Arien’s Untold Power: The Balrog Turned Good LOTR Lore

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  • Опубліковано 1 січ 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 117

  • @BiscuitDelivery
    @BiscuitDelivery 5 днів тому +156

    Arien was never a balrog since she was never corrupted by Melkor.

    • @brettmuir5679
      @brettmuir5679 4 дні тому +9

      Arien and those kindred spirits,...including balrogs are classified as Valarkulyar

    • @mxu_medinx9709
      @mxu_medinx9709 4 дні тому +38

      @@brettmuir5679 They're called kindred spirits only because they're spirits of fire. Arien was never corrupted, or counted among the Balrogs, as Balrog is a term reserved for those Maiar that Melkor managed to corrupt into his service, and incarnated themselves as demons of shadow and flame.

    • @brettmuir5679
      @brettmuir5679 4 дні тому +4

      @mxu_medinx9709 what part of Valarkulyar says Arien was corrupted?

    • @markedwards7505
      @markedwards7505 4 дні тому +15

      Click bait.

    • @MythologicalStories-q1z
      @MythologicalStories-q1z 3 дні тому +5

      They are referred to as kindred spirits solely because they are spirits of fire. Arien was never tainted or considered one of the Balrogs, as the term Balrog specifically applies to those Maiar whom Melkor corrupted to serve him, transforming them into demons of shadow and flame.

  • @WrongParadox
    @WrongParadox 4 дні тому +49

    click-bait title - as others have said - Arien was never corrupted by Melkor and thus never a balrog.

    • @RoganGunn
      @RoganGunn 2 дні тому

      Yup, this is AI slop 👎👎

  • @curzon176
    @curzon176 3 дні тому +17

    Poor Arien. She was the only one good and pure enough to resist Melkor's dark temptations. And as a reward she now has to travel endlessly across the sky, never to rest.

    • @scene2much
      @scene2much 3 дні тому +5

      Acceptance turns duty towards grace.

    • @drx1xym154
      @drx1xym154 2 дні тому +1

      and always to shine!

    • @curzon176
      @curzon176 День тому

      @@scene2much This is a glass half full/ half empty situation. I see her as cursed to do the same task forever, and probably always alone.

    • @Serai3
      @Serai3 17 годин тому +1

      Why assume it's some kind of punishment? It's not as if she was forced.

  • @KorithStoneheart
    @KorithStoneheart 5 днів тому +30

    Isn't she the one who drove the chariot of the sun, because she was the only one who could withstand it?

  • @benjaminamdahl1717
    @benjaminamdahl1717 3 дні тому +18

    I'm going to start off with Arien was never a Balrog. Balrogs specifically were only Maia bound to Morgoth. Yes, they were of fire and cloaked in shadow, but because Arien was never in his service, she doesn't count (she also doesn't "turn good" as she was never evil from the start, even in this video). It's accurately defined in this way @ 0:20 so I'm going with the title is probably deliberately written this way as clickbait. There are other minor lore inaccuracies throughout the video that I'm not going to nitpick over. It's probably a result of the poetic licensing used to help form the narrative into a story for the video, it's gonna happen I guess. I would like to be a bit constructive on the video format however. Video essays will always be better done with you're own voice and some original content on screen. The overuse of AI generated content in this piece is very off putting and made it very hard to watch all the way through. Original art is great if you can get it or make it, or you could use yourself in front of a camera or even point it at a desk surface with book in hand while you talk about it. Anything, literally anything is better than the AI generated content that is clogging creative channels at the moment. We can all do better than this. If anyone is curious and wants further reading, the bulk of this story comes from "The Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XI Of the Sun and the Moon and the Hiding of Valinor".

  • @toddkurzbard
    @toddkurzbard 4 дні тому +33

    At what point here is she a "Balrog"?

    • @pezfam
      @pezfam 4 дні тому +3

      I think it’s supposed to be that the Balrog’s were Maiar of fire, just as she was. Their turn to evil made them into the Balrogs while her remaining loyal kept her from that fate.

    • @The-Chaos-Shack
      @The-Chaos-Shack 4 дні тому +4

      Clickbait

    • @Serai3
      @Serai3 17 годин тому

      Clickbait gets into everything. It's pretty disappointing. I'd have expected a Tolkien channel to understand the importance of the right words.

  • @rescuearch7802
    @rescuearch7802 4 дні тому +30

    In general, a good retelling of Arien's story.
    My only complaint is that many of the AI-generated images in this video show the Elves with ridiculous spearhead-shaped ears, when Tolkien himself described Elves as being physically identical to Men, and in particular, their ears were like human ears. You needed to get close enough to see into a person's eyes to be able to determine if they were Man or Elf, because the difference between them was in their souls, not their bodies.

    • @dubecheck
      @dubecheck 4 дні тому +2

      Where did you read that? Id love to dive into that!

    • @theamazingbatboy
      @theamazingbatboy 4 дні тому +3

      I don't believe any final word on the objective appearance of Elves was ever made-there has long been a debate on whether Elves had pointed ears or not, certainly. We know for example Hobbits did, and they're explicitly an offshoot of Men. Orcs (Goblins) also, I believe although I may be mistaken there. There were absolutely significant differences between Human and Elf physiology, not least in their children and physical growth (Children talked, danced and played with the grace of adults after only a few years etc.). I would also be quite interested to read your source on this though. Either way, it would make sense Maiar would resemble the Eldar physically but not an absolute certainty.

    • @MagnaMater2
      @MagnaMater2 4 дні тому

      @@dubecheck Some of his letters as far as I recall, discussing the looks of Fairy-tale Pixies and Fairies and nature-spirits in contrast to his Elves.

    • @phineascromwell
      @phineascromwell 4 дні тому +2

      He is also referenced as describing elven ears as "leaf-shaped".

    • @tribblefluffer
      @tribblefluffer 3 дні тому +3

      That and the AI's ability to generate nightmare inducing hands.

  • @thegoodace4606
    @thegoodace4606 5 днів тому +26

    Never heard of Arien before interesting!

    • @zimmerwald1915
      @zimmerwald1915 5 днів тому +5

      You've read "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony," haven't you? Then you have. She makes a brief cameo appearance at the end of Frodo's song.

    • @tolojr
      @tolojr 4 дні тому +3

      I read about Arien but I didn't know she was of the same beings that became balrogs. Love the Tolkien mythos.

    • @zimmerwald1915
      @zimmerwald1915 4 дні тому +3

      @@tolojr I don't *think* it's ever explicitly stated anywhere that the Balrogs were spirits of fire in the beginning like Arien was, it's just a compellingly reasonable inference. Particularly since there is an actual story of Morgoth attempting without success to seduce her (and attempting -- thankfully also without success! -- to ravish her when she rejects him, a tale which is omitted from this otherwise quite comprehensive telling). But the Balrogs are said to have taken on their aspects of shadow and flame only after their fall, and nothing is said of them in the beginning save that they were particularly puissant, that they adhered to Morgoth particularly early, and that they never swayed from their allegiance.

    • @thecollector6746
      @thecollector6746 4 дні тому +3

      @@zimmerwald1915 Yes it was. It was explicitly state in the tale of The Two Trees after their destruction by Melkor and Ungoliant. Anrien was introduced as being of the same group of Fire Maiar the Balfrogs were members of and then she goes on to volunteer to become The Sun and with that the 1st age of Middle Earth begins and Men awaken in the far East land of Hildorien

  • @davesing
    @davesing 5 днів тому +12

    Beautifully done.

  • @Lellela
    @Lellela 4 дні тому +8

    Really like the art style in this one

  • @hichamdopi8141
    @hichamdopi8141 5 днів тому +16

    Mama try to do your own voice overs. Ai generated speech is a total turn off for many people

    • @GabrielDesmond
      @GabrielDesmond 4 дні тому +2

      Seconded. Generative AI tools like that are built on mass information scraping. It's a violation of the rights to the information and likeness of the people whose work was taken without consent, notice, or compensation.

    • @theamazingbatboy
      @theamazingbatboy 4 дні тому +2

      It was very obvious and jarring for an experienced Tolkien fan but there were also generic mistakes in the narration, not even involving bespoke Middle-Earth vocabulary "-promising her and her kindred spirits of _firepower_ beyond measure", etc. Overall a very low effort video,, relying heavily on generative AI to poorly animate and voice some otherwise quite pretty (uncredited) artwork.

    • @nevarmaor
      @nevarmaor 2 дні тому

      I have to agree. The AI voice will make me question revisiting this channel.
      Not to mention the error in the title.

  • @lucidelusionsMusic
    @lucidelusionsMusic 5 днів тому +7

    Very well done, excellent visuals. I would watch a movie about this, love that there is this much story from Tolkein.

  • @particles1101
    @particles1101 5 днів тому +10

    I have never heard of her before. Was this in the lost tales?

    • @christianbolze2441
      @christianbolze2441 4 дні тому +5

      J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings

    • @ronbo11
      @ronbo11 3 дні тому

      The story of the death of the Two Trees, the birth of the Moon & Sun, and the names of the Maiar who controlled them is taken from "The Silmarillion". Further details about her backstory (such as the attempts of Melkor to corrupt her) are from the book that @chistianboze2441 listed.

  • @bacon81
    @bacon81 День тому +1

    Arien’s failure to immediately report the intention of Melkor cost the lives of the Two Trees and every other major event that happened in the aftermath. It seems fitting that she spends eternity making up for that by becoming the Sun 🌞

  • @BrandonReynolds7
    @BrandonReynolds7 4 дні тому +4

    What a brilliant video! The artwork & narration were class 100

    • @Serai3
      @Serai3 17 годин тому

      It's AI "art".

  • @peteryazak866
    @peteryazak866 5 днів тому +9

    Great story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us

  • @brockjazz8838
    @brockjazz8838 2 дні тому +1

    Excellent video, I enjoyed the narration and images.

  • @daledelatte9607
    @daledelatte9607 2 дні тому +1

    Those saying she wasn't a Balrog are wrong, all the fire spirits were Balrogs, but not all served Morgoth. And she wasn't "good" or "evil" she was a spirit of fire

    • @shauntempley9757
      @shauntempley9757 2 дні тому +1

      Yes, but Balrogs are from outside beyond Arda. Arien never, ever sided with Morgoth. She is also a sister of Varda, that always saw through Morgoth's motives, so no chance of that happening.
      The only top known Maia that went to Morgoth for a time was Osse, and he turned aside because of his wife and Ulmo.

  • @cynfaelalek-walker7003
    @cynfaelalek-walker7003 4 дні тому +3

    Arien never and I mean never sided with Morgoth, the only Maia that sided with Morgoth and then repented was Ossë, and I don't think he became a Balrog either since it's not mentioned that his form changed.

  • @logicplague
    @logicplague 4 дні тому +3

    "The Light will return..even if someone else carries the torch." - King Anduin, WoW

  • @trlavalley9909
    @trlavalley9909 2 дні тому

    Beautiful Art, Well Told, TY for sharing.

  • @davidchase9424
    @davidchase9424 5 днів тому +7

    Amazing.
    Thank you.

  • @lake_cooper
    @lake_cooper 4 дні тому

    ✨️You made this story so tangible and compelling!! ✨️ Very well done...loved it!! ✨️ Thank you ✨️

  • @ripLunarBirdCLH
    @ripLunarBirdCLH 4 дні тому +6

    What a beautiful story. The sun is the only fire spirit in existence who defied Melkor's offer, fought him in a duel and withstood his power.
    And this is the reason why all evil beings can't stand the sun. It's because the sun hates them. The incorruptible flame on the sky, always ready to reveal them for who they really are.

  • @dcsblessedbees
    @dcsblessedbees 4 дні тому +5

    Great Story and excellent presentation.

    • @rescuearch7802
      @rescuearch7802 4 дні тому

      It's in the Silmarillion. I've known the story about her for decades.

    • @Colin-Fenix
      @Colin-Fenix 4 дні тому

      But a sucky, clickbait title 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

  • @juanlizarazoh
    @juanlizarazoh 2 дні тому

    Awesome! Can't wait to see all the book in this adaptation

  • @Vega1447
    @Vega1447 4 дні тому +2

    Remarkable. Very well done.

  • @Mentallect
    @Mentallect 13 годин тому

    Arian was a Spirit of Fire like the Balrogs, but she never took on their demonic form. Fire was magically innate to her, and so she could have transformed into a fiery Balrog, even Sauron, who also possessed great magical powers over fire and heat, couldn't become a true Spirit of Fire.

  • @ChancreSaurusRex
    @ChancreSaurusRex 3 дні тому +1

    Morgoth had no rival amongst the Valar, let alone the Maiar.

    • @DiegoBVQ
      @DiegoBVQ День тому +1

      That was only in the begining. During the first age of the sun, his power was alredy spent after creating his armies and darkening the world. He became the weakest Vala, even weaker than some Maia. He was also a coward.

  • @chadrisling198
    @chadrisling198 5 днів тому +7

    Amazing illustration and great story

  • @kuniedakakashi4626
    @kuniedakakashi4626 4 дні тому +5

    Sir you really need to improve your pronunciation. Among others misspronounced words, the one that struck the most was Oromë. In the word Oromë, the ë with a dieresis indicates that the e should be pronounced as a distinct vowel sound, separate from the preceding m.
    Oromë would be pronounced as "OH-roh-meh"
    The ë ensures that the final syllable is pronounced clearly as meh and not silently or blended with the previous vowel

  • @TazKidNoah
    @TazKidNoah 4 дні тому

    always learning something new

  • @SylwerDragon
    @SylwerDragon 3 дні тому

    Interesting. I don't even remember her from books.. It is indeed forgotten hero of the past present and future :)

  • @celsoh.perezs.5124
    @celsoh.perezs.5124 День тому

    I belive that Melian was his Main rival after foundation of Doriath in Age of the trees to the end of first Age

  • @djmikio
    @djmikio 3 дні тому

    I'd have hoped that the Tolkien community was above using lore-breaking titles as clickbait.

  • @darkage5
    @darkage5 17 годин тому

    Not going to repeat the same thing 50 other people commented. I was done as soon as i heard the AI narrating and the low budget AI art and animation. The same people entertained by this probably chase laser pointers like cats do.

  • @williamking3301
    @williamking3301 18 годин тому

    While all balrogs are Maiar, not all Maiar are balrogs. Arien is definitely a Maia, in particular a spirit of fire, but she definitely was never a balrog. Did whoever made this video ever read Tolkien? I seriously doubt and question it.

  • @stevensolomon9512
    @stevensolomon9512 4 дні тому +4

    Could we lay off the “antenna-eared” depiction of the Elves, please?
    Also, I’m pretty sure the pronunciation is off: VAL-ar, not va-LAR.
    Finally, there seems to be a great deal of redundancy here. The content could have been delivered in half the time.

    • @Colin-Fenix
      @Colin-Fenix 4 дні тому +1

      Thank you !

    • @Patrick-qed
      @Patrick-qed 4 дні тому +1

      And the long beards on some of the Elves too. Such things were incredibly rare. Only Círdan and Mahtan are mentioned as having beards.*
      *Note though that I recall there is a passage (probably in HoM-e X or XII or in The Nature of Middle-earth, but I would have to check) that old, old, old Elves might grow beards (thus Círdan).

  • @kc11212000
    @kc11212000 5 днів тому +2

    Interesting!!

  • @hyksos74
    @hyksos74 3 дні тому

    Wasn't the first sunrise in the West, not the East in the Silmarillion?

  • @Dblue-rhino
    @Dblue-rhino 11 годин тому

    Who wrote that? Darn good.

  • @jorgenedlund3060
    @jorgenedlund3060 4 дні тому

    Ive read Silmarillion and The book of lost tales 1 and 2 but dont remember this tale, anyone knows which part?

  • @sakemp3480
    @sakemp3480 2 дні тому

    UA-cam need to correct the click bait crap

  • @chriswerth918
    @chriswerth918 2 дні тому

    Arien has never been corrupted, by Melkor.
    Total bs.

  • @rikhadik3805
    @rikhadik3805 4 дні тому +1

    She is awesome

  • @phdnk
    @phdnk 3 дні тому

    Is the story all made up ? What source can I read to cross check the alleged Arien & Melcor dialogs ?

  • @LorolinAstori
    @LorolinAstori 4 дні тому

    She didn’t change fate

  • @Serai3
    @Serai3 17 годин тому +1

    So, not a Balrog at all. Why claim she was in the headline, then?
    I'm also getting pretty tired of crappy AI "art". It only looks lazy. The text is nice, though. Is it actually Tolkien, or is it more AI?

  • @jeetsohpal557
    @jeetsohpal557 4 дні тому +2

    Wow….😮

  • @kramhorse
    @kramhorse 3 дні тому +1

    Ok fine, AI can make some beautiful images. But wtf there is some pure nightmare fuel mixed in. And highly inaccurate.

  • @bash_maxwell
    @bash_maxwell 4 дні тому +8

    This entire channel from the images, to the script, to the voice is AI slop. Please don’t support this.

  • @cedricthomas4867
    @cedricthomas4867 4 дні тому +2

    Arien a MIA . Given the duty to be the New unassailable vessel , given 1 of the last fruits of the 2 trees of light , that was 2twice blessed ( by whom) , remember she was BLESSED in the request when she became the SUN she represented the flame unemperishable, unbearable to Melko…, felt like u glossed over the attempted revival of the trees , the attempts brought forth the fruit and the flower…

  • @Dr_Adam
    @Dr_Adam 4 дні тому

    Balrogs have wings!! Balrogs have wings!!

  • @michaelwellen2866
    @michaelwellen2866 4 дні тому +1

    Would

  • @seanmurphy7011
    @seanmurphy7011 3 дні тому

    Boo. She was never a Balrog.

  • @chriskillian9033
    @chriskillian9033 4 дні тому

    So you're saying she kept her mouth shut and the trees suffered.

  • @stevemiller4494
    @stevemiller4494 4 дні тому +4

    The problem with Tolkiens story's is always disproportion.... Just like the problem with this video is also disproportionate... Morgoth was by far the most powerful and Chief among the Valar and had all of the powers of the Valar but yet here we have this Little Maier who was supposedly so much greater and couldn't be stopped by morgoth.... I mean how silly....
    So JRR Tolkien develops a foundation but yet he undermines and underscores his own foundation to fit his storyline....
    So according to JRR tolkien's foundation for the silmarillion with morgoth being clearly the most powerful he should have been damn near unstoppable but the law is in the beginning he should have made a weaker foundation for morgoth a more believable foundation... What I mean by that is if you're going to twist your story to undermine your most powerful or second most powerful character which is Morgoth then you don't start him out as the second most powerful being in existence and then he's easily overcome by a much much significantly less powerful being.... I mean how silly and disproportionate and unbelievable.... If they would have made him a complete equal to all of the other Valar with none of their additional powers and then yes yes this would have been much more believable but you're talking about a being that was created as the second most powerful being only Iluvatar waa greater.... So why did JRR Tolkien make melkor also known as morgoth so ridiculously powerful only to be overcome by lesser beings that were significantly less powerful than him that makes NO SENSE.... And it's ridiculous.... Just like with Ungoliant overpowering him this is an IMPOSSIBILITY because he was the chief he was the second most powerful being in all of existence.... So again JRR tolkien's story is extremely flawed....
    In this character here Arien is a part of that deep flaw of the story.... I mean this is an even David versus Goliath this is baby versus Goliath 😂 and that's what drives me crazy about the whole Tolkien universe is the major flaws within the story and the characters....
    In my opinion it needs to be completely recast and redone

    • @ghostdreamer7272
      @ghostdreamer7272 4 дні тому +4

      Sounds like you don’t understand why the Hobbits are the heroes of LOTR, or how Beren could help steal a Silmaril. You’re making the same mistake as Melkor, Sauron, and Saruman. And missing the whole point of the themes. As well as essential worldbuilding lore: each of the Ainur has a battery, Sauron concentrated all of his into the ring, Melkor dispersed his throughout all creation.

    • @lmatt88
      @lmatt88 4 дні тому +2

      Melkor had poured most of his power in Middle Earth to create his beings such as dragons, trolls and orcs hence he lost his initial power. Arien is also no baby, she's one of the mightiest Ainur. We don't really know how far her power was from that of the Valar.

    • @MrX-nv8kp
      @MrX-nv8kp 3 дні тому +1

      I think, you are missing a few points. Melkor would (very likely) been able to destroy Ariel, I guess, but he didn't want to (and this would not have been a good idea anyway, in the middle of the valar), but he could not overcome and corrupt her. and he probably went not nearly to his limits in fear to draw attention to this.
      Next, there are no real power levels given anywhere in Tolkien 's books. You could be the most powerful being, but still someone else can be better in crafting, or fist fighing, or, well, have a too hot flame to be overcome.
      There is also no clear degree, by home much Melkor was more powerful than others. In the same way, there is no clear division line between valar and maiar. the mightiest maiar may be nearly equal to Valar.
      To make a long comment short, don't focus on assumed errors, enjoy it as a set of stories.

  • @havefuntazarasu5367
    @havefuntazarasu5367 5 днів тому +3

    Morgoth and sauron is like muhammad and allah