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Old 03-15-2018, 10:19 AM   #25
Huinesoron
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Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
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Huinesoron is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Huinesoron is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Galin View Post
By the way, this notion seemingly arose to Tolkien with respect to the Valarin siege of Utumno, where a host of Balrogs "assailed the standard of Manwe, as it were a tide of flame"... in other words, it's here that JRRT ultimately altered "host" to "his" and noted: "There should not be supposed more than say 3 or at most 7 ever existed."
That "3" opens a very interesting line of questioning. Assuming it's intended as 'there should be not supposed more than... 3... ever existed' - ie, that there were (potentially) only 3 balrogs ever, rather than only 3 involved in the siege - does that mean that Tolkien considered a view where Gothmog, Durin's Bane, and Glorfindel's fighting buddy were the only balrogs? In that scenario, two of the three that ever lived would have died in quick succession, which would cement the Fall of Gondolin as the climactic event of the First Age.

And, thinking about it, perhaps in Tolkien's mind it was. Certainly Gondolin is name-dropped more than any other place in the First Age during LotR and The Hobbit: Elrond describes his father as 'born in Gondolin before its fall' rather than pointing out that he's the Evening Star, both Gimli and Galadriel mention it, and of course there are multiple swords from there.

Leaving the published works behind, we know that the Fall of Gondolin was the first full-length Lost Tale Tolkien wrote, and that the Doom of Mandos at one point included the words 'Great is the fall of Gondolin'. There's certainly a feeling that, whether or not Gondolin was the greatest Elven realm, its fall was the most significant event of the First Age.

So maybe the note does indicate Tolkien considering that two-thirds of Morgoth's elite died at Gondolin. If only he'd finished writing Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin...!

hS
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