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Shortly after Gandalf first sees the balrog, he orders Aragorn to lead the fellowship to the bridge. Aragorn hesitates, fearing to leave Gandalf alone against such a fearsome enemy, until Gandalf tells him,

Swords are no more use here!

Moments later when Gandalf and the balrog are falling into the abyss, Gandalf repeatedly stabs his foe with a sword. We don't see him use any magic against the balrog. Maybe he did use magic, but we didn't see it. His staff is either lost or destroyed by then.

As best we can tell, Gandalf defeats the balrog with a sword.

Obviously I am quoting from the movies and showing scenes from the movies, but I want an answer from the books.

Did Gandalf defeat the balrog with only a sword?

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    All he had was a sword when he fell? "When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
    – RichS
    Commented Aug 10, 2019 at 3:53
  • @user119489 If you just made that up you shouldn't post it. If you have references, you should post it as an answer.
    – pipe
    Commented Aug 10, 2019 at 15:09
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    I think Gandalf is referring to the swords of the Fellowship: Those are useless, and they should run. His own, Glamdring, is not indicted by that statement.
    – ako
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 10:16
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    I always heard this as more of a metaphorical statement than a literal one. I figured that he was essentially telling Aragorn "you can't add anything to this fight, if you stay here with me you'll just be in the way".
    – Mike.C.Ford
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 11:15
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    Because he forgot to prepare daylight that day. Which is a mistake he didn't make again, because he made sure to use it later.
    – PlutoThePlanet
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 21:15

4 Answers 4

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Because using a sword was effective.

(Keep in mind that Balrogs envisioned by Tolkien were not as big as what Peter Jackson depicts in the movies.)

'Do as I say!' said Gandalf fiercely. 'Swords are no more use here. Go!'

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

In the books, Gandalf says that particular line before he is even aware that Durin's Bane is a Balrog. With hordes of Orcs and something bigger on the other side of the door, it would seem pointless for the Fellowship to not run away. Gandalf knew that only he could hold the door, with his magic, against those orcs. Not the Fellowship.

The passage was lit by no shaft and was utterly dark. They groped their way down a long flight of steps, and then looked back; but they could see nothing, except high above them the faint glimmer of the wizard's staff. He seemed to be still standing on guard by the closed door. Frodo breathed heavily and leaned against Sam, who put his arms about him. They stood peering up the stairs into the darkness. Frodo thought he could hear the voice of Gandalf above, muttering words that ran down the sloping roof with a sighing echo. He could not catch what was said. The walls seemed to be trembling. Every now and again the drum-beats throbbed and rolled: doom, doom.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

Gandalf had no idea that there was a Balrog until he was confronted by it.

Gandalf's sword: Glamdring

Also note that Glamdring was a legendary sword made in the First Age for King Turgon. It's easily the most ancient sword which still existed at the time of the Fellowship (since Narsil was made for King Elendil sometime in the Second Age). That doesn't necessarily mean it's the most "powerful", but the fact that it was made for the then High King of the Noldor means it could, at least, hold its own against a creature of Morgoth.

"This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore."

The Hobbit

Durin's Bane vs Gandalf

It's also explicitly mentioned that Gandalf did use Glamdring against the Balrog.

'We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin's folk, Gimli son of Gloin. Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The White Rider

It did seem like it hurt the Balrog. And finally we have the 2 of them fighting it out at Zirakzigil.

A great smoke rose about us, vapour and steam. Ice fell like rain. I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side where he smote it in his ruin. Then darkness took me; and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The White Rider

It's fairly unclear what Tolkien meant by "threw him down", whether by magic or a physical shove, but I see it as Gandalf, with Glamdring, pushing the Balrog back onto the edge of the peak that ultimately caused the Balrog to fall down.

Gandalf's use of magic

The strain of keeping the Balrog behind the door took its toll on Gandalf, as he explicitly states:

'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

We do see him using his magic to stop the Balrog from crossing the bridge, but not any more after that. That doesn't mean he didn't use his magic, but I feel that he found his sword to be of more use against the Balrog than perhaps any spells he could cast. Remember, the Balrogs were once Maia as well, but corrupted. Gandalf too is a Maia, albeit clothed in human flesh that gave them restrictions on the power they could use in Middle-earth.

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    Telchar was around and making stuff in the middle of the First Age, so it seems more likely that Narsil was made around the same time, but certainly a few thousand years before Elendil's time.
    – Crowman
    Commented Aug 11, 2019 at 3:39
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    @PaulGriffiths That does seem possible. Unfortunately I don't think Tolkien ever shed light on the exact time of Narsil's forging. Tolkien's Gateway isn't helpful either without a citation.
    – Voronwé
    Commented Aug 11, 2019 at 6:31
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    Gandalf made a sincere effort not to confront power with power. First he tried to run, then he tried breaking the bridge. At that point he's got to deal with another Maia that doesn't follow those rules, so of course he uses magic. After all, without magic how did he survive the fall?
    – Gaius
    Commented Aug 11, 2019 at 16:16
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We know for a fact that swords are effective, though perhaps not ordinary swords. During the battle of Gondolin, one of the more epic battles of the First Age, many balrogs were slain with weapons, wielded by various high elf heroes who used no magic of any kind.

We don't know in great detail how the battle between Gandalf and the balrog went on; the book is vague. But it ends with Gandalf forcing the balrog to fall down the side of a mountain. The fall supposedly killed it.

(This is very similar to how Glorfindel kills a balrog during the battle of Gondolin - in fact, Tolkien probably borrowed bits from that story to LotR, since he didn't initially think to intergrate it with Silmarillion)

We don't know if swords made in Gondolin have any special abilities beyond sensing when orcs are near, but they could evidently wound and kill balrogs. Ecthelion, a hero of Gondolin, slays several balrogs before he faces the balrog Captain Gothmog and they kill each other.

Glamdring belonged to the King of Gondolin. If there is something special with those swords, it is safe to believe that other swords made by Noldor smiths had the same abilities, since for example the smiths from the house of Feanor were even more skilled. It seems likely that balrogs would have been killed by other Noldor in the many battles of the First Age, and perhaps also by dwarves and Men.

If ordinary weapons could wound balrogs, we don't know. But as it happens, every death of a balrog that's explicitly described in the books is carried out by someone wielding a sword from Gondolin: Ecthelion, Glorfindel and Gandalf.

But there is not really anything indicating that balrogs couldn't be wounded by ordinary weapons, except for the quote by Gandalf saying "swords are no more use here". But that might as well refer to the balrog being too powerful for the other members of the Fellowship to face, not without taking losses - "this foe is beyond any of you". And Gandalf doesn't want to endanger the One Ring - he wants it to be taken away from the balrog.

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    Elves are intrinsically magical
    – Gaius
    Commented Aug 11, 2019 at 16:16
  • "During the battle of Gondolin, one of the more epic battles of the First Age, many balrogs were slain…" Were there? I don't have Silmarillion next to me but as far as I remember only a handful of Balrogs have been slain in combat like that and every time their opponent died - although Glorfindel and Gandalf were allowed to come back.
    – Johan
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 9:04
  • @Johan This is mostly from Lost Tales, where the original story The Fall of Gondolin is described in more detail than in Silmarillion.
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 19, 2019 at 16:35
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    @Johan Checking it again now. During the Fall of Gondolin, some elven hero called Rog leads an attack against the balrogs and killed many balrogs by using their own whips against them, which was the first time balrogs died in combat. So there goes my theory of other Noldor, dwarves or humans killing them earlier in the big wars. Ecthelion later kills 3 balrogs while defending the breach into Gondolin's walls. He is fighting together with Tuor and the book says the balrogs also weared Tuor's axe Dramborleg, of which we don't know much. ->
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 23, 2019 at 19:46
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    And later Ectelion kills Gothmog using a spike protuding from his own helmet, all in all killing 4 balrogs during the battles. And Glorfindel kills one while falling to his own death at the same time. This is indeed a very old story, one of Tolkien's first, so it's not clear how much of it he wished to be canon later on, when it was merged into the LotR story. Nevertheless, it is Tolkien's words - unless he later on reversed part of the story, I believe it is canon.
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 23, 2019 at 19:48
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We know that the mortal form of a Maia has been killed by an ordinary mortal wielding a dagger, and we are given no reason to believe that the dagger was in any way special. Specifically, that's how Wormtongue killed Saruman.

The problem with using an ordinary blade against a Balrog is not that the Balrog can't be harmed by ordinary weapons, but rather that a Balrog is such a dangerous opponent that he[1] can probably take you out before you get a good swing at him.

[1] Yes, I did assume the Balrog's gender.

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  • We also have no reason to believe the dagger was not special. Also, Saruman had been cast out of the order at this point and his staff was broken; as such his Maia powers may have been reduced.
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 11:12
  • Re assuming the Balrog's gender: Since Balrogs are fallen/corrupted Maiar, I'd guess they can have either gender. I do vaguely recall, however, to see artworks of that particular Balrog where the appearance is quite male. Actually, either I'm messing things up or that's been in concept arts made by Tolkien himself.
    – Egor Hans
    Commented Aug 15, 2019 at 13:42
  • @MartinBonner: Yes, but if Wormtongue's dagger was specially-enchanted to harm Maiar, Saurman would certainly know and not allow Wormtongue to be anywhere near it.
    – EvilSnack
    Commented Sep 13, 2019 at 13:24
  • @EvilSnack Saruman would know, but he might not care (believing he had complete control of Wormtongue).
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Commented Sep 13, 2019 at 14:10
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    I think this is the right answer. Gandalf is employing metonymy - when he says "Swords are of no use" he is poetically saying "Swordsmen are of no use". He is saying that if Aragorn or Boromir try to fight the balrog, they will be killed, because (to use D&D terms for a moment) the balrog will deal more damage per round than they can absorb before they can kill it. Gandalf has the most hit points, so he is the only one who can melee the balrog.
    – tbrookside
    Commented Sep 4, 2022 at 11:36
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Just to add something from the possible intention of the writer of this part: The whole scene has many similar symbols to Jesus' death on the cross. This makes sense because Tolkien was a Christian.

When Jesus was arrested (to get executed) one of his Disciples draws his sword and wants to attack the guards but Jesus stops him, knowing that only he can win the battle (Matthew 26, 50-51):

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him [..]

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    Yeah, and of course (spoiler alert!) the whole subsequent death and rebirth thing. Tolkien insists it's not an allegory, but that doesn't mean elements, themes, motifs aren't there.
    – mattdm
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 9:12
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    n.b. both spoiler alert for LotR and the Bible.
    – mattdm
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 9:12
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    This add nothing to the existing answer, and even the link to the question is speculative
    – DrakaSAN
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 12:43
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    For the literal love of god, can we stop the Christian conspiracy theories on every single Tolkien post made on this site? This is all just subjective nonsense with no substance. Have you any proof of Tolkien ever mentioning this part of the Bible, or any part of the Bible, for inspiration to his works?
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 23, 2019 at 20:30
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    Also this is so incredibly far-fetched because Jesus is clearly favouring a non-violent solution whereas Gandalf isn't about to turn the other cheek.
    – Amarth
    Commented Aug 23, 2019 at 20:36

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