The Fall of Gondolin

by Eonwe-(Valar)-ex
February 21, 1999 First Installment
February 22, 1999 Second Installment
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Of the Treachery of Meglin (Maeglin)
Of the Lords and their Battle Array:
    The White Wing
    Folk of the Mole
    Swallow & Heavenly Arch
    Pillar & Tower of Snow
    Folk of the Tree
    Golden Flower
    Fountain
    Harp
    Hammer of Wrath
    House of the King
Preparations
see also The Seven Gates of Gondolin

Of the  Treachery of Meglin (Maeglin)

    Meglin was the son of Aredhel, sister of the king, and Eol, a dark elf who
lived on the outskirts of Beleriand. As it happened, Aredhel left Gondolin
to seek the world one day, with a group of Noldor warriors. There was a
raid, and she became seperated from her bodyguard. She stumbled upon the
dwelling of Eol, and there she married him and bore him a child, Meglin.
After awhile, Aredhel desired to return to Gondolin, but Eol would not let
her. One day, Eol left on a trip that was to take many weeks, and it was
then that Aredhel gathered up her belongings, and Meglin, and hurried away,
back to Gondolin. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I will discuss this
more later, Eol came home early. Finding his wife gone, he tracked her and
came, eventually, to the hidden city.
    He came before the king, and pleaded his case, and the king said that he
must stay. Hearing these words, Eol fell into a rage, siezing a spear, he
hurled it at Meglin with all his strength. Aredhel, seeing the deadly dart
in flight, leaped directly in its path, and was smitten in the side. Turgon
placed Eol in confinement, to await trial in the morning. As the wound was
seen to be minor, Aredhel and others tried to convince the king to be
merciful. Then, in the night, Aredhel sickened and died, the dart being
poisioned, and Turgon, in a towering rage, had Eol thrown off a cliff. 
    Meglin lived and prospered in Gondolin, for he was skilled in arms, and
seemed good, but he had one fault. He was enamored of the beauty of Idril
his first cousin and daughter of Turgon. Jealousy gnawed at his heart, as he
knew he could never have her, and when Tuor married Idril, Meglin's jealousy
was turned to him in full force.
    Meglin, in order to quiet his spirit I
believe, worked long and hard, hewing the rocks of Amon Gwareth, and delving
into the dark secret places to find precious gems. As it happened, one day he
delved too far, and was taken by Melkor. The torture he was subjected to was
great, and though he was not a craven, he eventually succumbed, and provided
the enemy with the location of Gondor, and how it might best be assailed.
    Melkor released him back to Gondolin to further his treachery, and to wait
for the day when Melkor would take over.
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Of the  Lords and their Battle Array

The  White WIng

    Tuor was lord of the folk of the White Wing; they bore the shape of wings on
their helmets. They were of the stoutest of folk. Little is said about them
however, except that Voronwë was in that band, the elf who many years ago
brought Tuor to the city of the Gondolithrim
 

The Folk of the  Mole

    Meglin (Maeglin) was lord of the folk of the Mole. Sable was their harness,
but they bore no sign or emblem of any sort, save that their round caps of
steel were covered in moleskin. They all wielded double-sided axes. They
were all however, utterly loyal to their lord, who was a traitor.
 

The Twin Folk of the  Swallow and the Heavenly Arch

    These were the greatest bowmen, and their numbers were strung out along the
outer wall. The folk of the swallow bore feathers on their battle-helms, and
their colors were white, and dark blue, and purple, and black, and they bore
a purple arrowhead upon their shields. Their lord was Duilin, fastest runner
and surest archer of the Gondolithrim.
    The men of the Heavenly Arch were a
people of uncounted wealth. They were arrayed in a glory of colors, and
every single soldier had arms covered and encrusted with gems. Every shield
was blue and its boss a jewel built of seven gems, rubies, and amethysts,
and sapphires, crysoprase, topaz and amber, and an opal of great size
adorned ever helm. Egalmoth was their chieftain, and he bore, alone of the
Noldoli, a curved sword, but he trusted more to a bow, and could shoot
farther then any others among the host..
 

The Twin Folk of the  Pillar and the Tower of Snow

    Little is said about these, except that both were under the command of
Penlod, tallest of the Noldoli.
 

The Folk of the  Tree

    A great house, their rainment was green. They fought with iron studded clubs
or with slings. Their lord was Galdor, and he was held to be the most
valiant of the Noldor, save Turgon alone.
 

The House of the Golden  Flower

    Their lord was Glorfindel, who later in the retreat from Gondolin, saved the
lives of many by fighting on a narrow pinacle of rock with a balrog, where
both fell to ruin in the abyss, and whose body was retrieved by Thoronder,
the king of Eagles himself, and buried with honor. They bore a rayed sun on
their shields, on Glorfindel wore a mantle so broidered in threads of gold,
that it was diapered in Celadine as a field in spring, and his arms were
damascened with cunning gold.
 

The People of the  Fountain

    Ecthelion was their lord, and the lord of the Fountain of the King, and
Silver and Diamond their delight. They bore longswords and went into battle
with the music of the harp.
 

The Folk of the  Harp

    A battalion of brave warriors, yet their leader Salgant was a coward, and
fawned upon Maeglin. It must be pointed out, that Salgant himself remained
true to Gondolin, and did no treachery, and would sing and joke with the
baby Earendil to make him smile. They were dight with tassels of silver and
gold, and a silver harp shone in their blazonry on a field of black. Salgant
himself bore one of gold, and he alone of the Noldoli rode into battle, and
was heavy and squat.
 

The  Hammer of Wrath

    Their leader was Rog, strongest of the Noldor, and scarce second in valor to
Galdor of the tree. Of these many were smiths, and they reverenced Aule the
Smith, more then any other Ainur. They fought with great maces like hammers,
for their arms were very strong due to all their work at the anvil. In older
days, many of this host were Noldoli who were rescued from the mines of
Melkor, and their hatred for him and his Balrogs were very strong. Their
sign was a stricken anvil, and their shields bore a hammer that smiteth
sparks about it. Very numerous was this house, and none had a faint-heart,
and in the struggle against doom, they won the greatest glory, yet none were
fated to return from the battle alive, of all that great host..

The House of the  King

    Little is said of this house, except that their colors were white and gold
and red, and their emblems the moon, the sun, and the Scarlet Heart, the
heart being in the earlier version, the heart of Finwe Noleme, Turgon's
father, cut out at the battle of Nirneath Aronediad, and retrieved by Turgon
himself. The nearest parallel I can draw in the Silmarillion, would be that
of Fingon, Turgon's brother, slain as he grappled alone with Gothmog lord of
Balrogs.
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Of the  Preparations Made Before and During the Battle

    Many years before, Idril had had what we mortals would term a premonition.
She asked Tuor to prepare a secret way through the Vale of Tumladen to
safety.
    Just before the battle, a council of war was held. Tuor counciled
that the city be abandoned as lost, and to issue forth in a mighty sally
upon the plains before the heat of Melkor and his balrogs grew too great, but
asked counsel on whether it should be a concentrated effort of the entire
force with the maids and children in the center, or composed of diverse
bands seeking out in many different directions, and to this last Tuor
leaned, and most among the chieftans likewise.
    Meglin and Salgant alone
spoke of staying to the city and trying to protect what they held, Meglin
out of guile and an attempt to make sure that none of the Noldor escaped
alive, and Salgant out of fear. Meglin spoke to the kings one weakness, and
spoke of all the beauty of the city, and the things crafted therein that
they would leave behind.
    And Turgon groaned, for Meglin had known his great
love of the wealth and jewels of that city upon Amon Gwareth. And thus, that
was the plan he put forth.
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The Fall of Gondolin

    "Gondobar am I called, and Gondothlimbar, The City of Stone, and the City of
the Dwellers in Stone; Gondolin the Stone of Son and Gwarestrin am I named,
The Tower of the Guard; Gar Thurion, for I am hidden from the eyes of
Melko..."

    "And now came the monsters across the valley, and the white towers of
Gondolin reddened before them."

    Long had Morgoth prepared in secret for this
battle, and had crafted, through Meglin's cunning, the first of the great
serpents, to use in this battle. The stoutest of the Gondolithrim were in
dread of those great dragons of bronze and fire, and sent arrow after
unavailing arrow at them. Yet there was hope yet, for the Serpents could not
ascend the steep hill of Amon Gwareth. Yet they lay at the base, and a great
steam arose where the fire of the serpents and the water of the stream of
Amon Gwareth mingled. There grew such a heat that women became faint and men
sweated to weariness beneath their armor, and all the fountains of the city,
save only the Fountain of the King, grew hot and smoked.
    Then Gothmog, Lord
of Balrogs, gathered all his things of iron that could coil themselves
around and above all obstacles before them and bade them to pile themselves
before the northern gate. Their great heaviness caused the gate to fall in a
great clamor, yet most of the walls held firm.
    The siege machines of
Gondolin poured fire, boulders and darts upon those creatures, and yet to
no avail, for their iron bodies would not break.
    Then the topmost of the
iron things opened around their middles, and countless orcs poured out, and
into the breach.
    Then did Rog of the Hammer of Wrath, and Galdor of the Tree
leap at the foe. There, it is said, the hammer and clubs felled the orcs like
so many leaves upon the wind, and the folk of the Swallow and the Arch
poured down arrows like rain upon them, and both Gondothlim and Orc fell
amid the confusion.
    Yet for all their valor, the Noldoli were steadily
pushed backwords, merely by the dint of the great number of foemen, till the
Orcs held a part of the northernmost city.
    All this time Meglin was not
idle; he had found out about Tuor's secret delving, although he knew not
all, and that proved well. He deemed that Tuor's tunnel must eventually lead
to the anciently prepared Way of Escape, which was there, many years ere
Tuor came to the city. Thinking this, he sent many secret messages to
Melkor, advising him to fortify the Way of Escape, so that none might leave
that way.
    Then he went to Tuor's dwelling, thinking to at long last, seize
Idril for his own, and gain the secret of the passage, and thus escape the
fire and slaughter, and thinking to cast Earendil into the flames. Of Tuor's
death in the burning, he was sure, for he had constrained Salgant to delay
him in the Hall of the King, and egg him into the deadliest and fiercest
part of the fray.
    Unfortunately for his designs, Salgant fell into a great
terror of death, and rode home and lay aquake on his bed, and Tuor rode home
with the folk of the Wing. Although Tuor's valor leapt to the noise of war,
he flew home to take farewell with Idril and Earendil and to speed them down
his secret way with a bodyguard, ere he returned to the battle to die if he
must.
    Returning, he found a press of the folk of the Mole about the door,
who were the worst that Meglin could find in the city. Yet they were not
thralls of Melkor, and would not aid Meglin in his design, but neither would
they constrain him. Meglin had Idril by the hair and struggled to pull her
to the battlement so she could see the fall of Earendil in the flames, yet he
struggled with her, for for all her grace and beauty, she fought like a
tiger.
    Tuor, seeing this, gave a shout so great, the Orcs heard it from afar
and wavered from the sound of it. Then the men of the Wing, though less in
number, were upon the men of the Mole like a tempest.
    Then Meglin tried to
stab Earendil with a shirt knife he had, but a hidden coat of cunningly
crafted mail, given to Earendil by Idril, deflected the blow. Then Tuor was
upon him, and his wrath was terrible to see: he siezed the arm holding the
knife, broke it and then, grabbing Meglin by the middle, he cast him over
the wall. Three times Meglin smote the slopes of Amon Gwareth as he fell,
and perished. All the men of the Mole are then destroyed as well.
    Tuor then went back into the fray, but left with Idril and Earendil, Voronwe and
some other swordsmen, to guard them as they left.
    Now was the battle at the gate very evil indeed. Duilin, Lord of the folk of the Swallow, was felled by
a firey bolt from a Balrog who leapt upon the base of Amon Gwareth as he
fired arrow after arrow from the wall. And the Balrogs continued to loose
firey arrows and burning rocks upon the Gondolithrim; worse are those of
the Balrogs who leapt upon the coils of the serpents to fire farther out, and
set the city aflame to the back of the defenders.
    Then up leapt Rog of the
Hammer of Wrath, and called in a great voice, "Who now shall fear the Balrogs
for all their terror?  See before us the accursed ones who have tormented
the children of the Noldoli and now set a fire at our backs with their
shooting. Come ye of the Hammer of Wrath and we will smite them for their
evil."
    Then the men of the Stricken Anvil came behind like a wedge, and
sparks came from their eyes from the fury of their rage. A great deed was
that sally, and many Orcs were born backwards into the fires below, and yet
Rog and his men leapt even upon the coils of the great serpents, and come at
those balrogs and smote them greivously and battered them into nought, or
catching at their whips, wielded them against them, and they tore them, even
as aforetime they had torn the Gnomes.
    And the number of Balrogs that were
slain were a marvel, and a dread to the host of Melkor, for ere that day,
never had any Balrog been slain by man or elf. 
    And Gothmog ordered thus, a few Balrogs came before the
men of the Hammer, and fell before them, but a great number contrived to
come behind them, so that Rog could not win back to the city without great
slaughter among their troops.
    Yet Rog, seeing this, essayed not to win back,
but to fall on those whose part was to fall before him, and they fell back,
no longer out of craft, but out of dire need. Down onto the plain were they
harried and their shrieks rent the air of the vale of Tumladen. Then the
folk of Rog went about, hewing and smiting the astonished bands of Melko,
till they were hemmed at least by an overwhelming band of Orcs and Balrogs,
and a fire drake was loosed upon them. There did they perish, hewing to the
last until iron and flame overcame them, and it is sung that each of the
Hammer of Wrath took seven foemen to pay for his own.
None of the Hammer of Wrath lived ever to carry the
tale from the city.
    At the loss of Rog and his battalion, dread fell heavily
on the Gondolithrim, and they gave back further into the city, and there
Penlod perished, with his back to the wall, and about him, many of the
Pillar, and many of the Tower of Snow.
    Now Melkor held the gate, and much of
the walls to either side, whence number of the folk of the Swallow and the
Rainbow were thrust to their doom, arching from the walls to the last.
(There was no folk of the Rainbow, so I think what he must mean is the folk
of the Heavenly Arch, the other group of archers, but as I am not sure, I
leave it as it was.)
    And within the city they held a great space, reaching
nigh to the center, and even to The Well, which was adjacent to the Square
of the King. There they halted and took council, and their plan was to hold
what they had won, for the valor of the Noldoli had done away with many more
foemen then was ever expected, and they had lost many more then the
defenders. Yet such were their numbers that they still had much the greater
number even then.  Fearful too were they of the slaughter Rog had done among
the Balrogs, for of those great demons they had great courage, and
confidence of the heart. However, they knew what they had to do, they must
do quickly, for the fire of the great serpents could only be replenished in
the Wells of Melkor, and they were running out.
    But even as their messengers
spread the plan, they heard sweet music, and the enemy feared what it might
mean. And Lo! It was Ecthelion and the people of the Fountain, whom Turgon
had held in reserve and the
crystal and silver of their array was most lovely to see in the red of the
fire and black of the destruction.
    Then the music stopped, and the host of
Ecthelion drew their swords in one motion and, before the Orcs might foresee
his onslaught, the pale blades were flashing among them. 'Tis said that
Ecthelion's folk slew more Orcs in that one battle then fell ever in all the
battles of the Eldalie with that race, and his name is still a terror among
them and a warcry to the Eldar.
    Tuor and the Silver Wing came amongst this
grisly scene and ranged themselves alongside Ecthelion, and the men of the
Fountain, and those twain did many a hard blow strike.
    Then there was a
quaking and a trampling, for the serpents labored mightily at beating a path
up the Amon Gwareth, and the remnant of the Arch of Heaven and the Swallow
still fought there or contested the walls taken by Melkor to the east and west.
    Even as Tuor came near driving the Orcs off, a great serpent of bronze
heaved against the western wall that shakes and falls, and behind it came a
snake of fire, with Balrogs astride it.
    The Orcs took heart at the coming of
the drakes, and minglee with the Balrogs in their wild charge, and assailed the
Gondothlim greviously.
    There Tuor slew the Orc captains Othrod, Balcmeg,
and Lug;  and Ecthelion shore through two captains with one blow, and cleft
the head of Orcobal their chiefest captain. So valorous were those twain,
that they came even among the Balrogs. Ecthelion's sword took three, for it
cleaved the iron of them and did injury to their fire, but they were even
more afraid of Dramborleg, Tuor's axe, for with it he slew five.
    Yet in the end, the numbers began to tell. Ecthelion was
wounded in the arm, and dropped his shield, and he must lean on Tuor, who
could not leave him, even as the trampling feet of the dragon of fire passed
overhead, and it seemed as if they would be crushed.
    Tuor hewed at the foot
of the monster, and flame sprouted forth, and it screamed and lashed with
its tail, slaying many, Orcs and Gnomes both. Tuor then gathered the remnant
of the folk of the Wing, lifted Ecthelion, and led them to escape the drake.
"Thus it was that Tuor son of Peleg gave before the foe, fighting as he
yielded ground, and bore from the battle Ecthelion of the Fountain."
    Then marauding bands wandered the streets and did much ransacking, or slew in the
dark men, women, and children, or, if occasions warranted, bound them and
took them to the Hells of Iron, to serve.
    Now Tuor reached the square of the
Folkwell, and found there Galdor, denying the entrance of the Orcs by the
Arch of Inwe to the west, but about him were none but a few of his men of
the Tree. There did Galdor become the savior of Tuor, for he fell behind,
carrying Ecthelion's body, and stumbled in the dark. The Orcs would have
taken them both, but for the rush of that champion, and the dint of his
iron-shod club. There stood the last remnant of the Wing, and the Heavenly
Arch, and the Swallow, and the Tree, and the Fountain, and by Tuor's advice,
they left the Well, to fortify the adjacent Square of the King.
    There came the last stout gathering of the defenders, before the Square of the Palace
of Turgon. And there were many wounded, and Tuor was weary, for the labors of
the night, and the weight of Ecthelion who was in a deadly swoon. Even as he
led the battalion in by the Road of Arches, there came a great noise, and
Lo! Glorfindel was driven in with the last of the men of the Golden Flower.
They had been ambushed, and Glorfindel had only been able to cut himself
free with great loss.
    It is said that Turgon had sent the men of Salgant
the craven, the folk of the Harp, to their aid, because of the urgency of
the messages sent by Glorfindel. Salgant, however, had lied to his men and
said that they were to garrison the Lesser Market, where Salgant had his
home. Now however, they broke from Salgant and come to the Square, which was
very timely, for a press of triumphant foemen were following Glorfindel to
finish him off. On these the men of the Harp fell upon with great eagerness, and
utterly redeemed the craveness of their lord. However, Salgant's treachery may
have turned out well in the end, more on that later. Leaderless, some fought
over-wrathfully, and many were trapped in flames, or sank before the
breath of the serpents that revelled there.
    Now from the south came
Egalmoth, whose job it had been to man the siege engines. Long since having
given that up, he had decided that situations merited hand-to-hand fighting,
and had gathered those that remained of the Swallow and the Arch and fought
away with that curved sword of his.
    Then, suddenly, a great drake burst through the barrier
to the north. Tuor stood in the way of the great beast, but became seperated
from Egalmoth and was steadily beaten back, even to the center of the
square. There he was overcome by the heat, before the Fountain of the King,
and beaten down by a great demon, Gothmog himself, Lord of Balrogs, and Son
of Melkor (So it says before it is eventually decided in later stories that
the Valar cannot bear children.)
    It seemed as if Tuor would be killed, but
Lo! Suddenly Ecthelion, The Lord of the Fountain, his face the pallor of
grey steel, and his shield arm hanging useless at his side, came before
Tuor as he fell, and strove with that great demon. Yet he did not kill
Gothmog, recieving rather a wound in his sword arm. Then, Ecthelion, Lord of
the Fountain, fairest of the Noldoli, wounded in both arms, leapt, full at
Gothmog, even as that Balrog raised his whip, to give Ecthelion his
deathblow, as he had so many others, (Fingon, Prince of the Noldoli, for
one.) Ecthelion leapt, and drove the spike on his helm full into Gothmog's
breast. (Amid cries of "Thats using his head" Eonwe continues. I'm sorry guys,
I've been typing for awhile, and I needed a joke, not that this is not a
voluntary action...anyways, continue reading). Twining his legs around
Gothmog's, Ecthelion hurled himself backwards into the Fountain of the King. The
Balrog yelled, and fell forward, and the fire of his being was extinguished
in the Fountain, and he perished, along with Ecthelion, who, steel-laden,
sank into the depths, and so perished the Lord of the Fountain, after fiery
battle in cool waters.
    Now Tuor had arisen again, at the fall of Ecthelion,
and he was much grieved, but being wrapped in battle, he scarce cut his way
to the folk about the palace.
    Then, seeing the wavering of the enemy at the
fall of their Captain and Champion, the Royal Guard came down and laid on,
and the King himself came down in great splendor, and hewed with his men,
for he was great in arms, and they swept back much of the Square. Of the
Balrogs, they slew two score, which is very great prowess indeed, but still
greater deeds did they do. They hemmed in a fire-drake, for all its flaming,
and forced it into the Fountain of the King, where Gothmog and Ecthelion had
received their end, and their it received its end, for the fire of its heart
was quenched, yet therein, the Fountain received its end as well, for it,
like all the other fountains so early in the battle, like the hope of the
Gondolithrim, went up in smoke.
    Then dread fell on all, for the doom of the
fountain, and all the Royal Household were killed by the heat, and by
the foe, and by the serpent,and by one another in the confusion of the
scalding mists and burning smog.
    But a body of them protected the King, and
there was a rally of them beneath Glingol and Bansil (stone replicas of the
Two Trees.)
    Then said the King "Great is the Fall of Gondolin," and the
people shuddered, for such were the words of Amnon the Prophet of old.
    And Tuor spoke in a wild ruth, and for love of the King "Gondolin stands, and
Ulmo will not suffer it to perish."
    But Turgon replied "Evil have I brought
upon the Flower of the Plain in despite of Ulmo, and he now leaves it to
whither in fire. Lo! No more hope is in my heart for my city of loveliness,
but the children of the Noldoli shall not be worsted forever. Fight not
against doom, O, my children. Seek those who may, safety in flight, but let
Tuor have your fealty.
    Tuor replied "Thou art King."
    To which Turgon replied
"Yet no blow shall I strike more," and cast his crown at the roots of
Glingol, and Galdor picked it up again, but Turgon would not accept it, and
bare of head, acsended the white tower that stood nigh his palace. There he
shouted in a voice like a horn, and the Encircling Mountains rang with his
call "Great is the Victory of the Noldoli!"
    Tis said, that it was then
midnight, and the Orcs laughed with derison.
    Tuor then spoke of the tunnel
he had long labored on, and begged the King to have other mind, and lead the
Noldor through it. Yet the King resisted all efforts to move him, and the
remnant of the Royal House refused to leave without him.
    Then Tuor, torn between leaving and his reverence for the King, stood for a moment
undecided. In the end it was the wailing of the women, and his pity for the
sad remainder of the Gondolithrim that decided him. WIth a sad heart, he
turned away, to lead them to salvation... or death.
    Glorfindel and the men
of the Golden Flower held the rear manfully, on the long retreat, and many
of the Flower fell there. Then Tuor came to Gar Anion, the place of the
Gods, and looked for an evil stand. Yet there was none, and the enemy seemed
already to slacken and scarce any follow them, and that is a wonder. Then
they come to the place of Wedding, and Lo! There is Idril before him, her
hair unbraided, as the day they were wed, and great is Tuor's joy.
    But Idril saw not Tuor, for her gaze was locked upon the Palace of the King, then
all the host halted, and looked back, and their hearts froze, for now they
saw why the foe had pressed them so little.
    Lo! A drake was coiled even on
the very steps of the palace, defiling their whiteness, and all about,
roaming bands of Orcs ransacked and destroyed. The King's Tower was beset.
High up, they could decry, with their keen elven eyesight, the form of the
King, but below lay a great serpent of brass, wrapped around the base,
sawing and rowing with its tail and spouting flame.
    And Idril spoke and
said, "Woe is I whose father awaiteth doom, even upon his utmost pinnacle,
yet seven times woe whose lord hath gone down before Melkor and will stride
home no more."
    And Tuor replied "Lo Idril, it is I, and I live, yet now will
I get thy father hence, be it from the Hells of Melkor!" And distraught with
the grief of his wife, he made as if to walk down the hill alone.
    And yet Idril, coming suddenly to her senses, clasped him about the knees with much
weeping and cries of "My Lord, My Lord", and halted him.
    Yet even as they
spoke a great noise arose from that  place of anguish, and the tower leapt
into flame and in a stab of fire it fell. Great was the fall of Turgon, King
of the Gondolithrim, and for that hour, the victory was to Melko.
    Thus fell the city,  "Gondobar am I called, and Gondothlimbar, The City of Stone, and
the City of the Dwellers in Stone; Gondolin the Stone of Son and Gwarestrin
am I named, The Tower of the Guard; Gar Thurion, for I am hidden from the
eyes of Melko..."
    Until that terrible day.
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My Reflections on the Fall

    The Fall of Gondor. At first glance, a horrible event in the history of
Arda. Yet, without it, I believe, and this may shock you, the victory of
Darkness may have been supreme, and Melkor would reign over all.
    Without the Fall, Earendil and Elwing would never have met, and Elrond and
Elros Tar-Minyatur would never have been born.
    The first would have been
grievous for the Gwaith-i-Mirdain, the Elven-smiths of Nogrod, who he
rescued and brought to Rivendell. Also, there would come a time, when the
world would rest on his knowledge, and it would be needed for the
fullfilment of a quest to save the world by a young lad named Frodo, and his
servant, the valiant Samwise. Also, the birth of Arwen Undomiel, the Star of
the Morning, would never have occured, and who knows what fate that would
have led Aragorn to.
    The second, because without Elros Tar-Minyatur, their
would probably never have been a Numenor, and therefore, no Gondor, no Minas
Tirith; no Boromir, Faramir, Denathor, or Aragorn, and no Elendil for the
Last Alliance, and no Isildur, or Anarion, to contest the might of the
Shadow.
    Another repercussion would be that Earendil would never have gone
over the sea, and met with myself (Eonwe), and brought salvation from Melkor
back to Middle-earth.
    Also, that would mean there would be no Numenor as
well.
    There would be no Star of Earendil, to give hope to the Elves in their
time of need, and Maedhros and Maglor, the surviving sons of Feanor, might
have commited even more atrocities, in order to gain that star that now
blazes in the heavens on Earendil's brow.
    Yet this does not mean that the
Fall of Gondolin was in any way a good thing. Indeed it was a horrible
atrocity, but had it not happened, Middle-earth might be doomed.
    Yet, if Gondolin had stood, who knows what wonderful things would have been brought
into the world? Still, it could not have stayed hidden forever, and after
the death of Tuor who was, after all, a mortal, things might have turned out
very differently.
    I think, as horrible as it might sound, without the Fall
of Gondolin, Middle-earth as we know it would be either destroyed, or
completely under the Shadow. But for the treachery of Maeglin, Middle-earth
might have been doomed. But for the cowardice of Salgant, Middle-earth might
have been doomed. But for the valor of the defenders, to hold out for as
long as they did, Middle-earth might have been doomed. But for the Fall of
Gondolin, Middle-earth might have been doomed. Thus the truth is shown in the statement, Of evil, oft evil marred.
    And thus concludes Eonwe, Herald of Valinor, Standard bearer of Manwe, and Commander of the Host of Valinor.

Reference: Book of Lost Tales 2: "The Fall of Gondolin",

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