The Terror

A word or title used to describe the Balrog of Moria. It appears once only, where Aragorn tells of the encounter of the Fellowship with the Terror in Moria, and the fall of Gandalf from the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Nonetheless Celeborn recognised it immediately. The first appearance of this Balrog more than a thousand years beforehand had caused great upheaval in Lórien, leading ultimately to the death of its then King, Amroth. When he discovered the truth of the Terror beneath the Mountains, Celeborn claimed that, if he had known, he would have closed the borders of Lórien even to the Fellowship of the Ring.