Did Bethesda just forget to have Max von Sydow voice all the lines? It's pretty clear that two people do the voice for Esbern, sometimes one right after the other then back again. I have http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXVzFrGe9xg of it that is pretty clear. The best way to do it though is to dig through his conversation options at the Sky Haven. He has different voices for different options. The "low budget" voice is the one that he gives you the Dragon Blessing with.

Thoughts? I suppose they just added more speech to his character late in development and had to try and come up with something that sounded similar.


EDIT:
How in the heck did I manage to spell "two" wrong in my title. Geez.

It's all the same voice actor, but he is terribly inconsistent with his accent and general speech pattern.

I'm 80% sure it's two different guys. Von Sydow has a very distinct voice, and he's not voice acting, he's just recording lines. So he doesn't change up his voice at all. He's the Sean Bean of Skyrim, the celebrity voice. So I really doubt it is him being inconsistent.

You can hear it in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXVzFrGe9xg. There are three things that seem to be the alternate voice. The very first, partial sentence. The exlamation "Be careful!" But most certainly, the last thing he says is not said by von Sydow: "We'd best be careful in here."

Yes, I noticed this too. I think it's still von Sydow although it does sound like he's voicing a Sesame Street character.

yep, definitely the same guy. It is just very inconsistent.

That doesn't make any sense though. The guy that recorded the lines isn't "voicing" a character, he's just talking. He's not trying to be consistent, he doesn't have to be. He's not acting, he's just reading lines. It's like James Earl Jones doing Darth Vader. He doesn't have to try to make that voice, he just does. It's his normal speech.

Thus, him being inconsistent with himself doesn't make any sense. Besides, most voice actors that do make voices for certain characters find it easy enough to stay in character anyway, even if he was doing a voice. The other 69 actors in this game don't seem to have any problem being consistent, why would the highest paid expert?

You're putting to much faith in this guys skills. Odds are it was poor direction. Not appropriately telling him what kind of situation he was supposed to be acting out.

Recording voices isn't as simple a process as you might think. They very frequently have to do multiple takes per line, and record different lines at different times. From the video you posted, it's clear that they recorded the generic "be careful" lines at a different time. This might account for why they sound different from main storyline lines, like the Sky Haven Temple ones.

I wouldn't agree with that at all, Jones was doing a voice. It can be a minor thing, just speaking with fuller lungs, but even a "normal" voice can be inconsistent.

They don't record all the lines in one take.

Since we're on the subject, I felt Esbern was not as great as I thought he was gonna be. I remember before the game came out, waiting to meet this old blade who was going to be the second most important NPC in the game, but it takes half the main quest to find him and after that he helps you out for 2 quests. I thought he was gonna be my mentor or something. That first trailer made him seem awesome. I felt the grey beard guy had a more prominent role in the story. Oh well, still love the game, but felt a tiny bit let down in some of the main quest decisions.

Yea.. I actually felt the same. I have this suspicion that something didn't work out the way they intended with Esbern. He ends up taking a really boring back seat to this game. I, like you, felt that the greybeards were far more "mentorish." Little bit of a disappointment there too.