3.46 Mount Doom | LotR Score Analysis
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มี.ค. 2022
- An analysis of the themes and letitmotifs of the Lord of the Rings - The Complete Recordings; composed, orchestrated and conducted by Howard Shore. The videos stay true to how the tunes are presented in The Complete Recordings, so all scenes with no or altered music are omitted.
IMPORTANT: The featured sample notations are not necessarily identical (in key, form or time signature) to the relevant music in the tracks. They exist to give a visual cue for the themes, not to be taken literally for every iteration of the theme.
Quotes mostly taken from The Annotated Score and The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films by Doug Adams
A big thank you to A Magpie’s Nest, and the mysterious transcriber M.W., without either these videos might never have been made.
I am not affiliated with Middle-earth Enterprises, the Tolkien Estate, New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, WingNut Films, Doug Adams or Howard Shore.
All copyrights and trademarks for the books, films, and soundtrack music and lyrics are held by their respective owners.
ADDENDUM
This is it! Next week, we'll celebrate the day the Ring is unmade on March 25th with double releases!
I'm gonna make a Q+A after the final video is done, so if you have any questions, ask away!
Thanks for watching!
Not so much a question but there's no doubt in my mind this is one of the most incredible compilations ever assembled for Lord of the Rings media. The score is such an integral part of this trilogy that only something like this could give it the recognition and analysis it deserves. You've done such a great job with this and I'm very much looking forward to The Grey Havens.
Aw thank you so much, it has been incredibly rewarding thanks to people like yourself : )
1:26
This is it. This is, in my opinion, the most epic and dramatic usage of music in film history. Everything, the choir, the timpani, the winds, the strings, the brass is so fueled with rage. Imagine the music as a painting and 1:26 would be the moment where the artist says "oh yeah boi, I'm gonna oversaturate this shit up to infinity :)".
In the book, Sam enters the Crack of Doom and sees that the Vial of Galadriel no longer has any light. That was the scariest part of the book for me. The knowledge that this was Sauron's home turf and absolutely nothing could help the heroes here, even from afar. The score captures that fear and the madness of the Ring perfectly.
Literally the mirror image from film 1 where Elrond tells Isildur to destroy the Ring, and Isildur instead claims it for his own. This scene also parallels the opening when Sméagol and Déagol struggle for the Ring.
A lot of call-backs in these climactic moments. Sauron and Frodo, the first and last Ring-bearers, both lose their fingers.
3:39 I can't think of any music anywhere that better captures evil triumphant. It's like a scream of anguish in musical form: loud, dark, despairing. And of course 2:57 is yet another example of why these films aren't just good, but legendary: the totally unexpected smash from chaotic noise to quiet solo to focus on Gollum's joy is brilliance on Jackson/Shore's part.
My goodness!! The power of music! I can’t imagine these movies with anything more. This is just pure legendary Genius! The timing is perfect!
Sam came to the gaping mouth and peered in. It was dark and hot, and a deep rumbling shook the air. ‘Frodo! Master!’ he called. There was no answer. For a moment he stood, his heart beating with wild fears, and then he plunged in. A shadow followed him.
At first he could see nothing. In his great need he drew out once more the phial of Galadriel, but it was pale and cold in his trembling hand and threw no light into that stifling dark. He was come to the heart of the realm of Sauron and the forges of his ancient might, greatest in Middle-earth; all other powers were here subdued. Fearfully he took a few uncertain steps in the dark, and then all at once there came a flash of red that leaped upward, and smote the high black roof. Then Sam saw that he was in a long cave or tunnel that bored into the Mountain’s smoking cone. But only a short way ahead its floor and the walls on either side were cloven by a great fissure, out of which the red glare came, now leaping up, now dying down into darkness; and all the while far below there was a rumour and a trouble as of great engines throbbing and labouring.
The light sprang up again, and there on the brink of the chasm, at the very Crack of Doom, stood Frodo, black against the glare, tense, erect, but still as if he had been turned to stone.
‘Master!’ cried Sam.
Then Frodo stirred and spoke with a clear voice, indeed with a voice clearer and more powerful than Sam had ever heard him use, and it rose above the throb and turmoil of Mount Doom, ringing in the roof and walls.
‘I have come,’ he said. ‘But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!’ And suddenly, as he set it on his finger, he vanished from Sam’s sight. Sam gasped, but he had no chance to cry out, for at that moment many things happened.
Something struck Sam violently in the back, his legs were knocked from under him and he was flung aside, striking his head against the stony floor, as a dark shape sprang over him. He lay still and for a moment all went black.
And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm, the Power in Barad-dûr was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare. Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung.
From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain. At his summons, wheeling with a rending cry, in a last desperate race there flew, faster than the winds, the Nazgûl the Ringwraiths, and with a storm of wings they hurtled southwards to Mount Doom.
Sam got up. He was dazed, and blood streaming from his head dripped in his eyes. He groped forward, and then he saw a strange and terrible thing. Gollum on the edge of the abyss was fighting like a mad thing with an unseen foe. To and fro he swayed, now so near the brink that almost he tumbled in, now dragging back, falling to the ground, rising, and falling again. And all the while he hissed but spoke no words.
The fires below awoke in anger, the red light blazed, and all the cavern was filled with a great glare and heat. Suddenly Sam saw Gollum’s long hands draw upwards to his mouth; his white fangs gleamed, and then snapped as they bit. Frodo gave a cry, and there he was, fallen upon his knees at the chasm’s edge. But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as if verily it was wrought of living fire.
‘Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. ‘My Precious! O my Precious!’ And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was gone.
These quotes are getting out of hand
'And far away,.... The Power in Barad-Dûr was shaken...The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye... looked... to the door that he had made...'
Most powerful words from the whole Trilogy for me!
Nothing more beautiful than human voices assembling together to make something truly magical.
Thank you the analysis!! I've been wondering why exactly Mount Doom is my favorite track, and you made those reasons why perfectly clear :)
More than once in the previous tracks there have been instances in which the whole orchestra seems to stop for a fraction of a second, only for a sung/voiced part to start right afterwards (the first that comes to mind is the voice solo during Gandalf's rescue of Faramir's retreat). And now Shore puts two of those in the same track....quite impactful ! I absolutely love Fleming's voice at 2:58 (I always love Fleming's voice...).
I believe it's the same principle they use in sound mixing, especially during action scenes : reduce the overall sound levels a fraction of a second before an event (impact, explosion, etc...) and it give much more effect when you "turn the sound back on" (they did it, I reckon, right before the explosion during the battle of the Hornburg, and right before the two mumak collide with one another).
Indeed, it's quite effective. I especially love the duality in this track: the catastrophic weight of Frodo's decision to keep the Ring represented by the full force of the choir, versus a singular voice singing with almost romantic intimacy in Gollum's moment of personal triumph at finally regaining his Precious after decades of abstinence.
1:43 THE DARK LORD WAS SUDDENLY AWARE OF HIM AND HIS EYE PIERCING ALL SHADOWS LOOKED ACROSS THE PLAN TO THE DOOR THAT HE HAD MAKE!
Yes! YES! MY FAVORITE TRACK IS FINALLY HERE!
Glad to see this comment. It is my favourite too! For those moments of the story that are actually the most important from its whole timeline!
And quite disappointing is the amount of views... From the final scenes people are mostly noticing the Black Gate Opens (yes without the Mouth of Sauron's first part), For Frodo, and the Cracks (yes I understand that more epic are the collapses of Lugbúrz and other walls/towers). It is also a little shame that the Seduction theme is missing in the final movie. But in my opinion, here during these tones, there are the crucial moments of the new upcoming Age, of Men's Races future, of Doom!
@@kocourmacek7216 Another reason this is my favorite track is that I think of this as the defining moment in which the characters of the entire trilogy realize, "Oh shit, we're fucked." Gives another layer of triumph to The Cracks of Doom.
@@jonathanhauer960 Yes, all characters, including the Gorthaur himself that 'was suddenly aware of him [the Halfling] and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made.' 01:44
I don't care how good anyone thinks their imagination is when reading the books. No one is as brilliant as the collective minds that created this scene. Thank you for making these videos, which highlight the depth and quality of the score.
A question: would you analyze the OST from the theatrical version? Because, for example, "The Prophecy", the first track of FotR, is very different from the music from the movie itself.
Good question, taking that to the Q+A
Nice job as always, man! Are you going to do the same for The Hobbit trilogy?
Thanks, adding this question to the Q+A
No
This is where everything is revealed.
Mount Doom just set the ringwraiths theme, the power of Mordor and everything has to do with Mordor.
But I still can't recognize anything evil on Mount Doom theme... At least compared to the fall of men, and the rings themes themselves.
Mount Doom just settle the final battle between the ring and its victims.
Just as it was with Isildur, now sets the trial by fire for both Frodo and Smeagol.
But now that Mount Doom purpose is revealed why settle every evil composition over Mount Doom chords, instead than rather using the evil of the ring theme to build every other theme connecting to evil?
I guess The Evil of the Ring might have fit this scene, but over the trilogy, we've come to associate it with Sauron's military might. The Mount Doom chords are integral to Gollum's theme and has followed Frodo as The Journey There, so now that the focus shifts to the struggle between these two victims of the Ring, highlighting the Mount Doom theme not only makes their fight more thematically significant, but also keeps the score fresh and reinventive. Part of Shore's genius is his willingness to let the score evolve along with the story.
I would give You here the 1973 likes to this video, if it were possible!
I am fairly... actually no, not fairly... _very_ certain that all of the History/Evil hybrids mentioned in this track aren't actually the hybrid theme, but just the regular History theme. This is the culmination of everything that the Trilogy has led up to, so I feel it makes sense that this last page in the History of the Ring is scored with... well... the History of the Ring.
I would've put it as the History theme had not Doug himself called it the hybrid. To be fair, the History/Evil hybrid is almost identical to History in pitches, but closer to Evil in note duration.
@@monoverantus I've always interpreted it as the other way around: the Evil theme taking the contour of History. That's why I heard the hybrid as just the History theme.
@@thedorklord1029 To be clear, I'm specifically speaking about the hybrid heard in this track. There are plenty throughout the score that are way closer to Evil in pitch.
@@monoverantus Oh I get it now. Thanks for the clarification.