Elan's voice

[Zeitgeist]

I have a lot of trouble imagining what Elan sounds like. He's the only one I just can't really get a good idea for.

Sometimes, I imagine him higher pitch, but I don't imagine that to be heroic. And then I realize his voice would be nearly identical to Nale's, and that doesn't fit at all. Plus, it doesn't seem very charismatic. I figure there should be at least some attractiveness in his voice.

I can't seem to imagine a voice that fits both Elan and Nale. I also have trouble putting Elan with a deeper voice.

Roy, Durkon, Belkar, and Haley are pretty easy (though Haley is pretty flexible, really). V might be tricky, but it's likely to be a very ambiguous voice. I can imagine most other NPCs in the comic. But Elan/Nale stump me. I just can't read some of their lines and actually put a consistent voice to them.

Thoughts?

[Darakonis]

Elan and Nale can have the same voice, but speak entirely differently.

Intonation, accent, pronunciation, pacing... These things aren't genetic.

I imagine Elan speaks somewhat like a child, while Nale sounds much more suave--but not nearly as suave a Tarquin ;)

Peace,
-Darakonis

[Sylthia]

I imagine him having a youthful voice somewhat like Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia.

[KingFlameHawk]

I imagine him having a youthful voice somewhat like Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia.

I would agree with this. He is the youngest I do believe (21 at start of Paladin Blues) so I always hear him with a young and energetic voice that is almost always happy. For Nale he would have the same base voice but presented differently, he would be either very calm or very angry and would probably sound a little older (because Nale would intentially be doing it to sound more intimidating).

[Zeitgeist]

I imagine him having a youthful voice somewhat like Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia.

I am not familiar with this voice. Anywhere I can hear it?

[Keejus]

I can imagine both him and Nale with the voice of Neil Patrick Harris.

[Barbin]

I always imagined Elan with the Highstrung evangelist voice from NVN 1&2.

[Katana_Geldar]

I imagine his voice to be rather high, like a falsetto almost.

[CrimsonAngel]

Imagine Johnny Depp and Jesse McCartney made a baby.

[NegativeFifteen]

I've always imagined him talking like Geddy Lee, the singer/bassist from Rush.

[wumpus]

I've always imagined him talking like Geddy Lee, the singer/bassist from Rush.

Wait, what? So if 6 traveler's met the necromancer, they might win?

In other news, Fafred originally was trained as a "singing" skald and sang falsetto. I think he sung hymns that way for Issak of the Jug. Elan is no Fafred, but it hardly puts that style out of reach.

[Sylthia]

To hear Lloyd's voice you could type Tales of Symphonia Flanoir to get one of the dialogues from the game. Lloyd's the guy in red with brown hair.

Though he had a different voice actor in the sequel that doesn't fit as well.

[Gift Jeraff]

I have oft thought about this as well. Yet, Elan and Nale do not sound alike in my head. In fact, Elan kinda sounds like Ralph Wiggum to me, and I don't know how to describe Nale but it's nothing like that. However, Nale sounds identical to Elan when he's impersonating him. Tarquin sounds like a deeper yet jollier version of Nale, but sounds like Elan at a few moments (namely the bottom row of #723 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0723.html) and "And jugglers!" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0727.html)).

[CletusMusashi]

Young musical heroes are pretty consistantly tenors.

[LuPuWei]

Long Post: 'cause I've thought alot about this, in fact, Elan moreso than any of the others.

On reading OotS, the voice in my head for Elan is always a happy, innocent, child- sort of like one of those generic hyperactive children from a present day nickelodeon cartoon.

However, here's why I've thought about it so much:

a) Zeitgeist, is right- it's not very heroic, and if he has so many women running after him a childlike voice and intonnation would be weird (not to mention extremely creepy for the Elan/Haley scenes). On the other hand, if his Charisma is high enough for him to woo women inspite of having an I-watch-Winnie-the-Pooh-and-squeal voice, that would be infinitely funnier.

b) I love to do the voices of characters in cartoons (and sometimes record them), which makes it all the more important to get a clear idea of what voice I'm going to use.

Roy is always dead-pan american hero, but not too deep.
Belkar at present is a choice between american snarker and going totally off the wall with a cheery Irish-leprechaun accent. (Its hilarious)
Durkon is a very down to earth and sincere scottish accent, not too gruff.
V is a light and hollow high-pitched british voice, which goes very well with indignation.
Haley I can't really do, not being good at female voices yet.

Now with Elan (because of the factors mentioned above, and because high-pitched voices are very taxing) I decided it might be funniest to actually play contrast. Given his archetype as a drama-oriented hero (especially because of the dashing swordsman bit) he should technically be a resonant (mid-way deep- not patrick Stewart) English voice- probably like Errol Flynn or Cary Elwes. This makes it easy to read both Elan and Nale, because the voice works well for a hero and a villain. For Nale it works straight, lending the right dramatic touch to his Villain-speeches, and for Elan it's a wonderful contrast when he says something stupid or decidedly uncharismatic. It underlines his ineptness all the more (not to mention making his bits with Haley a lot more believable and a lot less creepy)

Also, I would have recorded these and uploaded them, except- copyright and the inability to do a female voice.

[Ranzear]

I can imagine both him and Nale with the voice of Neil Patrick Harris.

Nailed it. I was also thinking Cary Elwes... both 'Princess Bride' Cary and 'Liar Liar' Cary.

[Temotei]

I always imagined Elan with the Highstrung evangelist voice from NVN 1&2.

Attack! I saaaaaayyyyyy, attack! :smallamused:

[Kris Strife]

Elan sounds like the Rooster from Disney's Robin Hood.

[Themrys]

I can't seem to imagine a voice that fits both Elan and Nale. I also have trouble putting Elan with a deeper voice.


Normal tenor voice for Elan and Nale, but completely different intonation.

It is difficult to describe but there is a kind of intonation that says "I am cute and harmless and want you to like me". I imagine that for Elan.

Alternatively, he could talk like people whose job is talking to people. This always happy, always nice kind of talking - only without the artificialness.
After all, his mother was (is?) a waitress.

[faustin]

My vote is for Patrick Harris for both Elan and Nale :smallbiggrin:

[Scarlet Knight]

Nailed it. I was also thinking Cary Elwes... both 'Princess Bride' Cary and 'Liar Liar' Cary.

That's funny, I also hear Cary Elwes, but as Nale I hear him from the "Jungle Book " and as Elan, I hear hm from "Men in Tights".

Prince John: "And why should the people follow you?"
Robin: "Because unlike other Robin Hoods, I have an English accent!"

[Barbin]

Attack! I saaaaaayyyyyy, attack! :smallamused:

I was going more along the lines of You are ssooooooo gonna feel some wrath!:smallamused:

[Zeitgeist]

In fact, Elan kinda sounds like Ralph Wiggum to me

See, I kind of want to go that route too. It fits with his lines and it would be funny. But at the same time, charismatic hero that all the ladies love?

Just doesn't work. I have two very conflicting ideas and can't find the average.

[M.A.D]

Roy is always dead-pan american hero, but not too deep.
Belkar at present is a choice between american snarker and going totally off the wall with a cheery Irish-leprechaun accent. (Its hilarious)
Durkon is a very down to earth and sincere scottish accent, not too gruff.
V is a light and hollow high-pitched british voice, which goes very well with indignation.
Haley I can't really do, not being good at female voices yet.

Wow, o.O These accents are the very same thing I've been having in mind!! Well, except for Roy, because ever since I imagined Eugene's voice as Samuel L. Jackson's, I haven't been able to think of how his son would sound like.

And for Haley, I imagined hers somewhat similar to Bonnie Hunt, the voice actress for Sally Carrera from Cars, albeit a ltiny bit higher

[Nerocite]

Justin Bieber. Young singer, High Cha, makes sense.

[Xefas]

Attack! I saaaaaayyyyyy, attack! :smallamused:

Oh god! :smalleek: I'm having horrible highstrung evangelist flashbacks! Aaaargh

I third the Neil Patrick Harris.

[Starscream]

Billy West.

That's Fry from Futurama, if you didn't know. He can do a ton of voices, but Fry is closest to his normal one.

I'm a big Futurama fan, and I think Elan and Fry have a lot in common. They are dim but noble, enthusiastic, immature without being completely childlike, and capable of genuine heroism when it's really called for. And you can understand why Haley/Leela would both love them and find them exasperating at the same time.

I actually got the idea for him sounding like that (I initially thought of him having more of a "kid voice" like many of you), when I read the first prequel book. There's a scene there where Elan is the squire of a paladin, and makes a big deal of announcing him to a bar full of bad guys. I had just seen the episode of JLU where Skeets does a similar announcement for Booster Gold (here's the clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Jycz6ZuyE)), and Skeets just happens to have Fry's voice.

It just clicked for me that it was a perfect match, at least in my head.

[faustin]

Justin Bieber. Young singer, High Cha, makes sense.

:smalleek::smalleek::smalleek::smalleek::smalleek: :smalleek::smalleek:
P.E: Where is the facepalm smilie when you need it?

[John Cribati]

Justin Bieber. Young singer, High Cha, makes sense.


:smalleek::smalleek::smalleek::smalleek::smalleek: :smalleek::smalleek:
P.E: Where is the facepalm smilie when you need it?

I think it's represented enough by :smallsigh:

[Swordpriest]

Since I (deliberately) know very few actors, my answer is likely to be kind of disappointing to most of the people here.

However, I picture him as having an earnest, cheerful tenor which is fairly vibrant when he sings. It's only the stupidity of what he's saying that makes it appalling to those near him.

Or so I imagine it. :smallsmile:

[ThePhantasm]

I imagine him having a voice somewhat like Alvin the Chipmunk.

Yes, I'm kidding.

[Dvandemon]

Billy West.

That's Fry from Futurama, if you didn't know. He can do a ton of voices, but Fry is closest to his normal one.

I'm a big Futurama fan, and I think Elan and Fry have a lot in common. They are dim but noble, enthusiastic, immature without being completely childlike, and capable of genuine heroism when it's really called for. And you can understand why Haley/Leela would both love them and find them exasperating at the same time.

I actually got the idea for him sounding like that (I initially thought of him having more of a "kid voice" like many of you), when I read the first prequel book. There's a scene there where Elan is the squire of a paladin, and makes a big deal of announcing him to a bar full of bad guys. I had just seen the episode of JLU where Skeets does a similar announcement for Booster Gold (here's the clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Jycz6ZuyE)), and Skeets just happens to have Fry's voice.

It just clicked for me that it was a perfect match, at least in my head.

You're making me compare Futurama to OoTS now :smallsigh::smallcool:
Elan/Fry
Haley/Leela
Bender/Belkar
etc.

[ZerglingOne]

Vash the Stampede from the English dub of Trigun. The same guy also voices Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, but Vash has a closer demeanor (when he's being silly) to Elan than Ichigo. It just fits for me.

@ post above me, Fry is a very good analogue to Elan, that works very well. Except that I don't think Fry could give a very inspiring (at first anyway) speech with his voice.

[Azuyomi244]

I can imagine both him and Nale with the voice of Neil Patrick Harris.

That actually fits perfectly. I hadn't thought of that :smallbiggrin:

[aart lover]

i imagine his voice to be somewhere between that of a tenor and an alto. although that should be pretty hard to imagine for you non-musical types:smalltongue:

[Jay R]

Ever since "Buddy Roy (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0445.html)", I've imagined him as Dennis Day, the tenor on the Jack Benny program.

Youthful, naive, confused, a bit simplistic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SwmiJ-phIg), but nonetheless a well-trained voice that can carry utter conviction (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWh0H0ExuPE).

[Dr.Epic]

Who else could you imagine? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yGeroywBuo)

[ThePhantasm]

Who else could you imagine? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yGeroywBuo)

That was spot-on.

[Gitman00]

That actually fits perfectly. I hadn't thought of that :smallbiggrin:

Oh, yes. That boy can sing, too. I heartily agree, especially after Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

[weckar]

This may all be resolved pretty soon. It's only a matter of time before plans for an animated series will arise.

[CorvusOmbra]

I have imagined Elan's speaking voice to be something between Billy West (as Fry in Futurama) and Jason Marsden in a role of a "youth" (Max Goof, Ajantis in Baldur's Gate, Myron in Fallout 2, etc.), only without that little strain that is due to having to speak in a voice wee bit higher than your normal pitch.

As for his singing voice, I imagine it to be not very large but very mellow and very, very lyric - something between this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ-0tGvDcAU) and Neil Young. Whether he is a lyric tenor, baritone-martin or a counter tenor I think he'd lack the kind of "pressurization" of voice essential in classical vocal technique (the way operatic singers sing), instead sounding like pop, folk or early music singers.

I also like to think that he has a barely noticeable irish accent.

[WinterRose]

I'm a voice actor that tried to get permission to do a fan-audio version of this together a while back. I was likely going to do Elan (Which I pronounce like the french word.) as well as Belkar. (Whom I enjoy more.)

I'm a mid to high range baritone. I tend to do Elan with a kind of wide eyed innocent feeling. I'd describe it as having something of an even tone. Not at all rough. Energetic, and a bit like a younger voiced hero. Up in my upper range, but not a falsetto or up in my female ranges. There's still a bit of masculine timbre in there. In the vocal range of your average Peter Parker and pitched a scootch up from there.

I've had an opportunity to read Elan for people, who seem to dig it. It's fun for me since I get to do Nale too. Whom I do with mostly the same voice, but I bring up my more bass ranges for him for when he's monologue-ing or being a Lawful Evil jerkface. Muhahahahah! It's especially fun when I've got scenes between Elan AND Nale where I can switch back and forth. Fun!

[Zigg'rrauglurr]

Billy West.

That's Fry from Futurama, if you didn't know. He can do a ton of voices, but Fry is closest to his normal one.

I'm a big Futurama fan, and I think Elan and Fry have a lot in common. They are dim but noble, enthusiastic, immature without being completely childlike, and capable of genuine heroism when it's really called for. And you can understand why Haley/Leela would both love them and find them exasperating at the same time.

I actually got the idea for him sounding like that (I initially thought of him having more of a "kid voice" like many of you), when I read the first prequel book. There's a scene there where Elan is the squire of a paladin, and makes a big deal of announcing him to a bar full of bad guys. I had just seen the episode of JLU where Skeets does a similar announcement for Booster Gold (here's the clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Jycz6ZuyE)), and Skeets just happens to have Fry's voice.

It just clicked for me that it was a perfect match, at least in my head.

This, so much this. I never tought how the voice of any character might sound. Is strange, when I read books or comics, I'm inmersed mentally in the story world, and pay no attention to such things; As I said, strange.

However, Billy West / Fry is just perfect. So... a vote for him.

[Darth Hunterix]

How about this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWMOmBohlTE)? I know it's different language, but the voice kinda fits.