British accents

[boojam]

That would be "British". "Great Britain" covers England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Northern Ireland I can see,I guess the rest of the Irish don't make a big deal about it, yet one wonders, always fascinated by the signs in Ireland in Irish Gaelic , tho I think the Irish call that 'Irish'!

As beautiful a language as that is, Ireland is stuck with English....

Tho, my daughter's godfather is Irish, the times we have visited Ireland he has expressed the wish that the Irish should start driving on the other side of the road. :) Some things are not forgiven.

Oh, and Robert Downey Jr's accent is passable, as is Peter Dinklage's, but you can tell they're having to think about what they're saying. Mike Myers and Gillian Anderson for example sound pretty much perfect.. but they do have British heritage!

I am guessing that does not go for Meryl Streep ?

[Travy1991]

Northern Ireland I can see,I guess the rest of the Irish don't make a big deal about it, yet one wonders, always fascinated by the signs in Ireland in Irish Gaelic , tho I think the Irish call that 'Irish'!

As beautiful a language as that is, Ireland is stuck with English....

Tho, my daughter's godfather is Irish, the times we have visited Ireland he has expressed the wish that the Irish should start driving on the other side of the road. :) Some things are not forgiven.

Actually Great Britain doesn't encompass England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; it just contains England, Wales and Scotland. The island of Great Britain (or Britain) contains England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland is located on the island of Ireland and encompasses about 30% of the island in the north and north-eastern part of the island. Northern Ireland alongside the three countries of Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) make up the sovereign state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or United Kingdom or UK for short. The UK is made up of four separate nations with four distinct accents. And even within these nations there are differences in dialect (such as the already discussed north English and south English accents). The remaining 70% of the island of Ireland is an independent country, completely separate from United Kingdom, known officially as Ireland but often called the Republic of Ireland or Southern Ireland to distinguish it from Northern Ireland. Even though they are on the same island, even the people from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have different accents. And yes...Irish people do call Irish Gaelic Irish. We still learn the Irish language in schools and there are remote areas that speak Irish as a first language still but the majority of people in the Republic of Ireland speak English due to English rule up until 1922.

Anyway, apologies about that tangent. Wasn't sure where I was going with it. Just wanted to correct some earlier posts I guess!

As for accents on the show. I'll just add my piece.

Ned, Robb, Jon, Jeor, Theon and the majority of the Northerners speak in gruff, North English accents. Perhaps it was modelled after Sean Bean's real accent. Either way, I think it works even though I agree with some posters that it would be nice to hear a few Scottish accents in there too. Richard Madden (Robb) and James Cosmos (Jeor) are both Scottish in real life and if you listen to them in interviews they have strong Scottish accents. On the show, they abandon these for north English accents.

Michelle Fairley (Catelyn) is from Northern Ireland but does not have a traditional Northern Irish accent in real life or on the show. The Northern Irish accent has a faint Scottish sound and can be often difficult to decipher especially as it tends to be spoken fast. I'd imagine Fairley got elocution lessons to make her accent sound more English so that she would be easier understood in theatre, film and television work. Catelyn and Fairley have rather posh English accents although as a previous poster stated, the Northern Irish accent creeps in on certain words. If you want to hear a traditional Northern Irish accent; listen to a Liam Neeson interview (even though his accent has been neutralised somewhat) or for a more heavier Northern Irish accent, popstar Nadine Coyle.

Sansa, Arya and Bran have southern English accents. I don't really have a problem with this. Sometimes accents change over time so the fact that Arya and Bran are still young, they're accents would still be changing and probably speak less gruffly due to been taught by the well spoken Septa Mordane and Maester Luwin. Sansa would probably shun the north English accent in favour of a south English accent where she would fit in better down at King's Landing. Art Parkinson who plays Rickon is an Irish actor (from the Republic of Ireland) although from the traditional Irish province of Ulster which contains nine counties, six of which split from the rest of Ireland and formed Northern Ireland. The three other counties of Ulster which are a part of the Republic of Ireland speak similarly to the Northern Irish. Parkinson has a southern English accent when playing Rickon just like the other three actors.

Jack Gleeson (Joffrey) and Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger) are both from the Republic of Ireland and have typical Irish accents but use south English accents for their roles. Glesson's accent sounds very good, Gillen's English accent sounds a little off to me. The rest of the cast use south English accents. This accent is typically used in south London although London has other distinctive accents too. Peter Dinklage's accent is good but he sounds very like a BBC public announcer, really thinking out all his words and trying to sound as refined as possible. It doesn't always sound completely natural in casual conversation.

The Vale Knights do sound vaguely Welsh (although none have strong Welsh accents). Lysa has a very pronounced English accent (despite the actress being Scottish) and Vardis Egen sounds Welsh (despite the actor being Irish). The only Irish accent I have heard used in the show is in the final episode where one of the Northerners announce Robb as their king. From the promos, Davos doesn't have an Irish accent to my ears. Liam Cunningham has a very distinctive north Dublin accent in real life but seems to be playing Davos with a fairly neutral English accent (somewhere between north English and south English).

Mark Addy has a North English accent when playing Robert despite being from the south. Perhaps Ned rubbed off on him? Nikolaj Coster Waldau's south English accent is pretty good despite being Danish.

I don't know what accent the Dothraki use. Anyone care to enlighten me? I wonder what accent the Dornish will use when we reach them?

Okay, even though I wrote a big long post on accents (I guess its one of my nerdy things :lol: ), I don't think the writers or the actors are putting a huge amount of thought into what accents they use. British accents are associated with fantasy and historical drama because so much of the famous works from British writers. I think the Northern everyman or gruff characters like Ned, Robb, Jon etc. use North English accents while the more sophisticated characters like the Tullys, King's Landing etc. use South English accents. The Dothraki characters are going for something vaguely Middle-Eastern and Carice Van Houten is using her natural Dutch accent when playing Melisandre as it sounds vaguely exotic to represent Ashaii.

[Anthony Kaye]

For those interested here's a link to a BBC site about the history of English complete with speech;- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/timelines/language_timeline/index_embed.shtml

Spoken American English emphasises the 'R' sound-it's called rhoitic in the trade- in England this is a western pronounciation, which is where most of the very early American settlers came from.

The exception is Boston (Mass) where the original settlers came from around Boston (Lincolnshire)-'R' is silent in east England-think JFK .

[talbot68]

Hum. I think LoTR was always interpreted as an English style fantasy, not least as Tolkien was English. So given that Tolkien's influence on this particular branch of the fantasy genre is massive, it's not hugely surprising to find that people tend towards English as the language. That, and the facts that George RR Martin lists Tolkien specifically as a major influence, and was heavily consulted about the series, is probably about all you need.

However, in terms of the general setting of Westeros, George Martin also acknowledges that Hadrian's Wall was a major influence in his idea for the Wall. It's pretty easy to see Highgarden as Kent, Dorne as Cornwall, the North as - well, the North, with the Neck looking a little like East Anglia. There are some non-UK bits on Westeros - Iron Islands look a lot like Viking Norway, for example - but the whole world seems very much based on medieval Europe and the Middle East. I haven't watched Game of Thrones on TV yet, because I wanted to finish all the first five books first, and didn't want the TV interpretation to influence my imagination when I decided what the characters looked like. However, as I'm English myself, it feels right to me, obviously. Don't like Sean Bean as Ned though, or Robert Baratheon with a Northern accent. From all of the clips and publicity I've seen, Petyr Baelish seems to be the best casting.

Anyway, I'll be very interested to see how they handle the Essos accents as they work through the series - those should definitely not be English!

[Lord Tywin]

Definitely not no..Dinklage is American and is therefore an American doing a passable English accent...the rolled "L's" and "R's"are just his actual accent coming through

Except for maybe Canadian Maritimers (and I'm not so sure about that), most North Americans don't roll L's or R's. They're spoken rather flatly or even clipped. To my ears, New Yorkers & New Jerseyites somewhat grunt their R's.

[Brienne the Beauty]

There are some non-UK bits on Westeros - Iron Islands look a lot like Viking Norway, for example

I'd say, the Orkneys. Scottish islands settled by Viking pirates. Very bleak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney

[The Anti-Targ]

Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 gave characters American accents (Dwarves for the most part). I thought it worked great. While they are games they are heavy with dialogue and are in a Medieval Fantasy setting. In the Dragon Age series Elves for the most part had English accents in DA:O but Welsh and Irish accents in DA2.

Do I think an all American Westeros would have worked for me? North Dakota Accent for the North, New York for The Eyrie and other Easterners, California for the Lannisters, Mid-West for the Riverlands, Southern the Tyrells and Texan for Dorne. Maybe. But Medieval settings feel European for the most part, so I prefer a European dominated accent suite.

I certainly don't care for a default suite of England variants alone. I thought Illyrio having an English accent was as odd as if he had an American accent. Westerosi all have English accents (Except Jaime). It therefore is logical that everyone from the Eastern Continent has something other than an English accent, especially given for everyone from the east the language of Westeros is their second language. Illyrio's native tongue is High Valyrian is it not?

Of course the default accent for Spartacus is Kiwi/Aussie :-)

[Conor]

I always imagined the people of the The Neck (don't know if we will ever see it) as being from the culture of Gaelic Ireland/Scotland. The term Crannogmen is a kind of indication.

In general British accents are perfect for the show though sometimes a John Wayne accent would be refreshing in a strange way.

[Wee_Birdie]

The celtic accents - I did detect a bit of a Welsh accent from a couple of the Vale knights, although they're not strong. For Americans etc, just type in Welsh rugby videos on youtube and hear some of the commentary, and you'll get an idea of Welsh accents! And the only Irish accent I've really heard is Davos'. Scottish-wise, I can't think of anyone detectable. Hopefully they give one character/region our accent somewhere along the line

Rory McCann (The Hound) seems to have kept his Scottish accent, he just seems to be annunciating a little more than usual...I suppose we'll be able to tell more in the new series!

I fully expect the Wildlings will have Northern English and Scottish accents.

[Hear Us Roar]

Latest fantasy with North American accents i saw was in Dragon Age. The dwarves had it and it was good. I see no reason why another country or faction cant have a non brit accent

[boojam]

Of course the default accent for Spartacus is Kiwi/Aussie :-)

You know no one brought up expediency , you shoot in the UK and Europe , lot's of good actors nearby, cast them.

Peter and Jason are unique so bring them in.

[The Anti-Targ]

You know no one brought up expediency , you shoot in the UK and Europe , lot's of good actors nearby, cast them.

Peter and Jason are unique so bring them in.

Not just expediency, employment / immigration law too. They decided to film in Britain, which meant having to employ Eurpoean actors with only a few exceptions.

Question is did they film in Britain because they wanted British / European accents, or did they film in Britain because of tax breaks and hence were forced into European (mainly British of course) accents, or would they have done British accents regardless of where the main film studio was located?

[Drogon's Personal Trainer]

Can I just say - this seems as good a thread as any - I don't care about accents. I don't care about casting; I don't care about arguing the toss about our favourite actors. I only know that we have just two more days to go in the UK until our favourite series is back. I am getting very, very excited. All else pales into insignificance.

By the Seven - I just can't wait!!!!!!

[Liam Kin]

cause the british accent is old timey, the american accent is too modern.

[BondJamesBond]

America has no medieval history of the type that is portrayed in fantasy stories, so British accents are the default and we can suspend disbelief knowing that modern English is different from Old English. For sake of uniformity, everyone has to use the same accent.

[gmoney88]

I think that the predominance of British accents in fantasy works can be mainly attributed to a generalized "Medieval" aesthetic.

I think that the accent is part of the Medieval dressing. Just like the characters wear armor, ride horses, and have titles, so they must have a European accent. For Americans, the whole Medieval period is, accurately, a European thing. Having an American accent wouldn't make sense...

[Caz]

The northerners in the show have the same accent as me, though Sean Bean is from Yorkshire and I'm o'er the border in Lancashire, they are very similar. Actually, it's Osha who has the northern England accent pretty much spot on (dunno where she's from) and I find it a refreshing change to hear the northern accent in the show (especially one as huge as this) as there are very few homegrown British shows, even that use northern actors/accents, they're usually from middle England or down south (more affluent you know than the 'grim' north) It's not the most attractive of accents and sometimes when I hear it on the TV, I think, Gods, do I really sound like that? But still, it's all good that it's there. Unfortunately, I shan't be hearing it in season 2 for some time, I don't have the channel to watch it.

[boojam]

Not just expediency, employment / immigration law too. They decided to film in Britain, which meant having to employ Eurpoean actors with only a few exceptions.

Question is did they film in Britain because they wanted British / European accents, or did they film in Britain because of tax breaks and hence were forced into European (mainly British of course) accents, or would they have done British accents regardless of where the main film studio was located?

Well....

Malta

Croatia

Iceland

Northern Ireland

all give 'tax incentives', whatever that means.

Been known for a long time that one could stretch , even a big budget, in 'off beat' countries.

Eastern Europe has been popular for Hollywood 'runaways' for a long time.

I think the same was true for Lord of the Rings, tho in that case New Zealand proved a perfect analog for Middle Earth.

[Travy1991]

Not just expediency, employment / immigration law too. They decided to film in Britain, which meant having to employ Eurpoean actors with only a few exceptions.

Question is did they film in Britain because they wanted British / European accents, or did they film in Britain because of tax breaks and hence were forced into European (mainly British of course) accents, or would they have done British accents regardless of where the main film studio was located?

Hate to be pedantic but they film in Northern Ireland (UK), not in Britain.

Actually, it's Osha who has the northern England accent pretty much spot on (dunno where she's from)

Natalia Tena is from Surrey, England so well done to her that she can do a convincing north English accent!

Well....

Malta

Croatia

Iceland

Northern Ireland

all give 'tax incentives', whatever that means.

Been known for a long time that one could stretch , even a big budget, in 'off beat' countries.

Eastern Europe has been popular for Hollywood 'runaways' for a long time.

I think the same was true for Lord of the Rings, tho in that case New Zealand proved a perfect analog for Middle Earth.

Tax incentives means that these countries encourage filming in their country and will have cheaper tax than other countries such as the US. It's the reason why so many American films are shot in Canada and so on.

[Caz]

Yeah, well done Natalia Tena for being more than able to talk proper like what I do! ;)