This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes, and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar.
Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs.
Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Eärendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo.
At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Túrin and Idril, with the child Eärendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources.
Following his presentation of Beren and Lúthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was 'the first real story of this imaginary world' and, together with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, he regarded it as one of the three 'Great Tales' o… (more)
I was about to give up and rate it DNF, when I got to page 145 (The Last Version) and things stopped being dry and started getting interesting. So, roughly 60 pages (out of 302) kept my interest.
A narrativa principal da missão de Tuor, e a que começa renarrando com mais detalhes sua viagem são ambas notáveis e de fato, se costuradas, dariam um bom livro, que possivelmente poderia prosseguir narrando os infortunados aficcionados por Silmarilions, Maedhros e Maglor (embora isso fosse efetivamente entulhar a construção da saga). Então, diferentemente da fraca história de Lúthien e Beren, temos um bom material aqui. Mas o fato de Tolkien pai ter levado a sério demais seu próprio mundo ficcional a ponto de não terminar quase nada, combinado com um filho demasiado escrupuloso, que quer dar um tratamento quase-científico aos textos, torna de novo a leitura truncada, incompleta, e meramente para fãs. Como disse em outra ocasião, não que os fãs não gostem, mas talvez parte deles sejam como eu - que gostam fazendo cara feia. ( )
A continuation of my reading of The Silmarillion. According to JRRT notes, The Fall of Gondolin was to be an important part of the world and ages he was creating. I find Christopher’s piecing together versions from scraps here and there to references in correspondence across the decades to be nothing short of miraculous. And having finished this book, makes me wonder what might have been had JRRT been able to complete the world he envisioned I listened to the audiobook while reading the text and have to give a shout out to Timothy and Samuel West who provide an absolutely amazing narration of the book. ( )
The story follows one of the Noldor, Tuor, who sets out to find Gondolin; during his journey, he experiences what the publisher described as "one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth": when Ulmo, the sea-god, rises out of the ocean during a storm.
When Tuor arrives in Gondolin, he becomes a great man and the father of Eärendel, an important character in Tolkien's The Silmarillion. But Morgoth attacks, with Balrogs, dragons and orcs, and as the city falls, Tuor, his wife Idril and the child Eärendel escape, "looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city".
"They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources," said HarperCollins.
[John] Garth said The Fall of Gondolin contains Tolkien's "biggest battle narrative outside of The Lord of the Rings", but he predicted the "capstone" of the book would be the "exquisite" piece of writing in which Tolkien attempted to tell the whole story again, in the novelistic style of The Lord of the Rings. "In the first (finished version) of the story, you feel like you’re reading The Iliad," he said. "This one (which is unfinished), is more naturalistic."
According to HarperCollins, Tolkien saw The Fall of Gondolin as one of his three "great tales" of the Elder Days, along with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin. The latter title was also a bestseller, after Christopher Tolkien completed the text left behind by his father and published it in 2007.
[Several below-the-line comments on the review point out that Tuor was not one of the Noldor, but a mortal man].
Information from the Swedish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
In my preface to Beren and Lúthien I remarked that 'in my ninety-third year this is (presumptively) the last book in the long series of editions of my father's writings'. [preface]
I will begin this book by returning to the quotation that I used to open Beren and Lúthien: a letter written by my father in 1964, in which he said that 'out of my head' he wrote The Fall of Gondolin 'during sick-leave from the army in 1917', and the original version of Beren and Lúthien in the same year. [prologue]
Quotations
Last words
Information from the Swedish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
These last words refer to the rebellious Noldor who left Valinor and in Middle-earth became known as the Exiles.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes, and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar.
Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs.
Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Eärendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo.
At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Túrin and Idril, with the child Eärendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources.
Following his presentation of Beren and Lúthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was 'the first real story of this imaginary world' and, together with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, he regarded it as one of the three 'Great Tales' o
▾Library descriptions
No library descriptions found.
▾LibraryThing members' description
Book description
In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwe, chief of the Valar. Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs. Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Turin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Earendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo. At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Tuor and Idril, with the child Earendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Earendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources. Following his presentation of Beren and Luthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was `the first real story of this imaginary world' and, together with Beren and Luthien and The Children of Hurin, he regarded it as one of the three 'Great Tales' of the Elder Days.
)
)
)
)
Google Books — Loading...
Wikipedia in English
1