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Overview of Themes for Mordor |
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In
The Music of the LOTR Books, Doug Adams
identifies eight themes and three accompaniments for Mordor.
MORDOR/SAURON (THE EVIL OF THE RING) -
this theme, which is the same as The Evil of the Ring theme, represents
"the Ring's
"character... (and its) effect on the world." (Doug Adams, CR--FOTR liner notes, page
29) It is listed in the One Ring section as The Evil of the Ring
and in the Mordor section as the Mordor/Sauron theme. At this
site, I use the name Sauron's Theme
to describe this music.
FIVE BEAT
PATTERN -
clanking, clamoring Five Beat Pattern that represents "the
industrial might of Middle-earth." (Howard Shore per Doug Adams,
CR-FOTR liner notes, page 20) In the FOTR and TTT, it can be heard alone to represent
Isengard, underlying the Isengard theme, or alone to represent
forces of Mordor (other than Isengard). In the ROTK with the
dimming of Isengard's power, the Five Beat Pattern was
realigned from
Isengard to Mordor.
THE RINGWRAITHS -
this theme is often defined by singing taken from
The Revelation of the Ringwraiths.
THREAT OF MORDOR - This
motif first ominously cycles over and over in a descending
manner and later, in ROTK becomes more aggressive with
ascending cycles.
THE WAY TO MORDOR is a 'truncated variant' of The
Threat of
Mordor. This three note phrase only appears a few times in the TTT
and ROTK.
CRUELTY OF THE
ORCS - A blaring, discordant, descending phrase heard
just a few times in TTT.
In the ROTK with the dimming of Isengard's power, the
Cruelty of the Orcs music was realigned from
Isengard to Mordor.
MOUNT DOOM -
the liner notes of the CR-ROTK describe this as a
'blistering pair of chords' drawn from the opening harmonies
of the Pity of Gollum. (Doug Adams, CR--ROTK liner notes,
page 32). But the musical notation shown as an example
indicates that the theme is probably more than just those
two chords. All iterations are sung by a pounding choir
singing either up/down chords or driving triplets. (It's
interesting to note that the opening three notes of the Pity
of Gollum also are played as triplets.) All iterations are
also paired with the Mordor Outline Figure.
THE FOURTH AGE OF MIDDLE-EARTH
THE POWER OF MORDOR
(Fourth Age of Middle-earth) -
this theme, heard only once in the ROTK as the Winged Nazgul
descend on Minas Tirith, is the Fourth Age elaboration of
the Ringwraiths theme
which is where I've placed that one instance.
THE WITCH KING/THE ORCS OF
MORDOR (Fourth Age of Middle-earth) -
this theme is an extrapolation of the Isengard Theme. Where
as Isengard was the tool for Sauron in FOTR and TTT, the
Witch King and the Orcs of Mordor do his bidding in ROTK.
Where as Isengard employed an up-down-up movement for its
first three notes, the WK/OM theme's first three notes
ascend which ties it to the inverted
Threat of Mordor heard in
ROTK.
THE
MORDOR ACCOMPANIMENTS
DESCENDING
THIRD - signals "impending doom"
MORDOR SKIP BEAT - called on
my site the Skip Beat
Ostinato, this three note pattern is "used for more
kinetic moments". It has three variations:
~ each note pitched
differently - ABC
~ each note pitched the
same - AAA - used "during a number of chase scenes"
(Doug Adams, CR-FOTR liner notes, page 30)
~ two pitches used - ABA -
used in the "most intense and nerve-wracking moments"
(Doug Adams, CR-FOTR liner notes, page 30)
MORDOR OUTLINE FIGURE - this
is basically an ostinato up-down martial beat played on
tympani. The rhythm changes with iterations. Sometimes it's
just up-down-up-down with even beats. Sometimes is more
up-down-down-up with the Morse Code rhythm of
dash-dot-dot-dash.
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