What does Lord of the Rings and Richard Wagner Have in Common?

Answer: More than you think.




Though J.R.R Tolkien fervently denied the accusations that his Lord of the Rings trilogy was based on Richard Wagner's 4-opera Ring Cycle, saying, "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases." That, however, is not strictly true. Both Tolkien and Wagner took a great deal of inspiration from two sources: a 13th century Icelandic epic poem, "Volsunga Saga," and a collection of old Norse poems, the "Poetic Edda," from roughly the same time period.

As many will know, the plot of Lord of the Rings and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen are incredibly complex and woven through with intrigue, fantasy, and old world politics. Interestingly, the methodology of composition for Wagner's Ring Cycle and Howard Shore's film score have a similar basis.

Wagner employed a system of leitmotifs, which assigns a series of short musical ideas to each character or idea. Most everyone knows the piece, "Ride of the Valkyries," if for no other reason than the timeless Loony Toons cartoon when Elmer Fudd sings "Kill the Wabbit," and so on. Howard Shore, in his epic journey of composing over 11 hours of music for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, followed a similar path in the utilization of leitmotifs. Shore composed more than 90 individual motifs between the three movies; some of the material has been reused in the more recent Hobbit films. There are several motifs for the fellowship, Middle Earth, the one ring, Mordor, Isengarde, and all of the races.

One of the most pervasive and recognizable themes is of course for the Fellowship, which sounds in various iterations throughout the trilogy.

Original Fellowship motif

The descending and equal ascension is a literal depiction of the extended title for Tolkien's first book: "The Hobbit, There and Back Again." Shore composed another literal depiction: the second half of the Fellowship theme is 9 notes, equal to the 9 rings given to the race of men - who then became power hungry monsters and thusly undead NazGûl, who of course then spend all eternity riding around on gross decaying horses, harassing hobbits and relentlessly seeking a piece of jewellery which supposedly has the power to end the world. The Fellowship theme fractures and twists as the members of the group die (sorry Sean Bean) or separate, adding more layers to the original motif and creating a complex web of significance.

The "seduction of the ring theme" is very interesting in that it has the same first three notes as the  theme for the hobbits, but in a minor key. This creates an obvious and literal relationship between the hobbits and the ring - two completely juxtaposed subjects. Within the trilogy, hobbits are consistently portrayed as good, loyal and kind, whereas the ring in the wrong hands will bring about death and destruction.

Hobbit Motif: Pensive Setting

Though the Elvish themes are not as pervasive as the previous three themes, it does surface at key moments within the plot. The two factions of Elves have opposite musical journeys - another literal reference within the score. The music of Lothlórien starts off mysterious and incomplete, becoming clearer as the Fellowship becomes acquainted with Galadriel. This theme is based off of Gregorian chant and the Arabic microtonal scale, an interesting but gratifying marriage. This theme appears again at Helm's Deep and in Shelob's lair when Frodo uses the gift of light.

Lothlórien Motif

Conversely, the music from Rivendell never appears in its full form again after the Fellowship depart on their journey. The theme becomes increasingly fractured as the Elves travel to the Undying Lands.

I could go on and on about this - and in fact, I have in the past, as I wrote a lengthy analysis for a music history in the 20th century class back in 2012. If you enjoyed this, I highly recommend that you purchase Douglas Adams' book, available from Amazon and other book retailers. He was with Howard Shore throughout the composition process for the trilogy and is the undisputed authority on the score. This book is so thorough and complete that it makes my head spin. Buy it, seriously. You won't regret it for a second.

So while the accusations of similar plot content might have fallen on deaf ears, I for one would love to see J.R.R Tolkien and Richard Wagner duke it out in a room - though they might discover that they have some things in common, like overt racism against people of color. This is one of those times where you can love something, but have to acknowledge its history. Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" is one of the most iconic opera tunes, but Wagner was a known anti-semite; Tolkien's books have evolved into one of the largest and most diverse fan bases, and yet there are hardly any named woman characters and no non-white characters. Maybe they have more similarities than we thought.