Duel of the Fates
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- "Duel of the Fates" (1999) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
Duel of the Fates is a musical theme recurring in the Star Wars prequels. It was composed by John Williams.
This symphonic piece resembles Carmina Burana and is played with both a full orchestra, as well as choir. It has been claimed that the text is a line from an ancient Welsh poem Cad Goddeu (Battle of the Trees), rendered in poetic form by author Robert Graves as "Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging behind, in the head", and later translated in Sanskrit. However, the lyrics as sung do not correspond to the Sanskrit words one might expect, and do not form coherent phrases; it is difficult, from either the sung lyrics or the "phonetic" transcription to determine what the original words were. If the poem does form the lyrics, they may be a reference to The Empire Strikes Back and the fight between Luke and the dark side apparition of Darth Vader on Dagobah. In the original recording for the film soundtrack, it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
The music is played primarily during a duel between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In addition to this scene, it was also played as Anakin Skywalker searched for his kidnapped mother on Tatooine. A section of "Duel of the Fates" is played in Revenge of the Sith, during the battle sequence between Yoda and Palpatine, and the simultaneous battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It also plays during Anakin's final battle with the Dark Reaper in the Clone Wars videogame, in the Darth Maul level of Lego Star Wars, in the final battle in the Revenge of the Sith videogame, and a small section of the music is occasionally played in the videogame Star Wars: Empire at War. It also appears in Star Wars Battlefront II when playing as Maul (albeit without vocalizing), or while playing as Yoda (with full choral accompaniment}. In Chapter 19 of the Clone Wars microseries, a part of it plays when Anakin grabs hold of Asajj Ventress' wrist and snaps it with his robotic hand. George Lucas believes the sense that everything is "in larger hands", as implied in "Duel of the Fates," plays very well into the third movie.
"Duel of the Fates" is unusual among recurring themes in the Star Wars scores because it does not represent a specific character, location, or group (although some speculate it represents Darth Maul). Some consider it to reflect the conflict between the noble Jedi and the evil Sith, as each time the theme is heard there is either a battle between the rival orders or, in the case of Attack of the Clones, an internal conflict within Anakin Skywalker that could lead him to either remain with the Jedi or join the Sith, though this is open to debate. Many fans feel that it represents the Force in general, and the fighting that ensues between its practitioners.
[edit] Trivia
- In The Simpsons episode, Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em, the music is used in a stick battle between Bart Simpson and Seymour Skinner.
- In Top Gear series 9 episode 2, when James May is driving the Bugatti Veyron in order to reach its top speed, Duel of the Fates is played.
