Fall of Gondolin

The Fall of Gondolin

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The Fall of Gondolin

Front cover of the 2018 hardback edition

Editor Christopher Tolkien

Author J. R. R. Tolkien

Illustrator Alan Lee

Cover artist Alan Lee

Country United Kingdom

Language English

Subject Tolkien's legendarium

Genre High fantasy

 Published 30 August 2018 (Worldwide)

Publisher HarperCollins

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Media type Print (hardback)

Pages 304[1]

ISBN 978-0008302757

Preceded by Beren and Lúthien 

The fall of Turgon's Tower

Gothmog, High Captain of Angband, at the storming of Gondolin

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fall of Gondolin is one of the stories which formed the

basis for a section in his posthumously-published work, The Silmarillion, with a
version later appearing in The Book of Lost Tales. A stand-alone, book-length
version of the story was published in 2018.[1][2] The Fall of Gondolin is one of
three stories from the First Age of Middle-earth to be published as a stand-alone
book: the other two are Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin.
 Contents

 1Story
 2Gondolin
o 2.1The seven gates of the city
o 2.2The fall of the city
o 2.3The seven names of Gondolin
o 2.4The Houses of Gondolin
o 2.5The tongue of Gondolin
o 2.6Weaponry
 3Origin and publication history
 4Stand-alone book
o 4.1Reception
 5In science
 6See also
 7References
o 7.1Primary
o 7.2Secondary

Story[edit]
Gondolin was a secret city of Elves in the First Age of Middle-earth. The Fall of
Gondolin tells of the founding of the city; of the arrival there of Tuor, a prince
of Men; of the betrayal of the city to Morgoth by the king's nephew, Maeglin;
and of its subsequent catastrophic destruction by Morgoth's armies. It also
relates the flight of the fugitives to the Havens of Sirion, the wedding of Tuor
and Idril Celebrindal, as well as the childhood of their son Eärendil.

Gondolin[edit]
"Gondolin" redirects here. For the South African fossil site, see Gondolin Cave.
The city of Gondolin[T 1] in Beleriand, in the extreme northwest of Middle-earth,
was founded with divine inspiration. It was hidden by mountains and endured
for centuries before being betrayed and destroyed. It was the mightiest of the
elven homes in the Hither Lands.[T 2] The city was famed for its walls, and had
possible parallels to Troy.[3]
Gondolin was founded by King Turgon in the First Age. It was originally named
'Ondolindë'. According to The Silmarillion, the Vala Ulmo, the Lord of Waters,
revealed the location of the Vale of Tumladen to Turgon in a dream. Under this
divine guidance, Turgon travelled from his kingdom in Nevrast and found the
vale. Within the Echoriath, the Encircling Mountains, lay a round level plain with
sheer walls on all sides and a ravine and tunnel leading out to the southwest
known as the Hidden Way. In the middle of the vale there was a steep hill which
was called Amon Gwareth, the "Hill of Watch". There Turgon decided to found a
city, designed after the city of Tirion in Valinor that the Noldor had left.
Turgon and his people built Gondolin in secret. After it was completed, he took
with him to dwell in the hidden city his entire people in Nevrast—almost a third
of the Noldor of Fingolfin's House—as well as nearly three quarters of the
northern Sindar.
The seven gates of the city[edit]
The Hidden Pass was protected by seven gates, all constantly guarded; the first
of wood, then stone, bronze, iron, silver, gold, and steel, perhaps based
on Herodotus's description of the Medean city of Ecbatana. The seven gates
of Minas Tirith echoed this notion of a layered defence on a hill.
The fall of the city[edit]
The city stood for nearly 400 years until it was betrayed to Morgoth by Maeglin,
Turgon's nephew. Maeglin was captured while mining outside the Encircling
Mountains against Turgon's orders. Maeglin betrayed the location of Gondolin
after he was promised Lordship as well as Turgon's daughter Idril, who was
long coveted by Maeglin. Morgoth then sent an army over the Crissaegrim, the
northernmost precipitous and dangerous portion of the Encircling Mountains,
during The Gates of Summer (a great Gondolin festival), catching them
unawares and sacking the city with relative ease. In addition
to orcs, Balrogs and dragons, Melkor's (Morgoth's) army, in early versions of the
story, included iron machines (tanks) powered by "internal fires" and used as
personnel carriers, to surmount difficult geographic obstacles and to defeat
fortifications. Idril, noted for her intuition, had the foresight to prepare a secret
route out of Gondolin prior to the siege.[4] While her father Turgon perished, Idril
successfully flees the city alongside her husband Tuor and other survivors;
through their union, Tuor and Idril are the ancestors of both Elrond and Aragorn.
[5]

Commentators have compared the Fall of Gondolin to the sack of Troy.[6][7] David

Greenman, in Mythlore, compares The Fall of Gondolin, Tolkien's first long
Middle-earth work, to Virgil's Aeneid. He finds it fitting that Tuor, "Tolkien's early
quest-hero", escapes from the wreck of an old kingdom and creates new ones,
just as Aeneas does, while his late quest-heroes in The Lord of the Rings,
the hobbits of the Shire, are made to return to their home, ravaged while they
were away, and are obliged to scour it clean, just as Odysseus does
in Homer's Odyssey.[7] Greenman compared and contrasted Idril's part in the
story to Cassandra and Helen of Troy, two prominent female figures in accounts
of the Trojan War: like the prophetess, Idril had a premonition of impending
danger and like Helen, her beauty played a major role in instigating Maeglin's
betrayal of Gondolin, which ultimately led to its downfall and ruin. Conversely,
Greeman noted that Idril's advice to enact a contingency plan for a secret
escape route out of Gondolin was heeded by her people, and that she had
always rejected Maeglin's advances and remained faithful to Tuor. [7]
The seven names of Gondolin[edit]
According to The Book of Lost Tales, the city had seven names: "’Tis said and
’tis sung: Gondobar am I called and Gondothlimbar, City of Stone and City of
the Dwellers in Stone; Gondolin the Stone of Song and Gwarestrin am I
named, the Tower of the Guard, Gar Thurion or the Secret Place, for I am
hidden from the eyes of Melko; but they who love me most greatly call me Loth,
for like a flower am I, even Lothengriol the flower that blooms on the plain."[T 3]
The Houses of Gondolin[edit]
According to The Book of Lost Tales the active male Elves of Gondolin
belonged to one of the 11 "Houses" or Thlim plus the bodyguard of Tuor which
was accounted the twelfth:

Name
in Gnomish of Leader Uniforms and emblems Notes
the Houses[T 4]

"These wore wings as it were

of swans or gulls upon their
The folk of the The bodyguard of
Tuor helms, and the emblem of the
White Wing Tuor.[T 6]
White Wing was upon their
shields."[T 5]

"Sable was their harness, and

The House of
they bore no sign or emblem,
the Mole or Composed of skilled
Maeglin but their round caps of steel
the Thlim miners.
were covered with
Doldrin
moleskin."[T 5]

"[They] bore a fan of feathers

on their helms, and they were
The House of
arrayed in white and dark Gondolin's best
the Swallow or Duilin
blue and in purple and black archers.
the Thlim Duilin
and showed an arrowhead on
their shield."[T 7]

"They were arrayed in a

The House of the glory of colours, and their A very wealthy
Heavenly Arch arms were set with jewels. house; comprised the
Egalmoth
or the Thlim Every shield of that battalion other part of
Quing Ilon was of the blue of the Gondolin's archers.
heavens."[T 6]

The House of the

Their leader was slain
Pillar or
Penlod unknown during the Fall of
the Thlim
Gondolin.
Climbol

The House of the

Their leader was slain
Tower of Snow
Penlod unknown during the Fall of
or the Thlim Ith
Gondolin.
Mindon
The House of the
Tree or Wielded clubs
Galdor "Their raiment was green."[T 7]
the Thlim and slings.
Galdon

The House of the

Golden Flower Glorfinde "[They] bore a golden flower
or the Thlim l upon their shield."[T 7]
Losglóriol

The guard of the

fountains, primarily
those of the king.
"Silver and diamonds was
The House of the Warriors of this
their delight ; and swords
Fountain or Ecthelion house defended the
very long and bright and pale
the Thlim Ecthel seventh gate of
did they wield."[T 7]
Gondolin. They
marched into battle to
the playing of flutes.

The House of the "A harp of silver shone in House of musicians.

Harp or Salgant their blazonry upon a field of However, their leader
the Thlim Salum black."[T 7] was a craven.

The largest and most

valiant house. They
comprised those
The House of the "The sign of this people was blacksmiths who
Hammer of the Stricken Anvil, and a were not under
Wrath or Rog hammer that smiteth sparks Maeglin, as well as
the Thlim about it was set on their escaped thralls of
Gothodrum shields."[T 6] Morgoth. They
perished to the last
elf during the Fall of
Gondolin.

"The array of the house of

the king and their colours
The three Royal
The House of the King were white and gold and red,
Guard battalions of
King Turgon and their emblems the moon
King Turgon.
and the sun and the scarlet
heart [of Finwë Nólemë]."[T 7]

The tongue of Gondolin[edit]

In the hidden city of Gondolin, an isolated land, a peculiar Elvish dialect
developed: "This differed from the standard (of Doriath) (a) in having Western
and some Northern elements, and (b) in incorporating a good many Noldorin-
Quenya words in more or less Sindarized forms. Thus the city was usually
called Gondolin (from Q. Ondolin(dë)) with simple replacement of g-,
not Goenlin or Goenglin [as it would have been in standard Sindarin]".[T 8] The
common or standard Sindarin tongue was not used in Gondolin.
Weaponry[edit]
Further information: Named weapons in Middle-earth
The smiths of Gondolin, using Elven craft, made powerful weapons. In The
Hobbit, the swords Orcrist, Glamdring and a long dagger later
named Sting were found in a Troll-hoard.[T 9] Each of these weapons was forged
in Gondolin had the ability to detect Orcs in the immediate vicinity by glowing.
They also had the property of striking fear in the hearts of Orcs when used
against them in combat. All were well-crafted, and extraordinarily sharp.
Apparently, Gondolinian weapons were impervious to rust and corrosion, as the
examples found in the trolls' lair were over 6,000 years old and had been
hanging in the lair for an indeterminate length of time, yet were sharp and ready
for use when unsheathed.
The dagger Sting was highly effective against giant spiders (distant offspring
of Ungoliant) and could cut their webs with ease, including the spiders
of Mirkwood and Shelob. Sting was able to cut the spider's eyes and wound her
sufficiently that she fled in pain. Such creatures were common in the Ered
Gorgoroth south of Gondolin.

Origin and publication history[edit]

Tolkien began writing the story that would become The Fall of Gondolin in 1917
in an army barracks on the back of a sheet of military marching music. It is the
first traceable story of his Middle-earth legendarium that he wrote down on
paper.[8] While the first half of the story "appears to echo Tolkien's creative
development and slow acceptance of duty in the first year of the war," the
second half echoes his personal experience of battle.[9] The story was read
aloud by Tolkien to the Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920.[T 10]
Tolkien was constantly revising his First Age stories; however, the narrative he
wrote in 1917, published posthumously in The Book of Lost Tales, remains the
only full account of the fall of the city. The narrative in The Silmarillion was the
result of the editing by his son Christopher using that story (minus some
elements all too obviously evocative of World War I warfare) and compressed
versions from the different versions of the Annals and Quentas as various
sources. The later Quenta Silmarillion and the Grey Annals, the main sources
for much of the published Silmarillion, both stop before the beginning of
the Tuor story.
A partial later version of The Fall of Gondolin was published in Unfinished
Tales under the title "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin". Originally titled "Of
Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin," this narrative shows a great expansion of the
earlier tale. Christopher Tolkien retitled the story before including it
in Unfinished Tales, because it ends at the point of Tuor's arrival in Gondolin,
and does not depict the actual Fall.
There is also an unfinished poem, The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin, of which a
few verses are quoted in The Lays of Beleriand. In 130 verses Tolkien reaches
the point where dragons attack the city.

Stand-alone book[edit]
On 30 August 2018,[1] the first stand-alone version of the story was published
by HarperCollins in the UK[1] and Houghton Mifflin in the US.[1] This version,
illustrated by Alan Lee, has been curated and edited by Christopher Tolkien, [1] J.
R. R. Tolkien's son, who also edited The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, and
several other works that were published after the author's death. [8]
The book compiles material previously published elsewhere, namely The Tale
of The Fall of Gondolin and Isfin and Eöl both published in The Book of Lost
Tales, Part Two; Turlin and the Exiles of Gondolin published in The Shaping of
Middle-earth; excerpts from the Sketch of the Mythology and Quenta
Noldorinwa, both published in The Shaping of Middle-Earth; and Of Tuor and
The Fall of Gondolin published in Unfinished Tales, along with excerpts
from The Silmarillion and elsewhere.
Reception[edit]
According to Entertainment Weekly, "Patient and dedicated readers will find
among the references to other books and their many footnotes and appendices
a poignant sense of completion and finality to the life's pursuit of a father and
son."[10] Writing for The Washington Post, writer Andrew Ervin said that "'The Fall
of Gondolin' provides everything Tolkien's readers expect." [11] According to The
Independent, "Even amid the complexities and difficulties of the book—and
there are many—there is enough splendid imagery and characterful prose that
readers will be carried along to the end even if they don't know where they are
going."[12]

In science[edit]
Finnish entomologist Lauri Kaila named multiple species of moth in
the genus Elachista, such as Elachista turgonella, after characters from The
Fall of Gondolin.[13]

See also[edit]

 Speculative fiction portal

 Middle-earth canon

References[edit]
Primary[edit]
This list identifies each item's location in
Tolkien's writings.
 1. ^ "Tolkien explained its origin in his "Name-list to "The
Fall of Gondolin" thus: "Gondolin meaneth
in Gnomish 'stone of song' (whereby figuratively the
Gnomes meant stone that was carven and wrought to
great beauty)". Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost
Tales, part II. p. 216.
2. ^ Tolkien, J.R.R. (1981).  Tolkien,
Christopher (ed.).  The Silmarillion. New York
City: Ballantine Books. p. 287.  ISBN  978-0-345-32581-
5.
3. ^ Tolkien, J.R.R. "The Fall of Gondolin". In  Tolkien,
Christopher(ed.). The Book of Lost Tales. Crow's Nest,
New South Wales, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
p.  158. ISBN 0-395-36614-3.
4. ^ These Elvish names come from a text written by
Tolkien: "The Official Name List", and published
in Parma Eldalamberon nº 13, pp. 100–105.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b J. R. R. Tolkien. "The Book of Lost Tales,
part II", chapter The Fall of Gondolin, p. 172.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c J. R. R. Tolkien. The Book of Lost Tales,
part II, chapter "The Fall of Gondolin", p. 174.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f J.R.R. Tolkien. The Book of Lost Tales,
part II, chapter "The Fall of Gondolin", p. 173.
8. ^ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and
Passages", Parma Eldalamberon 17, p. 29
9. ^ The Hobbit, ch. 3 "A Short Rest"
10. ^ Tolkien, J.R.R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. p.
147.

Secondary[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:            Helen, Daniel (10 April 2018).  "The Fall
a b c d e f

of Gondolin to be published". Tolkien Society.

Retrieved  18 April 2018.
2. ^ Helen, Daniel (30 August 2018). "The Fall of
Gondolin published". Tolkien Society. Retrieved  30
August 2018.
3. ^ Alexander, Bruce M. (22 March 2012). "The Fall of
Gondolin and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of
the Aeneid".  Mythlore. East Lansing,
Michigan:  Mythopoeic Society. Retrieved  2 April  2017.
4. ^ Rawls, Melanie (1984). "The Feminine Principle in
Tolkien".  Mythlore. East Lansing,
Michigan:  Mythopoeic Society.  30  (3–4).
5. ^ Polo, Susana (10 April 2018). "A new Lord of the
Rings book is out this year".  Polygon. Retrieved 31
January 2021.
6. ^ Bruce, Alexander M. (2012). "The Fall of Gondolin
and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of the
Aeneid". Mythlore.  Mythopoeic Society.  30  (3–4).
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c Greenman, David (1992).  "Aeneidic and
Odyssean Patterns of Escape and Release in Tolkien's
'The Fall of Gondolin' and 'The Return of the
King'".  Mythlore. 18 (2). Article 1.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b "J.R.R. Tolkien's First Middle-Earth Story,
The Fall of Gondolin, to Be Published". BBC. 11 April
2018. Retrieved 13 April  2018.
 9. ^ Garth, John  (2013). Tolkien and the Great War: The
Threshold of Middle-earth. Boston:  Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt. p.  217. ISBN 978-0544263727.
10. ^ Lewis, Evan (25 August 2018). "The Fall of
Gondolin  is an indispensable examination of Tolkien's
first Middle-earth story: EW review". Entertainment
Weekly. Retrieved 18 April  2020.
11. ^ Ervin, Andrew  (28 August 2018).  "J.R.R. Tolkien's
latest posthumous book may actually be the last". The
Washington Post. Retrieved  18 April 2020.
12. ^ Griffin, Andrew (31 August 2018). "JRR Tolkien, The
Fall of Gondolin review: A vast and fitting last look at
Middle Earth".  The Independent. Retrieved 18
April 2020.
13. ^ Kaila, Lauri (1999). "A Revision of the Nearctic
Species of the Genus  Elachista  s. l. III.:
The  bifasciella,  praelineata,saccharella  and  freyerella 
groups (Lepidoptera, Elachistidae)".  Acta Zoologica
Fennica (211): 1–235.

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