Over Warhammer 40,000‘s almost 40 year history (expect fireworks for that 40th anniversary in 2027) countless talented artists have contributed to creating and growing the grim, dark, sci-fi universe I love best. Foremost in our minds today, of course, is the inimitable art of the late, great John Blanche, who died earlier this year. Dan Abnett, author of most of the very best Warhammer 40k books, is rightly celebrated too.
But I want to pay tribute to another long serving, superb Warhammer 40k artist whose work (and name) are less known, but absolutely deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as those greats: Toby Longworth, an extraordinary voice actor whose performances have brought so many Warhammer books to life in fans’ ears.
Longworth (or Tobes, as my friends and I call him in hushed yet adoring tones) is one of Black Library’s most prolific audiobook narrators. His preposterously versatile voice has performed over 200 books and audio dramas for Games Workshop over almost a decade, somehow perfectly inhabiting a thousand different characters, from curt, feminine air traffic controllers, to lofty, booming primarchs, to daemonic warp-things with throats made from hatred.
Just as importantly, that vast bibliography (or should I say discography) includes a disproportionately large share of the very best stories GW has ever put out. Dan Abnett’s incomparable Eisenhorn and Ravenor series? Tobes. His superbly human Gaunt’s Ghosts series? 80% Tobes (with excellent supporting acts from Emma Gregory, James MacPherson, and James Cameron Stewart). A large chunk of the Horus Heresy books? You better believe it’s Tobes – alongside a broad squad of talent, principally the gloriously gravelly Jonathan Keeble, who takes over for the entire Siege of Terra.
Longworth’s warm, rolling, cinnamon-and-runny-honey tones, his careful pace and pitch of speech, and his remarkable character flexibility have worked with (mostly) Abnett’s words to deliver some of the most memorable and meaningful experiences I’ve had in the entire Warhammer hobby, on or off the tabletop.
He’s added extra dimensions to wildly diverse characters that turned them into my all-time favourites: sometimes seemingly minor ones like the firebug Tanith guardsman Aongus Brostin (rumbling Welsh bass), and sometimes major parts that seriously test the vocal range of a middle-aged British cis-man, like the razor-tongued femme fatale Patience Kys.
When Abnett’s newest novel – the enormous, 608-page-long Hive – was announced, the number one reason my pals and I were excited was 24 solid hours of Tobes. Toby Longworth is a one-man Unique Selling Point for any piece of Warhammer media he is in.
But here’s the thing: right now, even if you’re a die hard Warhammer fan, there’s a very good chance you don’t know who Toby Longworth is – and you should, because his art has added to Warhammer 40,000’s fiction in subtle, wonderful ways that deserve recognition.
Speaking as a non voice actor (though I have done a couple of videogame adverts; rates on request, but don’t tell the boss) I’ve often reflected that audiobook voice acting seems a phenomenally underappreciated gig. It’s not just that their talents are essential for a good product (no offense to the magnificent Dabnett, but there’s a reason he doesn’t narrate his own books). It’s that they create a new product, drawing out and expressing novel, unique layers of human feeling and personality that don’t – can’t – exist purely in the words on the page.
Yet, besides a note in the credits and getting to say “read by me” in the introduction, their contribution tends to melt into the background compared to the author and publisher, their name known only to industry fixers and particularly nerdy repeat listeners like me. Voice actors, as a rule, don’t get to become famous – even the really good, successful ones.
These days, there are some notable exceptions to that rule from the videogame world: masterful voice and mocap performances from multiple Baldur’s Gate 3 stars have justly made them famous faces (not just voices) across a huge swathe of gaming culture since – especially Devora Wilde (Lae’zel) and Neil Newbon (Astarion, pictured above).
And, on smaller screens, the marvelous UK voice actor Christopher Tester has amassed well over 600,000 TikTok fans (me among them), largely for his incredible Warhammer 40k monologues. Maybe, in an age where on-screen exposure can come from so many more places, the wall between ‘voice actors’ and ‘actors’ will crumble, and vocal performers will finally get their due. I certainly hope Toby Longworth does.
@chrisnaturallyrp ‘THE WARMASTER HAS BETRAYED THE EMPEROR’ from GALAXY IN FLAMES by Ben Counter. #horusheresy #warhammer40k #warhammer40000 #horuslupercal #warhammer40klore
This isn’t a biography of him – if it were, I’d mention his colossal range of other voice acting and audio drama work, his multiple TV credits, and his surprising movie parts. Tobes played not one but two characters in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace – Lot Dodd, the Nemoidian senator who steps up to defend the Trade Federation’s blockade of Naboo, and Gragra, the market trader whose dead frog thing Jar Jar Binks steals in the Mos Espa market – but we mustn’t hold that against him.
No, this article is just my small tribute to Longworth’s unique artistic contribution to the Warhammer 40k canon, and my personal, heartfelt thanks for his familiar voice keeping me company through long painting sessions, train journeys, and honestly just a scary amount of hours in general, these past nine years. Thanks, Toby – here’s to nine more.
If you also have love in your heart for Tobes’ work, come join the free Wargamer Discord community and share your fave books, dramas, or characters – our nerd treehouse is nothing if not an amalgamated fan club for all our beloved things, and why shouldn’t he be one of them?
And Toby, if you read this, you’re more than welcome too – but only if you read us something nice and long; I’ve got 10 Kasrkin on the shelf and they’re not going to paint themselves…
Source: Wargamer
