#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes, and rivers under the … seas, lakes, and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar.
Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo’s desires and designs.
Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo’s designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon’s daughter, and their son is Eärendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo.
At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Túrin and Idril, with the child Eärendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources.
Following his presentation of Beren and Lúthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same ‘history in sequence’ mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was ‘the first real story of this imaginary world’ and, together with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, he regarded it as one of the three ‘Great Tales’ of the Elder Days.
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The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkien is another tale of ‘Great Tales’ of the Elder Days. There are three books total in the ‘Great Tales’ of the Elder Days which include Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin.
I enjoyed reading these tales. Tolkien has brought to light more characters and their labors which provided me with great details of Tolkien’s world he had envisioned. A lot of trials, loss, and tragedy struck the peoples of Gondolin.
I loved reading about some of the history of Tolkien’s world. The characters are deep with trials of their life lead and their losses.
A big treat for me was reading Christopher Tolkien’s telling of his father’s revisions, additions, and his father’s thoughts. This had to be a daunting task and with the help of Christopher’s colleagues, he was able to bring to light these tales of the elder days and to give a bit of insight as to what Tolkien’s father had in mind concerning his passion of his created world. Christopher Tolkien doesn’t get the credit he deserves for helping bring his father’s world to light, and I am without question indebted to him for his toiling efforts of bringing this epic story to a full and completed tale, as fully as he could, and bringing it to the public for our enjoyment. I will cherish these stories and will pass them to my children and grandchildren in the hopes of them loving this epic story as much as I do.
This was my first Tolkien book. I read it because my 15-year-old son picked it out for me to read to him on Christmas break. Yes, we still share a love of books, and reading, and traditions, even though he’s a teenager. Maybe we’re weird; maybe we’re cool. He reads Tolkien all the time. I was up for the challenge. I feel weird writing a review of this because I did not read the whole book. I read where he told me to start, and then when I got to a part that seemed to be separate, “The Earliest Text,” I told my son, “Hey, it looks like it begins to have actual chapters or parts now.” So we looked through it and he said that was it. That was probably where I should stop, because the rest of it would be further tellings and explanations of the text and the original author’s work. But I read it. I pronounced some names and words probably incorrectly but the best I could, and we Googled a few words and names, and my son has this dictionary of Tolkien and he knew many of the names and meanings and backstory, so he enjoyed it. My son explained things to me. I kind of liked the old-tyme more poetic I guess style of writing, but wow, it is not easy. I felt like I had passed a challenge or a test or something and was proud of myself. I had no real idea what I was reading, but I possibly/probably/I hope got the gist. It was just a bunch of stuff I didn’t know anything about and felt like characters just came about all of a sudden that I should already know, when the book had never mentioned them before. This is all normal and good, I believe, according to my son, for this book and these writings. ha! So now he’s like, “Do you want to read ‘The Hobbit.’?” Sure. So that’s what we’ll read now, and he says it’s way easier. Totally out of my league and out of my genre, but yay!
I like JRR Tolkien
I have always loved the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books. Tolkien is a master. This one, though, is terribly slow and boring.
The Fall of Gondolin is a work of wonder, surprise, tragedy, and many other qualities.
A stunning read that has numerous characters who have their part to play in this saga.
Christopher Tolkien again presents his father’s work in an approachable and accessible volume. A must for Tolkien fans!
Not what I thought it would be. Would not recommend.
one of the all time greatest