Thanks to Amazon’s France website, we now have the track list for Howard Shore’s score for the third and final Hobbit film The Battle of the Five Armies. We don’t yet know which of the tracks will be extended on the Special Edition Album, but there are definitely two bonus tracks at the end of disc two, as well as some reordering of the final tracks.

Check below the track lists for some speculation from yours truly.

Regular AlbumDisc 11. Fire and Water2. Shores of the Long Lake3. Beyond Sorrow and Grief4. Guardians of the Three5. The Ruins of Dale6. The Gathering of the Clouds7. Mithril8. Bred for War9. A Thief in the Night10. The Clouds Burst11. Battle for the Mountain

Disc 21. The Darkest Hour2. Sons of Durin3. The Fallen4. Ravenhill5. To the Death6. Courage and Wisdom7. The Return Journey8. There and Back Again9. The Last Goodbye performed by Billy Boyd10. Ironfoot

Special Edition AlbumDisc 11. Fire and Water2. Shores of the Long Lake3. Beyond Sorrow and Grief4. Guardians of the Three5. The Ruins of Dale6. The Gathering of the Clouds7. Mithril8. Bred for War9. A Thief in the Night10. The Clouds Burst11. Battle for the Mountain

Disc 21. The Darkest Hour2. Sons of Durin3. The Fallen4. Ravenhill5. To the Death6. Courage and Wisdom7. The Return Journey8. There and Back Again9. Ironfoot10. The Last Goodbye performed by Billy Boyd11. Dragon-Sickness (Bonus Track)12. Thrain (Bonus Track)

Speculation: Okay – honestly, I’d prefer at the moment to indulge less in speculation and more in outright giddiness and general excitement, but I do have a couple of things to ponder here. The very first thing that stuck out to me is the final track on the Special Edition album – Thrain. The character of Thrain has become an important ingredient of the Extended Editions of the first two Hobbit films (mentioned a bit more in An Unexpected Journey and becoming an outright central figure in The Desolation of Smaug). Despite his lack of appearances in the Theatrical Editions, might there be yet more to explore of his character in the third film that may indeed make it onto the screen? Or is this track a teaser for the eventual Extended Cut of The Battle of the Five Armies? Time will tell.

Another thing I notice is that the events of Dol Guldur appear to take up one early track on the album – Guardians of the Three. I’ve already seen discussion on the boards that this might indicate a very short amount of screen time for this part of the story. The truth is, we simply won’t know until we see the film. But I’d remind everyone that we don’t yet have the track times (for all we know, this track could go on for close to ten minutes – but don’t hold me to that!). Also, as long as these albums are – they are still not complete recordings (*fingers crossed* for those someday). The sequence could and likely will go on for a deal longer than the length of this one track. Bottom line, let’s try not to jump the gun just yet folks. Again, time will tell.

I’d like to examine some of these track titles in some further detail, but honestly I’m just not there yet. I look at this track list and I’m just jumping up and down with excitement. I think we all know that the response to these new films has been somewhat divisive, and I would be the first to admit that I have had some issues with them myself. But if I could name one element that has continued to completely surpass my expectations on every level – from The Fellowship of the Ring onward – it has been Howard Shore’s majestic musical scores. At the end of his liner notes in the album for The Return of the King, the maestro teased us with his dreams of a hobbit’s tale.

We’ve all gotten to share that dream. We’ve gone there, and in a few short weeks, we’ll be back again. No need to be sad – it’s been a remarkable journey.

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