Four Reasons To Read Tolkien Aloud (ft. Legolas takes over)

Hey, people! This is Naomi, usually known on here as Legolas. Sam is busy with final projects this week, so I’m taking over her blog today. 

My family has a tradition that as soon as a kid reaches the age of eleven and one month—eleventy-one—he or she is allowed to read The Lord of the Rings.

Mostly, this leads to one of us starting to read it, then giving up somewhere in the middle of the Very Long Expected Party. Because let’s be honest. What eleven-year-old is going to read hundreds of pages of Tolkien on their own?

So over the past few months I’ve been reading The Fellowship aloud to my younger sister (who Sam usually refers to as Galadriel). We finished it on Wednesday, with the breaking of the fellowship and Sam and Frodo’s departure. It’s very different to read the books aloud rather than just reading them. But it’s been really cool, and I’d definitely recommend trying it. 

So. Here are four reasons to read Tolkien aloud. 

1. Reading aloud slows you down. 

One thing that’s amazing about Tolkien’s writing is the depth he goes to with his descriptions. If a mountain or a lake is important to him, he’ll spend a couple hundred words delving into its history. But that chunk of text is easy to skip over if I’m reading to myself, especially if I’m impatient. Reading aloud solves that problem by slowing me down and forcing me to actually think about whatever he’s describing. Which is great, because Tolkien’s prose is gorgeous. Look at the passage where he describes the pillars of Arnath. Beautiful.

2. Reading aloud lets you get into characters’ heads. 

This might be my favorite part about reading aloud so far. Doing different character voices forces me to think through, for instance, how Gimli would talk, verses Aragorn. How loudly or quietly would he speak? When would he raise his voice? What phrasing would he use? This was especially interesting with Boromir. Obviously, by the end of The Fellowship he’s an antagonist. But then he repents. And it was interesting to play with the phrasing of his speeches, trying to get at the balance between the fact that he’s arrogant and wrong much of the time, and the fact that he truly means well and he ends up repenting.

When I can’t find a good character voice on my own, I’ve been looking up a bunch of movie clips, closing my eyes, and really listening to the voices of the actors. It’s odd to just listen to someone talking. Viggo Mortenson’s voice is weird. If you doubt, go look up the clip where he meets the hobbits. His voice is just slightly nasal? But also, its pitch is hard to pin down? And he sounds completely different when whispering verse speaking aloud. 

Of course, one big difficulty in imitating actor’s voices is that the lines in the movies are designed for people to say, and the quotes in the book are designed to be read. Which leads to a lot of really rich prose to read aloud from the book—see Legolas talking about forests and Gimli speaking about mines. But it also leads to gems such as this quote, which comes from the scene at the bridge of Khazad Dum. 

“Ai, ai!” wailed Legolas.

This particular line led to a minor crisis mid-reading session as I tried not to cackle in the middle of a very serious and climactic scene. It’s just hilarious to imagine Orlando Bloom playing Legolas trying to keep a straight face while wailing ai. 

3. Reading aloud lets you see the story through another person’s eyes.

I think a lot of people are convinced that because Tolkien wrote in a poetic and slightly archaic style, his book is dull and his characters are flat. People also think that books written in this style can’t be appreciated by people except dedicated readers or people who are of a certain age. Watching my sister as I read through the story has put the lie to both of these assumptions. Because she gets the story. 

When Frodo considers putting on the ring, she makes this face and mutters, “Frodo…” in a threatening tone under her breath. In Lothlorien, she puts a hand to her forehead and says, “The elves are dying, and the world is terrible, but no, you must have hope anyway.” When Boromir asks Frodo to lend him the ring, she says, “No!” in a voice that would have given even Boromir pause. And she caught on to the fact that Gollum was following the Fellowship way before I did when I first read the book.

I love it. Seeing this book through someone else’s eyes is awesome. 

4. Reading aloud motivates you to reread the books. 

The Lord of the Rings can be an imposing book to just pick up and read. But reading it aloud in small amounts every night is great for keeping one going without getting discouraged. 

Rereading The Lord of the Rings is just generally great. There is so much that I had forgotten about.

Just after the party comes out of Moria, Gimli looks into the pool of mirrormere. It’s a really beautiful moment, because he’s still grieving for his kinsman, and he’s looking at a place that has a lot of meaning for him. And then Legolas goes and looks as well. Which just adds another layer of wonder to the whole scene. I hadn’t remembered this at all, and it was a great image. 

Also, throughout The Fellowship there’s a lot of prophesies, from Frodo’s mysterious dreams to the Mirror of Galadriel to visions seen at the Seeing Seat. This reread I could see what they referred to, which blew my mind. How does Tolkien do that?

The last thing that really stood out to me this reread is that Aragorn is a much deeper character than I’d imagined. When he first meets the hobbits and they’re trying to decide whether to go with him or not, he remarks that he understands why they distrust him, but that he wishes he could meet someone who would truly see the good in him. Then he’s like a big brother to all the hobbits. And then as he’s guiding them toward Rivendell he gets really worried, but he doesn’t let the hobbits know. And then after Gandalf falls, he takes the lead, remarking that he’s crushed, and that they’re now hopeless, yet they must go on without hope. 

All in all, he is—if you’ll pardon my Gen Z—an angsty little muffin.

So. Siblings are the best! And Tolkien isn’t dull by any means, shape, or form, and reading his works aloud is a great experience. Go find a sibling (roommate, pet, stuffed animal, random human) and read some Tolkien!

Does your family read aloud to each other? What did you notice last time you read The Lord of the Rings?