Middle-earth Mysteries - Was Durin's Bane the last Balrog? 

One poor Moria dwarf's last words: "Hey, I think I've found something!"

Imagine writing a book and then spend the rest of your life trying to explain it and trying to puzzle it together. And after your death people still debate what it was all about.

1:26 Yes, Glorfindel slew the Balrog and died in the process. But it's interesting to note that there is a parallel here with Gandalf's fight with a Balrog after falling into blackness at Khazad-dûm. You see, Glorfindel did not STAY dead. Like Gandalf, he was reincarnated and "sent back" and he actually played a pivotal role in Frodo's quest. He is the Elf who Aragorn recognizes and greets in the flight to the Ford of the River Bruinen, the one who had left the beryl on the previous bridge to let Aragorn know it was safe to pass. Then, he let Frodo ride his horse, and escape the Nazgûl, literally saving all of Middle-Earth from Sauron's recapture of the One Ring and the misery that would follow. He was erased from the movies, replaced by Arwen...but nonetheless, he's an important character who played a major role in the events that ended two separate ages of Middle-Earth.

The last Balrog is in your walls . . .

Ah, Tolkien and his retcons... I'm just going to ignore his lore-intentions and go with my headcannon of there being at least two dozen Balrogs under Morgoth's rule.

I think if we take into account the fact that Gandalf and every other powerful character who knew of it was afraid of the Balrog, and it was even powerful enough to kill Gandalf, indicates that only a small handful could’ve ever been around. If only 5 wizards existed, it makes sense as a matter of balance that only 5-7 balrogs would’ve existed.

There should be at most 4 that escaped. Durins Bane might have ended up in Moria just because the Misty Mountains would be the first major barrier hit if you were to flee East from Beleriand. But the Balrogs took their form in Udun, or Utumno, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume there has got to be at least 1 hiding in the ruins there, as almost nobody knows where it is but the Balrogs have a big connection to it and know how to get there. It also qualifies as "caverns inaccessible at the roots of the Earth"

Gandolf was definitely surprised but not like blown away by Durins Bane. I'm sure there had to be a few survivors

It wouldn't be that far fetched to assume that Sauron may have encountered a Balrog during the Second Age and may even have tried to recruit him to his service, but being Maiar themselves, Balrogs might not be inclined to enter the service of another Maiar. Who knows, maybe Sauron even fought a Balrog in the Second Age.

In reading the Silmarillion, my internal head-canon assumed there to be some few dozen of them at their height under Morgoth. Exceedingly rare, but not entirely unique. The book suggested to me that the Balrogs were kind of like Morgoth's generals, commanding legions of orcs on the battlefield and driving the dragons before them with their whips. So it makes sense, if that's true, for there to be a few dozen or so. If there were that many, then one could assume that a few survived into the third age, hiding in deep dark places, waiting for the day that Morgoth comes back to fetch them.

There is also this little thing: the lands that Morgoth helt/ruled over were broken off or sunk beneath the sea, so however deep the Balrogs hid... hope for them they're great swimmers.

I like to think there was at least 1 or 2 more. The idea of some ancient horror persisting through the ages really sticks in my mind. Maybe one languishing in the remnant pits of Utumno.

I think the good characters in the 1st and 2nd age were more powerful than those of the 3rd age. That’s why the Balrog in Moria seemed so overpowered. Plus I think due to it’s age it grew more powerful over the ages.

I think there would be at most one more balrog left, and even that is doubtful. The Silmarilion implied that the majority of balrogs weredestroyed when Morgoth was overthrown. There are at least two stated as killed in the fall of Gondolin, so if there were seven to start with, there were only five left. A majority destroyed would be at least three. So that's Durin's Bane and at most one more.

I like to think there’s a couple more hidden in the world somewhere. The lands are vast and there are a lot of ancient terrors still lurking around from the old times.

I like to merge all the versions of the story in my head. Since Maiar can be drastically different in terms of power, I imagine that there may have been only up to seven as powerful as Gothmog or Durin's Bane, and possibly hundreds of lesser balrogs.

I love how this video is a reminder that this incredible and amazing legendarium, is still written by a human being and thus fallible, and contains its own contradictions. Those contradictions don't diminish the brilliance of Tolkien's work, should be accepted and factored into our analysis and perceptions of it.

The Silmarillion says that many Maiar spirits fell under Morgoth's sway. Sauron and the three Balrogs we know don't really seem enough. Sauron and seven balrogs sounds a bit better, but I got the idea that it was a fair bit more.

There were easily at least 13 Balrogs still alive even into the 4th Age. It’s quite easy to prove. They lived next door to me in my previous apartment. Only a full compliment of Udun flames make that much noise.

I always thought that there were hundreds of Balrogs of various degrees of size and power much like the rest of the Maiar. Gothmog would have been the Chief among them and that there were 7 Greater Balrogs (including Gothmog) who led the forces of Morgoth. Durin's Bane given what it accomplished once freed would have been one of the Greater Balrogs. Middle-Earth Role Playing (MERP) by Iron Crown Enterprises also uses the loop hole in the Silmarillion to sprinkle a few other lesser Balrogs in it's Campaign books in the Haradwath, Far South and Far East.

It's safe to say that there were at most seven at the time when Gothmog was slain and personally I don't think it's that weird to assume there were hundreds when Melkor first started to corrupt the Maiar. The battles in between, the Elves and Men together with the Valar slapped some good ass and might have killed off plenty of Balrogs to where Melkor was down to the final seven.

I understand that more than one balrog perished at Gondolin. So it’s certainly possible for there to have been more than 3 and for Durin’s Bane to still have been the last. Since there are clearly other unnamed monstrosities in the deep places of Middle Earth (the Watcher at the pool outside of Moria) then it is also possible that another balrog could still be hiding/slumbering in a deep underground cavern somewhere.

For me, the clincher is Gandalf going to the undying lands because his task is done, and the fact that a Balrog is beyond any what any of the mortals can withstand. If one later woke up, it implies a Maiar would need to be sent back to Middle Earth to deal with him.

"Funny enough, this is one the less lore breaking thing of Shadow of War!" I laughed out loud at that part

I've always held that what the Elves know (and hence what they pass on to Dwarves, Men, and Hobbits) is not 'Gospel' Truth. That is, their knowledge is imperfect (if not occasionally deliberately deceptive). While I could accept much less than the thousands indicated in the Fall of Gondolin, I find less than a dozen unpalatable. The narrative of the Fall of Gondolin, though doubtless embellished for narrative drama, is nonetheless captivating for me, and I simply cannot accept that there were at most seven present for the sacking of Gondolin.

Always struck me that you really have to wonder about the intrinsic evilness of creatures whose main desire if left to their own devices seems to be to find a nice hidden cave somewhere and sleep.

As to what the Balrog was doing down there for 6,500 years, I have a theory: Melkor/Morgoth was always looking for the Flame Imperishable -- the magic of Iluvatar that grants life. Morgoth could not create, he could only corrupt, and he desired the secret of creating life so that he could populate Arda with his own unique creations. He believed that the Flame Imperishable was located somewhere within Arda (probably the planet's core), so he began digging deep holes to reach it, both in his original fortress at Utumno, and his second one at Angband. Of course the Secret Fire wasn't anywhere within Arda, it was in the void with Iluvatar the entire time, but Morgoth didn't know that, so in the long years between his wars with the Valar and the elves, and even during them, he and his minions kept digging. The vast cave networks underneath most mountain ranges were originally carved out by him and his balrogs. And when he was finally defeated at the end of the First Age, most of his minions fled but continued following his orders to find the Flame Imperishable.

Interesting to see Tolkien’s writing process. The first quote from Celeborn sounds like Exposition/Infodump, but the final version in Fellowship feels more real and true to Celeborn as a character. He’s definitely afraid of the Balrog, but you sort of get the sense that he distrusts Moria in General, probably due to being from Doriath/Related to Thingol, who was killed by Dwarves.

Durin's Bane was one of the few Balrogs that survived the War of Wrath. You can read it in Silmarillion where it says that they fled and hid in the deepest depths of the Earth. They are Maiar spirits, immortal, and therefore the others are still there waiting to be discovered, most likely by Dwarves looking for Mithril.

And in the Medieval 2 Total War mod "Divide and Conquer", there is a Balrog hidden beneath the Dwarven fortress in the Blue Mountains called Buzra-Dûm. I love the ambiguity of some Tolkien lore, it leaves so much room for fan works to create interesting scenarios with!

I've been wondering how much contact Sauron and Durin's Bane had with each other. Sauron spent hundreds of years in Dol Guldur after the Watchful Peace, surely they would have known of each other. Did they work together besides allowing orcs to live there and gather mitrhil? Also, was the orc host that marched into Moria days before the Fellowship arrived sent there to trap the Fellowship (meaning that they were warned in advance that the Fellowship might travel through Moria) or was it just a coincidence?

Always keep your notes when writing. There may be someone that wants to do a deep dive on your lore someday. I feel better about my boxes of notes in the closet now.

Here's a theory: Mount Doom *is* a balrog. Sauron - a fellow Maia - found a balrog cowering in what is now called Mordor, tricked him, and bound his spirit into his forge. The forge became Mount Doom in the same process as created the One Ring. This process stripped away most of the balrog's spirit and agency. But - not all of it, which is how the mountain eventually was able to claim the Ring back.

I go with the seven theory, though I prefer the idea that only Duran's Bane and another Balrog got away. If I could speculate just a bit, knowing Tolkien was flirting with the idea of a sequel towards the end, Gandalf's warning of "other evils" after Sauron, and the hint of their being at least Balrogs besides this one getting away, that could have nicely set up a final adversary and a last adventure to preserve the piece won in the War of the Ring. Alternatively, considering how openly hellish the Balrogs are as Middle Earth's version of fallen angels (being Melkor-serving Maiar), perhaps the remainders could serve a different role: remembering the Silmarillion is supposed to be a myth for England and is influenced by Tolkien's Catholic beliefs, perhaps the fiery, horn headed final maiar to serve as an active echo of the ancient evil could serve as his version of another ancient force of evil that we're better acquainted with.

I like to think there's one or two more hidden in parts of the world; Middle Earth is so big that it's entirely possible. Maybe one in the far north of the Grey Mountains and one far East or South, or in the more distant parts of Mordor away from Barad-Dur.

Considering how vastly different Maiar can be, I wonder if the other Balrogs even were like Durin's Bane. Maybe they were very different from each other, too.

If there was a total of 3 balrogs at any time then it wouldn't make sense for there to be a "Lord of Balrogs" as Gothmog was known.

yooooooo new upload

I'm just doing a global comment on your channel to express I really like what you are doing in terms of Tolkien's analysis. Your videos are very different from the other youtubers talking about Tolkien, from the choice of subject to the wait you use Tolkien's work and analyze it. Keep doing that !

"Post Silmarillion Balrog", ok, i follow you. Cheers!

The art by Manuel Castanon at 3:26. Looks most like Tolkien’s description of the balrog in Lord of the Rings, except for the hovering (damn thing could leap, though!).

I tend to think there was “a handful” of them, maybe a half dozen or so. Also I’ve always tossed around the idea that Sauron used the energies of some of these survivors to “supercharge” Mt Doom. This probably doesn’t fit in the lore, but it’s fun to think about.

I seem to recall that Legolas identifies the Balrog, an interesting point.

In my head canon, there are seven Balrogs. Three were killed before the War of Wrath, three during it, and only Durin's Bane escaped.

Sauron would technically fit into definition of "who is a balrog", as though his shape was often that of "fair elven", he could indeed change his form, though it was limited after the fall of Numenor, him joining Morgoth and being a Maia, fit with who a balrog would be.

Turns out another Balrog exists and causes the accident at Centralia... oh wait SCP-1179

I always imaged during a battle in the first age, a mountain was dropped on the balrog, and it was assumed to be destroyed. Unbeknownst to every one, it was not killed only trapped. Until the dwarves dug too deep...

It's way scarier to imagine even after Sauron's fall that there's just 2 literally anywhere underground.

There are at least 12 to 20 of them hidden deep under various mountains in the East. Where the easterlings lands are and beyond but also far north in the unknown lands.

My head canon is that nine balrogs fell to morgoths service. Just as nine mortal men were doomed to die and serve Sauron. It would make sense giving that Morgoth persuaded nine primeval demigods to take up arms against the valor and in exchange they lose their beautiful forms for one more demonic

I would suggest that "Balrog" had been a catch all phase used by humans who were on the edges of the war between Morgoth and his enemies, but those who were more knowledgeable saved the name for a specific few of Morgoth's most powerful captains.

I could see maybe there could be some up north in what’s left of Angband but they’re asleep, maybe someone adventuring up north could stumble on one, and awaken it.

I wouldn't treat the note about 3-7 Balrogs existing as definitive; in my opinion, the earlier unknown amount works better. It's also possible that the Balrog Glorfindel killed could be Durin's Bane, given that dying isn't the end for Ainur. Not likely, but we know so little about how death affected Balrogs that it can't be ruled out.

*Come on, we all want to believe there were still Balrogs... and Dragons... and Trolls, and Goblins, and all those fantasy creatures that are ugly or scary or dangerous but we love them!*

I was always unsure of where the ruins of Udun might be in Middle Earth. Might there still be Balrogs who went there to hide in the depths of the collapsed fortress somewhere?

Was Durin’s Bane actually trapped inside of Moria, unable to leave at the time the Fellowship encountered it?

In a world where you can be anything...be a post-Silmarillion Balrog.

After watching this video, I am wondering if Saruman knew/heard about Durin's Bane and forced the fellowship that was trying to go over the mountain pass in the first movie and go through Moria in hopes of ridding himself of Gandalf since Saruman thinks that Gandalf is his biggest threat to obtaining power/dominion in middle earth.

Easypeasy: there were originally 1000 of ... balrog wannabes, but they were killed off by the elves in Beleriand and later by the valar in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Only at most four of the strongest survived by digging themselves down into earth.

Tolkien was maybe speaking about the belief of Balrogs shared in the universe. It might have been that the Elves and Valar had encountered and accounted for a specific number (ie: 7), but the true number and their locations were known only to Morgoth. It may also have been that originally there were thousands, but many were killed off prior to the awakening of the Elves during the wars that resulted in the Valar imprisoning Morgoth the first time.

Just a thought to connect two of your middle-earth mysteries videos, this and the Utumno video, But if we went with the idea that Utumno wasn't submerged and is in fact burried somewhere in Forodwaith, maybe they are in there, which would give even more reason to not find Utumno and why, assuming it is burried, its better staying that way, don't need a "Moria 2 Balrog'scoming for you". And assuming Utumno was submerged, maybe the remaining Balrogs did hid in Utumno and they perished when the Utumno was submerged into the Icebay of Forochel, leaving just Durins Bain who may have gone its own way or was seperated from the rest for some reason.

I’ve always headcannon that at least 9 came to serve morgoth in the first age. Just as 9 mortal men were doomed to die and serve Sauron. Since we technically don’t know what would’ve happened in the 4th age and the “end times” for Arda wasn’t planned out we can assume that a few balrogs are still around hypothetically

I'll keep that in mind, thank you

To me, this is one of those things Tolkien never finished propagating his final thoughts throughout the Legendarium. Trying to reconcile even 7 with what else was written elsewhere is a real stretch. It just seems to me that we need a few more than that to make things as consistent as possible.

Be cool yet equally terrifiying if some Balrogs still lived somewhere in depths of Middle Earth. Imagine what would happen they were seen again during the 4th age when the Elves and Wizards were gone. Men would be so screwed.

Legolas says, “A Balrog is come”, not, “The Balrog is come”. Potentially meaning that he, at least, believed there was more than one left.

Who can say what lies buried deep beyond the knowledge of elves, men, and dwarves?

It has been a while since I read Fellowship, but I seem to recall that in Lothlorien the elves liken Sauron to a Balrog and say something along the line of Durin`s Bane being the last of the Balrogs save the one in Barad Dur. While I am aware he is not officially considered one, Mordor as an extension of his being is known for being a land of flame and shadow (literally encircled by the Shadow Mountains). Also, once he cannot assume fair form he seemingly begins to revert to a Balrog-like form: larger than man-size, burns Gil-galad with his black hand. As Morgoth`s top lieutenant, and the mightiest bar maybe Gothmog, the elves may count him among their ranks, since the Noldor were the ones flailing about Belleriand, accusing everything that moves of being an enemy, giving them Sindarin names/titles (not the Valar, who are the only that could distinguish between his servants properly).

Really hope we get to see a balrog in the series

There were as many as followed morgoth after morgoth's death metal verses in the song of the world, most perished at the north war, Durin's bane tied with gandalf in death only for gandalf to recieve new instructions a new coat and less restrictions on his power levels. The last 7 I assume are all hanging out in morgoth's underground city-palace.

Great. Concise. Thanks

Interesting topic, from what I conclude is that the most reasonable conclusion is that indeed Durin's Bane was the last only, though I like the idea that at least one of the others escaped as well, possibly to Forodwaith or something like that. Thats why I dont mind too much that adaptations break this lore like Shadow of War did and like RoP will do now, though doesnt seem too fit with the lore that we had another Balrog loose wrecking havoc fitting with Celeborn's sentence in the LOTR that he havent "heard of Balrog since the Elder Days". But a Balrog is hella cool, specially done in the style of John Howe/Peter Jackson, which is not lore accurate but still looks amazing!

Perhaps they remain hidden buried in the roots of some mountains that thankfully no ons is foolish or greedy enough to delve

One up in Angmar. South of Gath Forthnir. Trapped by the Blue Wizards. Don’t forget your hope tokens…

As a Maiar wouldn't they be able to reform their physical bodies if given enough time?

if one did survive im guessing it would have fled as far from Beleriand as possible. Arda is a very big place. There's plenty of other mountain ranges for one to potentially gain access to the root system under the world especially in the far east of the world. In my head canon Lungorthin is still alive somewhere biding his time until the final battle.

I really like to imagine that at one time there were many Balrogs. But that they were hunted down by Orome before the awakening of the elves. And more were then destroyed by Manwe and Eonwe after the destruction of the lamps. Leaving only a handful by the time Morgoth returned to Middle Earth.

What was Sauron's relationship to the Balrog of Moria? He commanded Balrogs in Morgoth's absence, but doesn't seem to in the Third Age. Neither did he order Smaug around. This is all background to Tolkien's statement that when Sauron set himself up in Mordor he put out a call for all evil things to join him. This would have been a natural point for any and all Balrogs to join him and become generals of his armies. But the Moria Balrog presumably wanted to keep ruling Moria. And any others, if they did exist, were not tempted to join Sauron.

Before Melkor was The Morgoth, even before he began breeding orcs (so before his imprisonment and also before corrupting quite a few elves awoken at Cuivienen into proto-orcs), I always thought his underlings had to be equals of Sauron (in other words, Maiar) and his uneasy allies valar-level spirits from the outer dark (think Ungoliant). Going by the old addage that evil cannot create, but only corrupt, the Maiar who joined him would've done so by their own free will (read: lust for domination) and named Balrogs. (Later dragons might've taken the same route, but were more fueled by greed and preferred Morgoth's incarnating them into snakelike appearances. Sauron, a powerhungry being interested in necromancy, shapeshifting and craftsmanship, would've had a truly unique motivation among all dark followers, which could be the reason he was destined as Melkor's lieutenant and his designated, but lesser successor. Maybe a little like a dark wizard counterpart to what Olorin is to Manwe.) Anyway, point being: Only the Balrogs could've saved Morgoth from Ungoliant at that point in time in Lammoth. And there must've definitly been more than seven, yet fewer than a hundered, or else the concurrent (re-)building of three fortresses, abduction of elves and besieging of Beleriand would've necessitated quite a few Nazguls of Melkor's own imo.

There was nameless things maybe the surviving balrogs went underground where the nameless was

We should presume that more than one balrog perished in the war of wrath, and less than that number escaped. Two perished at gondolin, so perhaps three perished at the end of fa, for a total of 5 in fa, leaving perhaps 2 afterwards, one of which was slain by Gandalf

I think you have that backwards. Tolkien decided later that the earlier Balrogs weren't very powerful. Even though they obviously were extremely powerful and were originally depicted as such. It's a weird change for him to make as all his immortals diminish in power over time, and Ecthelion, being an early elf, would have been possibly Maia level or greater in power, so it wasn't super scandalous that he killed a bunch of Balrogs (six?). It's like he was trying to make Gandalf's fight more impressive when by Tolkien's own history he didn't need to because Gandalf and Durin's Bane would have been far weaker than they were thousands of years earlier. There were also lots of dragons, and only two of them are accounted for, three if you count Farmer Giles of Ham. (unless I'm wrong).

Great picture by Manuel Castanon

I don't think that there is another "accessible" Balrog. Assuming that the 4 Balrogs escaped the Thangorodrim they must have gone through caverns unknown to Utumno. Given the fact that we can't be sure where Utumno is or if it's accessible from the surface anymore finding another surviving Balrog is unlikely. In fact, Durin's Bane is an anomaly. This Balrog crawled on a location that is far away from where it was supposed to run away. Which is why many adaptations portray Balrogs almost everywhere including Mordor as well. But if you ask me this is folly. If it weren't for the Dwarven greed (perhaps influenced by the Rings) this Balrog would have never been found as well. So even in the most extreme of cases one must look for Balrogs on Dwarven delvings.

I don't think it was the last Balrog, and there are other things hiding in the depths. Morgoth spent a very long time twisting various lifeforms into something else. There are many horrors that reside in the deep places of the earth, not just balrogs.

great video i would probably thin so but probably not the last balrog there might be some in the deep depths of the forodwaith or grey mountains or in the far north of the blue mountains keep up the great middle earth mysteries videos

Interesting vid man

Bro, gandalf didn't die against the Balrog. He went back to the respec screen

Oh man it gets worse if you consider this quote from after the War of Powers, long long long before the breaking of Thangorodrim, when Utumno was ripped up by the Valar and Morgoth chained with Angainor (so this is three ages before Ungoliant and the deaths of the Trees): "Nonetheless the Valar did not discover all the mighty vaults and caverns hidden with deceit far under the fortresses of Angband and Utumno. Many evil things still lingered there, and others were dispersed and fled into the dark and roamed in the waste places of the world, awaiting a more evil hour;" There could have been Balrogs who never fought the Noldor and weren't present in the War of Wrath. Also, in my head canon, THESE account for the Watchers of Cirith Ungol.

I always liked more the idea of more numerous balrogs, not into thousands but at least hundred or so

It can just be hand waved away by saying that when Balrogs were seen in great numbers that it was spirits/beings of lesser power that resembled balrogs, don't know if this violates Tolkien's lore, but I'm not writing for amazon

If there were other surviving Balrogs, maybe they made it to the 4th Age. Perhaps as the genesis of a new Dark Lord that Tolkien might have introduced in *The New Shadow* maybe?

Very informative.

What are the most lore-breaking things in Shadow Of War? Besides Shelob being hot. Because apparently, they are powerful enough they could take that form, if they wished... from what I heard. And choose to believe lol.

The 4 remaining Balrogs went to join the Chaos Dwarves in Total War Warhammer 3.

I find it a very funny idea that there would have been a very small number of Balrogs, because then one of them having a grandiose title like "Lord of Balrogs" becomes almost comically pretentious. It would be akin to Saruman declaring himself Arch-wizard or something. It just sounds comical. Having a big old rather spiffy sounding title when there are only a handful of something presented in a dramatic and serious to the touch way is easily amusing when there is quite literally nothing to be a "lord of", when you only got like a handful of buddies, who's numbers will only deplete over time as Balrogs are not known for their tendency to be careful and very rationally weighing the merrirs of charging into dangerous situations. Also, it's a very weird power scaling mess to have them be in very little numbers if you think about things like how Balrogs saved Morgoth from Ungoliath, and then imagine like three to seven Balrogs being enough to shoo the big primordial "I just ate two trees of light and casually overpowered Morgoth cause he didn't give me them shiny Silmarilions" spider with their silly little flaming whips. Like what, you are telling me a handful of Balrogs is enough to scale up to Ungoliath who at the time had overpowered Morgoth himself? And as Gandalf scales to a Balrog even as Grey (Still far weaker than Sauron), then that's some seriously messy power scaling going on here, punching a lot of holes in the logic of the universe.

We can always continue the Story and the other 4 can pop up Im sure someone or Well versed group can take up the helm in True Tolkien style In fact that would be a Great Honour

I have always lent towards there having been a good number of balrogs, at least hundreds, if not low thousands. My main reasoning for this stance is if there had only been a handful of balrogs, then the Valar would have known each by name, and would have made sure that each and everyone that they knew of was killed or captured. I think that we can be certain that Orome and Tulkas would have taken great delight in hunting down any servants of Morgoth that they knew of. To me the only logical reason that a few balrogs (including Druin's Bane) could have escaped, is if there were such numbers that the Valar did not know them individually. While if there were only three balrogs, it does not make much sense, as we know that Gothmog was killed at the Fall of Gondolin, and Glorfindel killed another, at the cost of his own life, which would only leave Durin's Bane by the end of the First Age, making him a prime target during the War of Wrath. Then in the Silmarillion in the chapter "Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of Wrath", regarding balrogs its states; "But it availed him not. The Balrogs were destroyed, save some few that fled and hid themselves in caverns inaccessible at the roots of the earth; and the uncounted legions of the Orcs perished like straw in a great fire, or were swept like shrivelled leaves before a burning wind." Where I know that this was written before Tolkien looked to revise the numbers of Balrogs, it does imply that the Valar and their allies killed a number of them during the War of Wrath, while others that had taken part in the battle fled. Now if we take the 3-7 balrogs as being the number that survived the War of Wrath and fled to the dark places below the Earth, that becomes a different matter. Even in the Silmarillion and the Fall of Gondolin, the Balrogs came across as very powerful, being used to control dragons and even drive off Ungoliant. Also, in the same way that the Wizards (Gandlaf, Radagast, Saruman and the two blue wizards) were not equally powered, I think we can assume that some Balrogs were stronger than others.

I mean I definitely felt that there were at least 50 balrogs that came to rescue Morgoth from Ungoliant.

My own head-cannon (& especially based on the descriptions of the Wars of the First Age) is that whilst there weren't thousands of Balrogs, nor do I feel that the number was only single digits. After all, what's the point of being "Lord of Balrogs" if there are barely half a dozen Balrogs in existence. All the descriptions in The Silmarillion seem to strongly suggest as many as two dozen or even two score Balrogs being in existence.