Part III: A City and a Mission from (the sea) God
Gondolin was founded by King Turgon, who is not our protagonist but is the most tragic figure in this story in a lot of ways (Is he though? There’s a lot of those.). The city was located in a hidden mountain valley that was ringed by mountains that were damn near impassable except for secret tunnels. After Morgoth delivered the curb-stomping to end all curb-stompings to the elves in an event they call the battle of unnumbered tears (Now THAT is a name.), King Turgon lead his people to this valley that he had been lead to by servants of Ulmo, who is the god of the sea (it's more complicated than that but we're going to keep it simple [There are several different sea gods, each with different aspects of our Dark Mother the Sea. Think of it as a Valinar overgod of the Sea, with several Maiar gods who handle the minutae]). Here almost a 1/3rd of Feanor's nation hid out, hoping to hold this small patch of peace against all the armies of darkness by being unknown and unnoticed. Morgoth, however, knew they were out there somewhere and like a gamer who will not rest until he's gotten all the achievements for his latest console game, hunts them unceasingly. Enter our main character, the mortal man Tuor, a dude who is gonna reshape middle earth and do a good part of that in bed. Warning, spoilers are coming up!
Now, most of humanity has thrown in with Morgoth at this point because he's basically unchallenged on Middle Earth and everyone saw what fighting him got the elves. However, there were a number of tribes, houses, and nations that fought alongside the elves and Morgoth never forgave that. Because he's Satan and Satan doesn't forgive (Morgoth is an even bigger capricious dick than the biblical God of the Old Testament. <Editor pokes the Christian reviewer because this is day three of editing and he deserves this>{you deserved it and you know I can pull out enough events to justify that statement 3 times over}). One of these groups of humans was the House of Hador, whose army was wiped out covering King Turgon's retreat. So they were enslaved by the humans who served Morgoth and this was the world that Tuor was born into in. Despite that, he grows into a strong and intelligent man and becomes an outlaw when he realizes his favorite pastime is killing Morgoth's servants (He demands 500 Morgothian scalps). His life is changed however when, through divine intervention, he's lead to the seaside and given a mission from (the sea) god Ulmo. Ulmo has had enough of Morgoth's crap and can convince the rest of the gods to get off their shiny thrones and work for a living just this once but the gods want to see one more effort from the elves and mortals. Because gods, in general, won't do anything unless they know the mortals are gonna do the heavy lifting, write that on your hand (The Valinar really are worse than useless. “Oh, we won’t do anything to stop our Evil Brother unless the mortals do all the work. Nevermind that we cursed the Elves for going to try. This really is all our fault but whatever.”). So Tuor needs to take a message to King Turgon for Ulmo explaining the situation. Of course, Tuor has no idea where Gondolin is and is also Middle Earth's Most Wanted right now. However, Ulmo provides, mainly through a magic cloak that makes Tuor unnoticeable and a new elf buddy who knows the way to Gondolin. Tuor’s role in the story is a heroic one, but in the end, it’s to do what he is told. He keeps faith with Ulmo and does what Ulmo instructs him to do. Later he follows the advice of his wife, keeping faith with her. Tuor is the faithful man but not a passive one because he understands that true faith impels action. He is also rewarded for his faith (Oh Good, he didn’t end up like Job! Poor Job.) but let’s keep going.
Once there, Tuor delivers Ulmo's message. It's time to shit or get off the pot, either arm up and gather up the remaining elves and loyal humans and fight one last battle - where Ulmo promises divine aid and that the orcs will be so crushed that they will never again bother the good people of Middle Earth - or gather the people of the city and make a run to the sea where Ulmo will take them away to sanctuary. If they don't Gondolin is surely doomed because nothing stays hidden forever and most of them will die in fire and pain. This is the pivotal moment of the tale because Turgon has a choice; to either trust in Ulmo for victory and safety or do nothing and seal his own doom (And because the God of Fate cursed his people, we all know what he’s gonna do.). King Turgon refuses to leave his city, trusting in his own secrecy and work to ensure his safety and his lack of faith destroys the largest remaining part of his nation. This is a recurring theme in the greater mythology of Middle Earth, that a lack of faith dooms people to greater suffering and pain even if it seems the easier act in the short term. It's also one of the places where Tolkien's deep abiding Christian faith surges into full view as part of the story. Don't get me wrong, Tolkien's Christian beliefs undergird and create the foundation for everything in Middle Earth but here it's right out in the open. King Turgon’s pride in his own intelligence and skill prevents him from keeping faith and he’ll pay for that (In fairness, if I knew there were gods, and those gods were fucking useless most of the time… so my take-home message is that deities are all either assholes or complete idiots. These are, after all, the morons who gave Morgoth work-release. When he killed the light trees, they should have gendered up and gone after him. Instead, they cursed the mortals for doing it.). I do want to suggest a quick alternate theory for those of you who would prefer a non-theological explanation though. Turgon is a blood relation of Feanor, through his father, Feanor's half brother Fingolfin. As such it's entirely possible that he was on a genetic level just incapable of refusing to make the most drama-laden choice of telling a god thanks but no thanks, I'm going to hang out and wait for Satan. Especially after centuries of doing the smart thing and keeping drama to a minimum. Either way, Turgon's choice means that his descendants will have to fight the orcs until the last elf leaves Middle Earth and humanity will have to solve this problem the hard way (Given that these deities are about as useful as Hedonism Bot when it comes to taking down Morgoth, is there really any guarantee that had he taken the other options, that things would have turned out any better? Ulmo can promise Divine Aid all he wants, but ultimately the rest of the Valar are responsible for Morgoth in the first place. If they can offer divine aid to help the mortals attack Morgoth, certainly they could use that same Divine Aid to help them defend Gondolin. Ah yes, but that isn’t the point. The point is to punish the mortals for not keeping faith with a pantheon of quasi-deities that have shown themselves to be spectacularly useless, and were even cursed into making bad decisions by said quasi-deities.). Everything in this story is decided from this choice and Professor Tolkien doesn't flinch from this but rides it down in flames on a level you won't see exceeded until R Scott Bakker starts writing (Content Warning on literally everything that man writes. For what, you ask? Everything.). Turgon, however, isn't all bad, he invites Tuor to stay as a member of his family and Tuor says yes after getting one look at the elf princess Idril.
Idril is a princess of elf kind, born at the zenith of their power and glory in Middle Earth and like Luthien, her mother was a minor goddess however her mother had well... Died (it's a complicated story), so Idril had to learn and grow on her own but she was already wiser than her father and argued with him in favor of Tuor and his message. She also falls in love with Tuor and in time they are married and have a son. It's on her advice that the plan which allowed them to escape the fall of the city is hatched and carried out, and her own action that saves her son from death during the Sack of Gondolin. Idril’s role here is, well, to be the smart sane person. She’s the one who comes up with the idea of creating an escape tunnel of their own. She’s the one who figures out who can be trusted and who can’t. The city does fall in time and Tolkien gives us a tale of horror, treason, and tragedy, all the worse because if one person had had an ounce more faith then this all could have been avoided and much of the pain and suffering of Middle Earth avoided (Funny how those deities punish an entire civilization for the stupidity of one person.). However, even in that horror, Tolkien weaves drops of hope and light. Idril and Tuor work together to lead an escape and while many dies, many are saved and they find a safe place to settle. Furthermore, it is their son who shall fulfill Ulmo's plan and deliver the salvation of Middle Earth, not once but twice... In a way (remember what I said about Tuor reshaping Middle Earth from his Bed?).
The reward of Tuor and Idril for their faith and their actions to hold to their faith is not just escape from the city. They also find sanctuary for their people and their son. Earendil, their son, grows up free and safe. He learns to fight, sail, and more. He also finds and marries a lovely woman named Elwing, who happens to be the granddaughter of Beren and Luthien. They have two sons, named Elrond and Elros. Now when the gods finally got off their pampered butts, mostly because Earendil figured out how to goad them into action, they were all given a choice of immortality or becoming mortal. Elrond chooses immortality and stays in Middle Earth. Elros chooses to be mortal and after living a long life, dies. Thousands of years later, one of Elros’ descendants would return to Elrond, a ranger of the north, heir to two kingdoms and in love with Elrond’s daughter. If you have seen the movies, you know the rest of this story.
The Fall of Gondolin is a tale of hubris and tragedy. It is a tale where faithless family members sell an entire people into destruction to save themselves. Where the loss of faith by one man can doom an entire people and where everyone pays the price for bad leadership and their own unwillingness to call out that bad leadership (My anti-deity message here is obvious.). It is also a story of hope in the darkest hour and how no disaster is so complete that something can't be saved from it through faith and wise prior planning (Wise prior planning is important. Honestly, I don’t think that faith is important when it comes to the conclusion that Gondolin could not stay secret from Satan forever.). So even in the darkest hour and if everything seems bleak, know that there is a light on the other side of the suffering. It's honestly a powerful and thoughtful story in every version. That said, I do think the book would have limited value to a person who wasn't a Tolkien fan. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who, for example, couldn't really bear the Fellowship of the Ring (Hah! That pun has layers.) and in some versions, the language is very similar to that used in The Silmarillion. Which doesn't bother me because I grew up with the King James Bible, so the language choice in The Silmarillion just makes me feel vaguely nostalgic. However, some of y'all may find the language dense and dry. I also find the book fascinating because it gives us a window into the process of Professor Tolkien and his never-ending struggle to build the world of Middle Earth, which made the fictional world in many ways a living, breathing thing that grew and changed and evolved. If you have an interest in such a process then the book is of some value to you I think. Now I greatly enjoyed it and I'm giving the Fall of Gondolin by Professor JRR Tolkien an A but with the warning that you need to know the context here to get the full experience.
I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with us through this multi-part experiment. If this is something you enjoyed, consider joining us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads. A dollar a month allows you a vote on upcoming reviews! Next week we'll be reviewing The Devouring Void, by Mark Rogers book II of the blood of the lamb series and that review will be just a single part review. Until then, thank you and Keep Reading!
Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen
Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders.
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