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The Themes of Howard Shore's The Hobbit


Jay

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A thrush told you that?

Jason has many spies, birds, beasts. The great ravens of the mountain are his friends and allies of old.

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I would assume that the DOS:EE will feature all the Thrain scenes that were cut from the TC. I would also guess that Shore will write new music (or maybe he already has from before the scenes were cut) that will be used for those scenes. But who knows.

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If that is a theme for Thrain I have to think we'll hear it in those extended bits. I'm very much looking forward to what music we might hear during those initial Azanulbizar and Moria flashback bits. Hopefully we'll hear variations of the Moria material, possibly even the Balrog stuff if he's featured/mentioned.

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I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

Though I could grow to love it of course, as I have Smaug's theme.

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I agree it's not a very prominent theme, but then, Thrain is but a footnote in the films so far. I'm hoping for more inclusions of The Dwarf Lords.

I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Yes! I hope Shore has a chance to expand its use in TABA, which would be perfect place to introduce it unless PJ torpedoes the whole thematic idea.

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I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

Accept it! This is the truth!

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You can hear the B section of The Dwarf Lords on horns in the beginning of On the Doorstep.

Thats Thrain's theme?

That's the consensus, yes.

It plays under the Erebor theme in the prologue of AUJ.

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I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

"Erebor" doesn't contain Bilbo's Adventure theme at all, it only contains The Company's Adventure theme. See here

I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

Accept it! This is the truth!

No... it isn't! Bilbo's Adventure doesn't appear in that track.

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You can hear the B section of The Dwarf Lords on horns in the beginning of On the Doorstep.

What? Why have you not mentioned this before!? What is the timestamp you are talking about, please?

You can hear the B section of The Dwarf Lords on horns in the beginning of On the Doorstep.

Thats Thrain's theme?

That's the consensus, yes.

It plays under the Erebor theme in the prologue of AUJ.

What? Why have you not mentioned this before!? What is the timestamp you are talking about, please?

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I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

"Erebor" doesn't contain Bilbo's Adventure theme at all, it only contains The Company's Adventure theme. See here

I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

Accept it! This is the truth!

No... it isn't! Bilbo's Adventure doesn't appear in that track.

It's a variation of Bilbo's Adventure.

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How is that not a variation of Bilbo's Adventure?

Bilbo's Adventure sounds more like the Shire theme, where the "theme" in "Erebor" does not?

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To my knowledge, The Dwarf Lord's Theme ONLY appears here:

The Dwarf Lords
AUJ 1-03 3:43-4:04 (B Section)
AUJ 2-16 0:00-0:37
AUJ 2-16 0:57-1:35
AUJ 2-16 1:35-1:57 (B Section)
And Thrain's Theme only appears here:
Thrain’s Theme
DOS 2-06 0:00-0:45
Please tell me if I am wrong.
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Just curious, are the first notes of the standard OST version of The White Council related to the notes that were microedited out of the Erebor/Thorin theme statement in My Dear Frodo?

Also, what is the theme that appears in the microedited section of An Ancient Enemy and in Moon Runes?

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I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

"Erebor" doesn't contain Bilbo's Adventure theme at all, it only contains The Company's Adventure theme. See here

I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

Accept it! This is the truth!

No... it isn't! Bilbo's Adventure doesn't appear in that track.

It's a variation of Bilbo's Adventure.

No..... this is how I have them categorized. Please tell me if you think I'm wrong?

Bilbo’s Adventure Theme

AUJ 1-01 0:37-0:52

AUJ 1-08 0:12-0:41

AUJ 2-11 3:25-3:41

AUJ 2-14 0:00-0:31

DOS 1-09 0:00-0:13

The Company’s Adventure Theme

AUJ 1-08 0:41-0:55

AUJ 2-15 0:00-0:25

AUJ 2-15 0:39-1:01

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You can hear the B section of The Dwarf Lords on horns in the beginning of On the Doorstep.

What? Why have you not mentioned this before!? What is the timestamp you are talking about, please?

You can hear the B section of The Dwarf Lords on horns in the beginning of On the Doorstep.

Thats Thrain's theme?
That's the consensus, yes.It plays under the Erebor theme in the prologue of AUJ.
What? Why have you not mentioned this before!? What is the timestamp you are talking about, please?

I don't have the exact time stamp, but On The Doorstep begins with the flutes playing the Erebor theme. Right after that, the French horns play a two part figure, when the company arrives at the top of the giant statue. This quotes The Dwarf Lords.

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I don't have the exact time stamp, but On The Doorstep begins with the flutes playing the Erebor theme. Right after that, the French horns play a two part figure, when the company arrives at the top of the giant statue. This quotes The Dwarf Lords.

That's Thrain's Theme.

You can hear the B section of The Dwarf Lords on horns in the beginning of On the Doorstep.

What? Why have you not mentioned this before!? What is the timestamp you are talking about, please?

0:16-0:23.

That's Thrain's Theme.

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To my knowledge, The Dwarf Lord's Theme ONLY appears here: The Dwarf LordsAUJ 1-03 3:43-4:04 (B Section)AUJ 2-16 0:00-0:37AUJ 2-16 0:57-1:35AUJ 2-16 1:35-1:57 (B Section) And Thrain's Theme only appears here: Thrain’s ThemeDOS 2-06 0:00-0:45 Please tell me if I am wrong.

The first 45 seconds of On The Doorstep don't just feature Thrain's theme (which is part of The Dwarf Lords). Like I said, the track begins with flutes and piccolo flute playing the Erebor theme in drawn out fashion. When that stops, Thrain's theme (The Dwarf Lords B-phrase), is played on French horns shortly.

Thrain's theme is part of The Dwarf Lords, Jason.

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But the Dwarf Lord's b phrase is not identical to the notes heard in On the Doorstep.

I agree the two themes are related (as well they should be), but it's not the same.

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I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

"Erebor" doesn't contain Bilbo's Adventure theme at all, it only contains The Company's Adventure theme. See here

I love that Dwarf Lords theme from AUJ!

Meh.

I prefer the "theme" in "Erebor" better (I really don't buy that its all Bilbo's Adventure).

Accept it! This is the truth!

No... it isn't! Bilbo's Adventure doesn't appear in that track.

It's a variation of Bilbo's Adventure.

No..... this is how I have them categorized. Please tell me if you think I'm wrong?

Bilbo’s Adventure Theme
AUJ 1-01 0:37-0:52
AUJ 1-08 0:12-0:41
AUJ 2-11 3:25-3:41
AUJ 2-14 0:00-0:31
DOS 1-09 0:00-0:13


The Company’s Adventure Theme
AUJ 1-08 0:41-0:55
AUJ 2-15 0:00-0:25
AUJ 2-15 0:39-1:01

This is the opening melody in "Erebor":

bilbos-adventure.jpg?w=468&h=83

It's basically a more stepwise variation of the statement you hear in the beginning of "The Adventure Begins". It's essentially the same melody in different settings. What you hear in "The Adventure Begins" is a more homely (Shire-like) setting in A major. What you hear in "Erebor" is a more robust variation in D major, that relies more heavily on the leaping intervals.
Both instances are slightly different, but that's more of a trivial thing as they're clearly based on the same melodic material. I'm sure Doug might come up with some fancy names to signify "Bilbo's Adventure in Shire mode" and "Bilbo's Adventure in action mode". But same theme.
Anyone else agree, or am I just crazy?
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So Shore wrote a concert arrangement of Bilbo's Adventure Theme, had it recorded by the LPO.... then named it "Erebor" on the SE OST? :blink:

Also, why has this all not been mentioned before?

Is there anything else wrong with my theme list?

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I've been making this argument since AUJ came out!

I remember people claiming it was a variation of Erebor, or the Company's Unused Adventure theme, but I always the opening melody of "The World is Ahead" and "Erebor" were one and the same. Once Doug identified Bilbo's Adventure, I thought we all eventually agreed that was the theme, but I guess that isn't the case.

And since when did titles matter so much? Maybe it was written with some epic New Zealand travelling montage in mind? Who knows?

Shame Doug never actually confirmed this?

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I know all that, I meant why did nobody look at my main post of this thread when it went up and say "hey, I don't think The Company's Adventure Theme should be listed as a separate theme, because it's really a different setting of Bilbo's Adventure".

Anyways, I still don't get why Shore would label a concert arrangement containing ONLY (supposed) Bilbo's Adventure theme as "Erebor".

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This figure from On the Doorstep (0:17-0:20 and then higher at 0:21-0:24) I had taken to be the same as the figure heard in The Quest for Erebor (0:41-0:48) which is listed at the beginning of this thread as "Smaug's A Theme".


(No doubt this conversation has been had/dismissed before too, so apologies in advance.) :D

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Maybe it was written with some epic New Zealand travelling montage in mind?

No. It's a theme presentation.

Ahh yes, that was confirmed wasn't it?

Still, we know for sure its not the Erebor theme we're hearing, so what relevance does the the title have anyway? The whole quest is essentially Bilbo's journey to Erebor. Do we even know if Shore gave the track that title?

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This figure from On the Doorstep (0:17-0:20 and then higher at 0:21-0:24) I had taken to be the same as the figure heard in The Quest for Erebor (0:41-0:48) which is listed at the beginning of this thread as "Smaug's A Theme".

(No doubt this conversation has been had/dismissed before too, so apologies in advance.) :D

I'm not entirely convinced 0:41-0:48 of Quest For Erebor is Smaug's theme actually... I think it's a complicated variant of other themes much like 0:00-0:36 of the same track is.

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Do we even know if Shore gave the track that title?

Nope... I have no idea who came up with the OSE SE Bonus Track titles.

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I'm not entirely convinced 0:41-0:48 of Quest For Erebor is Smaug's theme actually... I think it's a complicated variant of other themes much like 0:00-0:36 of the same track is.

It sounds to me like a fragment of the Arkenstone theme (the second half of the "choral melody" in TheGreyPilgrim's terminology from one of the other threads).

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Do we even know if Shore gave the track that title?

No. But personally, I interpret the title "Erebor" as "The Journey To Erebor" rather than "The Dwarven Kingdom". That would explain why that track includes Bilbo's adventure theme.

Exactly.

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