Then in comes Merrill who rambles, goes on tangents, makes short observations, occasionally stutters, and has a different accent (Welsh I'm pretty sure) from the rest of the team.
Yep, Merrill has a Welsh accent, which is slightly odd as iirc the rest of the Dalish have Irish accents. Though perhaps she originally came from a different clan. I can’t recall whether the clan in DA2 was the same one that the Dalish HoF (and Merrill) actually came from. Or perhaps Eve Myles who voices her and is Welsh was cast after the other voices were recorded
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Funnily enough, there's not a lot of accent variation in the game between companions. I get they're going for English Accent=Fantasy Accent thing, but I've lived in England (though raised in the States) and not everyone has the same accent? There's A LOT (like A LOT) of local accents that are specific to different regions and cities. I think Gale (of Waterdeep) should've had a different accent to Astarion (of Baldur's Gate). You're from the UK, so you probably know this better than I do.
I agree. I have a tin ear for accents, but what I’d broadly class as posh, southern English accents (or what might perhaps be called “Received Pronunciation” English or “Standard Southern British”) seem heavily over-represented, and only a small proportion of English people speak that way (~5% according to the latest estimate given by Wikipedia), let alone British people more generally. Far more variation would be possible even if there’s a desire to have accents only from England stand in for Sword Coast Common. And, as you say, the fact Gale is from a different city feels like a missed opportunity to give him a different accent from Astarion. As far as I know, there’s no Sword Coast equivalent to the British public schools that I believe were historically behind the formation of a generic posh accent for upper classes no matter where they were from!
Shadowheart is also more well spoken than you’d expect from an urchin, but perhaps she had Sharran elocution lessons to help her manipulate nobles. Wyll has a more regional (London?) accent, but it kind of works as it’s also the sort of accent often associated here with posh boys trying to sound more street than they are. Lae’zel … I don’t know, but again not as much of a departure as would be justified by her extra-planar origin. Not that I’d want to change any of the VAs at this stage as they all do a good job, but it does look like we’ll be reliant on Minsc and Jaheira to jazz things up.
Beyond just the companions, I’d have liked the folk from Elturel to have a different accent too, but again most of them sound posh southern. And it’s not as though there aren’t plenty of different accents represented in the area of the Sword Coast in which we find ourselves. Just from memory, I think Nettie has an Irish accent, Benryn trapped in the fire has a Welsh one, Andrick (? Edowin’s disciple) has a Scottish accent, and Aradin a northern English one. I’m not sure whether we’re meant to conclude that anyone with these accents is from further afield.
The goblins, by the way, stretch my limited ability to distinguish accents, but sound a bit Ray Winstone London East End to me, which would be a bit of an odd choice for a mainly rural race, as well as adding to the over-abundance of southern English accents, but perhaps I’m wrong. And perhaps someone else from the UK who has a more discerning ear can help pinpoint things more exactly.
