Ancient city-sized dragon that is eons older that any surviving historical text or man-made structures in the world, speaking to the dwarf that stands bravely before her: “Well ain’t chu just the most precious lil’ thang I ever did lay eyes on! Wut’s yer name, sugah?”
Yer here ta kill me? Oh, honey, bless yer heart!
My papy were what you would call an elder dragon, so unless you got the fire power to take down Mrs. Tiamat you don’t stand a chance against me, sugah.
So why don’t you just cool your heels, I’ll go make us some tea, and you can tell me about what’s going on in the world these days.
No one decided that, if you’re looking at Tolkien based fantasy then of course it’s British because it’s British fantasy
All of the Asian fantasy I’ve seen has been populated by people of their respective country.
Everyone knows the Grim Reaper is Jamaican
This post is stupid, just write your desired fantasy
True. I never interpreted those all caps as having an accent, I just had them as words so heavy you heard them with your bones, not your ears.
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This Jamaican Grim Reaper thing might have some merit
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He doesn’t sound very Jamaican to me
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Yesh. This is so cringe.
Not to mention the history and lore of such things are immense in well-documented European and Asian history. The majority of that fantasy stuff comes from ancient cultures and societies peppered around those geographical areas. I’m sure that would be much the same everywhere if it weren’t for the lack of it being so heavily documented.
I don’t want none of them there dragons yonder.
Got daym goblins stole mah moonshine.
I tell you what them there walking skeletons ain’t right.
Yeah man talkin bout dang ol 𝔖𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔘𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔡 and back o’ the dang ol cave man. Talkin about fighting off dang ol skeletons with my bb gun man and dang ol sunuvaguns just come right back man. Just ain’t right.
The correct voice order tonread this thread: Dale, Bill, Hank, Boomhauer.
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I reckon
This gave me an idea for a fantasy dramedy about hobbit moonshiners. Unfortunately, I’m not a writer so if anyone wants to take my four word pitch and run with it please do
Hey! We don’t take kindly to dragons 'round here!
What better way to break immersion than have your quest giver start screaming GO ON GIT
This is some Bollywood shit
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It would be funny we had a fantasy world where twang accents are considered posh while British accents are considered casual like just imagine a knight saying “I’ma gonna go kill dis here dragon”.
Why so much room for activities on this image?
cropping hard
It’s free real-estate.
American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
I’m all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.
New England accent is actually closest to English of the Middle Ages.
I heard it was Southern English which was closest to Elizabethan English.
In any case, reality doesn’t matter. Perceptions matter. Britain is an old country, and America is a new country - so in ‘translating’ an accent to a past period, we tend to see the accent of the ‘old country’ as more appropriate.
Pahk the caht.
Dahn ehn Cahmahlaht.
I wonder how they measure such a thing
I’m not sure how they measure how close an accent is. But, they can tell how old accents sounded by looking at songs and poetry for the meter and rhyme of words. If two words rhymed, they were probably pronounced the same way. For example, in Shakespeare’s time they know that “proved” and “loved” rhymed.
well for one from times and places where there was a lot of casual writing there are just straight up people writing about how people speak, which is pretty convenient.
but additionally you can compare different recorded and modern speakers to figure out trends which let you at least vaguely reconstruct what people from the past would probably have sounded like.
and more specifically with new england that’s just wholesale a bunch of people from england who settled a colony, so you effectively have a twin study where you can compare it to modern england.
American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed
Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the “r” sound), but that’s very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare’s time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like “pirate English”.
https://youtu.be/uQc5ZpAoU4c?t=299
Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare’s English is a matter for debate. I’d say it’s closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.
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That may be true for regional us dialects, but the core of American pronunciation is older than Received Pronunciation
Actually, modern American English apparently is closer to the English from old days than modern day British English is. Always found that to be an interesting tidbit.
Shakespeare apparently rhymes better in American accents than British ones, since it was written before the Great Vowel Shift. I’m not cultured enough to notice but I like this piece of trivia.
Same with the Quebec French
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This is actually a misconception. The modern English accents are a result of fashionable language of London. This developed after the United States of America was formed. So after the Middle ages. It’s more likely English speakers in the middle ages sounded more American than English.
American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
OP mentions Australia, which wasn’t even established as a penal colony until 5 years after the US was recognized as an independent nation under the Treaty of Paris.
Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.
Because its fantasy no ones fantasising about American accents.
I feel like the existence of Matthew McConaughey disproves this
Alright, alright, alright.
That’s what I love about interstellar travel, everyone else gets older, I stay the same age.
He would make a good Gandalf in the future versions of the franchise
The rule says that no one is fantasizing about American accents, but I see a lot of lawbreakers up in this house
Why not? American culture and linguistics are extremely popular around the world.
Maybe since modern America is so young, people dont associate it to fantasy?
Alternatively, Native American accents aren’t uncommon in fantasy I feel like
Yeah sure buddy, “American Culture” is extremely popular. It isn’t that you people just try to appropriate the culture of the migrants lol
Damn, someone got you with a downvote within 3 minutes of posting. That shit was quick, didn’t think the Fediverse got down like that. Wasn’t me for the record
But, you don’t believe the “American Culture” is popular? I’d be real interested in a counter argument to the fact it is popular. It’s pretty easy to show that American media and politics are pretty discussed or enjoyed around the world.
And I’m not sure what you mean about us appropriating from migrants. Do you consider every American a migrant due to the fact that America is so young?
Something like the last thing you said. I mean they killed most of their natives and the traditions they had, I’m sure there’s even more latinos there that there is people decending from the native nations.
So if their “culture” didn’t came from their own land, then from where? People who came there: Migrants.
Edit: Mispellings (if it isn’t clear enough, english is not my first language lol).
What else do they have? Their whole nation is based on mass immigration from other countries
Touché
hollywood and americas massive industry has effectively given it a chokehold on western culture, to the point where western culture practically just means ‘cultures that take their cue from the usa’
But the USA has no real culture, what culture are they exporting if not for the ones they’re stealing? Lol
@Belzebubulubu All of Jazz plus Rock and Roll and Hip Hop?
I imagine it’s because Americans use foreign accents to make the fantasy more foreign itself. If the wizard who cast a spell to alter the passage of time starts talking like the dude that runs the gas station on the corner, maybe it takes away some of the magic.
Good point, Avatar is basically US Marines in spaaaaace vs. spaaaace Pocahontas sci-fi/fantasy.
Orc: “Y’all lil fellers in the wrong gotdam place I reckon. You boys jus’ git on up in them rocks and take them panties right off.”
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Pretty sure because the “original” fantasy was written as a false history for England (LoTR was this). So it makes sense that the people would bear an English accent
I hope one day we can have a (respectful) mainstream fantasy world for Native America, It could be so cool.
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but most characters in A Wizard of Earthsea resemble Native Americans.
Do the books have accents?
I’ll admit I haven’t read them, but I imagine the original version was British English with all the extra U’s and such.
Could be Canadian.
@WoodenBleachers But his sources were Norse, primarily, so by extension the argument can be made that the characters should all have Scandinavian accents.
That’s cool. I wouldn’t mind fantasy characters having accents (it’s fantasy after all) just providing context for why it’s predominantly English
No, only folks that never read what Tolkien said about LotR think it is a fake History for England.
I read the Silmarillion, he was sad about the fact that England had no real “mythology” so he made his own
Fantasy is based upon the middle ages.
During the middle ages the US did not exist.
Iroquois Confederacy would like a word…
The middle ages ended in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople, which coincided with the birth of the Renaissance in Italy having already taken place.
The Iroquois Confederacy was founded (most likely) in the 1500s, with the earliest record of the first capital being in 1609.
The United States itself was founded in the 1700s.
Their comment was correct, the Iroquois Confederacy was founded during the age of the Renaissance and our modern conception of America came much later
Yeah I was just being silly
How dare you
Also, why are all dwarfs Scottish?
Because both are proud and mountanious nations?
Apparently, Tolkien’s dwarven language just naturally works well with a Scottish accent. Earlier radio, tv, readings leant into this and other writings including fantasy dwarves followed suit.
It just sounds right.
Dwarves have American accents in Dragon Age!
Because they save money on the makeup budget
I lol’d.
You can’t pick a Scottish accent for your character in Baldurs Gate 3 and now my Dwarf just sounds British. It sounds, well… off
Because New Zealand is a fantasy hence why it doesn’t exist on many world maps.
Let’s see.
Dwarves: Billy-Bob Thornton’s accent from Sling Blade.
Elves: Transatlantic accent. Used by stars in the 1930s/1940s.
Hobbits: Cajun. Makes sense, they love food, live a rural life, etc.
Orcs: NYC accent
Goblins: Chicago Accent
Or, if you wanted to go international.
Dwarves: Gotta go with the classic. Glasgow.
Elves: South African. I think it can sound smart but foreign-influenced, as elves should.
Hobbits: Aussie
Orcs: NYC accent again
Goblins: Newfoundland accent
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Transatlantic for the elves is a stroke of fucking genius
Edit: I’d also like to advocate for southern Appalachian for hobbits, prohibition era gangsters for orcs, and Midwestern for Tom Bombadil specifically
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Most have Eurocentric accents because those are the areas the various legends and stories originated.
Various depictions of leprechauns make them pretty much Irish rednecks. I love Mad Sweeney’s depiction in American Gods.
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