Admin Post: A Sense of History: The Fall of Gondolin Reflected in History by MirienSilowende

[dawn_felagund]

Tolkien was, of course, extremely well-read in ancient and medieval history, conversant in many of the dead languages that the rest of us read only in translation. Much of his work was, not surprisingly, grounded in this history.

The Fall of Gondolin is one such episode.

In this month's A Sense of History column, MirienSilowende looks at the Fall of Gondolin and the ancient and medieval history that may have informed Tolkien's writing of it. She uncovers numerous historical sources that detail some of the more noteworthy sacks and falls of great cities much like Gondolin, renowned for their splendor and elevated status within their worlds.

Of course, these historical inspirations are more than just an interesting aside in the legendarium but can also become building blocks for expanding on the legendarium via fanworks. For example, some of the historical sources MirienSilowende provides go into detail about what happened to the survivors once the city was overthrown by an enemy military. While Tolkien provides few details on this for Gondolin, reading historical sources that possibly informed his construction of the story generates inspiration for fanworks about these untold tales of Gondolin's people.

You can read MirienSilowende's article "The Fall of Gondolin Reflected in History" here.

Admin Post: Character of the Month: Túrin (Part Three) by firstamazon

[dawn_felagund]

Tolkien regarded Túrin's story as one of the most important in the legendarium, and it is one of the more complex to unwind textually. Presented by Christopher Tolkien in several forms (including its own volume), there are therefore many confluences and contradictions across what is already a long and tricky tale. For the past several months, firstamazon has been doing us the favor of further distilling Christopher's work into a highly readable three-part biography series of Tolkien's own walking disaster, Túrin Turambar.

In this third and final installment, Túrin's life picks up after Beleg's death, where he ventures next to Nargothrond. This is the moment where his already unlucky existence begins to be ruinous on a much larger scale, leaving people and entire settlements destroyed in his wake, and his own life forfeit to his tragic circumstances.

However, as firstamazon notes, mortal Men "are the game-changers in Tolkien’s legendarium," placing Túrin in a line of Men whose deeds shaped kingdoms and the entire history of Arda. Sadly, his best efforts could not overcome Morgoth's curse, but in a eucatastrophic arc typical of Tolkien, his mortal successors generally fare better (and Tolkien's writings on the Last Battle suggest that Túrin may yet get the final word against Morgoth).

Read the third part of firstamazon's biography of Túrin. And if you missed them, you can find Part One and Part Two on the site as well.