The Mountain

Vid
Title:	The Mountain
Creator:	Melina and astolat
Date:	2004
Format:
Length:	3:43
Music:	"The Mountain" by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
Genre:
Fandom:	Lord of the Rings
Footage:
URL:	online version title card for the vid
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"I see the mountain

Mountain come to me

I see the mountain

And that is all I see." ~ lyrics

The Mountain is a Lord of the Rings vid by Melina and astolat. The vid premiered at Vividcon 2004 and it tells the parallel stories of Aragorn and Frodo as they each struggle to face their respective destinies of King and Ringbearer.

One viewer comments:"A highly-accessible vid that sets Frodo and Aragorn's parallel journeys to a beautiful and remarkably appropriate song...I really appreciate the way it brings out the sadness that the movie downplays."

Another viewer wrote "it's about accepting one's destiny, and the price of doing so, as seen in the journeys of Frodo and Aragorn".

Reactions

• "I loved the way this vid set up and compared two quite different metaphorical meanings of "the mountain": for Frodo it's the responsibility of the ringbearer (symbolized by the ring); for Aragorn it's the responsibility of kingship (symbolized by the sword). The stories were handled in alternating sections, and it was always perfectly clear what was being handled where. Lum pointed out that the vidders even used different types of motion for the two parts of the vid: circular for Frodo, linear (especially vertical) for Aragorn. I was not as sold on the song choice as other folks were; I liked the song itself, but I didn't find it the stellar match for the movies that most of the audience seemed to. (I did think it was vastly superior to any other LotR song choice I know of, since neither metal, generic-Celtic, nor generic-love-ballad work for me AT ALL in this context.) I also wanted more *visual* (in addition to thematic) connections between the stories; there are several in the movies, and some of them even showed up in the vid (Aragorn folding Frodo's hand around the ring, and I think Aragorn's hand on his sword as he prepares to defend Frodo), but they weren't *highlighted* in a way that would specifically connect the two halves of the vid. Those are relatively minor quibbles, though; mostly I was pleased to finally see a LotR vid that actually worked."
• "I watched The Mountain last night... and I noticed that - in addition to the circle/vertical imagery that Lum pointed out, the color also plays to big effect in that vid. Frodo starts out warm, warm, golden and fire and ends in cool, darker, ships and mists. Aragorn starts out cool and dark, steely, less color and as he progresses he gets warmer as he approaches his kingship, finally with lots of color when he reaches his peak - and then the vid ends with his death, and back to the colder palette again. FAB. U. LOUS."
• "What a treat this vid is. As I said in vid review, the song choice is amazing, in that it contains the epic scope needed for a LotR vid without going all Enya on my ass. The exploration of two characters and their parallel destinies is heightened at every point by the movement (circular for Frodo and the ring, linear for Aragorn and the sword) and the color choices (orange flames, blue steel). The emotional impact is subtle but resilient; I'm still feeling it days later."
• "There are a few vids that consistently create an emotional resonance in me. "The Mountain" is one of those vids. From the moment we hear the first chorus ("I see the mountain and that's all I see") the vid reminds us that life is not fair and some choices are impossible to make - and yet we forge ahead and make them anyway. Our "mountains" may be different, but life, death and that road in between is what ties us together in our humanity."