the image of gondolin was enduring , and it reappears in the glimpses given in notes for the continuation of the later tuor ( unfinished tales p. 56 ) : the stairs up to its high platform , and its great gate ... the place of the fountain , the king 's tower on a pillared arcade , the king 's house ... ' indeed the only real difference that emerges from the original account concerns the trees of gondolin , which in the former were unfading , 'shoots of old from the glorious trees of valinor ' , but in the silmarillion were images made of the precious metals .