New JRR Tolkien Book, Fall of Gondolin, Will Release in August

Are you looking to expand your knowledge of Middle-earth? Craving new lore for Tolkien’s carefully crafted universe? Well, you’re in luck! Fall of Gondolin, which Tolkien himself describes as “the first real story” of Middle-earth, is set to release as a full novel this summer in August 2018.

Fall of Gondolin is covered briefly in The Silmarillion, published in 1977, but this new work promises to dive even deeper into the history of Gondolin and the characters surrounding its downfall. Morgoth, the ultimate evil, is dead set on locating and destroying the hidden city of Gondolin. Our main character Tuor, one of the Noldor — a specific race of elves, is also on the search for the city. His journey is full of adventure, love, and betrayal, and the ultimate battle over the city involves armies full of orcs, Balrogs, dragons, and more of Tolkien’s creatures.

Tolkien scholars were greatly surprised when Christopher Tolkien, the son of the great JRR Tolkien, announced that he was editing his father’s work again. After the release of Beren and Lúthien in 2017, Tolkien said this would be the last piece of his father’s work that he would publish. Posthumously, over two dozen collections of JRR Tolkien’s writings have been released. The man behind many of their illustrations, Alan Lee, is also returning to illustrate the Fall of Gondolin.

According to scholar John Garth, Fall of Gondolin was written by Tolkien while he was in the hospital recovering from the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest wars of World War I. And one can only wonder if he might have seen himself in Tuor. Garth wrote, “[this is] a quest story with a reluctant hero who turns into a genuine hero — it’s a template for everything Tolkien wrote afterwards. It has a dark lord, our first encounter with orcs and balrogs — it’s really Tolkien limbering up for what he would be doing later.”

Are you looking forward to the new novel? Let us know in the comments below!