Lit Do you hear voices in your head?

When you guys read, do you tend to hear the characters' voices in your head? I'm aware some people do this, some don't. If you do, is it only for Star Wars books or other stories with characters you actually know how they sound? For instance, if Han is speaking you've got the Harrison Ford voice in mind, but if he's engaged in conversation with say, Talon Karrde, you don't have a voice in mind for Karrde's dialogue?

If you do have specific voices in mind, or even vague ones, what are they like? I've always imagined Talon Karrde's voice as a sort of a southern-US drawl. Or say, Ysanne Isard -- I imagined her to have this really deep, intimidating voice. Ben Skywalker I thought would have a slight British accent, but that's also because I always imagined Mara speaking with a Coruscanti accent.

Speaking of which -- Mara usually doesn't have a Coruscanti accent in the videogames. And Thrawn's voice is all over the board in the games (was it Empire at War:FoC he had the goofy higher-pitched one? Can't remember offhand. It certainly wasn't his TIE Fighter voice). So if you imagine a character's voice and then later hear it in a videogame (or even TCW... you strange, strange show), are you ever surprised?


I'm making this into a poll because... I dunno, polls = fun times. But please share your weirdest and wackiest voices. Even if they're lame like imagining Waru with the voice of Gilbert Gottfried or something. Actually don't. Don't share that. There are better ways to ruin your e-reputation.

 

I hear the actors voices but male and female sound like generic male and female characters. Mostly. Thrawn is very deeper, the TIE FIGHTER cutscenes got real close to what I heard in my head but a bit on the harsh side. He seems cooler to me.

 

I can imagine the Thrawn trilogy inside my head easily. People, voices, music etc.

 

Yes, but I'm not worried about it, because they tell me I'm perfectly sane.

Honestly, it seems to depend a lot. Some characters I have very specific voices for (although I'm not sure where exactly they come from), but most don't. I think at least part of it may depend on how closely the book (or comic) in question reminds me of the movies.

I do know that there's no real in-universe rationale applying - I don't automatically hear Coruscanti characters speaking with a British accent, for instance.

 

I imagine everyone with the voice of Gilbert Gottfried.

 

...Now I'm flipping through random comics trying to see if I can tell what the source is for any character's "voice". Curse you, thread.

 

I always read Jorus/Joruus C'baoth using Ian McKellen's voice. As far as Mara Jade is concerned, it tend to hear Heidi Shannon--who voiced her in Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. My Thrawn has Alan Rickman's voice in some books, and Jeremy Irons's in other books. Zsinj has David Suchet's voice in Poirot, and Ysanne Isard sounds an awful lot like Sigourney Weaver to me.

 

Uh, sometimes, I guess.

I can easily hear any of the more distinctive voices from the movies. Vader, Palpatine, Yoda, Mace (SLJ), 3PO, Han...

I give C'baoth Lee's voice at his most booming, commanding.

Original characters that I give original voices are much harder, I tend to get tired/forget and default back to my own voice. Usually (but not always) only distinctive characters get a voice, with many characters getting my default.

Generic bad guys like Darth Bane and Kueller get generic bad guy voices, kinda like Clancy Brown but less distinctive? If that helps?

Generic Imperial officers tend to get whoever said "My lord, we have them!" from ESB, I think that was Needa.

Higher ranking Imperial officers get Coruscanti.

Now I just realized I don't even know what an actual Coruscanti accent sounds like. For me it's just pompous English, like Cushing's Tarkin or Carrie's amusing Leia, even though neither is from Coruscant. IT'S MY HEAD.

I read Plagueis a bit like San Hill, with the same kind of tempo/intonation, but deep and scratchy.

Thrawn and Karrde get the aforementioned oh so cultured Coruscanti, since their speech and mannerisms are exactly the same. Basically all Chiss get this treatment.

I used to give Luminara a deep stereotypical Nigerian accent, with Barriss the same but higher.

The clones all get Temuera. I even tend to give it to stormtroopers in the post-ROTJ era now.

Basically none of the X-Wing pilots get a voice for some reason, it's all me. Nawara might get a creepy Twi'lek snake voice like Bib Fortuna or some of the Twi'lek males from the KOTOR games. Kirtan Loor is mini Tarkin. I do give Isard a deeper, more masculine voice, but not so much intimidating as pure ice, very short. Zsinj I give a very huff and puff buffoonery, almost like Boss Nass or the alpha elephant from Jungle Book. I imagine he's constantly clearing his throat.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I realize that I sometimes give Corran Horn Kyle Katarn's voice from Outcast and Academy.

Mara I give a bit of masculinity, with a clipped bite that does sound a bit like Coruscanti.

Kyp - Hayden. Nuff said. I've always given him this voice, even before AOTC.

Akanah gets the worst of Willie Scott. Except worse, just a screeching shrew.

Callista gets a cheesy romance voice.

Jaina tends to get Leia when Carrie drops the accent. Jacen gets some strange mix of Luke and Han.

Qwi Xux has always gotten a Liara T'Soni type. Oh Shepard, I feel like such a fool!

Daala gets Coruscanti. Cronus gets drill sergeant. Dorsk has always gotten MMH from JL. The Imperial warlords who get assassinated all get buffoonery as described, some low, some high, some screaming.

Basically all Hutts get Jabba.

I tried to give Waru some extra-galactic gelatinous blob monster voice, think Xenu from South Park, but I couldn't stick with it.

All the good kids from The Crystal Star (except Tigris) get an always earnest, high pitched kid voice.

I never realized, but a lot of the Vong tend to get something similar to Krell's voice from TCW.

I guess Alema gets a young Nicole Kidman.

 

When I hear Thrawn, I hear http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539503/]Sunil[/url] Malhotra's voice. When I hear Mara, I hear here (generally) how she sounded in Mysteries of the Sith. C'Baoth, to me, had a deep baritone voice that I cannot liken to any voice actor I can think of, but really, really deep. Really deep. As for Karrde, I kind of-sort of hear a Western accent, but kind of growly, like http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000353/?ref_=tt_cl_t2]Wllem[/url] Dafoe, only different. For a few of the others, like Corran for example, I just hear generic male/female voices. Even Anakin/Jacen, I hear "generic teenage male voice 1 and 2" and for Jaina/Tahiri "generic teenage female voice 1 and 2" and so on. But I usually can differentiate the voices in my own head, I just can't explain it in words.

For Hutts, I used to get Jabba but now I get the generic SWTOR Hutt voice.



For a lot of younger male characters, like Jax Pavan for example, I get a definite Sam Witwer. For Vong I get something like Orcs, but more like deep Uruk-Hai than the scrawny scratchy Orcs. For Imperials I get "generic British accent" like Needa or Piett. For Darth Bane I kind of get a deep growl, but some of the time, especially when he's expounding on the philosophy of the Rule of Two, I get Darth Malak's voice sometimes. For aliens like Duros, Ithorians, and Twi'leks, I get the generic KOTOR voices unless they're speaking Basic, and even then I usually hear that voice speaking Basic words.

 

I usually don't, but Kenobi certainly changed that: I couldn't read Ben's lines without hearing Ewan McGregor's voice.

 

Exceptions should be made for Togorians or any other feline race; they all should sound like Stan Freberg.

 

When I'm reading characters that have been voiced, I hear them as they are portrayed by their actors.

For characters that haven't been voiced, I usually think of their voices based on their personalities. My Mara Jade voice is hard to describe, but it is calm, strong, and determined, perhaps a bit more "Mom-ish" when she gets older. Lumiya I hear like the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe. Everyone else's voices are too hard to describe.

Sent from my stupid little astro droid using TapaTalk 2.

 

I remember one time reading Dark Force Rising or The Last Command where Joruus C'boath came on to the Bridge and yelled Grand Admiral Thrawn's name and I did a double take because I saw it happen in my imagination and heard the volume of the shout.

Freaked me out a bit.

 

Thrawn was Elliott Gould for me for a while.

Daala was Gimpy's RA.

Pellaeon had an Irish accent at least until Specter.

I never use the actors' voices for film characters, 'cept for Threepio. ... and Artoo, I guess. Not even a gravelly Ackbar. My imagination has always been much stronger than reality.

 

I've had a few times where I got so into the book that I actually heard the soundtrack, SFX, voices, and ambient noise all at once, and not only that but I could imagine the character voices' volume levels too. After the scene is over I'm kind of like "Wow."

 

Good to see I'm not the only one that does that.

 

For it's only with the characters I know from the movies. As for other characters, I come up with something that I feel would fit the description that's been given in the book.

 

I give everyone crazy distinct voices if only because I feel like the EU has to match the movies.

For me, Talon Karrde has a vaguely spanish accent like Dr.Nick. I imagine Thrawn with a calm, emotionless voice like Data from Star Trek and C'baoth sounds vaguely like Richard Nixon. Callista gets a southern accent, being from an ice farm. I agree that Kyp and Corran wind up with "generic" voices.

Plagiues has kind of an friendly used car salesman voice when in Hego Demask mode, but in full on Sith Lord mode, changes to more deep and onimous, strangely ancient voice. Like how Palpatine's voice changes.

 

I don't know if anyone else had this issue, but for me I could not hear Ewan McGregor's voice at all in Kenobi. I don't know if it was the excerpts I read or what but I didn't purchase the book solely based on that fact. I couldn't hear him saying the text at all.

 

I just started The Crystal Star, and fully intend to do this now. Just thought you should know. Though it could be seen as a continuity error, seeing how Thrawn is also Gilbert Gottfried.

 

I can if the writing is good. But, for SW books it's very hit and miss.