The Fall of Gondolin

(05/10/22 reread) I've always had a soft spot for this story; I wrote a couple of papers on it at uni. It was nice to read it for fun (as it were) again.

The Fall of Gondolin tells of Tuor, a man, who comes to the hidden elven city of Gondolin and of the city's subsequent betrayal and fall at the tail end of the First Age. Indeed, I would consider this event to be the BEGINNING of the end as Tuor's young son, Eärendil, is a survivor of the attack and goes on to be arguably the most important person in ending the war (and thus the Age). He's also the father of Elrond (a recognisable name to most!) and Elros Half-elven. Fans of ‘The Hobbit' will also recognise the name of Gondolin, as the swords in which Thorin's Company find in the troll-hoard were forged there.

The Fall of Gondolin manages to be one of the most thrilling and atmospheric stories in the legendarium, which is quite a feat when only the first draft was finished. Even in draft form, it's great. His final attempt in 1930, and the one most in line with the ultimate state of the legendarium, ends with the arrival of Tuor to the city itself which is incredibly frustrating; the first draft, written during the First World War after Tolkien survived the Somme, tells a full story and is clearly a response to what he saw there.

This particular book is set up in the same way as Christopher Tolkien's previous endeavour ‘Beren and Lúthien' in that it shows the development of the narrative as Tolkien went back to try different versions. The different texts are given and Christopher details information about them and gives context as to when they were written. As such, I would recommend it to people who are interested in seeing this development, but perhaps read the chapter on The Fall of Gondolin in The Silmarillion first!