Sauron's musical disguises in Rings of Power

An analysis of Bear McCreary's music to Rings of Power, and how he disguises the theme for Sauron's deceptions as Annatar among elves.

Check out more of my music analysis videos about the music to Rings of Power (Bear McCreary) and The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)

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#musictheory #lordoftherings #ringsofpower

[GalenDeGraf]

Wasn’t planning to craft another Tolkien music theory vid right now but I watched episode 6. McCreary inspired me. Aulë gave me strength. I just hope Sauron wasn’t involved…

This counts as an early Halloween video, right?

Note: Notation for "Sauron’s illusion" both the rhythm and key has been simplified to make the connection to Sauron/elves easier to follow.

[bethanywakim]

It’s so clever that the music itself becomes deceptive - it’s just as much a shapeshifter as Sauron is. My respect for McCreary’s work keeps growing with this series; thanks for another fantastic video.

[solaireflair]

Something I thought was really neat was either in Season 2, episode 1 or 2; Galadriel says something like “Sauron played us like a harp”. When she says this, the background music plays Sauron’s motif on a harp.

[vicweise]

I've personally been very fond of the use of "Where the Shadows Lie". The fact they took the poem about the rings of power and gave it a melody that's woven through key scene's about the rings is amazing. I keep going back to "Emissary at the Forge"

[CharlieKnolesPlus]

So good. Bear McCreary is establishing himself as one of the great film and tv composers. This is brilliant writing.

[monoverantus]

You point out an interesting feature of Rivendell and Lothlórien's themes: both gain their otherworldly quality from including notes that blur the edge between minor and major. Rivendell is a major-moded theme with its major sixth flattened, and Lothlórien is a minor-moded theme with its minor third sharpened.

[Alikk]

Bear McCreary, turning out to be a good successor to Howard Shore

[OrionFromMars]

You really can’t have a show without music. This is just genius! A similar thing was done with Star Wars connecting all back to Palpatine. It’s always so cool to see artists do this with music ❤

[thehunter]

Bear Mccrearys just too good. They Made a great choice for him to be the composer of the show. He really gets what Howard Shore has done with the movies 🤗the Sauron theme has been one of my favorites so far and i love what he did when he disguises as Annatar. So smooth 😎

[roguerangerproductions]

Being studying music theory in school, this is really interesting! I love lotr and like rop. Loved the comparisons!

[hoon_sol]

Brilliant. McCreary is a genius, his leitmotifs are on par with those of Wagner. Have loved his music since listening to that from Foundation.

[Griffithfolkestone]

In season 1 it's Morgoth who disrupts the song, and in season 2 red sands represent Sauron as Annatar who secretly intervenes himself with regular sands

[JediMaestr]

This was by far my favorite part of the S2 soundtrack. Thanks for explaining and highlighting it for others to enjoy!

[mythal]

When I watch a film, I can't analyse the music at all... Thank you for this great insight! When I watch the entire 2nd season in the original tomorrow, I'll be able to analyse the compositional subtleties with your help!

[wesebeling]

This is so impressive and amazing. I never caught any of this watching or re-re-re-watching the episodes! Thank you for breaking this out!! Great video.

[Will-nnpb]

I saw the promo for s2 video of Mc Creary explaining this. Thank you for showing and explaining it.

[TheBabyCaleb]

Bear McCreary is an extremely talented composer, and his work for ROP is the best part of the show

[carolinecolbert]

For all its faults, a lot of people worked hard on this show and I like to see all the little gems

[Alikk]

i love how authentically pronounce annatar

[samuelleask]

Absolutely genius, thanks for sharing this breakdown!