Lord of the Rings Soundtrack: Composers and Songs

Howard Shore scored all six main films, from The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001 to The Battle of the Five Armies in 2014, and Stephen Gallagher scored the animated spinoff, The War of the Rohirrim. That answers who wrote the music for Lord of the Rings, and the split between the two composers explains a good deal about how the saga sounds.

Shore's run begins with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), directed by Peter Jackson. Its album, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack", came out on Reprise Records on November 19, 2001, with 18 tracks. The cues people search for most include "Concerning Hobbits", "The Prophecy" and "The Black Rider", while "The Shadow of the Past" and "Many Meetings" sit alongside them in the opening stretch of the album.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) followed on Reprise Records on December 2, 2002, with 20 tracks. Its best-known titles are "The Riders of Rohan", "The King of the Golden Hall" and "Evenstar". The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) arrived on Reprise Records on November 24, 2003, with 19 tracks, among them "Minas Tirith", "The White Tree" and "The Ride of the Rohirrim".

Shore then returned for the Hobbit trilogy, all directed by Jackson, and the albums moved to Decca Records. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) has 26 tracks, released December 10, 2012, including "An Unexpected Party" and "Misty Mountains". The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) has 28 tracks, released December 6, 2013, with "Mirkwood", "Flies and Spiders" and "Barrels Out of Bond". The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) has 23 tracks, released December 8, 2014, led by "Fire and Water" and "Mithril".

One composer across thirteen years of releases is unusual for a franchise of this size (think of a television series that keeps the same theme tune through every season), and it gives the six films a shared musical identity even though the Hobbit story comes first in Middle-earth chronology. If you are following the Lord of the Rings movies in order, the same composer is there whichever route you take.

The animated The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024), directed by Kenji Kamiyama, is the one score not by Shore. Gallagher's album, "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", was released by WaterTower Music on December 6, 2024, and runs to 30 tracks. It opens with "Overture" and includes "Hama’s Song" and "The Line of Helm".

The signature songs of the Lord of the Rings films are Enya's "May It Be" and "Aníron (Theme for Aragorn and Arwen)", Emilíana Torrini's "Gollum's Song", Annie Lennox's "Into the West", Neil Finn's "Song of the Lonely Mountain", Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire", Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye" and Paris Paloma's "The Rider". Most of them were written for a single film and play over its end credits, so the list works as a map of the saga from 2001 to 2024.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). "May It Be" by Enya was written for the film and plays over the closing credits after the Fellowship breaks. Enya also sings "Aníron (Theme for Aragorn and Arwen)", the piece tied to the love story between those two characters.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). "Gollum's Song" by Emilíana Torrini plays over the end credits after the final scene. The film has a second vocal piece for those who watch the extended edition: "The Funeral of Théodred", written for the film, in which Éowyn (Miranda Otto) sings a funeral song for her cousin Théodred.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). "Into the West" by Annie Lennox was written for the film and plays over the end credits, after the closing scenes.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012). "Song of the Lonely Mountain" by Neil Finn was written for the film and plays over the end credits. The dwarves also sing inside the story: "Misty Mountains" is performed by Richard Armitage and the dwarf cast, and the same cast performs "Blunt the Knives". The orchestral album carries a track called "Misty Mountains" as well.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013). "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran was written for the film and plays over the first section of the end credits, right after the closing cliffhanger.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd was written for the film and plays over the end credits once the story has finished.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024). "The Rider" by Paris Paloma was written for the animated spin-off and plays over the end credits, after the story of Héra ends.

• "Into the West" by Annie Lennox: in my opinion it is the best fit for a closing chapter, because it arrives after the final scenes of the trilogy and lets the story settle.
• "May It Be" by Enya: it is the cleanest introduction to the saga's sound, and it lands straight after the Fellowship breaks, which gives the credits real weight.
• "Gollum's Song" by Emilíana Torrini: choosing a song that follows the film's final scene and speaks for its most unsettled character was a bold move, and it pays off.
• "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran: it is the strongest answer to a cliffhanger in the Hobbit trilogy, since it plays at the exact point where the audience wants to keep going.
• "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd: Boyd is also an actor in the wider saga, and in my view that gives a farewell song a familiar voice.
• "Song of the Lonely Mountain" by Neil Finn: perhaps the most reflective of the Hobbit credits songs, and a fitting way to leave the first adventure.
• "The Rider" by Paris Paloma: it gives the animated spin-off its own identity after the story of Héra ends.