The Fall of Gondolin Quotes

“For heart that is pitiless counteth not the power that pity hath, of which stern anger may be forged and a lightning kindled before which mountains fall.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“it is not for thy valour only that I send thee, but to bring into the world a hope beyond thy sight, and a light that shall pierce the darkness.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“For the valour of the Edain the Elves shall ever remember as the ages lengthen, marvelling that they gave life so freely of which on earth they had so little. But it is not for thy valour only that I send thee, but to bring into the world a hope beyond thy sight, and a light that shall pierce the darkness.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Of those demons of power Ecthelion slew three, for the brightness of his sword cleft the iron of them and did hurt to their fire, and they writhed; yet of the leap of that axe Dramborleg that was swung by the hand of Tuor were they still more afraid, for it sang like the rush of eagle’s wings in the air and took death as it fell, and five of them went down before it.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Thereupon he lifted his mace, and its handle was long; and he made a way before him by the wrath of his onset even unto the fallen gate: but all the people of the Stricken Anvil ran behind like a wedge, and sparks came from their eyes for the fury of their rage. A great deed was that sally, as the Noldoli sing yet, and many of the Orcs were borne backward into the fires below; but the men of Rog leapt even upon the coils of the serpents and came at those Balrogs and smote them grievously, for all they had whips of flame and claws of steel, and were in stature very great.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“There long he sojourned alone and roamed about the shore or fared over the rocks at the ebb, marvelling at the pools and the great weeds, the dripping caverns and the strange sea-fowl that he saw and came to know; but the rise and fall of the water and the voice of the waves was ever to him the greatest wonder and ever did it seem a new and unimaginable thing.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“remember Húrin; for without mortal Men the Elves shall not prevail against the Balrogs and the Orcs.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“And it is told also of Maglor that he could not bear the pain with which the Silmaril tormented him; and he cast it at last into the sea, and thereafter wandered ever upon the shore singing in pain and regret beside the waves;”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“If I chose to send thee, Tour son of Hour, them believe not that thy one sword is not worth the sending. For the valour of the Edain the Elves shall ever remember as the ages lengthen, marveling that they gave life so freely of which on earth they had so little. But it is not for thy valour only that I send thee, but to bring into the world a hope beyond thy sight, and a light that shall pierce the darkness.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“As for me, I am of the Noldor, and long must be the hunger and cold the winter that shall slay the kin of those who passed the Grinding Ice. Yet how think you that we could labour countless days in the salt wastes of the sea? Or have you not heard of the waybread of the Elves?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Already the half had passed the perilous way and the falls of Thorn Sir, when that Balrog that was with the rearward foe leapt with great might on certain lofty rocks that stood into the path on the left side upon the lip of the chasm, and thence with a leap of fury he was past Glorfindel’s men and among the women and the sick in front, lashing with his whip of flame.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“There were those of the Tree, and they were a great house, and their raiment was green. They fought with iron-studded clubs or with slings, and their lord Galdor was held the most valiant of all the Gondothlim save Turgon alone.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Nost-na-Lothion or the Birth of Flowers,”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Now thou shalt go at last to Gondolin, Turgon; and I will maintain my power in the Vale of Sirion, and in all the waters therein, so that none shall mark thy going, nor shall any find there the hidden entrance against thy will. Longest of all the realms of the Eldalië shall Gondolin stand against Melkor.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Glory dwelt in that city of Gondolin of the Seven Names, and its ruin was the most dread of all the sacks of cities upon the face of Earth.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Lovely to heart's enchantment is that land, Tuor, as you shall find, if ever your feet go upon the southward roads down Sirion. There is the cure of all sea-longing, save for those whom Doom will not release. There Ulmo is but the servant of Yavanna, and the earth has brought to life a wealth of fair things that is beyond the thoughts of hearts in the hard hills of the North. In that land Narog joins Sirion, and they haste no more, but flow broad and quiet through living meads; and all about the shining river are flaglillies like a blossoming forest, and the grass is filled with flowers, like gems, like bells, like flames of red and gold, like a waste of many-coloured stars in a firmament of green. Yet fairest of all are the willows of Nan-tathrin, pale green, or silver in the wind, and the rustle of their innumerable leaves is a spell of music: day and night would flicker by uncounted, while still I stood knee-deep in grass and listened. There I was enchanted, and forgot the Sea in my heart. There I wandered, naming new flowers, or lay adream amid the singing of the birds, and the humming of bees and flies; and there I might still dwell in delight, forsaking all my kin, whether the ships of the Teleri or the swords of the Noldor, but my doom would not so.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“but above the Gate upon the midmost globe stood an image of the White Tree Telperion,”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Men once more into alliance with the Elves, for ‘without Men the Elves shall not prevail against the Orcs and Balrogs’.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Arise O Thornhoth, whose beaks are of steel and whose talons swords!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“and upon them rode the Balrogs in hundreds; and these were the most dire of all those monsters which Melko devised against Gondolin.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Malkarauki.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“(Goblins, also called Glamhoth or people of hate)”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

“Balrogs. Now these were demons with whips of flame and claws of steel by whom he tormented those of the Noldoli who durst withstand him in anything –and the Eldar have called them Malkarauki. But the rede that Meglin gave to Melko was that not all the host of the Orcs nor the Balrogs in their fierceness might by assault or siege hope ever to overthrow the walls and gates of Gondolin even if they availed to win unto the plain without.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin