Place of the Fountain

A place within the shining Hidden City of Gondolin. We have very few details about the Place of the Fountain, but it was probably another name for the square referred to in older accounts as the Square of the King, or the Place of the King. This stood below the Tower of the King, the tallest of all the towers in the city, where its King, Turgon, dwelt. Within that square was a mighty fountain whose waters were said to soar twenty-seven fathoms into the air (that is, about fifty metres or 160 feet). Those waters descended in a fine spray, glittering in sunlight by day, or moonlight by night, and all around the great fountain were snow-white songbirds.

Assuming that the Place of the Fountain was indeed the Square of the King, then this was the site of a dreadful battle during the Fall of Gondolin. Beneath the Tower of the King, Ecthelion of the Fountain¹ fought against Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, in a conflict of such ferocity that each of the combatants slew the other. Shortly afterward the great Tower of the King fell, and King Turgon was lost in its collapse.