# Balrog / Balor - Creature: Monstrosity - Date: 1917 - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/balrog/ > Tolkien's fire-demon of shadow and flame stopped Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, fought Blackmoor's first heroes, and survived a copyright retreat to become D&D's balor, lord of the Abyss. **Why it matters:** The Balrog is the model for the great fire demon of fantasy games, and its renaming — from Tolkien's word to a figure of Irish myth — is one of the clearest records of how the Tolkien rights dispute reshaped D&D's bestiary. ## Quick answers **Where does the Balrog / Balor come from?** Tolkien's legendarium (The Fall of Gondolin, drafted c. 1917); renamed 'balor' by D&D after Irish myth. **When did the Balrog / Balor first appear?** 1917, in The Fall of Gondolin. **How did the Balrog / Balor get into games?** Key appearances: Chainmail Fantasy Supplement (1971), Monster Manual (1977) and Akalabeth (1980). **Why is the Balrog / Balor significant?** The Balrog is the model for the great fire demon of fantasy games, and its renaming — from Tolkien's word to a figure of Irish myth — is one of the clearest records of how the Tolkien rights dispute reshaped D&D's bestiary. ## Origins The Balrog is one of the oldest things in [Tolkien](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/j-r-r-tolkien/)'s imagined world. The name appears in *The Fall of Gondolin*, which Tolkien drafted in the late 1910s, while recovering from the trench fever he caught on the Somme; there, hosts of Balrogs storm the hidden elven city alongside [dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/dragon/) of iron and fire. His ideas about them changed for fifty years. In the early tales they were numerous and could be slain in their hundreds; in the mature legendarium, described in [The Silmarillion](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-silmarillion/), they were few and terrible — Maiar, angelic spirits of fire whom Melkor corrupted before the world was made. Tolkien's final etymology makes *Balrog* the Sindarin form of Quenya *Valarauko*, "Demon of Might". Most readers meet only one. In *The Fellowship of the Ring* (1954), the first volume of [The Lord of the Rings](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-lord-of-the-rings/), the Fellowship crossing the Mines of Moria is pursued by a figure of shadow and flame with a sword and a many-thonged whip. Gandalf holds the Bridge of Khazad-dûm against it — "You cannot pass" — and falls with it into the abyss. Whether that Balrog had wings, and whether they were real or only shadow, has been argued by readers ever since. [Peter Jackson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/peter-jackson/)'s [film](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/lord-of-the-rings-film-trilogy/) (2001) gave it great wings and made the scene one of the most famous in fantasy cinema. ## Into the dungeon Balrogs were among the first monsters of fantasy gaming. [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/)'s Fantasy Supplement to [Chainmail](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/chainmail/) (1971) fielded them with hobbits and [ents](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/treant/), and when [Dave Arneson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/dave-arneson/) ran the Lake Geneva players through [Blackmoor](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/blackmoor/), Rob Kuntz's party fought four of them. After Tolkien Enterprises objected to TSR's use of Middle-earth names in the later 1970s (see [The Tolkien Rights Saga](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/tolkien-rights-saga/)), the balrog vanished from D&D under its own name — but not in substance. *Eldritch Wizardry* (1976) introduced six numbered types of demon, and the mightiest, Type VI, was a huge, bat-winged, highly intelligent demon plainly modeled on Tolkien's creature. The first-edition *Monster Manual* (1977) of [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/) armed it with a large sword and a many-tailed whip, wreathed it in flame, and attached to it the name Balor — borrowed from Balor of the Evil Eye, the one-eyed Fomorian king of Irish myth slain by his grandson Lugh. Later editions made "balor" the name of the whole species. When the [The Satanic Panic & D&D](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/satanic-panic/) led TSR to strip demons from the [second edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-2nd-edition/), the balor returned in the *Monstrous Compendium – Outer Planes Appendix* (1991) as one of the *tanar'ri*; [third edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-3rd-edition/) restored the word "demon", and the balor has remained a top-tier fiend in every edition since. In fiction, [R. A. Salvatore](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/r-a-salvatore/)'s balor Errtu hounds Drizzt through [The Icewind Dale Trilogy](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-icewind-dale-trilogy/) from *The Crystal Shard* (1988) on. ## Variations Computer games kept the original name longer. [Richard Garriott](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/richard-garriott/)'s [Akalabeth: World of Doom](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/akalabeth/) made a Balrog the final monster on Lord British's list; later [Ultima](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/ultima-i/) games changed it to the Balron. Robert Alan Koeneke's roguelike *Moria* (1983) ended with the Balrog of Moria, and its descendant *Angband* (1990) carried the creature into the long [Roguelikes](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/roguelike/) tradition. Across these works the fire demon splits into three figures: Tolkien's **fallen spirit**, tragic and ancient; D&D's **balor**, a general of the Abyss who explodes in flame when slain; and the generic **final boss** of a hundred dungeons, a burning giant waiting at the bottom of the map. It is not strictly a monstrosity in any rulebook's sense — Tolkien's Balrogs are spirits and D&D's are fiends — but it has become the archetype of the demon at the end of the dungeon. ## Migration - 1917: The Fall of Gondolin — Tolkien's earliest Middle-earth tale, drafted in the late 1910s, sends Balrogs against the elven city; it was published only in 1984. - 1954: The Fellowship of the Ring — Durin's Bane meets Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm: 'You cannot pass.' - 1971: Chainmail Fantasy Supplement — Balrogs join hobbits and ents on the wargame table. - 1976: Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry — Six numbered types of demon appear; the mightiest, Type VI, is modeled on the balrog. - 1977: Monster Manual — The Type VI entry now carries the name Balor, borrowed from the one-eyed Fomorian king of Irish myth. - 1980: Akalabeth — A Balrog is the last monster Lord British sends the player to slay; later Ultimas call it a Balron. - 1983: Moria (roguelike) — Robert Alan Koeneke's dungeon game makes the Balrog of Moria its final foe. - 1988: The Crystal Shard — R. A. Salvatore's Errtu, a balor, begins a long feud with Drizzt Do'Urden. ## Facts - The name Balrog appears in The Fall of Gondolin, one of Tolkien's earliest Middle-earth texts, written around 1917–18. - Tolkien's final etymology makes Balrog the Sindarin form of Quenya Valarauko, 'Demon of Might'. - Whether Balrogs have wings — and can fly — is one of the longest-running arguments in Tolkien fandom; the text is ambiguous. - Rob Kuntz's first party in Arneson's Blackmoor fought four balrogs in a single adventure. - The 1977 Monster Manual's Type VI demon wields a large sword and a many-tailed whip to drag foes into its flames. - Balor, the source of D&D's new name, was the one-eyed king of the Fomorians in Irish myth, slain by his grandson Lugh. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balrog) - [Wikipedia: Monsters in Dungeons & Dragons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsters_in_Dungeons_%26_Dragons) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.