The actor behind Shadow of the Erdtree's best NPC didn't think videogame voice acting was all that until 'mysterious' Miyazaki opened his eyes

If you've been anywhere on Elden Ring's corner of the internet recently, you'll have almost certainly been bombarded with the sound clip of a man screaming the words, "Curse you, Bayle." 

I've seen it enough times that despite not fighting Bayle the Dread yet, I feel like I've experienced the highs and lows of that battle a thousand times. But if you haven't encountered the fight—or the NPC called Igon who utters the actual words—then all you need to know is that he's an angry drake warrior in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree hellbent on killing the fearsome dragon Bayle the Dread. 

Spoilers for Igon's questline below. 

In an interview with IGN, the actor behind this recognisable voice, Richard Charles Lintern, discussed what he made of working in videogame voice acting for the first time, and his experience working with FromSoftware.  

"I had never engaged, or been used, or tried to be used, or even thought of myself as a possibility for use in voice work in the gaming world," Lintern says. "And once you open that door, it's been a real revelation for me, actually. I've been astonished about how worldwide it is, how enormous it is. I had kind of imagined that the world of TV and film and theater was the largest grossing, or most important, or whatever. And my eyes have been opened, not even by the work on Elden Ring, but by the response to it, and the scope of the reach." 

FromSoftware is no stranger to having iconic voice actors lend their art and soul to roles small and large alike. One of my favourite characters in Elden Ring so far has to be the exceedingly Welsh Albus the Albinauric, who I stumbled upon in Liurnia of the Lakes. While I only spoke with him for a short few minutes as he gave me directions to another half of a medallion that I could use to reach the Haligtree, I felt like voice actor Martyn Ellis gave the performance of a lifetime before his character kicked the bucket right in front of me. But honestly, Lintern's voice acting for Igon is a whole different level of passion. 

"In the case of the character that I played in Elden Ring, it was from naught to 5,000," Lintern says. "He was a long way away. He was either dead, or dying, or recovering. I'm standing there with my arms outstretched. I don't think I even knew that Bayle was a dragon. I think I might've thought Bayle was a person. But I'm giving it as much as I possibly can, vocally, emotionally, neck stretching, vocal cords ripping, everything."

The aftermath of Lintern's five hours spent working with FromSoftware was apparently quite visceral, as the voice actor reflected on just how much the role took out of him: "I remember thinking when I left: A, I'm exhausted. That's never happened to me before. I'm absolutely, my voice is wrecked and I'm physically exhausted, and I'm emotionally exhausted as well. B, that was quite an experience."

I 100% believe that the experience of recording these lines was a strenuous one, but luckily it paid off as Lintern has made such an impressive impact on the community. Apart from the countless edits of Lintern's monologue that are floating around social media, loads of players are just expressing their overall love for the character Igon.

"Igon is the best NPC in the game," one player says on Reddit. "He is mortally wounded and still keeps making weapons to fight Bayle again, all while crawling his way towards the Jagged peak. He then cuts off his own finger, knowing that he cannot make it to the peak alive, just so we can summon his soul to kill Bayle AFTER he has died. The guy is a fucking legend." 

I actually wish there was a way to make him into a Spirit Ash after you defeat Bayle, just so I could have a few more adventures with him, as he really is an unforgettable personality. But I understand that with Bayle gone, his journey truly has come to an end, and no one deserves a break more than this guy. 

"I remember feeling rather foolish at one point," Lintern continues. "About an hour or two in, there was one line where I said something like, 'You are defeated. I triumph over you.' And then the next line on the piece of paper was, 'So you have defeated me.' And I remember saying something like, 'I think there's a mistake on the script thing here, because one minute he wins and the next minute he loses.' And there was this awkward pause on the other side of the screen. And eventually, someone came back to me saying, 'It's a video game, Richard. Sometimes you defeat the beast, and sometimes the beast defeats you. We need both options.' I hadn't thought about that." 

But despite a little confusion, it really seems like Lintern enjoyed his time working with FromSoftware. "I remember thinking for quite a few days afterwards, 'That was quite an intense experience,'" he says. "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."

As a fan and someone who's just been listening to his fantastic monologue for about a week now I'm happy to hear that despite its toll the experience was a positive one, as hopefully it'll mean we'll get to enjoy his dramatic acting all over again in a different role in the future.