I don’t think any movie will make me feel the same ethereal sense of otherworldly sorrow and disembodied awe as that scene in Lord of the Rings where the loyal son is sent off into a doomed battle to please his vindictive father while Pippin sings a mourning song of his people

I was like 12 and high off this shit

These movies CHANGED ME

This is one of my favourite parts of the whole trilogy. It’s haunting.

And that Pippin takes actually a happy walking song of his people, because Hobbit songs are generally happy and about food and drink and gifts and things, and *transforms* it into a mourning song.

The song is from Fellowship, before all the heavy plot hits and they’re still in the Shire. It’s about walking, and how eventually all the bad things that scare or sadden you will fade away and you’ll be home warm by the fire.

And Pippin takes it, changes the lines, the key, and sings a song that is truly fit for Denethor’s great hall.

Knowing Billy Boyd gave his own melody to it and everyone had chills after hearing him sing it. This is how you get actors involved with the story and character, this is how amazingly well these films were cast. Fans have been singing that haunting tune in echoing halls and caves and towers for 20 years now and it never loses its beauty.

And even better: Billy Boyd composed the tune to the song and then performed it for Peter Jackson and everyone else while filming. They only did one take! That very first take is the one that’s used in the film! He’s just that good!!

Every now and then I like to pull up this video of Billy Boyd being endearing and silly and choked up about Boromir’s death scene, and then performing this song upon request:

I sing it as a lullaby to my children but I use the original “away shall fade” to make it less sad because they’re just babies. uwu

Not even my fandom and I have chills.

You know what, I’m not done. Every aspiring writer should watch that scene and keep in mind the axiom “every person is the protagonist in their own mind,” because Denethor and Pippin are having TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CONVERSATIONS.

Here’s the translation of how it goes.

WHAT DENETHOR SAYS: can you sing, Master Hobbit?

WHAT DENETHOR MEANS: I want entertainment and you’re from far lands. That’s a novelty here.

WHAT PIPPIN HEARS: I don’t care that I just sent my son to his death. Entertain me.

WHAT PIPPIN SAYS: yes. Well, well enough for my own people. But we have no songs fit for great halls.

WHAT PIPPIN MEANS: yes. But not for you. And our songs aren’t for people who engage in such cruelty.

WHAT DENETHOR HEARS: yes, but I’m embarrassed because mine are simple folk, and you’re very grand and regal. There’s no way I could be of any use to you.

WHAT DENETHOR SAYS: and why should your songs be unfit for my halls? Sing me a song.

WHAT DENETHOR MEANS: we’re all equals culturally. I’m a benevolent ruler, I don’t think your songs are inferior to those produced by my skilled musicians. Let me engage with your culture.

WHAT PIPPIN HEARS: I have literally already forgotten about my son. I’m more interested in entertainment and food, things you normally adore and which I’m making a mockery of by my actions. So sing to me songs of those things you love, entertainment and food. My son doesn’t matter to me and shouldn’t matter to you.

And then Pippin sings.

WHAT DENETHOR HEARS: what a pretty little song.

WHAT PIPPIN IS SAYING WITH THE SONG: fuck you for doing this to your son, who I love. Fuck you for doing this to me, as I mourn. Fuck you for making a mockery of the things I love, when it’s clear you don’t care for them any more than you do for YOUR SON. Your child, who you should want to protect. If you won’t mourn in these halls, by everything I hold dear I swear SOMEONE will.

Pippin can’t say any of this out loud. But his word choices are extremely deliberate. And so are Denethor’s! He does not see himself as a bad person! I don’t know enough LOTR to know if he’s a villain or just an asshole, but the important thing here is HE THINKS OF HIMSELF AS NEITHER. He’s a good guy who’s had to make some hard choices, that’s all. It’s the editing that tells you he’s not actually that at all.

This is a MASTERCLASS in “everyone is their own protagonist” and if this is the standard the movies rise to all the time I understand why y’all love them so much, because holy shit. That’s incredible.

What I find interesting about the song Pippin sings for Denethor in ROTK is that……..its lyrics are actually taken from one of Bilbo’s songs in the books. But in the books, the song was lighthearted and happy.

So it’s my headcanon that Pippin wasn’t lying to Denethor– he really didn’t know any songs “for great halls and evil times.” So he just took the most poetic lighthearted hobbit song he knew, and improvised. 

And if you accept that headcanon, it’s interesting to see what lyrics Pippin changed from the original song in the books, which goes:

Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are all alight. Then world behind and home ahead, We’ll wander back to home and bed. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade! Fire and lamp, and meat and bread, And then to bed! And then to bed! 

Compared to Pippin’s version:

Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread, Through shadows, to the edge of night, Until the stars are all alight. Mist and shadow, cloud and shade, All shall fade, all shall fade.

He changed “away shall fade!” to “all shall fade.” The tone of that line was supposed to be reassuring– it originally meant that the “cloud and shade” would always pass and your journey would always end happily. But in Pippin’s version it’s bleak, and means that everything and everyone will pass away.

And he left out all the lines about returning home.

Pippin's Song in the Book vs the Movie

(I just wanted to take this opportunity to compare Pippin’s song in the movies to the song in the book - after writing about it’s use in the trailer (see this post), I had the itch, you know? So, I’m sorry for sort of hijacking your messages, lol.)

So, the song that Pippin sings in the Return of the King movie is just the last verse of a longer song sung in Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien introduces the song with a bit of background information, saying:

So, we learn a few important things here. First, that the song was written by Bilbo. Second, that Bilbo wrote the words, but the tune was much much older. Third, that it was about Adventure. And fourth, that it was a walking song. This last part suggests to me that the tune itself would be very different from the slow melancholy tune Pippin sings in the movies - that song would certainly not motivate any purposeful walking at all! It was probably a traditional walking/working tune that Bilbo simply assigned new lyrics to. And, given the cheery lyrics, I believe that the song probably had a pretty upbeat tune (such as the one used by The Hobbitons in their rendition of the song, which I posted earlier today.)

Looking specifically at the changes made to the lyrics between the book and the movie is pretty fascinating:

Not only were the cheerful lines removed from the verse, but a small - yet significant - change was made to one of the lines. While in the book the hobbits sing the encouraging line “Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade!”, saying basically that the darkness will pass, in the movie Pippin sings the much bleaker “Mist and shadow, cloud and shade. All shall fade! All shall fade!”, which seems to be saying the exact opposite. Peter Jackson and company obviously have a gift for making tiny changes that alter Tolkien’s happy songs into much more ominous versions of themselves - for another example see this post on the “Lord of the Silver Fountains” song.

Anyway, I guess the point of this post (if there is any point) is that while the repeated use of Pippin’s song in the Hobbit trailer creates fascinating parallels within the movie!verse, trying to keep that same significance within the books is going to be difficult, since its meaning and use are so different in each medium.

SOURCES: LOTR

yeah 🥹

FUCK you donkey KONG

Home Improvement: Binford Brawlers (SNES 1994)

something I very much needed to read today

knuckle tattoo that says i am nostalgic for a time where i wasn't even happy

*grabbing you by the hair while you are blindfolded and kneeling* no damnit, thats the phillips-head screwdriver, you can tell because its vibrational aura is two waves, the yin being a half cycle out of phase. try again. place your fingers into the toolbox again, but this time feel with the spirit, not the body

you dont know nothing about anything bitch

carolyn

Found this beauty while looking at my art from grade 9

J. R. R. Tolkien: no, my books aren't about the war I experienced. It's just a story

J. R. R. Tolkien's works: you cannot go home, war ends entire bloodlines, you are mourning the death of your brother alone, you dug into the earth and permanently scored the land, you cannot explain what you have been through, you cannot go home, "that wound will never fully heal. He will carry it the rest of his life", leaving the women behind does not save them, the young die first, you cannot go home, the parent will bury their child, you have lost the wives and you will never connect with them again, "how shall any tower withstand such numbers and such reckless hate?", you are not the same, you cannot go home, you can never go home, your father will only side with those he sees as worthy bloodlines and you cannot change his mind, it is more meaningful Not to kill, sometimes your sacrifice accomplishes nothing, you cannot go home