Do you remember the first time you witnessed the Balrog? I do. First, a distant flicker, an orange hue cascading down the pillars deep within Moria. Then, a rumble, deep and guttural. A pan to Gandalf's face as it dawns on him just what has awoken: "This foe is beyond any of you."
It might sound silly to say about a keycap, but [[link]] this Balrog spacebar from Drop somehow manages to capture and replicate a degree of the fearful awe that
I felt upon seeing the LOTR demon for the first time. Thanks to its 3D-esque design, it looks like the flame of Udûn is genuinely present inside the keycap.
Although, perhaps diminishing from the whole "awe" aspect, I suppose this would make for a miniaturised [[link]] Balrog, which I might hesitatingly call kind of cute, in that angry-but-ineffectual small puppy kind of way.
The $49 (down from $65) purchase won't just get you the glorious Artisan spacebar, however. You also get an Artisan Mithrandir (Gandalf) keycap, pipe in hand. The two make for quite a duo—light vs dark, and all that.
It's an especially apt combo, actually. For those unaware, Balrogs are essentially the same kind of being as Gandalf. Both are Maiar, which are kind of like angels in Middle Earth lore, but Balrogs are those that were corrupted by Morgoth.
This isn't the first time Drop's traveled to Middle Earth for its keycaps, either. It's previously designed and produced Rohan-themed LOTR keycaps, for instance. At the time, our Andy called these "essentially little LOTR dioramas encased in resin", and it looks like Drop's taken [[link]] this approach again with the Gandalf keycap, and the Balrog one has more than a hint of 3D resin, too.
I must say, too, there might be something incredibly cathartic about smashing the Balrog's head in with my thumb. It might make up for some of the residual trauma of seven-year-old me witnessing, you know, what the Balrog did (I don't even want to talk about it).
I just worry that if I bought these I'd then have to deck out the rest of my keyboard with LOTR-inspired keycaps. I don't know if I could go half-hog. Come to think of it, though, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea at all. When's pay day, again?
