The Tale of Tuor
the fullest fragment of the Tuor-story
Nature
The Tale of Tuor — “Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin” — is Tolkien’s late (1951) full-length treatment of the beginning of the Tuor story: the awakening of the chosen man, the summoning of Ulmo, the journey through the ravaged lands of Beleriand, the finding of the abandoned arms at Vinyamar, the crossing of the dangerous passes, and the entry into Gondolin — written as the opening chapters of a projected great tale of the Fall of Gondolin, in a fuller, older, more beautiful mode than the Quenta’s compressed account.
Contents
Tuor’s youth, the vision, Ulmo’s command, and the taking of the armour; -
The journey (with the lay of the seas, the marshes, the “Gate of the Noldor”) through the land; The secret way, the watch of the mountains, and the first sight of the hidden city — the tale breaking off as Tuor enters the dark gate — it ends abruptly (before the description of Gondolin’s splendours) at the point of entry.
Composition
Written in 1951, the “Tuor-fragment” is among Tolkien’s finest prose; unfinished (he never continued it), it was published in
Unfinished Tales by Christopher Tolkien with commentary, and its context (with the Book of Lost Tales’ fuller Fall of Gondolin) in The Fall of Gondolin (2018).