[Encaitare]

Sorry for the delay! A research paper has been owning my soul.

This track is just chock-full of choral goodies! From the very beginning, the choir, brass, and pounding timpani deliver a harsh, loud sound that perfectly captures the conflict in Sammath Naur. Philippa Boyens' poem "The Destruction of the Ring" goes like this:

Mi naurath Orodruin
Boe hedi i Vin.
Han i vangad i moe ben bango.
Sin eriol natha tûr în úgarnen
Sin eriol ûm beleg úgannen
Ú cilith 'war
Ú men 'war
Boe vin mebi
Boe vin bango

Into the fires of Orodruin
The One must be cast.
This [is] the price that must be paid.
Only thus its power will be undone,
Only thus a great evil unmade.
There is no other choice,
There is no other way.
One of you must take it,
One of you must pay.

However, in the track the order is different:

Sin eriol natha tûr în úgarnen
Mi naurath Orodruin
Boe hedi i Vin
Han i vangad i moe ben
tûr în úgarnen
Sin eriol
cilith 'war
Boe vin mebi
Boe vin bango

Translated, this would be:

Only thus its power will be undone
Into the fires of Orodruin
The One must be cast.
This [is] the price that must be [paid]
Power will be undone
Only thus
No other choice
One of you must take it,
One of you must pay.

I suppose these changes of order were done so the words would better fit the music.

At 1:08, Renee Fleming has a lovely solo:

Sin eriol ûm beleg úgannen
Ú cilith 'war
Boe vin mebi
Boe vin bango

All stuff we've heard before; you can figure out what it means if it's that important to you. The choir uses some of the same text one last time:

Boe hedi i Vín.
Sin eriol úm beleg úgannen

Then the choir grows softer, less harsh, and we get some new lyrics! This is the whole of "The Mountain of Fire" poem:

Nu dalav
Úrui tuiannen na ruith
Leithia Orodruin oe in phan.
Ristannen i geven,
Danna eliad morn.
Si, na vethed
Meth i naid bain
I wilith úria
I ardhon ban lacha!

Beneath the ground
Swollen hot with anger
Orodruin releases all its ruin.
Earth rips asunder
Black rain falls.
Here at the end;
The end of all things.
The air is aflame,
All the world is on fire!

What is sung:

Si, na vethed
The air is aflame,
All the world is on fire!

Here at the end
The air is aflame
All the world is on fire

As this is sung, we can hear the Ring's seduction theme/motif played in the lowest instruments (3:07).

According to the sheet music as cited on GiP, it continues as follows:

Nu da naid bain úe
rin le regi erin le na
thi úeri o nin gwanno

No proper translation is given, though, so from searching through the texts of the songs in this track I think it means roughly this:

...all things
I cannot reach you
I cannot let you leave me

With this final line, we hear both a bit of the Fellowship theme and a turn for the better.

Next is another Renee Fleming solo:

Orthannen im vi ól
Coll e dû
Or hiriath naur
Na rovail mae sui 'waew
Man prestant i ardhon?
Cerithar aen illiad dim úthenin?

In a dream I was lifted up.
Borne from the darkness
Above the rivers of fire.
On wings doft as the wind.
What's happened to the world?
Is everything sad going to come untrue?

So beautiful! I just thought of this... I like how Quenya was used at the very beginning, in the first track of Fellowship to show the antiquity and history, but the rest is Sindarin, the more modern of the two tongues, even if the Elves are fading.

Any thoughts? Which part is your favorite?