Rebecca Root performance as Sirona Ryan

[Azoun]

Rebecca Root is the transgender voice actress that plays Sirona Ryan in Hogwarts Legacy.

But honestly, I don't think her performance is very good in Hogwarts Legacy.

She sounds much more natural and feminine in this previous interview, than in the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXacrpc8eKw
vs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8k8DseLCl8&t=234s

In the interview, without knowing the actress, I would say that her voice would fully pass as a woman's voice. But for Hogwarts Legacy, I don't think that is the case.

So what happened to her performance in the game? Was this just a problem with the editing? Or did the dev's purposely make Sirona sound more masculine, as an attempt to appease the protesting activists?

I just think that Rebecca Roots voice performance may have been tampered with by the dev's.

I get why the mod sites as trying to take down associated mods that makes her acting sounds more feminine. But if the mod authors as just trying to restore Rebecca Root's performance to like that in the interview, then I don't think that should be a problem.

[Danielle]

Originally posted by boytype:

Originally posted by Danielle:

...Why would the "protesting activists" want a trans woman's voice to be pitched lower? That doesn't make any sense. In fact, it would be *prety damn offensive* if they specifically pitched a trans woman's voice lower to make it sound more masculine

...which seems to be exactly what they did, just to make sure that everyone was aware that it was a trans- character.

If they had a more feminine voice, then people would have assumed it was a natural female character, and then they would have not gotten any "credit" for trans-inclusion.

The only credit they've gotten is people mad about her because they did such a terrible job. Again, we overwhelmingly do not like her.

[Klappspaten]

Originally posted by Akemua:

Originally posted by Klappspaten:

No, they don't allow nude mods for Hogwarts Legacy. They already kicked at least one nude mod.

With that said, yes there are and will be weird/sexual mods because they don't violate any rules and the Nexus is a bunch of woke sycophants.

I did state "mod sites". But in Nexus's case, ya, I doubt there will be straight up nudity.

Yeah, don't get me wrong the Nexus is infested by hypocrites that take down anything that doesn't conform to The Message (TM), but they do enforce the rules with a vengeance.
If only sites like LL weren't utter garbage. Never mind the degenerate content but the site is utter trash to browse mods.

[Admod, the Equivocal]

Um...she sounds the same to me in game and in that interview.

[Bob Gnarly]

There's no stand out voice acting in the whole game, be it trans or non-trans.

[boytype]

Originally posted by Danielle:

The only credit they've gotten is people mad about her because they did such a terrible job. Again, we overwhelmingly do not like her.

We agree about this, but lots of people do not.
Just look at all of the people reporting any post that says anything negative about the character performance and all of the people jumping to instantly yell "Transphobe!" at anyone who says they did not enjoy the character.

[Aria Athena]

Originally posted by Azoun:

I just think that Rebecca Roots voice performance may have been tampered with by the dev's.

That was actually my first thought too, that they pitch corrected it to sound deeper. It's more probable she was just directed as such, but still.

[FRISH]

Originally posted by Akemua:

It makes zero sense for a modding site to take down a voice changing mod for a single-player game. Regardless of politics.

It's the most hypocritical nonsense I've seen come from mod sites in a hot minute. I can guarantee they're going to allow skimpy "loose clothing" if not outright nudity mods for the game even though most people are still children.

Or any number of degenerate mods, but changing the voice of a character? That's too much.

Activists have hijacked so many communities. That's what happens when you don't gatekeep bad faith actors, you get gatekept instead.

[EM-10]

Her voice sounds more or less the same as the effect you get when you pitch down the PC voice. So, logically, it seems like the devs used the pitch down on it.

[AKIHABARA]

I found her performance quite ghastly at best; however, the developers vision for the character pays the bills.

[Splinter of Chaos]

Originally posted by Danielle:

...Why would the "protesting activists" want a trans woman's voice to be pitched lower?

It is unlikely such decisions are made by protesting activists. Normally, they are made by a writer who fills in the background and concept of a character before handing off to whoever manages the voice talent and finally and audio engineer. Decisions made to appease political groups don't often go too well. For example, a recent controversy with the green M&M ended up earning criticism from both right- and left-wing commentators, although for different reasons. When this kind of thing happens, it's generally most likely that the decision is made by non-politically motivated capitalists and because they don't understand the politics or consult people who do, they get it wrong, earning criticism from both sides.

In this instance, assuming it's true that all progressives like this character and call those who don't transphobic, I'm not sure that necessarily means they think the acting is high quality, but assuming they do, I'm surprised if they aren't upset for other reasons. Such as how despite the character's pro-trans message, the game still funds JK Rowling who in turn funds trans-exclusionary organizations who are far more influential than this game will be. Shouldn't progressives be rolling their eyes at such a flaccid display of solidarity?

In this instance, I would guess one plausible explanation is that the casting director was told to "find a trans voice actor", but they didn't find one who matched the character as written so it fell to the audio engineer to align it better. But it's just a wild guess. I haven't even met this character yet.