The Fall of Gondolin Is the Last Story of Tolkien's to Be Edited by His Son

For decades, J.R.R. Tolkien’s son Christopher Tolkien, has worked tirelessly to edit his father’s notes and bring us tales from Middle-Earth that remained unfinished at the time of his father’s death. Christopher Tolkien brought us many treasures from Middle-Earth, including the likes of The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and a massive twelve volume series called The History of Middle-Earth.

Following this week’s release of The Fall of Gondolin, it seems that at the age of 93, Christopher Tolkien has finally finished working on his father’s legacy. As WinterisComing.net reports, Christopher has stated that “The Fall of Gondolin is indubitably the last” of his father’s work he’ll be involved with.

“I think working on these books gives [Christopher] a new lease on life,” said illustrator Alan Lee. “He threw himself straight into Fall of Gondolin. We didn’t actually know about it until this time last year there was a potential other one. I’m sure he’ll be happy to have those books in his hand. This particular journey is completed.”

Like Christopher, the release of The Fall of Gondolin also marks the final time Lee will work on Tolkien’s material, though no doubt his artwork will continue to be synonymous with Tolkien’s work for decades to come. The Fall of Gondolin was released this week on August 30th and it is the third and final main story from The Silmarillion to receive a standalone release. It was actually one of the first stories from Tolkien’s mythos that was written and it seems fitting for it to be Christopher Tolkien’s last work.