To end the final film, which the trailer claims is “the defining chapter” of the whole thing, they couldn’t leave it to just anyone to do the end credits song; they had to give it to someone in the family, and someone whose vocal flourishes are well documented, as is his ability to wear fake feet and shoot forced-perspective shots. It’s Billy Boyd, of course, the actor who played Peregrin “Pippin” Took in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and who sang in the third of those films a really lovely tune that he composed himself, which Jackson later used in the teaser for Armies.

The new song, “The Last Goodbye,” was written by Boyd, Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens and, as it says, is more than just an ending to the last Hobbit movie, but a final goodbye to this cinematic world. And it’s a sad one, for sure.©