A LANGUAGE OF DRAGONS Annotated Playlist
This playlist contains spoilers for A LANGUAGE OF DRAGONS. I recommend you read it after you have finished the book. When a song is associated with a particular scene, I’ve included the chapter number next to the song title. I hope you enjoy the soundtrack to ALOD <3
The Only Way is Down – Thomas Newman (Victoria and Abdul soundtrack) [2]
I imagine Viv standing in Hollingsworth’s presence, once for the first time as she admiringly contemplates the Chancellor of the Academy of Linguistics she so idolises, and again after her parents have been arrested. The more intense parts of the music show Hollingsworth in a different light as Viv’s world comes crumbling down.
Remind Her Who The Enemy Is – James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games : Mockingjay soundtrack) [3]
The first half of this song is Viv creeping up the stairs in the library of the University of London, looking for the dragon. Then finally she sees her standing on the parapet, huge and terrifying, before noticing the sores on her body from decades of imprisonment– a beauty that has been broken. The second half is the dangerous deal that occurs between Viv and Chumana and the latter’s escape. I loved writing the scene where Chumana flies for the first time in years.
Alan Turing’s Legacy – Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game soundtrack) [5]
Viv and Marquis sit side by side on the train to Bletchley, wondering what sort of job they’re being sent to. I can see them both in their dark-academia mackintoshes and loafers, the studious cousins about to be forced to put everything they’ve learned about dragons to good use. They’re full of renewed hope and have no idea what they’re in for…
Fellowship – Thomas Newman (Tolkien soundtrack) [9]
The scene in which Viv and Atlas first visit the library together. Viv is searching for a book on the Small Isles until they have a conversation in which Atlas reveals he’s a “priest-intraining”. One of my favourite things about Atlas is that he is so unapologetically himself despite the fact that people are always quick to judge him according to the prejudices they hold in relation to his class, skin colour or white collar. This is the first time that Viv truly looks at him and is surprised by what she sees.
Alan – Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game soundtrack)
This is the music to all the codebreaking scenes, where Viv sits deep in thought among the leafy plants and whirring machines of the glasshouse. I imagine her and the other codebreakers sneaking glances at eachothers’ logbooks, the pressure mounting as they scrawl and scratch out translations under Dr Seymour’s watchful eye.
Katniss is Chosen – James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games : Catching Fire soundtrack) [12]
Picture Muirgen and Rhydderch in the misty dark. Then picture Viv walking towards them–clothed in nothing but a nightdress and her own determination– and telling them that she knows about the existence of the Koinamens.
The Arsenal – James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games : Mockingjay soundtrack) [16]
I see Viv walking slowly through the basement that houses the Zoology department and discovering the dragonlings that Atlas is caring for. She is horrified and he is indifferent and then comes a heated conversation that sparks a realisation about dragon dialects… a realisation that is key to the rest of the novel.
The Blue Whale – Steven Price (The Hunt soundtrack) [18]
This song plays when Viv flies with Chumana and sees Bletchley Park from the sky. It’s an epic piece of music for a cinematic scene in which Viv, constantly under the pressure to exceed and remain in control, is forced to trust Chumana and quite literally see things from a new perspective.
This is Love – PJ Harvey
Think every flirting scene between Viv and Atlas. If ALOD were a film, this song would be the soundtrack to them running through the corridors during the Bletchley Ball, past statues of dragons until they reach a giant egg… This one is pure romantasy.
The Imitation Game – Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game soundtrack)
Imagine a camera panning out of Bletchley Park, beginning in its common room where our recruits are gathered, passing through the rain-splattered window and rising out across the grounds until we’re looking at the hodgepodge manor house from above with its surrounding fields, forests and dragons.
Corynorhinus – James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer (Batman Begins soundtrack) [20]
When I write I see the scenes in front of my eyes as if they were on a screen, so the death of dragon-hearted Dodie still haunts me. This song captures the shock and sorrow of her murder and the crescendo represents how the stakes increase once the recruits have lost one of their own.
Safe Now – Henry Jackman (Captain Phillips soundtrack) [20]
If you’re re-reading, you can listen to this song as Marquis challenges everything Viv has ever believed and tells her he wants to join the rebels. This is a conversation about privilege that is so relevant to our own world that the words came easily.
The Secret History – The Chamber Orchestra of London, Andrew Skeet [21]
Viv is ambitious and therefore desperately seeks someone worth modelling herself on. After Hollingsworth– the one person she idolised– is responsible for her parents’ arrest, Viv clings to the flawed hope that Wyvernmire, who she also admired, is merely taking the necessary
actions for a greater good. Subconsciously, Viv hopes that the same is true of herself. This is the music I hear playing when Viv finally sees Wyvernmire for who she truly is.
A
Game of Croquet – Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything soundtrack) [22]
The sound of a first kiss.
Hope (Xavier’s Theme) – John Ottoman, Jeffrey Schindler (X-Men Days of Future Past soundtrack) [23]
Viv, running through the forest to find Chumana after realising that Atlas hasn’t told her the whole truth. In this moment, when she believes she can’t trust him, the hope of forgiveness he gave her shatters. It makes me think about how much weight our words hold and how the wrong ones can have irreversible consequences on a person’s sense of self.
Road to Perdition – Thomas Newman (Road to Perdition soundtrack)
Remissio dolor redemptus est. This is the song I associate with the very heart of the book, the scene in which Chumana tells Viv that she can forgive herself for her mistakes, or at least give herself a second chance. I can almost feel the rain on my own skin as Viv crouches in the puddles at the dragon’s side and realises that there is a way out of her inner turmoil, that she can banish the guilty void encompassing her, as Atlas says, “like a dragon banishes the dark.”
Charge – Marc Streitenfeld (Robin Hood soundtrack) [24]
Viv admits her betrayal to Sophie and the last threads of their friendship– already so taut and fraying– snap.
Young And Beautiful – Lana Del Rey
For all her obstinate confidence, Viv’s self-worth rests not on who she is but what she has done– her achievements and mistakes I think she has a hard time believing she is worthy of Atlas’ love, especially because she sees him as a ‘good person’. The lyrics “will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul” are particularly fitting,
Like A Dog Chasing Cars – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard (The Dark Knight soundtrack) [27]
Ursa is a prisoner, Atlas is about to be thrown off the roof and Viv and Ralph are walking towards the glasshouse in the dark. As she sits down in front of the loquisonus machine for the last time, with Ralph and his knife opposite her, she must somehow call to Chumana for help. If the book were a film then this scene would be INTENSE.
Easy on Me – Adele
This is Viv in a song– her regret and shame are captured in these words but so is the possibility of the forgiveness that Chumana and Atlas encourage her to seek. The lyrics “I was still a child, didn’t get the chance to feel the world around me, I had no time to choose what I chose to do, so go easy on me” give me chills.
Abandon
Ship – Roque Baños (In the Heart of the Sea soundtrack) [30]
I see Bletchley Park in flames, rebels fighting, dragons clashing in the air and a car hurtling through the grounds towards Viv. The scene in which Hollingsworth reveals the truth to Viv originally took place on a plane, but having it happen in one of the same guardian motorcars that drove Hollingsworth away from Viv’s house after turning her life upside down in the opening chapters felt satisfyingly full-circle.
Transformation – The Cinematic Orchestra, London Metropolitan Orchestra
Music that is representative of Viv’s transformation from self-hatred to self-forgiveness. At the end of the novel she is so wildly different to the angry, hurting girl we meet in Fitzrovia and I’m proud of her for that. And if you’ve found the courage to forgive yourself, then I’m proud of you, too.
Way Down We Go – KALEO
This song makes me think of the recruits and the triumphant team they make when they band together against Wyvernmire and her guardians. Viv, Atlas, Marquis, Sophie, Serena, Gideon and Karim– my misfits.