The Hidden Voice Behind Elden Ring & Dark Souls

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]I remember the moment that I knew Dark Souls was a remarkable game. And it's quite possibly the same point at which you fell in love with it, too. Early on, when your character has escaped both the asylum and the brutal gauntlet that is the Undead Berg, and you make it out of all that misery and woe onto this little rooftop where you meet this guy.

[00:00:17]>> Ah, hello. You don't look hollow. Far from it. I am Solair of Atora, an adherent of the Lord of Sunlight. Unlike everything up to this point, the son worshiping Solair is cheerful. He's funny. He's weird. He wants to help. And he has a strange manner of speaking that has become From Software's calling card.

[00:00:36]It's just one peculiar turn of phrase after another with this guy.

[00:00:40]>> The sun is a wondrous body, like a magnificent father. If only I could be so cool.

[00:00:46]>> Grossly incandescent.

[00:00:48]>> Oh, one of my favorites.

[00:00:49]>> That's Ryan Morris, who in his role as lead translator at Frog Nation wrote Salair's English language dialogue. as well as every other line of dialogue in Dark Souls and every line of text and item description in the game.

[00:01:01]>> It is only human who took a little sin.

[00:01:07]>> He is the man Miyazaki trusted and continues to trust to convey the strangeness, the hope, the horror, and the humanity of his fantasy worlds.

[00:01:16]>> So, Miyazaki uses a lot of unusual terms of phrase for Japanese. It's a huge responsibility, especially when you consider that in the Dark Souls series and Elder Ring, English language dialogue is the only kind recorded.

[00:01:29]Wherever in the world you're playing, it's Ryan's translations you're hearing.

[00:01:32]I would have been a supper without you.

[00:01:34]Ryan was generous enough to speak with me about his remarkable job and answer my questions about why these games read and sound the distinctive way they do. I found his answers fascinating. And if you're just now realizing that you've been a fan of Ryan's work for years without ever knowing his name, I think you'll find this conversation fascinating, too.

[00:01:55]My name is Ryan Morris. I'm from the previous grunge capital of Seattle. And uh I got into Japanese 30 years ago. I got a bunch of education, but I only ever really wanted to uh translate video games and manga and anime. So, I got into that and I've kept with it the entire time. and now I'm the lead translator at Frog Nation. We've done a lot of games including, you know, Paton and Sugu way back in the day, but uh the ones we're known for the most are Hidake Miyazaki's uh Souls series games. We were doing a lot of work for Sony. This is like early 2000s. And we kind of became known as kind of like the boutique translators that could do kind of like take special care with your characters or consider the whole worldview of your game as they were translating and stuff. And so we kind of got just kind of by word of mouth, we kind of got a rep a nice reputation like that. and uh a producer for a game that we worked on was speaking with Miyazaki who was working on this dark fantasy and he he knew that it wouldn't be appropriate to have American actors do it in Los Angeles for the atmosphere he wanted and kind of the time period. And so this producer at Sony mentions like well you know there's this boutique translator outfit that has connections to London and you should talk to them.

[00:03:17]And so he came to us and uh that was uh Demon Souls.

[00:03:22]>> The poor poor girl trapped here with her eyes oluded by wax. For that one game we only did the voices. We only did the script. We didn't do the in-game text because it was sort of complicated. like um the overseas rights were sold to Atlas really early on and so our work was only for the Japanese version and that didn't have any of the English in there. So somebody else did uh did the English as a separate thing. That's the only case that was like that cuz for all following games we've we we've done the whole package which includes all the text that you see whether it's item descriptions u subtitles uh system messages everything over everything.

[00:04:11]a lot of responsibility to carry as well because the item descriptions, the the dialogue, these are the things that carry the tone of the entire series, right? I mean, it's kind of what made me fall in in love with the series is obviously mechanically it's a very very tight, very enjoyable video game, but the atmosphere and the strangeness of that atmosphere.

[00:04:34]>> Yes. Don't be humble here, but I think would would you accept that a great deal of that is down to you and your team?

[00:04:42]>> I I like to think that um the language uh I mean whether it's the script itself, which is pretty central for the atmosphere, whether it's the script itself, whether it's how well the actors carry through with that script and yeah, any language that you see, it kind of fools your brain and and allows you to become immersed in in in a in an imaginary world. And so I I think it's important to polish all of that and uh and so yes, I think we have an oversized influence on the enjoyment of the game, even if it goes unnoticed by everyone.

[00:05:16]>> So you're you're originally from Seattle. Yes.

[00:05:19]>> They they wanted you for Demon Souls because they knew that uh it had to be a sort of, you know, English voice actors for the medieval atmosphere.

[00:05:28]>> Yes. Much of the dialogue in in Demon Souls and Dark Souls is a sort of old English I want to say Arthuran because I don't really know the right term.

[00:05:38]>> Yeah.

[00:05:38]>> Do you have like a particular academic connection to old English? No.

[00:05:43]>> Are you essentially you're just making are you making it up?

[00:05:46]>> Well, yeah, it is sort of learning as I go process. Um, so to give you a little of the behind the scenes on that for it was Demon Souls and Dark Souls that I did by myself, but as things got bigger and we actually started to have budgets, which we didn't have for Demon Souls, um, we hired um, a millennial who's about 10 years uh, my junior who is an expert on old English and and and various forms of it and and and um, that's Ian Milton Pulley and uh, He uh he's been part of the team since mid Dark Souls 2. So it's it's it's me and him and and an editor.

[00:06:28]>> So how hands-on are you these days? You say that you essentially soloed the translation for Dark Souls and Demon Souls. That would be fair. If there's something that you're reading in Dark Souls or Demon Souls and you're like, damn, that's a nice turn of phrase.

[00:06:42]Grossly incandescent.

[00:06:43]>> Oh, one of my favorites. I I was really into that character when I was writing it. And then the actor did a phenomenally um subdued performance where I just felt like he understand exact understood exactly what I was going for. And uh and then the the uh all the fans and their response was uh quite a thrill because I I love the character as much as everyone else does.

[00:07:04]>> Quite thrilling like a bloodborne pebble. Okay. I think it's pretty obvious that the Souls Born series has kind of an editorial voice. Mhm.

[00:07:14]>> Um, I personally find it quite hard to define. You just know it when you see it. You know, if you're playing a From Software game from the the tone of the writing and the dialogue.

[00:07:24]>> Would you be would you be up for trying to do a better job than than I can?

[00:07:28]Like, how would you summarize the the editorial >> tone of those games?

[00:07:35]>> That's a very interesting question. And it's it's I'm in a very difficult position to try to articulate that because it's part of it is is my own writing style and that's not something that that I can be very objective about.

[00:07:49]So I can tell you what what I'm what I'm trying to achieve. I mean so um so Miyazaki uses a lot of unusual terms of phrase for Japanese. He uses a lot of uh very rare terms and uh it also includes kind of playing with uh very rare kanji the the idogs sort of along the lines of of a tradition of translated fantasy like translate like he he used to read Lord of the Rings in English and other fantasy in English cuz before it was available in Japanese and then it would come out in Japanese and these really dedicated translators of these uh of these um western fantasy books books would make an attempt to kind of basically the same thing that I do with with his scripts. They would make an attempt to kind of recreate the mystery of some of the language. And and and one of the things they would do is they would they would localize it by coming up with these techniques to color the Japanese language with these with with some very unusual things like these very like using these very rare idoggrams for certain words and and also puns for puns for names that were kind of archaic in Japanese. So what I'm trying to do is um do something that recreates what he's doing in the Japanese text cuz it's very unique. He's he he's the only uh it's the only game you'll find with with text like that in Japanese. And so it needs to have something special in English to sort of mirror it.

[00:09:18]>> You must destroy the fading Lord Wind who has coddled fire and resisted nature.

[00:09:26]>> Now obviously with a project like Elder Ring, is there a much larger team or is it not much larger?

[00:09:32]>> No, it's the same >> really.

[00:09:34]This is so the team has not changed since Dark Souls II. It's me and Ian.

[00:09:40]Sometimes the have been different editors, but uh the the English speaking trans the translators are the two of us and we've handled it all. So, if you were to attempt to start to to to separate the two, then he's going to be doing the more archaic characters. And when you say archaic, you you mean like uh >> speech patterns depending on, you know, the background of a character, how long they've lived, they they speak in different ways. And so I if you're if you're hearing like sort of Shakespearean terms of phrases, then that is likely that it's that Ian took care of that script. Solid and scale you might be foul dragon and I will riddle with homes your wrapping with a hail of my >> back with Dark Souls and Demon Souls I was you know doing my best. Um but it really allowed us to really beef up on on that get the scripts to be a lot more meaty with the uh the archaic sounding terms of phrases. And so and and the other thing would be um for a similar sort of reason is that um he will do charact some characters of very high status >> kings and rulers and gods and and such.

[00:10:52]Do you essentially kind of like go through this the script and divide up characters based on that?

[00:10:58]>> Once it gets rolling we're kept pretty busy. So, uh, we have we that's something we have to decide pretty quickly, but it it usually, um, it usually falls into place, uh, pretty sensibly just based on, uh, I mean, we know we know which characters will speak with archaic tongues immediately based on the background, based on the script and the and the the um, Miyazaki's requests and stuff. I'll soon birth thee a new a sweeting fresh and pure.

[00:11:32]>> And so the characters that don't clearly go to me or him, we just uh decide based on who's open and stuff.

[00:11:39]>> So for fun, I tried running some of the Japanese text dialogue through just like a crappy transl like Google translation.

[00:11:47]>> Sure. And what you get is very very literal. Uh you know it sort of will will convey you you can knowing these lines very well as I do I can kind of see the sim the similarity there.

[00:11:59]>> Yeah.

[00:12:00]>> But what what's obvious from that exercise is how much creativity and control >> it seems like Frog Nation is granted.

[00:12:07]>> Yes.

[00:12:08]>> Have you ever pushed for anything? Have you ever had any push back from from software or the team there or are they just huge fans of everything you do?

[00:12:14]>> No. No. There's there's there's definitely a dialogue. Uh everyone should needs to be checking for you know errors of uh interpretation and so a lot of stuff gets discussed in a back and forth manner. if Miyazaki or the from side uh really likes um something quite creative that we've done in in some cases we'll announce like we have this idea for this line that's actually a bit different and it means XYZ and uh in the best case scenario if they think it really fits and they can confirm that then it will be back translated into Japanese. So, our alterations influence maybe, you know, 5 or 10% of the script.

[00:12:52]Like, Miyazaki has always been um very understanding and kind about um kind of allowing people doing different things for the game to kind of have some sort of ownership over it and push things in their direction and uh uh try something that they that occurs to them. And so there hasn't been a demand to be ultra literal, which you know some directors or game developers would would tend to do because they're afraid of like losing control over their own franchise or characters, which is understandable. But um me and Ian are both kind of ride, you know, writer types. And so it it would it would be very foreign to me to translate something translate a game or a creative thing. uh a a a comic or whatever to do it very literally and to not um do localization in places that would you know improve the product. I mean I very much keep in mind what the intent of the Japanese is. Um, but it it really isn't going to flow very well or sort of like entertain or move the emotions if you don't do some sort of um sort of creative adjustments. In a lot of cases, translation is more of an art than a science, which is something that is hard to understand unless you have really gotten into a foreign language.

[00:14:15]You give the same book to two different translators and you'll get very different results, but they're both going to be kind of solutions to a problem to try to convey the the the message. Language is approximate and you can't explain um every nook and cranny of the meaning. So, you're going to have to um make some executive decisions on what parts are essential, whether it's about an idea or or or something in a character's voice.

[00:14:43]And um try to cook something up that you think is representative of it and that uh becomes a hole of its own on the other end. It's it's never easy. Uh it's fun and it's never easy. It's it's imperfect. Um but such is such is translation. It's me, Secret of Katarina.

[00:15:05]I'm loathed to admit it, but I've been had someone's swiped my armor.

[00:15:11]>> You must presumably then have a an equally challenging task. If you've if you've translated something from the Japanese script and you're like, "Okay, this is what I want it to be in English."

[00:15:22]>> You then have to presumably explain to the Japanese speaking team at From Software, "This is what I would like it to say." and then explain to them in Japanese kind of what it means in English.

[00:15:34]>> Yes.

[00:15:34]>> How do you keep all this in your head?

[00:15:36]>> It's not all just in my head. I mean, the exchanges on the subject are are are are written in Excel. So, there's for for a single game, there's like a thousand to 2,000 um single like questions and answers in a in a in a question and answer document. So, it's kind of an ongoing dialogue uh between us and from. Do you have sources or texts that you tend to refer to? Like for example, if you know a character is a nun or or you know a priest or or or something, will you chase down some old book or something or do you you kind of do it by intuition?

[00:16:11]>> There are definitely cases where you know that this is something specific enough that you need to sort of learn some of the styling and turns of phrases that would that would be appropriate to that kind of person. A lot of times it's looking to fiction depictions and fiction of different types of characters in the past. Um for some of the um in-game texts, we have looked at some kind of like uh historical books on different forms of weaponry and torture devices and different things to try to get a feel for some of the um specific vocabulary that's used.

[00:16:43]>> No one can catch us. No one can stop us.

[00:16:47]Hell, >> if it's not strange or or a little too familiar to say, I feel like I can tell from uh from your manner and and the way that you speak why you are good at this job, if that makes sense. The way you speak and the way you explain things is very very considered. Um it's very calm >> or wordy.

[00:17:07]>> I don't feel like there are any wasted words in in the way you speak. I have to say actually I was so over the moon because when we were emailing back and forth about this and and trying to organize a time you sent me a message that was essentially like you know a million emails. It was basically saying like sorry for not getting patchy sooner or like apologies for the slow reply or something but but you phrased it and I was like oh my god it's like it was like a it was amazing. It was like I was emailing with King Seeker Framped or something. It was like the tone is just so just so.

[00:17:46]>> Well, I'm I'm glad it had that effect. I I uh I didn't think twice about it.

[00:17:51]>> The Soul series has a reputation for being very like a very unforgiving um place because they're difficult video games. fans of the series will talk a lot about the the bright spots like the sort of moments of hopefulness >> and humor >> um that that leaven that and I think when I think about it that's basically all in the in the dialogue and the writing that stranges and that sweetness.

[00:18:16]>> Yeah.

[00:18:17]>> Then I suppose I I can't just curl up and die, can I? Do you feel like you get close to these characters while you're while you're doing this?

[00:18:28]>> I do try to get into the heads of these characters in in an attempt to to to try to bring life to their voice. Um, and over the years I I found out pretty quickly, but um but more and more over the years that Miyazaki is very sort of I think he's very attached to his characters. Um, a lot of characters are very sincere in these games. They have their own motivations, but they really mean what they say. And uh there's a lot of kind of like honorable and kind kind-hearted people actually despite the image of the series. And uh and then uh there's a lot of tragedy involved in their story line. So there's a there's uh there's a lot of sadness in in in what how it plays out. But um there's a lot of very uh kind of endearing characters and so it's fun to Yes. to try to to make them convincing. Do you have a favorite across all the across all the games?

[00:19:20]>> I I >> or a couple of like standouts.

[00:19:22]>> I mean, I do like Solair so much. Um, Solair uh it was very fun to write and just a very memorable character for me.

[00:19:30]Um, I really liked how Ronnie came out.

[00:19:32]I mean, a lot of it had to do with the Welsh accent, but it was I I was I was kind of even though I'd written the script, after seeing it in motion, I kind of fell in love with the character.

[00:19:41]Very very interesting character. And once all is done, we shall see each other once more.

[00:19:52]>> There are so many regional accents at play in these games. Being from the UK, uh I'm sort of identifying them instantly as I play these games. Like a like a map of the UK is kind of like pinging kind of like, oh yeah, here we go. This, you know, but how do you know?

[00:20:08]Have you ever lived in the UK? Have you traveled around the UK? How do you kind of do that casting side of stuff?

[00:20:13]>> So, there's other people that are involved in the in the the whole like, you know, casting of actors and stuff.

[00:20:19]That's all on on on the London side. We we come to them with like ideas of how we want to, you know, divide these several families in Elden Ring and these lineages and what could we do to make it clear when you hear the lines that they're associated with each other and and uh and uh you know, we want this one to be uh the more salt of the earth family and this one to be more aristocratic and and what what languages could we use to to do that? It's very similar to um what they did in Game of Thrones to try to differentiate different types of of people.

[00:20:56]>> I command thee.

[00:21:00]>> Are there any other translators or localizers working in video games that you particularly admire?

[00:21:06]>> Yeah. Um Matt Alt, he's kind of like this like go-to guy for like he's like the culture expert uh the Japanese culture expert for the West. So you'll see him um occasionally on like CNN trying to explain something that the West is trying to figure out about Japan. He's a phenomenal writer. He has several several books. He's a pop culture. He's basically a pop culture professor and he's amazing. Matt Alt.

[00:21:29]>> Ryan, thank you so much for speaking to me. I'm going to let you get on because if I don't let you go now, I'm just going to read out lines to you that I like and go, "That was good, wasn't it?"

[00:21:40]And you'll have to go, "Yes."

[00:21:43]And you probably don't want that.

[00:21:45]>> No, no. I I I I really do appreciate um you reaching out and um and and caring.

[00:21:53]So, uh it's been good.