Bakshi's Animated Lord of the Rings Theme (1978)

[LeonHeartVIII8]

This theme gets me very emotional. This is the perfect theme for a Fantasy film, and I love it.

[MrMonsterMan1001]

Even though I saw the Peter Jackson Trilogy before this one, this earlier film has some great perks. I found it a little more frightening then the later film and the animation is really great looking. The only issues with the older version is the lack of character development and obvious mistake with Saruman's name (they constantley call him Aruman). But still I think anyone that has an interest for fantasy films should definitley watch this one, because it still holds up as a good film :D.

[jheadSF06]

Mediocre movie, but great theme.

[Yourpasswords]

I still rememmber how Theoden shouted " Gandaalf Gandaalf" and rohhirrim comes to aid (part 0:44 starts play)

[k6musicteacher]

Leonard Rosenman, the composer of this music is the same guy who composed the theme for Star Trek 4 the voyage home. You can hear the exact same motif in the "b" section of both works. Yet for me, they remain two of my very favorite movie themes of all time.

[Kaldhore]

In 1997 I spent alot of money on dial up downloading this film. It Wasnt available to buy freely. I had a 2.4 kb per sec download. Now I have a 20 meg line. LOL Anyho it still makes me tremble to see and hear it on utube.

[KatararulzSokkadrls]

The only complain about this song is that it is not longer.

[aquelescaraaaaaaaaaa]

it's just me, or the text font on Lord of the Rings looks exactly like the text font on the back of the case of Zelda Wind Waker ''an evil wind is rising'' and this song reminds me somehow of zelda theme

[aquelescaraaaaaaaaaa]

watch?v=jmHx4XB-6Rw

guys, stick our swords out and look cool like me while we play 0:43

[InfernityZ3r0]

0:43 EVERYONE... EPIC POSE!!

[BANZITOMMY]

The animated film is interesting. I love the song and John Hurt was amazing as Aragorn. However it was overshadowed by some annoying/cheesy animation and bad voice casting. I think a LOTR cartoon movie is a great idea this one just needed a lot more work. That said I am not a huge fan of Jackson's movies either. They just could have been a lot closer to the book. Heck he left out the whole ending part in the Shire!

[guilemaster147]

@BANZITOMMY Well that's a problem that every director faces when transforming a book into a movie. Due to the way the consumer interacts with the media, you can't just do a straight translation, it'd be a mess. I think that Peter Jackson did it in the most effective way possible, that would tell the story of the Lord of the Rings most fully. There's a reason no real effort had been made to make movies of the books beforehand, they're just too complex for a full cross-over.

[HolyknightVader999]

@BANZITOMMY That and there, Sauron makes the big mistake anyone could ever make when the powers of the cosmos sits on his ring finger..........

You do not expose that part of yourself to enemy attack. Doing so makes you look like a moron.

[Dmmac]

Thanks so much for posting -- been trying to find this music for a while! :-)

[philipmarie1854]

Thumbs up if the Nostalgia Critic brought you here.

[rubbersandro]

@philipmarie1854

Fuck! Thought I was the only one :D

[Troyocorus]

I used to watch this movie all of the time as a kid. I love the climactic ending. its an admitted rushed piece of work. I mean c'mon they tried fitting two books into a two hour movie. but are you getting your moneys worth? hells yes! and the animation is rediculously amazing you will never find any form of animation to compair to this. I mean its so life-like how they move even when they arent talking. Its a bad ass masterpiece and always will be.

[ocaraquemudoudeideia]

The beginning makes "The Lord of the Rings" sound like kid's play...

[PlanetDead]

If I find a girl to marry, I demand to have this played in the weddings :D

[Danzilla1996]

I always loved this song. :P Probably one of the better themes from an animated movie/

[Anikom15]

This theme sucks when you first listen to it but over and over again it becomes more and more epic.

[Giles28]

I love the theme music to this - make me wanna go kill some orcs!

[Onerom4728]

The perfect martch theme

[CtrlRm]

Amazing

[Warriorcats64]

Like Frodo,Legolas,the Battle of Helms' Deep,The Shire design,and the Inn at Bree scene this to is where Bakshi's film excels.

Not that Howard Shore's score sucks,it's just that his scores never fit the scene right and/or seem a little bit too pretentious

The difference is like Hans Zimmer's Dark Knight and Danny Elfman's Batman

[adaw90]

is it me, or parts of the "star trek IV" theme sound the same?

[snoproblem]

@adaw90 Well, it's the same composer - Leonard Rosenman. Some composers have little hooks and flourishes to their work that act like a signature. The works of Alan Silvestri and James Horner are two other well-known examples of this sort of thing.

[PhantosTheHedgehog]

"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them"

-J.R.R. Tolkien

[Pikazilla]

@PhantosTheHedgehog and one big ass beard on Gandalf

[Flashmikko]

Holy cow! I had no idea when I posted this I would someday have over ten thousand views. Nice!

[96gamerdude]

@Flashmikko Maybe it's because I am addicted to this track. I mean good lord the composer made an epic soundtrack for this film.

[k6musicteacher]

@Flashmikko This animated movie was a BIG part of my childhood and all we "Tolkien Lovers" had for many years. And for those of us who feel that Jackson's effort left Tolkien "spinning in his grave" it is still the best, true represention of his work available. So, thanks for bringing me back a few memories, it really is a kick-ass march especially when you consider that this was all done in one take, there was no technical sound engineering available back then! Thanks again!

[PlanetDead]

@Flashmikko You never know how much people can appreciate... well, who knows what :D

[CWonderer24]

@Flashmikko Say thanks to tvtropes)

[majortenn]

This score was a lot better than the one for the live action versions.

[YourProblem1]

*Offers people to march with him to this tune* ^_^

[Flashmikko]

@YourProblem1

I'm in! As long as we're not marching for any particular cause other than demonstrating how awesome "The Lord Of The Rings" is.

[YourProblem1]

@Flashmikko Nope its just to look cool :D

[jmarr100]

@Flashmikko Bah! We march for Isengard!

[PlanetDead]

@YourProblem1 Count me in !

[supersuper841]

@YourProblem1 I shall join thee.

[supersuper841]

0:44 to 1:03 is my favorite part

[ishouldplayzelda]

this theme is so much better than the one in the peter jackson movies

[leejesm]

That was inspiring. Well, I'm off to Mordor. Wish me luck.

[zuSwerling]

I've scanned the sheet music and uploaded it to Scribd. My username is Yeshua_zu_Swerling

[mrsparkle001]

This movie did Galadriel and Lothlorien way better than Peter Jackson did though, especially the mirror and "test" scene.

[96gamerdude]

But Jackson borrowed some scenes from this movie.

[TheAltair4]

Great score to a true Bakshi classic!

[Johnlindsey289]

@TheAltair4

It's a shame Bakshi didn't finish it with another movie but Rankin-Bass did completed the story in 1980 you know as a loose follow-up to this movie. But these are inferior to Peter Jackson's movies which are more true to the source.

[TheAltair4]

@Johnlindsey289 Yes, Peter Jackson's trilogy is superior and more faithful to the books. The Rankin- Bass followup was okay, but nowhere nearly as good as this one.

[Gernam12]

@TheAltair4 More faithful? He altered more scenes, and changed more dialogue than this version ever did. Also, how faithful he was depends on how you'd see it through these scenes. Imagine if Jackson's movies was cut down to the length of this film, and was forced to only have the scenes featured here. You'd see that this one is more faithful for what it's worth and what it's accomplished. However, Jackson is more faithful in terms of capturing the spirit of Middle-Earth... ->>

[Gernam12]

@TheAltair4 And that is definitely important to the Tolkien vision, but overall, this version was more faithful in trying to capture the more alien nature of Tolkien's world and portray an almost entirely word for word version of the book. If Bakshi only had the money, he could have done so much more. That's definitely where Jackson also excelled. He had time to put in the great details and mythos behind his movies, even though he changed much of the plot, but at least he acknowledged the books.

[TheAltair4]

@Gernam12 Well, i thought Jackson did an absolutely perfect job of capturing the true essence and nature of Tolkien's world described in books myself but my opinion is a bit biased, i must admit. I'm a bit bigger a Jackson fan than i am a Tolkien fan. lol

[Johnlindsey289]

A fair attempt to bring LOTR to the screen but Peter Jackson remains the most faithful to Tolkein's vision and this score is great.

[96gamerdude]

This almost as good as Howard Shores Lord of the Rings score

[Johnlindsey289]

@96gamerdude

I agree it's just as great.

[TamamaCandyLover]

This is wonderful!

[dontleademsomuch]

a million times better than the movie soundtrack!

[Owdene]

Truly an awesome piece of film music, full of emotion and spirit - one for the ages!

[inuformers]

I played this while finishing a book report on the two towers

[Flashmikko]

@inuformers

Nice! That sounds like something I would do! How did you do on it and how did people react?

[inuformers]

@Flashmikko I got an A- ( I forgot to do an about the athor part) and it seemed to be my teachers favorite report out of the class

[ishouldplayzelda]

@inuformers wait so did you listen to this when you were finishing writing it or did you play it in class toward the end of the report

[inuformers]

@ishouldplayzelda in class

[ishouldplayzelda]

@inuformers that's awesome! it must have been an epic report

[kingkoopa3000]

The film was okay , but this theme is amazing. Its big , powerful and bold- a really exhilarating peice of music.

[Smoothpork1999]

I don't really like THIS particular theme, but when the first ring wraith appears, the music is creepy!

[Vinchtef]

oh what the fuck i just want to go put the vhs in and watch it even if i work tomorrow this movie is so good and better then its newer version like is DUNE...

[Johnlindsey289]

@Vinchtef

No way, it's inferior to Jackson's movies which are more true to the book. Read the Dune book please and there is another remake on the way.

[Vinchtef]

an orgasm for my ears so much better then the jacksons soundtrack

[Kopfschmerz86]

I was watching this great movie when I was young, years before Peter Jackson's movie came out. What a inspiration it was.

Love this movie as much as Peter's :)

[MozTS]

hey it's the star trek 4 theme :S

[Vinchtef]

@MozTS i always tought the atartrek 4 theme was copied in parts from this marvelous theme..

[sonicheadbanger]

my god i loved this movie.

does any one know where i can get the soundtrack?

[EEVidrine94]

This would b great for the end of a football game! :D

[scottct013]

they should use this song when the war is over

[shounenbat510]

Where can you get this soundtrack?

[athomicritics]

damn if gandalf was that giant the balrog would have piss himself and sorron will be not a problem to beat XD

[ReCarnage]

EPIC

[DicoSpeedLeader]

this theme is WAY better than the Jackson theme. but still, the Jackson theme is still cool too.

[EspioArtwork]

Featured from AVCO Embassy Pictures' Revenge of the Fallen (1979)

[kujyou3t]

This song is so awesome and EPIC! I LOVE IT!! XDD

[EspioArtwork]

You Saved My Life Tropic Thunder Mutant Railroad

[k6musicteacher]

This is the Lord of the Rings that I grew up with! Much more accurate and true to the books than the more recent effort! Thank-you sooo much for posting, this really takes me back!

[arisguitar]

SO POWERFUL AND EPIC!, I love this theme

[MrMafiamansion2]

0:44 - 0:52 Best part

[charlieRicketts]

Oh my gosh... this song...the first time i heard it when I was a kid it immediately took hold of me. I loved this movie so much when I was little and I still do. To this day I get chills running down my spine when I hear it. Sure the movie had its problems and not many people like it. But this is one of my all time favorites. It displays middle earth and its beings in such an impressive way. I am so sorry that Bakshi never got to finish the trilogy.

[cormano64]

My god, Gandalf is gigantic in that poster!!! XD

[NeonicFilm1138]

I love how this sounds so familiar to the theme for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and how the composer is the same for both themes! :D

[mathieusabbagh]

0:43 to 0:58 Best part

[cujo9]

this is so epic, love listening and it did the 1978 adaptation a great honour.

[savedbyziro]

tell me what sfx you can do

[assassinofdoom12345]

Awesome music, grand and light goes well at the beginning when followed by a much darker story.

[killinme77]

Bakshi never finished the other part...this AND Jackson's movies had flaws...I've yet to see a book brought to film 100% accurately.

[cujo9]

@killinme77 this was a brilliant adaptation for its time . do not knock it

[Troyocorus]

I grew up watching this movie. I've been a LOTR fan ever since i was born practically. This one was way more accurate to the book as compared to Peter Jackson's film.

[TheJamesDun]

Except Aragorn looks like a Native American.

[Troyocorus]

I think the reason why they did that was because in the book he was discribed as a dark man and a Native American is a great symbol of survival.

[PippinRally]

Didn't this one stop halfway through and miss out loads of plot?!

[Flashmikko]

Yeah, it stopped right after the end of the two towers.

[AsiaPhoenix2008]

@Flashmikko It actually stopped halfway through the Two Towers.

[Flashmikko]

You're absolutely correct. I'm not sure what I was thinking.

[Troyocorus]

about the plot yes, but what they had displayed in this film was true to the book nearly all the quotes were directly out of the book.... Even Peter Jackson's films left out huge plot.

[Twiggy127]

I love the way this sounds!

I want to play this in orchestra now! x3

[Flashmikko]

You and me both. I wish that we had the sheet music back in my high school orchestra.

[dwkjo]

@Flashmikko I remember that my high school music teacher listed is as one of the songs he could have gotten for us. It was also the most expensive and would have used his entire budget for sheet music acquisition. Needless to say, we didn't get it. I'm not sure that the class could have handled it, but I was also in the Edmonton Catholic Schools All City Band, which comprised of the top students around the city (in Catholic high schools). We could probably have managed it.

[TheCGIMaster]

awesome theme, sounds like a war theme though but still kickass!

[Tomatktchp]

My favorite part is 0:45. SO POWERFUL AND EPIC!

[inhumanxiii]

Agreed. It's even more epic when Theodoen and his men are facing the orcs when all hope seems lost and Gandalf charges in with the Riders of Rohan.

[allkill55]

@Tomatktchp that my favorite part too

[k6musicteacher]

@Tomatktchp 2:10 isn't so bad either, of course, any ending with Brass can't be a bad one!

[SuperSaiyanAl]

Sounds too campy for my taste. But I'm not fond of Rosenman (Star Trek IV aside) so maybe I'm just biased.

[jmarr100]

Anyone with a name as unoriginal as SuperSaiyanAl can't be expected to present a meaningful opinion.

[SuperSaiyanAl]

Then you'll kindly discount my opinion that you're a pretentious douchebag, you pretentious douchebag.

[jmarr100]

Yes I feel that opinion is spotty at best. I may be a douchebag but I'm not pretentious.

[SuperSaiyanAl]

Can a douchebag really be counted on to give an accurate self-evaluation though?

[jmarr100]

Well if the douchebag in question (me) is giving an inaccurate self-evaluation when calling himself a douchebag then this means he is not actually a douchebag and this contradicts itself in so many ways that it hardly seems worth figuring out.

[SuperSaiyanAl]

Yeah, I'd just kinda like it if people stopped down-voting my comments.

[jmarr100]

If you want people to stop down-voting your comments stop saying things that they disagree with.

[charlieRicketts]

oh my gosh I LOVE the score to this film

[Flashmikko]

Send me the video when you finish it! With this music it should prove very good! (Just be sure to use the original zelda music as well).

[tyranitar007]

beautiful. fav part starts at 0:42.

[Flashmikko]

Really? Same here! Although I do like the part that starts around 0:25 too.

[pacman5698]

And I thought Jackson's was great

[HawaiiKnut]

Jackson's version is great, but this one is awesome.

[pacman5698]

EXACTLY!

[Rabarberskurk]

Thanks for uploading this, been looking for it for a while.

[andreinfinite]

This soundtrack has to be THE BEST Leonard Rosenman ever composed. SUPERB.

This is the ending credits theme as it sounds in the movie. In fact, I prefer this version to that of the 'official' LP/CD, which lacks the drumroll towards the end.

Thank you so much for sharing, Flashmikko!

[Flashmikko]

You're welcome! I was hesitant to put it up since I didn't create it (I hate putting up things that aren't my own creations) but I really like this music and I was suprised that no one else has uploaded it so... here we are!