Gondolin
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Gondolin was a hidden city of Elves founded by Turgon in the First Age. Named Ondolindë, or “The Rock of the Music of the Water” in Quenya, it was in Sindarin called Gondolin, the “Hidden Rock.” The story, The Fall of Gondolin was the foundational completed tale for all of Tolkien's Middle-earth stories.[1] Its notability lies in that it was the first public appearance of the created fictional world of Middle-earth as Tolkien read it aloud to the Exeter College Essay Club in 1918. In this tale first appears one of Tolkien's main literary themes: the caution against possession which would be repeated throughout Tolkien's major works. In The Lord of the Rings it is the possession of power through the One Ring, in The Silmarillion it is the lust to possess the beauty of the Jewels and in The Fall of Gondolin it is the possession of the city of Gondolin. As recounted in The Silmarillion, the Vala Ulmo, the Lord of Waters, revealed the location of the Vale of Tumladen to the Noldorin Lord Turgon in a dream. Under this divine guidance, Turgon travelled from his kingdom in Nevrast and found the vale. Within the Echoriath, the Encircling Mountains, just west of Dorthonion and east of the River Sirion, lay a round level plain with sheer walls on all sides and a ravine and tunnel leading out to the southwest known as the Hidden Way. In the middle of the vale there was a steep hill which was called Amon Gwareth, the "Hill of Watching". There Turgon decided to found a great city, designed after the city of Tirion in Valinor that the Noldor had left when they went into exile, that would be protected by the mountains and hidden from the Dark Lord Morgoth. Turgon and his people built Gondolin in secret. After it was completed, he took with him to dwell in the hidden city his entire people in Nevrast — almost a third of the Noldor of Fingolfin's House — as well as nearly three quarters of the northern Sindar. He originally named the city Ondolindë, which is Quenya for "The Rock of the Music of Water" after the springs of Amon Gwareth. The name was later changed to its Sindarin form. The Hidden Pass was protected by seven gates, all constantly guarded; the first of wood, then stone, bronze, iron, silver, gold, and steel. The city stood for nearly 400 years until it was betrayed to Morgoth by Maeglin, Turgon's nephew, and sacked by an army of Morgoth the Dark Lord. In addition to orcs and dragons, Morgoth's army, in early versions of the story, included iron machines powered by "internal fires" and used as personnel carriers, to surmount difficult geographic obstacles and to defeat fortifications. Morgoth's army attacked Gondolin over the northern mountains and not through the Hidden Way. It has been suggested that these machines were based on Tolkien's view of the real world's newest siege weapon: the tank. The imagery of the Fall of Gondolin bears some similarity to the siege of Minas Tirith as told in The Lord of the Rings. The seven names of Gondolin were told to Tuor, the human son-in-law of Turgon: "Gondobar am I called and Gondothlimbar, City of Stone and City of the Dwellers in Stone; Gondolin the Stone of Song and Gwarestrin am I named, the Tower of the Guard, Gar Thurion or the Secret Place." Some of these names, however, are contrary to the Sindarin Tolkien later used in the First Age (for example, the 'Gondothlim' became the 'Gondolindrim': so 'Gondothlimbar' should be 'Gondolindrimbar', 'The Dwelling of the Gondolindrim'). More plausible name suggestions are:
As can be seen, Ondosto was a town in the Forostar of Númenor: even there, older names were recycled. Gondolin was also divided into twelve Houses, all of which had their own leaders (although the 'House of the Tower of Snow' and the 'House of the Pillar of Snow' only have one leader, and very similar names). At the time of the Fall of Gondolin, these were: 
 illustration by Tom Loback
[edit] WeaponcraftThe smiths of Gondolin, using Noldorin techniques and magics, made powerful magic blades. In The Hobbit, the swords Orcrist, Glamdring and a long dagger later named Sting were found in a Rhudaur Troll-Hoard. Each of these weapons had the ability to detect Goblins/Orcs in the immediate vicinity by glowing blue. They also had the property of striking fear in the hearts of Orcs when used against them in combat. All were well-crafted, and extraordinarily sharp. Apparently, Gondolinian weapons were impervious to rust and corrosion, as the examples found in the trolls' lair were over two-thousand years old and had been hanging in the lair for an indeterminate length of time, yet were sharp and ready for use when unsheathed. The dagger Sting was known to have special powers against giant spiders (distant offspring of Ungoliant) and could cut their webs with ease. It also was highly effective against Shelob, cutting the spider's eyes and wounding her sufficiently that she fled in pain. Whether the longer Gondolin swords mentioned in Tolkien's works had similar powers versus spiders is unknown. Such creatures were common in the Ered Gorgoroth south of Gondolin. [edit] References
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