The Power of Musical Leitmotifs

The bridge between what’s happening on your screen and in your ears

Soundtracks serve a unique function in video games. By communicating through sound instead of visuals or haptics, they have an incredible amount of freedom to enhance our perception of the accompanying on screen action. Great scores can reinforce the atmosphere, mood, or emotion the game wants to portray and are sometimes more memorable than the actual game itself. The dual identity they carry — both associated with the feelings and ideas we derive from the piece itself and the context of the gameplay or cutscene they accompany — makes them wholly unique as an emotional and narrative tool.

The leitmotif, or a short, recurring and recognizable musical phrase associated with a person, place, or idea (Wikipedia), is the ultimate expression of this duality in video game scores. By combining the recognizable qualities of a motif with the narrative and emotional implications of a theme, the leitmotif is a versatile concept that breathes life into soundtracks. Whether we notice it or not, leitmotifs pop up everywhere. They’re in the hero’s theme, the overworld music, the comic relief track, and so many more before being reused in a different context over and over. RPGs, especially JRPGs, tend to employ them the most due to their plot and character-heavy…