British accents

[Slick Mongoose]

Westeros is similar to the UK, in terms of shape and weather and stuff.

Are we talking about the sand dunes of Kent or the arctic tundra of Scotland?

[deleted01]

Are we talking about the sand dunes of Kent or the arctic tundra of Scotland?

:lol: What I meant was that the shape of Westeros is very similar to the UK, and where things are. Both beyond the Wall and in Scotland, it's colder than the rest, and the north is too. Kings Landing is placed in a similar area to London, albeit London is further inland and further south I believe. They both have important rivers too. The south is also warmer in the UK as it is in Westeros. It was more that the whole idea of it is similar, but Westeros is more extreme. Beyond the Wall is like Scotland can be during winter - it can get awful up there.

[_Oberyn_]

British accents make all the difference in a fantasy/historical setting. An american acccent would be compleately out of place. Listen to the american reading of GoT and you will see how band it sounds and not because of the reader. And Mystery knight just made my ears bleed :P, true story.

[redriver]

Maybe it depends to an extent on who your target audience is.Something like Legend of the Seeker which was aimed at a younger audience, contained a mixture of American and English accents.

Perhaps the American accent for the good guy and a British one for the bad guy has become a bit cliched over the years,but it hasn't entirely gone away.

AGOT is ground breaking in that it changes some of the conventions of the genre and is certainly more adult oriented.The characters live in a medieval/feudal setting and for a lot of them magic is not a factor in their lives.

A harsh world viewed in an uncompromising and realistic way,both in the books and the TV series.I'm sure the OP has heard the phrase "kitchen sink drama",perhaps we can coin the phrase "kitchen sink fantasy" for AGOT!

And really the British accent makes this all the more realistic for the viewer.

There are,I think,really only two basic accents in the Westeros as depicted by HBO.One is a general "Northern" English accent based on Yorkshire/Lancashire,and the other a more southern,modern aristocratic accent.There are exceptions,some Irish and London ones appear.

Essos accents tend towards the more exotic Latino/Middle Eastern.

Personally,I thought the raw British accents might be a turn off for American viewers,but it looks like that's not the case.

So I'm not sure there's a trend towards British accents in fantasy but I am sure the A Song Of Ice And Fire series is pushing the genre into new territory.

[DaveSumm]

As others have said, there was no medieval America, therefore American accents would only serve to lessen the immersion that the viewer experiences in the show. An unwanted reminder that this is actors and cameras, not an actual medieval Europe-esque world. I'm reminded of the last season of Lost: the Richard-centric episode had authentic accents, and was widely regarded as excellent. The Jacob-centric episode featured American accents and was widely regarded as awful (the attempts at speaking Latin with an American accent at the beginning were almost unwatchable).

I quite liked the slight nod to actual English accents (my assumption is that Sean Bean made a good Ned, so they thought they might as well run with the Sheffield accent), it would have been a nice touch if Arya had been northern (though not nice enough to outweigh the excellent job the actress does), just to emphasis her closer affinity to Jon, whereas Bran, Rickon and Sansa and Robb are said to have more of a Tully look.

[Buckwheat]

Except Robb :P

Yeah :P.

I am one of those who always have in mind Westeros=America. So I suppose the Westeros=Britain->British accent does not work for me.

[Brienne the Beauty]

Since they filmed a lot of it in Northern Ireland, UK accents would be easier to obtain than American.

[Vikingkingq]

Hi, I am a BBC journalist.

I'm writing a piece for the website on why all of the characters in Game of Thrones, and many other TV and film adaptations of fantasy literature, speak with modern-day British accents - even if, as in the case of GoT, some of the actors playing them are American.

Is the British accent now the default-setting for this kind of material? And, if so, why?

Are there any examples of "fantasy" on film and television where American or other accents have been used? Does it work?

I'd welcome any thoughts you have on this subject - I may use your quotes in my piece, so let me know if you have a problem with that.

Thanks!

Brian Wheeler

BBB News

It's not just a fantasy thing; the phenomenon dates back to the big period pieces in early-sound Hollywood. The budget usually got blown on sets and extras, so they needed good actors who could handle period work and work for cheap - which tended to mean British stage actors.

[Christina Ceriddwynn]

well Legend of the Seeker was another show with primarily aussie/kiwi actors.....rather like Spartacus

(ok so the same folks who did Xena also did LotS and Spartacus)

I would imagine filming location does play into the dialect

[Woman of War]

May I boost my question:

What kind of accent does Peter Dinklage have?

[Inigo Montoya the Second]

May I boost my question:

What kind of accent does Peter Dinklage have?

american. he was born in new jersey (doesn't have jersey shore accent though, just thought i should clear that i up lol)

i'm not a big fantasy fan but as an american, i think it's that british accents are associated with being "older" for lack of better word (and i suppose they are). i'm not familiar with a south african accent, so i can't say anything about that, but personally i think australian accents are too carefree and cheerful (or associated with these emotions anyway) for the dark setting that usually comes with fantasy.

[Woman of War]

Thank you

[Isis]

In the show Tyrion's accent is quite affected, like it requires an effort. It sounds like someone who is taking care how they sound (like a 'telephone voice'), possibly trying to make themselves sound a bit posher than they are or trying to speak in a more stagey-I am important so listen to me kind of way. I cannot identify an regional accent in the UK that sounds similar to Tyrion's.

Also, what is a 'London accent'? I can only think of a couple of types and I've not heard either of those in the show.

[SamanthaofHodorsfield]

I thought Ned and Robb sounded vaugely Yorkish, "Stick'em with the poonty end."

That was the whole idea - Sean Bean has a very broad Yorkshire accent, so the idea was to model the accent of the North around his.

[Brienne the Beauty]

That was the whole idea - Sean Bean has a very broad Yorkshire accent, so the idea was to model the accent of the North around his.

Makes sense anyway; the conflict between Lannister and Stark is an echo of the conflict between the houses of Lancaster and York (you can even see it in the names.)

[Tywin's bastard]

By now we've definitely gotten to the point where people generally feel it's easier to accept British English as a substitute for what was spoken in older times, while American English is often perceived as too modern sounding. The question is whether it has just come out of chance (due to various events in film history) or if British culture, which is of course far older than American, has anything to do with it?

[Ran]

It might be relevant to note Iain Glen's remark on accents in our recent interview. It was pointed out that I had the question wrong -- I wrote "Good time for English actors", but it's clear that "accents" was said, so I've updated that:

Q: Good time for English accents, isn't it?

"Yeah, really good time. It's that funny thing that when you go back in history a certain distance, people think English accents, which is good for us lot. Somehow a too-strong American accent, rightly or wrongly, would jar and certainly in <em>Game of Thrones</em>. But that's just a conceit that we're used to in film. The fact is no one really knows how people sounded then. Having done Shakespeare, great debate exists about just how people sounded. It's just a per-conceived notion, it doesn't raise any eyebrows or questions if you stay to a neutral-ish English accent."

[Brienne the Beauty]

Modern UK accents are no more authentic to mediaeval English than modern American or Australian. They have all changed just as much over time.

GOT could have gone either way. The books were written in a self-consciously ye-olde-Englishe style that can become a bit annoying (nuncle, must needs, etc) but they also have a lot of phrasing that makes it clear that the author was American.

[MinDonner]

Sad that not many of the Vale characters got to speak, but Ser Vardis definitely had a hint of Welsh in there, which was a nice touch if intentional.

IMO, American accents in fantasy tend to have overtones of either 80s cheesy fantasy, or low-budget Burbank schlock where they can't afford to hire anyone non-local. The Kevin Costner lesson has been well learnd. For the most part, Aussie/Kiwi accents are less jarring - a lot of the Spartacus actors sounded very Antipodean but very rarely did that have much effect on the immersion (aside from one minor character with a really strong Aussie accent, obviously cast for his beardy-bald-headed looks rather than his accent skills).

[Skeksi]

I'm not an expert by any means, but what I find interesting is that they sound to my American ears to be not only British accents, but regional British accents. The North sounds vaguely Scottish to me, Robert sounded like he was from Northern England, I know the DVD commentary track to episode 6 said that the Vale was cast as predominantly Welsh (though I couldn't identify a Welsh accent if my life depended on it). I believe (someone please confirm) that Liz Dickie is herself Scottish, but Lysa Arryn seemed to have an English accent to match her sister. Obviously for casting purposes, it's impossible to be completely consistent, but my general impression is that there was a distinct effort to maintain regional accents.

They are indeed regional British accents, at least in part. The majority of the actors portraying Southern characters seem to have a very "standard"/ "neutral" English accent- I'm afraid I don't know what the precise terminology is, if anyone can correct me. Most people I know with this accent tend to be from the South East. The Lannisters and the Tully sisters, and the four youngest Stark kiddies (presumably due to their teachers and mother's influence- or, in a more meta suggestion, it being harder to find kids who could both act AND adopt a Northern accent) all speak in this way, as do Maester Luwin and Septa Mordane- I presume neither of them are from the North initially. Many of the courtiers in King's Landing seem to, too. With some actors (NCW and PD jump to mind) some of their real accent slips through at times, but I believe this is what they're aiming for.

The actors playing Northern characters, by and large, have accents from the North of England (NOT Scotland, just to clear that up- there's a very distinct difference to British people, but in fairness, I'd have trouble separating many Northern US accents myself, so I can kind of understand where that comes from). Which kind of makes sense- if you're going to put British accents in there, at least keep the regional accents consistant :P Ned, Robb and Jon all have this accent (though only Sean Bean uses his real accent), as do characters like LC Mormont, Greatjon Umber, and Bronn. Alliser Thorne and Yoren are also Northern, I assume this is because their characters are intended to be so?

The Vale is, apparently, based on Wales (though Lysa Tully is the main "speaking part" in the Vale, and has the "Tully standard" accent, if you like)- Ser Vardys does indeed have a Welsh accent. Littlefinger does NOT have a Welsh accent, despite being born in the Vale, though he did spend most of his childhood at Riverrun, which would likely explain this (assuming this was taken into account).

Pyp has a slight London/ South Eastern accent on the show, from what I remember? I can't narrow it down for you any more than that, but it's from that region. I'm not sure where Pyp is meant to be from in Westeros.

Robert's accent is a mystery, given that it is Northern, not neutral like his younger brother, nor Welsh (since he was raised in the Vale of Arryn, this could make sense). One could suggest that Ned rubbed off on him, perhaps? Sam Tarly is also an interesting case, he seems to have a Northern accent despite being from pretty far South.

I'm wondering if they're going to continue with the regional accents, and have another for the Dornish characters?

For an example of a Scottish accent, listen to Richard Madden or Kate Dickie in interviews, both of them are Scottish but alter their accent for their roles.

Hope this helped!

As for British accents in fantasy... well, in some cases- like Robin Hood or Arthurian legend based tales- it makes sense since these are actually set in Britain, and whilst the accents have very likely changed over time, for the viewers in the modern day, it ties the characters nicely to the setting. A lot of fantasy seems to be set in a mediaeval-esque time period, which is likely associated more with British accents than American, despite the fact that mediaeval Europe contained many countries. I can't really speak for why British accents seem to be the norm in cases like the Borgias, though... that's a bit odd...

There is the occasional fantasy film/ series featuring American accents, though- as well as previous examples, I saw "In the Name of the King" recently, which contains both American and British accents (but, more importantly, also contained Blind Guardian songs in the credits...). But I do agree that British accents seem to have become the standard. Personally, it didn't seem odd to me in AGoT, despite their author being American, because I read the books in similar accents- not so much things like the Welsh Vale accents, but the North always sounded... well, Northern, in my head. But then, I'm British myself, so it's probably very different for those who aren't.