The redguards voice. : V - Skyrim

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:45 am

I still think that it was very possible, even probable that an underlying reason they chose to do it was for social acceptance reasons in the real world. You get major brownie points in society if you incorporate some sort of message of equality that favors minorities into your works. And yes, that is an oxymoron, but that's just how it works.

Edit: I'm not stating anything as a fact, and I may even be 95% off, but I'm sure there is some truth that sprouts from this in some direction.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:16 am

In response to this, I'll repeat what I said before. I think it covers things well.

As someone who is both knowledgable of Redguard lore and an African himself I think I'm qualified to respond to this:

Like most elder scrolls races, redguards are superficially based off of a real life culture. While they diverge in many ways, Redguards are, at their core, a fusion of african / arab cultures. Everything from their language, which is a cross between african and arab sounding words (Hoonding, Alikir, Yokuda, Ansei, I even saw a name in a book that literally translated to something arabic) to their clothing, and their facial structure are based off of these two cultures. Now consider this:

The games Redguard, Morrowind, and Oblivion all used an African voice actor. It wasn't anything offensive, you could just tell by the sound of his vocal cords.

Many races have distinct accents in this game. Redguards could easily have been given an african / arab accent.

I'm pretty sure some of the orcs have black voice actors. How is that less offensive than giving black people black voice actors?

Do you know for sure that the voice-actor for Skyrim is Caucasian? I've met a lots of Black people who didn't sound black at all, I don't have a problem with it in Elder Scrolls. Of course, variety is always welcomed, and I'm sure we will get it in the next TES, judging by the financial success of Skyrim. Atleast they have 3-Dawg in the game

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:20 pm

Holy crap. I didn't trudge through this entire thread - I admit it - but while I agree with the idea that Redguards don't need to sound like black Americans, they probably should have some sort of African accent. They certainly physically seem to look more African than Arab - in fact don't look Arab at all to me. Perhaps some sort of North African accent, given that they have a black African appearance but hail from an arid land?

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:17 am

In Fallout New Vegas...I know I know, it wasn't Bethesda...there was a couple white guys voiced by black voice actors. And in Skyrim there's an 11-year-old girl who said "in all my years..." I think they just have every VA read every line in the game and then hit the "randomize" button.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:29 am

Not that I don't agree with you. But where was it in history when certain people were refered to as vermin? Funny, I can't seem to put my finger on it.

Edit: Oh yeah, it was every point of human oppresion, "sixual assault", and genocide in recorded history.

You want me to use a different word? I don't like those type of people. Just like I don't like white-trash people, overly religous people, etc. Alot of them bring more harm than good to society. I'm not saying that all Blacks in America are like that, but a large portion is.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:37 am

Do you know for sure that the voice-actor for Skyrim is Caucasian? I've met a lots of Black people who didn't sound black at all, I don't have a problem with it in Elder Scrolls. Of course, variety is always welcomed, and I'm sure we will get it in the next TES, judging by the financial success of Skyrim. Atleast they have 3-Dawg in the game

Even if this was true, an accent or SOMETHING would have been nice, and as I said, people of african descent have different voval cords than those of white people, regardless of their accent or dialect.

In response to what Daggerfall said, I undersrand the explanation you're trying to give but it's a stretch.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:29 am

Holy crap. I didn't trudge through this entire thread - I admit it - but while I agree with the idea that Redguards don't need to sound like black Americans, they probably should have some sort of African accent. They certainly physically seem to look more African than Arab - in fact don't look Arab at all to me. Perhaps some sort of North African accent, given that they have a black African appearance but hail from an arid land?

Perhaps they should have Brazilian, Jamaican and Latino accents too, because there are alot of Black people in those parts of the world as well.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:40 pm

Well, not all Black people are the stereotypical trashy, uneducated, low-class vermin that you have in America. Those give other Blacks a bad name. And Redguards aren't of African descent, so they aren't obligated to have any cultural, racial, physical, etc, similarities to Blacks.

Okay, see, when I read this all I can interpret as saying is just "Black people are fine, it's just black Americans that svck." That might well not be at all what you meant, but that's what it seems to say to me.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:12 pm

Perhaps they should have Brazilian, Jamaican and Latino accents too, because there are alot of Black people in those parts of the world as well.

Granted, but in addition to having the physical appearance of being black, Redguard culture and language bears some similarity to Arab/North African culture - at least in a superficial way, much as Nord culture is superficially very Norse/Scandinavian. To me that would make a North African accent perhaps the most logical of accents for Redguards in TES.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:12 am

You want me to use a different word? I don't like those type of people. Just like I don't like white-trash people, overly religous people, etc. Alot of them bring more harm than good to society. I'm not saying that all Blacks in America are like that, but a large portion is.

I don't like them either, lol but I just thought I'd mention that.

In response to what Daggerfall said, I undersrand the explanation you're trying to give but it's a stretch.

Understood, and I could be wrong. Could have been just another thing the devs slacked on. Typically though, there's always some sort of social agenda involved, whether pushing boundaries or trying to erase them altogether subconsciously.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:05 am

You want me to use a different word? I don't like those type of people. Just like I don't like white-trash people, overly religous people, etc. Alot of them bring more harm than good to society. I'm not saying that all Blacks in America are like that, but a large portion is.

Oh great, here we go. I'm going to say this once, then I want us to get back on topic: if you were a slave race that was treated like cattle / six toys for centuries without being allowed to be educated, and for decades after told you were an inferior being that can't do anything right, I think the majority of your people would be that "large portion" you're speaking of. Not saying what you said wasn't true, nor that we should excuse the people who are that "large majority", but the way you're speaking just soinds ignorant and repulsive from where I'm sitting. Moving on.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:14 pm

Well, I disagree with the assertion that "most" or the "large majority" of black people are thugs. I'm just about the last person anybody could call either politically correct or liberal, but by no means are the majority of black Americans "trash" or "thugs" or anything like that.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:50 pm

Well, I disagree with the assertion that "most" or the "large majority" of black people are thugs. I'm just about the last person anybody could call either politically correct or liberal, but by no means are the majority of black Americans "trash" or "thugs" or anything like that.

Thank you for your reasonable and level-headed response. No, back on topic.
Edit: In a cynical way, it always makes me laugh how few forums on the internet can focus on redguards without stuff like this happening. Look up "redguard names"'and you'll see what I mean haha

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:05 am

Redguard voices are awful.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:02 pm

I don't remember them being too bad in Skyrim, although I admit that I don't run into too many Redguards in Skyrim...but while they obviously got black people to voice the Redguards in Oblivion, they were black Americans, and I just got sick of American voices in that game. It undermined the atmosphere a bit too much. What I don't get is that they'll let somebody with a generic Midwestern "You can't tell where I come from except that I'm American" voice do voiceover work in fantasy games, but you know full well they'd never let anybody with even a hint of a Southern accent, New England accent or Brooklyn accent get within a mile of doing VO for the game.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:09 am

This thread seems to be incredibly active. Here is the thing. It seems many people though I want the african american voice back in the next game. That's not the case. I said many times that I want the redguards to be voiced by middle easten/ Native Africans in the next game. Just to clear this up.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:05 am

And I agree. It makes the most sense given their physical appearance and the lore describing Hammerfell as a desert land.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:49 am

And I agree. It makes the most sense given their physical appearance and the lore describing Hammerfell as a desert land.

I know. Personally I hope for the next game to be in Hammerfell. It might bring the arabic/Native african voice some of us here wants.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:09 am

I don't want to sound racist but I think the Redguards voice is a bit of. On otherwords. It's strange that a white person is voice acting as the redguards..... What about you?

I always assumed Redguards are based off of Arabs, not South-Africans. Arabs are considered Caucasian, so it doesn't really seem out of place for me

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:04 am

I always assumed Redguards are based off of Arabs, not South-Africans. Arabs are considered Caucasian, so it doesn't really seem out of place for me

Well, their physical appearance is that of a black African, while their culture (what little bit of it I can tell) seems very loosely derived from Arabic culture. That's why I said having a North African accent might be the best compromise, because there you find, as far as I can tell, a real mix of the cultures of both black Africa and the Arab world.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:14 am

I remember the exact moment when I realized the redguards voices were wrong. Walked up to this big redguard with dreads, started a conversation with him and when he spoke, I literally cringed.

I am actually in the process of going through all the voice files in the game for a video series I'm working on and there are 103 voice folders. Redguards dont have their own voice. Its a bit irritating and astonishing when looking at all the folders because there are so many lesser NPC factions that have their own voice while an entire race is swept aside. I was also hoping for a middle eastern/african accent for the redguards.

...and some people in this thread are seriously way off topic. Annoying when a legitimate thread gets locked because of people like that.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:04 am

I remember the exact moment when I realized the redguards voices were wrong. Walked up to this big redguard with dreads, started a conversation with him and when he spoke, I literally cringed.

I am actually in the process of going through all the voice files in the game for a video series I'm working on and there are 103 voice folders. Redguards dont have their own voice. Its a bit irritating and astonishing when looking at all the folders because there are so many lesser NPC factions that have their own voice while an entire race is swept aside. I was also hoping for a middle eastern/african accent for the redguards.

...and some people in this thread are seriously way off topic. Annoying when a legitimate thread gets locked because of people like that.

Well that explains it, and makes you wonder then on what the real voice actors where for the Redguards.

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:08 am

I know but in Oblivion they were voiced by an african American and their skin is dark so I figured It would make sence for them to have an african like accent. and I heard their culture is based on Morocco. Atleast they should have an Arab like accent,

For that matter, everybody should speak an alien language, and you have to play the whole game with subtitles. /sarcasm

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:26 am

Annoying when a legitimate thread gets locked because of people like that.

That's exactly what happened to me when I brought up an intelligable thread concerning the lack of gay couples in Skyrim, and how it didn't make sense because if the player could marry the same six, you'd think that'd be more common amongst the culture.

What it all amounts to is you either critique the game (or Bethesda) and get bashed by f@nboys, child-minds, and contrarians, or you behave like one of them to avoid a flame war, and walk away from your computer disagreeing with them in your head.

Edit: Seriously? F a n b o y is a censored word here? Am I going to offend someone by hitting them with the truth?

» Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:00 am

Use yo magination cracka