Publication History
The balors found in Dungeons & Dragons have little relation to the mythical Balor of Irish mythology, actually being based on the balrogs of The Lord of the Rings, and some of its derivation can be seen in its physical description, with its wings, fiery aura, sword and flaming whip.
In the original Dungeons & Dragons pamphlets, this breed of demon was known as "balrog", but the name was revised in subsequent supplements to simply "type VI demon" so as not to infringe on J. R. R. Tolkien's copyright. In second edition AD&D, the name "type VI demon" was revised to "balor," taking the name of the greatest individual of their rank as the name for the entire breed. Also in second edition, balors now had vorpal swords.
Gary Gygax, in his Gord the Rogue novels, has alternately called them raloogs or conflagranti.
Read more about this topic: Balor (Dungeons & Dragons)
Famous quotes containing the words publication and/or history:
“An action is the perfection and publication of thought. A right action seems to fill the eye, and to be related to all nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)