“Into the West” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The song was performed by Annie Lennox and written by Lennox, director Peter Jackson, and composer Fran Walsh. It plays over the closing credits of The Return of the King and reflects the story’s themes of departure, grief, remembrance, and passage into a new stage.
“Into the West” won the Oscar at the 76th Academy Awards, held in 2004. The award was one of the film’s many honors during its awards season. Its lyrics and melody were influenced in part by the death of Cameron Duncan, a young filmmaker connected with the production.
The song is sometimes confused with “May It Be,” which Enya performed for The Fellowship of the Ring. “Gollum’s Song” appears in The Two Towers, but neither of those songs won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.