I'm in love with this song. It and The Passing of the Elves are now my two favorite songs from all of the Lord of the Rings movies, though Into the West certainly gives them competition.

Are you confused yet? They're from the Complete Recordings editions of the Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King soundtracks. Things I discovered last winter and immediately looked for The Passing of the Elves on, but I didn't think to look around for The Houses of Healing until just recently.

And then I discovered it lurking around on iTunes and bought it.

Liv Tyler's voice is so wonderful for it. It's etherial and beautiful, but not so much haunting (the way The Passing of the Elves is); rather it's peaceful and leaves one feeling content and absolutely calm. Whenever I need to cool down or just relax, I will listen to this.

And The Houses of Healing may also be my favorite chapter out of all three LotR books. I don't really know why; I just love reading through it so much... It has so many of my favorite characters and lines in it. (My favorite lines, for the record, are Éowyn confronting the Witch-King.)

The song also evokes this feeling of wonder and discovery, plus its quality of beauty, and for that reason I had it in my head while writing much of the third chapter of Learn to Fly. A chapter I should apologize for in advance, because Takanuva doesn't show up at all in it, but oh! it ran away with itself and I had no desire to stop it. It somehow managed to reawaken my appreciation for the beauty of Metru Nui.

You'll find out just what the heck I'm talking about tomorrow or so. <3

~ ToM