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Arrival and influence in GondolinCapture, bargain and the attackPrimary referencesRelated encyclopedia entries
Arrival and influence in Gondolin
Leaving Nan Elmoth with Aredhel, Maeglin reaches his mother’s kin in Gondolin. Eöl’s pursuit ends in Aredhel’s death and his own execution. Maeglin gains a place in Turgon’s city and contributes through his knowledge of ores and craftsmanship.
His desire for Idril is not reciprocated. Her marriage to Tuor intensifies his resentment, while Tuor’s standing in the city challenges the future he has imagined. The narrative gives these private grievances a political setting rather than treating betrayal as an unexplained change of allegiance.
Capture, bargain and the attack
Outside the city’s protection, Maeglin is captured by Morgoth’s servants. Under fear of torture, he reveals Gondolin’s location and accepts promises of rule and possession of Idril. Coercion explains the danger he faces without making the bargain morally neutral. The promised reward extends beyond escape from immediate suffering.
During the attack he threatens Idril and Eärendil and is killed by Tuor. His death belongs to the family’s immediate defence, while the destruction caused by his disclosure continues around them.
The early Fall of Gondolin and later accounts vary in how the city’s assault and the principal characters are described. An encyclopedia should identify the published Silmarillion as the basis for a concise biography and direct a reader to the collected versions for comparison. Doing so preserves the difference between the history told within the mythology and the actual history of its writing.
Primary references
The Silmarillion, “Of Maeglin” and “Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin”; The Fall of Gondolin, edited by Christopher Tolkien; The War of the Jewels, “Maeglin”.
