Gothmog (balrog)
(See also Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul)
Gothmog was the Lord of Balrogs and the High-Captain of Angband, one of the chief servants of the Dark Lord Morgoth with a rank equal to that of Sauron. While he was not as powerful or cruel as the Dark Lords, he surpassed them in strategy and also in brute strength. He carried a black axe and fought in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, where he mortally wounded Fëanor. He killed two Kings of the Noldor: Fëanor in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, and Fingon in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. In that same battle, he captured Húrin of Dor-lómin, who had slain his personal body guard of Trolls, and brought him to Angband. He also led the assault on Gondolin, and there slew, and was slain by, Ecthelion of the Fountain, a Noldorin Elf-lord.
In the earliest version of his mythology (The Book of Lost Tales), Tolkien describes Gothmog as a son of Morgoth and the ogress Fluithuin, but the idea of the children of Valar was abandoned in later writings.
In one of Tolkien's early Middle-earth writings, Lay of the Children of Húrin, "Lungothrin, Lord of Balrogs" is mentioned. It is not, however, certain if it was another name for Gothmog, or it simply meant "a Balrog lord". According to Christopher Tolkien, the latter is more probable, as the name Gothmog was mentioned in the earliest Middle-earth writings, as well as the final version of Tolkien's mythology.
