"The Fall of Gondolin" Due Out August 30th, 2018

[Kuruharan]

1) I would like to express my gratitude that Tolkien abandoned the term "Gnomes" for the Noldor. I realize this is a post facto preference because if he hadn't I would have never know, but every time I read that it resonates in my brain like the unholy child of the sound of a snapping harp string and fingernails on a chalkboard.

2) While Tolkien's writing clearly evolved and improved over his career, reading The Fall of Gondolin gave me an impression that in some undefinable way his writing lost some of its connection to Faerie. The world of The Lost Tales feels more perilous than Middle-earth as it ultimately developed. To some extent this is possibly due to greater familiarity with the final realization than the early stages of Middle-earth's development. With this in mind I re-read some of the passages and the impression still remains. Perhaps Tolkien himself became too familiar with it and some of the magic of Faerie vanished over time.

3) I found it curious that Alan Lee portrayed Tuor in hide clothing on the front cover when viewing Gondolin for the first time and on the back over (as well as in the book itself) when Ulmo appears to him. He was already dressed in Turgon's armor at those points.

Oh well.

At least his balrog doesn't have wings (even if it is too big, in my opinion).