Yes, I definitely knew the names of all those orcs...

The Balrog would win VS Smaug, one of the reasons being fire
doesn't affect him at all.

Good list but I would put Saruman above The balrog considering Gandalf was defeated by Saruman in combat but literally slayed the Balrog

I’d scratch the last on the list, move everyone including Sauron back one space and put the “nameless things that lurk in the deep” at number one.

My  villainous favorites: Shelob (how dares Sam to hurt a girl!) and Grishnakh. Like - he ran to Anduin to take orders, then back to Ugluks orcs,  and still had stamina! If not for all this running, he might have been the powerhouse ABOVE Aragorn, which is crazy... That one thing says Sauron is not only the lord of the rings, but also of orc-breeding.

Lurtz is my favorite of the ground level villains. I wish he had more screen time. He legit terrified me whenever he made his presence felt. When Aragorn stabbed him through the leg with the elvish dagger, he pulled it out and threw it at him like a baseball. That injury would have folded anyone else but Lurtz shrugged it off and kept coming. Even when Lurtz knew that he was defeated, he just snarled at Aragorn, not showing any pain or fear (like Saruman instructed). We actually don't get too many one on one, hero vs final boss fights in the LOTR trilogy but that one was perfection.

No dragon comes close to a Balrog imo. Except maybe for Ancalagon and Glaurung.

What makes the Balrog truly terrifying is it's analog in Catholic mythos. There's 3 Hells - One for Fallen Angels (Lucifers Dominion), One for Mortal Souls (Where I'll see you all there!), and then One for Demons.
The basis for the Balrog hails from that third Hell - Titanic Beings made of the Darkness and Hellfires of Chaos, themselves. In the mythos Lucifer considered them in his Rebellion against God but upon travelling to the fringe of his domain and looking upon Them & Theirs, it frightened him so that it became a place even the Devil himself would not dare tread, lest he invoke their ire as they CANNOT be defeated. They, in essense, will continue to be so long as Darkness and Flame exists as chaotic forces of nature. Beyond it lies Abbadon - the Angel which weilds the power to unmake that which is Created. The Devil don't dare to fuck with him, either.
The Lord of the Rings isn't a 1:1 analog, but Tolkiens works were 'very' influenced by it. Similar to the Balrog, Tolkiens iteration of Wizards is also rooted in less commonly known and more obscure elements of Catholic mythology regarding figures like Enoch - Mortals who's souls were so closely bordering on the divine while alive they literally ascend into Divinity upon Mortal Death. Sauruman and his council of Wizards started as such, but their color-coded heirarchy is still a man-made construct of authority with Sauraman seated at the top and called "The White" by comittee or decree of position, not divine designate. I know it seems off to point that out, but it's relevant. I promise. Sauruman, and many other Servants of Saurons, corruption by temptation of Power or fullfilled desire is a very biblical description of how Lucifer operates - "Ideological capture", and an example of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Gandalf the Gray loses to Sauruman having entered into combat with him knowing Saurman is a more powerful wizard than himself but he does so in refutation to Sauruman's temptation and offer to share Power. Gandalf denies the corruption, and doesn't hesitate to challenge it. When he reads the words "Drums. Drums in the deep...", he's struggling to mask his panic at the implications and he nearly shits himself when it actually appears because he knows damn well 'What' it is and that he's going to die.
Which he does.
Which brings us to Gandalf The White, who 'is not' Gandalf The Gray, and what he says about Gandalf The Grays battle with the Balrog - How they fell through what seemed like time immorial until they descended down to the deepest reaches from whence the Balrog came where he defeated and cast his enemy down before dropping dead himself, where he was remade in the Light before returning as Gandalf The White. Not 'The White' to replace Sauruman in a Heirarchy of man that is corruptable but as "The White" of Divinity - One so incorruptable their very flesh ascended to the Divine. That draws more from Enoch than any paralells to Christ. The last thing to consider is that there existed entities even Sauron wouldn't attempt to operate with in Lord of the Rings (My memory on Sauron/Morgoths relation to ancient evils in the Silmarillion is rough) as they are more primal forces of nature that cannot to negotiated with or controlled and can only be capitalized on to the extent to which they operate naturally, like the Ancient Evil Shelob. This isn't a trait shared by Smaug. He can be negotiated and barted with. He can be controlled and influenced by his lust for wealth. He may be ancient but Smaug is an Ancient Creature. Creatures bleed, and can be killed.

So... Gandalf and The Balrog, recontextualized to their Biblical analogs, is a story of a Person of Lordly Caliber going toe-to-toe with a force of nature the Devil himself would hesitate before and kicking it's ass across space and time to the very Gates of Abbadon and The Balrogs unmaking because he cared for his friends and a flawed world that he Loved; proving himself so righteous in the eyes of God that his flesh was remade as Divine and he was sent back to keep kicking Evil's ass.
Smaug was defeated by a bunch of pissed-off homesick Midgets and their country-bumpkin cousin.
Then the homesick Midgets came across the Balrog and it wiped out their Civilization

I don't think the Balrog would fall before Smaug.

Ok dude unlike your heroes list this one was pretty accurate, good job

Fun fact two: Sauron would look just like a little fanboy compared to his old master, Morgoth....

Fun fact: the actors that played the orcs are reading like a who is who in martial arts.  Many of them had black belts, some ecen several  in different martial arts.

Sauron is truly terrifying in the books.  A nameless, shapeless fear.  He is defined by his evil effect on others.  We never see him.  I can''t help think Tolkien had Hitler in mind when he wrote about the dark lord..

Tolkien used "goblin" and "orc" as exact synonyms for the same race of evil, underground beings. Tolkien used the word "goblin" much more frequently in The Hobbit because it was written as a lighter children's story. He used the harsher word "orc" more often in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien later explained in his notes that "orc" is not a native English word, so he chose to translate it as "goblin" for English readers in The Hobbit. The Peter Jackson films sometimes visually separate them making goblins smaller mountain dwellers and orcs larger warriors but in Tolkien's original books, they are the same species.

Now hear me out, if the Silmarilllion was also made into a movie it would be 1. Morgoth, 2. Ungoliant, 3. Ancalagon the Black and then afterwards is like so. Ungoliant is only a little behind Morgoth at full power tho

i loved the video, could you possibly do one that more based on the books and less on the movies? there are a lot of villains stronger than these like Ancalagon the Black, ungoliant, melkor/morgoth,  and the nameless things?

I think one could argue that the ring itself is a villain and deserves the top spot. I know Sauron created it, but it has shown to have its own will, and has the ability to corrupt those around it, even without them actually holding it (case in point, Boromir, who is briefly corrupted when trying to take it, even though it was short lived) I honestly think Sauron created a somewhat sentient piece of jewelry that may be even more powerful than him.

You forgot the Watcher in the Water. Definitely a top-10 villain. Also, I think the Great Goblin should be higher. He just looked easy to defeat because it was Gandalf wielding Glamdring. He should be the second-strongest Orc-type creature.

Another solid video. Waiting for more!

I just finished watching your video on my tv on my other channel and I just had to comment.  This is a great video!  If you had asked me, I would have thought you had 50,000 subscribers at least.  

I love the detail on every single character (as I didn't know all of their names).  I agree with #2 and #3 (Balrog is stronger/mythical powers, but yeah, they can be interchanged).

Keep going on you channel.  Im a supporter and cheering for you.  👍

Would’ve been lit as a tier list lol