Minor Battles in The Lord of The Rings - Battle of The Peak

Battle of The Peak

Combatants: Gandalf the Grey vs. The Balrog of Moria

The Battle of the Peak was a duel between Gandalf and the Balrog called Durin's Bane atop the Silvertine mountain. It is recounted by Gandalf himself in The Two Towers, in the chapter "The White Rider".

After Gandalf and the Balrog fell into the abyss in Moria on January 15, 3019, they fought long underground and then climbed the Endless Stair to the peak of the Silvertine where Durin's Tower stood. There on a narrow eyrie they fought the Battle of the Peak from January 23 to January 25. The Balrog, whose fire had been quenched in a subterranean lake, burst into renewed flame. The sun shone at first, but as the combatants struggled thunder boomed and lightning flashed, vapour and steam rose, and ice fell. From a distance it appeared that a storm was raging over the Silvertine. At last, Gandalf defeated the Balrog; he threw the Balrog down from the peak, and the mountainside broke where the Balrog landed. Gandalf then died from his wounds and passed into darkness out of thought and time, but was sent back to Middle-earth as Gandalf the White to complete his task. When Gandalf awoke on February 14, he was lying naked on the peak of the Silvertine. Durin's Tower had crumbled and the entrance to the Endless Stair was blocked, and Gandalf was trapped high on the mountaintop until Gwaihir the Windlord came on February 17 and bore him to Lothlórien.