J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
's ''The Fall of Gondolin'' is one of the stories which formed the basis for a section in his posthumously-published work, ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...
'', with a version later appearing in ''
The Book of Lost Tales
''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series '' The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analys ...
''. In the narrative,
Gondolin
In Tolkien's legendarium, Gondolin was a secret city of Elves in the First Age of Middle-earth. The story of the Fall of Gondolin tells of the founding of the city; of the arrival there of Tuor, a prince of Men; of the betrayal of the city to Mor ...
was founded by King
Turgon in the
First Age
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the history of Arda, also called the history of Middle-earth, began when the Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä, the fictional univer ...
; the city was carefully hidden, enduring for centuries before being betrayed and destroyed.
A stand-alone, book-length version of the story edited by
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...
was published in 2018.
''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
''Beren and Lúthien'' is a compilation of multiple versions of the epic fantasy Lúthien and Beren by J. R. R. Tolkien, one of Tolkien's earliest tales of Middle-earth. It is edited by Christopher Tolkien. It is the story of the love and adve ...
'' and ''
The Children of Húrin
''The Children of Húrin'' is an epic fantasy novel which forms the completion of a tale by J. R. R. Tolkien. He wrote the original version of the story in the late 1910s, revised it several times later, but did not complete it before his deat ...
''.
Text
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
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Richard ...
. It is the first traceable story of his Middle-earth
legendarium
Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...
that he wrote down on paper.
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. The story was read aloud by Tolkien to the
Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920.
[ "The Fall of Gondolin"]
Tolkien was constantly revising his
First Age
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the history of Arda, also called the history of Middle-earth, began when the Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä, the fictional univer ...
stories; however, the narrative he wrote in 1917, published posthumously in ''
The Book of Lost Tales
''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series '' The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analys ...
'', remains the only full account of the fall of the city.
Publication of versions of the story
The narrative "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" in the 1997 book ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...
'' was the result of the editing by his son
Christopher
Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...
using the 1917 narrative (minus some elements all too obviously evocative of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
warfare) and compressed versions from the different versions of the ''Annals'' and ''Quentas'' as various sources. The later ''
Quenta Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavrie ...
'' and the ''
Grey Annals'', the main sources for much of the published ''Silmarillion'', both stop before the beginning of the
Tuor
Tuor Eladar and Idril Celebrindal are fictional characters from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. They are the parents of Eärendil the Mariner and grandparents of Elrond Half-elven: through their progeny, they became the ancestors ...
story.
A partial later version of ''The Fall of Gondolin'' was published in the 1980 book ''
Unfinished Tales
''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'' is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tale ...
'' 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
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...
retitled the story before including it in ''
Unfinished Tales
''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'' is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tale ...
'', because it ends at the point of
Tuor
Tuor Eladar and Idril Celebrindal are fictional characters from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. They are the parents of Eärendil the Mariner and grandparents of Elrond Half-elven: through their progeny, they became the ancestors ...
's arrival in
Gondolin
In Tolkien's legendarium, Gondolin was a secret city of Elves in the First Age of Middle-earth. The story of the Fall of Gondolin tells of the founding of the city; of the arrival there of Tuor, a prince of Men; of the betrayal of the city to Mor ...
, and does not depict the actual Fall.
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
''The Lays of Beleriand'', published in 1985, is the third volume of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume book series, ''The History of Middle-earth'', in which he analyzes the unpublished manuscripts of his father J. R. R. Tolkien.
Book
Inscrip ...
''. In 130 verses Tolkien reaches the point where
dragons
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
attack the city.
Book
Publication history
In 2018,
the first stand-alone version of the story was published by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
in the UK
and
Houghton Mifflin
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
in the US.
This version, illustrated by
Alan Lee, has been curated and edited by Christopher Tolkien,
J. R. R. Tolkien's son, who also edited ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...
'', ''
Unfinished Tales
''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'' is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tale ...
'', and the twelve-volume ''
The History of Middle-earth
''The History of Middle-earth'' is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collect and analyse much of Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien. The series shows the development over ti ...
'' which included ''
The Book of Lost Tales
''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series '' The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analys ...
''.
[
]
Contents
* Prologue
* The Original Tale
* The Earliest Text
* "Turlin 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
By Tolkien scholars
Douglas Kane writes in ''Journal of Tolkien Research
The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his fantasy writings. These encompass ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion'', along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after ...
'' 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
the world of Middle-earth is most vividly presented and in which Tolkien’s philosophical themes are most profoundly expressed." 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.
Jennifer Rogers, reviewing the book for ''Tolkien Studies
''Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review'' is an academic journal publishing papers on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The journal's founding editors are Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D. C. Drout, and Verlyn Flieger, and the current editors ...
'', writes that it "highlights the power of the Gondolin story in its own right with minimal editorial intrusion." 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.
In newspapers
According to ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'', "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." Writing for ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', writer Andrew Ervin
Andrew Ervin (1971) is an American writer whose debut 2010 novella collection ''Extraordinary Renditions'' (Coffee House Press) was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of 2010. His 2015 debut novel ''Burning Down George Orwell ...
said that "'The Fall of Gondolin' provides everything Tolkien's readers expect." According to ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', "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."
In science
The Finnish entomologist Lauri Kaila
Lauri Kaila is a Finnish entomologist and researcher of biodiversity, specializing in Lepidoptera, at the Finnish Museum of Natural History of the University of Helsinki. As of 2018, Kaila authored 171 species within the family of Elachistidae ...
named multiple species of moth in the genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''Elachista
''Elachista'' is a genus of gelechioid moths described by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1833. It is the type genus of the grass-miner moth family (Elachistidae). This family is sometimes (in particular in older sources) circumscribed very loo ...
'', such as '' E. finarfinella'', '' E. gildorella'', and '' E. turgonella'', after characters from ''The Fall of Gondolin''.
See also
* Middle-earth canon The term Middle-earth canon, also called Tolkien's canon, is used for the published writings of J. R. R. Tolkien regarding Middle-earth as a whole. The term is also used in Tolkien fandom to promote, discuss and debate the idea of a consistent fict ...
References
Sources
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fall Of Gondolin
Books published posthumously
Middle-earth books
2018 fantasy novels
English fantasy novels
HarperCollins books