“And Kratos cast himself from the highest mountain in all of Greece.  After 10 years of suffering, 10 years of endless nightmares, it would finally come to an end.  Death would be his escape from madness…” – Gaia [God of War]

Never before had a voice in a videogame commanded my absolute attention. The narration that accompanied God of War (which turned out to be Gaia) was nothing short of pure storytelling gold and everytime I heard it, I would imagine what the voice actor looked like – I never bothered actually finding out because I’m lazy. That is until now. Having played through the first two God of War games, courtesy of the GoW Collection, I was reminded of just how great Gaia’s voice was and, much to my pleasure, one of the bonus movies included with GoW II contained interviews with the actors. I’ll be honest, I was shocked!

This got me looking into other voices from videogames to see if I could put a face to the voice.

Linda Hunt – Gaia/Narrator [God of War Series]

Linda Hunt is the woman that started my weird train of thought. You will more than likely recognise her as she’s one of those actresses you see in a lot of films and TV but never know the name of. The reason for much of my shock when I found this out was due to the fact that she was in two of my favourite films when I was a kid: Kindergarten Cop and Teen Agent. Her Gaia character couldn’t be more of an opposite if they tried but it’s one hell of a casting decision and God of War would not be the same without her.

T.C. Carson – Kratos [God of War Series]
 

Now we can’t mention voices of gaming and God of War without mentioning Kratos. The man behind so many deaths and so much rage is voiced by T.C. Carson; not what you were expecting? But Kratos was in safe hands as Carson is no stranger to videogames having done copious amounts of Star Wars games, Unreal Tournament, Syphon Filter and Saints Row as well as many animated programmes like Afro Samurai and The Animatrix. 

The furry, big-eared Lombax is a favourite of many on the PlayStation, but did you think the man behind the Lombax looked like that? James Arnold Taylor’s CV features over 120 projects, the majority are as a voice actor, and it includes things such as The Lord of the Rings game, Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Obi Wan, Spider-Man games, X-Men games and Marvel Ultimate Alliance as Iceman to name but a few.

Mark Hamil – The Joker [Batman: Arkham Asylum]

The majority of you will already know this and it will come as no surprise but I wasn’t aware that Mark Hamil was connected to The Joker at all, let alone the fact that he had been voicing him in the cartoons for years. One of the most maniacal laughs I have ever heard and it sounds nothing like him; this was quite a shock when I found out during my playthrough of Arkham Asylum. I don’t need to tell you what else Mark hamil is famous for, do I?

Kevin McKidd – Soap McTavish [Modern Warfare Series]

It’s that ginger bloke from Trainspotting, Dog Soldiers and Grey’s Anatomy. Okay, so his real name is Kevin McKidd but those of you who are old enough will surely remember him from one of those three. Or the TV series Rome. He’s also appeared in a couple of big budget films such as Kingdom of Heaven and he also voiced a character in GTA: Vice City. Who’d have thought he’d behind Soap?

Nolan North – Nathan Drake [Uncharted]

No list of voice actors would be complete without Nolan North. Although I’m listing him as Nathan Drake from Uncharted, limiting him to this would be like limiting rabbits to one sexual partner…it’s just not right. Nolan North is probably the most famous videogame voice actor and is certainly one of the hardest working. As well as Drake, North has provided voices for 2008’s Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed 1 & 2, MGS4, Halo: ODST, Ratchet & Clank: ACiT, Dragon Age: Origins, inFamous, Destroy All Humans, Gears of War 2, Dark Sector, Unreal Tournament 3, Halo 3, The Darkness, Lord of the Rings, Resistance 1, Saints Row, Syphon Filter, 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Call of Duty 2 and God of War to name but a few! Also appears in movies and TV shows, Nolan North has to be the number one voice talent at the moment. Looking at the picture above, he could pass as Drake in a movie, too.

Try playing the games listed without seeing their real faces. And Gaia will now forever be remembered as the weird little lady with a deadly whip from Teen Agent.