Narn I Dant Gondolin (The Tale of the Fall of Gondolin)

Narn I Dant Gondolin

Narn I Dant Gondolin

The Tale of the Fall of Gondolin

A modern adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy tale

by Sam Pettus

This adaptation has been placed into the public domain under the terms of the Creative Commons License.

version 2.0 - 06/01/2010

(Original author's notes: I have removed all accent marks from the names for simplicity's sake in this online transcription. I have also made the occasional change in punctuation, captitalization, and grammatical structure from my archival text in order to aid readability. Modern pronouns such as "you" and "your" have been substituted for the archaic "thee" and "thou" whenever possible, except in cases where a lord [Turgon] or one who thinks he is a lord [Eol] addresses a person that is or is believed to be of lesser social standing. Also, the British spelling for "grey" is used throughout, as opposed to the American "gray" - personal preference.)

Introduction to the First Edition (1998 - revised)

In 1972 the father of 20th century fantasy literature passed away: James Ronald Reuel Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. With him died his dream of retelling on a grand scale a selection of the stories of the First Age of Middle-earth -- the first that he ever wrote on the subject, the same that are all-too-briefly sketched in The Silmarillion. Though in later years his son Christopher would edit and publish most of his father's notes and papers, it seemed to Tolkien fans that they would never get the chance to read the fully realized and updated versions of the early tales of Middle-earth -- those that Professor Tolkien had drafted while lying in a hospital bed during World War I. Whatever plans or designs he had for his ambitions died with him, leaving only his papers behind.

As an ardent Tolkien fan, and one particularly fond of the tales of the First Age, I shared with my fellows this loss of one of the foremost literary geniuses of our time. Where I differed from them is that I decided to do something about it. With the publication of Unfinished Tales and the twelve-volume series The History of Middle-earth, I now had at my disposal an unmatched research and reference tool from which a devoted and dogged author could strive to complete Professor Tolkien's unrealized goal: the book referenced in his writings as The Atanatarion, the never-realized supplement to The Silmarillion, comprising the second great trilogy of tales from Middle-earth. Christopher Tolkien had already paved the way with his brilliant compilation of The Silmarillion from his father's papers (and would do so again with The Children of Hurin -- ed.), so why couldn't another author do the same?

The tale you are about to read is my own adaption of the third tale in The Atanatarion - that of Tuor and the fall of Gondolin - drawn up and detailed through my own interpretation of Professor Tolkien's published papers. Its beginnings are in the 1918 manuscript The Fall of Gondolin. It was the first of the Middle-earth tales unveiled to the public (Exeter College, 1920), long before the publication of The Hobbit. After finishing The Lord of the Rings, Professor Tolkien went back and began to rewrite the three great tales of the First Age on the grand scale that he had originally conceived, but his age and various scholarly obligations meant that his ambitions went unrealized before his death. The new version of the tale of Tuor got no farther than his arrival at the city. The material that he wrote during this time, i.e. "the later Tuor" (Unfinished Tales), served as the basis for the first five chapters of my adaption. The remainder is my own effort, inspired by the original 1918 tale and other items unearthed in his other writings. "Old Barliman," as Professor Tolkien is sometimes called by his fans, would no doubt be horrified by my efforts -- but as he is no longer here to do the job, much less provide guidance, I have stumbled on as best I could. The result will soon unfold for your enjoyment.