Fun Fact: Godolin took 200 years to build before it was inhabited. That should give you some idea to the size and scope of the city. That's even more time then it took to build the pyramids supposedly.
I like the idea of Tolkien not giving many details about Aman or else we’d start asking questions about commerce, taxation, social class etc. It works better with vague details and the sense that it’s heaven on earth.
Commerce and taxation would be unnecessary in Aman, I am sure. As for social class, it’s a feudal culture, with kings at the head, and relatives of the kings as nobles.
Yes, I agree: an excellent point. I'm sure Tolkien understood that, too: you want mystery, make it remote and not fully explained. So did Kubrick and Clarke in 2001. So did Lovecraft, in another mode: the more you explain, the less horrifying-remote The Old Ones are. Later authors made the mistake of explaining.
It also helps that there are less details about stuff like Mordor and more so about Angband and Utumuno. It’s up to the reader to figure out what horrors lay there.
@@timonsolus yeah, but who would clean the latrines in this place in which commerce and taxation is unnecessary? If commerce is nonexistent, how people acquire goods? Charity? Please, don’t try to make excuses. The concept works because Tolkien knew he would enter a quagmire if he tried. He was wise and did well.
"Do you hear that? We're going to see the elves!" The 3rd age gets all the press, but 1st age...man; I would have gone straight to Doriath and try to figure out the girdle of Melion like a kid playing with the roll up window in a car haha Then just a short trip to see the foundations of Gondolin being laid Ooooooofffff now that's a vacation 😄
I had a dream once that I was a immortal god being with super strength like superman, super speed and flight, could heal anything and anyone with a touch make things come alive with a touch , turn anything or anyone to any creature I wanted and could shoot solar beams out of my hands etc and brought enlightenment and prosperity to middle earth after sauron died, I tamed Shelob by beating her up and the people of Gondor had a huge supply of spider silk to make elaborate fine clothes, dresses, shirts, pants , hats and rope and tapestries and it's spider silk it made their clothes bullet proof basically being safer if attacked and made gondor more wealthy and went to moria to help clear out the orcs for the dwarves to recolonize it and Killed the watcher lake monster at moria and brought it to gondor and people had a big feast eating lots of sushi that night and boy did they feast and for some reason they teriyaki, orange and Wassabi sauces but I couldn't eat it 🤢, so i asked them to just cook me a whole beef cow filling a table full of beef etc with a pile of melted cheese, ale and pipe weed and we celebrated , Me and Gandalf had a blowing smoke contest with our smoke pipes, and just watching the people live simply, happy and blessed lives made me feel happy and content and I'll come around once every few months or so with mighty catches I get from strong monsters and creatures giving to them to feast on, make fine furs and clothes, jewelry etc, or find a big stash of gold, jewels or metals that I find or mine and so forth and so forth just living as middle earth protector and sustainer lol 😎😙
To all these, The fall of Gondolin was the saddest and the last painful defeat of the Elder days in first age.... And its story alone is perfect for a standalone movie
The eldest children of Ilúvatar have indeed been through hardships and lost much, yet they endured and safeguarded Middle Earth from many evils and they will undoubtedly have a great roll to play upon Dagor Dagorath. Only time will tell
Great video, Yoystan. I have gone back and started with the Silmarillion again. It is great to have a high elf like yourself to help a simple hobbit like me as I go along!
Great vid I love the elven settlements of the years of the trees and the first age such beauty it sad that as the doom of the noldor said “ all you will create will fall” I am happy thought that we at least got to read of these amazing realms while they lasted
I'm always surprised how often Himring is forgotten as one of the strongholds of the elves of Beleriand...especially since it survived as the isle of Himling into the Third Age. Hmmm...
I really like these series. Great detail about the elves of the First Age when they were at the height of their power. Although one correction. The elves of the Falas who Cirdan ruled were not Sindaran like their kin in Doriath, but were another lost kindred of Teleri, the Falathrim. The ones who stopped on the coast of Beleriand and refused to cross the sea of Belegaer with the rest of their kin. They swore allegiance to their kin in Doriath under Thingol, but they aren't identified as Sindar, but as their own race of elves.
My only regret is not having much more info regarding the most secretive Noldor fortification in the First Age - Nargothrond. How many Noldor dwelled there during its might when Finrod was king? Curse Turin for wanting a bridge to be built into the cave.
I read a funny meme, of Gondolin being the Hide and Seek champion of the First Age...Of course they weren't exaggerating!!! Thanks Mellon, for another Settlements of Middle Earth, until Mithril's Video...Marion Baggins Out!!!
Been thinking about doing a minecraft build of Gondolin. Definitely gonna do it now lol. (I'll probably post a pic in Facebook group im a part of called Middle-Earth. It will be weeks or even a month before i have anything worth sharing. This just spare time hobby i don't have anywhere else i would share this.)
Turgon wanted to recreate something so beautiful that reminded him of his home in Tirion back in Aman. Gondolin was the result of his pride and nostalgia for Tirion. Then in the end his arrogance brought the downfall of him and his city.
@@dshack5690 If you refer to the Doom of Mandos. It was unavoidable. But about Gondolin. I bet things would have been different if Turgon left the city.
But shall I leave my friends alone, Hidden in my twilight hall? Though the world is lost in fire, Surely there is a way to turn it back, To the old days of bliss and cheerful laughter. We're lost in barren lands, Caught in the running flames ALONE!
I think this wasn't covered clearly enough here. The Petty Dwarves in Nulukkizdîn (the Caves of Narog) were hunted largely by the Sindar and dwindled over time to almost nothing. When Finrod was told about the caves by Elu Thingol, he came there and intended to move there. The Petty Dwarves didn't actually resist them but actually initially assisted them in the first round of construction. Then Mîm, their chieftain, tried unsuccessfuly to murder Finrod in his sleep and he and the rest of the Petty Dwarves were expelled.
It got rektd After the war of wrath, there wasn't much left. Remember, it happened over a number of year with the most powerful armies ever seen in Middle earth
@@goodputin4324 It was recently discussed that the whole of middle earth was tainted with Morgoth's evil, but I suppose the main wars/conflicts that were over the Silmarils occurred in Beleriand.
I thought it was because the War of Wrath involved all the Gods and powers of First Age elves (including the ones fresh from Valinor) vs Morgoth, Sauron, balrogs and dragons. The Earth literally could not take the pounding
TOPIC REQUEST: Sam was the only character to bear the ring and voluntarily give it up. How powerful is Sam? What if Sam had claimed the Ring at Cirrith Ungal? Could he have thrown it into Mount Doom? Would he have found his way, unlooked for, back to The Shire and defeated Saruman?
Well, Sam only had the Ring for a few hours. Frodo also potentially offered the Ring to Gandalf after a few minutes of having it and Galadriel somewhat after this. I think this is less about their power and more about how long the Ring had to embed itself in the bearer's psyche.
Personally I wish I could have strolled along the shores of turion and through the great ancient forests of the first age and seen the ents and ent wives, then ventured to gondolin.
@Yoystan As always, your videos are great, a thought just occurred to me about a video that could be a what if, but I have no idea if there's anything Tolkien left behind, and that is: in Jackson's LOTR, towards the end, Frodo hints that the last pages of the book of Westmarche are for Sam. What, if anything, does Samwise add into his memoirs? Just super curious. Thanks!
Great question, I imagine that if they remained there during the Years of the Trees, they continued to dwell there during the First Age, likely allying with nearby Men and Dwarves of that land.
I have a question about elven interaction after death. Being immortal I assume once they have been released from the Halls of Mandros do they simply return to their past lives and families and carry on as before their physical death?
They can do, I believe their memories are left intact. The main person referenced in this way is Finrod, who after dying in Middle Earth, was reincarnated in Valinor and stayed there with his original sweetheart who did not travel with him to Middle Earth originally.
So... Anybody else curious what would have happened to Mithrandir if he got stabbed by a morgul blade? Would he become a wealth like mortals? Or would it have hurt him more in soul than it did Frodo?
Am I mistaken or did you guys used to be called “history of middle earth”. I haven’t really watched a lot of middle earth videos in a while and I remember being a channel by that name but I don’t see them around anymore
The Fall of Ethilian Ethillian, O essence of elves, Why are your once white walls now blackened; And the great bridge now cloven and fragmented? Your ornate gate twisted and broken? Where is Gorondath, your high king? I no longer see his star shining in the night, For it faded into the twilight. Your great white halls are blood-stained and overgrown. Your ancient banners are rent and burned. And harken the silence, for I hear no more mirth or rapture. Where is the great host of warriors as innumerable as the stars? A shadow resides over you now. A great obscured evil whose flames devour the light. Even now, your vision has dissolved from awareness. For no one remains who still honors your previous grandeur; For nameless darkness lingers in your halls. By Riley. J.G
You share a similar problem with other you tube uploaders. The written text is virtually unintelligible. Don't know who to talk to about this issue so I'm starting with you. Looking for any leads that may help. Thanks.
So they express me as "Valerian(A Tree Species) an Elf", so Beleriand is like Valerian, where is Beleriand? The Map nicely like that Looks Special, if they Plot to Damage this Country, then telling of War in Beleriand is for?
Fantastic video, as much as I love Tolkien, we just have so so little material about places like Hithlum and the very early settlements of the Noldor and so little on the years there. Not to mention just how much lost potential there is for the Years of the Trees but from the viewpoint of those not in Aman, imagine for example, Melkor was in prisoned for three Ages before the First Age, so imagine life for these ages, no Sun or Moon, no light from the Two Tree, no day just an endless starry night and how utterly shocking it would have been at the first rising of the sun at the dawn of the First Age.
Every time when you upload a new video I think I know everythimg about any subject but still I always learn something new and its never boring, its only better and better.Thanks Yoystan!!
Another epic video Yoysten. I was wondering if you could make a video going greater into detail about the earlier wars of Arda. Such as the wars of the making of Arda, the war of the Lamps, and the war for sake of the elves. For such titanic conflicts, I think they do not receive as much recognition as they should. If you need some help, the Book of Lost Tales put a few unique spins on certain events. Though most are not considered Canon anymore, so do with it as you will.
@@goodputin4324 That is true, but it still adds to the awesomeness of both of those respective works by establishing the backstory for many of the various places and the origins of their names.
If I had to pick anywhere to live in Beleriand then I would have to choose the Havens of Sirion since it held out the longest against Morgoth and the Kinslayers.
Reading the silmarillion and the events of the first age of middle earth Such fascinating geography Also the battles of the first age are the most interesting among the legendarium
I feel so empty inside but there is something about Lord of the Rings and its world and lore and by extension, these videos, that bring me so much peace. I can't explain it. Thank you so much. ❤❤❤
For the last king of the Greenelves before Celeborn and Galadriel, check out Amroth who fell in love with Nimrodel and drowned. His father was Amdir, but I have no dates for him found as yet.
I was just trying to map this out for myself last night.... All the LOTR channels have made this so much more fun to read for myself.... Thank you guys!
Ayo why the fuck is the song about dwarves and their deeds mention elven kingdoms?! That would be like a national anthem talking about how prosperous another country is!
Always at the top of my list of things to do...Tolkien fan videos.. Outstanding work on this one. Thank you so much for highlighting the areas you speak about throughout the video...SOOOooo helpful!
I have a question. Would the slain telerie really not have been able to return to their homes well before the return of the exiles? Even if the elves that were slain during the first kinslaying were killed, wouldn't they eventually just respawn in the halls of Mandos and eventually return to their home to rebuild and resume their lives? They didn't do anything wrong in trying to defend themselves and they were attacked because they didn't want to offend the Valar by just giving over their ships to Feanor and his followers. So taking all that into account they wouldn't have to wait long to be allowed to return.
