Ori and the Voice of Nature
Cursed with Glorious Purpose for Mengele
Ancient male
Mengele has appeared before as the main antagonist of season 1, voiced by myself. However, I've never been satisfied with my performance in this role, so I'm considering replacing myself with someone better suited.
Fortunately, this is not the same Mengele as Josef Mengele. Unfortunately, he is arguably almost as bad. Mengele can best be described as affably evil. He is polite, patient, soft-spoken, very well educated, and very intelligent and insightful. He is also perfectly willing to subject almost anyone to a living hell. Typically this does not involve violence, but psychological stress. Mengele is very good at divining the character of people around him, including their flaws and vulnerabilities. One of his favorite tactics is to lock a subject in a "mindscape" and subject him to events and images designed to test the subject. These are rarely intended to kill or cause physical harm, but pain and danger are frequent methods, as are shocking images. Despite this, Mengele's politeness and friendliness is genuine, and he is not a socipath in the typical sense. Mengele is typically several steps ahead of everyone else. Like his sister Ama, he is ancient and capable of shapeshifting and moving between timelines.
Voice: Deep, smooth, friendly, dangerous
Mengele exudes confidence, perhaps a tinge of superiority. It is extremely difficult to make him angry, even with deeply personal insults. His voice is gentle, but with undertones of danger. He can be humorous on occasion, but it's subtle. This is a very important role, to bring your best effort! I suggest watching his appearances in season 1 to get a feel for his style of speech, but a certain amount of re-envisioning is permissible.
[From season 1, watch here]
Mengele
(calmly, matter-of-factly): And even if killing Bloodclaw was right
thing to do… what about how you did it? He told you his secrets. Made
himself vulnerable. You took what he offered you and twisted it into a
weapon, and you killed him with it.
Yellow: Fine, so what was the right answer? What should I have done, according to the megalomaniacal Mengele?!
Mengele
(calmly, almost gently): You mistake my analysis for criticism. That’s
not the point. Not this time, at least. Think back to the things you
have seen today—the humans enslaving and murdering the Avali, the Avali
turning humanity’s greatest tragedy into a horrific weapon… the apex’
sadistic experiments… the so-called crechemasters who mold their charges
into killers… you, the aspiring peacemaker, manipulating your victim as
deftly as the killer you fought… we all have monsters, lurking beneath
the surface, waiting for their day in the sun. Some of us control them
better than others, but they’re there nonetheless, and when they get
out… in the face of such primitive, intrinsic compulsions, the thin veil
of safety and cooperation we have hung tears to ribbons. Civilization
may change our tools, but deep down we remain the same, brutal
primitives.Ama: I am not interested in socializing. Can you assist me or not?
Mengele: That depends on what you have in mind.
Ama (impatient): Was I not clear enough?
Mengele:
Actually, no. I am familiar with the man who so disturbs you. I find
him quite interesting, so I imagine he vexes you quite severely. I hope
you don’t expect me to kill him, I have become somewhat invested in his
endeavors.
Ama: I am not so quick as you to cast aside a life, not
even one who is my antithesis. But he is interfering with my worlds, and
he will not stop! That is impermissible! You know the workings of the
multiverse! Undo what he has done.
Mengele (weary sigh): My dear
sister, that is not how the multiverse works. One cannot “undo” a
timeline, particularly when two weave together. One can only create a
new…
Ama (dismissive): The details do not concern me, I know that you can make things happen differently. Do it.
Mengele:
When meddling with timelines, “details” can prove one’s undoing. Your
so-called “antithesis” made comprehensive recordings of his time in your
worlds, and it is clear that his actions have been benign. As it stands
now, he has no idea that his dabblings were anything but computerized
fictions. Perhaps you should simply… accept his contributions and move
on.
Ama (sarcastically): Yes, because your “contributions” were so
“benign.” These contaminations would lead only to destruction, just like
yours did.
Thank you for submitting. While this isn't quite right for this character, I have general feedback you may find useful:1. You have a good voice for voice acting.2. You project your voice well. A lot of new voice actors tend to mumble and lack energy. The lines you delivered here do not have this problem.3. You should enunciate carefully. Some of the words in the submission were a little bit slurred. That's normal for regular speaking, but greater clarity is important for voice acting. It's something I struggle with in my own acting.4. Work on smoothing out the delivery. The delivery of the lines was a bit halting and fragmented, like there were periods between different clauses. For some characters, that's appropriate but for most characters, and especially for Mengele, lines should flow smoothly. Part of that is due to the lines, of course: I tend to write sentences that are longer and ramblier than they should be.5. Edit your submissions. In general, begin the recording with your name or handle, the project title, and the role. If there are pauses between takes where you settle a bit, get organized, adjust your mic, etc. then cut them out. Often, you will want to include two or three takes for each line to demonstrate both your range and different approaches you could take to voicing the character.