Emyn Muil and the Taming of Smeagol

Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol

This section of the analysis considers the music for the Emyn Muil sequence, from the opening titles cue to the bargaining with Smeagol. Appendices consider an unused cue and Howard Shore’s comments on the themes of Gollum at greater length.

2. Main Title 0:34*, #

Description

Timestamp Action 00:03:58 String and horn statement of the eight note Rohan theme, followed by a restatement of the eight notes ending on an ascending phrase as we see the ‘The Two Towers’ title card over the shot of Frodo and Sam descending a cliff in the Emyn Muil… 00:04:09 …the wariness with which they move down a cliff whose bottom they can’t see being accompanied by alternating two note phrases in the violins. (Note: A sample can be heard on the chapter 2 menu icon of DVD1 of TTT:EE.) 00:04:24 As Sam slips and drops a box, the low strings and brass jump in to play a tense passage consisting of a series of ascending phrases ending on a stressed high note for the trombones and violins. During this, Frodo loses his footing and falls with the box in hand… 00:04:32 … the cue ending as Frodo finds himself at the bottom of the cliff.

Notes

This unreleased cue, composed specifically for the extended edition of the film, features the first appearance of the Rohan theme – though in a somewhat subdued arrangement – for the film’s new opening title scene. While the Rohan theme isn’t terribly relevant for the scene, which Frodo and Sam descending the Emyn Muil cliffs, it fits in with Shore’s tradition of subtly stating the main themes of each film over the extended edition opening title sequences. So at the beginning of FOTR:EE, as the camera creeps through Bag End to see Bilbo at work on his ‘Concerning Hobbits’ essay, Shore states both the Shire A and Fellowship A themes, though the latter has little to do with the scene. Even for the opening of ROTK:TE, as the camera tilts up from the new woods of Isengard to reveal the drowned fortress of Saruman, the principal Gondor theme is given a stately brass reprise, though the scene appears to have little to with Gondor (apart from the presence of Aragorn). In any Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol case, the use of the Rohan theme in this cue is a more dramatic accompaniment to the title to the oboe theme which featured in this film’s theatrical edition opening sequence.1

There’s not much else to be said for this brief cue. The violin writing at 00:04:09 communicates the fragility of the climb with simplicity, while the more tense orchestral passage at 00:04:24 is likely to prove the kind of music that scares anyone who happens to walk into your office while you’re playing it.

3. Elven Rope 0:28*, #

Description

Timestamp Action 00:05:21 As Frodo is reminded of the Shire by Sam’s little box of seasoning, the midsection of the Shire A theme is stated for oboe. A harp is plucked underneath… 00:05:31 … and is joined by a sombre but gentle wash of strings as Sam mourns the loss of Lady Galadriel’s gift. The melody has a six note section (ascending followed by descending), the woodwind part of which hints at Gollum’s Slinker/Smeagol theme from FOTR, which is appropriate, since Frodo is saying to Sam that they shouldn’t leave the rope for someone to follow them. There is also a descending phrase for strings here that leads into… 00:05:42 …the musical interpretation of the little bit of Elven magic that follows (as the Elven rope unties itself and drops at their feet) is this little playful motif – violins play alternating two note descending and ascending phrases along with a woodwind. 00:05:49 The cue ends without a bang.

Notes

In another unreleased cue composed specifically for the extended edition of the film, the Shire A theme – one of two central hobbit themes for the trilogy – makes its first appearance in this film. By now much pain and suffering has confronted Frodo. So much so that the process of forgetting his homeland (which will be complete on the slopes of Mount Doom in the third film) has begun, and he needs tangible evidence of home – a box of salt – to remind him of where he came from. The arrangement of the Shire A theme – plaintively stated in part for oboe – reflects that situation. The pastoral optimism of the theme’s use

1 See cue 4, ‘Lost in Emyn Muil’, 00:05:54 below.

© Copyright 2004 Michael McLennan. Note that LOTR and all its contents are the property of 14 New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol throughout FOTR:EE – even heard as Sam and Frodo set off into Emyn Muil in the final shot of the film – is gone, as is the jaunty ‘hobbity’ orchestration of pipes, flutes, pennywhistles and hammered dulcimers.

This is of course only the first ten seconds of a cue that contains much else that is of interest. As Frodo worries about leaving a rope for others to follow them, a woodwind hint at Gollum’s Smeagol/Slinker theme marks the first appearance of that theme since the Moria sequence of FOTR. The hint of Gollum’s theme suggests who it is that Frodo is worried about following. What we hear here is the first of many forms that Shore will put this theme through in the score at large.

The last point of interest in the cue is the music chosen to accompany the hobbit’s wonderment at the ‘real Elven rope’. The brief passage at 00:05:42 is not even remotely like anything associated with the Elves in Shore’s music – neither in melody nor orchestration. It is closer if anything to the light string work that often accompanies the hobbits’ antics – particularly Merry and Pippin – in this film and its predecessor.

4. Lost in Emyn Muil 1:01*

Description

Timestamp Action 00:05:54 As Sam and Frodo climb up a slope towards the camera in the Emyn Muil, the horns and strings play sombre underscore, while an oboist plays a four note motif that has been heard a number of times in FOTR. Originally the main title shot of the film in its theatrical incarnation. 00:06:08 Sam bemoans their lack of certainty of direction as strings (and woodwinds) play a series of eight sad two note phrases that serve as a journey motif for the hobbits in the second film. 00:06:38 Growling brass and loud sound effects accompany Frodo’s momentary vision of Sauron on Barad-dur… 00:06:55 …the cue ending on the sombre brass sound that opened the cue as Sam looks concernedly at Frodo.

Notes

The first point of interest about this cue is the appearance of an ascending motif – most often stated for oboe – that appeared in FOTR often enough to be noticeable (e.g. when

Gandalf stood alone on top of Orthanc watching the felling of the trees of Isengard; when Boromir picked up Narsil in Rivendell and cut his hand).2 Among commentators of the film scores, there is great confusion as to what this motif, sometimes labelled Wickestein’s oboe motif in honor of its (accidental?) discoverer, actually represents.3 The similarity of the motif’s ‘wavy’ shape to the History of the Ring theme has been noted as well.4 Of course it may not be a dramatic motif at all, but a musical motif used in a number of different occasions.

Hobbits are Vexed? A Journey Motif

The second point of interest in this cue is a set of eight two note phrases for strings that accompany the despair of Frodo and Sam for a clear direction. This melodic material is referenced on three more occasions in this film, all of them associated with hobbits who are coming to a greater understanding about the moral universe they inhabit. Here that understanding is the feeling Sam expresses – without Gandalf, their quest is doomed. Frodo counters with another truth of even more sobering pertinence – Gandalf didn’t intend a lot of things. They are on their own, and must deal with it.

Typically in FOTR such a scene would have been accompanied by the sad but wistful Shire B theme – better known as the chorus melody of the song ‘In Dreams’. That theme is used throughout the earlier film to accompany Frodo’s journey towards an understanding of what he must do. Now that he has taken a leap into the unknown with his loyal sidekick, his journey is going to be about discovering that the task is not easy, and he will lose much in the attempt. This scene is about the former – the task not being easy – and for this realisation, Shore’s choice to use this new sixteen note theme is quite appropriate. Full of empathy as it is, it lacks the optimism of the Shire B melody which so triumphantly

2 The most interesting appearance of this motif in the trilogy comes as Sauron’s Dark Tower falls in the ROTK cue ‘Sauron Defeated, II’. See cue 64 http://www.moviemusic.com/mb/Forum1/HTML/012568.html. 3 There are a number of threads devoted to this confusing motif at the discussion board SMME, including http://groups.msn.com/SMME/musicdiscussion.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=232&L astModified=4675451628697768201 and http://groups.msn.com/SMME/musicdiscussion.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=820&L astModified=4675464492452271210. 4 See remarks by Rene Puls: “Could this be a reduced version (like a distant echo) of the "History of the Ring" theme? My music vocabulary is failing me here... but the History of the Ring Theme is a very "wavy" motif, neither clearly ascending nor descending. Compare this to the beginning of Shire A, which is four ascending and then three descending notes. The Mordor Theme also has this wavy/irregular property. Gollum's (Slinker) theme is also similar, with the addition of the three ascending notes (the basic hobbit motif) at the beginning. Now the Wickenstein Motif is bascially the purest "wavy" motif you can imagine. Connect the notes on a sheet of paper, and you get an exact wave line.”

© Copyright 2004 Michael McLennan. Note that LOTR and all its contents are the property of 16 New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol accompanied the hobbits’ first steps on the road to Mordor, and is more appropriate for this subdued scene. So too, for the later scene where Pippin begins to understand the consequences of the Ents’ appeasement policy for his homeland, this motif works its subtle empathic but sombre magic.5 There is an optimistic variation of the theme heard as well in two cues composed for the extended edition – ‘Treebeard’s Song’ (where it mixes sweetly with the Shire B theme)6 and ‘The Avalanche’7 – which indicate that not everything the hobbits will learn and encounter on their journeys will be a cause of sadness.

Of course, an important question is whether this passage is a theme in its own right at all. Musically, this piece is related to a repeated motif for double bass (and possibly the celli) heard throughout FOTR:EE, particularly in two early scenes where: (i) Bilbo tells Gandalf that he feels old, though he doesn’t look it; (ii) Bilbo tells Frodo the reason why he’s always looked fondly on his young cousin. The resemblance is doubtless intentional, and makes a nice musical link to the general collection of thematic material for the Shire that Shore has already established.

Risking a second ‘of course’, all themes/motifs need names by which we can distringuish them. For the sake of giving it a name, I’ll call this the “TTT hobbit journey motif”, since it only appears in this film, and is used in a similar manner to the two journey motifs of FOTR.8 Another possible name which is a bit shorter to type is ‘journey motif #3’.9

5 See cue 67 ‘Part of this World / The Eldar Retreat’ below. 6 See cue 27 ‘Treebeard’s Song’ below. 7 See cue 23 ‘An Avalanche’ below. 8 On the journey motifs of FOTR, see this brief discussion by the present author: http://groups.msn.com/SMME/musicdiscussion.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=606&L astModified=4675459618754379776 9 Journey motif #1 is the hobbit journey theme from FOTR heard when Frodo and Sam share a moment in a corn field in the Shire, and later when Galadriel tells Frodo (during the mirror scene) that he must succeed in destroying the Ring. It is also briefly heard at the beginning of ROTK as Frodo, Sam and Gollum set out from their morning camp in Ithilien. Journey motif #2 is the so-called Caradhras theme which appears as the Fellowship of the Ring climb Caradhras and later approach the outer walls of Moria. (There are also a number of references to this theme on the ROTK soundtrack album which never appeared in the theatrical cut of the film.)

5. Lembas 1:21**,#

Description

Timestamp Action 00:07:19 As Frodo smiles at Sam’s (rather forced) attempts to enjoy lembas, lembas, and more lembas, the Shire A theme is quoted in full for clarinet over soft strings. (TTT, 2, 0:01-0:26). As Sam turns his attention to rainclouds… 00:07:46 …Low string phrase and some violin writing cover the transition to that night as the Hobbits soak up one of Manwe and Ulmo’s collaborations. The strings quickly lead into a statement of the Smeagol/Slinker theme for oboe, as that theme’s namesake watches the two huddling from behind a rocky outcrop. 00:08:06 Wary violins cover the transition to the next day followed by an ascending motif for strings, as Sam and Frodo try to find their way through a low-lying cloud. 00:08:14 All strings and woodwinds join in for a descending motif that recalls part of the Shire A theme as the Hobbits realise they are travelling in circles, adding some strength to the earlier comment that it is a reprised motif from the Fellowship score. 00:08:28 Strings reprise the ascending motif as Frodo whispers that… 00:08:40 … they’re being followed.

Notes

This partially released cue contains a section of about twenty seconds (between 00:07:46 and 00:08:06) written specifically for the film’s extended edition, where a brief scene of Gollum spying on Frodo and Sam was inserted. The insert offers the listener another taste of Gollum’s Slinker/Smeagol theme for a melancholy woodwind, and recalls the use of that theme for the scene in FOTR:EE where Gandalf and Frodo see Gollum watching from below in Moria. The aspects of Gollum this theme is associated with are described in the notes to cue 6 ‘Capturing Gollum’ below.

The cue is otherwise notable for featuring the first full statement of the Shire A theme in film – here stated for clarinet. That the scene shows the hobbits sharing a moment of restrained optimism while eating (an activity very central to hobbit life) makes the use of the theme appropriate. The feel, as with the reference to the theme in the cue ‘Elven Rope’, is one of weariness, which suits the scene nicely.

A possible alternative to the passage that appears from 00:07:06 to 00:08:40 is the choral passage in the album track ‘The Taming of Smeagol’ (0:27-1:09) of that track. Separate notes on the alternate cue are included in an appendix below.

6. Capturing Gollum 1:55**

Description

Timestamp Action 00:08:47 Violins creep in as Sam and Frodo are seen sleeping at the bottom of a cliff. The strings are joined by a cymbalom statement of Gollum’s ‘Stinker’ theme – a descending motif that consists of a series of two note descending phrases – as the wretched creature is seen crawling down the rock face. The theme is stated more than once, and ends with a higher note that serves to build the anticipation as to what will happen next. (TTT, 2, 1:08-1:45). 00:09:21 The cymbalom motif stops momentarily as Frodo and Sam jump to life and seize the creature. 00:09:25 As they throw him down a furious passage for orchestra begins as the wiry, desperate Gollum lunges again and again for the Ring. Going from intense brass bursts to quiet violin writing with seconds, this passage of about 55-56 seconds length is edited into a 28 second piece for the album. (TTT, 2, 1:47-2:15.) The first section of the battle features trombones playing a number brief ascending phrases while the violins play furiously (in what sounds like a very fast version of Gollum’s Stinker theme). A four note ascending brass motif that suggests the opening Slinker/Smeagol theme builds up to the point where Gollum spies the Ring dangling from Frodo’s neck. (TTT, 2, 1:47-1:58.) Violins hold a high note for a second, and… 00:09:35 … as Gollum leaps towards Frodo, tense unreleased brass phrase is heard… 00:09:41 … before an eight note brass motif that hints at the Shire A theme as Frodo and Gollum struggle over the Ring. (This brass phrase is released.) (TTT, 2, 1:59-2:06.) 00:09:47 As Gollum comes perilously close to touching the Ring, more unreleased brass writing over busy strings persists before Sam picks up Gollum. 00:10:09 As Gollum falls on top of Sam and moves in for the kill, the strings and brass head into one last unreleased ascending passage. The violins hold the high note as Frodo explains to Gollum that he will kill him. (TTT, 2, 2:07-2:15) 00:10:18 … and his Stinker motif is restated, first for low brass, then for cymbalom as Gollum reluctantly releases Sam. (TTT, 2, 2:15-2:41.) The cue ends… 00:10:42 …as Gollum’s pitiful shrieks fill the Emyn Muil the next day.

Notes

The action piece for the capturing of Gollum is an early action highlight of the score, which is surprising given the scale of the action here is so small. The superb orchestrated chaos between 00:09:25 and 00:10:18 sets the standard for the score’s action cues – a standard that each of them miraculously meets and exceeds. On closer examination chaos is the wrong word for it, with the various action motifs consisting of permutations of the Gollum and Shire themes. The partially unreleased cue is available in an abbreviated form on the album version of the cue (TTT, 2, 1:08-2:411), and while it is an ample representation of the development of the scene, I’m looking forward to hearing the action cue in its full form when the scores get an extended release.

The major contribution of the cue of course is a new motif for Gollum, now seen out of the shadows in all his pathetic wretchedness. The debate between the two sides of Gollum as he descends on the hobbits – the more sympathetic (and pathetic) Slinker (or Smeagol) and his malicious domineering counterpart Stinker – gives the viewer their first glimpse of the creature’s tortured psychological state. Shore already has a theme for Gollum of course – the pathetic melody heard frequently in FOTR that sounds quite close to the History of the Ring theme. Tellingly he doesn’t use it here. As discussed in the appendix below on Gollum’s themes, the FOTR theme, often stated for strings and woodwinds, is associated with Gollum’s pathetic nature and the way that his nature is due to the influence of the Ring. Pitiable as Smeagol is, in the absence of the Ring there is something fundamentally unhinged about him. The evil that was in him before the Ring led him to murder in order to obtain it. And the mixture of malice and pain that creates the Slinker/Stinker tension comes from somewhere, even if the Ring exacerbated those tendencies.

So Shore gives us a theme for the unhinged Gollum, hinting at the danger of falling for Smeagol’s crocodile tears. It consists of a series of alternating chords for cymbalom.10 The melody and orchestration choices are explained below in an Appendix, though it probably suffices to say that Shore chose the cymbalom (or hammered dulcimer) because he had already used it in association with the culture of hobbits, a culture from which Smeagol’s

10 http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Cymbalom offers both a picture and a brief definition of the cymbalom (also known as the tambal and santouri), which is an Hungarian string instrument that is played by striking the strings with two wooden hammers.

© Copyright 2004 Michael McLennan. Note that LOTR and all its contents are the property of 20 New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol people – the Stoors – derived. The orchestration thus became a way of suggesting the corruption of something much more wholesome in Smeagol.

7. The Taming of Smeagol 2:46*,#

Description

Timestamp Action 00:11:28 On the phrase ‘we be nice to them if they be nice to us’, Gollum’s Slinker/Smeagol theme is stated twice for strings and oboe. As Slinker thinks of an appropriate sacred object on which to swear… 00:11:50 … the History of the Ring theme is given the familiar 17 note statement - heard over this film’s main title - for clarinet over a bed of strings and a horn reprising the motif also heard over the main title statement of that theme. Inspired by the music, Gollum suggests the Ring as an appropriate sacred object. 00:12:06 Wandering strings, woodwinds and horns follow as Gollum binds his promise… 00:12:20 …and Sam expresses his reservations, the physical force of which is described by an ascending string four note motif based on Gollum’s Smeagol theme. 00:12:25 Subdued horns follow as Sam and Frodo have their first argument about Gollum’s intentions. 00:12:45 Gollum’s Stinker motif is hinted at by horns as Gollum and Frodo make their deal to travel to the Black Gate. The horns shift to an ascending figure, building up to a climax as Frodo removes the coil from Smeagol’s neck. 00:13:07 The cymbalom finally reprises the Stinker motif with stronger percussion and wary strings as Gollum starts to lead the hobbits on their way, and for the first time we get a sense of the tortured inner psychology of this character. The percussion is probably timpani based. 00:13:25 As Slinker/Smeagol speaks his view, horns jerk us out of the Stinker theme and seem to suggest the Slinker/Smeagol theme for a moment… 00:13:33 The Stinker motif is hinted at in the brass with percussion underneath, building up as Gollum stops to talk to himself in plain sight of the Hobbits. After communicating his feelings to them… 00:13:46 …the music builds into a playful chase passage with a mock brass fanfare, an ascending woodwind motif (itself an inversion of the Stinker theme) and a rollicking rhythm (with pounding timpanis) that borders on humorous as Gollum appears to run away from the Hobbits. 00:13:55 Sombre brass as Sam complains that Gollum has escaped… 00:14:01 …before Gollum reappears and the chase motif from 00:13:46 is

reprised buoyantly. 00:14:08 A chord from the low strings and brass covers the transition… 00:14:14 … to the southern bounds of the Wold on the plains of Rohan as the cue ends.

Notes

I suppose in its extreme form, leitmotif scoring is little better than the much loathed technique of ‘mickey mousing’ often associated with animation scores.11 Here Shore’s music comes close to ‘mickey mousing’ – jumping back and forth between the two Gollum motifs with a reference to the History of the Ring theme in the middle. I think it’s a cue that does an excellent job at communicating the way Gollum appeals to sympathy one moment – cue Smeagol/Slinker theme for strings and woodwinds (see 00:11:28) – and privately curses those who take mercy on him the next moment – cue cymbalom statement of the Stinker motif (see 00:13:07). The latter theme is additionally put through some more varied arrangements in this cue.

Elsewhere the underscore in this unreleased cue (partially composed for the extended edition) is uniformly excellent. The jaunty chase motif heard only in the extended edition at 00:13:46 and 00:14:08 is a hint at Shore’s talent for comedy scoring – a skill that the trilogy has not exercised as much as it might have. The History of the Ring theme makes its first appearance in the film proper (having only appeared in the main title), and its presence here so close to the Smeagol/Slinker theme reminds the listener of the musical kinship of these themes. While the solemn majesty of the former suggests the power of the Ring to change history and the mystery of its power, the mournful pathos of the latter reminds of the sad toll of ruined lives left by that power. Overall, the cue is an unreleased highlight, particularly for the Gollum side of the story.

Appendix 2A Alternate Cue – ‘We’re Not Alone’

The unused cue in question can be found on the album cue ‘The Taming of Smeagol’, from 0:27-1:07. (TTT, 2, 0:27-1:07)

11 ‘Mickey mousing’ is generally spoken about with some derision, though I for one quite like in the proper context – e.g. Carl Stalling scores.

Description

Timestamp Action 00:27 Atonal mixed choir begins the cue with three descending notes… 00:34 …before the double basses perform a five note phrase under the choral piece (3 notes ascending, 3 descending) that derives from the Shire thematic material. 00:47 The basses perform another five note ascending motif under the choir… 00:56 …and after a three note lead in, the ascending motif is reprised – both choir and orchestra ceasing simultaneously... 01:07 … on the cue’s end.

Notes

A curious piece to be sure, and the first major piece of unused music in the score (not counting the 4 seconds cut from ‘Foundations of Stone’). The curiosity lies in the orchestration – a subtle melody is intoned by a mixed choir in a rather high register, while underneath the choir the double basses perform snatches of motifs that can be heard in other places in this score (particularly cues 33 – ‘Ithilien’ – and 35 – ‘The Rangers of Ithilien’). I can’t think of a piece that comes close to the style of this cue elsewhere in the trilogy, which is why it was something of a shame that the piece didn’t survive to the theatrical print of the film.

Both the placement of the cue on album (between excerpts from the Emyn Muil cues ‘Lembas’ and ‘Capturing Gollum’), the feel of the cue, and the length support the hypothesis that this was an alternative version of the second half of ‘Lembas’ (00:08:06 to 00:08:40). The ethereal choir (shades of Lygeti’s Lux Aeterna and John Williams’ ‘City Under Ice’ from A.I., Artificial Intelligence) adds to the eeriness of the setting – low lying cloud spilling around Frodo and Sam. The bass motifs line up nicely with the marks of the scene. The first, being based on the hobbit bass chords from FOTR, would suit Frodo and Sam’s discovery that they were going in circles. The subsequent bass motifs all correspond to the growing tension as Sam remarks on the horrible smell, and Frodo tells him, ‘we’re not alone’, which is the mark on which the cue ends.

At this time, the lyrics to this piece are unknown. The choir piece could be wordless, although some consonant sounds are discernible, implying that some lyrics are being sung here (which is generally the case with Shore’s LOTR scores – wordless vocals are rare

© Copyright 2004 Michael McLennan. Note that LOTR and all its contents are the property of 23 New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol indeed). I would guess the lyrics to refer in some way to Emyn Muil or the confusion of the hobbits in the scene, and probably to be in Sindarin. There may be a Philippa Boyens poem that fits these characteristics.

Appendix 2B Shore on the Themes of Gollum: Slinker and Stinker

The themes for Gollum are probably described well enough in the text above, however this section offers some extensive quotations by Howard Shore (and also the trilogy’s music editor) on the subject. Special thanks to Marilynn Miller for offering these transcriptions of the FOTR:EE and TTT:EE DVD commentaries and documentaries at A Magpie’s Nest: 12

As remarked above, Shore had already conceived of a theme for Gollum in FOTR, both to accompany the character’s fleeting appearances (in the film’s prologue, as Gandalf describes Gollum’s torture to Frodo in Bag End, as Frodo sees Gollum in Moria, and briefly as Aragorn identifies Gollum on the river Anduin), but also to suggest the Gollum- like behaviour of Bilbo when required to part with the Ring. Shore remarked on the music of that scene:13 “(Bilbo) had the Ring now for a while and he’s being a bit torn to leave it. And a bit of Gollum comes up on him. A bit of evil comes up and you hear a little bit of that Gollum theme that you’ve heard in the beginning when you’ve seen Gollum. That Gollum piece is so central to the story. Even before they leave to go, as Gandalf sits with Frodo in the kitchen and actually tries, you know, explains to him the history of the Ring. Like what he actually has and what Bilbo’s left him. Of course, he talks about Gollum and this creature and what happened to him and again, you hear little elements of the Gollum theme. And it’s a very sort of mysterious piece of music and you know the character will develop and you just see little glimmers of Gollum through the story.

“So there is a very essential bit of music through all of Film 1 even for a character that you really hardly see in the film... and of course, leading us to Film 2, where you see, you know, you have quite a bit of Gollum, a very important character in Film 2. So that’s what I think I was saying earlier, that the structure of this long piece is that you had to create Gollum and his sound and his theme very early on even though you really don’t see too much of Gollum in Film 1.”

12 http://www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/. 13 See the link at http://www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/id58_frodo_learns_about_the_.htm.

Suited to the more pitiful and mysterious (to an extent one could even say romantic) characteristics of Gollum (and being a Ring bearer in general), there are aspects of that creature’s character that emerge when he is seen as a out of the shadows in TTT that the ‘Smeagol/Slinker’ theme from FOTR is not well suited to represent. A second theme was therefore conceived for TTT. On the DVDs for TTT:EE, Shore discussed the relationship between the two themes in some detail, remarking on the similarity of the ‘Smeagol/Slinker’ to the ‘History of the Ring’ theme:14

“On Gollum's Theme, you hear fragments of what I call the History of the Ring Theme from Fellowship, (be)cause Gollum has the longest relationship with the Ring. And Gollum also is Frodo's guide to destroying it. So there's a very close relationship with Gollum and the Ring. There's the Smeagol theme which has a little more pity in it. It's a little more melancholy, it's a little sadder really.

“And then the second part of Gollum's Theme is a more schizophrenic theme. It's more development of the creepier side of Gollum. And that uses the cimbalon which is actually a hammered dulcimer. The hammered dulcimer seemed like a good one because it has that jittery sound and because it was one of the instruments of Hobbiton. And Gollum, at one time in his life, was a Hobbit, a river Hobbit. So the two themes are really playing Slinker/Stinker -- they're really reflecting both of those ideas of Gollum.”

So Shore conceived a theme for Gollum’s psychotic nature, which he used on a number of occasions throughout TTT:EE (including Gollum’s first appearance and capture, his first inner debate about whether to take the hobbits to the Black Gate, and the final moments in Ithilien before the end credits). On viewing the scene where Gollum swears on the Ring that he will help the hobbits, Shore made this comment about the melody and orchestration of the ‘Stinker’ theme:15

“So I thought of using a sound from Hobbiton, that had been taken out of Hobbiton, in the same way that Gollum had been removed from Hobbiton, or from the world of the Shire. And had become something else, transformed into something else. So I took one of the instruments and used it as a solo instrument for Gollum. And I thought the hammer dulcimer was a perfect one of the instruments. Other instruments that we used from the Shire were... there's a musette and the whistle and there's an open-string guitar, Celtic harp and the bodhran, the Irish drums.

“But the hammer dulcimer seemed like a good one, because it has that jittery, by the very nature of it, because it's, you know, it has that sound and it always has that tremolo kind of feeling to it and I thought that was a

14 See the link to http://www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/id85_gollum_s_theme.htm. 15 See the link to http://www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/id87_gollum_s_themes___two_now.htm.

perfect one to take, to remove from the Shire, distort it a bit, and use it as the central sound for that character, for Gollum.”

As always, the level of thought in the composition of these scores never fails to impress.