The world of Dragon Age is home to a plethora of fantastical characters, brought to life by a star-studded cast of voice actors, including some sci-fi and fantasy icons. From Freddie Prinze Jr. lending his voice to the formidable Iron Bull to Kate Mulgrew portraying the enigmatic Flemeth, one cast member secured their role with an unconventional audition tape. Claudia Black, known for her role as Aeryn Sun in Farscape, auditioned for the part of Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins by submitting a recording of herself performing a beat poetry rendition of Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back.' Dragon Age creator David Gaider admitted that the character underwent several conceptual changes but couldn't resist giving Black a chance.
'I lost my goddamn mind,' Gaider shared on his Bluesky account. 'Yes, I still have the recording. No, you cannot have it.' Gaider proceeded to bring Black on board and tailored the character to suit her voice. 'Naturally, we jumped on that immediately. As I recall, this was met with resistance from higher up—they had this image of Morrigan as young, like 18 years old (no idea where this came from), and complained that Claudia sounded 'too old.' [Voice director] Caroline [Livingstone] and I were determined, so we pushed ahead. We had to agree to get Claudia to sound 'younger,' which I was dubious about. The first two sessions we asked her to pitch her voice up and it was awful.'
When both Livingstone and Gaider were working with Black to refine her performance, they advised her to use her natural voice. It proved to be the right decision. 'We loved her performance so much we had the feeling that the team would love it too and forget their nonsense,' Gaider added. 'They did.' The character of Morrigan became a cornerstone for Gaider and paved the way for Black to continue her voice acting career in major franchises like Uncharted and Destiny. She reprises her role as Morrigan in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
'[Morrigan] is the heart of [Dragon Age: Origin]. Way beyond her initial inspirations. Some said 'she's just an ice queen' like some I'd written (Viconia, Bastila, etc.) but such categories are very reductive, I find. She had a voice I could instantly slip into, every time, without fail.'
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