Gate of Steel
| Gate of Steel | |
|---|---|
| Gate | |
 | |
| "Gate of Steel" by Narfil Palùrfalas | |
| Other names | Last Gate, Seventh Gate |
| Location | Orfalch Echor |
| Appearance | A mighty fence of steel with seven wide beams, flanked by towers |
| Creator | Maeglin 5th century, First Age |
The Gate of Steel or the Great Gate was the last of the Seven Gates of Gondolin.
History
It was the last gate both in order of entering and construction, having being built by Maeglin some centuries after the other six as an ultimate defence after the disaster of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Though all but impassable to an enemy, the Gate ultimately failed to prevent the Fall of Gondolin.
Ecthelion was the Warden of the Gate, which was like a great steel fence across the Orfalch Echor. The fence had seven great needle-like pillars of steel and between these pillars there were seven cross-bars of steel and forty-nine vertical rods with heads like broad blades of spears. In the centre, above the midmost pillar, was raised a mighty image if the king-helm of Turgon, the Crown of the Hidden Kingdom, set about with diamonds. The gate opened inward on either side of the pillar of the Crown. This gate followed the Gate of Gold, and when opened, it led to a high sward that looked over Tumladen.[1]
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin", pp. 49-50
