William Roberts, the voice of Vesemir in The Witcher games, has died

William Roberts, a prolific voice actor who portrayed Vesemir in CD Projekt's The Witcher videogames, has died at age 80.

Roberts' death was first reported by The Guardian in February, in an obituary written by his former wife. He was born in Oregon but "made his career in Britain," Nicolette Roberts wrote, "as an actor, director, voice artist, and writer." Among other things, he read for BBC Radio programs, narrated audiobooks for the Royal National Institute of Blind People and other independent companies, and acted in radio productions including Batman and Judge Dredd.

Roberts also appeared in dozens of videogames, according to his MobyGames credits, including Timesplitters 2, Crysis, Age of Conan, Battlefield: Bad Company, Killzone 2, Sniper Elite, Deponia, Star Wars: Battlefront, Horizon: Zero Dawn, A Way Out, The Medium, and Atomic Heart. But for most of us, his defining role was that of Vesemir, Geralt's timeworn mentor and friend: A role memorable enough to warrant a mention in his obituary.

"He was widely recognized for his rich, resonant tones and sensitive readings of work by authors including Melville, Poe and Lovecraft. In the 1980s he was the voice of Texas Tom in a series of adverts for the Texas Homecare DIY stores, and more recently he voiced several characters in videogames, most notably playing Vesemir in The Witcher series."

Vesemir appeared in the original Witcher videogame, but took a more prominent role in The Witcher 3, working with Geralt through the game's opening chapter and then later at Kaer Morhen. He's not a major character in the game but his status as an elder witcher granted him an impact that outweighed the size of the role: When Vesemir speaks, people—even hardened witchers—listen.

While Roberts died in February, his passing didn't come to the attention of Witcher fans until CD Projekt paid tribute to the actor earlier this week:

Later in life, Roberts trained as a pilot and flew his own plane across Europe and the US; he also took up writing, authoring fiction and biographies under the name WE Roberts.