The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R Tolkien (review)

Christopher Tolkien calls The Fall of Gondolin, released late 2018, "indubitably the last" piece of his father's work that he will publish (9). The book is correspondingly laden with the sense of weight such a publication brings; the first tale J.R.R. Tolkien writes is the last work his son publishes, bringing scholars and fans back to where the stirrings of Middle-earth and Valinor began: the story of Eärendel.

The Fall of Gondolin is organized accordingly. Christopher's preface shows the fundamental links between the Silmarillion stories and the rest of his father's work, but also highlights the power of the Gondolin story in its own right with minimal editorial intrusion. The rest of the publication strives to balance these two ends. In keeping with these goals, Christopher prologues the book with brief excerpts from the beginning of Tolkien's "Sketch of the Mythology" from 1926 (24–33; see Shaping 11–18) and "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor" (33–36; see Lays 133–35), thereby setting Tuor's story in the context of the Doom of Mandos and the Oath of Fëanor. There is no transition in the commentary to the first text of the "Tale of the Fall of Gondolin." The reader must get used to these seamless transitions so uncharacteristic of Christopher's normally heavily editorial work—but such lack of textual intrusion is part of the purpose of this new publication.

After the Tale, lifted from the edited Tuor B manuscript found in The Book of Lost Tales (37–111; see LT II 149–97), Christopher shares from The Shaping of Middle-earth the relevant prose fragment he calls the Turlin version (115–17; see Shaping 3–5), sections 15 and 16 of the early "Sketch" (120–25; see Shaping 34–37), and the corresponding sections from the "Quenta Noldorinwa" (128–43; see Shaping 136–48), with brief commentary following each text before he turns to the last version of Gondolin's story, found originally in Unfinished Tales (145–201; see UT 17–51). In the middle of this he produces what he believes is the "earliest text" related to the story of the fall of Gondolin (112–13), which this author at least cannot recall finding in the History of Middle-earth series. Even so, this earliest text would be the only new piece of Tolkien's material The Fall of Gondolin contains. Neither scholars nor fans should come to this book hoping for new information about Gondolin.

What is new here are the editorial choices and presentation of the History texts alongside Christopher's linking and concluding commentary, which comprises the last quarter of the book (203–64). This presentation and commentary are the point of the new edition, for it helps Christopher achieve the two goals of The Fall of Gondolin, the first of accessibly fitting the tale of Tuor and Gondolin into the larger legendarium and the second of letting the story shine for its true worth without it being burdened by intruding passages. The simplicity of the texts—there are only a handful of footnotes throughout the entire book—makes this publication easier to approach than the History volumes or even the dizzying array of storylines found in the published Silmarillion. But although more approachable and almost devoid of in-text commentary, The Fall of Gondolin does offer the reader full versions of the Tuor texts, ordered by authorial chronology, with brief contrasting commentary along the way. Indeed, Christopher's short transitionary remarks summarize quickly but intriguingly how the new text grew alongside the legendarium as Tolkien's life went on, so that the reader has a chance to enjoy Tolkien the Maker's mind as Middle-earth and Valinor unfold. With Christopher's helpful notes along the way, it is a journey hard to miss.

Still, this middle road of balancing between two goals...