Bestselling 40K novelist Dan Abnett has been announced as co-writer for Fatshark's upcoming cooperative game Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. But it's not the first time the author has written a video game: he co-wrote the script for "Alien: Isolation" and the orc showdowns and death taunts in "Middle-Earth": he also wrote the orc showdowns and death taunts in "Shadow of Mordor" and the sequel " He wrote their character biographies for Shadow of War. I was scouted specifically to write that dialogue [for "Shadow of Mordor"] and create the characters. 'I don't remember, but I think the first one had 60 [orcs]. Thanks to the Nemesis system, each orc remembers the last time he or she encountered them and reacts in a custom-made way that fits his or her personality." After about 30 or so, "What about different orcs?" "How could we do this in a different way?" I must say, it was a real struggle to think about. But it was fun.

When we met, he showed a pretense of concern for my health and said, "You look sickly! Would you like a cup of soup before I slit your throat?" He said. Then he said, "Your threats have no wings! They do not fly. Those are preposterous words to hear before a fight to the death. I had to think for a while and had my play interrupted. The fact that he says it in a Cockney accent makes it all the more memorable.

"The decision was made to make it not me, but the Cockney Gang, like in the Ray Winstone movie. So I ended up having to say all the lines to myself in a Bob Hoskins kind of voice. I was very good at it. I could say an amazing number of lines in a day. But at the end of the day, I couldn't stop TALKIN' LIKE THA'. 'My wife comes over and says what do you want for dinner?'

You would think that someone who has spent decades writing books for the demanding Warhammer 40,000 world would be immune to the impact his work has on him, but as Abnett's ability to slip into a fluent cockney roar to this day shows, the orcs of Mordor writing has had a lasting impact.

"It was weird," he said. 'Usually I spread my work out so I don't stay anywhere for too long. But it was kind of a weird kind of brainwashing, and I still haven't recovered from it."

CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to reflect that Dan Abnett provided dialogue specifically mocking confrontation and death in "Shadow of Mordor" and not in "Shadow of War."