What do the darklords sound like?

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Igor the Henchman
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What do the darklords sound like?

Post by Igor the Henchman »

I've been curious as to what people here imagine darklords (and other important NPCs) to sound like? Not necessarily how you portray them in games, mind you, but what sort of voice do they have in your head, when you read a RL novel or a piece of fiction in a supplement or netbook? I'm really interested in seeing just how different they sound for each of us.

I'll start.

Azalin's normal voice, for me, is creaky and high-pitched, reminding of an old door slowly opened. In times when he wants to appear threatening, he can lower his voice to a whispered growl.

Strahd uses a rich bass-baritone. He has flawless, aristrocratic pronunciation, with just a little hint of an accent, very hard to place. In times where Strahd and Azalin converse, the Count has a clearly superior presence.

Lord Soth speaks with a perpetual whisper, intensified with the metallic echo of his helmet. When he needs to raise his voice, the echo intensifies accordingly.

Adam's voice is a deep bass. When angered, it turns into a strong whispered growl, similar to what Batman sounds like in Batman Begins.

Malken and Tristen both share the same rich tenor voice, but where Tristen's diction is noble and clear, Malken mangles his own, using low, heavily nasal vowels, reminding of the miawling of a fat cat.

Ivana uses a high-pitched teenager voice, which she may turn from softly bored to caressing to ice-cold threatening.

Jaqueline Renier's voice is in the lowest range for women, but what she lacks in natural beauty, she makes up in fluidity and refinement.

Elena Faith-Hold's voice is high-pitched and youthful, despite her years. When angered, she shrieks.

Anton Misroi has a highly musical bass. His afro-american accent contrasts with the smooth refinement of his speech.

Toben the Many's voice is very high-pitched and ghost-like. When playing mind-games with people (which he nearly always does in a conversation), his voice becomes caressing, almost feminine, greatly contrasting with his horrid appearence. All of his host bodies adopt this one voice, leading to a startling effect when he speaks through several mouths at once.
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Re: What do the darklords sound like?

Post by Jasper »

Azalin is think of having a voice very close to Christopher Lee. Deep, powerfull and easly going from a simple conversation tone to a full commanding roar.

Strahd is picture as having a very heavy deep voice while not having perfect diction (he was a soldier after all) having a very old feel to it. If you ever played VTM: Bloodlines I picture his voice matching that of the Taxi driver at the end.

Lord Soth is allways in a sort of echo like your hearing it from the back of a cave. A very breathy with a hint of refinement.

Adam is and allways will be Michael T. Weiss. He did the vocie of the nameless one on Planscape: Torment

Malken and Tristen I see having a very high born proper sort of queens english sort of voice.

Ivana I think would sound like Catherine Zeta Jones. Sucuctive, alluring but with a hint of anger in it at all times.

Hazlik I would have as a very high and winny voice. Allmost Andy Dick level in annoyance

Vlad has only one voice in my mind- Alan Rickman. They fit so well together.
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Post by Jester of the FoS »

I always picture Anton Misroi as Peter Cushing. His portrait in Domains of Dread really reminds me of him. But Dance of the Dead's author likens him to Timothy Dalton so that springs readily to mind too.

Malken I would make quiet and soothing, like a cat's purr. Smooth and low -like a whisper- and even calming.
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Post by Pariah »

Liches always throw me off when thinking of voices for them for some reason...ancient undead with immense power, lack of lips..do their voices change from their original? When I think of Azalin I think of something suave and soothing...the calm and non-passionate sounding villain.

Strahd is very much the deep voice, but not ridiculously so. I'd imagine he'd perfect his aristocratic diction and such (he has the time afterall, and as a spellcaster it could simply be a stepping stone to arcane spells/come naturally after the difficulties of spellcasting annunciation).

Ivana would definately be silky, but typically cold and dispassionate. I'd imagine her to be a big princess in most matters, grown up but still with that childish nature to have people do everything for her. Of course, she'd still be able to become seductive or caring...or basically whatever is needed at the time, she is an aristocrat after all.

Drakov I definately picture as deep and rumbling...there's a character in a movie he reminds me of intensely, but I just can't remember the character, movie, or actor :? Or perhaps it was a game...but I imagine he'd be like that bad guy from Mulan (it's 4am here...), except...not a loser (well, I guess the misfortune of the guy's defeat would sort of match Drakov's curse...losing a war because of a random girl who broke the law...anyway..onward)

I'd imagine Godefroy as a very angry British noble, snarling and growling due to his situation and lost power. Yet - as always - capable of changing his tone (or at least restraining it) if he really wants to (probably to decieve people). Undead Cabbage did it well in his campaign when I was one of his players (he went overboard a few times with the spitting though :wink: )
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Post by Hallow »

Azalin=Corey Taylor
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Post by HuManBing »

The way I portray Strahd is a regal Anglo accent, with a hint of an Eastern European accent, but with the choice of words to be dignified. Generally, he is courteous, as he takes the time and trouble to manipulate the living to his will.

Azalin is a character with many more important things on his mind. I portray him with a more or less entirely flat and emotionless voice, redolent of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I use a slight Anglo accent for Azalin. His current condition is much farther from a normal human than Strahd's, and he has started to forget the sensations of being one. When portraying him, I think of a somewhat alien being who is pretending to be human, but missing little things here and there - like forgetting to blink occasionally.

Vlad Drakov's voice I believe is actually described in one of the 2nd edition sourcebooks as low and gravelly. I imagine him having a very foreign East European/Russian accent, which is perfect for most of my adventures because my PCs never wish to be native Falkovnians themselves :wink:

Accents can be great tools to get a characteristic across to your players. I lived in Britain for 11 years, in three different locations and each had a different accent that I can passably imitate (especially to a non-Brit). One of the memorable villains from my homebrew campaign is a cowardly farmboy-turned-orc-tribe-translator, and he spoke various languages to help unite the orc tribe... but he spoke Common with a nasty Scouser accent. Made my players really want to wring his neck :D
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Post by Undead Cabbage »

I'd imagine Godefroy as a very angry British noble, snarling and growling due to his situation and lost power. Yet - as always - capable of changing his tone (or at least restraining it) if he really wants to (probably to decieve people). Undead Cabbage did it well in his campaign when I was one of his players (he went overboard a few times with the spitting though Wink
Hey, that was once, and with a different character than Godefroy. My condolences for Shannons floor...But thank you, Pariah.

Godefroy I envisioned as actually having one of the most powerful voices among the Darklords. He has a rediculously high Charisma, he loves to badger people into obedience, and he's always throwing his weight (albeit, he technically doesn't weigh anything) around. Sort of like if Brian Cox were ever to play Bill Sykes. Everything he says should somehow make the players feel smaller.
Liches always throw me off when thinking of voices for them for some reason...ancient undead with immense power, lack of lips..do their voices change from their original? When I think of Azalin I think of something suave and soothing...the calm and non-passionate sounding villain.
Azalin is a character with many more important things on his mind. I portray him with a more or less entirely flat and emotionless voice, redolent of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I use a slight Anglo accent for Azalin. His current condition is much farther from a normal human than Strahd's, and he has started to forget the sensations of being one. When portraying him, I think of a somewhat alien being who is pretending to be human, but missing little things here and there - like forgetting to blink occasionally.
My first reaction is that Azalin would actually have a commanding voice, but when you think of it he simply wouldn't care enough.

I always pictured Hazlik as having the stereotypical pedophile voice. Hissing and soft; the creepy old man.

Dominic (I'm a little surprised no one brought him up) I saw as never to commanding when he can be subtle, and never to quiet when he can be forward. He's very good at understanding people, and any conversation with him gives the illusion that he is definately on your side. Dominic is very capable of using synonyms appropriately: when he says diminuitive, he means diminuitive and not merely small. He's also able to perfectly fit his accent to whatever the PCs will best understand; despite living in Dementlieu he wouldn't have the french accent unless the PCs spoke to him in one. I'm afraid I can't think of an actor to fit him though.
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Post by Irving the Meek »

When I'm writing dialog for Azalin, he's always very sarcastic. (He also has the bad habit of doodling on just about anything he writes - his directives and letters are filled with Gorey-esque cartoons in the margins. It's hard to focus on just one thing when you're that intelligent.)

Vocally, he can be very smooth and charismatic when he sets his mind to it - think The Master, from classic Dr. Who. He knows how to play an audience. In his "natural", undead dtate, he burbles and rasps a great deal more.
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Post by Jester of the FoS »

I always picture Azalin as a deep, inhuman voice. Cold and without any warmth yet occasionally magically altered when he needs to appear human.
Honestly, most of the time I imagine Darth Vader...
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Post by Drinnik Shoehorn »

Strahd has a deep rich voice, with a strong Eastern European accent, but one that doesn't affect his pronunciation.

Hazlik I play like Ian MacKellen. Soft, but commanding and with the barest hint of compassion (he does truly care for Elani, after all).

Azalin I play with a mocking, sarcastic tone, harsh and grating. He knows he's better than everyone, and likes them to know it. Read his notes in the Gaz's, he likes to point out how ineffectual other Darklords are and poke fun at S.

Soth is Christopher Lee. Watch Soul Music, Death's voice is Soth.
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Post by Brandi »

Undead Cabbage wrote: I always pictured Hazlik as having the stereotypical pedophile voice. Hissing and soft; the creepy old man.
Well, this just opened up a pretty can of worms. :?
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Re: What do the darklords sound like?

Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Igor the Henchman wrote:Anton Misroi has a highly musical bass. His afro-american accent contrasts with the smooth refinement of his speech.
Interesting. Is Misroi black in your games?
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

I've always pictured Harkon Lukas as Ian Anderson as a young man (he's the lead singer of Jethro Tull), both visually and aurally. (A short Lukas with crazy red-brown hair? Well, why not?)

For Strahd, something James Earl Jones-esque.

For Azalin, Christopher Lee as Saruman. (That's another that fits physically, too.)

Most other darklords don't really generate much of a aural image for me, really.
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Re: What do the darklords sound like?

Post by Igor the Henchman »

DeepShadow wrote:
Igor the Henchman wrote:Anton Misroi has a highly musical bass. His afro-american accent contrasts with the smooth refinement of his speech.
Interesting. Is Misroi black in your games?
Never featured him in my games, but when I visualize the character, I tend to see him as a Baron Samedi wannabe of sorts. Definitely at least some black ancestry.

I must mention that my reading imagination can be quite roguish at times. Sometimes my mind adds surprising details to the character descriptions as I read, even supplanting bits and pieces at times. I think that's why some of my voice picks might appear surprising to some people. I mean, there's no earthly reason why Toben the Many should sound like GIR from Invader Zim, but somehow, when I read the VRGttWD, he does. Only within my head, though, not in my games.
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Post by Dominique »

Like pretty much eveyrone else, I see Strahd as having a deep, regal voice with perfect diction and an Eastern European accent. He's Bela Lugosi.

Soth, being Vader, is James Earl Jones. 'Nuff said.

I play Hazlik with a voice more or less the way it's described in the Gaz: an old man's voice, thick and phlegmy. I do pitch it pretty low to keep it from being stereotypically gay.

Malken speaks in a very pinched, nasal tone that I certainly didn't rip off from Hannibal Lecter. :wink:

The Hive Queen speaks in a very low-pitched hiss that rises to a shriek when she gets angry.

Lemot Sediam Juste has a very high-pitched, almost feminine voice. He talks too fast, trying to get through his annoying interactions with the characters walking around on his stage as quickly as possible so he cna get back to writing his plays.

And Sodo, of course, is just fun to play . . .

I think those are the only DLs I've played who have distinctive voices.

EDIT: Completing sentences is a good thing.
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