Why did Durin's Bane never leave Moria?

[BalrogRingDestroyer]

The thing seems to have fled there around the time of the War of Wrath and gone into slumber until woken by Durin. However, that would mean he stayed there for the entire second age and most of the third. Why didn't the Balrog leave when, as I imagine may have happened, tidings reached him that Melkor's old lieutenant Sauron was rising to power in the Second Age? You would have thought that the Mair would have sensed Sauron's presence nearby in Dol Guldor.

 

[d4rk3lf]

We don't know for sure, and there are many possibilities.
Maybe he thought that Valars now rule upon Middle Earth, and didn't wanted to show up. Maybe he was very heavily wounded, and took him few thousand years to recover. Maybe he simply didn't had any desire to rule, and basically he was enough to himself, and didn't needed anyone, or maybe he just hibernated.
As for the presence in nearby Dol Guldor, he might have sensed it, but it wasn't just strong enough to make him curious to go out of the Cave. For all we know, Sauron (after all these loosing) might have become waaaay weaker then Balrog.
Apart from that, I think Sauron and Balrogs are simply not compatible, and the only way to put the together is to place Morgoth to lead them all... perhaps no other Vala could do that.

 

[Eljorahir]

From The Book of Ideas Hastily Written on Napkins:

'The Balrog cared nothing for the Ring nor for Sauron nor for any happenings of the world above. In ages past, his Master had been utterly defeated. And, being only a vessel of his master's malice, but for the trespasses of delving Dwarves and passing Fellowships the Balrog would have laid brooding in the depths of the Earth until the Uttermost End.'

 

[Eljorahir]

Last night, while reading the Silmarillion chapter, Of The Flight of The Noldor, I noticed the description of the earlier behavior of balrogs in the absence of their Master:

Morgoth and Ungoliant have just returned to Middle-earth. Morgoth refuses to give her the Silmarils. She attacks him. He lets out a cry so loud that it rattles that part of the world...

'Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the ruined halls of Angband...Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and now swiftly they arose and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire.'

So, I think the answer to the thread question is: When their Lord is away, they lurk in deep places awaiting his return. Total devotion to Morgoth is their over-riding characteristic and they are (in a sense) lost without him.

 

[Ent]

Yes indeed, this is an interesting question, frequently asked.
It is entirely possible without his ring Sauron had no power to control them. Remember, "a great deal of his power passed into the Ring.".
They were Maiar, and he was Maiar. Though he may have been able to 'overcome' them, could he have 'controlled' any of them?

Against that of course is that the Maia Gandalf said 'I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still."

Yet is that 'mightier' enough to "control" a Balrog? Sauron was never Melkor's equal by any means. Just a bit of a sad copy by comparison.

So the Balrog may have had as little use for Sauron as Sauron had for the Balrog - both being entirely a product of 'malice' very much different from, and at odds with, one another.

Were the Great Halls of Speculation not burned down here, this would have been an excellent topic for Level 10 aisle 6, row 8, right hand side 3rd shelf from the top about a quarter of the way down.

 

[d4rk3lf]

'Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the ruined halls of Angband...Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and now swiftly they arose and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire.'

So, I think the answer to the thread question is: When their Lord is away, they lurk in deep places awaiting his return. Total devotion to Morgoth is their over-riding characteristic and they are (in a sense) lost without him.

Great find and great conclusion.
That really explains it.