Moria and the Balrog

In Appendix A, about the dwarves, it says that the Balrog of Moria
arrived there after the destruction of Thangorodrim. But IIRC, it
also says that a lot of dwarves from the other two dwarf-cities fled
to Moria, so that must mean that Moria was settled before the
destruction of Thangorodrim.

How did the Balrog get into Moria if dwarves were already there? Is
this in a FAQ anywhere? I found a newsgroup post to some underground
passage; where does that information come from?

-
Huan, the hound of Valinor

dyera RemoveThis @student.gvsu.edu (Huan the hound) wrote in message news:<e1e9d7ad.0307090157.47bcdfd0 RemoveThis @posting.google.com>...

> In Appendix A, about the dwarves, it says that the Balrog of Moria
> arrived there after the destruction of Thangorodrim. But IIRC, it
> also says that a lot of dwarves from the other two dwarf-cities fled
> to Moria, so that must mean that Moria was settled before the
> destruction of Thangorodrim.

Moria was definitely settled long before the destruction of
Thangorodrim. Indeed, its original founder, Durin I, had lived an
inordinate amount of time (for a Dwarf) and died long before
Thangorodrim fell.

> How did the Balrog get into Moria if dwarves were already there? Is
> this in a FAQ anywhere? I found a newsgroup post to some underground
> passage; where does that information come from?

The actual text states that the Balrog hid itself away at the roots of
the mountains. There is no indication that it actually entered Moria.
Further, the Dwarves were said to have encountered it when they
'delved too deeply'. That makes it sound as if they tunnelled into an
area previously unconnected to the mines of Moria and thereby released
the Balrog. The 'underground passage' bit is just a reasonable theory
- Tolkien doesn't indicate anywhere exactly how the Balrog got to its
hiding place, but a tunnel under the mountains (similar to those where
Gollum and the goblins lived) seems likely.