'Igon' Voice Actor Richard Charles Lintern Reveals He Had No Idea Who 'Bayle' Was In First Interview Since Rise To Memedom
Richard Charles Lintern, the voice behind the legendary FromSoftware NPC Igon who has dominated Elden Ring's memedom since the release of its DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, did not know who Bayle was at the time he recorded his now-iconic "Curse You, Bayle!" monologue.
That revelation and others were revealed in an interview Lintern had with IGN published yesterday afternoon.
For those out of the loop, Igon is a Drake Warrior who spends the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC cursing a character named Bayle in increasingly maniacal ways, leading to a final confrontation with the vile, massive dragon in which the spirit of Igon assists the player while belting at the top of his lungs.
Lintern's interview with IGN revealed interesting details about the intense recording session that resulted in Igon's now-iconic quote turned meme.
"I'm standing there with my arms outstretched," Lintern said. "And I think at the time, I don't think I even knew that Bayle was a dragon. I think I might've thought Bayle was a person."
He also noted that he expected his recording session to take less than an hour — Igon doesn't have that many lines, after all. Instead, it took up an entire day, and every note he received was to the effect of, "Do you have more? Can you explode?"
In a particularly adorable moment, IGN's interviewer Rebekah Valentine gave Lintern details about Igon he had not learned despite voicing the character, plus the DLC being out for several weeks.
For example, Lintern didn't know what Igon or Bayle looked like. Upon seeing the foul dragon at the heart of Igon's quest, Lintern exclaimed, "How on earth? Do you fight alongside me? How does that work?" After learning about Igon's quest, he muses:
“A quest of the soul, a quest of morality, and strength, and pain, and terror, and doom. And an enemy that is so huge that you can't even comprehend it, but for some reason, the bravery of the individual comes through and manages to triumph over it."
The interview brought Lintern, a British actor best known for his work in theater and British television, further appreciation from the notably younger video gaming audience as it spread online.
And yes, Lintern was shown some memes made in tribute to his performance, including a breaking news parody that read, "Man literally too angry to die."
"Is that me? That's genius," he said.