The Fall of Gondolin

By: Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West

Presented for the first time as a standalone work, the epic tale of The Fall of Gondolin reunites fans of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings with Elves, Balrogs, Dragons & Orcs and the rich landscape unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth. This brand new unabridged audio book is read by Timothy West & Samuel West.

Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable, is central to the enmity of two of the greatest powers in the world.

Morgoth of the uttermost evil seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city of his Elven enemies, while the gods in Valinor refuse to support Ulmo Lord of Waters' designs to protect it.

Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, and guided unseen by Ulmo he sets out on the fearful journey to Gondolin to warn them of their coming doom. Then 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.

©2018 J. R. R. Tolkien (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Never did [Tolkien] write a more sustained account of battle. With dragons and fiery balrogs galore, the attack on Gondolin makes Peter Jackson’s souped-up cinema battles look like tabletop games." (The Times)

"It’s a load-bearing pillar in the grander narrative that eventually came to encompass better-known works. Tolkien explicitly expressed his wish later in life that the three Great Tales of Middle-earth’s early days — The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin — along with The Lord of the Rings and other writings, should be considered as 'one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings'." (Entertainment Weekly)

"The text is rife with references to characters and creatures that come to play a role in The Lord of the Rings...one passage in particular seems to set up one of the most famous scenes from the LOTR trilogy." (Time)

inside the mind of J R R Tolkien

This story has numerous versions, which make difficult to follow, without considerable effort. Tolkien has a style that draws you in, and makes uou want more of the story.

Loved the extra insights!

It was cool to hear the extra insights and notes that Tolkien had to be able to understand better how all of these stories were created.

Wonderful tale and a great narration

A great dive into Tolkien's world and the dual narrator scheme works wonders. A must for all Tolkien fans

pronunciation

I have a hard time with pronunciation of the names but over all a fun listen.

Good but short

Main story was really good. After that is changes that J. R R tolkien made which takes away from the main story. I do wish the main story was longer. But again another solid book.

Excellent

One of my favorite books. The narrators are outstanding, they make the book feel magical in a way

Another facet in jewels created by JRR Tolkien

Like all of Tolkien's tales, you are drawn into the details as a secret unfolding, as history heretofore whispered but long remembered, time before time.

A Fascinating Look at a Great Tale.

This was a genuinely interesting look at the formation of a pivotal story in Tolkien's greater legenarium.

Wowzer

Loved it - Children of Hurin levels of heroics, but one great stand right after another in rapid-fire. An experience, to be sure. Plus great insight from Christopher's notes/commentary. Very, very good.

Beautiful

Christopher Tolkien’s latest editions, The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and finally, The Fall of Gondolin, weave in a mix of storytelling and editorial remarks, and wonderful synthesis of difficult underlying materials, the main stories of Tolkien’s mythology of the elder days. The characters and the stories are beautiful and sad at the same time. And for lovers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, these editions create the complex backstory for all the events and poetry and allusions in those amazing stories.

You can also see the great love of Christopher for these stories that became his life’s work until his death in his 90s shortly after the publication of the Fall of Gondolin.

It’s not always easy reading or listening to these editions because they are not continuous novels, rather shorter and longer fragments of stories that Christopher lovingly weaves into one coherent story with multiple and sometimes alternating strands, I would say, like a musical piece and it’s variations yet with one theme. Maybe the music of the Ainur? Rest in peace, Christopher. And thanks.

I should also say that the two readers have done a beautiful job playing the alternating roles of narrator and editor’s voice.

And of course, there is J. R. R. Tolkien’s marvelous imagination and story that has something enduring still to tell our troubled world about itself.