The Fall of Gondolin
Ratings13
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings13
Average rating3.4
"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 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." - Amazon.com
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10 released booksTales of Middle Earth is a 10-book series first released in 1985 with contributions by J.R.R. Tolkien, Martin Simonson, and 3 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was an interesting academic exercise for Tolkien fans. Christopher looks at the different versions of the story that his father worked on over the decades, as well as how they exist in relation to Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. Don't come to this expecting a compelling narrative or particularly engaging story; these unpublished drafts were that way for a reason. But as an insight to how Tolkien's writing process developed over the decades it's a worthwhile read.
I really hadn't planned on reading any of these new books by Christopher Tolkien — I've already read most of the History of Middle Earth books, so what new info could there be? But then I saw that the audiobook was read by Timothy & Samuel West! I would listen to Sam West read a phone book, so to Audible I went.
I had expected the audiobook to be a little strange given the format of the book — J. R. R. Tolkien's partially written stories surrounded with (and sometimes interrupted by) Christopher Tolkien's explanatory information — but it worked perfectly! Sam West read the tales and his dad read Christopher Tolkien's commentary, and they both did an excellent job. I shall listen to the Unfinished Tales soon!
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to anyone who wasn't already a giant Tolkien nerd, but I loved it.
