Music of The Lord of The Rings Film Trilogy - Use of Tolkien Languages

Use of Tolkien Languages

The film score for The Lord of the Rings incorporates extensive vocal music blended with the orchestral arrangements. The great majority of the lyrics used are in the fictitious languages of Middle-earth, representing the various cultures and races in Tolkien’s writings. These languages include Quenya and Sindarin associated with Elves, Adûnaic and Rohirric for Men, and Khuzdul of the Dwarves. Some of these languages had been developed extensively by Tolkien, while others were extrapolated by linguist David Salo based on the limited examples of vocabulary and linguistic style available. (Old English was used as an analog for Rohirric.) The lyrical texts were derived from several sources, including songs and poems written by Tolkien, as well as original and adapted material from screen writers Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens, and others, all translated by Salo. The vocal music serves primarily to give texture and cultural aesthetic to the score; there is never any translation of the lyrics in the on-screen presentation, and in many cases only fragments of the source texts are used.