[Quiet Man Cometh]

What about numinous? Can't forget that one :p.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Okay, so got my copy of Children of Hurin back. In the preface it states that The Book of Lost Tales was the first project that Tolkein began work on back in WWI, and in that book where three stories that were much longer, those being "The Tale of Tinuviel", "Turambar and teh Foaloke" (lots of accents and tiggles missing here) and "The Fall of Gondolin." It was described in a letter in 1951, his original plans for "a body of more or less collected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogenic, to the level of romantic fairy-story" (Christopher Tolkein quoting here). He wanted to expand on a few of the tales.

"The Tale of Tinuviel" is the story of Beren and Luthien, which is the major theme behind The Silarillion, apparently, and "Turambar and the Foaloke" surfaced as The Children of Hurin, which, according to Tolkein senior, is important to the "elder days" history of elves and men.

Not sure what Christopher plans to do for "The Fall of Gondolin" if anything.

Anyway, such is what I garnered from the book's preface. I'd kind of like to see the fall of Gondolin in a novel form, as much because it might be a while before I get to the Silmarillion.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Do you know much about the Fall of Gondolin? It would be really tough to put into a book, as it takes place over most of the Silm. (the set-up for it, at least) and involves a massive cast of characters. Very different from Children of Hurin.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

If that's the case then I imagine it would be done in a manner simillar to The Silmarillion if needed, or other mass historical fiction. It might be easier to follow with more focus on it. Not sure. How many of the characters are all important versus those can be skipped over? It's said a lot that War and Peace has an obscene number of characters in it but there are really only a dozen or so that one needs to keep track of. Is The Silmarillion similar in fashion? I imagine that book has lots of characters in it too, especially if the fall of Gondolin makes up only a little bit of it.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, it's been a while since I read it, but the Silm. probably has a fair few expendable characters, and yet... the stories are very disconnected a lot of the time, meaning that people who serve no purpose in one tale are central to another.

And the Fall of Gondolin, as I said takes place over a long time and involves many different characters.

Turgon, the king.
Idril, his daughter.
Eol, the Dark Elf
Maeglin, Idril and Eol's bastard son.
Hurin, who inadvertently guides Morgoth's forces there.
Ecthellion, who leads the city's defnese.
Glorfindel, who leads the civilians out of the city and fights a Balron on a cliff-side.

And one other important character that I can't recall at the moment.

So... maybe not too many, but I could be forgetting others, too.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Was Maeglin the one who forged the sword from Meteorite or was that Eol? The sword that Turin ultimately ends up with. I know something's up with Meaglin but I can't remember what.


That doens't seem to be too many characters, especially if they can be approached in smaller groups, and not all at once.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I think that was Eol. I remember him being a smith.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

It was Eol. I just looked it up in CoH. Eol made two swords, one that he gave to Thingol as payment to live in a particular area, and the other was stolen from him by his son. Apparently he was not such a nice guy, in heart as Meilan says, and so the sword is also not so nice. Beleg took it when he went to go look for Turin and it indirectly caused his death. Turin took it after that just before all the supreme nastiness descended. He fought Glaurung with it (finally looked up the silly dragon's name). Maeglin didn't feature in that book though so I'm not sure what's up with him.

And yeah, the sword was made of meteorite and could smash any earthen iron, or so it's said.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I *thought* Gurthang had a sister blade, can't remember who had it, though. Or did Eol keep it?

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Gurthang what Turin re-named the blade? Don't feel like hobbling over to get the book. Yes, there are two blades, Eol kept one and only reluctantly gave the other to Thingol. Gurthang passed from Thingol to Beleg to Turin. Maeglin stole the sister blade from Eol.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I don't know where it got its name. Means "Iron of Death," which is the only reason I remember the name. :p

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Ah. Both blades have lengthier names that start with A. Don't feel like digging them up right now though.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Ah, right. Anglachel and Anguirel. "Flaming Star Iron" and "Eternal Star Iron," respectively. ;)

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Cool. If memory serves, Anglachel was the one Turin eventually ended up with. Would need to go check but my book is currently occupied with pressing a leaf. Really big leaf, and I don't want to move it yet.

So what's the deal with Maeglin? I know something's off about him but I'm not sure what. (I suppose I could look this stuff up for once ;))

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I'm almost 100% sure it's Anglachel, yes.

And Maeglin is... I'm not even entirely sure. He's just messed up. Has an obsessive crush on his cousin, who is Turgon's daughter. I can't remember if there's some sort of pathological flaw with him, though, or if he's just disturbed.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Ah. Seems Maeglin just hit a run of nasty luck with life in Gondolin. Oh, and mommy is Turgon's sister Aredhel.