The Rings Of Power Season 3's Huge Balrog Change Is NOT Breaking Tolkien Canon

Published Jul 28, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy. Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones). Prime Video has certainly made a strange creative choice with The Rings of Power season 3, but it's really not an issue with Tolkien canon. At this point, we've just gotten so used to criticizing the Lord of the Rings prequel series, since many of the various adjustments to the story have seemed completely needless. Timeline changes, bizarre love triangles, missing husbands and daughters—many of these have simply been too much. However, the choice to have a speaking Balrog in The Rings of Power season 3 really isn't the problem you think it is. While we haven't yet seen any clips of this chatty Balrog, we know the moment will arrive in The Rings of Power season 3 because of the show's panel at the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con. Actor Simon Pegg was announced to have been cast to voice the Balrog, who will play a significant role in Sauron's forging of his One Ring to Rule Them All. According to showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the Dark Lord will turn to the Balrog for tips on creating his great weapon. Balrogs have never spoken before in any adaptation of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, nor did they appear to have any conversations in the source material or any of the author's many notes and letters. For this reason, there have been a lot of raised eyebrows at the idea of Pegg speaking for one of these beasts of fire and shadow. Still, it's actually pretty reasonable to assume that a Balrog would have a conversation with Sauron. Why Having A Talking Balrog Makes Sense In The Rings Of Power While Tolkien never suggested that Balrogs themselves could speak, we know for an undeniable fact that these creatures were, at the very least, capable of talking once upon a time. This is because Balrogs weren't always Balrogs. They were original angel-like shapeshifters known as Maiar, who served in Valinor and Middle-earth under the guidance of the demigod-like Valar. Sauron himself is a Maia, as is Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, and Tolkien's Blue Wizards. Of course, we know all of these characters have the gift of speech. Maiar that came to Middle-earth as wizards were known as Istari. Sauron's old master, Morgoth, hated that he couldn't create life himself since that's a job reserved only for the god of this fantasy world, Eru Ilúvatar. So, he instead took to corrupting and disfiguring beings that already existed. The Elves he got his hands on became Orcs, and the Maiar who chose to follow him became Balrogs. In both cases, we don't know exactly what this process entailed. More than likely, the Balrogs shifted into the corrupt state over time. The question in our current context is how long these Maiar maintained the ability to speak. Because we know that Balrogs could speak while they were Maiar, there is really no reason to conclude that they weren't capable of it in their dark new forms. It could be that they just never had a reason to speak in the few moments they were featured in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. It's not something that ever needed to be addressed previously, but the idea Payne and McKay came up with for Rings of Power season 3 technically checks out. The Rings Of Power Could Trigger Another Big Balrog Debate In Season 3 There's another important factor to consider when exploring whether or not Balrogs had the ability to speak. The version of these monsters that we saw in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and, now, Prime Video's The Rings of Power is really in no way cohesive with how Tolkien described them. This goes beyond the infamous debate about whether Balrogs had wings or not. In The Lord of the Rings, these monsters were specifically described as "man shaped," though much larger in size. Their outline is pure shadow, while their hearts burn in fire like their whips and swords. It's harder to imagine the massive, horned, and winged demon of the screen speaking, but a dark voice resonating out from the shadowy Balrog of Tolkien's books doesn't seem so unrealistic. Regardless, the fact that Rings of Power has adopted Jackson's Lord of the Rings design for its Balrogs means that their ability to speak will be heavily debated for years to come. It will come down largely to how Prime Video's show approaches the situation. If the Balrog and Sauron's conversation doesn't come across too bizarre and cheesy, viewers might lean more toward acceptance. Why Sauron Needs A Balrog's Help To Craft The One Ring Another strange choice on Rings of Power's part is the actual reason that Sauron needs to chat with a Balrog. The idea here is that the Dark Lord needs a little help figuring out how to use fire to create his One Ring. Since Balrogs are monsters of flame and shadow, and they happen to be Sauron's evil peers, it's reasonable that he would turn to a fellow Maia to confirm that his theories of creating such a dark weapon as the One Ring are correct. Tolkien never revealed precisely how Sauron went about creating his Ring, so any screen adaptation that hopes to show the process has to get creative. Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy showed the armored Dark Lord holding a knife in his hand, and the original intention was that he would use this to draw blood from his palm that would then form iself into the ring on his finger. Because Sauron used his blood to create the Nine Rings for Men in Rings of Power season 2, we can assume that he will take a similar approach in season 3. Still, there has to be more to it. It seems likely that the Balrog will be the one who tells Sauron that the power he seeks resides in the fires of Mount Doom. We can expect the beast to explain, in Pegg's voice, what it is about these dark flames that can both create and destroy the One Ring (since Tolkien never really said). From there, we see in the trailer for The Rings of Power season 3 that Sauron uses Feanor's hammer to do the deed. The general idea works, at least on the surface. So, at this point, all we can do is go along for the ride as Prime Video explores this unique idea. Release Date September 1, 2022 Network Amazon Prime Video Showrunner John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip Directors J.A. Bayona, Sanaa Hamri Writers Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Stephany Folsom, Nicholas Adams Franchise(s) The Lord of the Rings