Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Revali voice actor discusses landing the job, coming up with voices

A portion of a RandomNintendo interview with voice actor, Sean Chiplock...

RN: This is the first Zelda game to feature voice acting. Did you know going into it that you’d be part of such a legendary series? What was your reaction when you got the part(s)?

SC: Although I hadn’t already guessed what the audition was for by the time I finished auditioning, I put the pieces together pretty quickly after thinking about concept art and the character sides… and spent the next few weeks dancing between thoughts of, “No way, there’s just absolutely no way” and, “BUT IT WOULD MAKE SO MUCH SENSE AT THIS POINT”.

As soon as I was cast, though, my entire thought process regarding the game flipped completely from fanboy-level excitement to extreme professional focus. Considering that The Legend of Zelda’s only other franchise comparison for voiceover involved a series of games known and parodied the world over as little more than a mockery, I was well aware that any voiceover in another Zelda game would be closely scrutinized and critiqued just on principle; I was determined to not let that happen again with such an important entry in the franchise, no matter how much time and effort it took.

At first my only role was Deku Tree, and although I was happy to be part of such a monumental franchise (and voicing a character established throughout MANY of the previous games within it), I was at least a little saddened that I hadn’t also snagged Revali, whom I had come to love just from his character description. This is why when in the middle of a session, when I was asked if I would like to do some sample readings for a particularly cocky bird, I sincerely hope that the microphone sensitivity was turned all the way down in time to mask the near-shriek of excitement I let out. Here was my chance to take a character I was enthralled so much by, and be put in charge of making sure they were given the best vocal performance possible.

The funniest part about Revali was that it wasn’t just my audition that helped land the role (it was still the biggest portion by far, don’t get me wrong), but quite possibly also my ability to be a massive shameless fanboy. According to the director, I literally could not contain myself from widening my eyes and giving out small squees of excitement every time he showed up on a sample clip, not unlike a young child getting their first real look at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Castle. Somehow, my overjoyed noises had been live-recorded/shared directly with individuals over at a different studio who played a part in determining the final cast; it turned out that they were very interested in having cast members who were as passionate about their product as they themselves needed to be.

Teba was much less interesting in comparison, as he was thrown in as an option in the middle of Revali’s sessions – at this point I had proven myself capable of hitting different vocal ranges, and so it was just a matter of finding out on-the-spot if I was able to provide something functionally different from my other two roles but still believable for the character. Thankfully, his description plus his differences from Deku Tree and Revali made this process quite manageable, and I was able to have the immense joy of having TWO lovable birds on my portfolio.

This is why it’s important to remember that it’s OKAY to be excited and/or proud about the work you do as a voice actor; this profession is supposed to be fun. It’s incredible, it’s unique, and we get to have some of the coolest adventures ever while being paid for the privilege to do so. Sometimes letting our inner geeks show can be a great thing, as long as it’s contained within a professional context. And in Teba’s case, it’s a great example of the whole “opportunity + preparedness = success” formula, because his audition was little more than a split second performance based off two minutes of information that demanded all of my character-creation experience be put into play.

RN: How did you decide on each voice? Did Nintendo give a lot of guidance or did you have leeway to make the characters your own?

SC: Perhaps ironically enough, all three of my characters had varying placements on the spectrum between being my own creation and being a result of the desires of the company or director.

Revali – who I thought would be the easiest of the three to work through because of how much background work I placed into creating a personality for him before my first session – was actually the most gruelingly difficult character to nail down. Even though I DID have an extremely bold/solid character choice for him going into the studio, the people in charge already had very specific ideas in mind for what they wanted – ideas that did not necessarily mesh with my own creation. I went from having a complete character already penned out, to having to scrap nearly every detail of my creation and hang on the word of the director for guidelines on what to do. However, I think it worked out for the better as a result; because of this, Revali ended up as an overtly confident Champion with a nuance of demanding only the best from his partners/rivals, rather than a cocky and obnoxious blowhard who was nothing but a pain to collaborate with.

For Deku Tree, I had always envisioned him as having this sort of ‘worldly wisdom age’ warble to his voice that’s sort of a less intimidating Gandalf, which likely would fit quite well with his Ocarina of Time incarnation. While that wise/quirky old sage couldn’t completely come out for his voice this time around, I did get to keep the slow, calming pace to his speech as well as the touch of Ye Olde English enunciation hinting at ages past. Deku Tree was definitely the most physically demanding of the three, as it was not possible for me to consistently stay in his vocal range unless my body was in a state of complete relaxation; how fitting, when you think about it!

My personal favorite has to be Teba, though, because his voice was in fact 100% my creation. Once I saw his in-game model I had a firm idea of how he would sound to me, and the director(s) completely agreed with what I presented to them. Teba is ‘mine’ in the sense that he was fully implemented as-is without adjustments to what I’d had in mind (in sharp contrast to Revali), and so that makes him particularly special to me through being my first professional vocal ownership as an actor.