1979 BALROG AWARD JUDGES' CHOICE ANDRE NORTON FOR LIFE ACHIEVEMENT IN FANTASY

This is a US award given annually in the years 1979 to 1985 for work in the field of fantasy. It is named after the demon servants of Melkor the Dark Enemy, who are referred to mainly in the back-story to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings though one malign sleeper Balrog does survive long enough to be defeated by Gandalf.^*

Other awarded writers:^*

• Anne McCafffrey
• Katherine Kurtz
• Roger Zelazny
• C.J. Cherryh
• Stephen King
• and others

Below you'll find a thorough information about Balrogs, a courtesy of  Michael Martinez.

The Balrogs were corrupted Maiar who served Melkor from early on. They were spirits of fire which wielded darkness as a tangible part of their bodies. Their preferred weapons were many-thonged whips but they also used great swords and axes, perhaps of "magical" or Maiaric origin, created by their powerful wills.

The Balrogs were regarded as the greatest of Elf-banes in the First Age, and of all Morgoth's servants, the Balrogs were the most feared creatures. They killed Feanor and Fingon, two of the greatest kings of the Noldor.

Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, was one of Melkor's chief captains, and he led armies against the Elves of Beleriand on more than one occasion. He appears to have been in command of the army which destroyed Gondolin. The defense of Gondolin is considered by some to be the most determined and successful of the last stands made by the Elves against the servants of Morgoth. Gothmog and one other Balrog were slain in that battle.

Balrog Award - rear view (click to enlarge)

Most of the remaining Balrogs perished in the War of Wrath, when the Valar led an army of Maiar, Elves, and Men against Melkor's kingdom. Beleriand was destroyed in the war and most of Melkor's servants perished as well. One Balrog, at least, survived and fled eastward, hiding itself at the root of the Misty Mountains near the Dwarven city Khazad-dum.

Thousands of years later the Dwarves, mining the motherlode of Mithril which had made Khazad-dum the wealthiest of Dwarven cities in the Second Age, followed the vein north until they unwittingly freed the Balrog from its self-imposed prison. It destroyed their civilization and slew many of the Dwarves, forcing the survivors to abandon their ancient home. The Silvan Elves of nearby Lorien, which had long dwelt in peace and friendship with the Dwarves, was terrorized and the Elves blamed the Dwarves for their misery. Many of the Elvenfolk forsook Middle-earth, migrating south through Gondor to their ancient haven of Edhellond on the river Ringlo near the Bay of Belfalas. Of this migration came two great events: the tragic deaths of Nimrodel and her lover, the Elven-king Amroth; and the marriage of Imrazor the Numenorean and Mithrellas, companion of Nimrodel. Mithrellas gave Imrazor two children, Galador and Gilmith, and from Galador the later Princes of Dol Amroth all claimed descent.

The Balrog of Khazad-dum remained in the mines even when a great Dwarven army destroyed the last army of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs at the Battle of Azanulbizar. The Balrog, known to the Dwarves as Durin's Bane (because it had slain King Durin VI when it drove the Dwarves from Khazad-dum), stood in the gate and forbade the entrance of any Dwarves. Dain Ironfoot, who had just slain Azog, leader of the Orcs, came down from the gate ashenfaced and trembling.

When Balin, kinsman of Dain, attempted to reclaim Khazad-dum many years later, his colony lasted no more than five years until the Orcs serving the Balrog overwhelmed his people. But only 24 years later the Fellowship of the Ring, led by Gandalf the Grey, entered Khazad-dum on its fateful journey to Mordor. The Balrog learned of their presence and launched an attack on the Fellowship, but Gandalf destroyed the only bridge leading out of Khazad-dum and sent the Balrog plummeting into a deep chasm. The Balrog's last act in the confrontation was to lash out at Gandalf and so drag him down into the depths with it, but the wizard's sacrifice purchased time for the rest of the Fellowship to escape from Khazad-dum before the Orcs could replace the bridge.

Gandalf and the Balrog fought far beneath the Dwarven city for at least seven days. The Balrog finally fled and sought a way of escape, but it succeeded only in finding the Endless Stair, which led to the peak of Zirak-Zigil. There upon a ledge high above the world the wizard and Balrog faced each other for 3 days, and "those that looked up from afar thought that the mountain was crowned with storm. Thunder they heard, and lightning, they said, smote upon Celebdil, and leaped back broken into tongues of fire."

In the end Gandalf slew the Balrog, and cast him from the peak, where he smote the mountainside and broke it in his ruin. The great battle, however, proved fatal for Gandalf, who died and so failed of the purpose for which he was sent, until Iluvatar intervened. But that is another story....