League of Legends' New Swain Is Voiced by a Game of Thrones Actor

For players that heard the new Swain’s voice after the League of Legends champ was reworked and [...]

For players that heard the new Swain's voice after the League of Legends champ was reworked and thought that it sounded familiar, it may be because you're a fan of James Faulkner's work.

The British actor who's known for his roles in Da Vinci's Demons, Downton Abbey, and more recently Game of Thrones took to Twitter recently to answer a fan's question about his part in Swain's rework. A League player noticed some similarities between Swain's voice and Faulkner's and asked if there was any chance the actor was responsible for the new Swain's voice, an idea confirmed by Faulkner's response.

If you don't remember Faulkner's performance in Game of Thrones – there are a lot of characters to keep track of, after all – Faulkner played Randyll Tarly, the head of House Tarly. He's also the father of Samwell Tarly, the close friend of Jon Snow, though he doesn't share his son's cheery disposition. When comparing Randyll Tarly" and Swain's defining traits, it's easy to see why Faulkner would be a prime choice for voicing the champion. Randyll Tarly is a character that's built up a reputation for being a renowned military commander with a no-nonsense attitude and a loyalty to House Lannister, much like Swain's loyalty towards Noxus as its powerful leader who will do whatever it takes to see the region prosper.

Regarding Faulkner's statement about being surprised that Riot Games didn't credit the actor, the same Twitter user who asked the initial question responded and said that they were told the voice actor's name couldn't be revealed. While a source wasn't provided for the explanation, it does fall in line with a statement from Riot Games years ago that dealt with voice actors and actors unions when it was noticed that Omega Squad Teemo had a different voice actor.

"Teemo's original voice actor was recorded many years ago and has since joined an Actors union," Riot Utora said years ago on the League boards. "The way unions view League of Legend's and other frequently updated games (patches every 2 weeks) makes it very cost inefficient for us to use actors in a union. That is why there is a new Teemo actor."

We reached out to Riot Games to clarify their stance on revealing the names of voice actors but did not receive a response at the time of publishing.

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