Mid-Week Music #42 - One Ring To Rule Them All

Last week, we went to Edward McKay’s, a used bookstore, after Bible Study. Among books and Lego figures and such, we also bought a game called Lord of the Rings Risk. Today, we started our first game!

In case you don’t know, Risk is a strategy game, in which—depending on the version you play—you may try to conquer the entire gameboard or a certain amount of territories by a certain time. In our household, a game may take days to complete. And also in our household, the catchphrase of my brother, William, has become “Let’s play Risk!”

In Lord of the Rings Risk, you must take over as many territories as possible before the “Fellowship” (represented by a ring) passes out of Middle Earth. There are special cards giving you advantages or abilities that you can use against other players (called Adventure Cards). However, since about half of the potential players in our household have not read Lord of the Rings, we might have to start playing regular Risk with just the board and pieces of Lord of the Rings Risk—I guess leaving out the Adventure Cards and Fellowship, thus also the potential spoilers.

This game is why I decided on “One Ring To Rule Them All” for this week’s MWM. It’s a song based on a Tolkien poem, performed by a group called Clamavi De Profundis. They’re actually a family, who write most of the tunes, and sometimes the lyrics, of the songs they sing. Tolkien songs, folk songs, church music, and a few Christmas hymns are all in their repertoire. They have become one of our favourite bands, and one of the ones we listen to most. If I were ever to consider doing an adaptation of Tolkien’s works, I would want to use a lot of their music.

Whoops, William’s wanting me to come over and do my turn. Enjoy!

Three rings for the Elven-kings, under the sky
Seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone
Nine for mortal men doomed to die
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie
 
**
 
Ash nazg durbatulûk
Ash nazg gimbatul
Ash nazg thrakatulûk
Agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
 
(chorus)
One ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
One ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
 
**
 
Three rings for the Elven-kings, under the sky
Seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone
Nine for mortal men doomed to die
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie
 
**
 
(chorus 3x)
 
One ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
(Three rings for the Elven-kings, under the sky)
One ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
 
One ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
(Seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone)
One ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
 
One ring to rule them all
(Nine for mortal men doomed to die)
One ring to find them
One ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
 
(In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie…)