@plotweaver also helped with the liveblogs campaign and asked me to draw some married cuteness 😉 I actually got this idea from my flatmate and a scene from Azhâr ♥
2/2 and then they add on “He’ll want to stop at Rivendell, he likes elves if you can believe that. Try and convince him to come to Erebor instead. He can write his book just as well and there’ll be no elves"
OMG
I am now trying to imagine The Company’s List of instructions for the *cough* Three Mysterious Dwarves of the Long-Expected Party.
1. He’s not a strong swimmer, don’t push him in fountains or anything. No, not even for fun. 2. He’s bloody quiet, you can barely hear him moving. Stick a bell on him or something, because he’s also quick as a weasel. 3. LISTEN TO HIM WHEN IT COMES TO ESCAPE PLANS. He might be a fussy beardless little thing, but he’s far, far brighter than you. 4. Don’t whine about the escape plan when he comes up with it. 5. Don’t argue with him about the escape plan. In fact, just shut up and do as he says. 6. He’s a rubbish rider, but don’t you DARE LAUGH. 7. Don’t touch his feet. I know, I know, they look like they ought to be cold, bare like that. But he kicks like a horse when he’s startled, and those feet are as hard as hooves. DO NOT TOUCH, not even to put a blanket on ‘em. And for Durin’s sake, don’t ever offer him a pair of boots. 8. Never, ever ignore his advice on plants. 9. Yes, he really can eat that much. No, he won’t explode. 10. He’s heard plenty of Khuzdul before, so don’t be surprised if he understands the gist of what you’re saying. Mind your damn manners.
I actually went and listened to them all again in order to make a decision.
This has since been designated ‘a very big mistake’.
So, once I scraped my heart up off the floor, I put my muso’s hat on and gave your question a bit more thought, Nonnie.
I think they all have such powerful strengths. They chose the music for these films very carefully and very well. They’re all very different, sure. But I really do love them all. Neil Finn’s version of The Song of the Lonely Mountain has a real pride and stridency to it, and the lyrics are PHENOMENAL. I completely ADORE the buildup of texture and volume in I See Fire.
But. The winner, for me – only JUST edging ahead – is The Last Goodbye. Billy, what an adorable prat, he makes my heart ache, he sings like an angel. THE OPENING GIVES ME GOOSEPIMPLES – the violins in open fifths, the guitar twanging like an ornament straight out of ‘Concerning Hobbits’ – and then Billy’s voice: GUH.
And the orchestration hearkens back to Howard Shore’s scores so beautifully – all those warm strings – at first long suspended notes,
the double-bass entering in the second verse, and then they climb and climb, doubling the melody an octave above, soaring high… the barely-there ‘oooh’ of a lone soprano voice echoing, right at the end before Billy’s closing line…
…oh, and also, whoever put together the official music video for it is a criminal genius. I actually got a fair way into it without losing my composure, but then the first clip of Sir Christopher Lee popped up and I DISSOLVED INTO TEARS.
(of the LOTR songs, my fave is actually Gollum’s Song. By a country mile. THAT. TUNE. THAT CRY OF PURE AGONY IN MUSICAL FORM.)
and he has never quite managed baby-fine, super-curly Hobbit hair either, and so he is irritated with the unevenness of the braids, reaching out several times with a muttered, “now, hold still a while longer and just allow me to redo that last one…”… but to every Hobbit child they are beautiful and amazing and they won’t let him take them out.
And while he is concentrating so hard on the fauntlings’ hair, Bilbo is watching from the seat before Bag End, his forgotten pipe dangling in his hand, a fond smile on his lips and a massive swell of love pushing his heart against his ribs. Because here is his dignified Dwarven King, these days, and oh, it is so good to see him happy.
(and, too, some scamp has threaded daisies into Thorin’s own hair, and he hasn’t noticed yet.)
Aw Yiss 