One of the big stories coming out of San Diego Comic Con 2026 was that the Balrog in Season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power not only speaks, but fights the Dark Lord himself, Sauron.

Simon Pegg plays the Balrog, famous for his battle with Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Rings. In Season 3 of The Rings of Power, Sauron confronts the Balrog, seeking the power to forge the One Ring. They have a fight, which, as we see in the video below, sees Sauron use the Crown of Morgoth to deflect the Balrog’s flame sword attack. The video does not include the Balrog speaking, but we do get a hint at a line of its dialogue via a prompter that Pegg uses to provide voice over. "Crawl back to your world above," the Balrog will say.

None of this is in any Middle-earth-related text J. R. R. Tolkien wrote, of course. In no book did Sauron either meet the Balrog — or any Balrog for that matter — nor did the Balrog speak. Neither did Tolkien’s work include Sauron wielding the Crown of Morgoth like a shield. He never even had it to begin with.

The Rings of Power has form when it comes to deviating from the source material, so anyone who watched the first two series of the Amazon show probably won’t be surprised to hear the Balrog talk. I’ve been keeping a close eye on reaction from The Lord of the Rings fans to see what they think of this latest — and probably most surprising so far — deviation from Tolkien’s work. From what I’ve seen there are two reactions: disgust and excitement.

Let’s start with the excitement. There are a lot of people who think the clip we see of Sauron fighting the Balrog looks awesome, and they can’t wait to see more. They don’t care if it never happened in one of Tolkien’s books, they’re just looking forward to some cool TV set in the Lord of the Rings universe. And there are also some big fans of The Lord of the Rings lore who are perfectly fine with how this is all going down, and feel it makes sense within the canon established by Tolkien himself.

The Nerd of the Rings, for example, said “this shot goes so hard,” in a tweet about the Sauron versus Balrog fight. “While this is original to the show (Sauron & Durin’s Bane face to face) I give them a lot of credit for playing w/ something countless fans have asked: ‘why doesn’t Sauron team up with the Balrog?’

“For the record there’s no reason a balrog can’t speak.”

That’s a somewhat surprising take from The Nerd of the Rings, who has one of the largest Lord of the Rings YouTube channels around and is known for comprehensive lore videos. But I think it’s also an interesting one. This is someone you’d expect to be first in line to point to Tolkien’s books and say 'it never happened!,' but they're excited to see it nonetheless.

I’ve also seen people insist this encounter actually could have happened in the lore. While Tolkien didn’t create these scenes, their existence in the show doesn’t necessarily override the lore he has established. The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit. It is an age that wasn’t explored much by Tolkien, so there is plenty of room for new ideas. Who’s to say Sauron didn’t learn how to forge the One Ring from the Balrog? Who’s to say the Balrog didn’t speak when he wasn’t being disturbed by annoying dwarves? Not Tolkien, who didn't say much at all about the Second Age.

I’m playing devil’s advocate to a degree here, because it must be said that there is a lot of push back on what The Rings of Power is doing with the Balrog and Sauron in Season 3. There is a vociferous debate about whether the Balrog or a Balrog (we’re still not sure if this Season 3 Balrog is the Balrog from Season 2 or from The Fellowship of the Ring) should be able to speak. Some are pointing to a letter Tolkien wrote that rules out the possibility of the Balrog speaking, but this may relate to the scene on the bridge, specifically, rather than generally, or even in theory.

Should the Balrog even be active in the Second Age? Some think not, because it doesn’t make sense in the timeline Tolkien established. Durin's Bane is the name given to the Balrog that hid deep below the Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm, the very same we see in The Fellowship of the Ring. Has Durin's Bane gone for a little walk to stretch his legs mid-hibernation? Even horrible monsters need to get away from their desk every now and then.

And how about comparing power sets? By pitting the Balrog against Sauron, The Rings of Power will make a call on how powerful the two beings are, which isn't something Tolkien ever did. Who would win in a fight between the Balrog and Sauron has been discussed by fans for years. Amazon is about to at least try to answer this question.

"This looks really cool, but a Balrog attacking Sauron? Both were Maiar. Both served Morgoth. Tolkien never had them fight," one critic of the scene said. "At this point, The Rings of Power feels like it's adapting itself more than it's adapting Tolkien."

"Except the Balrog and Sauron never met (canon)," added another critic. "And Morgoth’s crown was beat into a chain to imprison him at the end of the First Age (canon). The infantilisation and bastardisation of Tolkien’s source material to 'make mind blowing st' is utterly repugnant. It’s absolutely f*ing barbaric and a great insult to a man who toiled his entire life to give us these beautiful stories." Yes, people really care about this stuff!

My big question of Season 3 is whether it improves upon what’s gone before in terms of quality, after a couple of — in my opinion — rather disjointed seasons. Sauron is the best thing in Season 2, so I’m looking forward to seeing Charlie Vickers reprise the role — and do horribly evil things in the process, even to the Balrog. And if the Balrog speaking and fighting Sauron is upsetting for you, then you’re going to love the Nazgnagôl, which the showrunners have invented for Season 3.

Here’s the official blurb:

In Season 3, Middle-earth is at war. Five years have passed since the fall of Eregion. Sauron’s armies have marched across the whole of the world, conquering all in their path. Only a few isolated pockets stand between the Dark Lord and total victory — Khazad-dûm, where the Dwarves are now sealed deep within their mountain halls, and the elven realms of Lindon and Rivendell, which are protected by their Three Rings. But deep in the land of Mordor, in his newly completed tower of Barad-dûr, the Dark Lord toils day and night, obsessed with harnessing a power that will bring the last of his enemies to their knees: One Ring to rule them all... Now, all the free peoples of Middle-earth — Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Wizards alike — must find a way to come together, in a race against time to prevent Sauron from achieving his goal of utter domination of all life…

The first four episodes of Season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere on November 11, 2026. Episodes five and six will be available to stream on November 18, and the final two episodes of the season will be released on November 25.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.