A great smoke of vapor and steam rose about them, and ice fell like rain. There they fought until at last Gandalf threw down his enemy, and the Balrog broke the mountain-side as it fell. Then darkness took Gandalf, and he passed away.
So when Gandalf confronts the Balrog on the Bridge of Moria he faces a real and deadly danger. But he realizes the Quest is in peril and so sacrifices himself to ensure their escape; he falls from the bridge and fights the Balrog, but is himself killed. Yet he returns and is enhanced in power and clothed in white.
While we know that Gandalf ultimately did fall with the Balrog in Moria, Aragorn said this even before they came before the gate to Moria, let along the bridge near the other side of the Mountains.
What happened to Gandalf after he killed the Balrog?
Gandalf was himself utterly spent in the battle, and after the fall of the Balrog, he too collapsed into darkness and died. For nineteen days Gandalf's body lay on the mountain, until his spirit was sent back to complete his mission in Middle-earth, and thus he returned to life as Gandalf the White.
In the book, however, he didn't know that the Balrog was there. However, this raises another problem. How did Gandalf not know the Balrog was there? It seems like Gandalf, Saruman or someone on the White Council would have been slightly suspicious after something evil brought a whole Dwarven society to ruin.
What Happened To Gandalf After He Fought The Balrog? | Lord of the Rings Lore
Did the dwarves dig up the Balrog?
Beginning under the Silvertine, the Dwarves mined ever deeper, and down towards the roots of Mount Caradhras. There they unearthed the Balrog, which drove the Dwarves into exile.
Gandalf pursued the monster for eight days, until they climbed to the peak of Zirakzigil, where the Balrog was forced to turn and fight, its body erupting into new flame. Here they fought for two days and nights. In the end, the Balrog was defeated and cast down, breaking the mountainside where it fell "in ruin".
Tolkien at first had Gandalf and his opponent (then a Nazgûl) fall from a very low height so that both were able to survive this. Later, when he decided that the opponent was a Balrog and that both the demon and Gandalf were ancient spirits older than the universe itself he also changed the depth of the chasm.
Did the dwarves retake Moria after the Balrog died?
There's not a lot of information out there on the details of how the Dwarves reclaimed Khazad-dûm, but it undoubtedly required a lot of Orc-slaying. Without the Balrog, Durin's Bane, Durin VII the Last returned to the Mines of Moria and restored it to the once great kingdom that it was.
Gimli didn't know about Moria's fate because there had been no communication between Erebor and Moria for 25 years, and the Dwarves were hopeful and did not want to accept failure until there was certain news.
Galadriel sensed Gandalf's mind. They could communicate telepathically even after the Rings of Power failed; so her ability to sense him may have been enhanced before the One Ring was destroyed. She could have sent Gwaihir out to look for Gandalf's body, unaware of whether he was alive or dead.
The Balrog, like Gandalf, is a Maia. There is a very real possibility that Gandalf will die in this confrontation. As an istar Gandalf is an incarnated maia, and thus subject to all the frailties and fears that Elves and Men are subject to.
Gandalf didn't know that the Mines of Moria had fallen. He mentions he had been through Moria before, but it was before it had been resettled, which means it would not have had the chance to be overrun yet. All that was known about the mines was that the dwarves had gone silent.
The thing is, the Balrog actually didn't choose to live in Moria. It chose to live well below the Dwarvish kingdom. When Morgoth's defeat was inevitable, the Balrog fled into the tunnels deep within Middle-earth. They were created by the infamous Nameless Things, and they offered a surefire place to stay hidden.
Why did Gandalf not go through the Mines of Moria?
With that option seemingly ruled out, Gimli pushed to descend into the mines of Moria because he believed his dwarfish kindred was still alive. Gandalf, however, was hesitant to take either road. He knew that the Balrog was lurking in Moria, and he also didn't want to face Saruman.
As soon as the Mystics realize the Stranger isn't Sauron, they label him an "Istar." With this label, and several other hints throughout the episode and the season, The Rings of Power has all but confirmed that the Stranger is everyone's favorite wizard: Gandalf the Grey.
Who is the giant who fell from the sky in Rings of Power?
This revelation refutes any lingering theories that The Stranger (Daniel Weyman), the man who fell from the sky at the start of the season, is in fact Sauron, with the finale confirming he's actually one of the Istari, Tolkien's version of Wizards.
The thing is, while many fans took the finale as confirmation that Meteor Man is Gandalf, that was never outright said. He is a wizard, but there was no mention of Mithrandir, Olorin or any other of Gandalf's names.
The fear of Elves is more spiritual, so the demonic creatures of shadow and flame are unsurprisingly horrifying to them. Legolas doesn't appear to have any hesitation in his actions throughout the films, but it's clear that his blood runs cold when a Balrog appears in the Mines of Moria.
For more than five millennia, the Balrog hibernated in his deep hiding place at the roots of the mountains in Khazad-dûm. He remained undisturbed throughout the Second Age and most of the Third, before the mithril-miners of dwarf-King Durin VI awoke him in T.A. 1980.
Though Gimli has no children, he is not the last Dwarf of Middle-earth. After the fall of Sauron, his people continued to thrive in the Lonely Mountain. Gimli made his home in Rohan, in the Glittering Caves of Aglarond, and many of his kinsfolk came with him.
The company fled with Gandalf, but the Orcs and the Balrog, taking a different route, caught up with them at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. At the Bridge, Legolas instantly recognized it as a Balrog, and Gimli recognized it as Durin's Bane.
Combining the poor communication between Erebor and Moria with the Dwarves' extended lifespans, Gimli might not have known about the fall of Moria simply because Erebor had not grown too worried about the lack of information yet.
