Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-26119768-20170222024948/@comment-31907131-20170223050136

Excuse me, " Also, Saruman was corrupted much later than the Balrogs, and was sent by the Valar to do a specific task. In my mind, it makes more sense that they'd recall him for judgment than them recalling Balrogs, who were corrupted long ago."

You were theorizing that Saruman was a special case, different from the Balrogs because he was corrupted later and sent on a task by the Valar. But his passing was the same as Sauron's, indicating that these factors do not matter.

I know you aren't arguing that there were more than seven. Tolkien said 'at most seven'. This means there could well have been less, and therefore not three left in Utumno, or anywhere. We don't know that they didn't return anywhere. We do know, however, that they did not join Sauron, and were not seen except for Durin's Bane from that point onwards, so logically Durin's Bane was the sole remaining one. And remember, Utumno and Angband, the ancient fortresses of Morgoth, were both destroyed. What other fortresses are there to return to? Sauron and Saruman were major movers of evil, yes, but so were the Balrogs, to a lesser extent. If the mightier Maiars' spirits could be taken by the Valar/ Eru, why not the (slightly) lesser ones? We most certainly do not know that there were no clouds when two Balrogs were slain. Remember the Silmarillion was compiled and edited by Christopher, and so might have had its slight differences, and that there was no mention of either cloud or no cloud. Their deaths were not described in detail. I'm not arguing about enjoyment and gameplay, this is about lore.