British accents

[Stag Country]

It's difficult to distinguish accents or attest to their accuracy if you haven't lived in that country for a good length of time.

Very true. As an American from the mid-west with the standard “evening news” accent (that is we don’t seem to accent much of anything), I don’t have much of an ear for foreign actors muddling regional dialects from another country. I can generally identify regional dialects of English (northern vs. southern) but beyond that if someone is mincing words, unless it’s especially bad I just don’t pick up on or care about it. I can tell you though that with Netflix, amazon prime, hulu plus, I’ve started to watch quite a bit more native UK shows, and when I hear someone speaking (rather attempting to speak) in an American regional dialect it’s alarming how bad it often is. I’m not saying that to slight the actors, audience, or UK productions, in general, it’s just when the stereotypical southern American accent gets put into regional productions….it’s often totally unrecognizable and is usually the cause of some laughs between the wife and I. I imagine the Hollywood British that’s deployed in many American productions also suffers a similar fate.

One of the funniest ones for me is always watching Liam Neeson trying to play an American. I love the actor and, yes, I know he is now a naturalized American citizen, but when he takes on roles that are supposed to have us believe he’s been an American all his life, it just makes me laugh. You can hear the Irish underneath it clear as day.

There are many shows, however, where the accents may not be identifiable as a regional dialect, but they do a good enough job of covering them up so that they pass as “American” anyway. Charlie Humnan in Sons of Anarchy and the actor portraying Rick and Lauren Conrad from the Walking Dead spring to mind immediately.

[Stag Country]

Although there is no real way to know how people spoke in the Middle Ages and in this sense modern British accents are no more accurate than American accents, I think there is a psychology of association at play, which would make North American sound out of place in a medieval setting.

This.

This is the real reason medieval settings just do not work (at least for me) when the actors speak with North American English accents. Our accents over here just don’t have the “old” or “medieval” connotation that UK English does.

Can you imagine watching the royal court in King’s Landing trying to conduct their business of the day in either a Bostonian, Texan, or Tennessee accent? Hell, even a southern California beach accent with all their colloquialisms. It just doesn’t work.

HAHA….Imagine

from ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ trying to recite Ned’s speech to Bran about bravery or his titles before the execution in episode one.

“My little dude, that is, like, the only time a man can be brave.”

[lostinwesteros]

Looking at Westeros, I believe most people think it's not much of a stretch to see the resemblance (shape-wise and culture-wise) to the United Kingdom, with the North resembling Scotland in climate. Across the Narrow Sea (English Channel?) we have the Free Cities (Europe?), and to the east, then, we have Essos, which is shaped like the Far East/Asia on our world map. The summer isles and the continent below the free cities (i.e., below 'Europe') are presented with strong similarities to Africa. Similarly, in Tolkien's world, the Shire is presented and described with an extremely strong resemblance to England.

So, those are my theories, at any rate. Other than that, I cannot say - I'm just not familiar with other fantasy series.

[Which Tyler]

I always feel it's worth shouting out this map when people say that Westeros looks like Britain:

http://gamesofthrones.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ireland_westeros1.jpg

[Stag Country]

I always feel it's worth shouting out this map when people say that Westeros looks like Britain:

http://gamesofthrone...d_westeros1.jpg

Damn, Lannisters of Dublin.

[Neds Head]

Very true. As an American from the mid-west with the standard “evening news” accent (that is we don’t seem to accent much of anything), I don’t have much of an ear for foreign actors muddling regional dialects from another country. I can generally identify regional dialects of English (northern vs. southern) but beyond that if someone is mincing words, unless it’s especially bad I just don’t pick up on or care about it. I can tell you though that with Netflix, amazon prime, hulu plus, I’ve started to watch quite a bit more native UK shows, and when I hear someone speaking (rather attempting to speak) in an American regional dialect it’s alarming how bad it often is. I’m not saying that to slight the actors, audience, or UK productions, in general, it’s just when the stereotypical southern American accent gets put into regional productions….it’s often totally unrecognizable and is usually the cause of some laughs between the wife and I. I imagine the Hollywood British that’s deployed in many American productions also suffers a similar fate.

One of the funniest ones for me is always watching Liam Neeson trying to play an American. I love the actor and, yes, I know he is now a naturalized American citizen, but when he takes on roles that are supposed to have us believe he’s been an American all his life, it just makes me laugh. You can hear the Irish underneath it clear as day.

There are many shows, however, where the accents may not be identifiable as a regional dialect, but they do a good enough job of covering them up so that they pass as “American” anyway. Charlie Humnan in Sons of Anarchy and the actor portraying Rick and Lauren Conrad from the Walking Dead spring to mind immediately.

I see your point. For me, it's like when I hear Americans try Scottish accents. They're horrible haha. Groundskeeper Willie is a great example of this. The only American that I've heard with a good Scottish accent either in a tv show or a movie, is Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland.

[HouseLark]

This is the real reason medieval settings just do not work (at least for me) when the actors speak with North American English accents. Our accents over here just don’t have the “old” or “medieval” connotation that UK English does.

Can you imagine watching the royal court in King’s Landing trying to conduct their business of the day in either a Bostonian, Texan, or Tennessee accent? Hell, even a southern California beach accent with all their colloquialisms. It just doesn’t work.

You know, it also works on the page as well as on screen. It comes out through the pattern of speech, the colloquialisms and the phrasing. Wheel of Time fans will know how jarring Mat Cauthon's change in speech was after Brandon Sanderson took over the series. He suddenly had a wise-crackin' contemporary American pattern of speech.

As much as it pains me to admit I've seen these films, Renee Zellweger does a great British accent in Bridget Jones but it's a generic accent rather than having any distinctive regional character.

I always feel it's worth shouting out this map when people say that Westeros looks like Britain:

http://gamesofthrone...d_westeros1.jpg

That's amazing! First time I've seen it, thanks.

[Swagwell]

HAHA….Imagine

from ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ trying to recite Ned’s speech to Bran about bravery or his titles before the execution in episode one.

“My little dude, that is, like, the only time a man can be brave.”

:drunk:

This needs to happen.

On a side note I think they improved Saladoor Saan by being black and having an african accent, the associations with mediterranean pirates, and not their disneyfied caribbean counterparts strikes me as a good choice.

[Stag Country]

On a side note I think they improved Saladoor Saan by being black and having an african accent, the associations with mediterranean pirates, and not their disneyfied caribbean counterparts strikes me as a good choice.

Yeah, Saan was such a minor character anyway, the guy they selected is great and strikes me as a ruffian/pirate much better than a fair-haired, blonde. (He's supposed to be Targaryen-esque right?)

[Drogo's Grandpa]

I'm sorry, but take it from a Scot, he definitely has nothing that resembles a Scottish accent in the slightest. In the slightest. There are no Scottish accented characters in the show that I'm aware of.

That's because it's very important people can actually understand the words the actors are saying.

[blood of the dragoon]

Off topic, but how about Hugh Lorrie's American accent?

To me he will always be Dr house, and his accent is perfectly believable. Didn't know he WASN'T American.

[King's Ruin]

The best example of American accents in period drama is Amadeus - completely works! (Unlike Hercules or Xenia or Dracula, as some have suggested and in all of which the American accents sound HORRIBLE)

and FYI the northerners in GoT [eg. Ned, Robb, Jon] speak with northern English accents (Newcastle, Yorkshire etc) and the Southerners speak with generally posh English accents (which are found everywhere, not just in the South) [eg. Sansa, Cat, Tyrion, Jamie] *btw that's English not 'British' as there are many, many 'British' accents like Scottish and Irish, each with their own variations and dialects

[Spotted Cat]

The British accent sound very authentic even to us easterners who don't know much about accents. it feels somehow real, it goes with the environment, the castles ,the knights in shining armor etc. what i would really like to know is did they really sound like this in medieval England?

[Stark Revenge]

I can understand why LotR used British accents, but it's always annoyed me how GoT which is written by an American author uses British actors and accents. Who cares about historical accuracy!

[~DarkHorse~]

Can people restrain from calling British accents English.

There are many different kinds of British accents, they vary in the show-

For example, Edmure has a typical well spoken 'English accent' while the wildlings have Northern English & Scottish accents as they tend to be rougher. The actor who plays Robb has a strong Scottish accent (watch Sirens) but in the show it sounds more Northern English. The actor who plays Jamie is Irish and has a strong Irish accent but it barely shows, only coming through sometimes. The Hound, however has an obvious Scottish accent.

Here are the Scottish actors in the show- http://www.heraldsco...ones.2013034288 If you listen to them when you watch them again and you're looking for a Scottish accent, you should be able to find it in some of them.

Are there any Welsh actors on the show?

I think American accents come across as more modern so they would seem out of place in a fantasy/medieval setting just as much as British accents would seem out of place in a Western Cowboy setting. However, I hardly notice the difference in accent between the american actors from the British ones in the show so I'm not sure it really matters.

[Humble Hedge Knight]

Anything associated with the Middle Ages, at least to me, always evokes a modern-day English accent. I suppose that's because there was no medieval America, and so anything medieval must be English to an American.

For example, Costner's American accent in Robin Hood seems so strange, and yet it's no more historically inaccurate than a British accent because we know that 13th century (or whatever) Englishmen didn't talk at all like 21st century Englishmen. Still, the medieval setting demands the British/English (I know there are a million dialects in Britain) accent, at least to most Americans.

[Deanarys]

I can understand why LotR used British accents, but it's always annoyed me how GoT which is written by an American author uses British actors and accents. Who cares about historical accuracy!

I have to say that... It doesn't bother me at all actually, I just love british accent.

[HouseLark]

The actor who plays Jamie is Irish and has a strong Irish accent but it barely shows, only coming through sometimes. The Hound, however has an obvious Scottish accent.

Nikolaj is Danish!

[Ferrous]

I always feel it's worth shouting out this map when people say that Westeros looks like Britain:

http://gamesofthrone...d_westeros1.jpg

May I present the United Kingdoms of Westeros?

[Tywin Smokin a Blunt]

With Game of Thrones being so richly peppered with real Brit history, I think it makes sense. When it comes to the larger mideival fantasy genre again most of the structural ideas come from British history, or at least are our easist recognized examples, ie heraldry, feudalism, chivalry etc..., so using the Brit accent helps to put you in that frame of mind. However, I have never understood why this extends to non-mideival fantasy, or specifically Classical settings. Why should Julius Ceasar have an Brit accent? I suppose it has its roots in Shakesperean theater, but it would take more time than I have to try to figure that one out.