Most composers spend just 10-12ish weeks working on a film’s music. John Williams spent around 14 weeks on each Star Wars movie, 40ish weeks total for the whole OT……but composing the LOTR trilogy’s soundtrack took four years
The vocals you hear in the soundtrack are usually in one of Tolkien’s languages (esp. Elvish). The English translations of the lyrics are all poems, or quotes from the book, or occasionally even quotes from other parts of the films that are relevant to the scene
When there were no finished scenes for him to score, Howard Shore would develop musical themes inspired by the scripts or passages from the book. That’s how he got all Middle-Earth locations have their own unique sound: he was able to compose drafts of “what Gondor would sound like” and “what Lorien would sound like” long before any scenes in those places were filmed
Shore has said his favorite parts to score were always the little heartfelt moments between Frodo and Sam
Shore wrote over 100 unique leitmotifs/musical themes to represent specific people, places, and things in Middle Earth (over 160 if you count The Hobbit)
The ones we all talk about are the Fellowship theme, the main Shire Theme, and the themes for places like Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, and Rivendell…but a lot of the more subtle ones get overlooked and underappreciated
Like Aragorn’s theme. It’s a lot less “obvious” than the others because, like Aragorn himself, it adapts to take on the color of whatever place Aragorn is in: it’s played on dramatic broody stringed instruments in Bree, on horns in battle scenes, softly on the flute with Arwen in Rivendell….
Eowyn has not just one but three different leitmotifs to represent her
Gollum and Smeagol both have their own leitmotifs! Whose theme music is playing in the scene can often tell you whether the Gollum or Smeagol side is “winning” at the moment
The melody for Gollum’s Song in the end credits of the The Two Towers is the Smeagol and Gollum themes smushed together (it’s Symbolic)
And then there’s the really obscure ones. Like there’s a melody that plays at Boromir’s death that shows up again in ROTK in scenes that foreshadow a major death or loss
Shore wanted the theme music to grow alongside the characters– so that as the characters changed, their theme music would change with them.
You can hear that most clearly in the Shire theme. Like the hobbits, it goes through A Lot
Like compare the childish lil penny whistle theme you hear in Concerning Hobbits/the beginning of FOTR with (throws a dart at random Beautiful Tragic Hobbit Character Development scene because there WAY TOO MANY to choose from) the scene when Pippin finds Merry on the battlefield, where you hear a kind of shattered and broken but more mature version of that same theme in the background
I could write you a book on how much I love the way the Shire theme grows across the course of these films
Unlike the hero’s themes, which constantly change and grow, the villain’s themes (The One Ring theme, the Isengard theme, etc) remain basically the same from the very beginning of FOTR to the end of ROTK. Shore said this was an intentional choice: to emphasize that evil is static, while good is capable of change
Shore has said that between all the music that made into the movies and the music that didn’t, he composed enough for “a month of continuous listening”……..where can I sign up
*Mentally adding “for Frodo” during the Wakanda scene of the trailer*
Steve: The flip phone is lit. Tony calls for aid.
T’Challa: And Wakanda will answer.
Bucky and Sam bickering and keeping tallies like Legolas and Gimli during the fight(s)
“It’s a little tight across the chest,” Steve Rogers in his smedium t-shirt
*gollum voice* “Murderer” — Bucky, to himself
(I’m sorry)
“Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the Seas!” says Loki (dramatically, of course)
A/N: I can’t wait to draw all these
Not Infinity War but…
Peggy: You’re late
Steve: Steve Rogers is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to
“You’ve left out one of the chief characters – Bucky Barnes. I want to hear more about Bucky. Steve Rogers wouldn’t have got far without Bucky.”
*Sam swoops in to save Bucky and Steve like the Eagles at the end of the Return of the King*
“They’re taking the army to Wakanda” — Tony, on the phone with Steve (à la “they’re taking the hobbits to Isengard” song)
“MUSTER THE DORA MILAGE” – KING T’CHALLA
Thanos: No man can kill me
Rocket: I am a raccoon!!! *pew pew pew*
Groot: I AM GROOT!!
Loki: I am Loki. Of Asgard!
When Elrond went to see Aragorn and dramatically gave him the Andúril. That, but with Tony going to Wakanda battle field and dramatically giving Steve his shield back.
Tom Bombadil is the best/most amusing character in anything I’ve ever read because here you have this dude who skips around the forest all day and sings nonsense songs about himself, and the One Ring, the single most powerful object in all of Middle Earth that a fucking ancient evil is furiously searching for, has absolutely no effect on him. He pops it on and doesn’t turn invisible like most do when they accessorize themselves with the pure manifestation of power and greed but instead pulls some sleight of hand shenanigans and makes it disappear into thin air like a party trick before casually flipping it back to Frodo. Frodo asks Tom’s wife who the hell he is and she just responds “He is” because Tommyboy over here is fucking beyond mortal description. The elves, who are essentially immortal themselves, refer to to this guy as “the Elderest” because he was there before any of even the oldest beings on the planet could remember. The only reason the Fellowship didn’t pick the guy to journey to and destroy the Ring in Mordor was because he might accidentally displace the whispering hellcircle that even Gandalf, a primordial spirit that helped in shaping the world, was afraid to touch because Tom Bombadil just doesn’t give a shit. So the character that many scholars speculate is the supreme being and one true god of Tolkien’s entire universe is just this secondary character that refers to himself in third person and fishes in the forest while writing iffy poetry.
Legal issues with the Tolkien Estate aside, you couldn’t remake LOTR anyway. Why? Because of the theme music. Yeah. Like what are you going to do? “Yes, we need a score that lives up to Howard Shore’s Lord of The Rings, or is at least cool enough to, y’know, do it’s own thing.” Like, you can’t. You just straight up can’t. Go ahead and remake Star Wars with different music why don’t you. You’re hearing the Fellowship theme in your head right now, aren’t you? You know you are. It’s that powerful. What can you do? Nothing. That’s it. That’s Lord of The Rings. Goodbye.
Loki is the Philosopher King 