The battle between Gandalf and the Balrog from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ in the 1978 animated film is not really what you thought it was

It’s a deleted scene very different from the tone of Peter Jackson’s trilogy.

Update: Feb 17th, 2025 00:37 CET

In the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf the Grey faces off against the Balrog of Morgoth in the Mines of Moria. The wizard manages to cast it into the abyss, but at the last moment, one of its tentacles wraps around his leg, and he falls with it. A violent battle ensues, reaching the highest mountain, as seen in The Two Towers. Eventually, the wizard defeats the creature and transforms into Gandalf the White. In the 1978 animated film, there is a deleted scene depicting the battle, though with far less epic scale.

It’s worth noting that this sequence was never included in Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings, meaning it remains a glimpse of what could have been. To begin with, the Balrog is significantly smaller than in Peter Jackson’s films, it is not surrounded by fire, and it resembles a dragon. Gandalf wields his sword and gives the creature no respite, relentlessly attacking it while the beast flies from one side to the other.

These Are the Animated Lord of the Rings Movies

This adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is not the only one made in animation. Besides The Hobbit (1977), a version of The Return of the King was also produced, though it was not a sequel to Ralph Bakshi’s film but rather a continuation of the adaptation featuring Bilbo Baggins. The most recent animated film is The War of the Rohirrim, which is part of Peter Jackson’s cinematic universe.

Warner Bros. Discovery will return to Middle-earth with The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis. The story will take place during the same period as The Fellowship of the Ring, so the return of key characters is expected. However, it has not yet been announced whether Viggo Mortensen or Ian McKellen will reprise their roles as Aragorn and Gandalf, respectively.