Did I find Xander's real voice actor? What do you think?

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Published on July 2, 2022 9:28:41 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar4_X5hKSSA

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Xander's Legendary alt in FEH got me thinking again about the state of his voice.
I was never convinced he was dubbed by David Stanbra. Instead, I've been looking around for who could possible be his actual VA, and today I believe I've found my answer: Michael J Gough.

Michael J Gough is an American voice actor well known for his work in Diablo (Deckard Cain), Skyrim (a majority of the male Nords) and Resident Evil 4 (Osmund Saddler), but he has also had many anime-styled video game roles in the late 90s and early 2000s. Much like other older VAs in Fire Emblem Fates, like Cam Clarke, Roger Rose, Paul Eiding and Paula Tiso, Gough fits in with the cast Kris Zimmerman-Salter was building, especially considering Gough worked with her on Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, where he played Johnny.

Gough's range is, suffice to say, insane. He has dozens upon dozens of roles that sound almost nothing like his usual tone or inflection. Comparing him to Stanbra, who has a voice that is quite easy to pick out upon inspection, Gough is fantastic at masking his voice. However, there are a few roles that I have provided here (Jin Uzuki of Xenosaga, Zhou Yu of Dynasty Warriors 5, and Akechi Mitsuhide of Samurai Warriors 1) that I believe could serve to point towards his status as Xander's real VA. Take into consideration that there's over a decade of time passing between the releases of the games I included and Fire Emblem Fates, and voices do change with age, not to mention different voice direction in general, but I'm confident in my selections here to build a case.

To provide a comparison I also included Kilma, another Fates character I believe shares Xander's VA, whoever it may be, as they have very similar accents. As well, I added a section for some of David Stanbra's most recent work, Moons of Madness, to compare with the three characters I am certain he voiced in Fates (Kaze, Shura and Siegbert).

A little bit of extra info: as soon as I saw online sources saying Xander, Kaze, Shura and Siegbert all shared the same VA, I was immediately confused. I didn't think Xander sounded ANYTHING like the other three, and I like to think I have a pretty good ear. Fates' official credits used both numerous pseudonyms and some missing VAs. This makes it hard to be sure of anything. One thing is certain, however, and that is whoever was voicing Xander in Fates has returned for both Warriors and Heroes, and consistently for the latter across the past 5 years. Two of Stanbra's characters, Kaze and Siegbert, have appeared in Heroes as well, albeit recast by Xander Mobus and Todd Haberkorn respectively. This is odd, as just a couple months before and after their additions, Xander appeared in-game through alternate outfits with new voice lines provided by "George Spelvin", apparently the VA who had been voicing him since Fates. This is quite odd, no?

FEH very consistently aims to recruit voice actors to reprise their roles, even when one role has been recast. Take for example Paula Tiso and Amber Hood. They voiced Camilla/Orochi and Soleil/Nyx in Fire Emblem Fates respectively, however, early on in Heroes, Camilla and Soleil appeared, albeit now recast by Misty Lee and Michelle Ruff. Cut to four years later, both Orochi and Nyx make their Heroes debut, voiced by their original VAs, Tiso and Hood. Now, until Shura gets into FEH, there's still reason to doubt, but as it stands, it's odd for Xander's original VA to be returning at every opportunity to voice him, while leaving multiple other roles of his to the wayside, especially in cases where the timing seems likely for him to've been able to do multiple at once. Tiso and Hood were not involved with FEH until their debut with Orochi and Nyx, so Xander's case would be extremely standout if he were voiced by Stanbra is all I'm saying. Of course it's more than possible Stanbra just happened to be busy on the exact days he was required to voice Siegbert and Kaze, or maybe he just turned them down for whatever reason. If you ask me, though, I think it's far more likely Xander's VA was only voicing him because Xander was his only Fates role added to the game thus far. He had no reason to take unnecessary roles, especially since he seems to be doing Fire Emblem very much off the record, likely for Union reasons.

My final words here are simply this: I'm not saying I'm correct here.
There could be hundreds of VAs that could be voicing Xander, I'm not saying it's 100%, that is HAS to be Gough.

However, I do think Xander is 100% not Stanbra, and I will believe so until the words come out of Stanbra's mouth.