Home » Reading & Literature » J.R.R. Tolkien » The Wars of the Glorfindels - Page 4

The Wars of the Glorfindels - Page 4

© Michael Martinez

In the next year Tolkien would fall ill with Trench Fever and his part in the war would come to an end. But he would immortalize its tragic sense of loss and despair in the first of a series of stories that eventually came to be The Book of Lost Tales: "The Fall of Gondolin". Carpenter says that Tolkien did not model the story on any prior event or tale, but that is not entirely true. Gondolin owes a great deal to the story of Troy. The idea of a lost city, destroyed by an overwhelming force despite the heroic efforts of its defenders -- doomed to betrayal and treachery -- is a powerful motif that is seldom revisited in ancient literature. Homer's Troy is symbolic of the despairs and insanities of war, from Achilles' fretting over a slave girl to Menelaus' ridiculous insistence on winning back Helen no matter what the cost. The story of Gondolin is not the human story of Troy retold. Gondolin is an Elven city, and though Tolkien's conception of Elvish values and philosophy had yet to emerge, those who mourned the fall of Gondolin were Elves, not men. Gondolin is to the Elves as Troy is to Men: the inspiration for great songs and literature. And it is that to Tolkien, as well. Some of his greatest prose in the years 1917-25 is found in "The Fall of Gondolin", the first full Elvish tale he ever wrote. And when he incorporated the story into his book of Lost Tales, one of his narrative Elves says of "The Fall of Gondolin" that "it is the greatest of the stories of the Gnomes [the Gnomes became the Noldor in later mythologies], and even in this house is Ilfiniol son of Bronweg, who knows those deeds more truly than any that are now on Earth." At this time in Tolkien's life there was no story more important to his emerging mythology. "The Fall of Gondolin" represented the near fulfillment of the long promises of his youth and of the Gnomic legends. Bright Earendel would survive the fall of Gondolin to become the savior of Elves and Men, much as Aeneas survived the fall of Troy to become the ancestor of Rome. Tolkien survived the fall of the T.C.B.S., and he set about the task of ensuring that its dreams would live on, even as G.B. Smith had foretold. But such a tragic story cannot be told without some great sacrifice. Tolkien had many examples of sacrifice to choose from. He needed to refine the theme and produce a character who was untouched by corruption, unscathed by the loss of hearth and home. A character who, despite the intrusion of death upon his life, would determine that Gondolin should continue. Death could not destroy Gondolin, nor exile. That was Glorfindel's contribution. Gondolin had been founded by Noldoli (Gnomes) who survived the Battle of Unnummbered Tears. When Gondolin itself was destroyed a remnant of its people escaped, and they carried on. It was much the same with the T.C.B.S. Geoffrey Smith had determined that death and loss should not dissolve the group. The survivors would carry on, and at least one of them would tell great stories, revitalizing English literature in a way few men could hope to.

The copyright of the article The Wars of the Glorfindels - Page 4 in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish The Wars of the Glorfindels - Page 4 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.