The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin

1920s poem by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin is the name of a poem that was written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Poem excerpt
Thither Tuor son of Fengel came out of the dim land
that the Gnomes have called Dor-Lómin, with Bronweg at his hand,
who fled from the Iron Mountains and had broken Melko’s chain
and cast his yoke of evil, of torment and bitter pain;
who alone most faithful-hearted led Tuor by long ways
through empty hills and valleys by dark nights and perilous days,
till his blue lamp magic-kindled, where flow the shadowy rills
beneath enchanted alders, found that Gate beneath the hills,
the door in dark Dungorthin that only the Gnome-folk knew.
Background

In the early 1920s possibly between 1921 at the earliest and 1925 at the latest, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a long poem in rhyming couplets during his time at the University of Leeds which he entitled The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin. It was suspected by Christopher Tolkien that it was Tolkien's first attempt of versification of the matter from the Lost Tales before he began writing in alliterative verse.

A few verses from the lay were published for the first time in the chapter "Poems Early Abandoned" of The Lays of Beleriand because Christopher Tolkien stated that the poem had nothing to add to the Tale of the Fall of Gondolin and that the metrical form may not have been suitable to Tolkien. The poem may not have been "conceived on a large scale" since the enemy appears "already within" the first 130 lines. Unlike in the Lost Tale where Tuor's father is Peleg, this version refers to his father as Fengel. Like in other alliterated poems, such as The Lay of the Children of Húrin, Fingolfin is the father of Turgon and Isfin; Finwë is, however, called Gelmir.

In 2024, the full text of The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin was published for the first time as entry 66 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien. With the full text, two main changes can be drawn from the Lost Tale. It seems that the house where Eärendil was born was built in the eastern walls. In the Tale, Tuor's house was situated in the southern walls. This change may add plausibility to the tunnel that Idril made, in relation to the flight of the exiles to Cristhorn, which was later situated in the north of the Encircling Mountains. Another detail not present in the Tale would be the location of Meglin's capture in the hills near Cristhorn.

Referencias

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.

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