Max von Sydow Voiced Esbern
The late Max von Sydow, known for The Exorcist and The Seventh Seal, lent his voice to Esbern, the elderly chronicler and last living member of the Blades who helps uncover Alduin's return.
All Knowledge
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Far Cry 3's Nod to Task Force 141
MW2 was big enough that rival studios started referencing it. In Far Cry 3, a character named Willis Huntley casually mentions he's 'flying out to Russia with Task Force 141', borrowing the exact name of Soap and Price's elite unit for a quick joke.
Robert Downey Jr. Refused To Give Tony A Death Speech
The writers apparently drafted a bunch of dialogue for Tony's goodbye scene, but Downey pushed back hard and insisted the moment land better with Tony saying nothing at all. It's part of why that scene hits as hard as it does - the silence does the work.
The Alpha Line That Got Cut
During Destiny's public alpha, Ghost's flat delivery of a line about a wizard coming from the Moon was mocked so heavily online that Bungie pulled it from the final game entirely, an early sign the Ghost's dialogue and performance would become a lasting point of community ridicule.
Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' Hit Number One Decades Later
When Max Mayfield uses this 1985 track as her lifeline against Vecna in Season 4, nobody expected it to send a nearly 40-year-old song rocketing back up the charts. Kate Bush herself, notoriously private and rarely public about anything, posted a heartfelt statement thanking the show's young fans for giving the track, in her words, 'a whole new lease of life'.
Gollum's Cough Came From a Cat
Andy Serkis has said that Gollum's wet, rattling cough is modelled on the sound his own cat made when it was hacking up a hairball. Not exactly a glamorous inspiration, but it worked.
Jad Punishes You for Blinking
TzTok-Jad, the final boss of the Fight Caves, only telegraphs which attack it's about to use through its animation — there's no health bar warning or obvious tell beyond that. You've got to watch closely and switch your protection prayer in real time, and getting it wrong even once against Jad can be enough to end your entire run.
A Sneaky Terminator Reference
Master swordsman Piandao is voiced by Robert Patrick, best known for playing the liquid-metal T-1000 in Terminator 2. The writers apparently couldn't resist giving Piandao a throwaway line connecting the two roles, a little wink for anyone who catches it.
'All Work and No Play' in Beauclair
A guard patrolling the streets of Beauclair mutters 'all work and no play' at Geralt, lifted straight from The Shining, right down to the delivery.
Nobody Wants to Admit Who Invented the Egg
Check the in-game description for a regular old Egg and you'll find a surprisingly philosophical bit of flavour text musing over whether chickens evolved or were made by the gods, noting that no god has ever claimed credit for the first chicken or egg, but none of them deny it either.