Above the Third Gate, surmounting its wall, stood three towers, each roofed in copper that shone with a strange red light, reflecting lamps set along the wall's top. Like each of the other Gates, the Third Gate had its own dedicated company of guards, in this case taken mostly from the native Sindar of Nevrast who had joined Turgon'sNoldor when they removed to Gondolin. It was traditional for the Sindar to bear axes, and these were the weapons borne by the guards of the Gate of Bronze.
Together the first three Gates of Gondolin held the western part of the long pass, but after the Third Gate the road to Gondolin began a long upward climb through the Mountains, and it was a long and difficult journey from the Third Gate to the Fourth, known as the Gate of Writhen Iron.