Richard Charles Lintern remembers what it was like to meet Hidetaka Miyazaki. Though he had never heard of the man until the day he recorded his voice role in Elden Ring, the game director made one heck of an impression:
“I walked in the [recording studio], and there were at least 12 or 15 people in the room,” Lintern recalls. “Mr. [Hidetaka] Miyazaki was there. So we shook hands, but he largely didn’t communicate with me in English. Other people did…a man called Adam Chapman, who was the voice director on the piece for me, works with a company called Fire Poets – I want to sing his praises just for a moment or two, because it’s quite intimidating when you walk into that room and there is clearly a god of the gaming world there.
“Now, I’m not entirely stupid, but I had not heard of Mr. Miyazaki before. I didn’t know the game, and I didn’t know the status of the game, and I didn’t know his status. But when I walked into the room, his status was very clear, very clear immediately. Everyone was very friendly, but at the same time, I could see that this was a bigger deal than I’d imagined it was going to be. And Adam, to his immense credit, took me under his wing and said, ‘Look, this is what they’re going to look for. This is what you need to do. Be open to moving in different ways with the character. No one’s quite sure what they’re going to end up with, but it’s a journey that we go on together.’”
Lintern was there to record the role of Igon, a new character added in Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree who’s become a beloved community icon thanks to Lintern’s performance. Specifically, everyone loves a monologue he delivers when summoned to aid the player in the fight against Bayle the Dragon, an absolutely massive beast who Igon utterly loathes.
“CURSE YOU, BAYLE!”
“Man literally too angry to die,” he reads. “Is that me? That’s genius.”
I’m not the only one who’s been showing Lintern Igon memes. He tells me his son keeps sending references and asking him what “Curse you, Bayle,” means, but up until now Lintern hasn’t had a helpful answer. Lintern tells me he knows better than to name search himself online, but between his agent and his son, he’s seen enough positive feedback to know his role was well-received. And he’s certainly up for more video game roles in the future, he says, even if the intensity level is similarly dialed up to 5,000.
“I remember thinking for quite a few days afterwards, ‘That was quite an intense experience,’” Lintern concludes. “It was very mysterious. Mr. Miyazaki was a very mysterious character, but it was enjoyable. It felt creative, and it felt engaged. And I didn’t quite know what I was doing, but I knew that I’d had fun doing it. Put it that way.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
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