| 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 Nírnaeth Arnoediad, fifth battle of the War of the Great Jewels. The battle had broken the power of Morgoth's foes to resist him, destroyed the kingdom of Fingon, and forced the Sons of Fëanor to flee from their strongholds in Beleriand. However Turgon, King of Gondolin, and many of his forces had managed to retreat from the battle in good order and return to their hidden city. The Men of the House of Hador had covered the Elves' escape, though they died to a man. The only survivor was Húrin, the greatest mortal warrior of the age, who had been captured by Gothmog, High Captain of Angband.
With the Union of Maedhros destroyed and the power of the Ñoldor broken, the destruction of Gondolin would complete Morgoth's triumph. It was the last of the great Ñoldor kingdoms, and Turgon was now High King of the Ñoldor after Fingon's death. However, Morgoth did not know the city's location, though he was most eager to discover it, for it had been foretold that his downfall would come from the House of Turgon.
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 had witnessed him cry out to Turgon. Thus the general 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 before the Dark Lord. Morgoth threatened Maeglin with unimaginable torment if he did not divulge Gondolin's location. Though Maeglin was no craven, the horrific torment he was threatened with cowed his spirit, and he told all he knew. Morgoth was delighted at this and, to fully secure Maeglin's loyalty, promised him both the rule of the city and, more importantly, 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 was disgusted by his lust. 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 the assault from within when the time came.
Around this time Idril became filled with a sense of foreboding, and sensed that some terrible doom waited upon the horizon. Therefore, she initiated the creation of a secret passageway out of Gondolin through the high passes of the Encircling Mountains. She kept the secret close to her, so that only those who had worked to prepare the way knew of it, and no word of its existence ever reached Maeglin.
Morgoth's host approaching Gondolin - by Ralph Damiani
Morgoth waited many years to initiate the assault, planning with the utmost diligence. Maeglin had furnished Morgoth with complete 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.
Elves facing a dragon amid the fire - by Justin Gerard
Turgon, High King of the Ñoldor, fell defending the citadel of the city, after refusing to leave it out of pride. Ecthelion of the Fountain fought with Gothmog, High Captain of Angband, in the Place of the Fountain near the Fountain of the King. Gothmog disarmed Ecthelion but before he could deliver the final blow, Ecthelion leapt upon Gothmog and drove the spike on his helm into Gothmog. The High Captain of Angband lost his balance and the two combatants plunged into the fountain, in which they both drowned. With the enemy prevailing, Tuor and Idril gathered as many of their people as they could find and attempted to escape the city through a secret passageway in the mountains. Before they could escape however, they were confronted by Maeglin in the high mountain passes of the city, and he attempted to steal away Idril. Tuor fought him and cast him off of a high ledge to his death. Within the high passes, the group then encountered a Balrog (possibly Lungorthin) commanding a contingent of Orcs. Glorfindel fought the demon, driving him to the cliff's edge, but as the Balrog began to stumble over it, he grabbed Glorfindel by his golden hair, and both fell to their death.
Despite the defenders' effort, Gondolin was overrun and sacked. Morgoth's victory over his foes was now entirely complete, and the last of the great Elven kingdoms in exile was no more. Ultimately however, the prophecy regarding Morgoth's downfall coming from the House of Turgon would still come to pass. For Eärendil, son of Tuor and Idril and grandson of Turgon, would later succeed in voyaging to Valinor to plead for aid in overthrowing Morgoth. The Valar, despite having vowed to let the Ñoldor suffer the consequences of their foolishness in pursuing Morgoth, would relent and end Morgoth's presence in Arda once and for all.
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 a 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 of Númenor and Middle-earth 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[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter III: "The Fall of Gondolin"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXIII: "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lays of Beleriand, "II. Poems Early Abandoned"