It’s nearly December, and in the gaming industry that can mean only one thing: it’s Game Awards season. Every year since 2014, and even longer if the Spike Awards are included, Geoff Keighley has hosted a huge end-of-the-year event titledthe Game Awards, in which the entire industry is celebrated and some new trailers are shown off. This year, practically every award category is stacked, but when it comes to Best Performance, there’s oneGod of War Ragnarokactor that should have made the cut.
With a whopping total of 10 nominations,God of War Ragnaroklooks poised to win big at this year’s Game Awards, and whileFromSoftware’sElden Ringmay swoop in and steal a few from under its nose,Ragnarokis destined to win in a handful of categories. And with two separate nominations in the Best Performance category, the odds are certainly inGod of War Ragnarok’s favor. Though, those odds may have been a little higher if Richard Schiff’s Odin was nominated as well.
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Richard Schiff Should Have Earned a Game Awards Nomination
A renowned US actor, Richard Schiff has worked in the acting industry for decades. While Richard Schiff is most well-known for his portrayal of Toby Ziegler inThe West Wing, Schiff has appeared in a vast number of movies and TV shows over the years, fromJurassic Park: The Lost WorldtoSevento the recently releasedBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever. And though his performances are often great, Richard Schiff reaches new heights with his portrayal ofGod of War Ragnarok’s Odin.
The menacing All-Father himself, Richard Schiff’s Odin is unlike anything fans were expecting, and unlike anything fans have seen from the character in other portrayals. Before release, fans were expecting Odin to look and act fairly similarly to the rest of the Norse gods in 2018’sGod of War, with Baldur, Modi, and Magni all sharing some visual and behavioral similarities. Instead,God of War Ragnarok’s Odinis much smaller in stature and is a lot calmer than the rest of his Norse family.
From the moment Odin is first introduced inGod of War Ragnarok’s first hour, players get an immediate sense of his character, and a lot of it is down to Richard Schiff’s performance. Schiff’s Odin is calm and calculated. He says exactly what he needs to in order to further his own goals, and cares little about his people or his family, though on the surface he gives that impression. Odin is conniving and manipulative, and while his threats are rarely direct, his calm demeanor just makes him more threatening. Schiff takesGod of War Ragnarok’s superb writing and elevates it, delivering a wonderfully subtle version of the character that’s wholly unique and extremely compelling to watch and interact with. Voice acting is never easy, and delivering such a subtle and complex performance is even harder.
Richard Schiff’s Odin should have been nominated for the Best Performance category at the Game Awards 2022. While Christopher Judge delivers a phenomenal performance as Kratos, and Sunny Suljic takes Atreus to new emotional depths,Richard Schiff’s Odin steals every scene he’s in, and it’s a real shame that he hasn’t received a nomination this year. This snub is even more disappointing when fans consider just how much Odin propelsGod of War Ragnarok’s story motivations and world-building, with every side mission and Realm being built around his character. Odin is a larger-than-life character, and Richard Schiff managed to deliver a performance that simultaneously subverted expectations and exceeded them.
God of War Ragnarokis available now for PS4 and PS5.
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