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Maybe Balrogs have wings for the same reason many of us wear capes. For instance: style, badassery, vampirism, affectation.

Totally.

Nah, never had wings (the two mentions in Moria, first is a simile and second is a metaphor, building on the earlier simile), further, it would have also made Gandalf's destruction of the bridge of Moria a bit pointless if the Balrog could simply flap its wings and stay airborne...
In the early days before Ancalagon, none of Morgoth's minions could fly. The balrogs had to climb up coiled dragons in order to assault Gondolin. The Balrog of Moria was described as trapped in the earth from Elder days so was just one amongst many(?) and didn't even deserve a name, that's how 'average' it was considered!

it would have also made Gandalf's destruction of the bridge of Moria a bit pointless if the Balrog could simply flap its wings and stay airborne...

Nah, that's why Gandalf had to go down with it. Make sure it didnt' just fly away.

Nah, that's why Gandalf had to go down with it. Make sure it didnt' just fly away.

Are you suggesting Gandalf jumped

Nah, that's why Gandalf had to go down with it. Make sure it didnt' just fly away.

Are you suggesting Gandalf jumped

Of course!

"A wizard never falls, nor does he stumble! He lands precisely where he ment to all along!"

Maybe Balrogs have wings for the same reason many of us wear capes. For instance: style, badassery, vampirism, affectation.

You gotta be careful, though. I once saw a Balrog get sucked into a jet intake because of its wings.

Maybe Balrogs have wings for the same reason many of us wear capes. For instance: style, badassery, vampirism, affectation.

You gotta be careful, though. I once saw a Balrog get sucked into a jet intake because of its wings.

Wow. That jet must've really hated capes.

"A wizard never falls, nor does he stumble! He lands precisely where he ment to all along!"

Suffice to say that you won the internet this week.

I’m positive you are all kidding rekindling this old debate again (I’m sure Michael Martinez, for instance, has felt a shiver going up his spine these days) .

But for the sake of it... and considering more than anything that The Silmarillion’s & The Fall of Gondolin’s Balrogs have very little to do with the Balrog of the Lord of the Rings... I daresay that LOTR Balrog has also nothing to do with Peter Jackson’s films’ Balrog... I think that Professor Tolkien depicted it (him) not as a horned (and winged) volcanic monster, but as a dark human (but bigger in size) shape shrouded in shadows and (at will) flames. That aura of shadows (and flames) he could expand or shrink, causing a very similar visual effect to real wings for the (terrified) observer.

Could the Balrog of Moria fly or not? Not sure about it, though I think I recall the text uses the expression “to leap over the chasm” and not “to fly over the chasm” or something similar... and nothing in the text suggests that the Balrog tried to (or could) fly up while burdened with Gandalf’s weight... he fell like a stone to the lake at the bottom of the Chasm.

On the other hand, I would find nothing weird in a flying Balrog, as he was a fire & shadow spirit... and others among Morgoth’s minions could fly too (and before winged dragons came to existence)... Vampires like Thuringwethil, for instance.

I daresay that LOTR Balrog has also nothing to do with Peter Jackson’s films’ Balrog...

I see no reason to exclude the movies from a discussion about a roleplaying game.