The Lord Of The Rings theme: five insane cover versions

22 August 2014, 10:08

Howard Shore's music from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies have become amazingly iconic, which means there are now a raft of completely insane cover versions of the various themes. To celebrate Howard Goodall's LOTR special this weekend, here are five of the weirdest.

Intense metal version

Prepare your (dwarf's) axe for this one - this heavily-tatted mutha gives Howard Shore's theme more rock than the slopes of Mount Doom. Oh, and kudos for the Johnny Cash reference at 2:53. 

Prancing Lindsey Stirling version

We make no excuse for our love of Lindsey Stirling here at Classic FM, and this is actually one of her least bonkers cover versions. Ethereal white dress, cliff-top vistas, excessive prancing… what else  do you really need from a video? Go Lindsey!

Quiet geeky ukulele version

Wait… wait. Is that ELVISH that she's got printed on her ukulele? 

Forest-dwelling elf ocarina version

Taking the Misty Mountains Cold theme from The Hobbit, this intrepid explorer of outdoor ocarina possibilities donned her elf ears to give a weird moving rendition of the folky classic. Look at her gambolling through the rivers without a care!

Retro 8-bit version

What's the most respectful thing you could do to one of the most epic symphonic scores of the last century? Turn it into a midi version so it sounds like the boss music from a SNES game, of course.