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| name = The Fall of Gondolin
| name = The Fall of Gondolin
| image = FallOfGondolin.png
| image = FallOfGondolin.png
| caption = Front cover of the 2018 hardback edition
| caption = Front cover of the 2018 hardback edition,<br/>with a painting by Alan Lee
| author = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
| author = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
| orig_lang_code = ang
| illustrator = [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]]
| illustrator = [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]]
| cover_artist = Alan Lee
| cover_artist = Alan Lee
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| congress =
| congress =
| preceded_by = [[Beren and Lúthien]]
| preceded_by = [[Beren and Lúthien]]
| followed_by =
| followed_by = <!--nothing, please, this is the last of the three "Great Tales"-->
| exclude_cover =
}}
}}


[[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]]''. In the narrative, Gondolin was founded by King Turgon<!--redirects here--> in the [[First Age]]; the city was carefully hidden, enduring for centuries before being betrayed and destroyed.
'''''The Fall of Gondolin''''' is a 2018 book of [[fantasy]] fiction by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], edited by [[Christopher Tolkien|his son Christopher]].<ref name="TolkienSociety100418"/><ref name="TolkienSociety2">{{cite news |url=https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/08/the-fall-of-gondolin-published/ |title=The Fall of Gondolin published|date=30 August 2018 |first=Daniel |last=Helen |publisher=Tolkien Society |access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref> The story is one of what Tolkien called the three "[[Great Tales]]" from the [[First Age]] of [[Middle-earth]]; the other two are ''[[Beren and Lúthien]]'' and ''[[The Children of Húrin]]''. All three stories are briefly summarised in the 1977 book ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', and all three have now been published as stand-alone books. A version of the story also appears in ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]''. In the narrative, [[Gondolin]] was founded by King [[Turgon of Gondolin|Turgon]] in the [[First Age]]. The city was carefully hidden, enduring for centuries before being betrayed and destroyed. Written in 1917, it is one of the first stories of [[Tolkien's legendarium]].


== Text ==
A stand-alone, book-length version of the story edited by [[Christopher Tolkien]] was published in 2018.<ref name="TolkienSociety100418"/><ref name="TolkienSociety2">{{cite news |url=https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/08/the-fall-of-gondolin-published/ |title=The Fall of Gondolin published|date=30 August 2018 |first=Daniel |last=Helen |publisher=Tolkien Society |access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref> ''The Fall of Gondolin'' is one of three stories from the First Age of Middle-earth that was published as a stand-alone book: the other two are ''[[Beren and Lúthien]]'' and ''[[The Children of Húrin]]''.


[[File:GOTHMOG-1.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gothmog]], High Captain of [[Angband (Middle-earth)|Angband]], at the storming of Gondolin. Illustration by [[Tom Loback]]]]
== Gondolin ==
{{redirect|Gondolin|the South African fossil site|Gondolin Cave}}

[[File:Sketch Map of Beleriand.svg|thumb|center|upright=3|Sketch map of [[Beleriand]] in the [[First Age]]. Gondolin (centre top) is encircled by mountains. ]]

Gondolin was a secret city of [[Elf (Middle-earth)|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 [[Edain|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]].

The city of Gondolin<ref group=T>"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)".{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984b}} p. 216.</ref> 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 [[Middle-earth|Hither Lands]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}} p. 287</ref> The city was famed for its walls, and had possible parallels to [[Troy]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Bruce M. |last=Alexander |title=The Fall of Gondolin and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of the Aeneid |journal=[[Mythlore]] |date=22 March 2012}}</ref>

{{anchor|Turgon}}
Gondolin was founded by King Turgon<!--redirects here--> in the [[First Age]]. It was originally named 'Ondolindë'. According to ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the [[Vala (Middle-earth)|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 ===
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 [[Medes|Medean]] city of [[Ecbatana]]. The seven gates of [[Minas Tirith]] echoed this notion of a layered defence on a hill.

{{anchor|Maeglin}}

=== The fall of the city ===
[[File:The Fall of Turgon's Tower.jpg|thumb|upright|The fall of Turgon's Tower. Illustration by Tom Loback]]

The city stood for nearly 400 years until it was betrayed to [[Morgoth]] by '''Maeglin'''<!--redirects here-->, 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, whom he'd long coveted. 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 [[Orc (Middle-earth)|orcs]], [[Balrog]]s and [[Dragon (Middle-earth)|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.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Mythlore]] |first=Melanie |last= Rawls |year=1984 |volume=30 |issue=3–4 |title=The Feminine Principle in Tolkien }}</ref> While her father Turgon perished, Idril successfully fled the city alongside her husband Tuor and other survivors; through their union, [[Tuor and Idril]] are the ancestors of both [[Elrond]] and [[Aragorn]].<ref name="Polygon">{{cite web |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/10/17219372/new-lord-of-the-rings-tolkien-book-fall-gondolin|first=Susana |last= Polo |title=A new Lord of the Rings book is out this year|date=10 April 2018 |work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |accessdate=31 January 2021}}</ref>

Commentators have compared the Fall of Gondolin to the sack of [[Troy]].<ref name="Bruce 2012">{{cite journal |journal=[[Mythlore]] |first=Alexander M. |last=Bruce |year=2012 |volume=30 |issue=3–4 |title=The Fall of Gondolin and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of the Aeneid }}</ref><ref name="Greenman 1992"/> 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 later quest-heroes in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the [[hobbit]]s of [[the Shire]], are made to return to their home, ravaged while they were away, and are obliged [[Scouring of the Shire|to scour it clean]], just as [[Odysseus]] does in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref name="Greenman 1992">{{cite journal |last=Greenman |first=David |year=1992 |title=Aeneidic and Odyssean Patterns of Escape and Release in Tolkien's 'The Fall of Gondolin' and 'The Return of the King' |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |at=Article 1 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol18/iss2/1}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Greenman 1992"/>

=== The seven names of Gondolin ===

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."<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984b}} p. 158</ref>

=== The Houses of Gondolin ===
{{further|Heraldry of Middle-earth}}

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:

{| class=wikitable width=100%
!Old [[Noldorin]] names of the Houses<ref group=T>These Elvish names come from a text written by Tolkien: "The Official Name List", and published in ''[[Parma Eldalamberon]]'' 13, pp. 100–105.</ref> !!Leader!!colspan=2|Uniforms and emblems!!Notes
|-
|The folk of the White Wing||[[Tuor]]||[[File:Bar-en-Alphram.svg|60px]]||"These wore wings as it were of swans or gulls upon their helms, and the emblem of the White Wing was upon their shields."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>||The bodyguard of Tuor.<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984b}} "The Fall of Gondolin"</ref>
|-
|The House of the [[European mole|Mole]] or the ''Thlim Doldrin''||Maeglin||[[File:House of the Mole.svg|60px]]||"Sable was their harness, and they bore no sign or emblem, but their round caps of steel were covered with moleskin."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/> ||Composed of skilled miners.
|-
|The House of the [[Barn swallow|Swallow]] or the ''Thlim Duilin''||Duilin||[[File:Bar-en-Duilin.svg|60px]]||"[They] bore a fan of feathers on their helms, and they were arrayed in white and dark blue and in purple and black and showed an arrowhead on their shield."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>||Gondolin's best archers.
|-
|The House of the Heavenly Arch or the ''Thlim Quing Ilon''||Egalmoth||[[File:House of the Heavenly Arch.svg|60px]]||"They were arrayed in a glory of colours, and their arms were set with jewels. Every shield of that battalion was of the blue of the heavens."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>||A very wealthy house; comprised the other part of Gondolin's archers.
|-
|The House of the Pillar or the ''Thlim Climbol''||Penlod||[[File:House of the Pillar.svg|60px]]||''unknown''|| Their leader was slain during the Fall of Gondolin.
|-
|The House of the Tower of Snow or the ''Thlim Ith Mindon''||Penlod||[[File:House of the Tower of Snow.svg|60px]]||''unknown''|| Their leader was slain during the Fall of Gondolin.
|-
|The House of the Tree or the ''Thlim Galdon'' ||Galdor||[[File:Bar-en-Galadh.svg|60px]]||"Their raiment was green."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/> ||Wielded clubs and [[sling (weapon)|slings]].
|-
|The House of the Golden Flower or the ''Thlim Losglóriol'' ||[[Glorfindel]]||[[File:Bar-en-Lothglor.svg|60px]]||"[They] bore a golden flower upon their shield."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>||
|-
|The House of the Fountain or the ''Thlim Ecthel'' ||Ecthelion||[[File:Bar-en-Eithel.svg|60px]]||"Silver and diamonds was their delight ; and swords very long and bright and pale did they wield."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>||The guard of the fountains, primarily those of the king. Warriors of this house defended the seventh gate of Gondolin. They marched into battle to the playing of flutes.
|-
|The House of the Harp or the ''Thlim Salum''||Salgant||[[File:House of the Harp.svg|60px]]||"A harp of silver shone in their blazonry upon a field of black."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/> ||House of musicians. However, their leader was a craven.
|-
|The House of the Hammer of Wrath or the ''Thlim Gothodrum'' ||Rog||[[File:Bar-en-Damba.svg|60px]]||"The sign of this people was the Stricken Anvil, and a hammer that smiteth sparks about it was set on their shields."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>||The largest and most valiant house. They comprised those blacksmiths who were not under Maeglin, as well as escaped thralls of Morgoth. They perished to the last elf during the Fall of Gondolin.
|-
|The House of the King||King Turgon||[[File:Bar-en-Aran.svg|60px]]||"The array of the house of the king and their colours were white and gold and red, and their emblems the moon and the sun and the scarlet heart [of [[Finwë]] Nólemë]."<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>|| The three Royal Guard battalions of King Turgon.
|}

===The tongue of Gondolin===

In the hidden city of Gondolin, an isolated land, a peculiar Elvish dialect developed: "This differed from the standard (of [[Doriath (Middle-earth)|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]]]".<ref group=T>''[[Parma Eldalamberon]] 17'', "Words, Phrases and Passages", p. 29</ref> The common or standard Sindarin tongue was not used in Gondolin.

===Weaponry===
{{further|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 (Middle-earth)|Sting]] were found in a [[Troll (Middle-earth)|Troll]]-hoard.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}} ch. 3 "A Short Rest"</ref> Each of these weapons 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.

== Text ==
[[File:GOTHMOG-1.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gothmog]], High Captain of [[Angband (Middle-earth)|Angband]], at the storming of Gondolin. Illustration by Tom Loback]]


=== Origins ===
=== Origins ===


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 [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]] that he wrote down on paper.<ref name="BBC1">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43726236 |title=J.R.R. Tolkien's First Middle-Earth Story, The Fall of Gondolin, to Be Published |date=11 April 2018 |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref> 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 [[J. R. R. Tolkien#Battle of the Somme|his personal experience of battle]].<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth]] |first=John |last=Garth |author-link=John Garth (author) |page=217 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |location=Boston |year=2013 |isbn=978-0544263727}}</ref> The story was read aloud by Tolkien to the [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]] Essay Club in the spring of 1920.<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin" group=T/>
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 one of the first stories of his Middle-earth [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]] that he wrote down on paper,<ref name="BBC1">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43726236 |title=J.R.R. Tolkien's First Middle-Earth Story, The Fall of Gondolin, to Be Published |date=11 April 2018 |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref> after his 1914 tale, inspired by the [[Old English]] manuscript [[Crist 1]], "The Voyage of Earendel, the Evening Star".{{sfn|Carpenter|1977|p=72}} 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 [[J. R. R. Tolkien#Battle of the Somme|his personal experience of battle]].<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth]] |first=John |last=Garth |author-link=John Garth (author) |page=217 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |location=Boston |year=2013 |isbn=978-0544263727}}</ref> The story was read aloud by Tolkien to the [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]] Essay Club in the spring of 1920.<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984b}} "The Fall of Gondolin"</ref>


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.
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.<ref name="BOLT2 Fall of Gondolin"/>


=== Publication of versions of the story ===
=== Publication of versions of the story ===


The narrative "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" in<!-- ch. 23 of--> the 1997 book ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' was the result of the editing by his son [[Christopher Tolkien|Christopher]] using the 1917 narrative (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.
The narrative "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" in<!-- ch. 23 of--> the 1977 book ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' was the result of the editing by his son [[Christopher Tolkien|Christopher]]{{sfn|Tolkien|1977|loc="Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"}} using the 1917 narrative (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 additional 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 the 1980 book ''[[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.
A partial later version of ''The Fall of Gondolin'' was published in the 1980 book ''[[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 and Idril|Tuor]]'s arrival in [[Gondolin]], and does not depict the actual Fall.{{sfn|Tolkien|1980|loc="Part One: The First Age": "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin"}}


There is also an unfinished poem, ''The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin'', of which a few verses are quoted in the 1985 book ''[[The Lays of Beleriand]]''. In 130 verses Tolkien reaches the point where [[Dragon (Middle-earth)|dragons]] attack the city.
There is also an unfinished poem, ''The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin'', of which a few verses are quoted in the 1985 book ''[[The Lays of Beleriand]]''. In 130 verses Tolkien reaches the point where [[Dragon (Middle-earth)|dragons]] attack the city.
Line 128: Line 51:
=== Publication history ===
=== Publication history ===


In 2018,<ref name="TolkienSociety100418">{{cite web |url=https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/04/the-fall-of-gondolin-to-be-published/ |title=The Fall of Gondolin to be published |date=10 April 2018 |first=Daniel |last=Helen |publisher=Tolkien Society |access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref> the first stand-alone version of the story was published by [[HarperCollins]] in the UK<ref name="TolkienSociety100418" /> and [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] in the US.<ref name="TolkienSociety100418" /> This version, illustrated by [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]], has been curated and edited by Christopher Tolkien,<ref name="TolkienSociety100418" /> 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.<ref name=BBC1/>
In 2018,<ref name="TolkienSociety100418">{{cite web |url=https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/04/the-fall-of-gondolin-to-be-published/ |title=The Fall of Gondolin to be published |date=10 April 2018 |first=Daniel |last=Helen |publisher=Tolkien Society |access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref> the first stand-alone version of the story was published by [[HarperCollins]] in the UK<ref name="TolkienSociety100418" /> and [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] in the US.<ref name="TolkienSociety100418" /> This version, illustrated by [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]], was curated and edited by Christopher Tolkien,<ref name="TolkienSociety100418" /> J. R. R. Tolkien's son, who also edited ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', and the twelve-volume ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]''.<ref name=BBC1/>


=== Contents ===
=== Contents ===


* Prologue
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|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.
* The Original Tale
* The Earliest Text
* "Turin and the Exiles of Gondolin"
* The Story Told in the ''Sketch of the Mythology''
* The Story Told in the ''Quenta Noldorinwa''
* The Last Version
* The Evolution of the Story
* Conclusion

The book ends with a list of names, additional notes, and a glossary.


== Reception ==
== Reception ==
Line 138: Line 71:
=== By Tolkien scholars ===
=== By Tolkien scholars ===


Douglas Kane writes in ''[[Journal of Tolkien Research]]'' that ''The Fall of Gondolin'' was the first of Tolkien's three "Great Tales" to be written, and the last to be published, the other two being the Great Tale of Túrin Turumbar (published in ''The Children of Húrin'', 2007, edited into a continuous story) and ''Beren and Lúthien'' (2017, presented as a set of versions of the story). That left the tale which was "arguably the one in which
Douglas Kane writes in ''[[Journal of Tolkien Research]]'' that ''The Fall of Gondolin'' was the first of Tolkien's three "Great Tales" to be written, and the last to be published, the other two being the Great Tale of Túrin Turambar (published in ''[[The Children of Húrin]]'', 2007, edited into a continuous story) and ''[[Beren and Lúthien]]'' (2017, presented as a set of versions of the story). That left the tale which was "arguably the one in which the world of Middle-earth is most vividly presented and in which Tolkien’s philosophical themes are most profoundly expressed."<ref name="Kane 2018">{{cite journal |last=Kane |first=Douglas Charles |year=2018 |title=[Review:] The Fall of Gondolin (2018) by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien |journal=[[Journal of Tolkien Research]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |at=Article 1 |url=https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol6/iss2/1 }}</ref> Kane adds that although the book collects material already published, "it still succeeds in rounding out that task", for instance by putting the "Sketch of the Mythology" in the prologue. He wonders, though, why the editor included part of the poem "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor" (already in ''The Lays of Beleriand''), but omits the poem fragment "The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin" which is far more obviously relevant. Kane admires Alan Lee's illustrations, both in colour and in black and white, as [[Illustrating Tolkien|providing "a perfect complement" to the final book]] in the "unique and remarkable" collaboration between Christopher Tolkien and his father.<ref name="Kane 2018"/>
the world of Middle-earth is most vividly presented and in which Tolkien’s philosophical themes are most profoundly expressed."<ref name="Kane 2018">{{cite journal |last=Kane |first=Douglas Charles |year=2018 |title=[Review:] The Fall of Gondolin (2018) by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien |journal=[[Journal of Tolkien Research]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |at=Article 1 |url=https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol6/iss2/1 }}</ref> Kane adds that although the book collects material already published, "it still succeeds in rounding out that task", for instance by putting the "Sketch of the Mythology" in the prologue. He wonders, though, why the editor included part of the poem "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor" (already in ''The Lays of Beleriand''), but omits the poem fragment "The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin" which is far more obviously relevant. Kane admires Alan Lee's illustrations, both in colour and in black and white, as providing "a perfect complement" to the final book in the "unique and remarkable" collaboration between Christopher Tolkien and his father.<ref name="Kane 2018"/>


Jennifer Rogers, reviewing the book for ''[[Tolkien Studies]]'', writes that it "highlights the power of the Gondolin story in its own right with minimal editorial intrusion."<ref name="Rogers 2019">{{cite journal |last=Rogers |first=Jennifer |title=[Review] The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R Tolkien |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |year=2019 |doi=10.1353/tks.2019.0013 |pages=170–174}}</ref> As Tolkien's first tale and the last one to be published by his son, the book is "laden with the sense of weight such a publication brings", taking the reader back to the place where [[Tolkien's legendarium|the whole Legendarium]] began, the story about [[Eärendel]].<ref name="Rogers 2019"/>
Jennifer Rogers, reviewing the book for ''[[Tolkien Studies]]'', writes that it "highlights the power of the Gondolin story in its own right with minimal editorial intrusion."<ref name="Rogers 2019">{{cite journal |last=Rogers |first=Jennifer |title=[Review] The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R Tolkien |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |year=2019 |doi=10.1353/tks.2019.0013 |pages=170–174|s2cid=211969055 }}</ref> As Tolkien's first tale and the last one to be published by his son, the book is "laden with the sense of weight such a publication brings", taking the reader back to the place where [[Tolkien's legendarium|the whole Legendarium]] began, the story about [[Eärendel]] (later called Eärendil).<ref name="Rogers 2019"/>


=== In newspapers ===
=== In newspapers ===


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."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lewis |first=Evan |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |title=''The Fall of Gondolin'' is an indispensable examination of Tolkien's first Middle-earth story: EW review |url=https://ew.com/books/2018/08/25/fall-of-gondolin-tolkien-review/ |date=25 August 2018 |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', writer [[Andrew Ervin]] said that "'The Fall of Gondolin' provides everything Tolkien's readers expect."<ref>{{cite news |last=Ervin |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Ervin |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |title=J.R.R. Tolkien's latest posthumous book may actually be the last |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/jrr-tolkiens-latest-posthumous-book-may-actually-be-the-last/2018/08/26/f3d95e20-a556-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html |date=28 August 2018 |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news |last=Griffin |first=Andrew |journal=[[The Independent]] |title=JRR Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin review: A vast and fitting last look at Middle Earth |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/jrr-tolkien-fall-of-gondolin-review-latest-last-book-christopher-harper-collins-a8516571.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/jrr-tolkien-fall-of-gondolin-review-latest-last-book-christopher-harper-collins-a8516571.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=31 August 2018 |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>
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."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lewis |first=Evan |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |title=''The Fall of Gondolin'' is an indispensable examination of Tolkien's first Middle-earth story: EW review |url=https://ew.com/books/2018/08/25/fall-of-gondolin-tolkien-review/ |date=25 August 2018 |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', writer [[Andrew Ervin]] said that "''The Fall of Gondolin'' provides everything Tolkien's readers expect."<ref>{{cite news |last=Ervin |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Ervin |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |title=J.R.R. Tolkien's latest posthumous book may actually be the last |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/jrr-tolkiens-latest-posthumous-book-may-actually-be-the-last/2018/08/26/f3d95e20-a556-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html |date=28 August 2018 |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news |last=Griffin |first=Andrew |journal=[[The Independent]] |title=JRR Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin review: A vast and fitting last look at Middle Earth |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/jrr-tolkien-fall-of-gondolin-review-latest-last-book-christopher-harper-collins-a8516571.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/jrr-tolkien-fall-of-gondolin-review-latest-last-book-christopher-harper-collins-a8516571.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=31 August 2018 |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>

==In science==

The Finnish entomologist [[Lauri Kaila]] named multiple species of moth in the [[genus]] ''[[Elachista#Subgenus Elachista (Elachista)|Elachista]]'', such as ''[[Elachista finarfinella|E. finarfinella]]'', ''[[Elachista gildorella|E. gildorella]]'', and ''[[Elachista turgonella|E. turgonella]]'', after characters from ''The Fall of Gondolin''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kaila |first=Lauri |title=A Revision of the Nearctic Species of the Genus ''Elachista'' s. l. III.: The ''bifasciella'', ''praelineata'', ''saccharella'' and ''freyerella'' groups (Lepidoptera, Elachistidae) |journal=Acta Zoologica Fennica |number=211 |year=1999 |pages=1–235 |url=http://www.sekj.org/ActaZool.html}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 155: Line 83:


==References==
==References==

===Primary===
::''This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.''
{{reflist|group=T|28em}}

=== Secondary ===
{{reflist|28em}}
{{reflist|28em}}


=== Sources ===
=== Sources ===


* {{Me-ref|TH}}
* {{ME-ref|Carpenter}} <!--Carpenter 1977 biography-->
* {{ME-ref|Silm}}
* {{ME-ref|Silm}} <!--Tolkien 1977-->
* {{Me-ref|BoLT2}}
* {{Me-ref|UT}} <!--Tolkien 1980-->
* {{Me-ref|BoLT2}} <!--Tolkien 1984b-->


{{Middle-earth}}
{{Middle-earth}}

Latest revision as of 19:58, 24 December 2024

The Fall of Gondolin
Front cover of the 2018 hardback edition,
with a painting by Alan Lee
EditorChristopher Tolkien
AuthorJ. R. R. Tolkien
IllustratorAlan Lee
Cover artistAlan Lee
LanguageEnglish
SubjectTolkien's legendarium
GenreHigh fantasy
Published2018
PublisherHarperCollins
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages304[1]
ISBN978-0008302757
Preceded byBeren and Lúthien 

The Fall of Gondolin is a 2018 book of fantasy fiction by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by his son Christopher.[1][2] The story is one of what Tolkien called the three "Great Tales" from the First Age of Middle-earth; the other two are Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin. All three stories are briefly summarised in the 1977 book The Silmarillion, and all three have now been published as stand-alone books. A version of the story also appears in The Book of Lost Tales. In the narrative, Gondolin was founded by King Turgon in the First Age. The city was carefully hidden, enduring for centuries before being betrayed and destroyed. Written in 1917, it is one of the first stories of Tolkien's legendarium.

Text

[edit]
Gothmog, High Captain of Angband, at the storming of Gondolin. Illustration by Tom Loback

Origins

[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 one of the first stories of his Middle-earth legendarium that he wrote down on paper,[3] after his 1914 tale, inspired by the Old English manuscript Crist 1, "The Voyage of Earendel, the Evening Star".[4] 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.[5] The story was read aloud by Tolkien to the Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920.[6]

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.[6]

Publication of versions of the story

[edit]

The narrative "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" in the 1977 book The Silmarillion was the result of the editing by his son Christopher[7] using the 1917 narrative (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 additional 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 the 1980 book 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.[8]

There is also an unfinished poem, The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin, of which a few verses are quoted in the 1985 book The Lays of Beleriand. In 130 verses Tolkien reaches the point where dragons attack the city.

Book

[edit]

Publication history

[edit]

In 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, was curated and edited by Christopher Tolkien,[1] J. R. R. Tolkien's son, who also edited The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and the twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth.[3]

Contents

[edit]
  • Prologue
  • The Original Tale
  • The Earliest Text
  • "Turin and the Exiles of Gondolin"
  • The Story Told in the Sketch of the Mythology
  • The Story Told in the Quenta Noldorinwa
  • The Last Version
  • The Evolution of the Story
  • Conclusion

The book ends with a list of names, additional notes, and a glossary.

Reception

[edit]

By Tolkien scholars

[edit]

Douglas Kane writes in Journal of Tolkien Research that The Fall of Gondolin was the first of Tolkien's three "Great Tales" to be written, and the last to be published, the other two being the Great Tale of Túrin Turambar (published in The Children of Húrin, 2007, edited into a continuous story) and Beren and Lúthien (2017, presented as a set of versions of the story). That left the tale which was "arguably the one in which the world of Middle-earth is most vividly presented and in which Tolkien’s philosophical themes are most profoundly expressed."[9] Kane adds that although the book collects material already published, "it still succeeds in rounding out that task", for instance by putting the "Sketch of the Mythology" in the prologue. He wonders, though, why the editor included part of the poem "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor" (already in The Lays of Beleriand), but omits the poem fragment "The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin" which is far more obviously relevant. Kane admires Alan Lee's illustrations, both in colour and in black and white, as providing "a perfect complement" to the final book in the "unique and remarkable" collaboration between Christopher Tolkien and his father.[9]

Jennifer Rogers, reviewing the book for Tolkien Studies, writes that it "highlights the power of the Gondolin story in its own right with minimal editorial intrusion."[10] As Tolkien's first tale and the last one to be published by his son, the book is "laden with the sense of weight such a publication brings", taking the reader back to the place where the whole Legendarium began, the story about Eärendel (later called Eärendil).[10]

In newspapers

[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."[11] Writing for The Washington Post, writer Andrew Ervin said that "The Fall of Gondolin provides everything Tolkien's readers expect."[12] 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."[13]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Helen, Daniel (10 April 2018). "The Fall 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. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Carpenter 1977, p. 72.
  5. ^ Garth, John (2013). Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 217. ISBN 978-0544263727.
  6. ^ a b Tolkien 1984b "The Fall of Gondolin"
  7. ^ Tolkien 1977, "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin".
  8. ^ Tolkien 1980, "Part One: The First Age": "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin".
  9. ^ a b Kane, Douglas Charles (2018). "[Review:] The Fall of Gondolin (2018) by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien". Journal of Tolkien Research. 6 (2). Article 1.
  10. ^ a b Rogers, Jennifer (2019). "[Review] The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R Tolkien". Tolkien Studies. 16 (1): 170–174. doi:10.1353/tks.2019.0013. S2CID 211969055.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Griffin, Andrew (31 August 2018). "JRR Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin review: A vast and fitting last look at Middle Earth". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

Sources

[edit]
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