Highlights
- Igon's iconic lines from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree took hundreds of attempts to record.
- Actor Richard Charles Lintern described this creative process as an "epic" undertaking unlike anything he had ever experienced.
- The actor was also completely oblivious to the immense popularity of his Igon performance—which spawned countless "curse you, Bayle" memes—up until recently.
Richard Charles Lintern, the actor who voiced Igon in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, had no idea how astonishingly popular his Bayle monologue was up until just recently. That's just one of several interesting tidbits from a new interview in which he reflected on his small but widely beloved contribution to the newly released Elden Ring expansion.
Many fans have praised Igon's Shadow of the Erdtree questline as one of the most memorable parts of the critically acclaimed DLC. That's largely because of Lintern's epic performance, which consistently sounds unbelievably unhinged and culminates in an epic "curse you, Bayle" monologue that his character delivers if the player summons him for the boss fight against Bayle the Dread at the top of the Jagged Peak.
Igon's Elden Ring: SOTE Lines Took Hours and Hundreds of Attempts to Record
But the sheer grandeur of this performance did not happen spontaneously, having instead been the result of endless iteration. That's according to Lintern himself, whose recent interview with IGN's Rebekah Valentine saw him reveal that his few lines required two recording sessions running for over five hours combined. While the English actor estimates that he could have done his Shadow of the Erdtree voice lines in approximately "seven minutes," the actual creative process ended up being extremely iterative, constantly alternating between feedback and (re-)recording, to the point that he ultimately had "hundreds" of takes.
Igon's Voice Actor Was Repeatedly Asked to 'Explode' Even More
This was all under the watchful eye of FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki, who Lintern reveals was present for both of his sessions. Although the two didn't communicate much directly due to the language barrier, the actor says Miyazaki was deeply involved in the feedback loop by poring over every recorded line with his creative team, including voice director Adam Chapman, whom he praised for easing him into his first-ever video game voice role. As for the recording process itself, the 61-year-old actor said basically all the feedback he received in between takes came down to Chapman asking him to "explode" even more.
Igon's Actor Was Oblivious to the Popularity of His Elden Ring: SOTE Performance Up Until Recently
Lintern also admitted he had no idea how popular his performance was until he was contacted by Valentine to do the interview. It was only then that he even learned what Igon looked like in the finished product, and saw a few snippets of the Shadow of the Erdtree boss fight against Bayle the Dread. He was also amused to see some of the many memes that his performance had inspired, including the viral "man literally too angry to die" image.
Lintern ultimately described his experience working with FromSoftware as utterly "epic," likening Igon to some of Shakespeare's characters that he played, not least because of how serious the creative process of bringing him to life was. The actor concluded he'd like to do more work in gaming, describing his small but instantly iconic contribution to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree as an "eye-opening" experience that offered him a glimpse of the possibilities that video game roles offer.
Base Game Elden Ring Platform(s) PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S Released June 21, 2024 Developer(s) FromSoftware Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment , FromSoftware Genre Soulslike , RPG Multiplayer Online Co-Op , Online Multiplayer ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Expand See at Official SiteSee at Playstation StoreSee at SteamSee at Xbox Games Store
