Elden Ring actor Egon said the role was a bit like playing Shakespeare, even though he didn’t know what he was saying at first

Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree ahead.

While everyone loves the Messmer, another big Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree character is Igon, the warrior who shows up at one point to deliver a cruel and pointed taunt to the evil dragon leader Bayle the Dread. It turns out that actor Richard Charles Lintern, who speaks those lines, has a confusing but entertaining time.

In an interview with IGN, Lintern talked about his experience working with FromSoft and Hayao Miyazaki on the DLC, which was his first foray into video game voice acting, although he has appeared in a number of TV shows, films, and theatre productions.

“I’m not completely stupid, but I hadn’t heard of Mr. Miyazaki before,” the actor said, “I knew nothing about the game, the game’s status, or his status. But when I walked into the room, his status was immediately clear and obvious. Everyone was very friendly, but at the same time, I could tell this was a much bigger thing than I thought.”

He went on to say that while he found Egon’s dialogue “mostly incomprehensible” at first, aside from the character’s obvious pain and deep, intense dislike for a man named Bell.

After hours of recording, Lintern found the process much more intense and drawn-out than he’d expected, given the scale of the role. When Egon went from talking about winning a battle to talking about losing one, the actor pointed out what he thought must be a mistake in the script. “There was an awkward pause on the other side of the screen. Finally, someone got back to me and said, ‘It’s a video game, Richard. Sometimes you beat the beast, and sometimes the beast beats you. We need two options,’” Lintern revealed, adding in slightly old-school style: “I wasn’t expecting that.”

That being said, it sounds like he really “got” the spirit of the entire play during his performance, saying, “The attention to detail in the character and the performance was almost more than anything I’ve experienced before. People took it very seriously compared to Shakespearean roles I’ve played and so on.”

Lintern concluded that the experience was “very mysterious. Mr. Miyazaki is a very mysterious character, but very interesting. It felt very creative and very engaging,” adding that seeing the response to his work on Elden Ring “was a real revelation to me and really, really fun.”

If you’re still struggling through Shadow of Eldtree and need some help defeating Bell, or completing any quests you can’t accomplish with the help of the world’s angriest dragon slayer, be sure to check out our extensive guides.