threat of the Balrog was part of his reasoning for passing through Moria; so the idea that the mage was destined to confront the Balrog, at the very least, was not part of his overall plans.

What is clear is that Gandalf and Aragorn knew that the wizard would be in danger in Moria. I haven’t found any Tolkien writings confirming that this was meant to happen, but that would be in line with the way major events, like this one, work in The Lord of the Rings. In other words, I think Gandalf always intended to sacrifice himself, although the details may have changed if things had gone differently.

While Tolkien is not fond of allegory, we can certainly see the parallel between Gandalf’s sacrifice and the Christian belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is unlikely to be accidental.

Before attempting the passage over the mountains, below the peak of Caradhras, the discussion between Aragorn and Gandalf continues, and is revealing in light of what happened later:

At this point we can conclude that, originally, Aragorn’s plan was to go over the mountains, while Gandalf’s plan was to go under the mountains, as he feared being spotted by enemies. Later, after the failed attempt to pass near Caradhras, it is he who proposes that they head to Moria, a path feared by everyone.

Gandalf assures them that he once passed through Moria and can guide them, although he will only do so if everyone voluntarily accepts that path. This is followed by a brief discussion where Gandalf argues that most of the Orcs in Moria have already been destroyed or dispersed.

So, did Gandalf plan to go through Moria from the beginning, hoping it would be better than the other alternatives, and they would manage to slip away undetected? Could he have known that something bad had happened to Balin and that this could be related to the “nameless fear” that Glóin mentions at the Council of Elrond? If so, how did Gandalf expect to travel unseen in Moria? If he didn’t even consider the possibility of that “unspeakable fear” being as big a threat as it would prove to be, then the confrontation with the Balrog was definitely not part of the plan.

The wizard’s sword, Glamdring, also gives us some details about the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog.

Glamdring was a legendary sword, made in the First Age for King Turgon. It is possibly the oldest sword that existed in Middle-earth at the time. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Glamdring is the most powerful, but the fact that it was forged for the then High King of the Noldor means that it could, at the very least, be effective against any creature of Morgoth.

Glamdring, then, belonged to the king of Gondolin. And while we don’t know exactly if ordinary weapons could hurt a Balrog, Glamdring is the best option to try. After all, every Balrog kill that is explicitly described in the books is carried out by someone wielding a sword from Gondolin: Ecthelion, Glorfindel, and Gandalf. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

But in reality, there is also nothing to indicate that a Balrog could not be wounded by ordinary weapons, except for Gandalf’s quote: “swords are no longer of use here.” The magician does not clarify that other people’s weapons are useless, and that his own is, but rather that swords in general are ineffective against this type of enemy. But that could also refer to the Balrog being too powerful for the other members of the Fellowship to face. Furthermore, Gandalf does not want to endanger the One Ring. Furthermore, all his actions lead to keeping the Balrog as far away from the Ring as possible.

It is interesting that a Gandalf exhausted by the strain of keeping the Balrog behind the door could fight for eight days with this creature, not only in the depths, but also chase it to the top of the mountain to finish it off. That makes you wonder what the power of a fully rested Gandalf would be.

It is in the scene of the spell and counterspell between Gandalf and the Balrog, on the other side of the door, where the wizard seems to fully understand the magnitude of his enemy:

We then see Gandalf using his magic to stop the Balrog from crossing the bridge, but no more after that. That doesn’t mean he didn’t use his magic during the eight days of fighting, but I think he found Glamdring to be more useful against a Balrog than perhaps any spell he could cast.

In conclusion: we know that swords are effective against Balrogs, although perhaps not ordinary swords. During the Battle of Gondolin, one of the most epic of the First Age, many Balrogs were massacred by Elves who did not use magic, but swords. We don’t know if Gondolin-forged swords have any special abilities, beyond sensing when Orcs are nearby, but they could evidently wound and kill Balrogs. Ecthelion, a hero of Gondolin, kills several Balrogs before confronting the creatures’ captain, Gothmog, and killing each other.

We also don’t know in great detail how the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog unfolded, but we do know that it ended with Gandalf knocking down the Balrog, or at least pressuring it to fall down the mountainside. The fall supposedly killed him. This is very similar to how Glorfindel kills a Balrog during the Battle of Gondolin; in fact, Tolkien probably borrowed fragments of that story for The Lord of the Rings, since he did not initially think of integrating it with the Silmarillion.

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