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Evil Sounds Deep: Difference between revisions
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{{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
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 ragister]].
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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
[[I Thought It Meant|Has nothing to do with]] [[Fauxlosophic Narration]] or [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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** Yes, including [[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Chiyo's dad]].
* Lucy in ''[[Elfen Lied (Manga)|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 (Light Novel)|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
* [[Slayers (Anime)|SHABURANIGUDO!]] Especially in Japanese, the Dark Lord's voice is so artificially low as to be comical.
* Alucard from ''[[Hellsing (Manga)|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 (Anime)|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 (Anime)|Darker Than Black]]'' dub; also, particularly in the dub, Hei seems to do the [[Anti
* Vicious of ''[[Cowboy Bebop (Anime)|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
* ''[[
* Xanxus from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn (Manga)|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
** 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|DAN GREEN]]'''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaK2SMotm_0 Now quiet down so he can COMPLETE HIS TURN!]
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** [[Everything Is 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 (Manga)|Yami no Matsuei]]'' and Sousuke Aizen in ''[[Bleach]]''.
** Ichigo, on the other hand, has a [[Super
* 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 (Manga)|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.}}
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** Jabba the Hutt, anyone?
* Laufey, the leader of the Frost Giants in ''[[Thor (Film)|Thor]]''.
* Xerxes in ''[[
* 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!"
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== 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 [[
** 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.
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** 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
* 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.
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** 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
** 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.
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* [[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.
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* ''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
* ''[[Der Freischuetz]]'' 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".
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* The Imperium units in ''[[Dark Reign]]''.
* Inverted in ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'' with Kefka and his trademark [[Evil Laugh]]. [[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|Garland]], [[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Golbez]] ([[Anti
** In the DS version of ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|Interesting NPCs]]''.
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* 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 (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'': {{spoiler|Asch}} has a much deeper voice than {{spoiler|Luke}}, reflecting his [[Anti
* 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 (Video Game)|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
** 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.
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** {{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 (Video Game)|Fire Emblem]]''), one neutral (Captain Claw in, well, ''Claw''), and one evil (Caleb in ''[[Blood]]'').
* In ''[[Tekken]]'', when [[Super
* 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|Big Bads]] are different incarnations of the same deep-voiced man. Also inverted in that the guy voiced by [[Christopher Lee]] is an [[Anti
** A variation occurs in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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.}}
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** 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 ''[[
** 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 (Webcomic)|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].
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'''Tucker:''' You mean all the reds, right?<br />
'''Caboose:''' Of course! '''For starters.''' }}
* Played with in ''[[Doctor
* ''[[Echo Chamber (Web Video)|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.
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* Dr Facilier from ''[[The Princess and The Frog (Disney)|The Princess and The Frog]]'', who's voiced by [[Keith David]].
* [[Darkseid]]'s voice is very deep in both ''[[Super Friends]]'' 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:
** 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 (Animation)|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.
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* Inverted in ''[[He-Man and The Masters of The Universe (Animation)|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
* ''[[Batman:
* 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 (Film)|the live action movie]], where the Doctor {{spoiler|who later upgrades to the Commander}} pulls the deepest and most menacing voice he can do.
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* Subverted in ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|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 Odd Parents]]''. It's even [[Lampshaded]] by Cosmo.
* Latanya Hippo from ''[[My Gym
* [[Danny Phantom|Dark Danny]].
** Also briefly with {{spoiler|Sam}} when Undergrowth brainwashes her. Not only is it deeper, it's ''seductive''.
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