Inside the música of Game of Thrones Season 5 

As television dramas sought to challenge the scope and scale of cinema, the music accompanying them has risen in prominence. 

is lucky to have the brilliant mind of Ramin Djawadi scoring its most epic (and most intimate) moments.

There’s perhaps no better or more easily recognizable piece of music from 

In a recent episode of the Song Exploder podcast, Djawadi breaks down how each element of the song came together. He opens by talking about how the producers asked for a main title theme, a rarity in today’s television, and about capturing the feeling of a journey in the music. The opening bars start in a minor key and switch to the major key, Djawadi’s way of capturing the show’s “backstabbing and conspiracy.” The solo cello and solo violin coming together for the melody line implies the possibility of characters meeting, “the paths they might take,” and how they might eventually intersect with each other. The B-section is meant to build a sense of adventure, escalating with the choir, which is made up of 20 female voices. There’s some fun talk after the discussion about some of the various cover versions of the theme that started appearing almost immediately after the tune was unveiled—the “Peter Dinklage” version and the 

“Creatively, there’s no limits,” Djawadi says towards the end of the podcast, and that spirit seems to have carried him through the fifth season, as detailed in a follow-up interview with

. For one thing, Djawadi intentionally avoided using sounds solely from one region of the real world to represent a new place, such as Dorne or Braavos, in George R.R. Martin’s fictional world. By blending music from various parts of our world when creating his music, Djawadi avoids tying any particular region of Westeros or Essos with any particular region of Earth, thereby keeping the show immersed in its own fantasy universe.

Djawadi is also a fan of not letting the music interfere with the storytelling. He talks about trying not to tip off Mossador’s beheading by Daenerys (“you just have to find the sweet spot to stay in the unknown”) and openly discusses not overpowering the viewer with music when talking about Shireen’s sacrifice scene:

I don’t need to overpower with music. I think that’s what’s nice [with] scenes like this—the music flows and you don’t have to force it. Because it’s already like you’re seeing it or hearing it, like with the sound effects, [which is] already so powerful in and of itself. I think that’s something that

does really well. That just makes my job a lot easier.

All told, it seems Djawdi that is of one mind with the producers. As with the writing of the epic Hardhome battle sequence this year, Djawadi looks for “the smaller theme… within the big picture of the whole thing.” Of course, that episode ends with the Night’s King raising the dead to the sounds of utter silence. This intense attention to detail is what makes Djawadi, who is scoring the upcoming 

Next: ComicCon Game of Thrones panel details released

Game of Thrones Season 5 was probably the most controversial year of the show yet. It stirred up...

George R.R. Martin recently visited Hamburg, Germany, and held court during an open forum Q&A...

Have you already read all the books and/or don\'t care about spoilers? You can reveal all the spoilers in the comments with the click of a link below.

Masterful work. I have never been as interested in the musical score for a movie or TV series as I have been with the work of Ramin Djawadi on Game of Thrones. I can’t even imagine a better composer for the series. Djawadi really has the pulse of the show and does a wonderful job of enhancing the overall experience of watching the TV series.

I can’t imagine the show without Ramon Djawadi brilliance. The musical score is one of the best, if not one of the greatest ever! Big fan! Thank you

awesome conposer that is perfekt for game of thrones, couldnt be better than this, Love the stark theme aswell “goodbye brother” “king of the north” “the north remembers”

Ryan on Celebrity roundup: Kit Harington’s New Gig, Emilia Clarke’s New ‘Do

Ryan on Carice Van Houten (Melisandre) teases her big role in Season 6

Dragonrae on Don’t call it a Curtain Call: Jon Snow will live again!