#tolkien ensemble

[arwendeluhtiene]

New YouTube video 😀✨🎵, a 2017 piano instrumental of The Tolkien Ensemble 's "Song of Gondor", a poem from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a karaoke-style video, complete with the lyrics of the song, and accompanied by imagery inspired by the White Tree of Gondor.

[ebaeschnbliah]

'Alas!' said Legolas, coming to Aragorn's side. 'We have hunted and slain many Orcs in the woods, but we should have been of more use here. We came when we heard the horn-but too late, it seems. I fear you have taken deadly hurt.'

'Boromir is dead' ...

... said Aragorn. 'I am unscathed, for I was not here with him. He fell defending the hobbits, while I was away upon the hill.'

'The hobbits!' cried Gimli 'Where are they then? Where is Frodo?'

'I do not know,' answered Aragorn wearily. 'Before he died Boromir told me that the Orcs had bound them; he did not think that they were dead. I sent him to follow Merry and Pippin; but I did not ask him if Frodo or Sam were with him: not until it was too late. All that I have done today has gone amiss. What is to be done now?'

'First we must tend the fallen,' said Legolas. 'We cannot leave him lying like carrion among these foul Orcs.'

'Then let us lay him in a boat with his weapons, and the weapons of his vanquished foes,' said Aragorn. 'We will send him to the Falls of Rauros and give him to Anduin. The River of Gondor will take care at least that no evil creature dishonours his bones.'

Now they laid Boromir in the middle of the boat that was to bear him away. The grey hood and elven-cloak they folded and placed beneath his head. They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders. The golden belt of Lórien gleamed about his waist. His helm they set beside him, and across his lap they laid the cloven horn and the hilts and shards of his sword; beneath his feet they put the swords of his enemies. Then fastening the prow to the stern of the other boat, they drew him out into the water. They rowed sadly along the shore, and turning into the swift-running channel they passed the green sward of Parth Galen. The steep sides of Tol Brandir were glowing: it was now mid-afternoon. As they went south the fume of Rauros rose and shimmered before them, a haze of gold. The rush and thunder of the falls shook the windless air.

Sorrowfully they cast loose the funeral boat: there Boromir lay, restful, peaceful, gliding upon the bosom of the flowing water. The stream took him while they held their own boat back with their paddles. He floated by them, and slowly his boat departed, waning to a dark spot against the golden light; and then suddenly it vanished. Rauros roared on unchanging. The River had taken Boromir son of Denethor, and he was not seen again in Minas Tirith, standing as he used to stand upon the White Tower in the morning. But in Gondor in after-days it long was said that the elven-boat rode the falls and the foaming pool, and bore him down through Osgiliath, and past the many mouths of Anduin, out into the Great Sea at night under the stars.

For a while the three companions remained silent, gazing after him. Then Aragorn spoke. 'They will look for him from the White Tower,' he said, 'but he will not return from mountain or from sea.' Then slowly he began to sing:

Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows The West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes. ‘What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring to me tonight? Have you seen Boromir the Tall by moon or by starlight? ‘I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and grey, I saw him walk in empty lands until he passed away Into the shadows of the North, I saw him then no more. The North Wind may have heard the horn of the son of Denethor, ‘O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar, But you came not from the empty lands where no men are.’

Then Legolas sang:

From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sandhills and the stones, The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans. ‘What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring to me at eve? Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve. ‘Ask not of me where he doth dwell – so many bones there lie, On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky, So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea. Ask of the North Wind news of them the North Wind sends to me!’ ‘O Boromir! Beyond the gate the seaward road runs south, But you came not with the wailing gulls from the grey sea’s mouth’.

Then Aragorn sang again:

From the Gate of the Kings the North Wind rides, and past the roaring falls, And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls. ‘What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today? What news of Boromir the bold? For he is long away.’ ‘Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought, His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought. His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest, And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast. ‘O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze, To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.

So they ended. Then they turned their boat and drove it with all the speed they could against the stream back to Parth Galen.

'You left the East Wind to me,' said Gimli, 'but I will say naught of it.'

'That is as it should be,' said Aragorn. 'In Minas Tirith they endure the East Wind, but they do not ask it for tidings. But now Boromir has taken his road. and we must make haste to choose our own.'

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers,  The Departure of Boromir 

Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Extended Edition

.

Lament for Boromir - performed by The Tolkien Ensemble

[is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer]

The newsletter is back!! And with it, so are the songs. So enjoy Bilbo’s song!!

[amalthea9]

So I could have sworn that I posted this art piece to my Tumblr but can't find it.

I can't express what King Theoden meant to me, but he is one of my top fictional heroes.

I did this piece back in 2019 and I'm reposting it now in honor of the passing of my king.

Aragorn is also a king of mine, but, like Merry, my dedication is to the King of Rohan.

The text is from The Lament of Theoden, a fitting text for such a sorrowful time.

Thank you, Bernard Hill for bringing Theoden to life. Now rest. All oaths have been fulfilled. To the halls of your forefathers you go and we honor you. Hail Theoden King!

Lament for Theoden performed by the Tolkien Ensemble

The Text:

From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning With thane and captain rode Thengel’s son: To Edoras he came, the ancient halls Of the Mark-wardens mist-enshrouded; Golden timbers were in gloom mantled. Farewell he bade to his free people, Hearth and high-seat, and the hallowed places, Where long he had feasted ere the light faded, Forth rode the king, fear behind him, Fate before him. Fealty kept he; Oaths he had taken, all fulfilled them. Forth rode Théoden. Five nights and days East and onward rode the Eorlingas Through Folde and Fenmarch and the Firienwood, Six thousand spears to Sunlending, Mundburg the mighty under Mindolluin, Sea-king’s city in the South-kingdom Foe-beleaguered, fire-encircled. Doom drove them on. Darkness took them, Horse and horsemen; hoofbeats afar Sank into silence, so the songs tell us.

[ent-maiden]

I think I'm addicted to The Tolkien Ensemble's version of Sam's Song in the Orc Tower.

I keep playing it over and over again. It's so sad and hopeful and beautiful.

[psivamp]

mutuals plz

not new to tumblr at all but twitter just keeps getting worse so. hey!!!!! im demian (u can also call me dorian or joseph) im 15. i use he/him pronouns Im gay..btw

im fictionkin so if you kin seriously plz plz follow me!!! i need more kin friends

[pretend theres a gif here idk what to add]

i have a lot of interests including but not limited to:

vocaloid

k/jdramas

kpop (onlyoneof superkind nik xdh xeed plave <3)

ffvii

vkei

enstars (to an extent)

identity v (to an extent)

tolkien

dnd

reading, mostly classic lit. i also read some danmei from time to time

my carrd is in my bio it has more info about my interests and stuff. it also has my dni and byf ^_^

[sarahtheflutist]

Johan de Meij

The Lord of the Rings Symphony

Performed by The Amsterdam Wind Ensemble

[cavewretch]

i don’t have the attention span to watch all of critical role so i’m speed running by watching compilations

i like how d20 is very obviously a bunch of improv actors and critical role is va’s . d20 knows timing really well but the critical role guys can just talk amongst themselves in character for a full half hour it’s fascinating

[arataka-reigen]

[ID: reply to this post by user @ paradoxius: Bizarrely, the films aren't but the books are. / end ID]

so we all agree that lord of the rings is a musical

[markantonys]

i've got to put out an attempt to spread the good word of wheel of time to some of my new rings of power followers!

are you hankering for a new fantasy show to fill the void of ROP? look no further than wheel of time! it's also on amazon prime and is something of a sister-show to ROP. there are 2 seasons out currently, and season 3 is in post-production and slated to release sometime in 2025.

here's what WOT is about:

in a world that has reincarnation, rosamund pike's character who has been described as lesbian gandalf learns that an apocalyptic figure called "the dragon" who broke the world 3000 years ago has been reborn as a new person. accompanied by her platonic work-husband to whom she's psychically bonded, she narrows her search down to 5 potential candidates, a group of 20-somethings from the same little village. the group embarks on a quest to figure out which one of them is the dragon reborn, but even the ones who are not the dragon have nevertheless been chosen out by fate to have their own remarkable powers and key roles in deciding the fate of the world.

here's what makes WOT similar to ROP:

multiple-storyline ensemble show with a variety of personalities among the main characters, so you'll be sure to find Your Blorbo in somebody (and there's a pretty big variety among the fandom of who everyone's faves are, which goes to show how good ALL the characters are!)

epic fantasy that earnestly and wholeheartedly embraces its genre and the inherent whimsy and fantasticalness therein, without acting like it's embarrassed about having fantasy elements or like it considers itself too good and too prestige for the genre

it has some truly dark and harrowing stuff, but it never feels like it's gratuitous/just for shock value and never descends into cynical grimdark territory. it centers on the importance of hope and togetherness to fight against evil (tolkien was a primary inspiration for the WOT books' author robert jordan, so some of the vibes and themes are similar)

incredibly in-depth worldbuilding and world history

gorgeous costumes, sets, scenery, soundtrack, and production value. i could wax poetic about the soundtrack all day but will restrain myself and just say that it's a similar approach as ROP of specific character themes rearranged ad infinitum to suit the tone of different scenes and that it has a very unique soundscape that stands out from traditional orchestral fantasy. the costumes, especially in the second season, are some of the most unique and distinctive i've ever seen in a fantasy show, using lots of sharp/modern silhouettes to evoke a different feel from your standard medieval-inspired fantasy costumes. and vibrant colors!!!

absolutely Perfect casting across the board, with every actor from the most seasoned veterans to the newest-comers delivering wonderful performances, embodying their characters perfectly, and clearly having the time of their life making this show.

major character recast between s1 and s2 haha but like with adar, both mat actors are wonderful and it's impossible to wish one was the other while watching their respective performances.

Wholesome Boy Besties, and overall a lack of toxic masculinity and a total comfort with letting men be tender and kind and emotional (in fact, i'd say WOT does even better at this than ROP)

mesmerizing villains who run the gamut from tragic to Sexy Fun Evil to straight-up bonechilling (oftentimes multiple categories all rolled into the same villain). what if sauron was a sexy sexy lady whose top hobbies were serving cunt and gaslighting her boytoy? watch wheel of time to find out.

on that note, what would you get if you took the toxic hero/villain/villain polyeroticism of galadriel/sauron/adar, dialed it up to 11, and made it borderline canon that they used to be in a throuple that ended badly? one of the major dynamics of WOT s2, that's what.

a slower, establishing first season followed by a bombastic second season that raises the stakes, lets the villains out to play big time, and generally knocks it out of the park. so if you're on the fence while watching s1, keep going to get to the glowup!

and here's what makes WOT better than ROP:

while they both improve in their second season, imo the first season of WOT is quite a bit better than the first season of ROP (anecdotal evidence: i started both shows as a complete show-only with no prior familiarity with the source material (bar having watched the LOTR movies), and WOT had me hooked by the end of 1x01 whereas ROP i watched 2 episodes and abandoned it for 2 years before coming back for another try and successfully getting hooked)

i'd say the main reason for this is that the story of WOT s1 is fairly simple and small scale and laser-focused on just our 7 main characters who all share a single storyline together (breaking up into 3 sub-storylines for the middle portion of the season, then coming back together again), and it holds off on expanding the scale of the world & story until s2. this was much more effective at getting a newcomer like me assimilated in the world, hooked on the story, and invested in the characters than ROP starting out with a massive sprawling cast and story right off the bat and kind of overwhelming me with too much going on. WOT s1 was also very clear in establishing Here Are The Stakes And Here's Why You Should Care immediately in the pilot episode, whereas i struggled for a while with seeing what the Point of ROP was or why i should care about these characters (because there are too many of them and not enough time spent on any).

WOT is better at character depth and development, in large part because its main cast is about half the size of ROP's so there's just a lot more breathing room. like with ROP, some characters/storylines are naturally more important than others in a given season and thus everyone's prominence ebbs and flows, but unlike ROP, the characters who are in their "off-season" still get proper season-long arcs and never feel like they're getting neglected. no primary WOT character has ever been wholly absent for more than 1 episode per season (except for mat absent from 2 eps in s1 for recasting-related reasons).

following off of that, i'd say WOT is better at handling multiple storylines, because of the above point of fewer characters and also the earlier point that all the characters start together, then separate. this ensures that all the different storylines feel connected to each other, unlike ROP where there are some groups of characters that have never even met anyone else. the Found Family and Power Of Friendship themes are extremely strong in WOT, and the bonds between the core characters are unbreakable! and this makes all the storylines feel connected and cohesive even when they're taking place across the continent.

another similar point: WOT strikes a better balance between epic scale and narrative intimacy. i can't describe this any better or think of specific examples, it's just a Vibe i feel that ROP sometimes gets lost in its own scale whereas WOT always keeps us very firmly anchored in the characters and the personal stakes no matter how vast the world or conflict becomes. i might exemplify this by saying that if you enjoyed the sauron-celebrimbor scenes in s2, you'll love WOT because it is a huge proponent of "2 characters in a room talking to each other" scenes that further the larger plot while also keeping things intimate and personal and fleshing out the characters.

oh also, focal episodes! every season, WOT does 1 or 2 episodes that focus in deeply on one particular main character (different one every time) at a key point in their journey and deliver some amazing in-depth characterwork (while still furthering the story and allotting time to the other characters & storylines too). characters truly are one of the strongest aspects of WOT, both books and show, and i love that the show takes the time to give us episodes like this. it is so so good at balancing character & plot, and understanding that we won't care about the plot unless we care about the characters.

there is a HUGE cast of female characters, and a very varied cast too. the main cast is 50/50 men and women, and the supporting cast is at least 50/50 too if not majority women. in both the source material and the adaptation, women are integral to the story and so many of them are huge players that drive the narrative, rather than feeling like afterthoughts the 2020s adaptation is fruitlessly trying to cram into source material that was not designed for them as is often the case with ROP imo.

branching off of that: one of the major institutions in WOTworld is an all-woman wizard faction, complete with a lady wizard pope. this gives us things like battle scenes and political scheming that's mostly or exclusively between women. it's awesome!

edited to add: might be obvious from the point about there being a lot of women, but WOT also has lots of female friendships! and female mentorships and rivalries and romances too. just so many relationships between women, quite a contrast to nori and poppy struggling to singlehandedly make ROP pass the bechdel test.

canon queer characters and relationships. and queerness is not only present in WOTworld, it's normalized!

and finally, you'll have to wait til s2 to get her, but WOT is better because it has elayne trakand and thus is better than every show that does not have elayne trakand (can you tell who my blorbo is)

[screamlet]

out of nowhere 911 structure rambling because it's monday and i don't want to work

i binged 911 in a couple of weeks in june and what i miss more than anything, ANYTHING, is how much better they used to be at writing ensembles. idk what changed, like maybe people got lazy trying to find reasons to join different storylines together (at least bring people from different storylines together), or maybe they're rotating availability because some people have side projects and storylines need to be more siloed- whatever. i miss when the show felt like it all took place in the same fucking city, lol, and people interacted like they knew each other and what they were going through. like when they were all first responders and found family and sometimes literal family and their lives intersected with each other at multiple points??

and i miss the side characters!! there used to be people at dispatch who SPOKE sometimes, and RAVI, and MAY and HARRY, characters who regularly fleshed out each part of the show's universe and contributed to the story/vibe/dynamic. ugh

my main fandoms have always been ones with big casts of characters (hockey, star trek, bts, tolkien, jesus it's like exclusively ensemble town in my brain) because other people with their own pov's and histories and what they bring to the dynamic - they're interesting!!!! and episodes lately (especially this season) feel like a bunch of 4-5 minute clips glued together into an "episode" like they're made to share as an ig reel or tiktok but not part of an actual coherent story

anyway. anyway. i don't think the writing and narrative will get their shit together anytime soon. 🤷‍♂�� and every episode will keep feeling like i'm standing at a buffet as they bring out different things and i'll make myself a plate of the things that interest me, which isn't bad but it's not what got me into this restaurant in the first place

[ebaeschnbliah]

In Dwimordene, in Lórien Seldom have walked the feet of Men, Few mortal eyes have seen the light That lies there ever, long and bright. Galadriel! Galadriel! Clear is the water of your well; White is the star in your white hand; Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land In Dwimordene, in Lórien More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men.

Gandalf's Song of Lórien, JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, The King of the Golden Hall

Performed by: Tolkien Ensemble

[thelandswemadeofpaper]

Its called Ensemble Dark Horse

All the times Erestor was mentioned in Tolkien's legendarium.

Yes, that is it. There is nothing more.

[is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer]

Three songs from the Treebeard section:

The List of the races of the world (I love the way the singer hums and homs)

Treebeard’s song as they go towards his home,

And the song about the Entwives,

[payidaresque]

How did you approach playing two characters that are so different? Halbrand appears noble, while Sauron is dark and manipulative. How did you balance that within a single character? — The key point is that they are the same character. Halbrand and Sauron are one, but what sets them apart is Sauron’s commitment to deception; he’s the ultimate deceiver. With Halbrand, Sauron found a way to crawl into people's minds and offer them exactly what they needed at that moment. Like with Galadriel, he tapped into her need to find and confront the darkness, becoming her ally in that quest throughout the first season. In the second season, he does something similar with Celebrimbor, but under the guise of Annatar. There, he appeals to Celebrimbor's sense of hubris and desire to achieve greatness. That's Sauron’s ultimate skill, knowing how to manipulate and give people just what they need or want. When connecting the two characters, I focused on aligning their psychological motivations: the desire to reorder, rehabilitate, and 'heal' Middle-earth, and the idea of power not just over the flesh, but of the flesh itself. Externally, I wanted to distinguish them physically and vocally. Halbrand had a weightiness and roughness to him that supported his sense of nobility. For Annatar, we developed a different accent and pitch of speech, with more contained and flowing movements. Initially, I thought everything about Annatar had to be the opposite of Halbrand. But as we rehearsed, I realized they share more than you'd think and don't need to be complete opposites. That realization was quite refreshing. There are many different approaches, but ultimately, they are the same. The characters seek the same thing; it's just that they are at different stages in his journey, interacting with different people.

Building on what you mentioned about love and unity, the message of hope. The Rings of Power brings together characters from different races and cultures, highlighting their tensions but also their eventual cooperation. How do you see these interactions reflecting contemporary issues of race, ethnicity, and cultural conflict? — We’re incredibly proud of everyone involved, both in front of and behind the camera. It’s a privilege to be part of such a diverse ensemble, and that diversity reflects what we stand for as a company. It’s something we want to share with the world, to show that diversity and inclusion matter. There’s been some criticism about casting decisions made on the show, some of it frankly abhorrent, and we’ve condemned them wholeheartedly. The world of Tolkien is a world for everyone, and we wanted to reflect that reality. That’s the parallel to contemporary society and culture that we hope to draw.

— Charlie Vickers for Vestal (Sept 2024 » 📷 by Eddie Blagbrough)

[wine-dark-soup]

i don't really know how to express this especially on a website relying a lot on fanfiction where characters HAVE to be the center of things because they're the constant fans can work with, but there's this implicit consensus in prose writing circles that characters are everything to the story and that you build them by dissecting them and their habits and appearance and etc, when it is extremely articifical, and in my experience, not how writing works at all. As a corollary, the world is just bare and rare traits, or conversely can only be real if you planned everything tolkien style, which, imo, again, isn't how it works.

Idk if im clear. You cant build a character like a lego set and yet it's 95% of the writing advice i see (which. I repeat. Is good for fanfics. But for your personal projects? It will show its limits very quickly). You can't separate a character from the world. The world is a character and a character is the world. Everything is just a big ensemble that you don't need to know about. Not in great details i mean. Hello can anyone hear me