Glingal and Belthil

After building Gondolin upon Amon Gwareth, the Gondolindrim never ceased to work on embellishing the city. Turgon himself wrought two images of the Trees of old. These stood in his court, "and the Tree which he made of gold was named Glingal, and the Tree whose flowers he made of silver was named Belthil".

It is also said that they shone with their own light, which filled all the ways of the city.

Both names are Sindarin:

• Glingal means "Hanging Flame", from gling- (N. "hang") and root KAL Robert Foster additionally suggests the translation "gleaming light".

• Belthil means "Divine Radiance", from the roots BAL and SIL/THIL.

In The Book of Lost Tales they were called Glingol and Bansil, and they were not wrought with elven-craft, but were real trees, surviving shoots of the Two Trees destroyed by Melkor. They stood in the Square of the King, on either side of the doors of the palace. During the Fall of Gondolin, the surviving houses of the Gondothlim barricaded themselves in the Square, and there was a rally of men beneath the two trees to hear King Turgon. There he proclaimed the fall of Gondolin, and refusing to fight against Doom, he cast his crown at the roots of Glingol. Later, when the Square was burned down by the enemy, "Glingol was withered to the stock and Bansil was blackened utterly".

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