SW vs. LotR: Most Frightening Theme

Which musical theme is the most frightening, sends the most shivers down your spine, and makes your blood run the coldest?

Star Wars: The Imperial March

or

The Lord of the Rings: Saruman's Army Theme

If you're not sure which theme I mean by the Saruman's Army Theme, check out this link:

The Themes of the Ring Feature on Scorereviews.com

The Saruman's Army Theme is the sixth on the page, next to the image of an Uruk-hai.

Me? I would have to say that the Saruman's Army Theme is the most frightening theme of the two. While The Imperial March has a more orderly and military feel to it, the Saruman's Army Theme sounds way more savage and brutal. I can listen to it in broad daylight and feel shivers down my spine without even watching the LotR movies, which is why I think the scene at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring where the fellowship are attacked by Uruk-hai at Amon Hen feels as frightful as it does, even though it takes place in the middle of the day.

Enough about my opinions! Which of the two themes do you think is the most frightening? I was going to make this thread into a poll, but there doesn't seem to be this kind of function in this forum.

 

I'd have to go with Saruman. That music evokes more of an unbridaled war feel than Imperial March. However, March might have fit in quite well in the prolouge, when Sauron comes out in all his evil splendor.

 

Imperial March,and the Emperor's theme are a lot more frightening,and memorable than Sauruman's theme.

Sauruman's theme was really good,but it could never beat the Imperial March,and Emperor's theme,you see that on the screen,you know something evil will or has happened...

 

The Moth Theme from FOTR is, by far, the most frightening.

 

It's not really a theme but I find the music played in ESB when Vader Force-throws all the crap at Luke to be the most chilling in the whole saga thus far.

 

Actually, that is the Imperial March featured as the theme in "The Clash Of Lightsabers", which is the cue where Vader begins pummeling Luke with the Force-thrown objects.

 

Hah, you didn't recognize a blaring statement of the Imperial March.

pwned.

 

I think I don't find any statement of the Imperial March frightening. The Isengard music certainly has something slightly 'frightening' about it, so it "wins", but I find the comparison lacks something.

 

Hah, you didn't recognize a blaring statement of the Imperial March.

I noticed that the Imperial March was played during tht segment of music, I was just saying it wasn't the official Imperial March, that there were other pieces of music mixed in that also made it frightening.

 

The "official" Imperial March?

What-- so the Imperial March rendition in Clash of Lightsabers isn't official? It's unauthorized? A bootleg?

Seriously man, what the hell are you talking about?

 

Er...this is not the best comparison of themes. A more frightening Star Wars theme is the Emperor's Theme. Or the high strings/percussive music for Darth Maul.

 

or, for some people, The Ewok Theme and Jar Jar's Theme

what strings/percussion music do you mean?

 

Agreed, the Emperor's Theme is the spookiest of both film series.

 

what strings/percussion music do you mean?

"Darth Maul and the Sith Spacecraft."

 

ah yes.

 

I have never really noticed the Emperor's theme. Does someone have a link to an excerpt of it or a good description of when it is heard so I might find out which theme it is?

 

The Emperor's Theme plays in theh ROTJ tracks "The Emperor Arrives", "Emperor's Throne Room" and "The Emperor's Death" (Battle of Endor II), among others. On TPM:UE, the track "Darth Sidious" is basically the Emperor's theme.

 

The Emperor's Theme is played many times in the throne room scenes in ROTJ. It is also played in TPM nearly every time Darth Sidious appears (the beginning Federation bridge scene, the "Is the planet secure?" scene, etc.). Oh, and just for kicks, it's played during the end parade of TPM. No offense, but how do you not know what the Emperor's Theme is?

BTW, I agree with Cerrabore, the Imperial March is certainly not a "frightening" theme. Also the Orthanc Theme, or whatever the author of this thread calls it, isn't exactly frightening either. On the contrary, those pumping drums and horns get my adrenaline flowing more than anything else. If anything, these merely the "antagonists themes."

The most truly frightening theme in LOTR is, in my opinion, the Ringwraith theme. Take "A Knife In the Dark" for example. Now that's frightening.

 

Have to agree with Sithman here. Knife in the Dark is wonderfully frightening

 

The most truly frightening theme in LOTR is, in my opinion, the Ringwraith theme. Take "A Knife In the Dark" for example. Now that's frightening.

I agree, the Nazgul theme is truly frightening, especially combined with the imagery of the movie, and I had a hard time choosing which theme to put as a comparison to the Imperial March. I had been listening a lot to Amon Hen on the LotR soundtrack CD before writing the thread, though, so that's probably why I chose it.

As for me not knowing about the Emperor's theme, no offense taken. I just don't recall noticing any of it. I don't have a trouble hearing themes if they are very distinctive, like the Anakin and Padmé romance theme (just an example I was thinking of at the moment), but more vague ones can escape me. Yoda's theme, for example, I didn't really notice until I bought the soundtrack CDs. I'm gonna have to check out that Emperor theme.

Another frightening theme from the Lord of the Rings is Sauron's theme, which is the second "minor theme" on the following page:

Themes of the Ring

 

The Nazgûl theme is for me the most "frightening" theme in LOTR...

 

The Nazgul theme makes me want to stab myself in the chest with a...a pencil. Ouch. The chorus is way too overbearing!

Now as for frightening themes, I think the Orthanc theme is a good one; sometimes it can be intimidating because of all its power.

As for me not knowing about the Emperor's theme, no offense taken. I just don't recall noticing any of it. I don't have a trouble hearing themes if they are very distinctive, like the Anakin and Padmé romance theme (just an example I was thinking of at the moment), but more vague ones can escape me. Yoda's theme, for example, I didn't really notice until I bought the soundtrack CDs. I'm gonna have to check out that Emperor theme.

Er...well...I know this is just opinion and all...but there's no way the Emperor's Theme and Yoda's Theme are vague.

 

Er...well...I know this is just opinion and all...but there's no way the Emperor's Theme and Yoda's Theme are vague.

Ack! My standing as a Star Wars fan seems to diminish with every post in this thread! Tell you what: I'll check out the tracks on the CDs where these themes are supposed to be, and then post about it later. Please, don't insult my fandom any more than you already have...

 

Duck, if you own the SE discs on RCA, they came packaged with a nice booklet that explains each track and what themes are used.

If not, explore this guy's site. He has a lot of nice info there.

BTW, for any fan of SW music, I highly encourage you to buy the cds. You won't regret the purchase. The RCA Victor SE sets are very nice, and the Anthology set is cool too if you can find it. I assume the new Sony release of the SE soundtracks is pretty much the same as the RCA set. Does anyone know about the Sony liner notes?

 

So I listened to the Emperor's theme, and you know what? I did notice it before, only I didn't think of it as a theme since it's basically only a quiet chorus chanting something. I wouldn't call it more frightening than the Saruman's Army theme.