Wiki of Westeros

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Wiki of Westeros
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Wiki of Westeros

German accent[]

Does Quaithe speak with a german accent? Her actress is from germany! --Exodianecross (talk) 19:18, July 12, 2014 (UTC)

Unfortunately she doesn't...which people have actually pointed out, online, is bizarre given that the only other person from Asshai, Melisandre, has a Dutch accent.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatTheHellIsThatAccent
"Some had this reaction to Melisandre, apparently from Asshai (east of Essos) whose accent is similarly strange. Carice van Houten is simply using her native Dutch accent; unlike the Lorathi (where we conveniently find they speak with German accents), the other person we see from Asshai (a strange lady in Qarth) has an unremarkable native English accent."
Logically, shouldn't they have tried to match them?--The Dragon Demands (talk) 20:57, July 12, 2014 (UTC)
I went and rewatched her scenes. The actress is actually from Frankfurt, Germany, though I don't know where she's spent much of her life. But having rewatched her scenes and seen some cast interviews, she speaks as "Quaithe" using her normal off-camera speaking voice.
...Despite being German, she can speak English so well that she doesn't have a detectable accent. Only if you pay very close attention, now and then she says a vowel somewhat strangely; she says "your" as "yer", she stresses "fie-er" a little more than she should.
But she doesn't really have a detectable accent.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 21:15, July 12, 2014 (UTC)
I understand. Perhaps the producers want to spare the "german accent" for characters who shall portray Lorati, and Carice van Houten was introduced "after" the appearence of Quaithe in season 2! --Exodianecross (talk) 13:55, July 13, 2014 (UTC)
Well, we don't think they planned that - it just happened that "Jaqen" said he was from Lorath and the actor had a German accent...so at the end of Season 2 in "Blackwater" they realized "hey, Shae has a German accent too - why not say she's from Lorath?" -- But Melisandre and Quaithe appeared much earlier in Season 2, long before "Blackwater"....and probably before they saw that Jaqen-Shae similarity.
The one good piece of news is that David J. Peterson is usually very careful about developing accents (he figured out what Dothraki-accented English would sound like, based on what sounds don't exist in Dothraki)...so the nerdy language fans are endlessly speculating about what king of accents different Free Cities should have.--The Dragon Demands (talk) 14:26, July 13, 2014 (UTC)
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