: Serkis softens his delivery for Tolkien's central love story, adding profound grief and tenderness. Akallabêth and The Third Age
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The final sections document the downfall of Númenor and the rise of Sauron. Serkis increases the narrative pacing here. He builds tension as the world fractures, bridging the gap directly to The Fellowship of the Ring . Comparing Serkis and Martin Shaw silmarillion audiobook andy serkis
The announcement of the audiobook sent ripples of excitement through the Tolkien community. In November 2022, during an interview with Collider , Serkis casually let slip the news: "I'm going to be... reading The Silmarillion, as well". This wasn't a huge surprise given his prior successes—his energetic, character-driven narration of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings had earned rave reviews. Following the complex events of Amazon’s Rings of Power series, Serkis felt particularly prepared to tackle the First Age, noting that his work reading the appendices of the trilogy "clued up about where it was going to go". : Serkis softens his delivery for Tolkien's central
Released on June 22, 2023, this version quickly established itself as the standard for immersive storytelling. The audiobook boasts a listening length of approximately 19 hours and 24 minutes. He builds tension as the world fractures, bridging
| Narrator | Style and Strengths | Listener Feedback | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Classic, Mythic, and Solemn. Shaw delivers the text with the weight of ancient scripture, fitting for a quasi-Biblical text. | "Shaw gives it a very serious, mythic quality". One fan noted, "they both have their strengths... you can't go wrong with either," but Shaw's remains "excellent". | | Andy Serkis | Actorly, Emotive, and Modern. Serkis brings his skills as a performer to every line, making it feel like an unfolding drama rather than a recitation. | Another fan mentioned having "a soft spot for Martin Shaw’s Silmarillion ," yet many are "partial to Serkis simply due to nostalgia for the LOTR films". As one user described, Serkis feels more "into" it, while Inglis (who narrates LOTR) sounds like a "cozy jumper". |
Serkis brings a musical, awe-inspiring tone to the creation of Eä, capturing the grandeur of the Ainur.