no, no, no, no….you’ve murdered me by writing this.NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
If this were real I COULD NOT live.
I am now officially disturbed for life…
A world without fantasy…?
EEEK! =O

Poor Abby…LOL.

I’m sure there would be many more who would grasp the fantasy genre, even though the actual particles would be different that make up the Big Picture.

Not having read Tolkien, I’m not sure about the existence of Gondolin anyway, but you’ve painted a vivid picture in this piece that is very well constructed and rather graphic in its execution (no pun intended).

Briliant!

This is epic. The world would indeed be a much lesser place if this story were true.

Okay, firstly, I’m going to sound like an unread cretin but I don’t know anything about this Gondolin of which you speak. However Tolkien I do know from the whole franchise, yet I haven’t read him. I’m officially pathetic.
I suppose without him we’d have C.S. Lewis and Frank Baum though, so the world would not be without fantasy. Just Hobbits….

Actually, Lewis and Tolkien were very close friends. Lewis’ library would probably be drastically different as well.

The fall of Gondolin was the first story he wrote for middle earth. He actually came down with trench fever a few weeks after the time this story was set. He was transfered to England to recover, and wrote “The Fall of Gondolin” while there.

What I was trying to do was convey that he was lost with just the first few lines of the first story written down.

The loss of him at this time would have left the world a much poorer place. And the fact of the matter is , we do not know how much poorer we are for the loss of those who did fall.

If I recall correctly, about one in five germans and about one in four frenchmen of military age died in the war.

I’m really sorry but I have a problem with the way he died in your story. (Being a history nut and a Tolkein nut I have a tendency to want to correct these things.) Tolkein was extremely intelligent and had been educated in the Arts of War, and he would know better than to, even for a second, peek his head over the trench, especially as there was a much safer option of looking through the holes that allowed machine guns to shoot without the ‘driver’ being killed.
Rant over.

Besides that I really like the way it’s written, and how the magnitude of the deed isn’t realised by the reader until the last sentence.
Basically you just killed off my inspiration!
Also is the sergeant American?

I try for accuracy as a bit (well more than just a bit really) of a history nut as well. I was trying for a welsh accent. I looked but wasnt able to identify any particular regiment associated with the 11th (Service) Battalion in September of 1916, which is where I believe Tolkien was assigned at the time. Tolkien did serve during the battle of Thiepval Ridge and the Swabian Redoubt shortly thereafter. On 27 Oct 1916 he came down with trench fever and on 8 Nov 1916 was sent back to England.

I am glad you enjoyed the story.

Glad to have found a fellow history fanatic :)