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New J.R.R. Tolkien Book ‘The Fall of Gondolin’ to Be Released This Year

By April 11, 2018New Releases

J.R.R Tolkien is arguably the father of modern fantasy and his fictional world of Middle-Earth has had a massive impact on the fantasy genre since The Hobbit was published in 1937. Since Tolkien’s death in 1973, his son Christopher has spent decades pouring over his father’s unfinished works in order to bring us new stories set in Middle-Earth that Tolkien himself never finished. Last year we saw the release of Beren and Lúthien in a stand alone edition, and now we can look forward to a new release in The Fall of Gondolin.

Tolkien once described The Fall of Gondolin as “the first real story” of Middle-Earth and now readers can look forward to diving in this August. Like Beren and Lúthien, The Fall of Gondolin will feature notes from Christopher Tolkien as well as gorgeous illustrations from long-time Tolkien artist Alan Lee. This announcement has come as somewhat of a surprise as Christopher Tolkien, who is now 93, wrote in the preface that Beren and Lúthien as “(presumptively) my last book in the long series of editions of my father’s writings”.

As The Guardian reports, John Garth, author of Tolkien and the Great War, stated that The Fall of Gondolin was written by Tolkien in hospital as he recovered after the Battle of the Somme. Though it may be one of the earliest tales from Middle-Earth, it features all the hallmarks found later in Tolkien’s writings. “It’s a quest story with a reluctant hero who turns into a genuine hero – it’s a template for everything Tolkien wrote afterwards,” said Garth. “It has a dark lord, our first encounter with orcs and Balrogs – it’s really Tolkien limbering up for what he would be doing later.”

Set well before the events of The Lord of the Rings, the book follows the evil Morgoth as he attempts to destroy the hidden city of Gondolin. Our protagonist is a character named Tuor who encounters the sea-god Ulmo and goes on to witness the siege of Gondolin from Balrogs, Orcs, and dragons.

Tolkien regarded The Fall of Gondolin as one of the three “great tales” from the Elder Days (the first age of Middle-Earth) and now joins the other two, The Children of Hurin and Beren and Lúthien with its own stand alone edition. The book will be 304 pages and will be released on August 30.



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