Daedalic Entertainment, the developer behind The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, has explained why you'll need to pay additional money for the characters to speak Elvish (Sindarin) throughout the game.

For those who are unaware, Elvish is the native language spoken by elves in The Lord of the Rings franchise. It was first introduced in the books, then brought to life in the films. Thanks to Eurogamer, we have a statement on why the dev team decided to lock Elvish behind a paywall.

Daedalic explained that the Elves in the game would speak their native language "from time to time," even if you don't purchase the language DLC. They also explained that the DLC adds additional lines for background characters and that they "went the extra mile" to hire voice actors trained in Sindarin by experts. It's a DLC meant for "Tolkien devotees who want to immerse themselves."