THE MUSIC OF
THE RETURN OF THE KING
ANALYSIS
.1 - OSGILIATH INVADED
(8:47)
featuring "THE WHITE RIDER" performed by BEN DEL MAESTRO
Faramir and his troops patrol Osgiliath's borders by night. He and Madril, his second in command, confer while a placid but alert setting of the Gondor theme rests between high strings and treading percussion. Unbeknownst to them, a legion of Orcs approaches silently by boats. The inverted Threat of Mordor stealthily leads the way, the theme now absorbing the exotic stretched harmonies of Mordor. A Gondorian scout espies the approaching troop, and a quickened Way to Mordor variation kicks in as he is shot with an arrow. The men are alerted to the Orcs. The Way to Mordor continues as the men move into position, hoping to cut off the Orcs' ambush. The Orcs flood the empty streets until, lead by Faramir, the Gondorian soldiers begin their attack. The Realm of Gondor announces the offensive, but is immediately met by the Cruelty of the Orcs, the chromatically descending pyramid that represents their base desire for carnage.
After a charge of the Fellowship theme the battle rages on, variants of the powerful Mordor Outline now joining the fray, attacking the flowing Gondor theme from below. The men are overwhelmed. Madril advises Faramir, "We can't hold them. The city is lost." Mixed chorus enters singing "The Retreat from Osgiliath" as Faramir calls for a retreat, but before the men are informed, situations worsen - the Nazgûl have arrived. Brass intones the Nazgûl's signature close-spaced harmonies, though the Black Riders' theme does not appear in full.
Faramir screams for retreat, and the men begin wildly pouring out of the city. Madril is struck and falls to the ground. He is approached by a group of Orcs, led by Gothmog, Sauron's general. The orchestra quivers with the same minor stepwise motion that began the Orcs' assault on the Fellowship back in Moria. Madril cannot move. Gothmog thrusts a spear through him, and a high string chord escapes with Madril's final breath. The Orc growls, "The age of Men is over. The time of the Orc has come." The tempo drops and Shore's inverted Threat of Mordor sounds again, more weighty and declamatory.
Outside the city the scattered garrison is being assaulted from above as the Nazgûl swoop in for their precision kills. The pulse quickens and brass again adopts the Ringwraiths' harmonies. Mordor's bilious cloud stretches its edge over Osgiliath to veil the retreat in darkness.
But a familiar theme intercedes. Gandalf rides out to meet the Wraiths, a pure beam of white light emanating from his staff, hewing the darkness, and The White Rider (In the Fellowship) sings out in high strings above the orchestral tumult, combatting iterations of The Threat of Mordor in the low strings. Boy soprano Ben del Maestro sings "The White Rider" as Gandalf turns the Nazgûl away, and provides the men safe passage back to Minas Tirith, accompanied by a strong but defeated statement of the Gondor (In Decline) theme.
IN THE MAKING
Listeners will note that "Osgiliath Invaded" contains several references to the Fellowship theme, and shares a number of passages with "The Grace of Undómiel." Originally, this invasion sequence was to be concurrent to Gandalf and Pippin's first arrival at Minas Tirith. The Osgiliath battle was meant to play unbroken (save for a few updates on Gandalf's progress) and was to be placed before the lighting of the beacons.
2 - THE STAIRS OF CIRITH UNGOL
(2:41)
Faramir returns to Minas Tirith to confer with Gandalf. Pippin sits on Shadowfax along with Gandalf, and catches Faramir's eye. He has only days before seen two other halflings: Frodo and Sam. Solo clarinet begins a Shire-like line as Pippin's eyes widen. His friends are still alive.
Alive, yes, but in great peril. Led by Gollum, the two hobbits climb the stairs of Cirith Ungol. Frodo struggles to maneuver to rocks and pitches forward, revealing the Ring around his neck. Gollum sees it, his gaze transfixed. The orchestra twitches in aleatoric discomfort as Gollum reaches toward Frodo. The History of the Ring plays out clearly, tempting Gollum's hand, inviting it. But, sword at the ready, Sam calls to Gollum, who instead grabs Frodo's arm and helps him up the incline. While Sam follows the same difficult pathway, Gollum pulls Frodo aside, sowing the seeds of mistrust. "He wants it," Gollum claims. "He needs it." Again the orchestra is electrified, twittering in a thousand directions at once after the cor anglais repeats the History theme. Has Sam, too, heard the Ring's call?
IN THE MAKING
The cor anglais reading of the History of the Ring was not used in the final film, only the aleatoric string writing that backs it was.
The very end of this composition, which was meant to score the Witch-king and Gothmog, was pushed forward and used under Gandalf and the Gondorian troops in the final film.
Far off, the Ring's slaves continues to do its bidding. The Witch-king looks out over the conquered city of Osgiliath toward Minas Tirith. Over a contrabassoon pedal and string chords, the Black Captain orders Gothmog to lead the troops towards the city. "Do not stop the attack until the city is taken."
3 - ALLEGIANCE TO DENETHOR
(3:20)
Clarinet and strings warm the first conversation between Pippin and Faramir - though the friendly atmosphere chills and darkens as Faramir remembers Boromir and his similarities to Denethor. Moments later, Pippin, bound by his unplanned oath, finds himself uncomfortably swearing fealty to Faramir's father. But it is less a proud moment for Pippin than one of hesitation. Strings pick up motion, then halt. Melodic ideas begin, but cease. Eventually the orchestra sinks to heavy low string chords spotted with harp, as Denethor turns his attention to Faramir. Fully aware of the sacrifice he is demanding, Denethor orders Faramir to retake Osgiliath.
UNUSED CONCEPT
Due to editing, neither the music for Pippin's vows nor the transitional brass fanfare at the end of this composition were used in the film.
Faramir finally asks the question that gnaws at his mind, "You wish now that our places had been exchanged, that I had died and Boromir lived." Denethor answers, "Yes, I wish that." Pan flute, performed by Ulrich Herkenhoff, initiates a sad melody that seems to seek the Gondor theme's Ascension ending, but can never grasp it. But at the same time, the Faramir and Denethor theme carries the upsetting reverberations of Mordor's bid at a Fourth Age theme, The Witch-King/The Orcs of Mordor. Will Denethor's failures as a father and a leader cause Gondor's downfall while seeking its victory? Is he paving the way for Mordor's victory?
IN THE MAKING
In the film, Sam and Frodo's fight (see Disc Two, Track Five, "The Parting of Sam and Frodo") separates the scene between Faramir and Denethor and Faramir's march to war. They were originally intended to play as they do here, uninterrupted, connected by the pan flute solos.4 - THE SACRIFICE OF FARAMIR
(4:08)
featuring "THE EDGE OF NIGHT" performed by BILLY BOYD
A funereal march sets an airy line for strings, woodwinds, and chorus (singing "The Last Son") over a strum of percussion as Faramir and his troops begin their march out of Minas Tirith in their futile attempt to reclaim Osgiliath. The pan flute returns, again vainly sorting through scraps of Gondor's theme, trying to reform it. As percussion continues its stride, the harmonic momentum of strings and chorus subside, each chord freezing, drawing itself reluctantly forwards. Again the pan flute strains to bolster Gondor's pride, but illustrates little other than the grave of a once proud kingdom - a lineage come to its bitter end. Gandalf pleads with Faramir, but shamed by his father, Faramir feels he must obey his orders. Horns pick up the Realm of Gondor (In Decline), while a low string counterline and the martial percussion keep up the pace.
Minas Tirith's gates part, and the troops move toward Osgiliath, their horses quickeining their steps. The score increases its tempo slightly, tightening its fateful noose. Now in the Orcs' sight, the steeds begin to gallop as Orkish archers draw back the black, feathery fletching of their arrows.
But no choral requiem follows. No grand orchestral eloquence speaks. Only the unaccompanied voice of a hobbit marks this tragedy. As Pippin, Billy Boyd sings "The Edge of Night," a mournful reflection on the distances, both geographical and emotional, war asks its participants to travel. Gently, the orchestra enters, building tearing dissonances behind Pippin's simple hobbit tune. Shore's chromatic cluster builds, overwhelming the song with its murky cloud. The Orcs release their first volley of arrows, and the orchestra suddendly cuts off, abandoning Pippin to finish his final syllable alone. The hobbits' clarinet enters and reiterates the opening pitches of Pippin's song - the same perfect fifth that begins Gondor's theme - in a mournful echo. Solo fiddle answers the clarinet, likewise lonely and unebellished.
5 - THE PARTING OF SAM AND FRODO
(4:04)
The agitated quiver of Gollum's Menace traipses across the cimbalom's stings as the Ring's former owner tosses the hobbits' remaining lembas bread over the mountain's edge, framing Sam as an unchecked glutton. The hobbits awake to find the last of their food gone. Sam accuses Gollum of having taken the bread, and the orchestra begins the same static build of Mordor's Skip Beat that quaked behind Fellowship's Prologue. Though the Battle of Dagorlad may have involved thousands, make no mistake: the drama of three diminutive creatures wandering the western mountains of Mordor is every bit the War of the Ring. The stakes are no less.
Gollum tells his lie, revealing that Sam's cloak is littered with crumbs. With a brassy turn, the Evil of the Ring (the will of which Gollum has just acted upon) sounds in a four-note reduction. "He took it! He took it!" Sam throws Gollum to the ground, beating him until, with a slice of violins, Frodo pulls him off. As the figure fades, its intent clarifies... we've just heard a slightly warped reading of the Pity of Gollum. Frodo has again saved the despicable wretch. Exhausted by the effort, he collapses. Sam offers to help his friend. He knows the Ring is a terrible burden. Innocently, he offers to carry it for Frodo. But in Frodo's ears, Sam's words recall Gollum's. "He wants it!" Two elongated violin pitches evoke the shape of the History theme, but the theme doesn't materialize. They're the wrong pitches, and yet Frodo would seem to have heard the theme in his head, his perception bruised by paranoia. He thinks Sam wants his precious Ring. Wrongfully suspicious, his mind corroded by the Ring's influence, Frodo tells Sam to leave him and go home. The stepwise motion of the Shire theme modulates through a series of dark chords, unwilling to find its way back home. Finally the line lands in clarinet, but it expands tragically through the strings reaching past the Shire's simple music, and Frodo and Gollum continue their trek without Sam. Sam is crushed, and falls sobbing to his knees.
Frodo and Gollum climb higher and higher and Dangerous Passes arcs before them, the cruel glow of Sauron's lair still looming on the horizon.
IN THE MAKING
The very end of this composition, which features Dangerous Passes and the Mordor theme, does not appear in the film. The shots for which it was composed were cut from the film.
6 - MARSHALLING AT DUNHARROW
(4:56)
En route to Minas Tirith, the Rohirrim amass their collective forces at Dunharrow. Although a society of Nature, Rohan's theme is routed to a squared-away series of contrapuntal statements transmitted between strings, French horns, and Hardanger. Even the melody line itself is hammered into a more aggressive countenance. The telltale rising minor third interval that traditionally opens the theme is now stretched a whole tone higher, into a perfect fourth - an interval only a whole step away from the declamatory opening of the Gondor theme. This is Rohan at the most regal, most urban end of their capacity. As they near Gondor they become, in a way, more like it. And yet they're able to retain their essential sensitivity - the connection to Middle-earth that is so crucial to their existence. As the militaristic rigor subsides, that gentility emerges. Riding among the troops, rallying them, Théoden is dismayed to find so few have come. French horns sing the Rohan theme more softly, over tremolo strings.
The string writing suddenly changes its tenor, rising weightlessly until it hangs mistily over the orchestra. Gimli and Legolas peer down the valley of Harrowdale as once again the Army of the Dead begins. But this time, it is no far-off twinge. Aragorn stares down the narrow mouth of the road. Men's voices are audible, calling with the test of "The Dimholt Road": "Come armed/or prepare to die./There is no other end/to this road." The faintest hints of a glowing apparition can be seen, challenging Aragorn's gaze. Bassoon and hanging Tibetan gongs twist and contort behind the broad choral lines as the aural equivalents of reanimated bone and battle-ravaged metal. The Army of the Dead awaits.
Within the nighttime encampment, Merry readies himself for battle - or at least does so to the limited extent of hobbit abilities. For all their resolve, the Shirefolk are not built for war. Woodwinds and pizzicato strings tickle the edges of the Hobbits' Antics (and by proxy, the End Cap) as Merry, bedecked in his new ill-fitting armor, practices his blade work before Éowyn. Out of the violas and celli flows a darker melodic shape, a line that seems at once informed by the B phrase of the Fellowship theme, the Rohan Fanfare's minor mode, and the canorous linearity of the Shire theme. This is Merry the Warrior. Hobbits may lack a physical aptitude for battle, but perhaps better than most they understand its responsibilities and sadness. Éomer chuckled at the sight of Merry, doubting his abilities. But Éowyn knows that her brother doubts her as well, and protests, creating her own tie to Merry's warrior theme.
Beneath Dunharrow, upon the Stair of the Hold, a cloaked rider approaches, his coming infecting Aragorn's sleeping mind with horrific visions. Male voices tremor with "The Blade That Was Broken" as Aragorn sees himself thrust toward the Dimholt Road. He sees Arwen's Evenstar pendant shattered, and Arwen upon her death bed, alone, deprived of his presence. The Army of the Dead theme plays again, preponderantly developed. Aragorn has long grappled with his inheritance, but his concerns are now drawing to a head. He fears the Paths of the Dead as he fears his own weaknesses. But his love for Arwen has caused him to fear even more for another, to put her safety before his. Aragorn is beginning to adopt the mindset of a benevolent ruler. The Army of the Dead theme crescendos and suddenly cuts off. With a start, Aragorn wakes from his vision. The guard at the door informs him he has a visitor.
UNUSED CONCEPT
The Army of the Dead theme playing under Aragorn's nightmare was not used in the film. On disc, it ties Aragorn's fears and his understanding of his responsibilities - a telling psychological portrait of a leader pushed to serve by his concerns for others.
7 - ANDÚRIL - FLAME OF THE WEST
(3:27)
Aragorn enters Théoden's tent, where the mysterious hooded rider awaits him. Tense low brass chords reveal Aragorn's apprehension. The figure stands and removes his hood. It is Lord Elrond, come at Arwen's behest. Aragorn bows his head, and the orchestra warms with rich harmonies as French horn sounds Rivendell's theme. But Elrond's news is heavy. Arwen, having released her immortality, is now threatened by the Ring. And Aragorn's march to Gondor is futile: the Rohirrim are too few in number. The armies of Men are no match for the multiple forces soon to congregate upon the Pelennor - including a fleet of Corsair ships secretly approaching Minas Tirith from the south. The London Philharmonic again sinks to its low end. Reluctantly, Elrond offers his advice: "There are those who dwell in the mountain." A blast of wind blows through the tent; high strings climb, suggesting the dyadic harmonies of the Army of the Dead. Aragorn protests, "They answer to no one," but Elrond persists. "They will answer to the King of Gondor."
From beneath his cloak he produces Andúril, reforged from the shards of Narsil. The Rivendell theme billows in a flourish of strings. Elrond explains to Aragorn that this is the sword of the King. Minas Tirith's theme stands tall in the brass, proudly recalling Gondor's noble heritage. Aragorn takes the sword, grasps its hilt, and unsheathes it. The theme rises through silvery trumpets. "The blade that was broken shall return to Minas Tirith." Aragorn will no longer dodge his heritage. Even should it lead him to personal ruin, he will lead. High string clusters mark the possibility of this self-sacrifice.
8 - THE PASSING OF THE GREY COMPANY
(4:12)
Aragorn packs his scant belongings and prepares to take to the Dimholt Road. Éowyn confronts him, shocked that he would leave the men on the eve of battle, and thinking him a deserter. Double fiddle sings the sad strains of Éowyn and Aragorn, its emotive, woody tone evoking romantic yearning and strain. Aragorn finally addresses her love, gently telling her that they cannot be together. The Shieldmaiden of Rohan is crushed. Her eyes wrapped in tears, she stands motionless as Aragorn kindly strokes her face, then sets out to leave the camp.
But where a man of the Fellowship goes, Elf and Dwarf are never far behind. Gimli and Legolas stop Aragorn and with a strain of the Fellowship theme that is both tenuous and generous, inform him that he will not travel the Dimholt alone. Strings pass the theme to brass, warming it until with a sudden chill, the music is gutted by the hollow tones of the Army of the Dead. Above the Army theme, Fellowship continues to play in the horns, insecure, abandoned by harmonic support, but sure-headed still.
The Men of Rohan, however, are far less directed. They see the Fellowship depart and are unnerved. They declare that hope is no more. Gamling articulates the men's fears, telling Théoden, "Too few have come. We cannot defeat the armies of Mordor." A low line for timpani, celli, and basses snakes through the score, manifested by doubt. Théoden speaks, acknowledging that no, the cannot win. Tenuous brass bolsters the line, abating the fear ever so slightly. "But we will meet them in battle nonetheless."
Dawn breaks. Théoden seeks out his neice, Éowyn, and tells her that she is to rule in his stead, should he fall in battle. But Éowyn wishes to serve a more immediate need. She wants to fight. Théoden will not ask her to. Instead, he asks her simply to smile again, to remember her joy, and not mourn those who have lived their lives and come to honorable ends. Violins play a line in fused with hope, beauty, and melancholy. It leads to a breathing organic shape as Théoden draws Éowyn nearer. Horn brushes the edges of Rohan's theme, but it is followed by subtle suggestions of All Shall Come to Darkness... the music that once represented Boromir's death, and now predicts another noble man about the meet his end.
9 - DWIMORBERG - THE HAUNTED MOUNTAIN
(2:26)
Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli travel the Dimholt Road. The Army of the Dead theme now fully unearths itself, men's voices fading attenuated horizontal phrases one into the next while strings needle the orchestra from above, and gongs disrupt it from below. The music plays to unseen eyes, creating a truly haunted sense, as if the Fellowship's every step were increasingly enveloped by a massing, edgeless presence.
Scarred rock and dead trees lead the troupe to a door in the Dwimorberg mountain. Celli and basses play a chromatic line touched by the tremors of tam-tam rolls. The door coughs up a gale of wind and the Fellowship's horses abandon them. The orchestra thickens, high strings clotting their diatonic harmonies while mid- and low-brass shudder with chromatic clusters. Undeterred, Aragorn tucks his head and walks straight into the wind, through the door, and into Dwimorberg. The harmony clarifies, prouder consonances shining through. Legolas follows. Gimli pauses, but with a pair of Fellowship-derived chords, charges in. Dissonance swallows them all, and they disappear into the dark.
10 - MASTER MERIADOC, SWORDTHAIN
(1:39)
The hour upon them, the Rohirrim mount their horses to begin the last three-day leg of their ride to Minas Tirith. The new perfect fourth setting of the Rohan Fanfare is channeled into a busy compound meter variation matched to this flurry of activity. Théoden informs Merry that he is not to fight with the men after all, and the hobbit pleads with the king. Sir James Galway's whistle sympathizes with the hobbit, but Théoden holds fast. Merry can do little else but stand and watch as the troops ride away, until a masked rider gallops next to the hobbit, grabbing him and hoisting him upon the horse. Merry is shocked. But, if the rider's voice doesn't betray the ruse, Shore's score does. For the first time in The Lord of the Rings, the Éowyn Shieldmaiden of Rohan theme is used not to portray a suffering character, forced to watch from a safe distance while her people struggle. Disguised as Dernhelm, Éowyn will fight with the men of Rohan. And now Merry will too. Brass declares Éowyn's theme in a near fanfare until, with a clash of cymbals, the orchestra again begins its thumping ride. High strings carry the faintest suggestions of Nature's Reclamation. The riders set forth in great streams, and the Rohan Fanfare sounds one more time in a vigorously commanding Lydian setting.
11 - THE PATHS OF THE DEAD
(6:22)
Strings breathe acrid dust of the Army of the Dead theme while bass drum beats a near-subliminal pulse. Low woodwinds join the primarily dyadic harmonies as gongs clang away in complex rhythmic prods. Aragorn and his companions now walk the Paths of the Dead.
The air grows denser, the mist twirling into finger-like appendages as low strings cast aleatoric patterns. Aragorn comes to a great subterranean tower and contrabassoon, celli, and basses present a chalk-dry reading of the Realm of Gondor's opening pitches. Now accepting his heritage, will Aragorn actually succeed in leading this rabble? At the tower's gate there reappears the glowing apparition Aragorn envisioned at Dunharrow. The ghostly whine of bowed cymbals and tam-tam above string harmonies introduces the King of the Dead. Aragorn calls for the King's allegiance, but he is mocked spitefully. Under a series of piquant bitonal chords an entire city suddenly fades into the realm of the visible - a city peopled by the Army of the Dead.
The orchestra swells into multiple planes of dissonant clusters seeping across all ranges and instruments, lines gliding to and fro transparently over one another. The Army surrounds the Fellowship and its King draws his blade. He swings at Aragorn, but his blow is parried by Andúril. He is shocked. "That line was broken," he rasps. Aragorn catches him by the throat as brass conjures a forceful fanfare of pyramiding dissonances. "It has been remade!"
The Heir of Isildur casts the King of the Dead aside. As the soldiers' empty sockets look on, he makes his case. The percussion section's bowed metal squeals in pained friction. Aragorn promises the Army freedom should they serve him. The metallic clanks build. Tibetan gongs joining, as aleatoric low brass chews at the texture.
The Army of the Dead fades from sight and the city is overrun by a torrent of human skulls. The Fellowship races to escape, emerging on Dwimorberg's opposite side. There Aragorn sees Elrond's words born out - a fleet of ships belonging to the Corsairs of Umbar sail towards Minas Tirith before his eyes. A stretched version of Evil Times regards the sight. Aragorn falls to his knees. But something pulls at the back of his mind. Strings again rise in dyadic writing. The King of the Dead emerges through the wall of the mountain. "We fight." And, with a unison B natural, we segue to the mounting battle that calls them.
12 - THE SIEGE OF GONDOR
(9:01)
Vast armies of Orcs stand before the gates of Minas Tirith, moving their attack towers into place. But of more immediate concern is a single horse dragging its unconscious rider towards the city. The gates part and Faramir's body is brought inside. He is alive, having survived the slaughter at Osgiliath, but stuck with arrows and in grave condition. Shore's composition opens with leaping fifths, attempting to find Gondor's theme in the glowering madness, but unable to form it.
As Gothmog prepares to lead the Orcs at Minas Tirith's base, Faramir is brought before his father at the city's peak. A steady cadence stiffens the orchestra fatalistically, these coincident events serving to unnerve Denethor and deprive Gondor of any leadership (just or not) in its hour of greatest need. The Orcs load their catapults and lob a volley at the Gondorian foot soldiers - their gory ammunition, the heads of those who fell at Osgiliath. Actions this black-hearted can only be motivated by Sauron's Black Hand, so Mordor's Descending Third motif begins the march to the pit of Gondor's despair.
Denethor, still reeling from the sight of Faramir, staggers to the outer rim of his courtyard. The orchestra builds and gathers into a brisk, grotesque allegro. For the first time, Denethor is drawn from his sulking stupor and understands that he has left Gondor bereft of leadership as its enemies moved against it. Legions upon legions of Orcs, Trolls, and Wargs mar the Pelennor. The Orcs load their catapults with heavy rock now, and begin toppling Gondor's towers, the Descending Third following the collapse with a sickening literality. The orchestra's climb continues in harsh atonal melodies, supported with ever denser orchestrations. His sense now irretrievable, Denethor cries for an impossible retreat. For Mankind, there is nowhere left to go and nothing left to do.
But for the wizard, now is the time to act. Gandalf brandishes his staff as a weapon and disables Denethor, knocking him to the stones of his own courtyard. Violins sustain a single pitch until, with a flash of bright orchestral color, the White Rider (in the Fellowship) sounds and Gandalf races to Minas Tirith's lower levels. He will lead Gondor's soldiers.
The tempo quickens once again, a primitive Orkish drumbeat struck beneath the pitched instruments. Unison brass plays an opaque setting of Gondor's theme, but already at the battle's onset, this is Gondor in Decline. The realm is unprepared for such an onslaught. The men use Minas Tirith's trebuchets to launch the wreckage of their own towers towards the Orcs - it being the only ammunition readily available. Chromatic clusters mark the impact, but there is little lasting value. Mordor's Fourth Age begins to dredge its way up from the ensemble's depths.
Without warning, Mordor's second Fourth Age theme descends from above. Mixed chorus performs the Power of Mordor, the advancement of the Ringwraith theme. Built off the same secundal harmonies, this theme represents the Wraiths' most ruthless, savage attacks. The line itself is streamlined and emphasizes sustained pitches over short punctutations. it too, however, is supported by the ceaseless mark of the Descending Third, representing Mordor's ever-extending control. Upon the scaly backs of their fell beasts, the Riders attack from the sky, clawing at the Gondorian soldiers, tearing their forces asunder.
IN THE MAKING
The Power of Mordor actually began life in the early cut of Fellowship's Prologue. When the sequence was re-edited, Shore restructured his composition and this motif was removed. Hints of it can still be heard during the Council of Elrond, but the line does not appear in its full choral guise until The Return of the King.
Mountain Trolls move the Orcs' towers into position. The Fourth Age Orcs of Mordor theme is again roused in the brass' depths. The Orcs storm the city as an inverted setting of the Cruelty of the Orcs stings the orchestra's middle range. The Orcs maraud towards Pippin, who is completely overwhelmed by the battle. Over the orchestra's black pulsation, trumpets manage to seek out a few bars of the Fellowship theme and Gandalf rushes to the hobbit's aid. But Gandalf turns his back for a moment, opening himself to an attack from the Orcs. Pippin returns the favor and, for the first time, stains his blade with Orc blood.
A battering ram is brought to the front gate, and again the Orcs of Mordor themes exacerbate the orchestra in canonic overlaps. Dissatisfied with the attack, Gothmog calls for Grond. Two mountain trolls and three horned beasts drag the Hammer of the Underworld into position, their heavy gait earning the return of the Five Beat Pattern, now laced with the Evil of the Ring. The Orcs chant, their Fourth Age theme tumbling out yet again, its profane enthusiasm undeterred.
Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli watch the Corsairs' ships continue to steal down the river. Unwillingly aided by Gimli, Legolas catches a directorial-looking bosun with his arrow. The Corsairs turn their attention to the three figures on the riverbank who had the incredible gall to strike their forces. They laugh ruefully until, with a smoldering wash of sharply dissonant clusters, a semitransparent force charges them, obliterating their fleet.
13 - SHELOB'S LAIR
(8:52)
Now alone, Frodo follows Gollum's lead. He is beckoned to enter the dank mouth of a tunnel. Hesitant, he falters, but Gollum prods him. "Go in, or go back." Shore's music here is unusually dissonant, seemingly free of the tones that have thus far painted Middle-earth. Something is very wrong. The orchestra moves in opposing directions, the linear counterpoint thickening into a complex web. A chromatic eight-note motive in bassoon and low strings falls, striking an oddly regular rhythmic profile. Frodo is surrounded by death. The moldering carcasses of birds and Orcs hang from the ceiling; bone fragments litter the ground. Frodo darts away as a slew of sixteenth notes scramble through the orchestra.
Outside, Sam descends the stairs. He still sobs, and is backed by a chromatically altered Evil Times. He loses his footing and falls down the steps, landing by the lembas bread that Gollum tossed aside. He looks to the top of the stairs, the strings' scrambling sixteenths returning.
Now in a full panic, Frodo wildly searches the web-encrusted tunnel for an exit. But the more he struggles to depart, the deeper he seems to find himself. The orchestra's strings frantically bowing, Frodo flails in the dark until he finds himself ensnared in web. He rememberd the Light of Eärendil, the phial Galadriel gave him so long ago, hearing her words in his head, "May it be a light for you in dark places, where all other lights go out." Celli and basses sing Lothlórien, a theme that was at one time so foreign, so exotic and dangerous, but is now a welcome friend and ally. But the warmth is short lived, and the end of the melody shoots up in a noisome portamento. The light has exposed what lurks behind Frodo - Shelob!
The orchestra wriggles, contrapuntal fragments entwining and disengaging independently. The beast rears, hungry to feast upon Frodo, but warded off by the light. Frodo darts down a narrow corridor, thinking he has evaded Shelob, who is too large to follow. The orchestra charges, variations on the stepwise opening of the Seduction theme playing in fitful bursts, not unlike the music heard in Moria. But its forward momentum runs aground, restrained by jittering twitters and dissonant swells. Frodo is caught, suspended in an enormous web. The eight-note phrase returns. Shelob has come to claim her prize.
With a static trill, Gollum pops up from behind a boulder, taunting Frodo, finally revealing that, yes, he is more than ready to see the hobbit dead. The eight-note theme sounds again, this time clearer. Shelob approaches. Frodo slices at the web with Sting, hobbity rhythms singing sour dissonances behind him - as if the Hobbits' Antics figure were spoiled into a desperate action motif. At the last minute, Frodo is able to escape, leaving behind his sword in the process.
But as soon as he is out of Shelob's range, Gollum's spindly form tackles him. Low brass chords are speared with individual pitches, doubled in octaves as Gollum tries wildly to snatch the Ring from around Frodo's neck. But, driven by the Ring, Frodo protects it with an equal fervor. He turns the tables on Gollum, taking the offensive, beating him down to the ground. The music is unchanged. Be they instigated by a villain or a hero, the violent actions dictated by the Ring are equally awful.
In a harsh trill of woodwinds and strings, Frodo remembers himself. The six-note version of the Evil of the Ring sounds distantly as he falls back off Gollum. He cannot kill this wretch. But Gollum has no such qualms. Frodo tells him he plans to destroy the Ring. The low end of the orchestra shudders as string lines amass above, again suggesting Evil. Gollum throws himself murderously at Frodo, but topples over him and down the side of a cliff. Cor anglais sounds Evil's six-note theme one more time as Gollum plummets down into darkness.
Frodo is overwhelmed with exhaustion. He drops but, just as he hits the ground, experiences a vision. He is back in Lothlórien. Flutes play with the clean, bright open fifth intervals of Elvenkind, soon to be joined by wordless female chorus. A glowing figure draped in white appears as the cor returns Galadriel's theme to The Lord of the Rings for the final time. She offers Frodo her hand and, with a sudden, slight crescendo, lifts him back to his feet.
14 - MERRY'S SIMPLE COURAGE
(2:08)
Solo trumpet calls out the Rohan Fanfare over rolling field drums. The riders take their final pause before arriving at Minas Tirith. The line ends with a subtle nod to the Fellowship theme, indicative of just how far the tenets of the Company have come. Merry explains to Éowyn that he knows his own limitations, but that he rides on not in hopes of saving Middle-earth, but simply to save his friends. The thoughtful strains of Merry the Warrior return.
Horns and trumpets call open intervals, acting as the war horns of the Rohirrim. They will ride through the night, and arrive at Minas Tirith at dawn to meet the Orc host.