The Withered White Tree: A Playlist for Gondor

 

Gondor is Middle Earth's tragic kingdom. Clinging to the strength and purity of their distant Numenorean heritage, Gondor survives the brunt of Mordor's renewed onslaught largely through bravado and a nihilistic resignation to fight until the bitter end. An end they are sure is coming, and one they are certain to make as bitter as possible.

Gondor is fragility itself.

Edge Of Night (Pippin's Song) - Howard Shore feat. Billy Boyd

Home is behind, the world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadow to the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow

Cloud and shade

All shall fade

All shall fade 

For Whom The Bell Tolls - Metallica 

(Gondor faces the threat of a renewed Sauron in Mordor.)

Take a look to the sky just before you die

It's the last time you will

Blackened roar, massive roar fills the crumbling sky

Shattered goal fills his soul 

All My Life - Foo Fighters 

(Denethor's ambition drives him and Gondor forward. He's never able to truly recapture the glory of his Numenorean ancestors, and he isn't as wary of their tragic fate as he should be.)

All my life I've been searching for something

Something never comes, never leads to nothing

Nothing satisfies, but I'm getting close

Closer to the prize at the end of the rope

 

The Devil's Bleeding Crown - Volbeat 

(Denethor finds out that Sauron's One Ring has been found and resolves to take it for Gondor.)

The Devil's spawn no longer breathes

Descending angels and fallen kings

Raise your hands, what do you hold?

The Devil's bleeding crown

White Flag - Bishop Briggs

(Boromir pleads with Frodo to give him the Ring. When this fails, he slips into the darkness spawned by the rhetoric of his father and the evil of the Ring itself and threatens Frodo. This song represents Boromir's feelings of betrayal, but also his redemptive death in attempting to save Merry and Pippin.)

Put an X on my chest, on my chest

But I'm still standing 'cause I won't forget

The hell on Earth you put me through

I'll save myself in spite of you

Scheherazade (Violin Solo) - Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov feat. David Guerchovitch

(A swan song for Boromir.)

Note: Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade is gorgeous in its entirety, but the violin solos are especially ethereal. I recommend the violin solo from the first movement. You can listen to David Guerchovitch play the solos on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmKGjzyLYQ4

Hero - Regina Spektor

(An epitaph for Boromir. He believed in nobility and heroism, and he both failed and succeeded by dint of his flawed humanity.)

He never, ever saw it

Coming at all

The Other Side - Woodkid

(A last memory for Boromir of better, clearer days. And a shadow for Faramir, who dreams of Boromir's passing.)

I remember cheering from towers

A face smiling in the light

I remember the bells, the flowers

Those days are dying in the dark

Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

(A rare moment of shared grief by Faramir and Denethor at the loss of Boromir, until the loss itself drives them even further apart.)

I took my love, I took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills

'Til the landslide brought me down

A Better Son/Daughter - Rilo Kiley

(Faramir struggles to console Denethor and take on the mantle of defending Gondor in the wake of Boromir's death.)

But you'll fight and you'll make it through

You'll fake it if you have to, and

You'll show up for work with a smile.

You'll be better and you'll be smarter and more grown up

And a better daughter or son and a real good friend

The Cave - Mumford & Sons

(Faramir continues to fight against the darkness of Mordor in spite of Denethor's growing fear and apathy.)

So tie me to a post and block my ears

I can see widows and orphans through my tears

I know my call despite my faults

And despite my growing fears

White Flag - Joseph

(Gondor falls back on nationalism and bravado even as their numbers dwindle and they fear the inevitability of Sauron's victory.)

I'll be an army, no you're

Not gonna stop getting through

I'll sing a marching song and

Stomp through the halls louder than you

Silver Linings - Hendyamps Studio; Chris Henderson and Landon Hook feat. Aimee Norris

(This is a beautiful cello piece that implies both frenetic activity and an edge of fear, representing the steady advance of Mordor's troops into Gondor's lands.)

Note: This song can be found on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CNlfGZIDCM

Get Back - The Beatles

(Faramir avoids his father by leading his men behind enemy lines in North Ithilien, where he encounters Frodo and the Ring.)

Get back, get back

Get back to where you once belonged

Used To The Darkness - Des Rocs

(Faramir returns to Minas Tirith and Denethor's disappointment in the loss of the Ring, but he cannot regret his choice.)

I've made mistakes, Lord struck me down

Caught in a landslide, lost underground

I hear them gates swing open wide 

Come close to midnight, hell fade me down

Make Up Your Mind - Florence + The Machine

(Denethor's pride, fear, and rage isolates Gondor from its allies.)

While you've been saving your neck

I've been breaking mine for you

The power is on, the guillotine hums

My back's to the wall, go on, let it fall

Make up your mind 

Before I make it up for you

Glitter and Gold - Barns Courtney

(Denenthor considers the failure of his line as the Stewards of Gondor and obsesses over his Numenorean dreams of immortality.)

Do you walk in the valley of kings?

Do you walk in the shadow of men

Who sold their lives to a dream?

Do you ponder the manner of things

In the dark?

Any Other Way - We The Kings

(Denethor and Faramir both prepare for Minas Tirith's last stand.)

I am wide awake

And I'm standing tall

Up against the world

Up against the wall

(Bonus points for Denethor's fiery reaction to Faramir's "death".)

Gasoline pumping through my veins

Dancing on top of the flames

I will never go down

Any other way

Note: While the original song is a classic, for the purposes of this soundtrack I chose to use the "stripped" version of this song by Rosabella Music (which can be heard on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egN9KEdejBc).

 

We Will Rock You - Queen

(Joined by the Rohirrim and the Oathbreakers, Gondor is defended and Sauron's army is broken.)

Buddy, you're a young man, hard man

Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world some day

You got blood on your face, you big disgrace

Waving your banner all over the place

The Ocean Beyond the Sea - Jon Foreman

(In the wake of victory, Gondor's losses are tallied and Middle Earth's continuing fight is considered.) 

Beyond the tyrant

Beyond the sirens

Beyond the silence

I heard a whisper

As soft as thunder, as cold as sire

By the ocean beyond the sea

The White Tree - Howard Shore

(Gondor rallies.)

Note: Again, this is an incredible song, and Howard Shore's Return of the King score was beautiful. However, for this soundtrack I chose to use Marc Papeghin's cover with French horn and trumpet (listen on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXsIQaG48j4). It's a little more intimate without the full orchestra, but loses none of the grandeur of the original score.

End Of The World - Deap Valley

(A last alliance is made and Aragorn leads a combined army to the gates of Mordor.) 

Hate

Is a parasite

Yes, hate,

Will eat us alive

If we let it

No, we won't let it

Asleep -  Emily Browning

(Faramir lets go of Denethor and Boromir, seeking his own way forward in the new Age.)

Don't try to wake me in the morning

'Cause I will be gone

Don't feel bad for me

I want you to know

Deep in the cell of my heart

I will so glad to go