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Throwing in my two cents here: In Lord of the Rings, Book III, Chapter V, The White Rider. When Gandalf recounts his battle with the Balrog of Morgoth he says:

"Yet it has a bottom (Meaning the abyss beneath Durin's Bridge), beyond light and knowledge," said Gandalf. "Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake."

This is just my own theory of course, but after the Balrog's fire was quenched by the freezing waters in the root of the mountain, he became a thing of slime.  Perhaps its hide was made of a combustible fuel like a powerful oil.  The stuff used in lamps of old, but of course, significantly more viscous as well as potent (being a Maiar and all). And it only needed a spark of warmth, say sunlight.  Gandalf did go on to say: 

"Then upon Celebdil was a lonely window in the snow, and before it lay a narrow space, a dizzy eyrie above the mists of the world.  The sun shone fiercely there, but all below was wrapped in cloud.  Out he sprang, and even as I came behind, he burst into new flame."

Hello and welcome Imagineer!

I rarely miss a Glorfindel discussion, even as a side issue, and I'll add that Tolkien decided that there was only one Glorfindel -- in two very late texts he took up the matter to find out the truth -- the Elf of Gondolin was restored to his original body by the Valar, and Glorfindel returned to Middle-earth.

'Was this something Tolkien had in mind from the get go?'

Good question. I would put it this way: at one point during the writing of The Lord of the Rings Tolkien appears to have thought of Glorfindel of Rivendell as the reincarnated Glorfindel of Gondolin -- and I say 'appears' because he simply noted to himself that: 'Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin'.

Ultimately of course, for whatever reason, Tolkien did not have Glorfindel tell of his ancestry in Gondolin in The Lord of the Rings itself. 

And decades later Tolkien would characterize the use of the name Glorfindel in The Lord of the Rings as a 'somewhat random' borrowing from his Silmarillion related tales. Is it somewhat random because he remembered he had long ago been thinking of having Glorfindel tell of his ancestry in Gondolin? Or does somewhat random simply mean, let's say, he liked this name especially, and so chose it.

Who knows? By the early 1970s, who knows if Tolkien even remembered he had written the much earlier note published by Christopher Tolkien? Perhaps Tolkien had not decided anything for certain back then.

In any event the two late essays both agree that there was only one Glorfindel, although by this time the way in which he would be reincarnated had been altered.

For a very long time -- say roughly 1916 to the later 1950s -- Tolkien imagined that Elves were reincarnated by being reborn as Elf-children.

So I'm guessing that when he wrote the Glorfindel note (telling of his ancestry in Gondolin -- I can't recall the date of this note exactly, but late 1930s or somewhere in the 1940s), I guess that if he had been reincarnated he had been born again as an Elf-child -- and in a different body, having different parents I assume -- but still golden-haired as his name indicates.

But ultimately Tolkien firmly rejected this notion of reincarnation (twice), and noted that if it was to appear in description it should be noted as a false, probably mannish idea. The true idea was now: the Valar could restore an exact copy of the Elf's former body -- as the fea (roughly 'spirit') of an Elf contained a perfect and precise memory of the hroa (roughly 'body'). Reconstitution of the body could be delayed, but in general this was the way an Elf was reincarnated.

I can gather up the citations if anyone likes, but I think (or hope) this describes them accurately enough -- and even if so, I have no problem with anyone wanting to read the actual statements from JRRT or CJRT -- but for now I'll be lazy.

And I have no issue at all with anyone asking me something  

I may not know the answer, or may not have time to give my opinion, or whatever, but I certainly don't mind people asking questions. And of course that's part of what keeps our forums 'alive' so to speak, along with other things.

Too kind Huan, but thanks!

Actually, due to your question I had never really before considered that -- within the old conception of rebirth anyway -- Glorfindel might have looked different compared to his old self (despite the hair).

I should add too that I'm not wholly sure if I can raise early and early-ish text (pre-1940s) that specifically describes that a reborn Elf will certainly have a different body -- it seems a natural enough assumption however -- and Tolkien does note this in later text as being very problematic, but all of the early references that come to mind concerning rebirth are, I think, relatively brief in any case.

Galin,

I am a fan!  You have always attempted to help without a moments hesitation.

You are a big reason why we are still here when other sites are gone!

Thank you my friend ... if I may ... thank you on behalf of all of us!