Dear diary,
After the kinslaying in Menegroth, my family had joined me in Gondolin, but not for long. Nearly three years after that, Gondolin itself was besieged.
Gondolin had long been a hidden city, fortified and hidden from the eyes of both our allies and our enemies, but not anymore. Alas, Maeglin son of Eöl the Dark Elf, betrayed us. After an argument between himself and the Lords Turgon and Tuor he set out of Gondolin, and somehow he managed to get allied to Morgoth, giving him the exact location of our hidden fort.
On the evening of the festival of ''Ennyn Laer'' (Tarnin Austa, The Gates of Summer), while all residents of Gondolin were waiting for the Sun to rise, the forces of Morgoth encircled the city. A hasteful war-council was called by Turgon. Maeglin suggested we fight from inside the walls, and Lord Turgon took his side because he was fond of him. The Orcs, wolves, and other creatures of Morgoth reached the walls, but could not climb up them as they were completely smooth. Then Morgoth called forth Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs to assault the North Gate with the help of siege machines. The machines hit the walls and they were broken, and as that happened, many hosts of Orcs entered the city and were on par with the forces of two of our commanders. We fought for hours and with heavy losses. The Balrogs continued to shoot darts of fire and flaming arrows like small snakes into the sky, and these fell upon the roofs and gardens of Gondolin till all the trees were scorched, and the flowers and grass burned up, and the whiteness of those walls and colonnades was blackened and seared.
During the battle, Maeglin and his troops went to Tuor's house in the south side of the city to assassinate Idril and her son Eärendil, but he was stopped by Tuor and some of our House; the House of the Golden Flower. Maeglin and Tuor fought alongside the two houses, and Maeglin perished; being thrown down from the Great Wall.
In the meanwhile, a new host of Morgoth had reached the western side of the wall, and Melkor's dragons came forth. The Lords Tuor and Ecthelion and their respective houses held reserves there, and they both proved worthy; slaying several Orc-Chieftains and Balrogs. Our forces fell back to the Square of the King, where they joined Lord Turgon's forces. We hastily erected barricades, but Melkor's forces broke through them nonetheless. Gothmog, many orcs and a dragon charged through the square and Tuor nearly perished. Lord Ecthelion, although wounded, attacked Gothmog, sacrificing himself so the rest of the Gondolindrim had time to escape. Gothmog disarmed him and broke his arm, but Ecthelion pierced Gothmog's chest with the spike of his helmet, falling into the Fountain of the King where they both drowned and perished. Glorfindel, our Lord, ordered the rest of our House to defend the rear as the rest of the Noldor fled the Square, losing several kinsmen in the process. While most of my friends perished there, none of my family were slain, and our Lord managed to stay alive.
The remaining Noldor went to the Tower of the King, where Turgon lamented the destruction of our city and made Lord Tuor the new King of Gondolin and whom they should follow, and asked Tuor to lead all the Noldor out of the city. While we were leaving, Turgon himself went to the highest part of the Tower and shouted "Great is the victory of the Ñoldoli!", and the forces of Melkor mocked him, and then he was slain. King Tuor informed us of the tunnel Idril had made, and we made haste for it, moving beneath the city whilst it was burning on the surface.
Morgoth himself was not ignorant of our escape, and he sent a Balrog to attack the refugees. Lord Glorfindel luckily managed to kill it, but he, too, was slain. Eagles then flew down to aid us and drove the Orcs back so that all were slain or cast into the deeps. Thus words of the escape of Tuor did not come immediately to Morgoth’s ears. At that time, around 800 elves including myself were in the group of refugees.
Eventually, the refugees came to Nan-tathren, the Land of Willows, and there they rested for a while. They made a feast in memory of Gondolin, and the Elves that had died there, and for Glorfindel the beloved. The Gondolindrim then departed from the Land of Willows, and made their way down to the Mouths of Sirion, and joined their people to the company of Elwing. There, an Elven-folk was established from the remnants of Doriath and Gondolin, and from Balar the mariners of Círdan came among them. When word came to Balar that Turgon was slain, Gil-galad was named High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth.
