Alone of the Valar He Knew Fear

It is compelling! In fact, looking at the people Morgoth’s specifically said to fear, you end up with a very interesting list: Varda: “Melkor she knew from before the making of the Music and rejected him, and he hated her, and feared her more than all others whom Eru made.” Arien: “And Arien Morgoth feared…

This is an excerpt from “The Fall of Gondolin.” Though the story is part of the Silmarillion, this is a much older and more detailed version found in The Book of Lost Tales (Part 2.) If any of the name seem weird (like sometimes elves are called “gnomes”, and Morgoth is called Melko), that’s because it’s…

Gothmog and Ecthelion

I think it’s important to remember that Tolkien wrote the story of the Fall of Gondolin before he wrote almost anything else about Middle Earth, so in a lot of ways (even after years of revision) it helps to think of it as a more isolated story. Keeping that in mind, here’s why (I think)…

Timeline of Gondolin

Hope you don’t mind, but I expanded this a bit to make it a more general timeline of events in/concerning Gondolin. All dates take place in the First Age. 50: Ulmo sends his vision to Turgon and Finrod, encouraging them to build hidden kingdoms. 53: Turgon discovers the valley of Tumladen, the future site of…

Archive Monday

Happy Archive Monday! There are a lot of repeat questions this week, so if you’re waiting to see your question answered, be sure to check below the cut!! Otherwise, enjoy this week’s batch of posts from the archives (today’s theme is Gondolin): Gondolin: The City of Seven Names Turgon’s Heir Sindarin Elves in Gondolin? The…

Gondolin: The City of Seven Names

Though it’s not really mentioned in The Silmarillion, in the older Book of Lost Tales version of Gondolin, Tolkien makes a point of telling the reader that Gondolin was known as the City of Seven Names. And, true to Tolkien’s unflappable love of names, he proceeds to actually list the seven names: Gondobar am I…