Greenman) but more on seeking a greater perspective on how Tolkien Similarities and differences (certainly a notable contribution by Too will consider below, yet with a focus not just on cataloging Parallels between Tolkien's Maeglin and Virgil's Sinon,īetween Idril and Creusa, between Earendil and Astyanax-factors that I Important to understand, as I will discuss below, that Tolkien did notĬonsider his Valar as deities), and how the action in each is ultimatelyĭriven by the need to "escape." Greenman also explores Tells his), how both tales involve the "gods" (it is however Gondolin is about as long as Book II of The Aeneid, how both accountsĪre framed as narratives told well after the fact (Littleheart, son ofīronweg, a follower of Tuor, retells the story, and of course Aeneas
For example, he discusses how the account of the fall of Tolkien's The Fall of Gondolin and The Return of the King,"ĭavid Greenman notes various similarities and differences between the Tolkien's Gondolin and the fall of Troy in The Aeneid: in his 1992Įssay "Aeneidic and Odyssean Patterns of Escape and Return in Still, only one critic has previously directlyĪddressed the relationship between the accounts of the fall of Points of connection between Tolkien's works and his classical TolkienĮncyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment likewise address the Medieval Latin" in Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader,Įdited by Jane Chance. Perspectives and thorough reviews of major critical observations can beįound in the section "Tolkien and Ancient Greek and Classical and Greeks and Romans-has been explored by various critics. Tapped into the philosophies, myths, literatures, and histories of the Tolkien's connection with the classical world-the ways he Ultimately both Germanic and Christian in its themes. Short, Tolkien did not just gloss the epic: he changed its entire focus,įor Tolkien's work, though drawing on the Roman narrative, is The meaning and impact of the story of the fall of the great city. Story diverges from Virgil's work, ways that ultimately redirect However, I would draw our attention to the ways that Tolkien's Certainly weĬan trace clear parallels in motifs and episodes in the two works Such terror as fell that day upon Amon Gwareth in the kindred of the Of Trui, nor all the many takings of Rum that is greatest among Men, saw Wherein the narrator muses, "Nor Bablon, nor Ninwi, nor the towers Troy is strongly suggested in the last lines of The Fall of Gondolin In fact, that Tolkien himselfĬlearly meant for us to connect the fall of Gondolin with the story of Tolkien certainly borrowed from the first-century Roman epic in telling Of Troy as told in Book II of Virgil's Aeneid cannot be denied: The similarities with the story of the fall Retreat, escaping with his son and the last survivors by a hidden pathĪnd into an extended exile. Leads the resistance but, upon the death of his king, is forced to Who are caught unawares, and a citadel set in flame we have a hero who Impregnable, an enemy who enters through treachery and guile, defenders Tolkien gives us reminds us of another tale: we have a city thought Of the battle in painful, heroic, and tragic tones. Quenta Silmarillion the longer narrative takes us through the details Tells a much richer and more moving story of the events summarized in In nearly thirty pages and over 16,000 words, Tolkien
Tolkien's unpublished writings edited by his son Christopher and The story referred to-The Fall of Gondolin-can be found in a muchįuller form in The Book of Lost Tales Part II, a collection of Of his household, until the tower was overthrown and mighty was itsįall and the fall of Turgon in its ruin. Slew the other, and of the defence of the tower of Turgon by the people With Gothmog Lord of Balrogs in the very square of the King, where each Told in The Fall of Gondolin: of the battle of Ecthelion of the Fountain The noble houses and their warriors, and not the least by Tuor, much is Of the deeds of desperate valour there done, by the chieftains of The battle within the city, the narrator says only, Highlights the death of Maeglin, the dark elf who betrayed his people,Īnd the escape of the human Tuor, his Elven wife Idril, and their sonĮarendil, along with the remnant of the Elves of Gondolin. Paragraphs and less than 1,600 words of prose, how in the First Age theĮlven city of Gondolin, ruled by Turgon, was overrun by Morgoth, whoseīalrogs, orcs, wolves, and dragons destroyed the city. IN CHAPTER 23 OF THE QUENTA SILMARILLION, entitled "Of TuorĪnd the Fall of Gondolin," J.R.R. APA style: The Fall of Gondolin and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of The Aeneid.The Fall of Gondolin and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of The Aeneid." Retrieved from
MLA style: "The Fall of Gondolin and the Fall of Troy: Tolkien and Book II of The Aeneid." The Free Library.