Music and song are some of the most important elements in Tolkien’s books. This aspect has been translated into the Peter Jackson movie adaptations of both the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, in various forms. It looks as though Rings of Power will be following in the same footsteps, with the latest episode bring Poppy the Harfoot’s "Walking Song" to the screen.
One of the most impactful moments in cinematic history includes Pippin’s song, during which Faramir leads the soldiers of Gondor to reclaim Osgiliath and the Misty Mountains, which tells the terrible fate of Smaug’s desolation of Erebor. Poppy’s song has that similar feeling of gravitas, because it tells a story of staying brave and true in the face of real hardship. In fact, in many ways, the lyrics of the song tell the fate of what is to come in Middle Earth across the next Age of the world.
All the great stories in Middle Earth are about journeys. They are about long roads that take the protagonists far from home, and create a personal and spiritual journey within their hearts along the way. Poppy’s song also details this same long travel, which is shown across the map as they travel through Weedbrook, the Undercliffs, to the Grey Marshes and beyond. But it is the emotional passage of the characters that are at the core of the words. This is emphasized by the scenes of tragedy and struggle around them.
For example, the characters push their cart through thick slime where a previous cart is decaying. This signifies lost harfoots, people who were once kin, that have died in this very spot as they fell behind. There are also poignant scenes of the harfoots hunkered down in their own cart in the warmth, laughing and passing hot drinks around to stave off the bitter rain and wind outside. Meanwhile, the stranger from the meteor look out forlornly upon them. Alongside this strong imagery, lyrics like “The sun is fast falling” details the light that is fading out of the world at the time, and the growing darkness of Sauron and his orcs.
The beginning of the song references “The light in the tower.” This could refer to any of the towers which are canonical famous in Tolkien’s works, from the tower of Orthanc is Isengard, to the tower of Minas Morgul on the outskirts of Mordor. It could refer to the towers shown in recent episodes of Rings of Power, including the watchtower of the elves in the Southlands, or the tower where Queen Miriel looks into the Palantir in Numenor. And as the lyrics of Poppy’s song grow, they become more and more reminiscent of the major events that audiences have seen unfold during the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. They become more and more emblematic of the pathways that the most beloved characters in these books must take.
For example, consider the lyric “Past eyes of pale fire, black sand for my bed, I trade all I’ve known for the unknown ahead” in the first verse of the song. This line conjures images of Frodo and Sam, and their struggle to sneak into Mordor beneath the Eye of Sauron. During this difficult part of their quest, they do exactly that. They sleep in the rubble of the barren wasteland of Mordor, having left everything that they know and love about the Shire behind them. The fate of the world rests in their hands, and they must leave the very land where their heart belongs, in order to protect it. Along this journey, for every member of the fellowship of the ring, there is bitter darkness and pain that they must rise above.
The same is true for every member of Thorin’s company in The Hobbit; in fact, for every hero in Tolkien’s world. It means pushing through whenever ounce of their being wants to quit and leave the task for someone else to complete. Poppy’s line “My strength tells me no but the path demands yes” speaks to anyone who has ever had to face challenges that feel impossible, “No matter the sorrow, no matter the cost.”
When the world falls into peril at the hands of an evil master like Sauron and his rings of power, the heroes have to be resilient and courageous, despite every fiber of their being wanting to turn back. The final words of the song are:
“At last comes their answer, through cold and through frost, that not all who wander of wonder are lost.”
These will be the words that Gandalf later echoes to Frodo and to Bilbo in their most desperate times. These words will help them to keep their hope alive, and remind them of the reasons they started their important quests in the first place.