View source for Evil Sounds Deep

{{trope}}
{{quote|"''The pitch of my voice is digitally lowered to make it sound more sinister!''" <ref>This is a blue faced lie: it's done by playing the tape at half speed. There's nothing "Digital" about it at all.</ref>
|'''Koragg'''|''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]] [[The Abridged Series|Abbreviated]]''}}

An [[Obviously Evil|easy way to tell if someone is evil]] is that their voice is much deeper than a normal character, often artificially so. If someone undergoes a [[Face Heel Turn]], then along with their [[Evil Makeover]] their voice will either drop a few octaves, get put through a voice modulator or be combined with another voice speaking in a much deeper tone of voice. If an [[Anti-Hero]] decides to move a few notches down the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], then he will start talking in a deeper, more serious tone of voice. Male characters almost always get an unapproachable, commanding cadence. Villainesses usually get a [[Evil Is Sexy|sultry, suggestive one]], unless they're supposed to be in command or ''actually'' scary in which case their cadence will be dismissive and forbidding.

A deep voice makes the character sound strong and competent, so it is a common trait for major villains that the audience is supposed to fear and respect. Consequently, such villains will usually speak in [[Badass Baritone|baritone register]], more rarely in [[Basso Profundo|bass register]].

Common inversion is an unnaturally high, cold voice, especially laugh. Some characters with an [[Evil Laugh]] do high-pitched cackling, or be a [[Giggling Villain]], instead of the deeper, traditional one. These are usually a more unnatural and degenerate kind of evil. Taken further, anyone speaking the [[Voice of the Legion]] is incredibly dangerous.

May be justified if the evil character becomes a huge [[One-Winged Angel]] with longer vocal chords, since that would make their voice deeper.

[[I Thought It Meant|Has nothing to do with]] [[Fauxlosophic Narration]] or [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]].

{{noreallife|calling real world individuals "evil" [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|is almost never a good idea]].}}

{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Anyone voiced by [[Norio Wakamoto]].
** Yes, including [[Azumanga Daioh|Chiyo's dad]].
* Lucy in ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' has a much deeper voice than her "good" personality, Nyu.
* Gauron, the [[Big Bad|main bad guy]] from the first season of ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]!'' has the deepest voice of all characters in the show. This is somewhat subverted in ''Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid'', where new villainous character [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Leonard Testarossa]] has a voice almost as soft and gentle as a girl's -- though it's still deeper than that of [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|his sister]], who is naturally one of the good guys...
* ''[[Slayers]]'': SHABURANIGUDO! Especially in Japanese, the Dark Lord's voice is so artificially low as to be comical.
* Alucard from ''[[Hellsing]]'' is technically a good guy, but monstrous enough to freak out undead super-Nazis, and speaks in [[Joji Nakata]]'s ultra-deep drawl.
** Or [[Crispin Freeman]]'s wonderful low menace.
* Lelouch of ''[[Code Geass]]'' who is sort of like a "flamboyant, possibly [[Villain Protagonist|evil]] Batman" canonically has a voice changing device in his Zero costume which deepens his voice when he's wearing it.
* Wei in the ''[[Darker than Black]]'' dub; also, particularly in the dub, Hei seems to do the [[Anti-Hero]] route also, speaking in a deeper voice when being BK-201 than when being the friendly and harmless Li. Averted though with Mao who has a very deep voice but is a nice guy. And a [[Intellectual Animal|cat]].
* Vicious of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. [[Norio Wakamoto]] is famous for these kinds of roles.
** In the same series this trope is inverted in Jet Black's deep voice
* In ''[[Blood+|Blood Plus]]'', [[Flamboyant Gay]] chiropteran Nathan Mahler changed his voice to a demonic rumble whenever he wanted to sound threatening. {{spoiler|Even the [[Dragon-in-Chief]] Amshel will back down when this happens, because Nathan is ''far'' more powerful and dangerous than he seems. Good thing he's not actually evil.}}
* ''[[GaoGaiGar|Gao Gai Gar]]'' has Pasdar and Palparepa.
* Xanxus from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' has a much deeper voice than most of the good guys in the show - though most noticeably, much deeper than Tsuna ([[Cross-Dressing Voices|who is voiced by a girl]]).
* Marik Ishtar's shadow self in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]''. His normal self's voice is actually higher-pitched than a normal man. There's also Bakura, who, on top of being deep-voiced, is [[Evil Brit|British]], which increases his evilness.
** When Marik pretends to be a protagonist and after his [[Heel Face Turn]], his voice gets higher and softer.
** Bakura both plays it straight and subverts it in the original Japanese. His [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] has a deeper voice than his normal self, but he was [[Larynx Dissonance|voiced by a woman]], so his voice is considerably high and effeminate.
** During season zero, even Yugi's spirit partner (the pharaoh) could easily be interpreted as evil, or at least a [[Sociopathic Hero]]. Even this early on when his voice was rather soft, it was still deeper than Yugi's.
*** And that was before he was voiced by '''[[Dan Green]]'''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaK2SMotm_0 Now quiet down so he can COMPLETE HIS TURN!]
* Nakago from ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''. {{spoiler|Yui's voice changes from sweet and sunny to rough and dramatic when she undergoes a [[Face Heel Turn]].}}
* Ryuk of ''[[Death Note]]'' has a rather deep voice in both Japanese and the English dub. While he does have more [[Even Evil Has Standards|standards]] than the soft-spoken [[Villain Protagonist]] Light, he is still rather evil, given his method for relieving boredom. Perhaps averted by L, who has a deeper voice than Light and is the [[Hero Antagonist]].
** Light Yagami actually plays this trope straight. When he is having his Kira-ish inner monologues, his voice tone gets deeper.
* Several of the villains in ''[[Naruto]]'' have displayed this trait and changes in tone to indicate shifts in character.
** The Kyuubi plays this trope straight: it's completely malevolent and has a very deep, very gravelly voice.
** On introduction, Sasori has a deep and gravelly voice, but switches to a lighter voice later on. Rather than indicating an improvement in the character, this precedes the true horror of his abilities.
** Kakuzu plays this trope straight; he's a [[Psycho for Hire]] and speaks with a deep and steady voice.
** The most significant occurrence is that of {{spoiler|Tobi. While in his initial persona, he speaks in a light, childish voice and his actions match. However, when he is acting as Madara, his voice deepens and matures as well as his actions (he even has a completely different voice actors for each).}}
** Itachi Uchiha also has a deep voice. {{spoiler|Subverted in that he is actually [[Good All Along]].}}
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', the character Rob Lucci  {{spoiler|1=could at first only "speak" through his high-pitched pigeon Hattori. However, when he is unveiled as the immensely powerful evil leader in CP9's plot to capture Nico Robin, his 'real' voice is revealed to be much, much deeper. Interestingly, this was not done through the use of any synthesizers - the [[Tomokazu Seki|same seiyuu]] performed both parts}}.
** [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|Arlong]], [[The Chessmaster|Crocodile]], [[Big Bad|Blackbeard]], and [[Complete Monster|Hody Jones]] also have rather deep voices.
* [[Show Hayami]], who voices notable villains like Muraki Kazukaka in ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'' and Sousuke Aizen in ''[[Bleach]]''.
** Ichigo, on the other hand, has a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] whose voice is high and [[Ax Crazy]] sounding.
* Giovanni of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' has a very deep, echoing voice every time he appears on a television or computer screen in the earlier episodes. This appears to be the result of computer editing. However, even when he appears in person, his voice is still quite deep.
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s Medusa, being a [[Consummate Liar]], has a pleasant, normally-pitched voice when she's pretending to be on the good side, and a deep, throaty voice when she's being her violent self. {{spoiler|It's particularly alarming when coming out of the [[Body Snatcher|borrowed]] [[Sleep Mode Size|child's body]] later in the series.}}
* Used in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]] Brotherhood'' with the Greed/Ling relationship. Greed isn't [[Affably Evil|necessarily]] [[Noble Demon|evil]], but he is given a very deep voice on the show. In contrast, his human host, Ling has a fairly soft voice.
** Pride's voice becomes deep and [[Voice of the Legion|echoing]] when he's not pretending to be human.
** Lust is a female example, especially since both her [[Kikuko Inoue|seiyuu]] and [[Laura Bailey|English VA]] in Brotherhood are [[Playing Against Type]]. While Lust [[Heel Face Turn|eventually averts]] this in the 2003 anime, she plays it ''[[Manipulative Bastard|very]]'' straight in Brotherhood.
* Type-Moon ''loves'' this trope, or to be more specific, [[Joji Nakata]]. An interesting example is seen in Archer;  {{spoiler|his voice is much deeper than Shirou's, even though they're the same person. Proof that your moral alignment directly influences your tone!}}
* In the first ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya|The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' light novel, Kyon uses the term "clear soprano" to describe Ryoko Asakura's voice. Later on that day,  {{spoiler|she tries to kill him rather violently...because she got bored.}}
* In ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'', Muraki's voice is very deep. In the dub, however, he sounds like [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show|Riff Raff.]]
* The English dub of ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'' does this with Frieza (portrayed then by Linda Young). Each time he transforms his voice is artificially deepened. At first it was just digital pitch-lowering with the 2nd form, but his 3rd form is more of a [[Voice of the Legion]] deal. The 4th form, in a subversion, brings it back to normal - high-pitched.
** The dub of ''Kai'' takes this a step further in a brilliant move: by having Frieza's voice recast (now played by Chris Ayres), having a high voice at the start and gradually getting deeper with each transformation - without the use of artificial pitch altering. By the time Frieza reaches form 3, Chris is using his natural voice and considering that form 3 Frieza looks like a fish demon, it makes him sound like the [[Complete Monster|devil]] he truly is.
** Cell gets a bit of this too in the English dub. His voice starts out as a sort of hissing rasp, and then grows deeper and more cultured as he gets more powerful. But it drops to downright Satanic levels when Cell gets ready to do something truly evil,  {{spoiler|like killing Piccolo}}.
* Akira Touya in ''[[Hikaru no Go]]'' doesn't fit in the "evil" category (he's just [[The Rival]] to Hikaru with a tendency to look down on him), but he has a serious, introspective deep voice mode.
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', most of the main villains like Aizen have deep voices.

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* According to [[Deadpool]] of [[Marvel Comics]], [[Genius Cripple]] [[MODOK]] makes Terrence Stamp sound like [[Michael Jackson]].
* It's often mentioned how deep the voice of the Gollywog is in ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''. His balloons are typeset with a heavy bold. He's supposedly made of very dense non-baryonic matter. One of his best moves is causing an earthquake with a loud bellow. One more example of repurposing his ''very'' racist characterization and design into happy coincidences and heroic traits.

== [[Film]] ==
* The Kurgan, of ''[[Highlander]]'' fame.
* Obvious ''[[Star Wars]]'' example: Darth Vader. (Let's face it, this trope is pretty much the reason [[James Earl Jones]] gets hired so often.) Also, [[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Darth Malak]].
** They chose [[James Earl Jones]] because Vader's physical actor, David Prowse, had too much of a West Country accent to pass as a serious threat.
** [[Christopher Lee|Count Dooku]] needs no cyborg enhancements to sound deep!
** [[Evil Overlord|Palpatine]]'s voice drops a whole octave when he becomes [[The Emperor]].
** Oddly, [[James Earl Jones]] has played few evil overlords aside from [[Star Wars|Darth Vader]] and [[Conan the Barbarian|Thulsa Doom]]. But he got his start as a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|substitute]] for [[Paul Robeson]] in theater.
** Jabba the Hutt, anyone?
* Laufey, the leader of the Frost Giants in ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]''.
* Xerxes in ''[[300|Three Hundred]]'' also had his voice deepened, to the point of [[Voice of the Legion|sounding inhuman]].
* This is present in many of the [[Batman]] films:
** In ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'', [[Batman]] invokes the trope by affecting a deep growl while he's in character. When people are tripping on the Scarecrow's drug, they perceive others as evil monsters with inhumanly deep voices. Also, while the Joker's voice is usually high-pitched and nasally, he often slips down very low for his choice lines, such as, "Look at me!"
** [[Michael Keaton]] also speaks lower as [[Batman (film)|Batman]], though the effect is more mild than [[Christian Bale]]'s.
* Sartoris in ''[[The Final Sacrifice]]'' has a rather deep voice, humorously altered in post-production.
* Played with in ''[[Spaceballs]]'', wherein Dark Helmet's voice is only deep when his mask is in place. [[Justified Trope|Justified in-universe, as the mask actually impedes his breathing]].
* The Lord of Darkness in ''[[Legend (film)|Legend]]'' was an electronically-deepened [[Tim Curry]]. And you thought he was scary ''normally''.
* Khan Tusion, the sadistic [[Hannibal Lecture]]-prone director of the ''Meatholes'' series of porn, often has his voice shift in and out of the electronically deepened range while he's verbally abusing the performers.
* In ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera|Repo the Genetic Opera]]'' Nathan's voice becomes much deeper when he's in his [[Psycho for Hire|Repo Man]] persona. It's lampshaded at one point:
{{quote|'''Nathan''': (deep) So Rotti thinks he can take Shilo from me.
'''Shilo''': Dad?
'''Nathan''': (normal) Nothing, Shilo, nothing. Go to bed.  }}
* Dana's voice when possessed by Zuul in ''[[Ghostbusters]]''. "There is no Dana. [[That Man Is Dead|There is only Zuul]]."
** [[Memetic Mutation|ZUUL]], [[The Nostalgia Critic|Muthafucka, ZUUUUUL!!]]
* Demon-possessed Regan in ''[[The Exorcist]]'' has a very loud, deep bellow, like getting yelled at by a truck horn.
** Brad Dourif's character in ''Exorcist III''. "It's the smiles that keep us going, don't you think?"
* ''[[Lifeforce]]'': The male vampire at the end.
* Played with in ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]''. The otherwise intimidating dog Alpha has an incredibly high and squeaky voice that causes the other dogs to laugh at him; apparently his voice box malfunctions sometimes, but when it's adjusted it does sound quite deep. Naturally, it breaks down again when he's defeated.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' combines this with [[Voice of the Legion]] when Galadriel gets drunk on the [[Drunk on the Dark Side|Ring's power]].
** Also, Saruman. Hell, any character played by [[Christopher Lee]]. Especially [[The Wicker Man|Lord Summerisle]].
** [[Big Bad|Sauron]] himself too, as can be discerned from what little he actually speaks. "There is no life in the void. Only... death."
** Don't forget the Mouth of Sauron from the extended edition. A deep voice that sounds like dead worms.
** The Witch King also has a rather deep voice.
** So do the various Uruk-hai.
* Played with in ''[[Burn After Reading]]'', when [[Brad Pitt]]'s character attempts to act menacing by narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice. Unfortunately, he keeps forgetting and reverting back to his normal speech. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* In ''[[Osmosis Jones]]'', Thrax's voice is done by [[Laurence Fishburne]].
* Subverted by Judge Doom in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''; for most of the movie, he sounds like, well, [[Christopher Lloyd]], but when he reveals his true self, his voice could crack glass.
* Subverted in the ''[[Underworld (film)|Underworld]]'' film series where Kevin Grevioux's character is a [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Lycan]] named Raze with an unnaturally deep voice. He is brutish and violent, but he is not an inherently evil character. In the ''Rise of the Lycans'' prequel, he is decidedly a positive character. Even more jarring is that this is Grevioux's ''actual voice''.
* In the Disney version of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' Frollo is given a deep baritone by the late great [[Tony Jay]].
* In the ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movies, instead of [[Frank Welker]]'s [[Transformers Generation 1|screechy, gravelly]] delivery as Megatron, we get a deep, growly performance by Hugo Weaving. The sequel also gives us [[The Man Behind the Man|The Fallen]] and {{spoiler|[[Broken Pedestal|Sentinel Prime]]}}.
* [[Alan Rickman]] has plenty of nice, sweet characters in his filmography, but thanks to his very deep voice it's his nastier characters people tend to remember. Namely, [[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (film)|Judge Turpin]], [[Die Hard|Hans Gruber]], and [[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves|the Sheriff of Nottingham]].
** And, of course, [[Harry Potter (film)|Severus Snape]].
* ''[[D-War]]''. The evil dragon's human ''[[Dragon]]'' (no pun intended) is the ''best example'' (check it out at 7:12 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvUCINe0sK0&feature=related here]).
* [[The Fifth Element|Mr. Shadow]], being more or less evil incarnate, has the requisite '''very deep''' voice.
* The Ripper in ''[[My Soul to Take]]''.
* German voice - actor Tilo Schmitz everytime he dubs a villain, usually tall and big, thanks to his deep, sonorous, basso voice.
* Anton Chigurh in ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' speaks with a grizzly, low voice, which essentially acts as a death rattle considering his character.

== [[Literature]] ==
* Inverted with [[Harry Potter (novel)|Voldemort]], who is described as having a high, cold voice.
** Inverted again with [[Reverse Mole|Snape]], who has a deep, ominous voice; it doesn't really help either that he's portrayed by [[Alan Rickman]] in the films.
*** Since Snape is intended to appear evil or at least dark and brooding {{spoiler|right up to the end}}, it's played straight more than inverted.
** Oh-so-inverted with Umbridge.
* In ''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], Wilbur Whateley spoke with a frighteningly low voice. Justified in that he grew more than twice as fast as any other child, and reached a height of seven feet (among other things). The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society "radio play" of the story electronically pitched the actor's voice to [[Stargate SG-1|Goa'uld]] levels.
** The narrator does mention that Wilbur sounded like his voice-producing organs were somehow different from a normal human's - which, naturally, they were.
* In ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor]]'', Cronal, unseen by his troops or his enemy, called himself Lord Shadowspawn and had his wheezy old man voice amplified and made deep. Luke thinks of it more than once as a "faux-Vader" voice.
* {{smallcaps|Death}} from the ''[[Discworld]]'' is definitely a subversion; he's [[Don't Fear the Reaper|not nearly as bad]] as he looks or sounds.
** Doubly so in the animated miniseries of ''[[Wyrd Sisters]]'' and ''[[Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]'', where he's voiced by [[Christopher Lee]], who practically based his career around the trope.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] have an antagonist called Sabbath, who, due to not-exactly-evil motives and frequent [[Enemy Mine]] situations, is about as non-evil as you can get when you perform [[Meatgrinder Surgery]] and continually try to screw up [[The Multiverse]]. His voice, described as a "low rumble" and a "resonant bass", gives him villain points, though. Extra villain points for the fact it functions as a mild, mundane version of [[Charm Person]]. It probably goes along with the [[Stout Strength]] and "hands like hams".
* When the High Seekers in the [[Emberverse]] really want to intimidate, they'll let loose a deep voice that borders on the aural equivalent of [[Alien Geometries]].
* In the [[Horus Heresy]] series from the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', First Captain Ezekyle Abbaddon of the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus is described as being a big man with an incredibly low voice, even for an [[Super Soldier|Astartes]]. In the "present day" of the franchise, he has since became [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Abaddon the Despoiler]], Warmaster of the Black Legion. As such, he is the closest thing the [[The Corruption|Chaos]] [[Exclusively Evil|Space Marines]] have to a [[Enemy Civil War|cohesive leader]].
* [[Sword of Truth|Emperor Jagang]] is described to have a "deep, grating voice". Averted with Darken Rahl, who has a "clear, almost liquid" voice... and a trope fitting [[The Dragon|right hand man]].
* Ma'el Koth from ''[[The Acts of Caine]]'' is usually described as rumbling.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The [[Stargate Verse]] has the Goa'uld and the Wraith. The Asgard have a vocal effect, too (toned down in later seasons) but it's a lot friendlier-sounding than the ones used by the baddies. The Goa'uld, in fact, do this on purpose to sound more intimidating, and can turn it off at will when they want to blend in or just be more personable. By the end of the series, Ba'al almost always drops the voice effect when he's talking to the heroes.
** Ra in ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' sounds a lot like [[300|Xerxes]], bordering on [[Voice of the Legion]] territory.
** The Tok'ra are the same species as the Goa'uld, so they can turn it off if they want to as well - however, they rarely do, in order to make it clear [[Sharing a Body|who's talking]].
** Three times this has been used by humans for subterfuge: Daniel used a voice modulator on Jacob Carter's cargo ship to record sentences in Goa'uld, which would then be broadcasted in a deeper voice Daniel and Carter both used a voice modulator during a training exercise when one pretended to be a Tok'ra and the other one a Goa'uld; Vala used an alien voice modulating device shaped like a glowing pendant in order to pretend to be the Goa'uld Qetesh. In both of the latter cases, a member of SG-1 would get annoyed at the voice and ask to turn it off.
* In ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'', Dai Shi has an artificially deepened voice even in human form. ([[Exaggerated Trope|It gets deeper still when he's in his armored form]].)
** In ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'', Trent's stint as the evil White Drago Ranger is accompanied by an artificially deepened voice. When an accident turns him back to normal, so is his voice.
** In ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm]]'', Hunter and Blake got pitched down before their reveal as Rangers and stayed with their normal voices through their [[Heel Face Turn]] and [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] stints.
** And the Page Quoter, Koragg, also has his voice deepened.
* In ''[[Smallville]]'', the Phantom Zone criminal that borrowed Clark's DNA and made a clone body out of it (becoming the show's incarnation of Bizarro <ref>In classic Smallville [[Not Wearing Tights]] and [[Not Using the Zed Word]] fashion. "I'm ''you''. Just a little more... bizarre."</ref>) has a deeper voice than the real Clark, though it's not always obvious, and can be turned off at will, apparently (he impersonated Clark for some time with the viewers and other characters unaware.)
** In Season 8 {{spoiler|Lex}} pulls this off courtesy of a respirator, complete with [[Vader Breath]]. His protege [[Dark Action Girl|Tess]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Mercer]] isn't as extreme an example, but she has the lowest voice of any of the girls in the cast.
* On ''[[Knight Rider]]'', Michael Knight's [[Evil Twin]] Garthe Knight had a noticeably deeper voice than Michael (as well as a [[Beard of Evil|goatee]], of course.)
** KITT's [[Evil Twin]] KARR also has deeper voice than KITT does.
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', several villains have deep voices. The Beast and Sutekh, both voiced by Gabriel Woolf, have deep voices to represent their ancient, primal evil. Meanwhile in the new series, the Dalek Emperor from "Parting of the Ways" and both Supreme Daleks seen so far have deep voices to denote their supremacy. The Cybermen have had either high or deep voices, depending on when the episode was made, and the Sycorax chief from "The Christmas Invasion" has a low, rough voice.
** Interestingly played with the Cult of Skaro - Dalek Sec has a higher pitched voice than any of his followers, but as it turns out, he is also slightly less evil than your average Dalek - not that it's saying all that much.
** Subverted with some of the Dalek Supremes in the classic series and the [[Big Finish]] stories - their voices tended to be higher than the average Dalek's, making them sound even more unstable and [[Incredibly Lame Pun|highly-strung]] than the norm.
** The Black Guardian, voiced by [[Valentine Dyall]], who, in life, could've challenged [[Brian Blessed]] in a booming voice contest.
** From new series 6, we have [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E01 The Impossible Astronaut|The]] [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E02 Day of the Moon|Silence]] and [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E04 The Doctor's Wife|House]].
* Inverted in ''[[Kings]]'': [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] William Cross has a high, thin voice. Evil is relative in a [[Deadly Decadent Court]], but he seems to be the only one {{spoiler|(still alive, anyway)}} who wants war.
* [[Played for Laughs]] in an ''[[All That]]'' sketch called Bridget's Slumber Party; the goth girl Claudia who has supernatural powers would often talk in a demonic voice especially if she was angry. Also in the Poetry with Claudia short which had her read poetry to children, she would alternate the lines of the rhymes to sound creepy - at the end she would scare the kids by saying the final line in a demonic voice.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Angel]]'' when Holtz tries to convince Westley that he's trying to protect Connor.
{{quote|'''Holtz:''' You don't believe me?
'''Westley:''' Hm, not sure, could be the low scary voice that's giving me trouble. }}
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'''s Castiel is an interesting example. Ambiguously played straight in the first and second episode he appeared in, as we didn't know whether the angels are on the Winchesters' side or not. Averted later, when it is revealed that, unlike the other angels, he doesn't want the world to be destroyed and genuinely cares about Dean and Sam. With his sacrifice in 4x22, he ultimately became a part of the family.
** Also, it is revealed that his vessel, Jimmy, has a much higher voice.
** Definitively inverted in the Season 6 finale.  {{spoiler|When Castiel becomes a not-so-nice god, he loses the Batman voice. It's fantastically creepy.}}
* Although his [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|evilness is debatable]], [[Magnificent Bastard|Scorpius]] from ''[[Farscape]]'' is tall, imposing, vicious, wears all black and speaks...[[Subverted Trope|quite a few octaves higher than everyone else]]. He is ''definitely'' a [[Badass]] though.
** However, when upset, his voice drops to demonic levels.
** The pitch of his voice is sort of a gauge on his emotions. When his voice is high and Sebacean/Humanesque, he is his usual five-steps ahead of you, eloquent [[Magnificent Bastard]], tightly-controlled self. When things start to go wrong, he starts to slip into his Scarran side and his voice drops about four octaves and picks up some teeth. Discussed in this interview, around 3:20, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldUqV6gceeM.
* The drug dealer who  {{spoiler|may have ordered Becket's mother's murder}} in season three of ''[[Castle]]'' has a deep, scary voice.
* On ''[[Heroes]]'', Sylar's voice gets very deep and starts to echo a bit when he's about to do something evil.
* On ''[[Game of Thrones]]'', Tywin Lannister is played by Charles Dance, and has a [[Badass Baritone]] voice that makes him sound twice as serious and menacing as he would be otherwise. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47MazYDnmaU See here].
* Red John from ''[[The Mentalist]]'' is a subversion of this trope in that even when his voice is seemingly manipulated, he ''still'' has an odd, higher sounding voice.
* Sue, Quinn and Santana from ''[[Glee]]'' are the low-voiced female characters who begin the series as the main rivals to the high school's glee club.

== [[Music]] ==
* Nick Cave.{{who}}
* Inversion: When [[Tom Waits]] wants to be creepy, he usually goes for a higher voice. Compare "Hold On" with "In the Coliseum".
* DMX's ''Damien'' songs occasionally fall in to this, especially when Damien reveals his evil nature-- "You sold me your soul when you didn't say 'no.' Just let a human with dark skin go? Well '''Give me what you owe!'''" If you listen closely, in the first song, Damien's voice even sometimes has a deep reverb to it.
* Lupe Fiasco does this occasionally as well, such as the intros to the songs ''Little Weapon'' and ''Put You On Game.'' In ''The Coolest', the last seven words of "The ones that had deadbeat daddies, and well-to-do mommas, '''But not well enough to keep 'em from us...'''" are spoken with a second, deeper voice behind his own.
* Played straight with the original incarnation of the [[Psychopathic Records]] supergroup [[Dark Lotus]], where the darkest lyrics were delivered by deep, [[Harsh Vocals|gravelly voiced]] rapper Marz. The rest of the label averts it:
** [[Insane Clown Posse]]: Shaggy 2 Dope, who has a scratchier, higher voice than Violent J, is usually the one to perform the "evil" parts of any given song. He's also more vicious in their wrestling matches. In fact, the fact that his voice ISN'T a stereotypical deep, booming bass makes him just that bit more intimidating.
** [[Twiztid]]: Neither Monoxide nor Madrox has a particularly deep voice.
** [[Anybody Killa|ABK]], who has a prominent lisp.
* Inversion: the predominant vocal style in [[Death Metal]] consists of a low, menacing and almost completely incomprehensible [[Guttural Growler|growling]], while in [[Black Metal]], mid- to high-pitched shrieking and screaming tend to be used. The inversion becomes apparent when you learn of the violence (church burnings, murders and one particularly infamous suicide) that was part and parcel of the [[Black Metal]] scene around the time of its inception. Additionally, the death metal growl as a style is much-derided in many circles, pejoratively referred to as [[Sesame Street|"Cookie Monster vocals"]].
* [[Rammstein]]'s Till Lindemann is ''made'' of this trope.
* Front Line Assembly's Bill Leeb averts, subverts, plays straight, and twists this trope every which way thanks to his near-obsessive vocoder use, dropping his voice to a guttural growl, and just as quickly rising to a high-pitched windy tone.
* Frontman Milan Fras of Slovenian group Laibach.
* [[Eminem]] does this in the song "My Darling", where his separate identity (Slim Shady) is heard in a deep, demonic voice.
* [["Weird Al" Yankovic|Weird Al Yankovic]] in the song ''Your Horoscope For Today'' when he gets to Sagittarius.
{{quote|''All your friends are laughing behind your back.'' '''''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|KILL THEM.]]'''''}}
* Dimmu Borgir's song "The Sacrilegious Scorn" has [[Satan]] appearing as [[Hot as Hell|a beautiful woman]], who turns out to have a deep voice as she performs a spoken-word rendition of one verse.

== [[Theatre]] ==
* <s> Opera</s> Musical theater in general; heroes tend to be [[The Soprano|sopranos]] and [[Tenor Boy|tenors]], while villains are [[Alto Villainess|altos]] and basses.
** Subverted in [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[The Yeomen of the Guard]]'', where the tenor turns out to be the villain.
** [[Depending on the Writer]] - basses and altos often wind up with comic parts. The ''Basso Buffo'' was a standard operatic role.
* In ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'', Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney are an alto and a bass-baritone respectively. [[Villain Protagonist|They are the protagonists, but also evil]]. The wicked Judge Turpin is a bass.
** Also subverted via the two villainous tenors, Pirelli and the Beadle. Then there's Anthony, who has been played by both baritones and tenors.
* Officer Lockstock from ''[[Urinetown]]'' is a bass. Cladwell, too.
* As is Ciaphas from ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]''. A deep bass at that.
** However, Annas is tenor who sings in falsetto.
* Leon Czolgosz, while arguably the most sympathetic of the ''[[Assassins (theatre)|Assassins]]'', is the only bass among them; a possible{{verify}} subversion. The Proprietor is also a bass, and certainly a wee bit sinister himself.
** Booth, Hinckley, Byck, and Guiteau are all baritones, however (though Guiteau is sometimes played by tenors)
* Claude Frollo from both the film and stage version of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' is a bass-baritone.
* ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'': Valjean, [[Tenor Boy|Marius]], and Enjolras are tenors; [[Inspector Javert|Javert]] and Thenardier are baritones.
** May be a subversion, as Enjolras has been played by baritones many times, and Marius's song "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is more in the baritone register.
** Also subverted in the female characters: Fantine and Eponine are both contraltos, or at least mezzo-sopranos. Cosette is a soprano, but she's usually played less sympathetically than the others.
* Nathan Wallace in ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'' gets a deep, gravelly voice when he is the Repo Man.
** Rotti Largo and Graverobber are both baritones, but Luigi and Pavi are tenors.
* Mrs. Meers from ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]'' is an alto.

=== Opera ===
In musical theatre and opera, the main protagonist will often be [[Tenor Boy|tenor]] if male or [[The Soprano|soprano]] if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often [[Alto Villainess|sing alto]].
* Scarpia in ''[[Tosca]]'' is a baritone, but lately, often sung by bass-baritones. He's an evil son of a bitch who wants to kill the tenor and rape the soprano.
** The rare case of this trope in Puccini's operas. His other low-voiced characters, like Colline in ''[[La Boheme]]'', Timur in ''[[Turandot]]'' and Sharpless in ''[[Madame Butterfly|Madama Butterfly]]'' are nice, or at least sympathetic, like Michele in ''Il Tabarro'' and Rance in ''La Fanciulla del West''. And Gianni Schicchi is a [[Loveable Rogue]].
* Claggart in ''[[Billy Budd (theatre)|Billy Budd]]'' is a super-low bass. One of the most satanic characters ever.
* [[Richard Wagner]] often fell into this. His heroes, such as Siegfried and Parsifal, would be Heldentenors. Villains such as Hagen were often basses or bass-baritones.
** On the other hand, Landgraf Hermann, Henry the Fowler, Hans Sachs, Gurnemanz, and Titurel are all basses or bass-baritones as well.
** ''[[Der Ring Des Nibelungen|Ring]]'' Baddies are mostly deep. Alberich is a bass-baritone, Hagen, Hunding and Fafner are basses (Fafner as a dragon in ''Siegfried'' has his deep bass amplified by megaphone), Fricka is a mezzo-soprano. However, Mime is a character tenor, but Mime is a fun villain.
* Subverted by Mozart, who wrote mostly for basses as opposed to tenors.
** Completely inverted in ''[[The Magic Flute]]'', when the villain is an EXTREMELY high soprano, and the low bass is the good guy.
* Gian-Carlo Menotti's ''The Consul'' features as its antagonist a secret police agent, who is a bass-baritone. Has a creepy [[Villain Song]] to boot.
* [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] weren't usually kind to tenors, portraying many of them as idiots or jerks. However, they had bass-baritone Richard Temple, who had a talent for macabre roles, creating such sinister bass roles as The Mikado of Japan, the Pirate King, and the ghost Sir Roderick.
* Ask Samuel Ramey, famed for his portrayals of Mephisto in different adaptations of ''[[Faust]]''.
* Also, Eric Halfvarson, a famous Wagner bass. The man even looks like a psychopath, and plays mostly... psychopaths. ([[Mean Character, Nice Actor|But he's nice in real life]].)
* The Grand Inquisitor in ''[[Don Carlo]]''. 90-years-old, blind, and he sings the other bass, King Philip, literally off the stage. On the other hand, the baritone Rodrigo is [[Averted Trope|the nicest]] [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|and purest]] character ever to happen in a Verdi's opera.
* Nick Shadow in ''The Rake's Progress'' - see "Samuel Ramey" above.
* Subverted in ''Khovanshchina'': Dosifey, the bass, is a good, wise priest.
* Osmin in ''Abduction from the Seraglio'' is a very low bass, but he's a funny and human villain.
* Iago in ''[[Othello]]'' is a baritone - sometimes sung by bass-baritones.
* Subversion: the Duke of Mantua in ''Rigoletto'' is a tenor, and a heartless whoremonger. The bass, Sparafucile, is an assassin, but he's honourable and almost sympathetic.
* In ''Nabucco'', the bass is a Good Priest, the soprano, Abigaille, is the baddie.
* The Hidden Ba(da)ss: you know, there's that boring old bass guy, Ferrando, in ''[[Il Trovatore]]''. He sings that long aria in the beginning that you sleep through. Then, in the current London production, Ferrando becomes Luna's bad spirit instead of the old buddy... being bald and having a Villain Scar.
* Well, the Commendatore isn't a friendly guy either. Don't invite him for supper.
** On that note, Don Giovanni himself counts, depending on whether he's cast as a bass or lyric baritone.
* From ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', there are four characters: Lindorf, Coppelius, Dr. Miracle, and Dapertutto. They are all played by the same bass-baritone, and are, quite literally, the incarnations of evil.
* This was taken one step further in Baroque Opera, wherein any character anywhere within the actual male voice range -i.e. not meant to be played by a castrato- is INVARIABLY evil. Yes, even tenors.
** There's a good tenor guy Bajazet in Handel's ''Tamerlano''. Still, no bass in any Baroque opera could ever be good.
* ''Regina'' is all over the place with this one. The title role, greedy and morally bankrupt, was initially supposed to be a mezzo-soprano, but ended up a soprano. Her husband, Horace, and servant, Addie, are a bass and contralto respectively, but are good guys, as are Birdie and Zan, who are sopranos. Ben and Oscar, also greedy, are both baritones, and their son Leo, a much less endearing version of [[The Ditz]], is a tenor.
* Bartolo was cast as a bass by Paisiello, Rossini ''and'' Mozart.
* The title role in ''Boris Godunov'' is something of a [[Villain Protagonist]], and is a bass (though is occasionally sung by baritones). Interesting in that he's a bit of an [[Anti-Villain]].
* ''[[Der Freischütz]]'' gives us one straight-play and three subversions. Kaspar, the main antagonist, is a basso, but so are the kindly old hermit and Kuno, the protagonist's [[Mentor]] and father-in-law-to-be. Samiel is a speaking role, but generally high-pitched.
* In general, contralto roles in opera are somewhat limited, sometimes described as being "witches, bitches, and breeches".
* In oratorios, however (basically operas without sets or costumes and meant for church), the parts of God and Jesus were often sung by basses.

== [[Video Games]] ==
* The cyclops Gargarensis in ''[[Age of Mythology]]'' has a guttural voice.
* Somewhat subverted in ''[[Guilty Gear]]''. Potemkin has the voice of a [[TI 83]] running a voice module at quarter speed, and the extremely threatening looks to go with it ; he's also one of the nicest and most polite characters in the series.
* The Imperium units in ''[[Dark Reign]]''.
* Inverted in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' with Kefka and his trademark [[Evil Laugh]]. [[Final Fantasy X|Seymour]], on the other hand, plays this straight with his commanding bass voice, which becomes [[Voice of the Legion|distorted]] when he transforms into Seymour Natus or Seymour Flux.
** ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' gave voice acting to characters from the first twelve games of the franchise. Apparently, [[Final Fantasy I|Garland]], [[Final Fantasy IV|Golbez]] ([[Anti-Villain|kinda]]), [[Final Fantasy V|Exdeath]] and [[Big Bad|Chaos]] subscribe to this trope.
** In the DS version of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', [[Face Heel Revolving Door|Kain]] has a ''much'' deeper voice than Cecil, which kind of tips off the player as to what kind of role [[Rival Turned Evil|he'll play later on in the game.]]
* Exemplified by the character Dagri'Lon in the [[Skyrim]] [[Game Mod|mod]] ''[[Interesting NPCs]]''.
* Played straight in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' (and expansion ''Hordes Of the Underdark'') with Paladin/Blackguard {{spoiler|Aribeth}}.
* Both the [[Final Boss]] and the [[Bonus Boss]] in ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' get white text in black balloons, which is the visual expression of this trope.
* When GLaDOS's Morality Core is destroyed in ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'', her voice drops from a tinny, childish drone to a low, seductive tone.
** Her voice also has a tendency to drop in tone at the end of some lines throughout the game to denote that she doesn't exactly have your best intentions in mind...
** At the end of ''[[Portal 2]]'', {{spoiler|Wheatley}} greets you with a more or less cheery "Well, well, well. Welcome..." followed by considerably darker and deeper "'''to MY LAIR!'''"
* CABAL in the ''[[Command & Conquer: Tiberium]]'' series.
* In ''[[Soul Series|Soulcalibur IV]]'', Tira has [[Split Personality]] Disorder. Her Jolly side has a disturbingly pure and innocent voice, but once her Gloomy side comes out, her voice becomes deeper and raspier.
** [[Big Bad|Nightmare]] plays this trope completely straight in the third and fourth games, with a digitally altered, deepened inhuman voice.
* ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'': {{spoiler|Asch}} has a much deeper voice than {{spoiler|Luke}}, reflecting his [[Anti-Hero]] tendencies.
* Played straight ''and'' inverted in ''[[Thief|Thief: The Dark Project]]''.  {{spoiler|Constantine's already deep voice deepens when he reveals his true identity. Viktoria's voice, on the other hand, rises in pitch slightly.}}
* Inverted in ''[[Thief|Thief II: The Metal Age]]''. Karras has a high, nasal voice.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'': Death Knights have slightly altered voicesets compared to anyone else with the same race but different class. The original Death Knight hero in ''Warcraft 3'' and other evil heroes also have deep voices.
** ...except for the female gnome Death Knights, whose altered voicesets just makes them sound like they recorded their lines [[Hilarity Ensues|while sitting in a tin can.]] And Undead Death Knights whose voice gets actually higher, which makes them sound more insane.
** Also, in ''Warcraft III'' the [[Anti-Hero]] demon hunters have a high voice, but when they activate their [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], their voice becomes a deep bass.
** Let's put the list up: Ogres, demons (except for imps... and succubi, for obvious reasons), most undead creatures (''especially'' the Lich King), black dragons, Kalecgos-when-mind-controlled-and-forced-to-attack-you, and good grief I could go on for HOURS. Warcraft BREATHES this trope. It's like some kind of drug to the voice actors.
*** Succubi count too; they're alto, which is female this-trope.
** Averted, however, in that Thrall and Varian (both voiced by Metzen himself~) along with a good number of protagonistic chars have pretty deep voices as well. Meanwhile, look at, say, Kael'thas. And no, being a blood elf doesn't justify the lack of trope, as one of the blood elves in MGT has at least a deeper voice by comparison: [[A God Am I|"I! AM! A GOD!!"]] Kael's was definitely especially high even by standards of his race, but not high enough to register the shrill creepy opposite-end of this trope either.
** Grom Hellscream changed from having a scratchy, high-pitched voice in Warcraft II, to a deep, gravelly one in Warcraft III.
* Played with in most games based off ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'': The voices of loyalist Space Marines are almost as deep as their Chaos counterparts. Then again, this is ''Warhammer 40,000'', where '''everyone''' is evil sooner or later.
** ''[[Dawn of War]]'' has the Demon Prince unit in Dark Crusade. '''''[[Large Ham|YOU DARE TO ORDER ME!? DO NOT THINK I SERVE YOU, FOOL.]]'''''
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' goes with the "normal voice combined with another voice" variation for the Beauty And Beast Corps.
* Inverted in ''[[Myst]] IV: Revelation'', where the good guys {{spoiler|Achenar, Atrus, your spirit guide}} have low tenors or baritones, whereas the bad guys{{spoiler|, that is to say Sirrus,}} are nearly countertenors but not squeaky or unpleasant to hear. This is, of course, leaving out Yeesha, who is neither bad nor deep-voiced, but also prepubescent and female, excusing her soprano tones.
* In the ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' episode ''What's New, Beelzebub?'', all the demons who impersonate other characters have artificially deepened voices when they break character.
*  The voice of the [[Dungeon Keeper|Dungeon Keeper's]] advisor. Conversely, if the in-game vocal "taunts" are to be any guide, the Keepers themselves almost sound like they're on helium.
*  ''[[Mass Effect]]'':  {{spoiler|Sovereign has a very deep, ominous timbre, with all the flanging one might expect from a synthetic being}}. At high enough volumes, it almost feels like it's rattling your teeth.
**  Harbringer follows in his footsteps in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. The main difference between the their voices is that Sovereign sounds detached, uncaring, which is pretty much what you'd expect from an ancient sentient starship that considers "organic life nothing but a genetic mutation." Harbinger, on the other hand? There's actual emotion there. You can tell that Harbinger actually has emotion. HATE. There's just more malevolence in that voice, not to mention the way it says "THIS HURTS YOU, SHEPARD."
**  {{spoiler|The Shadow Broker has a ridiculously deep voice as well, even without vocal modulation.}}
** The unnamed Reaper you speak to in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' also has an incredibly deep voice. You can actually see the air shimmering when it speaks!
** Reapers, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd3sD17Ovyk period]. Especially their [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd3sD17Ovyk#t=1m45s foghorn-like battlecry].
*  In ''[[Persona 4]]'', most of the [[Enemy Without|Shadows]] speak with a [[Voice of the Legion]] involving the victim's actual voice layered over a deeper echo of it.  {{spoiler|Naoto's}} shadow is an exception though, it's layered with a higher-pitched voice.
**   {{spoiler|Teddie's}} shadow is also an interesting meta case, its voice has a [[Power Echoes|reverb effect]] to it, but otherwise is ''much'' deeper than the normal character's speech, sounding like a completely different person entirely. However, both roles are done by the same voice actor.
*  Stephan Weyte has gone between subverting this and playing it straight; among his other roles in video games are three that he used the same deep, gravelly voice for - one good (Greil in ''[[Fire Emblem]]''), one neutral (Captain Claw in, well, ''Claw''), and one evil (Caleb in ''[[Blood]]'').
*  In ''[[Tekken]]'', when [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Devil Jin (manga)]] talks, his voice is much lower than the normal Jin Kazama's. And in ''Tekken 6'', though it's subtler, [[Face Heel Turn|regular Jin (manga)]] has a slightly lower-sounding voice as well.
*  Both of the villains in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' have deep bass voices, especially [[Norio Wakamot|Xem]][[Paul St Peter|nas]]. It helps that most of the [[Big Bad]]s are different incarnations of the same deep-voiced man. Also inverted in that the guy voiced by [[Christopher Lee]] is an [[Anti-Hero]].
** A variation occurs in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]''. {{spoiler|Vanitas, [[The Dragon]] to Master Xehanort (yes, as in the original form of the same guy responsible for all that's gone wrong in the ''KH'' universe) is [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Ven]]'s [[Enemy Without]], an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Complete Monster]] who is [[Made of Evil|the personification of all the evil stripped out of Ven's heart]]. He takes the appearance of series' hero Sora (going into that right now would require a lengthy explanation) and is voiced by [[Miyu Irino]] and [[Haley Joel Osment]] (respectively, Sora's seiyuu and voice actor). Both voice Vanitas nearly identical to that of Sora, but with a deeper, more smug and sinister inflection.}}
*  In ''[[Iji]]'', Tor's voice basically sounds like Darth Vader with laryngitis. This was so prevalent, the game's creator had to explain what he was saying in his speedrun videos. {{spoiler|Subverted, he's really a good guy inside.}}
*  ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' brings us [[Amoral Attorney|Manfred]] [[The Von Trope Family|von Karma]]'s '''''{{color|red|OBJECTION!}}'''''s.
**  Used again in ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth]]'' by [[Big Bad]]  {{spoiler|Quercus Alba}}
**  Though she doesn't have a voice clip, [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Dahlia Hawthorne]] is said to have a soft, sweet, high voice. She also happens to be the  {{spoiler|most evil character}} that Phoenix Wright has ever encountered.
*  In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's]]: The Battle of Aces'', Nanoha's Evil Twin Material-S has a deeper version of her voice.
* The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Zuul]] from ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' have an impressively guttural voice.
* ''[[Fallout 2]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y1neKU87Uk Frank Horrigan] has one of the deepest voices in video games. Justified, he's a huge super mutant.
* The Transcendent One from ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' has a terrifically deep voice.
* Inverted in ''[[Fable (video game)|Fable I]]'' with Jack of Blades having a creepy, high-pitched voice. Played straight in The Lost Chapters expansion, where his voice has been artificially lowered to a more demonic tone.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
*  ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' does this sometimes with speech balloons---several characters have theirs colored, with the colors often meant to imply their personalities.
** This is lampshaded with the imp Qarr; Lien actually [[Medium Awareness|recognized him as evil ''because'' of his red speech bubble]].
**  Lampshaded with [[Big Bad|Xykon]]. In ''[[Start of Darkness]]'' we see his (somewhat less evil) human form, which has a normal speech bubble; it becomes black when he becomes a lich, and he ''comments'' that his voice sounds deeper, [[Star Wars|comparing]] [[The Lion King|it]] [[CNN|to]] [[James Earl Jones]]'s.
** Also  {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius}} gets a colored speech bubble after  {{spoiler|his/her [[Deal with the Devil]]}}
*  In ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'', Garland complains that his evil voice hurts his throat.
** Excerpt from Fighter's Journal (DAY WHATEVA) [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/07/30/episode-1158-its-that-time-again/ "Black Mage has been well. He's radiating pure darkness now. He's got some kind of screaming demon background noise reverb thing going on with his voice. I think he just wants attention." ]
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' plays this straight with the gate keepers, with their speech in a different font (until they were told not to). The subversion is used for psychological advantage with [http://www.schlockmercenary.com:8080/2006-01-09 TAG]{{Dead link}}.
* Richard, the [[Token Evil Teammate]] of ''Waiting For Group'', has a rather deep voice if his singing voice in the "Slaughter Your World" video is any indication.

== [[Web Original]] ==
*  Played for laughs in [[Ask That Guy With The Glasses|Ask That Guy]], where The Guy's voice will spontaneously drop a few octaves when he feels particularly evil.
** Also parodied with [[The Nostalgia Critic|N. Bison]] in [[Kickassia]].
* Parodied in the French web series ''Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk'', where all the evil guys have deep, low voices. Subverted since the friendly ogre travelling with the... hem... heroes also has a low voice, and the fiery demon living in the dungeon has a rather high, metallic voice. The series also provides good examples of [[Evil Laugh]].
* One of the signs that the AI O'Malley/Omega is possessing someone in ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' is their voice suddenly going deep and random psychotic comments ("So you ''didn't'' threaten to cut off my head and give it to Church as a birthday present?")
{{quote|'''[[Cloudcuckoolander|Caboose]]:''' Fix the tank so I can [[Robo Ship|talk to Sheila]]. '''And start killing everyone.'''
'''Tucker:''' You mean all the reds, right?
'''Caboose:''' Of course! '''For starters.''' }}
* Played with in ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''. [[Villain Protagonist|Dr. Horrible]] ''does'' speak/sing a bit deeper and more harshly when he's in evil mode, but he's still a normal, non-creepy/cold tenor either way. Meanwhile, [[Hero Antagonist|Captain Hammer]] is a baritone, and [[The Ingenue|Penny]] is an alto.
* ''[[Echo Chamber]]''{{'}}s Mr. Administrator.
* [[Reflets d'Acide]] parodies this with the villainess Alia-Aenor, who is a giant black dragon with a very deep voice... in contrast with her human form, who has a little girl's voice.
* In [[All Your Base]] videos, CATS is usually voiced by Microsoft Sam at his lowest pitch setting. Other characters usually get higher-pitched, and less robotic sounding voices.

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Many characters voiced by [[Tony Jay]] are examples of both this and an [[Evil Brit]]: [[ReBoot|Megabyte]], [[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|Frollo]], [[Gargoyles|Anubis]] ({{spoiler|though not until he's merged with an evil avatar}}), [[The Mighty Ducks (animation)|Wraith]], [[Tom and Jerry: The Movie|Lickboot]], [[Spider-Man: The Animated Series|Baron Mordo]], etc.
* Scar in ''[[The Lion King]]''; though Mufasa's voice is deeper, Scar's voice is much deeper than the main hero (and tenor), Simba.
* Ursula in ''[[The Little Mermaid]]''.
* [[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|Shere Khan's]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cKA-Pf3qLc one-line VillainSong].
* Dr Facilier from ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', who's voiced by [[Keith David]].
* [[Darkseid]]'s voice is very deep in both ''[[Superfriends]]'' and ''[[Justice League]]''. His son Kalibak had a very raspy voice in the former but a very deep one in the latter, as well. It helps that this version of Kalibak is voiced by Michael Dorn. Then there's [[Keith David|Despero...]]
** Darkseid voice-actor Michael Ironside also did the voice of ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' Batman in the [[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]] episode "Legends of the Dark Knight".
** Not to mention Granny Goodness, who, being voiced by Ed Asner, has a voice deeper than any normal woman.
* ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' averted it with Megatron and Starscream both having very high, whiny voices. In [[The Movie]], Unicron played it straight. Megatron in ''[[Beast Wars]]'' and ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' are another story, though. ''Animated'' also has Lugnut, but Starscream still has a high, scratchy voice despite being a bigger threat to more people than ever before.
** [[Transformers (film)|The live-action movie]] played it straight by making Megatron's voice very deep as well as Barricade's. Movie Starscream is the first incarnation of 'Screamer to have a very deep voice as well - though ''ever so slightly'' higher than the others.
** Its worth noting that the most noble of leaders, Optimus Prime, has a very deep voice (especially in the live-action movie).
*** When Hot Rod becomes Rodimus Prime his voice drops quite a bit, but this might be part of the whole 'becoming a man' Hero's Journey theme the movie has.
** ''[[Beast Wars]]'' era Megatron, ''yeeessss''...
** Welker's performance as Megatron in [[Transformers Prime]] is nothing like his G1 voice, much deeper and subdued, and much more intimidating as a result.
** Motormaster, one of Megatron's henchmen in G1, is frequently portrayed as having a hollow, bottomless pit sort of voice.
* Killface, from ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'', who is also electronically deepened.
* Inverted in ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'', where Skeletor's voice gets rather shrieky, complete with cackling, after he loses his face. Played straight with Marzo, when being freed from his dwarfing curse.
** Played straight in the Italian dub of the 2002 version, where Skeletor's voice sounds like a deep growl.
* When Flippy from ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' is reminded of war and converts to his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], he gains this trait.
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'' used this not only for Batman (see the entry for "Film") but also for their version of Two-Face: Harvey Dent's voice was relatively high and lively, while his darker personality's voice was gravelly and deep.
* Both subverted and played straight in ''[[G.I. Joe]]''; [[Big Bad|Cobra Commander]] has a very high pitched, whiny voice, while [[The Dragon]] Destro has a suitably deep one and [[The Brute]] Zartan's is relatively normal, but with an electronic echo effect that makes it sound louder than it is.
** Played straight in [[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra|the live action movie]], where the Doctor {{spoiler|who later upgrades to the Commander}} pulls the deepest and most menacing voice he can do.
* One of the differences between [[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]] and his [[Evil Twin]] Negaduck is the latter's deeper voice.
* In ''[[American Dad]]'', it's revealed that Steve's obese friend Barry has to take mind altering medication. When Barry doesn't, he becomes malicious and gains the matching deeper and a [[Creepy Monotone]] voice.
** His voice also takes on a british accent at the same time (again, for the creepy effect)
* The [[Disney Animated Canon]] version of ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' ''almost'' subverts this one by giving its hero a growly, artificially-deepened voice as long as he's in Beast form and not. So why isn't it a subversion? Gaston's voice is still lower.
** Also nearly subverted with Belle herself. She is a mezzo-soprano while her foils, the three Bimbettes, are [[The Soprano|breathy sopranos.]] They aren't evil, however—just air-headed fans of Gaston.
* [[Captain Scarlet|"THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS."]]
* [[Big Bad|Mumm-Ra]] of the ''[[Thundercats]]''.
* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Morbo the Annihilator subverts this by having a deep voice and an expressed desire for destruction of all of humankind, but only works as a news anchor.
** In the first episode, his voice was digitally lowered, but in the rest of the series, the voice actor simply lowered his voice to match.
** Any similarity between Morbo, Horrible Gelatinous Blob, and Lrrr, RULER OF THE PLANET Omnicron-Persei 8 is just your imagination. So the voice actor insists.
* [[Dark Action Girl|Asajj Ventress]] from ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'' has a deep, gravely voice.
* [[Inspector Gadget|Dr. Claw]], of course. (Unless the voice comes from excessive chain-smoking, and he just puts the echo on for effect...)
* In the same vein as Dr. Claw, there's Dr. Robotnik in ''[[Sonic Sat AM]]''. Easily the most intimidating incarnation of the character, his dramatically reverberating voice usually stayed at the level of a whisper (at least in the first season), but its menacingly low tones are among the most memorable aspects of the series.
*  ''[[Kim Possible]]'': "Rufus In Show" Subverts this with the villainous Falsetto Jones who was caught in a "freak helium accident" that heighten his voice. Naturally he was hilarious, but too [[Genre Savvy]] to ever be used again.
*  In the early ''[[Popeye (comic strip)|Popeye]]'' shorts, Bluto's voice was baritone. Especially notable if he were being played by Gus Wickie.
*  Inverted with the villainous HIM from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'', who possesses a creepy falsetto voice.
** He does, but when he gets serious/angry/just wants to be extra dramatic, his voice goes from high-pitched to really deep and growly.
*  Makuta Teridax of the first two ''[[Bionicle]]'' films has a REALLY deep voice. Becomes a bit jarring when you realize the actor playing him secondarily plays the high-pitched Pewku.
*  Subverted in ''[[Gargoyles]]''. Not only does Goliath have a deeper voice than the [[Big Bad|main antagonist]], but he has the deepest voice in the entire primary cast. Played completely straight with Goliath's [[Evil Twin]], Thailog.
*  Officer Shallowgrave on ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]''. It's even [[Lampshaded]] by Cosmo.
*  Latanya Hippo from ''[[My Gym Partner's a Monkey|My Gym Partners a Monkey]]'' may not be evil but she does talk in a deep, scary demonic voice especially when she is angry.
*  [[Danny Phantom|Dark Danny]].
**  Also briefly with  {{spoiler|Sam}} when Undergrowth brainwashes her. Not only is it deeper, it's ''seductive''.
*  When [[Satan|Trigon]], the main villain of the fourth season of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', had to be even more evil and threatening than [[Big Bad|Slade]], the creators decided that he also had to have an even deeper voice than Slade's already quite deep [[Creepy Monotone]].
*  Inverted in the 1960's ''[[Spider-Man (1967 TV series)|Spider-Man]]'' cartoon, where Peter Parker deepened his voice significantly every time he put on his Spidey mask.
* Oogie Boogie from ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' has quite the deep voice. Also played with the hero Jack Skellington, as he uses a deep voice both for his more creepy scenes ''and'' when he tries to be Santa.
* Despite the fact that he's very small, Plankton of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' has a very deep baritone voice.
* Heihu, the demonic [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Shaolin Wuzang]]'', despite the fact that he's [[Demonic Possession|possessing]] a woman's body.
* Aku, nemesis of ''[[Samurai Jack]]''. As his voice actor [[Mako]] once put it, "Evil comes from the ''belly''."
* In ''[[The Legend of Korra]],'' evil is deeper than the bottom of the ocean. Given that [[Big Bad|Amon]] and his [[The Dragon|Lieutenant]], are voiced by [[Steve Blum]] and Lance Henriksen. Which is ''exactly'' as awesome as it sounds.
* [[Vandal Savage]], [[Big Bad]] (or at least the founder of the group that collectively forms the [[Big Bad]]) of the first season of ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' has a very deep, growling voice.
* In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'', [[Complete Monster|the Shredder]] has a nice deep voice with a Japanese accent, which, while wearing his armor, sounds like it echoes robotically. [[The Blob|Sh'Okanabo's]] voice in Fast Forward, of course, is surprisingly deeper than that of the Shredder. It even has an almost alien-like echo added to it (which is no surprise as [[Complete Monster|Black Doom]] from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Shadow the Hedgehog]]'' sounds exactly like him).
** [[Smug Snake|Darius Dun]] has a nice deep voice as well, complete with a british accent.

== Other Media ==
* Any villainous character ever played by [[Christopher Lee]]. Thus automatically subverted whenever he plays a good guy, like  {{spoiler|Ansem}} in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' or {{smallcaps|[[Don't Fear the Reaper|Death]]}} in the two [[Discworld]] animated miniseries.
* Inverted in ''[[The Adventures of Superman (radio)|The Adventures of Superman]]'', in which Superman's transformation from Clark Kent to Superman would be signalled by his voice going deeper, often mid-sentence: "This looks like a job... '''''for Superman'''''!"
* The voices of the Shadowmen in ''[[Broken Saints]]'' are distorted to make them deeper both to disguise the fact that we know two of them, and to of course, make them sound more menacing. This is doubly true for {{spoiler|Lear Dunham}}, who has one level of distortion for his Shadowman scenes, and another for his mysterious presence in Kami's vision and Shandala's dreams.
* Any character played by [[Shozo Iizuka]], [[Ryuzaburo Ohtomo]], and [[Norio Wakamoto]].
* Inverted with [[Thurl Ravenscroft]]. Despite his incredibly deep voice and macabre name, the roles he took were usually sympathetic.
** One exception to this was his contributing to the Goblin-songs in the animated adaptation of ''[[The Hobbit]]''.
* [[Tim Curry]]'s voice seems like this at times, but it isn't so much deep as it is a suave brand of tenor.
** On that note, [[Tony Jay]] and Michael Wincott also deserve a spot.
* [[Adolf Hitler]] had a very deep, rasping voice in private conversation. Averted elsewhere, as he used a high, piercing voice when making [[Large Ham|his grandiose speeches]], because a high-pitched voice carries better.
* [[Tony Todd]] has an unbelievably deep and gravelly voice.
* Perennial [[The Three Stooges]] villain Kenneth MacDonald.
* Any villain played by [[Clancy Brown]]. Inverted whenever he plays a good guy.
* Casting an alto as the villainess is common enough in opera to be [https://crosswordtracker.com/clue/opera-villainess-often/ a crossword puzzle clue].

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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Dialogue]]
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Obviously Evil]]