CNN Concerned by Balrogs

Apparently CNN is seriously concerned with the ever-present balrog problem at the backs of all of our minds. View the full clip.

As Stephen Colbert astutely points out:

So it has. Just one problem. That picture they showed isn’t Satan, it’s the Balrog, from the 1977 Lord of the Rings calendar. See that? (points to picture) There’s the Balrog, and there’s Gandalf on the Bridge of Kazad-dum. Now devils and balrogs are totally different. Devils are angels who refuse to serve God, and followed Satan into hell. Balrogs are Maiar who refused to serve Eru and instead followed Morgoth into Thangorodrim.

I think I see some major parallels—although it would be ridiculous to think that the age old paradigm of God versus Satan, the quintessential battle of good versus evil, light versus dark, does not permeate other forms of literature.  In some ways (not intending to be controversial, and meaning no offense whatsoever to any religion), depending on how you look at it, God versus Satan is the first fantasy epic—that’s the way John Milton saw it at least.  Paradise Lost, anyone?

Artwork by Simon Bisley