We're still freaking out about this giant piece of news out of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power panel at San Diego Comic Con - that is, that The Boys star Simon Pegg will voice none other than Durin's Bane (or as you may know him, the Balrog) in season 3. We imagine that you have a bunch of questions after hearing this, but we'd wager that the biggest one among them is something to the tune of: 'Wait, does the Balrog have a voice?'

The answer is somewhat complicated.

The announcement came during some behind-the-scenes footage played during the Prime Video Hall H panel at this year's SDCC, which focused on the SFX of the upcoming third season of The Lord of the Rings prequel show. When Simon Pegg appeared in the footage, an audible confusion arose from the gathered crowd, and when the lower third credited him as "The Balrog," a massive cheer erupted. So I'll say that, whether or not the inclusion of a speaking Balrog is accurate, for the SDCC attendees, it was at the very least exciting.

That said, we here at Popverse are all about the lore, so you know we're going to take a moment to ask how closely a mouthy Morgoth minion fits in with what J.R.R. Tolkien actually wrote. And the answer to that is... kinda? Let's get into it.

What we know for sure, and as showrunners JD Payne & Patrick McKay pointed out at the panel, is that the Balrog is, indeed, more intelligent than a simple beast. Vastly more intelligent, in fact. The Balrog is canonically a fallen Maiar, a species of semi-divine beings in Tolkien's cosmos, the likes of which include Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron himself. So in terms of speech, we can safely assume the being has better mastery, perhaps in an even greater sense, than the mortal characters of Middle-Earth do. 

But here's an even deeper question - are there any examples of the Balrog speaking from J.R.R. Tolkien himself? Well, the answer to that is tricky, but it very could be 'yes.'. There's a moment in The Fellowship of the Ring (in the Mines of Moria, as I'm sure you can guess), in which the titular group is trying to escape the cursed dwarven halls. In an attempt to slow their enemies down, Gandalf casts a spell on a set of large doors the Fellowship passes through, a spell that requires, "a word of Command." In the next moment, however, the doors shatter open, and Gandalf attributes their breaking to the Balrog, who he says performs a "counter spell."

So here's the question - did the Balrog speak to cast the counter-spell, as Gandalf spoke to cast it? It's certainly very possible, and perhaps even likely. And if so, that means that yes, a speaking Balrog is not just an element of The Rings of Power, but also of the text that inspired it.

Word is out, though, if he sounds like Hughie's dad.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 streams on Prime Video November 11.  

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you:

• Lord of the Rings reading guide 
• Lord of the Rings watch guide
• The Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch 
• The OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat 
• The true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.