The Fall of Gondolin

Hearken now to the Tale of Túrin, the chosen of Ulmo, Lord of Waters, of the fall of Gondolin, the last great elven stronghold, the City of Seven Names, of valor and betrayal, of fateful prophecies and missed opportunities…For the first time in Russian, “The Fall of Gondolin” is published—a new novel by the author of the iconic bestsellers “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” J.R.R. Tolkien.“The Fall of Gondolin” is the last of three great Middle-earth tales (the other two being “The Children of Húrin” and “Beren and Lúthien.” Tolkien began writing “The Fall” as far back as 1918, while he was in the hospital recovering from an illness contracted on the battlefields of the Great War. “The Fall of Gondolin” will be the first of the tales that will later comprise “The Silmarillion”—the chronicle of Middle-earth.Most of Tolkien’s works were not published during his lifetime, but after the Professor’s death, his son Christopher systematized the manuscripts left by his father and gradually prepared them for publication, providing detailed and engaging commentary. It was thanks to Christopher that readers saw “The Silmarillion,” “The History of Middle-earth,” “The Death of Arthur,” “The Children of Húrin,” “Beren and Lúthien,” and other works by Tolkien. “The Fall of Gondolin” was Christopher’s last work—Christopher Tolkien passed away shortly after its publication.“The Fall of Gondolin” tells the story of the destruction of Gondolin, the last of the elven strongholds, which had remained hidden from the eyes of the dark lord Morgoth for more than four hundred years. However, one day a traitor showed the enemy the way to the city, and the people of Gondolin, who had gone out onto the walls, saw a whole army of balrogs, orcs, and dragons beneath the walls. This is a story of valor and betrayal, of fateful prophecies and missed opportunities.At the beginning of the third millennium, the popularity of Middle-earth soared to unprecedented heights thanks to the release of Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Ten years later, Jackson returned to Middle-earth with “The Hobbit” trilogy, and right now, Amazon Studios is filming the “The Lord of the Rings” series—the most expensive and ambitious show in history. The series is scheduled to premiere in 2022, and its action will unfold in the Second Age, thousands of years before the birth of Frodo and Aragorn.