April 10

Day 100

Basic Reading: 

    The Silmarillion: Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 23: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin

Supplementary Reading:

• Expanded Story:

  • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: Section III. The Quenta, Appendix 2

• Background:​​​

  • The Fall of Gondolin: Conclusion

• Prior Versions:

  • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: Section I. Prose Fragments Following the Lost Tales, sections (i) and (ii) 

  • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: Section VII. The Earliest Annals of Beleriand, Year 207 (including corresponding Commentary)

  • The Lost Road: Part Two, Section III. The Later Annals of Beleriand, Year 307 

    
Enrichment Activities:

• Maps:  

  • Beleriand: Mithrim, Androth, Hithlum, Dor-lómin, Nevrast, Cirith Ninniach, Nargothrond, Vinyamar, Mount Taras, Gondolin, Mountains of Shadow, Pools of Ivrin, Orfalch Echor, Tumladen, River Sirion, Angband, Encircling Mountains, Doriath, Pass of Anach, Cirith Thoronath, Nan-tathren, Balar, Arvernien

  • Arda: Belegaer, Middle-Earth, Tirion, Araman, Valinor

• Timeline: First Age 472 - 511

• Other: Listen to Paul Corfield Godfrey's operatic composition, “The Fall of Gondolin”.

Discussion Questions:

    1. Was the fall of Gondolin Maeglin’s fault?
    2. Was the fall of Gondolin Turgon’s fault?
    3. Was the fall of Gondolin inevitable?