Skyrim modder hires voice actress to re-record Meridia’s dialogue


Skyrim's Dragonborn outside Bleak Falls Barrow, where Meridia's beacon can often be found.
Credit: Images via Mobygames.

Modders have put an awful lot of effort into making sure Skyrim has continually evolved and expanded in the years since it was first released into the world.

Many have focused on changing the game by finding interesting ways to overhaul its most famous locations or adding everything from fully voice-acted quests to unique player homes and terrifying zombies to it, with a few even going as far as re-creating previous Elder Scrolls games or freezing characters until The Elder Scrolls 6 arrives.

If you’re a player who loves acquiring artefacts from Oblivion or resents being scared out of your boots while looting the chests at the end of dungeons, a new mod might be worth adding to your load order.

Feel like Skyrim’s Dawnbreaker-wielding Daedric prince needs some more soothing tones?

The mod in question is called ‘Meridia Revised - A New Voice’, and is the work of modder LeoMaximus. Some of their previous projects have given the likes of Mehrunes Dagon and Clavicus Vile female voices.

This time, they’ve decided to provide Meridia, a Daedra whose booming exclamations about her beacon have grown to be disliked by many players, with some fresh speech designed to be less intense.

Much like in their previous mods, LeoMaximus has accomplished this by hiring a voice actress via the freelance marketplace Fiverr, in this case Abigail Reno, to re-record the character’s lines using their own unique style of articulation, as you can hear in the preview video below.

As you might have gleaned, the mod comes in two different versions, with one simply replacing the voice lines with Reno’s recordings and the other adding a “twinkling background effect” designed to help them sound more like the original otherworldly tones.

So, if you’re planning on infiltrating Mount Kilkreath during your next playthrough, but don’t want to risk activating your established beacon acquisition-based fight-or-flight instincts, there’s now a possible solution for you.

Regardless of whether your Dragonborn is now flinching as they gently crack open a boss-level chest, make sure to follow us for more updates on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the interesting world of Skyrim modding.

You can also check out our mods of the month for February 2023 or our new series where we delve into the rich history of The Elder Scrolls 5’s setting:

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