What if I told you that God of War: Ragnarök‘s Tyr is Australian?
Well, he’s not.
But he could’ve been! And his voice actor Ben Prendergast sure is!
The success of God of War: Ragnarök is plain to see, and is a great sequel to a groundbreaking revival of a much-loved series. There are many factors that have gone into what made God of War: Ragnarök a hit, from its leaps and bounds in accessibility features, all the way to its ease of access for players that are completely new to the series.
Another great aspect of God of War: Ragnarök is its award-winning voice acting. The vocal cast of this game is just so right, which is important for a game that relies so heavily on the stories of its characters. One character that I really resonated with and was always excited to hear more from and learn more about was the former Aesir God of War, Law, Justice, and Honor himself, Tyr.
Tyr is voiced in God of War: Ragnarok by Australian actor Ben Prendergast, whose beginnings in theatre and film took him on a journey through television, commercial voice-over work, and animated voice-over work before arriving in the world of video game voice acting. Over the last 15 years, Prendergast tells me via email interview that he has worked with “some amazing Australian creatives” in the theatre and film industry.
“I performed a number of lead roles on stage and a number of guest roles on Australian TV and film, but just didn’t fit whatever mould they were looking for I guess,” Prendergast explains. “I also had a successful commercial voice-over career in Australia and I moved to the US in 2017 to see if there were opportunities there. It was a wild couple of years for sure, I had a number of different agents, and was something like 700 auditions in before I hit on my first profile role as General Hux for Star Wars Resistance on Disney+. Soon after that, it was Hades, God of War, and Apex Legends who all took me on at about the same time!”
Prendergast elaborates on how all of this experience went into his performance as Týr, as well as his feelings for his fellow voice actors. “The beauty of a role like Tyr is that it’s all performance capture, so the worlds of theatre, voiceover, and film all collided perfectly into the one job. Add to this, I got to work with amazing talents like Eric Williams, Matt Sophos, Christopher Judge, Danielle Bisutti, Adam Harrington and my now dear friend Alastair Duncan and it really was and is a dream creative family.”
I often wonder just how strongly voice actors feel for the characters they play, and how much they relate to them. With Tyr being such a… complicated character in God of War: Ragnarök, I decided to ask Prendergast about his personal connections to Tyr. If you are yet to play God of War: Ragnarök yet and have found this conversation somewhat interesting, I’ve got some terrible news for you. We’re going into spoiler territory that covers the main story of God of War: Ragnarök, as well as post-game storylines involving Tyr.
When going into depth about his connection to Tyr, Prendergast tells me that he actually proposed the idea of Tyr being Australian to God of War: Ragnarok‘s narrative director Matt Sophos.
“I did float the idea to Matt Sophos that the real Tyr could be Australian,” Prendergast says, “But I think he landed exactly where we wanted, and who knows where and when we’ll find him next!”
So sure, Tyr is not an Aussie, but that doesn’t mean Prendergast couldn’t relate to Tyr. “I relate to Tyr a great deal,” Prendergast says. “In the Norse pantheon, he’s widely known as the original all-father, predating Odin, and recognized as an even-handed God of War AND Justice. We get the day Tuesday or ‘Tyrsday’ from him, so there’s a weekly reminder as to why I love him so much.”
Prendergast continues, revealing that his first meeting with the devs turned into a bit of a fanfest. “When I met with Eric [Williams] and Matt [Sophos] the first time, I felt I had to gush over their work in the previous game, where we had a protagonist father who was coming to terms with raising his son. With two sons of my own, this was really important to me, and after researching Tyr so heavily I was just so excited to play the part.”
For those of us who played God of War: Ragnarok, we know exactly why Tyr is a complicated character. The big reveal of the Tyr that players spent so much of the game with, who seemed so traumatised from his experiences as a God and simply wished to live in peace, was actually the game’s main antagonist Odin was a twist that broke hearts around the world. It was also very well done and unexpected.
I asked Prendergast if he knew from the beginning, if he found himself performing Tyr as he believed Odin would, or if it was a surprise to him partway through his performance a la Marvel giving different scripts to different actors. He explains that he knew from “the near beginning”, and that the process around it all was “hilarious”.
“I have two raven tattoos on my arms,” Prendergast says, noting that they’re actually a dedication to his sons. “When guys like Rich [Gaubert] saw them, they were all freaking out thinking I’d tattooed my arms FOR the gig. Early on though, before I knew, I was coming to Matt and Eric with these ideas like, ‘Will he have his hand? Can we incorporate my tattoos onto the character model?’, and they were like, ‘Umm. we can’t do that,’ but also, they were very kind and responsive in helping me shape Tyr early on.”
Prendergast then recalls his agent calling him in January 2020 after he had done a few studio sessions as Tyr. “He was like, ‘They want to meet with you,’ and I was like, ‘Uh oh, I’m getting fired!’,” Prendergast laughs.
“I had just gotten back to the US after being stuck in the Australian bushfires, and I sat down with Eric and Matt, and they were just like, ‘Hey man, we love what you’re doing with the character, and we want you to know that you ARE Tyr and you always will be, buuuuuuuut there’s something you need to know.’,” Prendergast says. “I was wracking my brains because I could clearly see that they were sitting on something big, and then they were like “Tyr is Odin”. Mic drop. They then took me through all of the spoilers, and we had a huge discussion about what this meant for the player base, and what we needed from Tyr in order to take fans on a satisfying journey.”
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I had this funny feeling after finding the real Tyr in the post-game. After saving this big boy and getting him to warm up to me, it felt bittersweet to find the real Tyr and realise I’d have to build a bestie-dom all over again with a guy that didn’t seem all too interested in being my bestie. It’s understandable, but still a bit sad.
I asked Prendergast which Tyr he preferred, the Tyr he spent the most time with that ultimately turned out to be Odin, or the real Tyr. He said that “performing Tyr was tricky from the very beginning, but ultimately the most rewarding of the two,” and then elaborated on how he and the narrative team at Santa Monica Studio diverted fans’ expectations of both Tyr 1 and Tyr 2.
“Tyr is a known quantity in a way from the 2018 game, so fans were expecting this larger-than-life Kratos-equivalent,” Prendergast says. “but of course, we couldn’t give them that. I remember early on, I had his vocal register a lot deeper and more strident and we decided to pitch him up a little and have him a lot more broken, which makes sense given the circumstances. It also more closely matches the voice register to Richard Schiff’s Odin, an actor I’ve adored for years, by the way, what a unique gift to work with him.” He goes on to say that Odin’s Tyr is “actually a lot more challenging and rewarding to play”.
“For every line, there are TWO purposes. One is as the peace-loving Týr and the other is the war-avoiding Odin, so as an actor, I was always needing to dial in the intention, mood, and objective that matched BOTH requirements.”
Prendergast also notes that the post-game Tyr “is closer to what the REAL Tyr is like”, and that “While a lot of people are disappointed he told them to leave him alone, I think you’ll find he’ll come around once he’s had a chance to process the events of Ragnarök.” That makes sense, it’s one traumatic event after another for this guy. Bestie-dom is a slow process.
So when I asked Prendergast what the response has been like to his rendition of Tyr since God of War: Ragnarök released, he asks all of us (that’s me and you, baby!) to consider this: “For around four years, I knew something that none of you did, and to carry that secret for all that time meant that I was super anxious about the response from the fanbase after the game launched in November,” he says.
He goes on to say that he was “very much expecting online hate”, but of course, “none of that really eventuated”.
“There HAS been some hate, which I love, as it means some fans have been so affected by that story that they feel compelled to go on the offensive, so to speak,” Prendergast explains. “But there has also been a tonne of great feedback, and a lot of love from the fans who appreciate what a performance like Tyr/Týr actually took, which was a lot, it’s one of the trickiest roles I’ve had to play to date.”
It’s always a pleasure to see a homegrown Aussie actor in the video game voice-acting world, and I think Ben Prendergast did a killer job as both Tyr, and also Tyr. I decided to end our conversation with some bonus questions. We love a bit of fun, don’t we?
As Prendergast is the voice of Patroclus in Hades, I simply had to ask him if he’s pumped for the upcoming sequel. Of course, no shit he is. “Yes. I love Supergiant Games and I ship PatroChilles hard!” This is huge news for the PatroChilles shippers of the online world.
And finally, I asked Prendergast not only what his favourite game is, but also what he thinks Tyr’s favourite game would be. “Hard to pass up on Ragnarök, but if I’m being honest I have hundreds of hours spent on Apex Legends!”, he says. “I’m, of course, a Fuse main. And you know, I think Tyr would be a Fuse main too. He loves to take care of his family, loves to be an arbiter of truth and fair play, and probably wouldn’t mind exploring the Indigenous Australian Dreamtime. There’s a pantheon Santa Monica Studio could take a look at!”
God of War: Ragnarök is available now on PlayStation 4 and 5.
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