The Fall of Gondolin Audiobook By Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien cover art

The Fall of Gondolin

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Fall of Gondolin

By: Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.67

Buy for $24.67

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Presented for the first time as a standalone work, the epic tale of The Fall of Gondolin reunites fans of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings with Elves, Balrogs, Dragons & Orcs and the rich landscape unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth. This brand new unabridged audio book is read by Timothy West & Samuel West.

Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable, is central to the enmity of two of the greatest powers in the world.

Morgoth of the uttermost evil seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city of his Elven enemies, while the gods in Valinor refuse to support Ulmo Lord of Waters' designs to protect it.

Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, and guided unseen by Ulmo he sets out on the fearful journey to Gondolin to warn them of their coming doom. Then Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs.

©2018 J. R. R. Tolkien (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Epic Epic Fantasy Fairy Tales Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Sagas Magic Scary

Critic reviews

"Never did [Tolkien] write a more sustained account of battle. With dragons and fiery balrogs galore, the attack on Gondolin makes Peter Jackson’s souped-up cinema battles look like tabletop games." (The Times)

"It’s a load-bearing pillar in the grander narrative that eventually came to encompass better-known works. Tolkien explicitly expressed his wish later in life that the three Great Tales of Middle-earth’s early days — The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin — along with The Lord of the Rings and other writings, should be considered as 'one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings'." (Entertainment Weekly)

"The text is rife with references to characters and creatures that come to play a role in The Lord of the Rings...one passage in particular seems to set up one of the most famous scenes from the LOTR trilogy." (Time)

Featured Article: Sauron—A Lord of the Rings Character Guide


Mairon, Annatar, the Necromancer—the evil Dark Lord Sauron has gone by many names. But who is he, really, and what is his impact on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth? Sauron is the trilogy's primary antagonist and the one who forged the One Ring to Rule Them All in the fires of Mount Doom. Sauron is storied throughout Tolkien’s lore and mythos. Here's what we know about the powerful and evil Sauron—his character, his history, his powers, and more.

Featured Article Sauron A Lord of the Rings Character Guide
Continue Your Journey Through Middle earth

Continue Your Journey
Through Middle-earth

Explore collection
Tolkien's Masterful Storytelling • Poignant Tragic Tale • Excellent Narration • Beautifully Written Prose • Tragic Heroes
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
This story has numerous versions, which make difficult to follow, without considerable effort. Tolkien has a style that draws you in, and makes uou want more of the story.

inside the mind of J R R Tolkien

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was cool to hear the extra insights and notes that Tolkien had to be able to understand better how all of these stories were created.

Loved the extra insights!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great dive into Tolkien's world and the dual narrator scheme works wonders. A must for all Tolkien fans

Wonderful tale and a great narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have a hard time with pronunciation of the names but over all a fun listen.

pronunciation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved it - Children of Hurin levels of heroics, but one great stand right after another in rapid-fire. An experience, to be sure. Plus great insight from Christopher's notes/commentary. Very, very good.

Wowzer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Christopher Tolkien’s latest editions, The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and finally, The Fall of Gondolin, weave in a mix of storytelling and editorial remarks, and wonderful synthesis of difficult underlying materials, the main stories of Tolkien’s mythology of the elder days. The characters and the stories are beautiful and sad at the same time. And for lovers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, these editions create the complex backstory for all the events and poetry and allusions in those amazing stories.

You can also see the great love of Christopher for these stories that became his life’s work until his death in his 90s shortly after the publication of the Fall of Gondolin.

It’s not always easy reading or listening to these editions because they are not continuous novels, rather shorter and longer fragments of stories that Christopher lovingly weaves into one coherent story with multiple and sometimes alternating strands, I would say, like a musical piece and it’s variations yet with one theme. Maybe the music of the Ainur? Rest in peace, Christopher. And thanks.

I should also say that the two readers have done a beautiful job playing the alternating roles of narrator and editor’s voice.

And of course, there is J. R. R. Tolkien’s marvelous imagination and story that has something enduring still to tell our troubled world about itself.

Beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well narrated, well written, well... Everything! I highly recommend this Audio "Adventure"! Awesome! Exquisite! All time GREAT BOOK!

Exactly what I wanted! Everything amazing!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A delightful gift that this is finally available as an audio book. The language heard aloud is very beautiful and the story takes on depth unguessed when reading the text.

Wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While this story adds more than is given in the Silmarillon, it also has several other passages on the development of the stair by J.R.R. Much of that info, while nice to see how he created the story, should not have been included in this audio reading in my opinion. Most casual listeners will probably be lost and a bit confused by it.

great story, to much extra info

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the world so anything f extra is a plus for me. But I also really liked the dual narration. One man being the narrator of different passages and story and the other being more of an explanatory voice. It helped I think.

Great read for Lore whores like myself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews