The Role of Music in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The epic trilogy written by John Ronald Ruel Tolkien is one of the most popular fantasies loved and known by all kinds of readers around the world. Those fantasy fans who are not much into reading can enjoy this masterpiece by watching a film. There are three books written, as well as three films directed by Peter Jackson. This paper will discuss the theme of the trilogy and describe the way the music supports the film.

Most people are familiar with the main plot of the story. It tells about Middle-earth and the terrible challenge its citizens experienced. Nevertheless, Tolkien’s world is rich in many brave heroes who helped this story to end happily. Everything started when Sauron, the main character from the dark side, could not refuse the idea to rule all over the Middle-earth. He created the ring that was able to control other rings of power that belonged to elves, dwarfs, and humans. The film shows that the ring is dangerous and needs to be destroyed, so the following story explains how that happened.

It should be mentioned that the Middle-earth is inhabited by different races and creatures. Among them are hobbits, elves, dwarfs, Ents, wizards, free people of Rohan and Gondor that are fighting on the side of light. Also, there are goblins, orcs, wargs, haradrims and Nazguls that are fighting on the side of dark forces.

Frodo Baggins is a hobbit and one of the nine main heroes who agreed to destroy the ring. This group of nine was named The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo’s gardener and friend Sam was helping the main ring-bearer to reach the final destination. The other two habitants of Shire, Merry and Pippin, who did not mean to join Frodo and Sam and help them to accomplish a difficult task, in the end, influenced some extremely important events. There is also a wizard Gandalf who plays one of the biggest roles in the story. He is the one who discovered that the ring was in Shire and realized the importance of destroying it in a short time. Then, the film introduces other important heroes: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir. Aragorn is a descendant of Isildur, and that means he inherited the throne of Gondor, while Legolas is an elven prince, Gimli represents courageous dwarfs, and Boromir is the first-born son of a vicegerent of Gondor.

The film The Lord of the Rings has everything that ф modern spectator needs. It is filled with interesting dialogs, views of fascinating landscapes, rich costumes, beautiful love lines and breathtaking battles. The director also did not forget about humor. Humor here gives an opportunity to come to one’s senses after dramatic moments.

The leading theme here is an eternal battle between good and evil, light and darkness. One can see it everywhere. Nine Nazguls that fight for Sauron are opposite to nine members of the Fellowship that protect good and right things. Two sides of Gollum’s personality, bad and good, are fighting against each other inside the poor creature. There are also other examples of such eternal battle.

There is also a theme of friendship seen throughout the whole story. For example, there is a strong friendship between Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pip, Legolas and Gimli. Such friendship helps to overcome bad situations, teaches how to become better, and reminds that it is important to think of others.

Every film has several influential aspects. Music is one of them. In all three parts of the film The Lord of the Rings, music is everywhere. It seems that every single scene and episode is accompanied by different melody. Right music helps to feel the moment deeper, and the main composer Howard Shore managed to create such music, having composed unforgettable soundtracks for the film.

It is necessary to underline that there are different tracks that reflect different moments and characters. A spectator realizes that when he/she hears the melody that is played when one see Shire, the land of hobbits, for the first time. The soft sounds of the reed pipe and then playful notes of the violin create an amazing atmosphere. At that moment, the Shire becomes a place where everyone would love to live.

Then, there are melodies for episodes with elves. One can hear the choir singing and also violins. These sounds convey majesty, as well as mystery of these beautiful creatures. It is important to mention  the score created for the episode with Arwen, the daughter of Elrond that is the elven lord in Rivendell, and her lover Aragorn. This melody helps to understand the feelings of the characters. They do not want to lose each other and are looking for a chance to make their love live forever.

There is also a score that helps to realize that something dangerous or unpleasant is about to happen. When there are scenes with orcs or other evil creatures, the melody lets the viewers know about that. One has an opportunity to feel what the character of the episode feels.

The sounds are especially rich, expressive and tremendous when one watches episodes with battles. Hatred, desire to live, horror and courage, these are not all the feelings that the score expresses.

Besides the music, there are also songs that the main characters sing. This creates a special atmosphere too. For example, there is a happy song of hobbits when they are drinking and dancing, there is a funeral song of Eowyn when she berries her cousin, and there is a song of Pip when he sings to Denethor before the final battle.

The Lord of the Rings is an amazing film trilogy of top quality. It has numerous interconnected themes that rivet spectators’ attention and do not let them go until the very end of the film. One more peculiarity of this trilogy is its excellent score since its every episode is accompanied by spectacular music that reinforces the impression of this great film.

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