One of the things that makes Critical Role so special is that it happens to be a group of gamers who are also professional voice actors. I’ve talked to them already about their experiences with tabletop gaming and the show. Then they shared the music that inspires their characters. But now, I want to show you another side of the cast: their vocal works.
First up is Liam, mainly because he’s always the first to respond to my emails. He’s great like that. Liam is quite the heavy hitter in the voice over world. Here are five of his favorite roles that he wanted to share with you. Most of them have some pretty sweet action figures. Just sayin’.
Illidan Stormrage – World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Illidan Stormrage is the final boss in the Black Temple and Lord of Outland. He was once a powerful dark elf sorcerer who became this mighty demonic dude when he absorbed the power of the Skull of Gul’dan. Stormrage went on to do a lot of nasty things to the people of Azeroth, hence the nickname “The Betrayer.” He even comes in action figure format, though you’re probably not prepared for owning something that cool.
Gaara – Naruto
Gaara is one of the many antagonistic characters in Naruto, as well as one of the series’ most popular individuals. Much like Naruto himself, Gaara had a tailed beast sealed inside him by the Fourth Kazekage, which caused the villagers to hate him. Unlike Naruto and his cheerful outlook, however, Gaara grew up to hate pretty much everything and became a fearsome killer. Poor kiddo. At least he’s popular enough to have multiple action figures.
Red Skull – Marvel’s Avengers Assemble
Red Skull, formerly Iron Skull, formerly Cosmic Red Skull, formerly Johann Schmidt is the mastermind behind HYDRA. Red skull was given the super-soldier formula like Captain America, but it was an earlier, imperfect version that granted him superpowers but also started to slowly kill him. And guess what… he’s also an action figure! Hail HYDRA!
Gollum – Shadow of Mordor
Image credit: Warner Bros. Interactive
Liam voices the iconic wretch from The Lord of the Rings in the video game Shadow of Mordor. The game’s protagonists, Talion and Celebrimbor, come across Gollum and use him to find Celebrimbor’s true identity. Is anyone else picturing Liam in the sound booth wringing his hands together while saying, “Pressssssciouses”? Because I sure am.
War – Darksiders
War is the main protagonist in Darksiders. He is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which may be why it feels strange that one of the riders should be a protagonist in anything. Anyway, War stands wrongfully accused of a murder that leads to the Apocalypse. He must prove his innocence to the Charred Council in order to gain his powers back. You get to play as Liam’s character for the whole game. How fun is that? And of course, you guessed it, he is also an action figure.
Liam’s resume doesn’t stop at voice acting. He’s also worked as a vocal director on Resident Evil 5 & 6, The Last of Us, Evolve, The Witness, and more. Plus he’s contributed to script writing for Naruto, Bleach, Tiger & Bunny, and Marvel Anime: X-Men. Check out Laim’s full repertoire of vocal works; I believe “impressive” may be the correct adjective to describe it.
And as always, you can see Liam as the beloved Vax’ildan on Critical Role, every Thursday at 7pm, Live on Geek & Sundry’s Twitch channel.
Featured Image credit: Pamela Joy Photography