In fact,
Tolkien DOES say that......
The Sil:
'...the
Elves had a greater wisdom, and skill & beauty; and those who had dwelt in
Valinor and looked upon the Powers as much surpassed the Dark Elves in these things as they in turn surpassed the people of mortal
race. Only in the
realm of
Doriath...did the
Sindar come near to match the Calaquendi....'
It talks about skill and beauty and wisdom, not physical power while what I am saying is that some of the Best Sindar warriors would have been a good match for the
Noldor and consequently for the
Balrogs. It may be that you take 'power' in someother meaning, but power to me means physical strength and the
Elves of Doriath had plenty of that.
Did
Gandalf beat
Durin's Bane by mere 'warrior' strength?
The battle on The
Bridge Of Khazad-Dum is a confrontation of 'magical' power, just as is the spell confrontation in the Chamber Of Mazarbul.
I would ask what 'magic' did
Ecthelion used when he fought the
Balrog in
Gondolin?
Do you think the Valinorean elves would possess magic?
That's not what Gandalf said.
After reading the book, I was perhaps under the allusion that those were Gandalf's words but perhaps you have a better source to cite from then the book.
You, Beleg, keep saying 'undead'. Tolkien & I keep saying 'Unseen'.
Since Tolkien makes the statement that there is a 'seen ' realm & an 'unseen' realm,
I believe that the concept of Undead is there in Tolkien's world.
So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.
That's talking about the witchking, who is a
Ringwraith. Therefore the word undead has been used in cotext with the living of the
Ringwraiths. It can be further justified by the fact that Ringwraiths couldn't die as long as their rings or
the One ring lived; that itself would warrant enough authority to place them among the undead. Besdies Tolkien himself says that, you can't argue with it.
With regard to that I believe your whole issue concerning the unseen and the seen becomes irrelevant.
On the otherhand I never read Balrogs been called Undead...
There is an inherent different between Balrogs and Ringwrairths, Ringwraiths are the undead while Balrogs are
spirits of fires,
Maia who have taken a corporeal shape.
Read the first 2 statements I made. We DO know something: They were less than the
High Elves.
Sindar = Dark Elves. High Elves = Calaquendi.
Case closed there.
No we still don't know.
Sindar are not Dark Elves, besides read my first statements.
Only the Avari are dark Elves.
The Lord Of The
Nazgul, aka 'Number One', was killed without either of those things happening, now wasn't he?
I present the Quote of his 'supposed' killing,
But suddenly he too stumbled forward with a cry of bitter pain, and his stroke went wide, driving into the ground.
Merry’s sword had stabbed him from behind, shearing through the black mantle, and passing up beneath the hauberk had pierced the sinew behind his mighty knee.
‘
Eowyn! eowyn!’ cried Merry. Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her. The sword broke sparkling into many shards. The crown rolled away with a clang. eowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe. But lo! the mantle and hauberk were empty. Shapeless they lay now on the ground, torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world.
It never says he 'died', just that he was never heard in that age of this world. This death could very well be like the death they suffered at the Fords of Bruinen.
I say this because I can't understand how the Ringwraiths could have died wihtout their rings being destroyed since they were bound by their rings.
My point is clear.
A
Sindarin Elf would not be physically, that is taking into propotion, pure physical strength, a great deal below the Noldor and some of the most agilest might overpass them.
Saying that, some of the cheif Lords of Sindar, like Beleg would have been able to fight a Balrog.
