Help figuring out what makes Daenerys' theme sound epic (Potential S7 spoilers)

geetarguy85

WARNING: This thread could end up containing spoilers from Game of Thrones Season 7, especially if you look at the comments on the YouTube videos linked.

Hi All,

I absolutely love the themes that Ramin Djawadi gives Daenerys. They can be subtle, or more often than not they can be rousing and triumphant given that she is involved in so many of the show's defining moments. In Season 7 Episode 6, however, he kicks it up a notch in a particular scene.

I find the word "epic" is massively overused, but it is definitely appropriate for this particular piece.

What I'm trying to figure out though, is what makes it more "epic" sounding than previous versions of the Daenerys theme. It is obviously a sum of several different aspects including the piece's volume, tempo and the specific instruments used, but I feel like there is something more going on in terms of what is being played under the main motif. I'm just not good enough at music theory to work out what it is!

The piece in question is here:

For comparison, here are several other Daenerys themes:

Blood of my Blood:

(as a side note I'm also trying to understand what instrument is playing at 2:13 - maybe a cello? ) 

Khalessi:

Reign:

It'd be great if any of you have thoughts you'd like to share

Thanks

viz

You need to put the links into your post again. When you edited it, it converted all the links to pictures.

geetarguy85

Good spot @viz, thanks.