murmuredlullabye replied to your post: thinkin bout khazad-dum a lot today
Well. Thorin did go after the kingdom with a dragon in it, so…
That’s true. But that’s in no small part due to the fact that Gandalf used Thorin’s anger and grief over Erebor to coax him into doing what he wanted. Would Thorin have gone otherwise? It’s definitely possible. And there were doubts about the dragon still being alive, so that could have maybe eventually convinced Thorin. But still, Gandalf wanted the Erebor/dragon problem solved and he saw he could use Thorin to do it, so he did.
I mean, it’s possible that Balin and others thought the Balrog could be dead? But unlike dragons (which I understand are extremely long lived but still mortal), Balrogs, as Maiar, are immortal. But maybe the Dwarves didn’t know that? I mean, no one really knew that Gandalf was a Maia, but that’s also because Gandalf hid that fact and went around merely as a wizard. But it’s unlikely that the Dwarves thought the Balrog just up and left because I mean, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have heard about a Balrog terrorizing the free peoples of Middle Earth.
I’m really not sure. I want to say I can’t believe Balin would go off to Khazad-dum without knowing more certainly it was safe, but most of what I believe Balin to be like is only movie canon or head canon based off of movie canon. I could believe Thorin doing it– Thorin is definitely more than a bit impulsive when it comes to things he’s passionate about and he also, I think, very keenly bears the weight of being a leader of his line and takes on a lot of responsibility (and even guilt) for that.
But I see Balin as more, I dunno, level-headed about these matters I guess? He’s removed enough from the burden of ruling his people (if anything he’s something like fifth in succession– Dain, Kili, Fili, and Thorin being before him) that I don’t think he’d feel like he had to dive into reclaiming their ancestral home without proper preparation (and let’s be real, Thorin absolutely did that, though at least by movie canon that wasn’t his fault, as no one would send him aid). I think there’s evidence supporting this thought in AUJ where he tells Thorin that he doesn’t have to go on this quest to reclaim Erebor.
“You don’t have to do this. You have a choice. You’ve done honorably by our people. You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains, a life of peace, and plenty. A life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor.“
Then again, that’s movie canon and book!Balin may not be like that at all. I’m trying to reconcile the idea that movie!Balin, the way I consider Balin to be, would have gone to reclaim Khazad-dum without knowing whether or not the Balrog was still there. He went with Thorin to Erebor even though they didn’t know if the dragon was alive or not because he is fiercely loyal to Thorin and believed in him. But he doesn’t think going to reclaim their home, with so much left up in the air and without an army behind them at that point in time, was worth more than Thorin’s life (I think this is because he maybe sees Thorin has determined his own worth as an individual to be low if he can’t provide for his people the way in which he wants and he very much disagrees and wants Thorin to know he is wonderful and has done so much good. But I can and have cried about this for hours so I’ll leave that off here).
I dunno, this is rambly and I really want to look into this more but these are my thoughts on it so far. I just can’t imagine Balin organizing a group to go reclaim Khazad-dum if he didn’t know it was safe to do so. I can definitely imagine him wanting to go reclaim Khazad-dum and I absolutely think he would if the Balrog was known to be dead/not there– but I can’t imagine him doing it otherwise.