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Why does Freya have an American instead of British accent?


Setting aside the whole mystery about why the Mikaelsons even have British accents, being that they're 1,000 year-old Vikings who grew up in pre-Columbian America and, from what I can tell, never lived in Great Britain, why does Freya not have the same accent as the rest of them?

Freya's early childhood was spent with her father, Michael, who has a British accent, and her mother, Esther, who has a British accent, being raised along side Finn, who has a British accent. She was then taken from her home and was finished being raised in seclusion by her ever-present, ever-controlling, never-let-her-talk-to-anyone-else Aunt Dahlia, who also has a British accent. It's not like she was sneaking out. For most of the past 1,000 years she'd been asleep. She only woke up for one year every century, which means that, timewise, her only possible exposure to the American accent before her most recent awakening would have been for a year after the turn of the 20th century. Before that, she would have been last awake for a year after the turn of the 19th century, which back then America would have been just barely post-colonial and its English more akin to a British accent, whereas New Orleans and much of the Louisiana Territory, if that's where she was, only spoke French.

I honestly can't figure out where that American accent came from.

Carl Grimes will one day rule the world!

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Because the actress can't act worth a damn...

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I don't think it's supposed to make sense, they just wanted to cast that particular actress and she couldn't do an English accent so that was that. Was it explained why Elijah has an American accent? If their family stuck together for their entire lives it would make more sense for him to have the same accent as them as well.

As far as why the rest of them have British accents, it's because British is just the accent that TV shows like to use for "anything that isn't American" because most Americans find it to be the most attractive-sounding as well as the easiest to understand. If there were a (network) show set in France with all French characters, they would probably all have British accents too.

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For Elijah, he had a more English accent in flashbacks - even up until 1820 when they were living in New Orleans. Then in the flashbacks to Mikael and Elijah in 1919 when he says "I will always choose him" his accent is the same as present day. It is perhaps that he changed his accent to blend in, or that he allowed it to change where Klaus and Rebekah didn't. Plus, Rebekah was daggered from 1835-1887 and then again from the 1920s to TVD season 3, so really, she hasn't spend as much time living in the USA.
But in saying that, the reason Elijah's accent is different is because the writers never intended for him to be a relation of Klaus', just an old vampire. It was Daniel Gillies preference for an american accent because when he was imagining the character and his backstory, he thought that he would have been living in New York city. Then the writers liked DG so much they gave him a bigger storyline and didn't kill him off after a few eps as was intended.

About Freya, I find her accent to be somewhat similar to Elijah's in its cadence, there is no real reason why though. She probably should have a more British accent, but we don't know where she was or what she did in her 1 year of life every 100 years.

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Would someone's accent change with time like that? If he had a British accent for 800+ years, and then spent some time in America, do you think he would naturally pick up an American accent or would it have to be intentional? Most people I know who move to a different country still retain their original accent as long as it was already "established" when they moved (so if they were about 18+ years old or so and not still kids).

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Would someone's accent change with time like that? If he had a British accent for 800+ years, and then spent some time in America, do you think he would naturally pick up an American accent or would it have to be intentional?


My sister moved to a country where when English is spoken, it's spoken with a brittish accent. She's picked up that accent, so I'd say you can/do pick up accents over time.

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How old was she when she moved there, and how long did it take her to pick it up?

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If there were a (network) show set in France with all French characters, they would probably all have British accents too.


Like Reign? LOL

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None of the accents on this show make sense. They're in NOLA and yet they haven't encountered one character with a NOLA accent yet.

I dare the showrunners to try and shoot a scene around Iberville and get away with not having an accent there. I would blow their Twitter up from calling them on their BS so much, lol.

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Also, when they take over the body of a different person their accents dont change. British characters in American bodies still have American bodies.

It is really distracting.

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Elijah's accent isn't american its meant to be old world so not american not British somewhere in between.

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I honestly can't figure out where that American accent came from.

It comes from the fact that American actors can't do British accents?
I just had a look at the cast, and at anyone surnamed Mikaelson. There is one British actor - Joseph Morgan, who plays Klaus. The rest are Canadian, Australian, American or Canadian brought up in New Zealand.

Laws are silent in times of War - Cicero

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