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This article refers to the event. For other namesakes, see Fall of Gondolin (disambiguation).

The Fall of Gondolin was the battle between the forces of Gondolin under King Turgon and Morgoth, after Maeglin had betrayed the city's hidden location. This battle claimed lives of most of the Gondolindrim, and of Turgon and his captains. However, a few managed to escape the city through a secret passage: notably Tuor, Idril, and their son, Eärendil.

History[]

The seeds of Gondolin's fall were set some decades after the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, fifth battle of the War of the Great Jewels. During this battle, which had been a decisive victory for Morgoth, the greatest human warrior of the age, Húrin, had been captured by Gothmog, the High Captain of Angband.

With the Union of Maedhros destroyed, and the power of the Ñoldor broken, the destruction of Gondolin would essentially complete Morgoth's triumph. It was the last of the great Ñoldor kingdoms, and it's king Turgon was now High King of the Ñoldor after Fingon's death. However, Morgoth did not know the city's location. Húrin had spent several years in Gondolin, and Morgoth had been aware of this even before his capture. As such, he subjected Húrin in Angband to horrific torment in an effort to learn where the city was, most notably suffering the whistling whips of flame used by Lungorthin, the second and lesser Lord of Balrogs, who smote Hurin across the mouth. Húrin withstood the torment and laughed in the Dark Lord's face, refusing to give him any information. As punishment, Morgoth cursed his family and placed an enchantment upon Húrin which enabled him to see all the misfortunes that the curse brought upon his family. After decades of this torture, and after his family was all but dead, Morgoth released Húrin, feigning pity to an utterly defeated foe. However, his real hope was that Húrin's release would cause further grief to his foes, for Húrin too was cursed and made bitter after his long and brutal torment.

Morgoth's hope was fulfilled when Húrin attempted to return to Gondolin. He made his way to the forests of the vale of Sirion and cried out to Turgon. However, Turgon took too long in debating whether or not to acknowledge Húrin and sent out his emissaries too late; by the time the Great Eagles arrived, Húrin was gone. But Morgoth's spies had been following Húrin, and thus the region of Gondolin's location was revealed to him. He drastically increased his patrols and spies in Sirion, hoping either to find the city itself or capture one who did.

Several years later, Turgon's nephew, Maeglin, against the King's orders, decided to scour the land outside the Encircling Mountains for metal deposits. He was captured in his search by servants of Morgoth, and brought befor him. Morgoth threatened Maeglin with unimaginable torment if he did not divulge Gondolin's location. Maeglin caved to the considerable torment, and disclosed its location. Morgoth was delighted at this, and, to fully secure his loyalty, promised Maeglin both the rule of the city and the hand of his cousin, Idril. Maeglin had desired Idril for years, but they were considered to be too close in kinship to be married, and furthermore, Idril disliked him. Maeglin had become exceedingly bitter when Idril was wed to Tuor, a mortal man held in high esteem by Turgon. This promise secured Maeglin's eager fealty, and Morgoth sent him back to Gondolin to aid Morgoth's assault, from within, when the time came.

Fall of Gondolin Damiani

Morgoth's host approaching Gondolin - by Ralph Damiani

Morgoth waited many years to initiate the assault, planning with the utmost diligence. The information from Maeglin had furnished Morgoth with knowledge of Gondolin's weaknesses, and his armies crept over the Encircling Mountains at the point where the watch was least vigilant, during a time of festival in the city. They were able to position themselves all about the walls of Gondolin without detection, and by the time the Elves became aware of them, they were beleaguered without hope. For many days the Elves of Gondolin held their ranks and the city. The battles that raged there were bloody and terrible - courageous leaders and warriors, predominantly Ecthelion and Tuor, became legends, and later songs and epic poems would be written about them. Swords such as Orcrist and Glamdring earned their reputations here, becoming feared among Orcs.

However, Morgoth's armies were far too numerous and powerful for the Elves to overcome, as they were comprised not only of Orcs and other mundane Dark creatures, but of Balrogs and an entire brood of dragons fathered by Glaurung. Furthermore the information provided by Maeglin had furnished Morgoth with the means to plan a perfect siege.

Fall of Gondolin scene, Justin Gerard

Elves facing a dragon amid the fire - by Justin Gerard

Turgon, High King of the Ñoldor, fell defending the citadel of the city. Ecthelion of the Fountain fought a duel with Gothmog, the High Captain of Angband, in the Square of the Palace near the Fountain of the King. At last, Gothmog deprived Ecthelion of his sword and prepared to finish him, but the Lord of the Fountains charged the High Captain of Angband and impaled him with the spike atop his helm. Gothmog lost his balance and fell with Ecthelion into the fountain, where both of them drowned. With the battle having gone against them, Tuor and Idril gathered as many of the people as they could find and attempted to escape the city through a secret passageway in the mountains. But they were confronted by Maeglin, who attempted to steal away Idril. Tuor fought him and cast him down from the walls of Gondolin, and he fell to his death. Within the high passes, the group also encountered a Balrog (possibly Lungorthin) commanding a contingent of Orcs. Glorfindel fought the demon; dodging its whip and claws, hewing its iron helm, and stabbing it in the belly with a dirk (dagger), which was potentially Sting. The Balrog began to stumble off the cliff, but at the last moment it grabbed Glorfindel by his golden hair, and these two also fell to their death.

Despite the defenders' effort, the city was overrun and sacked. Morgoth's victory over his foes was now utterly complete, and the last of the great Elven kingdoms in exile was no more.

Accounts[]

"The Fall of Gondolin" is counted as the third of the Great Tales, but was the first written by Tolkien; and is the second most complete of the tales, after "The Children of Húrin".

The sources for this major First Age event are the chapters "The Fall of Gondolin" of The Book of Lost Tales Part Two[1] and "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" in The Silmarillion, which both tell of the founding of Gondolin, the arrival Tuor of the Edain, the betrayal of the city to Morgoth by Turgon's nephew Maeglin, and its subsequent destruction by Morgoth's armies.[2] Tolkien wrote also an unpublished poem: "The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin".[3] These three accounts were compiled into Christopher Tolkien's work, The Fall of Gondolin, published by HarperCollins in 2018.

The account of the Fall given in The Book of Lost Tales Part Two gives the most depth of all accounts, telling in detail of Tuor's and Ecthelion's feats in battle, for example, and giving great detail on each of the Houses of the Gondolindrim.

A partial, new version of "The Fall of Gondolin" was published in the Unfinished Tales under the title "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin". This narrative, originally entitled "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin", shows a great expansion by Tolkien of the earlier tale. It may be surmised from this text that Tolkien would have rewritten the entire story, but, for reasons unknown , abandoned the text before the point at which Tuor finally reaches Gondolin. For this reason, Christopher Tolkien retitled the story before including it in Unfinished Tales.

Background[]

J.R.R. 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. It is the first substantive, traceable story he ever physically wrote about the Middle-earth legendarium.

Because Tolkien was constantly revising his First Age stories, the narrative he wrote in 1917 (published posthumously in The Book of Lost Tales Part Two) remains the only full account of the Fall. The narrative in The Silmarillion was the result of the editing by his son Christopher of various different sources.

Real-world references[]

'Fall of Gondolin' is one of very few instances in the legendarium in which Tolkien makes reference to real world events, comparing the fall of the city to tragic story of real ancient cities such as Rome, Troy, or Babylon.[1]

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Val van Gondolin
Albanian Rënia e Gondolin
Amharic የጎንዶሊን ውድቀት
Arabic سقوط جوندولين
Armenian Գոնդոլինի անկում
Asturian Cayida de Gondolin
Azerbaijani Gondolinın süqutu
Basque Gondolin Jaitsiera
Belarusian Cyrillic падзенне Гондолина
Bengali পতনের গন্ডোলিন
Bosnian Pad Gondolina
Bulgarian Cyrillic Падането на Гондолин
Catalan Caiguda de Gondolin
Cantonese 贡多林的陷落
Cebuano Pagkapukan sa Gondolin
Chinese (Simplified) 冈多林的陷落
Corsican Caduta di Gondolin
Croatian Pad Gondolina
Czech Pád Gondolinu
Danish Gondolins fald
Dutch Val van Gondolin
Esperanto Falita de Gondolin
Estonian Gondolini langemine
Filipino Pagbagsak ng Gondolin
Finnish Gondolinin tuho
French Chute de Gondolin
Frisian Fal fan Gondolin
Georgian გონდოლინის დაცემა
German Der Fall von Gondolin
Greek Πτώση της Γκόντολιν
Gujarati ફોલ ઓફ ગોન્ડોલીન
Haiti Creole Tonbe nan Gondolin
Hawaii Hina o Gondolin
Hebrew נפילתה של גונדולין
Hungarian Gondolin Bukása
Hmong Zeeg ntawm Gondolin
Icelandic Fall Gondolins
Indonesian Jatuhnya Gondolin
Italian Caduta di Gondolin
Irish Gaelic Titim de Gondolin
Japanese ゴンドリンの陥落
Javanese Tiba saka Gondolin
Kannada ಫಾಲ್ ಆ ಗೊಂಡೋಲಿನ್
Kazakh құлдырауы Гондолін (Cyrillic) Quldırawı Gondolin (Latin)
Korean 곤돌린의 몰락
Kurdish Ketina ji Gondolin (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic кулашы оф Гондолин
Latin Ruina Gondolin
Latvian Gondolins krišana
Lithuanian Rudenį Gondolin
Luxembourgish Stuerz vun Gondolin
Macedonian Cyrillic Падот на Гондолин
Malagasy Nianjeran'i Gondolin
Malaysian Kejatuhan Gondolin
Maltese Waqgħa tal Gondolin
Maori Hinga o Gondolin
Mongolian Cyrillic Гондолинын уналт
Nepalese पतन ङोन्दोलिन
Norwegian Gondolins fall
Persian سقوطگوندولین
Polish Upadek Gondolinu
Portuguese Queda de Gondolin
Romanian Căderea Gondolin
Russian Падение Гондолина
Scots Faw o Gondolin
Scottish Gaelic Tuiteam de Gondolin
Serbian Пад Гондолина (Cyrillic) Pad Gondolina (Latin)
Sinhalese ෆල්ල් ඔෆ් ගොඳොලින්
Slovak Pád Gondolinu
Slovenian Padec Gondolin
Somali Dhici ee Gondolin
Spanish Caída de Gondolin
Sundanese Ragrag tina Gondolin
Swahili Kuanguka kwa Gondolin
Swedish Gondolins fall
Tajik Cyrillic тирамоҳи оф Гондолин
Tamil கோண்டோலின் வீழ்ச்சி
Telugu ఫాల్ అఫ్ గొండోలిన్
Thai การล่มสลายของกอนโดลิน
Turkish Gondolin'in yıkımı
Turkmen Gondolin Ýykylmak ?
Ukrainian Cyrillic падіння Гондоліна
Uzbek Фалл оф Гондолин (Cyrillic) Gondolin'de qulashi (Latin)
Vietnamese Sụp đổ của Gondolin
Welsh Cwymp Gondolin
Xhosa Ukuwa Gondolin
Yiddish פאַלן פון גאָנדאָלין
Yoruba Isubu ti Gondolin

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter III: "The Fall of Gondolin"
  2. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXIII: "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lays of Beleriand, "II. Poems Early Abandoned"
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