So, I have been wondering about the Dunmer voice, in Morrowind their speech was very guttural and gravely but any game after they weren't.
Was there ever any sort of mention of this anywhere? Or is this something that happened because they couldn't get the same voice actor back?

In my mind it always was because they lived in Ashy Vvardenfel, but.. That wouldn't really count because no one else has the razor throat.

Inherited gene-culturative largyneal trauma from imbiding vehk-pattern muatratephrenyl.

They pitch their voices to the color of bruise, according to Vivec's teachings. The end of the Tribunal's regime meant they could speak normally again.

As far as the Dunmer voices go,

Morrowind >>> Skyrim >>>>>>>>>> Oblivion

That sure is some imagery.

Though a shame, I liked the voices. But I do like they did something for it lore wise.

Cockney dark elves. Your argument is invalid.

They went from their voices sounding like a Didgeridoo, to sounding like the people who play the Didgeridoo.

Or maybe it's just that not every Dunmer sounds like a chain smoker. In MW all of them sounded like chain smokers. The Skyrim voices add...variety.

It sure as Oblivion didn't go down smooth, and its effects lasted from the Mythic far into the Fifth.

Dunmer in Morrowind speak with a distinctive accent, or speak Velothi. The native Dunmer accent, with its extensive use of laryngeal fricatives, sounds rather hoarse to non-natives.

Historically, Dunmer in Cyrodiil were generally either well educated or raised there, and thus spoke without a noticable accent.

The Dunmer of Skyrim, who often arrived with little or no understanding of their hosts' language and tended to keep to themselves, developed their own patois. The Velothi accents and loanwords of this dialect often sound strange or coarse to others, whether they be Dunmer or Nord.

Dunmer creole. How droll.

Hey now, I find Creole languages fascinating.

But a Dunmeris-Nordic Creole sounds horrible.

Yet another reason to wish the Tribunal were still around.

Skyrim's Dunmer accents are game-breakingly bad to my ears.

Well it does make sense and tbh creole is really not that droll. I speak Hawaiian Creole fluently and it is VERY interesting seeing several culture's languages mix and combine. But there is no way that the Dunmer are speaking creole. First they would need more than one language(there is only one) to make it develop into a pidgin language which then would evolve further into a more stable creole. They have been exposed to all the various races in Tamriel for far to long and they all speak a similar language for that to happen. The linguistics in TES never make sense. Hell most video games linguistics do not make sense.

I can understand them putting accents on certain areas of the game(like riften's people sounding a certain way as opposed to whiteruns people) but to have all those various accents so widespread is just plain stupid. They would have bastardized all language diversity by doing so given even one or two generations. But you cannot expect people to know everything you do just as they should not expect you to do the same.

It would have sounded much better if they kept the dialects less extreme, like that Northern accent that the man who is in banded iron armor in Whiterun's main inn has, who says the guards are idiots. That accent is just out of place in most places. There should have been differences in tone and enunciation sure but anything that drastic just does not make sense without an area of origin. Which it does not have.

I really do miss that raspy voice the Dunmer used to have though. It sounded so good and matched them so perfectly!

I wish Keith Szarabjaka had just used Joshua Graham's voice straight up, instead of crossing him with a chimney-sweep. Then I'd wish that that was the template that all the Dunmer voices were based on.

And in the game.


Actually, I was thinking less of a true Creole and more of an accent with a sprinkling of loanwords, of the sort often used by immigrant communities.

They got that particular VA to voice the male ghouls in FO3 and NV, so it seems to have been a fairly deliberate move on Bethesda's part.

The games get a whole lot wrong, besides their voices. The Morrowind Dunmer shared Dram's voice. Dram is supposed to sound like Boba Fett, who is supposed to sound like Clint Eastwood.

So that's why the accent change in Skyrim. It's because of how Boba Fett suddenly sprouted a New Zealand accent after Attack of the Clones.

BLIMEY! Dos' gaddam bandits stole me bow.

Well when Todd played Bleak Falls Barrow the Dunmer had a "razor throat" but it was changed before the game released. The Dunmer need a gravelly voice now more than ever because they're so damn ugly in skyrim. Some dunmer still have a chain smoker voice though. The Nirnroot woman does.

I interpreted that line in the 36 Lessons to be that it was a tradition first made by Boethiah, presumably to make the Chimer different from the Altmer.

'Atsa royt shem, ennit?

Whenever I see a Dunmer in Skyrim I say out-loud

STREWTH! THROW ANOTHER SCRIB ON THE BARBIE, MUTHSERA! COR LOOK AT THAT GUAR SHE'S A BEAUTIE

Or something to that effect. I've heard Australians say apparently it sounds like cockney. To anyone who has ever heard a mockney accent let alone a cockney one, it sounds like crocodile dundee.

The amazing thing is the voice actor has an awesome gravelly voice, but for some reason he decided to put on...that abomination of an attempt at an accent for Skyrim. What is interesting is how hot well voice-acted the female elves are in Skyrim. I'm not entirely sure if they are meant to sound australian or english, though. It was weeks after the game came out I had to convince my friend that the dunmer where someone's attempt at an english accent. I think that is what they tried. Because elves = english (because english = evil, of course).

to the color of bruise? Can I get a link to the page that explains that?