Popverse's top stories of the day

• No, the real problem is that Star Trek isn't woke ENOUGH
• First images show Millie Bobbie Brown's retro hair and Chris Pratt's questionable moustache in Netflix and the Russo Brothers' The Electric State
• Doctor Doom is a high camp hero, and maybe the MCU is ready to finally tell the world

Lord of the Rings is about the biggest of moments alongside the smallest, most personal of moments. The epic battles and the personal admissions - you know the ones from the movies, and the ones from the TV series. But in talking with the cast and crew of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power as the second season reaches its end, we learned that for award-winning composer Bear McCreary he went through the wringer - and came out the other side.

When asked what he's most proud of in his work for the past two years on Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, McCreary got personal.

"Lord, I mean, I'm proud of the fact that I'm still standing, talking to you after having written 16, 17, within a rounding error of 18 hours of music over the last two years and change," McCreary tells Popverse. " The totality of that is something that I'm proud of, but it's not just that I did it, it's that I have survived it, right? Like, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, man."

Bear McCreary isn't new to this - he came to fame with his work in 2003's Battlestar Galactica and has gone on to compose the music for The Walking Dead, Outlander, and games including God of War and Call of Duty: Vanguard. But as he has said before, working on Lord of the Rings was "a dream come true." But as he learned, not all dreams are perfect.

"And, truthfully, to get a little personal here, the first season was – I don't want to say it almost killed me, but it was extremely damaging on my mental, but especially physical, health," McCreary reveals. "I just completely fell apart, man. I mean, I'm 45 now. I cannot get away with this anymore."

After completing work on Rings of Power season 1 in April 2022, McCreary began to work more on himself - and it wasn't all about diet and working out (although that was part of it).

"So, after Season 1 wrapped, I really got serious about working out and eating better and balancing the other things in my life. I wanted to play guitar. I wanted to spend more time with my kids and I just thought, 'Look, I can't go nuclear on Lord of the Rings every time a season comes up, and bottom out and then come back up,'" says McCreary. "So, truthfully – and it's funny you got this out of me, haven't even talked about this before –  but the thing I'm most proud of is that in Season 2, I still wrote every cue. I wrote nine hours of music again, but this time, I didn't bottom out, you know? I stayed in shape. I stayed connected to my family and I put out [my album] The Singularity."

So what did McCreary do when he finished his work on Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2? He performed.

"I closed that session, I got in the car, I drove to the Fonda Theatre and I debuted my rock album with Slash and Buck Dharma from Blue Öyster Cult. Those things coexisted, right?" says the musician. "So, I am proud of myself in that I set a goal for myself – I still want to write every cue in [the show], but I can't fall apart – and I did [it]."

Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2 is out now on Amazon's Prime Video. Read our full interview with McCreary and others from Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2 here.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.