Cute Mute: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The '''Cute Mute''' has an appearance that's innocent to a fault. Whatever situation that causes their inability to speak probably also gives them that clueless, childlike demeanor. Unlikely to know or grasp social conventions, they will often be found innocently doing incredibly awkward things that will wind up spelling trouble for the other characters.

 

Lack of speaking alone does not qualify a character for this trope. Someone who can't speak but otherwise doesn't fit the trope is [[The Speechless]]. Someone who can speak but is never shown to do so onscreen is [[The Voiceless]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Chii from ''[[Chobits]]''. She learns to speak soon enough, but is still an exemplar of the trope (her first word aside from "Chii?" is "Panties").

* Natsume's mother from ''[[Master of Martial Hearts]]''. Your average MILF, [[Stepford Smiler|caring and lovely]]. Mute due to an unspecified accident in the past, she communicates by [[Hand Signs|sign language]], using her kids as a proxy. Subverted as {{spoiler|her unspecified accident gets [[The Reveal|revealed]]. She's actually a former [[Action Girl]], who after losing a [[Street Fighter]] expy tournament got [[Disproportionate Retribution|her voice box torn out, her personality mindraped into total obedience, AND was sold into sexual slavery]]. Since then, her whole life had been an attempt to regain a semblance of normality and hatch a complicate [[Revenge by Proxy]] involving her offsprings and the daughter of her captors}}.

* [[Played for Drama]] in [[Bleach]], when {{spoiler|[[Creepy Child|Yukio]] was [http://www.mangareader.net/bleach/471/3 rejected by his parents] because he couldn't speak.}} As years pass {{spoiler|he}} begins to talk normally, but the psychological consequences have completely screwed {{spoiler|him}} up... {{spoiler|enough to accept Ginjou's offer and become a Fullbringer.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Batman|Batgirl]] Cassandra Cain.

* Also DC-related is Jericho from the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]. Though male and fluent in American sign language, he is quite adorable. His role on the team is much bigger in the comic than the [[Teen Titans (animation)|cartoon]], where he only joins the [[Final Battle]] with the other classic Titans. But in the comic, he is the son of Deathstroke (Slade, who actually loved his son like a normal father), and had a relationship with Raven. Sadly, his cuteness eroded after he underwent a [[Face Heel Turn]], driven insane by his mutant power of possession.

 

== Film - Animated ==

* Burt Lancaster had a childhood friend, Nick Cravat, who appeared in several of Lancaster's movies. Cravat was never able to get rid of his thick Brooklyn accent, so he communicated by mime when in a movie where the accent would be inappropriate. He often seemed on the verge of stealing the show—one review described him as miming his way into the audience's hearts.

* Harpo Marx, pictured, most notably in [[Duck Soup]]. He can't talk at all, and instead talks in horns, which leads to probably the most clever scene he's ever done where he is able to carry on a phone conversation by honking horns in such a way that it sounds like replies.

* Nova from [[Planet of the Apes]].

* Rocky from [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]] has no spoken dialogue, though he can sing. The stage version sometimes has him speak, at one point telling Frank to "Piss off".

* ''[[A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]]'' has Gymnasia, a beautiful and quick-witted slave from the Island of Silent Women. (She's pretty handy with weapons, too.) Pseudolus knows her sign language because his childhood nanny was a Silent Woman.

* In the little-known [[Jackie Gleason]] film ''Gigot,'' the title character is a fine example.

 

== Literature ==

* 'Lady' from ''[[Shadow Hearts]]: From The New World'' is about as direct a subversion as you're gonna get. She never speaks, is an [[Emotionless Girl]], can inspire love in the heart of a sociopathic psycho named 'Killer', and was not so much [[Raised by Wolves]], as [[Wild Child|not raised at all]]. She can also kill you with a flick of her wrist, and probably will, just because you happen to be there. {{spoiler|She's like this because she was originally the sister of the protagonist and during a ritual to bring them back from the dead, she gave up her "will" (life force) to save her brother, which turned her into a "pure mass of malice" -- a being with no memories or humanity.}}

* Yone from ''[[Suikoden Tactics]]'' plays it fairly straight, being both cute and otherworldly.

*** Not true. Pilika was shut away at the time and didn't witness the slaughter - only the aftermath, which left her rather traumatized. ...Then Luca came back, cut Poll in two from chest to neck in front of her, and then seemed to be seriously considering doing the same to her before the fort exploded around them and the main characters pulled her out. ''That'' little experience, on top of her still pretty fragile state, rendered her mute right up until almost the end of the story. Did I mention Pilika's what? Eight? And then Shu distracts a squad of crossbowmen by lobbing her across their line of sight, just as they're about to fire on the main characters....

*** Pilika is actually five.

* Garnet/Dagger from ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' becomes mute for a time after {{spoiler|Kuja kills her mother, Queen Brahne, then destroys Alexandria on the day Garnet is to become queen.}} However, while she doesn't speak during this part of the game, the player is still treated to her <s>endless</s> internal monologues.

** It should be noted that this even affects her ''gameplay''. As one of the game's two [[White Magician Girl|White Mage/Summoners]], her inner turmoil sometimes prevents her from concentrating and makes her skip a turn. At least it wasn't treated like the [[Standard Status Effects|'Silence' ailment.]]

** Primera, Billy Black's little sister is also mute {{spoiler|ever since witnessing her mother's death by Wels attacking their home while their father Jessiah was away.}}

* Keria from ''[[Harvest Moon]] DS (and DS [[Distaff Counterpart|Cute]])'' is mute. She communicates by writing messages on a sign (in the English version, she writes in [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]]). However, one event between her and the [[Cute Witch|Witch Princess]] lets her speak briefly; in his [[Internal Monologue]], the hero remarks, "It's nice to know Keira talks like that."

* ''Claudia'', from ''[[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow]]''. Cute and innocent as the trope allows. She can't speak, but she can use telepathy to express herself. And she does. A lot.

* ''[[Dark Souls]]'' has Anastacia of Astora, one of the world's important firekeepers. For unknown but likely horrible reasons, her tongue was cut out. There is a way to restore her ability to speak, but even then she considers it sinful.

 

== Visual Novels ==

* Emm from ''[[The Wisdom Of Moo]]''. The title "character" is the cow hand puppet she uses to do all her talking.

* [[Little Dee]] from the eponymous comic. She's young, but not ''that'' young.

* Violet from [[Voices]] only communicates by projecting text with her [[Psychic Powers|ability.]]

* ''[[Bittersweet Candy Bowl]]'', Amaya never talks for us. [[Subverted|Apparently, she can talk, though]]. Still cute.

** Clearly you've never seen [[The Tick (animation)]], or else you'd know that the Heys and the Whats have equally efficient languages.

* In ''[[Transformers Prime]],'' Bumblebee takes after his movieverse counterpart. However, while movie Bumblebee speaks in canned sound clips from TV, radio, etc., Prime Bumblebee speaks in electronic sounds in a manner similar to [[Star Wars|R2-D2]] (or perhaps [[Transformers Armada|a Mini-con]].) The [[The Smart Guy|genius 12-year-old]] can understand him.

* [[Weasel Mascot|Horace the ferret]] from [[My Gym Partner's a Monkey]].