"No More Fire, No More Blood"
Thoughts on two different soundtracks from two different shows with two different worldviews
Author’s Note: This essay first appeared as a post on Facebook and Substack Notes, but there were too many characters for Instagram, and a screenshot of Notes ended cutting off most of the cover photo; besides, many of my email subscribers do not follow me on social media. So, after having taken a break of three weeks or so, I thought I would turn that post into an essay, to allow everyone to read it and to ease myself into writing again.
A couple of weeks ago, while plugging away at the last paper for my just-completed course on the American Civil War, I listened to a bunch of music to help with my focus, including Bear McCreary’s episode-specific scores for Season 2 of RoP. And as a result I…had a thought. Specifically concerning the Episode 8 track “Wounds That Have Endured” which plays as Adar (Sam Hazeldine), newly healed at least in spirit by Nenya, makes peace with Galadriel (Morfydd Clark).
It’s technically a version of Adar’s old theme, “Nampat”, which has been tweaked to be more “good” and melancholy rather than the dark and bombastic version we all know and love. But when I first heard it in isolation, that was not the first thought that came to mind. I was actually reminded more of the music that plays in the scene from House of the Dragon Season 2, when Queens Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Helaena (Phia Sabhan) get caught up in a riot in King’s Landing and barely escape with their lives. I think that music is under the name “Peace Will Be Restored”, specifically starting at the 1:48 mark of the 2:41 track.
Now I’m sure the similiarities are mostly in my head, and purely coincidental; it would be far more likely for Ramin Djwadi to draw inspiration from Bear than the other way around. while Djwadi’s work for Season 2 is much better and more original than his season 1 music, he is still no match for Bear. And I’m sure they composed their scores completely independently.
But the more I thought about the similarities between these two tracks, the more I thought about the difference in the worldview of these two shows, and the more I appreciated that of Rings of Power (even more than I already do; indeed this difference in worldview is one area where RoP has been superior to HotD even in their first seasons). House of the Dragon deals with the internecine civil war between the Black and Green factions of the Targaryen dynasty (although so far we've seen precious little of the actual war; something that many commenters have remarked on after the Siege of Eregion closed season 2 of RoP). The motto of the Targaryens is “Fire and Blood”, and it’s something both factions internalized, to the point of nearly destroying their dynasty and their kingdom. And until this point in Rings of Power Season 2, it is something that Adar has also internalized in his desperate and ruthless crusade to keep his children safe, to the ruin of literally everyone else; this is a big part of why Galadriel tried to treat with him in Episode 6, to avert fire and blood from destroying Eregion and so play into Sauron’s (Charlie Vickers).
How different he is in this scene here, though, thanks to the grace of Nenya! Instead of “Fire and Blood” he offers Galadriel, “No more flames, no more darkness.” Nothing comes of it on earth, owing to how he is betrayed and murdered by his own children at Sauron’s instigation. But even though his physical transformation ends as soon as he returns Nenya to its rightful bearer, his spiritual restoration lasted a bit longer; Sam gave two separate interviews where this is at the very least heavily implied. And not only did he receive grace from Galadriel, albeit perhaps a bit unplanned; unlike Sauron, who similarly had the opportunity for grace and healing but rejected it, he still chose the good; and but his choice means that probably there is hope for him in the next life, and that he will be resurrected in the Halls of Mandos like the Elf he once was. And that choice, indeed just having the option for it, is a big part of why myself, and many others, prefer Tolkien’s world to that of Ice and Fire. Not even the real world is devoid of hope, the chance to change, and the healing power of grace. And for all the claims of being a more “realistic” fantasy, this is something GRRM and his adaptations do not grasp; it is, however, something that Tolkien and his adaptations, such as Rings of Power, have.
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I’m eager and afraid to see Adar in this series. I liked Joseph Mawle so much!