In the Lord of the Rings fandom there’s a persistent debate whether balrogs, or Durin’s Bane specifically, have wings. The text in Fellowship is ambiguous whether what it is describing are literal wings or something else wing-like.
In the Lord of the Rings fandom there’s a persistent debate whether balrogs, or Durin’s Bane specifically, have wings. The text in Fellowship is ambiguous whether what it is describing are literal wings or something else wing-like.
First of all having wings does not mean being able to fly. If Melkor experimented with several things it’s possible he made winged Balrogs who lacked the ability to fly.
Secondly Balrogs are Maiar, Maiar don’t have physical form, they are shape shifters by their very nature. Sure, some lost that ability at some point and became stuck in their form like Morgoth, but at some point they had that ability (otherwise they wouldn’t have any physical form at all). Plus, not all evil Maiar lost the ability, Sauron remained able to do so until he lost his physical body.
Gandalf, like other Maiar in middle earth, is limited in what they’re allowed to do due to their mission. But you should not forget he IS a Maiar, he existed before the physical plane and is not bound by it. He takes the form of an old man to help fight Sauron, and tries to not interfere because it’s important that people save themselves, but he could have come in the form of a towering angelical being with working wings, it just wasn’t what he wanted to represent.