Can anyone else stand Roy Dotrice's performance of the Song of Ice and Fire books?

Submitted by darthvirgin t3_zzkvua in books

I recognize that the man has passed away and even holds the record for most characters voiced in a single audiobook thanks to his work on ASOIAF, but I'm going to call it for what it is.

It's one thing that there's so little variation between any of the voices, but I just can't get past how badly voiced the female characters are. Arya Stark and Daenerys are literally teenagers, but Dotrice's go-to voice for them and any female sounds like an 80 year-old toothless peasant. And I don't think that's at all hyperbolic. The voices are so bad it borders on comedy.

I can't possibly be alone in finding his his voices hilariously bad, right?

Anyway, suffice to say I'm glad it'll be someone else reading the final two books (if they ever come out of course). Bring on Kate Reading and Michael Kramer!

20

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

jbw92 t1_j2ca06d wrote

the way he changes pronunciations of the names drives me flat out insane. currently listening to the audiobooks and suddenly in FFC it’s “caitlin” instead of “cat-lin”, and the amount of times he went from “joffrey” to “jeffery” KILLED ME. if you’re gonna do it wrong just pick one and stick with it!!

i’m getting used to “bri-eeen” over brienne but i will never get used to “pa-Tar” instead of regular ole peter.

there are a few other words he says weirdly that i twitch every time i hear them but i haven’t listened in a few days so i can’t recall a specific one.

i’m on your side, OP.

19

-rba- t1_j2cgk1s wrote

My wife and I still laugh about his "bri-een" pronunciation years later. We finished the audiobook but phew, that was pretty bad

8

killerklixx t1_j2ca0fe wrote

Yes! He put me off the audiobooks, tbh. I have a massive issue with his inconsistency in pronouncing the names - the way he goes back and forth between Joffrey/Geoffrey, Peter/Pe-tyre... I'd prefer if he was just wrong the whole way through!

Eta: Drogo's voice is awful too, like a feeble old Spanish man instead of a strong, buff Khal. "NnnooOOoOooOoo", ugh!

12

Forever_Man t1_j2chojb wrote

A bad reader can ruin an otherwise good story

4

No-Freedom-1995 t1_j2crjbn wrote

is he the one who made drogo sound like special needs?

4

darthvirgin OP t1_j2ev2ov wrote

Sure is! Though I think he made most of the characters sound like they weren’t bristling with intelligence 😉

2

Realistic_Orchid_981 t1_j2crn9b wrote

I just pretend that he is still "Father" in "Beauty and the Beast" and is reading to the children who live underground.

Pronouncing "Petyr" as "Pet-Tire" for Lord Baelish was off-putting.

3

Ducea_ t1_j2cj3jt wrote

Everyone sounds like a damned pirate

2

LightspeedBalloon t1_j2cmpkb wrote

Agreed!! I like his normal speaking voice but some of the character voices are awful. I think Daenerys and Sam are the worst. Makes them sound dumb. And several minor characters have slobbery voices that are just unpleasant to listen to.

2

Shel_gold17 t1_j2dm6tm wrote

I thought it was just me, because I’m admittedly supremely picky when it comes to audiobooks. I sometimes think Jim Dale ruined a lot of narrators for me. 😂

2

McgriffTheCrimeOwl t1_j2d3km2 wrote

It was a little strange but it wasn't a deal breaker.

1

Aae_kae2 t1_j2dw38p wrote

I think he's great!

1

Hartastic t1_j2f8lem wrote

I'm not an audiobook guy, but my friend who audiobooks constantly (used to be a super voracious reader, now has terminal brain issues such that he really can't read read for long anymore) loves Roy Dotrice. So there's at least one person out there that's a big fan of his delivery.

1

medi3val11111 t1_j2cmpmg wrote

I disagree. He's a legend. I listened to all of these and these thoughts never occurred to me. The books just flew by.

0