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The Fall of Gondolin

The Fall of Gondolin

Epic FantasyFantasy
Pages
302
Published
2018
Language
English

Synopsis

The last of the three Great Tales of the First Age, here assembled for the first time. Gondolin is the greatest hidden Elvish city of the First Age, built in a secret valley and concealed from Morgoth for centuries -- until a traitor reveals its location and the Dark Lord sends an army of Balrogs, dragons, and Orcs to destroy it. The tale of Gondolin was the first story Tolkien wrote in his mythology, begun in 1916, and it retains an energy and vividness that his later mythological writing sometimes sacrifices to compression. Christopher Tolkien presents all the versions -- from the earliest prose in the Book of Lost Tales to the later Quenta Silmarillion passages -- alongside maps and commentary, showing how this seminal story evolved across more than fifty years of revision.

Prose complexity
6/10

Vibe

DarkAtmosphericMelancholicAdventurous
BetrayalSacrificeQuestSurvivalFamily Saga

Genres

Epic Fantasy Fantasy Literary Fiction Mythology

About the author

J
J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1892 and raised in England after his mother brought him home at age three. Orphaned before he was thirteen — his mother died a devout Catholic convert — Tolkien went on to study Old and Middle English, Germanic languages, Welsh, and Finnish at Oxford. He graduated in 1915, married Edith Bratt before shipping out to the Western Front, and fought in the Battle of the Somme. Nearly all of his closest friends were killed. He contrac...

Characters

TuorProtagonist

The mortal man guided by Ulmo to find the hidden city of Gondolin and warn its king -- his arrival and marriage to Idril link the mortal and Elvish bloodlines that produce Earendil.

MorgothAntagonist

The ultimate antagonist whose army destroys the last stronghold of the Noldorin Elves, closing the First Age chapter of the Elvish resistance.

IdrilSupporting

The Elvish princess of Gondolin who marries Tuor and whose foresight leads her to secretly prepare an escape route from the city before its fall.

EcthelionSupporting

One of Gondolin's great lords, who falls in single combat with the Balrog lord Gothmog in one of the battle's most celebrated encounters.

GlorfindelSupporting

The golden-haired Elvish lord who sacrifices himself fighting a Balrog to protect the escaping survivors -- his death and later return to Middle-earth connect the First and Third Ages.

All characters in The Fall of Gondolin

Frequently asked questions

  • What is The Fall of Gondolin?

    The story of the greatest Elvish city of the First Age and its destruction by Morgoth's army -- the last of Tolkien's three Great Tales. Christopher Tolkien assembled all versions of the story for this posthumous volume.

  • What is the significance of Gondolin?

    Gondolin was the last great hidden stronghold of the Noldorin Elves, and its fall effectively ends the Elves' ability to resist Morgoth directly. Its survivors, including Tuor, Idril, and their son Earendil, go on to change the fate of Middle-earth.

  • Is this the same story as in The Silmarillion?

    Yes -- the same events, presented in multiple versions from 1916 to the late Silmarillion drafts. The Silmarillion version is compressed; the earliest Lost Tales version is the most vivid and detailed.

  • Is this part of the Great Tales series?

    Yes -- it is the third and final Great Tale, alongside The Children of Hurin and Beren and Luthien.

  • Who is Glorfindel?

    An Elvish lord of Gondolin who dies fighting a Balrog to protect the escaping survivors. He later reappears in The Lord of the Rings as a lord of Rivendell -- Tolkien eventually established that he was sent back to Middle-earth by the Valar after his heroic death.

  • What was the first story Tolkien wrote in his mythology?

    The Fall of Gondolin -- Tolkien read an early version of the tale to the Exeter College Essay Club in 1920, and the prose version in The Book of Lost Tales was the first story in the entire legendarium, begun around 1916.