You’ve heard the voice. It kicks in just as the screen fades to black, right after Smaug flies toward Lake-town with a heart full of vengeance. That haunting, breathy vocal. It was 2013, and everyone was asking the same thing: why is the "A Team" guy singing about dragons and dwarves?
Honestly, the story of how Ed Sheeran and the Desolation of Smaug became a thing is weirder and more spontaneous than you’d think. It wasn't some corporate boardroom deal cooked up by labels to move copies.
It was basically a recommendation from a teenager.
The Kiwi Connection
Peter Jackson was in a bit of a bind. He needed a song for the end credits that would bridge the gap between the chaos of Middle-earth and the cold reality of a cinema parking lot. He didn't want a bombastic orchestral piece. He wanted something human.
His daughter, Katie Jackson, had been listening to Ed Sheeran. She told her dad, "You've gotta hear this guy." Peter listened. He liked it. But then he did something very Peter Jackson-ish: he messaged Ed while the singer was at a wedding in Ibiza and asked him to fly to New Zealand. Immediately.
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Ed didn't blink. He hopped on a plane, landed in Wellington, and went straight to the studio.
Writing "I See Fire" in a Single Day
Most people assume soundtrack songs take months of back-and-forth between producers and lawyers. Not this one. Ed Sheeran watched a rough cut of The Desolation of Smaug in the morning. He sat there, soaking in the dread and the fire.
By the afternoon, the song was mostly finished.
He didn't just write it, though. He played almost everything on it. That’s the part that usually surprises people. Ed is known for his loop pedal and his guitar, but for this track, he wanted a specific, gritty folk sound inspired by the 1970s Irish band Planxty.
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He played:
- The acoustic guitar (obviously).
- The percussion (using the body of the guitar).
- The vocal harmonies.
- The violin.
Wait. The violin?
Yeah. He had never really played the violin before that day. But he saw one in the studio, decided it needed to be on the track to give it that "dwarven" feel, and spent a few hours figuring it out. Is it a masterclass in classical technique? No. Does it sound exactly like the mourning of a lost mountain home? Absolutely. The only thing he didn't play was the cello, which was handled by Nigel Collins.
Why the Song Actually Works
There was a lot of skepticism at the time. Hardcore Tolkien fans are... let's say "protective." They weren't sure if a British pop star belonged in the same universe as Howard Shore’s massive scores.
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But "I See Fire" works because it’s written from the perspective of the characters. Ed didn't write a song about the movie; he wrote a song from the movie. Specifically, he focused on the bond between the dwarves. When he sings "if this is to end in fire, then we should all burn together," he’s tapping into that specific "brotherhood until the end" vibe that Bilbo and Thorin’s company were feeling as they watched the dragon wake up.
It’s a folk ballad. It’s simple. It’s raw.
And it was a massive hit. It reached number one in New Zealand (naturally) and Sweden, and it stayed on the German charts for over 500 days. It turned out to be one of the most successful songs of his career, even if it didn't technically appear on the standard version of his blockbuster album x.
The Aftermath
Looking back, the Ed Sheeran Desolation of Smaug collaboration was a turning point. It showed that Ed could do more than just wedding songs and radio pop. He had the range to be a storyteller in a high-fantasy setting.
It also set a bit of a trend. Suddenly, every major franchise wanted a "cool" artist to do a stripped-back folk song for the credits. But few have managed to capture the atmosphere as well as this one did in a single day in Wellington.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the technical side of the track, here is what you should do next:
- Listen to the "Parting Glass" from Ed's first album. It’s an old Irish traditional song, and you can hear the exact DNA of "I See Fire" in his arrangement of it.
- Watch the music video again, but pay attention to the studio footage. You can actually see him recording those layers. It’s a great look at his "one-man band" approach before he became a stadium-filler.
- Check out the "Kygo Remix" if you want to see how a haunting folk song accidentally became a tropical house staple in European clubs a year later. It's a wild contrast.