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The fifth episode is here, and presents some interesting developments in the story, leaving mostly some room for character interactions, the presentation of a new group of characters, The Mystics, and an ending which leaves the expectations high for the following episodes, as some battles are apparently ahead.
I think it's the first episode which features all the different timelines, since we have the Harfoots back, with some great interactions between Nori and the Stranger. He's slowly becoming a more interesting and relevant character, especially in his relationship to the Mystics that make their first appearance in the beginning of the episode. Aside from that, we learn a bit more about the mysterious leader of the orcs, Adar, Elrond and Durin's relationship is greatly developed, and on the Numenor storyline, we see some relationships growing closer and stronger between Galadriel and Halbrand.
By the way, Bear is releasing weekly albums with complete score for each episode, so I definitely recommend to give it a listen while you read this, so you can better understand the narrative and the thematic development I analyze. And in case you need it, I'm working on a spreadsheet comparing the tracks on the complete releases to the tracks already released in the first soundtrack album.
SHORT DISCLAIMER: The transcriptions are not always in the same key as the pieces I put as example, and sometimes they are simplified to make it clearer and more concise
The first storyline is the one that follows the Harfoots on their migration, centering around the perils that lie ahead for the Brandyfoot family. Familiar themes return in some new interesting settings, which I greatly enjoyed. Nori's theme gets a couple of gentle statements during "The Perils of Migration", during her conversation with the Stranger (curious enough, the variation at the beginning reminded me of McCreary's own Claire & Jamie's Theme from the Outlander scores). That theme gets a couple of noteworthy statements at 3:16 and 4:29 of "Wolves".
The Stranger's theme also gets a bit of room to be played around, with a noble, almost heroic variation on the theme when the Stranger saves the Brandyfoot family from a pack of "Wolves", at 2:35. In that same cue, the theme and its associated ostinato get a couple of statements, even including some references to some darker material, like Sauron's Ostinato, as the Stranger's true intentions and origins remain unclear and confusing for Nori.
In this storyline, we are introduced to a new group of characters, with a unique motif associated to them. I'm talking about the Mystics, a mysterious group which apparently are after the Stranger's footprints, altough their motivations remain unknown. I included the complete variation McCreary released on the album release, but on the episode itself, we can hear a brief reference to the chanting motif at 2:10 of "The Perils of Migration", as they investigate the place where the Stranger crahsed.
So far, this motif remains sinister and menacing, but I'm sure further development of their motivations will reveal their true purpose, leaving space for the theme to be modified and transformed.
Before I move on to another storyline, I want to mention the song, "This Wandering Day", which appears twice on the episode. First during the Harfoot travelling montage, sung by Megan Richards (who plays Poppy in the show), and then a different arrangement over the credits, this time sung by Janet Roddick.
What's great about this song is that is was co-composed together with Plan 9, a group well-known amongst Middle-Earth fans, since they are the ones responsible for creating other great songs like the Song of the Lonely Mountain, from The Hobbit.
Also, the lyrics were written by J.D. Payne, one of the main writers of the whole show.
We jump to the Elrond and Durin storyline, which this time happens in Lindon, since Durin travelled there with his elven friend by his father commands, just in case the elves are hiding something from them. The conversations are scored with choral references to the Khazad-dum theme (at 0:20 of "The Fading Light"), and some quite interesting variations on Elrond's theme. This theme has a couple of different settings on "The Fading Light", and has the most interesting development of this storyline. It becomes dark at 2:42, sad and reflective at 4:17 and more tragic at 5:26. The theme then joins with Durin's theme in an emotional variation during the first 2 minutes of "The Confession and Sailing Into Dawn", which starts with the themes playing on somber renditions, before they become more cheerful, even including Durin's characteristic rythmic percussion, as Elrond finally confesses what the elves true intentions are, and they manage to make peaces with each other.
This storyline also features the development of The Rings of Power Theme, at least its simplified variation, and even sometimes gets contaminated by Sauron's Theme, and his ostinato. A clear example of this is as Gil-galad tells Elrond about the legend of a warrior who fought against a Balrog of Morgoth. At 1:49, the Rings of Power theme plays by itself, and then repeats again at 3:04, this time together with the Sauron Ostinato. Here the theme is used not to represent the rings themselves, but the hardships the characters have to endure and how they have to overcome the growing darkness, rerpresented here by Sauron's material. Even Sauron's theme manages to sneak in there, at 5:04 of "The Fading Light", since the darkness is slowly consuming the light of the Valar.
The Sauron material is all over the Southlands, having even more importance than for example the Bronwyn and Arondir theme, which gets referenced a couple of times, but what primes here is the music for darkness, represented by Sauron's Ostinato, and some great developments on Adar's Theme.
The theme gets quietly sinister at 2:52 of "The Perils of Migration", grows menacing at 2:47 and 3:45 of "Only Blood Can Bind", and finally the full theme explodes together with the Nampat chant, at 3:52 of "Destined for Darkness", as Adar and the Orc Army march towards Ostirith. The theme here becomes huge and menacing, getting closer and closer to the people of the Southlands, who are running short on options and time.
Their only apparent way of escaping is through the help of the army of Númenor, and especially the true ruler of the Southlands, Halbrand, who is struggling to accept his past and heritage, and become the leader his people need to face Adar and his army.
McCreary develops his themes for this storyline extensively, but I want to highlight a couple of great singular moments before the great finale. Elendil and Isildur's theme and the Númenor theme get the least time to be played with in the episode (with the exception of the final sequence which I will comment in a bit), but since they played a very important role in the previous episode, their absence doesn't hurt the narrative a lot.
"Scherzo for Violin and Swords" from the album release (which appears in the middle of "Númenor Prepares" from the complete score) is one of the most fun, lively and unique pieces of the show, because of its structure and style. It's used for the scene where Galadriel trains some soldiers to be better when they face the orcs, and McCreary supports this sequence with levity, using a string pattern as a rythmic device, where he then adds a graceful string melody (performed with skill by Sandy Cameron), that plays around as Galadriel faces off the soldiers, even adding some fleeting references to Galadriel's theme here and there. It's so much fun!
The theme that goes through most changes in the episode is without a doubt Halbrand's theme. As we know, it's a theme that strongly connects the Southlands and its rightful ruler, Halbrand, and here it goes through some dubious and uncertain variations, as Halbrand argues with Galadriel about what they should do. The first half of "Only Blood Can Bind" intermingles this theme with Galadriel's Theme, as she faces him, and forces him to become the leader he ought to be, while he confronts her about her blind thirst for revenge, which perhaps might not be allowing her to make decisions with a clear mind.
This cue is quite interesting because as Halbrand narrates what he had to overcome to escape the hosts of Adar, we see the people of the Southlands surrendering to Adar, making a strong connection between this two storylines, which I'm sure will finally join as one in the next episode, when Númenor fights alongside the Southlands against Adar's orc army. This is made clear by the episode's ending sequence, which might be my favorite statement of a couple of themes.
"The Confession and Sailing Into Dawn" (shortened on the album release as "Sailing Into Dawn"), at around 2:22 contains a dubious statement of Halbrand's Theme on its characteristic instrumentation, before he finally makes a decision, and here the orchestra explodes with a proclamation of his theme with percussion and trumpets, which then leads to an enormous statement of Númenor's theme, as the armies march through the city and board the ships. As Isildur boards the ship, we hear a noble statement of Elendil and Isildur's theme, which will then lead to a soaring statement of Galadriel's theme, as she boards the ship, in full armour, ready to finally return to Middle-Earth and finally face her enemies.
The cue includes then more regal celebrations with Halbrand's Theme and Númenor's theme playing both on the same orchestral heights, finally as if they were one, marking the union of the Island Kingdom and the Southlands, which will march towards Middle-Earth to face the forces of evil, which leaves the expectations for the next episode quite high!
So the fifth episode is over, and I cannot wait to watch the sixth one, since I expect some huge events coming down the line, with battles and confrontations, and hopefully some new alliances. And McCreary usually delives with his battle music, so I'm hoping its definitely one of the entire highlights of the season!
I hope you enjoyed this analysis, feel free to check out my analysis for previous episodes, and be sure to stay tuned for upcoming episodes. And feel free to share it with anyone you think might enjoy it!
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