Ancient city-sized dragon that is eons older that any surviving historical text or man-made structures in the world, speaking to the dwarf that stands bravely before her: "Well ain't chu just the most precious lil' thang I ever did lay eyes on! Wut's yer name, sugah?"
My papy were what you would call an elder dragon, so unless you got the fire power to take down Mrs. Tiamat you don't stand a chance against me, sugah.
So why don't you just cool your heels, I'll go make us some tea, and you can tell me about what's going on in the world these days.
Not to mention the history and lore of such things are immense in well-documented European and Asian history. The majority of that fantasy stuff comes from ancient cultures and societies peppered around those geographical areas. I'm sure that would be much the same everywhere if it weren't for the lack of it being so heavily documented.
This gave me an idea for a fantasy dramedy about hobbit moonshiners. Unfortunately, I'm not a writer so if anyone wants to take my four word pitch and run with it please do
It would be funny we had a fantasy world where twang accents are considered posh while British accents are considered casual like just imagine a knight saying "I'ma gonna go kill dis here dragon".
American accents sound too 'modern' because American English wasn't a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
I'm all for broadening the use, though. I love that the Witcher games gave Geralt and the other Witchers of the School of the Wolf American accents. And Dragon Age (back when it was good) giving the dwarves American accents.
I heard it was Southern English which was closest to Elizabethan English.
In any case, reality doesn't matter. Perceptions matter. Britain is an old country, and America is a new country - so in 'translating' an accent to a past period, we tend to see the accent of the 'old country' as more appropriate.
American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed
Nor was modern British English. One of the defining features of modern British English is the lack of rhoticity (dropping the "r" sound), but that's very modern, only happening in the 19th century. They have managed to recreate how English sounded in Shakespeare's time by looking at words that were supposed to rhyme, and their meter. To me, it sounds like "pirate English".
Whether modern American English is closer to Shakespeare's English is a matter for debate. I'd say it's closer than RP, but not as close as some rural British accents.
This is actually a misconception. The modern English accents are a result of fashionable language of London. This developed after the United States of America was formed. So after the Middle ages. It's more likely English speakers in the middle ages sounded more American than English.
Actually, modern American English apparently is closer to the English from old days than modern day British English is. Always found that to be an interesting tidbit.
Shakespeare apparently rhymes better in American accents than British ones, since it was written before the Great Vowel Shift. I'm not cultured enough to notice but I like this piece of trivia.
Xenoblade 2 had a nice use of the various English accents, generally each nation/group in the game used a particular accent (eg Mor Ardain = Scottish, villain group Torna spoke American English). One unique character (a blade) had a southern grew-up-on-a-farm accent.
American accents sound too ‘modern’ because American English wasn’t a thing until the Medieval period had long passed, and most fantasy is medieval or medieval-adjacent.
OP mentions Australia, which wasn't even established as a penal colony until 5 years after the US was recognized as an independent nation under the Treaty of Paris.
I imagine it's because Americans use foreign accents to make the fantasy more foreign itself. If the wizard who cast a spell to alter the passage of time starts talking like the dude that runs the gas station on the corner, maybe it takes away some of the magic.
Pretty sure because the “original” fantasy was written as a false history for England (LoTR was this). So it makes sense that the people would bear an English accent
@WoodenBleachers But his sources were Norse, primarily, so by extension the argument can be made that the characters should all have Scandinavian accents.
Apparently, Tolkien's dwarven language just naturally works well with a Scottish accent. Earlier radio, tv, readings leant into this and other writings including fantasy dwarves followed suit.
I know you are making fun and all, but things like this are indeed reproduced.
Basicly it's a process of cultural and collective copy and pasting, where media and indivulas reproduce a concept by either activly using it (or not) or passives acepting it.
It's a bit more complex than that, but you probably get the idea.
It's by and large the dialect of the uneducated and the impoverished right leaning southerners and widwesterners that are hurting themselves and others by supporting the GOP and spreading hate and discrimination. Fully aware that is a stereotype, but I see enough of it in real life that for me that accent just has a negative connotation.
A great example of this is Not Another D&D Podcast, a comedy D&D podcast. The first campaign has a player character who sounds like she’s from Appalachia!
The German translation of Baldur's Gate decided for some reason that elves spoke in an east-German accent. Imagine Legolas sounding like he was from Texas.
I did a dnd campaign once where it had a Louisiana bayou theme. Rednecks? Southern belles, and swamp gnomes with Cajun French accents. Was a lot of fun!
Careful what you wish for. I believe it’s in the first book* of Wheel of Time that suddenly there's a group of "darkfriends"** (basically worshippers of the ultimate evil) who all speak in a dialect that sounds like they're from rural Georgia.
Even with Rosamund Pike doing a fantastic job reading the audio book, that was immersion breaking as fuck 😂