Track-by-Track: Soundtrack Discussion and Analysis

[Encaitare]

Before I put up the next track, I shall give a few brief thoughts on Track 12.

I love how the horns in LotR (both in the soundtrack and the ones the Rohirrim use) all sound in a perfect fifth. I don't know if that's how medieval horns were; I've been trying to find out, unsuccessfully. Anyhow, since the open fifth is such a pure interval, I think it does succeed in making that sound meant to inspire warriors in battle.

The choir is lovely and eerie. I did a bit of searching and found this for the lyrics:

Coll am
na waewath goeyl

Tellin i Neder
Gurth renia

Meditha han phan
Meditha ar dhon

[Source]

Borne aloft
By fell winds.

The Nine have come
Death has taken wing.

He will eat it all
Eat all the world.

This sounds right to me, although the lyrics only make sense in the EE DVD, when Gandalf and the Witch-King face off.

Now for the next track! There is a low playing of the Rohan theme at the very beginning. Then there are these astonishing chords at 0:50, which I think is one of the most beautiful progressions in the whole score, and I admire its simplicity. I listened to it several times and figured out the chords to that little section (0:50-1:07). I think it's right, although maybe I messed up an inversion. The key is A minor:

i VI6 i v6 i VI6 iii6 VII6/4 VI

By the end of the phrase, it's moved into F major and arpeggiates in a little fanfare. Then it moves quickly into music akin to that of Mordor. At 1:47 the choir comes back in. Here, the two sites I've been using conflict. A Magpie's Nest says that the Ringwraith words that I quoted above are what the choir is saying; Gwaith-i-Phethdain says it's this:

Dollost - dîr cuiol
u-'ar nin degi!

Le echelithar aen
Athar fuin ban
Rhaw lîn mannen
Ind tham lîn
Lanc na chen be-thobas.

Anant i vaethor ú-ritha
Hên Rohan
Fim sui anghathel
Bain a goeol.

Na vedui istant
Na vedui cenn
Dîr ú-naun hon...
Vess e tiriant.


You fool - no living man
Can kill me!

You will be borne away
Beyond all darkness;
Your flesh devoured;
Your shriveled mind
Left naked to the lidless eye.

But still the soldier did not move,
Child of Rohan,
Slender as a steel-blade,
Fair yet terrible.

Too late he knew,
Too late saw,
This was no man...
He looked upon a woman.

I'm inclined to go with the first one because it seems to fit better. The track closes on another triumphant fanfare.