Gondolin - The Fall of Gondolin

The city is first described in The Fall of Gondolin which was the foundational completed tale for all of Tolkien's Middle-earth stories. The story was read aloud by Tolkien to the Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920. In this tale first one of Tolkien's main literary themes which would be repeated throughout his major works appears: the caution against possession. In The Lord of the Rings it is the possession of power through the One Ring, in The Silmarillion it is the lust to possess the beauty of the Jewels and in The Fall of Gondolin it is the possession of the city of Gondolin.