Hello everyone! Welcome to my Corner!
Ol’ four-eyes is back with another Tolkien update. Here is the encyclopedia and timeline so far:
The paper looks all shadowy and mysterious, perfect for this post (read on to find out why).
Someone recently asked me what my favorite Tolkien book is. I’ve decided. I just love the idea of this hidden city, the last symbol of the strength of the Noldor, continually launching attacks against the enemy. Plus, I love the city’s color scheme of white, pearl, and silver. The description of the city’s gates in chapter one of Unfinished Tales is spectacular. Gondolin has seven gates: the Gate of Wood, the Gate of Stone, the Gate of Bronze, the Gate of Writhen Iron, the Gate of Silver, the Golden Gate, and the Great Gate of Steel. The city also has nineteen names: The Rock of the Music of Water, Gondolin, the Hidden Rock, the Tower of the King, the City of Seven Names (not really), Gondobar, Gondothlimbar, the City of Stone, the City of the Dwellers in Stone, the Stone of Song, Gwarestrin, the Tower of Guard, Gar Thurion, the Secret Place, Loth, the Flower of the Plain, and Ondolindë. Gondolin has ten battalions of Elvish soldiers: the White Wing, the Swallow, the Heavenly Arch, the Pillar, the Tower of Snow, the Golden Flower, the Tree, the Fountain, and the Harp. But my favorite is the Hammer of Wrath (because they are the battalion favored by Aulë, of course).
And even as Gondolin falls (sniff), there were so many brave sacrifices. Rog and the Hammer of Wrath as they destroyed a host of Balrogs, wounded Ecthelion as he vanquished Gothmog, the Lord of the Balrogs, Hendor as he saved young Eärendil from the carnage, and Glorfindel as he killed a Balrog in the defense of the retreat from Gondolin into the Eagle’s Cleft. Ok, I’ve got to wrap this up before it gets too sappy.
Your friend,
Christopher