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 © Copyright 2004 Michael McLennan. Note that LOTR and all its contents are the property of 15 New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. Emyn Muil and The Taming of Smeagol 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.