Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Music: The Story of the Ring

While creating the instrumental for “The Story of the Ring”, I brought back musical themes and motifs used in previous sections while introducing new themes. In this essay, I will describe the history and inspiration behind the new themes for Sauron, Ringwraiths, Gil-galad, and Men of Westernesse while demonstrating how these themes fit together to create a cohesive score.

Sauron & Ringwraiths Themes

The themes for Sauron and his Ringwraiths are variations on the “Morgoth’s Ring Theme”, which first appeared in the instrumental “Bilbo Gives Up the Ring” from Episode 1 but was more elaborate in the instrumental “After Breakfast”. Inspired by The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/995/igor-stravinsky), the dissonant notes create a corrupted D7 chord (D, F#, A, C) in 5/4 time, causing the sequence to feel uneasy and unresolved

When referencing Sauron and his Ringwraiths, I began with the same cacophony but changed the instrumentation to indicate a different approach to spreading dark magic across Middle-earth. While I represented Morgoth with a classical symphony including strings, woodwinds, brass, and a wide range of percussion, Sauron receives mostly percussion, including glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, gongs, and carillon.

Some of these instruments were previously utilized in other themes. The “White Towers” theme included the Germanic glockenspiel and West African xylophone, creating an international sound. The vibraphone or orchestral marimba is the most modern of the family, likely first patented around 1916 by Hermann Winterhoff of Leedy Drum Co, although the name was allegedly coined in 1926 by his coworker George H. Way.

The melody of the theme is carried by the carillon or tower bells. Since this is played by a mighty MIDI orchestra rather than by musicians in the Real World, I can choose whatever instrument I want as long as the sound is in the free library provided by MuseScore. I am a big fan of carillons, whether this is the tower at Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, NH; the Children’s Chime Tower in Stockbridge, MA; the twin bell towers of Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester, MA; or the now-removed carillon at the former Christmas Tree Shop in Hyannis, MA.

Returning to the main point, I wanted Sauron’s music to reference the concept of time as understood in industrialized society: our work is driven by the clock. The carillon chimes a haunting melody, declaring that the hour has come, and the gong chimes eleven times. Since the phrase “eleventh hour” has been used colloquially to indicate “the latest possible time before it is too late”, I wanted to subtly reference the phrase to reward astute listeners.

As for the Ringwraiths theme, their melody is the beginning of Morgoth’s and Sauron’s melody played in reverse. Rather than arpeggiating up, the notes arpeggiate down. Their melody also lacks resolution, as the Ringwraiths no longer have free will. Their will has been subsumed by the dark powers of Sauron, and accordingly, their lives can have no satisfying end.

Gil-galad Theme

When creating a musical theme for Gil-galad, I wanted to reflect my portrayal of the character as representing snow and ice. To accomplish this, I borrowed motifs found in two well-known pieces of classical music: “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and “Winter” from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi.

“Sugar Plum” features a melody in the celesta or bell-piano, a keyboard attached to metal plates to produce a gentle, high-pitched sound. The name celesta comes from the French word céleste meaning “heaven”, also the source for the adjective celestial, which arrived in English during the late 14^th century. The only other well-known song with a celesta seems to be “Neptune” from The Planets by Gustav Holst, which creates a cool, eerie melody as the listener drifts away from the solar system.

The first movement of Vivaldi’s “Winter” famously uses a trilled eighth note chord to invoke a sense of cold. In the Gil-galad theme, an alto viol or medieval precursor to the violin plays an ostinato underneath the melody in the celesta, which references the melody of “Sugar Plum”. To those familiar with classical music, this immediately reminds listeners of a strong yet delicate-looking dancer on a chilly day.

Men of Westernesse Theme

The Men of Westernesse or Númenor were powerful militants, and their song is reminiscent of short melodies played by modern fanfare trumpets, also known as herald trumpets. Since these Men were ancient, they might have instead played an instrument similar to a buisine, a trumpet with no curve and measuring up to six feet in length, which was most popular during the Middle Ages. Prior to this, the trumpet of choice was the Roman Buccina, originally made from an animal horn, although later versions were made of metal just like modern trumpets. The name of this instrument reminds me of a well-known horn-blowing population in Middle-earth: the Hobbits of Buckland.

For a quick linguistic aside, the name “Buckland” is based on a real place in England and is the modern spelling of a medieval concept: bookland, or a “land held by charter”. Just as the ancient Fallohide brothers Marcho and Blanco received a charter from the King of Arthedain to settle the Shire, only to be displaced in leadership for several generations by Stoors, the Fallohides evidently granted a charter to their Stoors vassals once they regained power. However, the name could also be a pun, as was common with hobbits. The Brandybucks of Buckland played their buccinas to warn their neighbors of danger.

As for the musical theme representing Númenórean warriors, the trumpets play in noble thirds as if heralding in a king. The chord progression will be incorporated into future songs representing Men of Gondor, the less powerful descendants of the Númenóreans.

Putting It All Together

After a moment of silence, the piece begins with a dissonant chord in the strings. This soon launches into Sauron’s Theme, playing through much of his melody. The theme fades out to harp and bassoon, indicating that Frodo has asked Gandalf a question. The dissonant chord continues in the strings, as the dark shadow of the Ring has settled over them. Sauron’s theme returns, ending with three clashes on the carillon.

The familiar “One Ring Theme”, first established in “The Epigraph”, plays as Gandalf reviews the fates of the other rings of power. Upon reaching the phrase for “One for the Dark Lord on His dark throne”, the chords corrupt back into the familiar theme of evil. This time, the Ringwraith melody plays, pauses, and then becomes Sauron’s Theme again. Above the theme, woodwinds play the chorus from the “One Ring Song” but in multiple keys simultaneously, each key related to the notes of the dissonant chord. Once the woodwinds have finished the chorus, it is taken by the carillon, which also begins chiming for eleven o’clock.

After the final chime is struck, the percussion drops out, allowing the harp to play muted arpeggios over the dissonant chord in the strings. The tempo slows dramatically from 200 BPM to 120 BPM as the dissonant chords fade away. Upon reaching the new tempo, Gil‑galad’s Theme plays and is then joined by the Men of Westernesse Theme with the Drums of Doom sounding underneath at one beat per second, like the ticking of a large clock. The Gil‑galad Theme soon drops out, indicating his death, while the Men of Westernesse Theme becomes disjointed, sounding like a round rather than a unified group.

Dissonant chords return in the tuned percussion to be struck eleven times. The flute plays the phrase “One Ring”, beginning opposite the chimes and then playing with the chimes as the dynamics increase. Also entering are triplet arpeggios in the woodwinds to indicate the babbling of the River Gladden. The Men of Westernesse Theme continues in a single trumpet, indicating Isildur alone at the Gladden Fields, until it too drops out. In the final measures, the bassoon and harp play together as Frodo and Gandalf discuss what has been explained. In the background, the Drums of Doom continue relentlessly even until the end.

Watch the music video here: