Hearing Voices: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Whenever characters start hearing the [[Voice of the Legion]] whisper in their ear, or the [[Black Speech]] dancing on the wind, there's something bad in store for them... and it comes in two flavors! -- Insanity Berry and Evil Sauce.

 

 

'''Evil''' -- The evil version can come from a lot of sources. [[Demonic Possession]], nearby [[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghosts]], [[Artifact of Doom|Artifacts of Doom]] and [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|Tomes of Eldritch Lore]]. The Demon/Spirit/Artifact(s) possessing Bob may serve as the "evil" [[Good Angel, Bad Angel|shoulder angel]], and rather than (or in addition to) force(ing) him to do evil, tells him to. As Bob realizes [[Evil Feels Good]], the demon can then claim that it didn't make Bob do anything he didn't want to.

'''???''' -- It's often unknown where the voices are coming from, whether the source is holy, unholy, or neutral is never delved into. Or even [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]. Alternatively, the voices come from a multitude of sources, some good, some evil.

 

 

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* ''[[Higurashi]]'': One common symptom of having fallen victim to the curse of Oyashiro is hearing a disembodied voice saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." and footsteps. Although as a practical matter, this is an indicator that the character is about to snap, {{spoiler|there is a source of the voice and footsteps, although not necessarily one with a physical form}}.

* Lain from ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'' sometimes hears a crowd of noises in her head, that in turn sometimes give way to a charismatic narrator voice that claims to be God - this is clearly meant to hint to schizophrenia. {{spoiler|It turns out that she's hearing conversations from the Wired, and the "God" is an omnipresent entity that resides within it.}}

 

 

* [[Deadpool]] has two. He enjoys arguing with them.

* Marv from ''[[Sin City]]'' has mentioned hearing voices and strange sounds in the past. In fact, in his first story, he wondered if he snapped completely, hallucinated the entire murder mystery, and was killing innocent people. Fortunately for him (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), this wasn't the case and people were out to kill him/frame him for murder.

 

 

 

 

* ''[[The Promise]]'' (by the Swiss author Albrecht Dürrenmat): Herr Schrott (portrayed by Gert Fröbe in the first film of the book) is a rapist and murderer of preteen girls whose motivation is a mixture of [[Freudian Excuse]] through his {{spoiler|overly dominating wife and}} ''die Stimme (the voice)''.

* In [[Robert Anton Wilson]]'s ''Historical Illuminatus Chronicles'', Sigismundo Celine begins hearing voices and eventually conversing with imaginary moon-people, after being locked up and drugged. Things get really weird when the footnotes start going crazy too.

* One of the insane people in the asylum in ''The Stealers of Dreams'' hears voices (and asks others if they can hear them too).

* Zane in the second ''[[Mistborn]]'' novel has a voice in his head telling him to kill almost everyone he meets. He's not actually ''evil'', just really, really screwed up. The voice however {{spoiler|is the [[Big Bad]]}} who is able to speak to him ''because'' he's crazy {{spoiler|and because he's got a hemalurgic spike in him}}.

** Vin, on the other hand, hears a "good" voice, later revealed to part subconscious, part {{spoiler|evil.}}

* Michael from ''The Republic of Trees'' suffers those near the end of the book. Though he refers to them as "demons", they all keep screaming at once, so he never hears them clearly enough to figure of what they want.

 

 

 

 

* "Skullcrusher Mountain" by [[Jonathan Coulton]]: "The voices that control me from inside my head say I shouldn't kill you... yet."

* "Absolutely Bill's Mood" by [[They Might Be Giants]]. Formerly the page quote.

 

 

 

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]''

** In the Death Knight starting area of Acherus: The Ebon Hold, the Lich King will randomly whisper suggestions to the player.

** Yogg-Saron whispers to the player in various locations in Northrend. There are areas where these whispers have driven large numbers of NPCs mad, such as Whisper Gulch in Howling Fjord and the Saronite Mines in Icecrown. He is the [[Final Boss]] of Ulduar. Favorites include things like "[[Ax Crazy|Kill them all]]... [[Paranoia Fuel|before they kill you]]" and "[[It's All My Fault|It WAS your fault]]." Given that none of the areas where these whispers show up actually require a group, it comes across more as helpful advice than corrupting whispers of insanity. Then again, that seems to be one of Yogg-Saron's big things.

* In ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'', the game whispers gibberish at you when your Sanity Meter is low.

 

 

* From ''[[The Onion]]'', [http://www.theonion.com/articles/laidback-voices-urging-man-to-kill-his-family-when,19794 Laid-Back Voices Urging Man To Kill His Family When He Gets A Chance].

 

 

* One episode of ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' has the [[Villain of the Week]] try to drive Bruce insane by pretending to be a voice from inside his head. He fails, partially because the voice keeps calling Bruce by his name. [[Becoming the Mask|That isn't his name for himself.]]

** {{spoiler|Taken to extremes in Holly Jolly Secrets when we realize that he used to be a normal man until he put on the crown and unconsciously drove away his wife and let himself go so insane, he's completely unrecognizable in his present form...}}

* Meg Griffin of ''[[Family Guy]]'' exhibits increasing [[Sanity Slippage]] and wishes that she had softer voices in her head.

* [[Ax Crazy|The Joker]] of ''[[The Batman]]'' once mentions "''Another'' voice in my head? The more the merrier!"

 

 

== Evil ==

 

 

** In the anime the voices tell him to abandon his [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] ideals and conquer the world for the sake of power alone.

** In the manga the voices tell him ''something'' that somehow makes him competent and far more effective in taking over Fukuoka City.

 

 

* ''[[Poltergeist]]''. While Carol Anne is watching a TV set to a dead channel, the static starts to sound like whispering. This is apparently the sound of the ghosts on the "other side".

 

 

* ''[[Angel]]''. The Beastmaster tries to intimidate Willow and Angelus by booming away in their heads. Neither of them are amused.

'''ANGELUS:''' I am not well deaf! }}

 

 

* ''[[Harry Potter]]''

* Celmomas in ''The Second Apocalypse'' has a voice in his head. It's probably not a good voice considering what a creepy psychopath he is.

 

 

* Former WWE Diva Victoria used a similar theme to Orton (All The Things She Said by Tatu) in her early career.

 

 

* The Whispers background trait in ''[[Exalted]]''.

 

 

* In ''[[Persona 2]]'', [[Ax Crazy|Tatsuya Sudou]] states from time to time that he hears voices, notably in Eternal Punishment where he screams [[Madness Mantra|"Voicesvoicesvoicesvoicesvoices..."]] before attacking the party. In Innocent Sin, the voice is explicitly stated to be [[Big Bad|Nyarlathotep]].

* Adventuring with the [[Eldritch Abomination|Squamous Gibberer]] familiar in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' causes you to see chat messages from nowhere (in grey, italicized text), saying things like "''Everything you care for will be smothered and extinguished.''" and "''Even now little plots against you.''"

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]:'' One of the weapons (which is sadly not available as of Patch 3.0.2), Corrupted Ashbringer, would send players /whisper messages while they had it equipped, including, yes, 'kill them all'.

* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', the {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|Reapers']] [[More Than Mind Control|indoctrination]] can manifest like this; whispering voices in the back of your mind. Apparently, they start out quiet, unintelligible, but steadily grow stronger. By the time you can understand them, it's too late.}}

* In ''[[Solatorobo]]'', Red hears a voice {{spoiler|commanding him to destroy everything when The Order is given.}} Elh becomes his [[Living Emotional Crutch]] during that time, talking to him to keep him calm.

 

 

 

 

* [http://scribesigma.blogspot.com/2011/05/pre07-choir.html PRE07] aka [[The Fear Mythos|the Choir]]

 

 

* In ''[[Transformers|Transformers Prime]]'', Megatron can hear the voice of [[Satan|Unicron]] giving him instructions after he injects himself with [[The Corruption|Dark]] [[Psycho Serum|Energon]].

 

== Good ==

 

 

* [[Magnus]] hears the voice of the Holy Spirit, which gives him direction.

* Garion from ''[[The Belgariad]]'' hears the voice of Prophecy in his head, sometimes the voice helps, sometimes it makes snarky comments, but it's definitely good.

 

 

* Safiya in [[Neverwinter Nights 2]] Mask of the Betrayer hears voices of her other incarnations giving advice, or possibly rescuing her by distracting her before she can finish reading a scroll that will incinerate herself and the surrounding area.

* Yuri has a voice in his head in the first ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' that compels him to save Alice Elliott, and to further the questline. The voice isn't happy if he disobeys. {{spoiler|The voice turns out to be Koudelka, main character of the eponymous game.}}

 

 

* ''[[Voices]]'' provides an interesting use of this trope. The voices heard by the protagonists are in fact [[Interactive Comic|commands given to them by the readers on the forums]], allowing the readers to interact with the characters and help the protagonists work towards their goals. However, while the intentions of the voices are good, at least one protagonist is insane.

== Unknown!!!?! ==

 

 

* ''[[Innerspace]]''. A man thinks he's hearing voices: actually, he has a miniaturized ship implanted in him, and the pilot is talking to him.

* The "Whisper People" in ''[[Knowing]]''.

 

 

* In Tamora Pierce's ''[[Circle of Magic]]'' quartet, Tris has been hearing random voices for years, leading many of those around her, including herself, to believe she's either crazy or possessed or both. It turns out to be part of her weather magic, with the winds bringing her voices from afar. Later {{spoiler|she gains the ability to see images on the wind, which help her catch a serial killer.}}

** The same thing happens to Zhergoz in ''The Will of the Empress'' (part of the [[Circle of Magic|Circleverse]]), but he actually ''has'' begun to go crazy; the copious amounts of drugs which he was forced to take to cure his "madness" are suggested to have something to do with that...

 

 

* ''[[Lost]]'' has these for people who find themselves wandering alone in the jungle. They often herald the appearance of the Others or sometimes apparitions, like with {{spoiler|Libby}} in season 4. In Season 6 it's explained that they're {{spoiler|the dead on the island, trying to communicate with the living in order to move on.}}

 

 

* One of the many manifestations of [[Hunter: The Reckoning|The Messengers.]] To the point where a common joke about the old ''Hunter'' was, "So, there are voices in your head telling you to kill people who are secretly monsters... and you think you're the good guy?"

 

 

* ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'' had this on the mission start screen.

* A [[Stock Sound Effect]] in the ''[[Chzo Mythos]]'' to indicate the presence of {{spoiler|John Defoe}}.

* ''[[Dawn of Mana]]'' features both good whispers (from the Mana spirits) and evil ones (from the Echoes.)

 

 

* In ''[[Endstone]]'', the Banestone does this and drives its rockers mad.

 

 

 

 

 

* ''[[Clone High]]'': Joan thought she was finally hearing the voices of her [[Cloning Blues|original self]], but in fact a had radio transmitter stuck in her teeth.

 

 

** The soldiers following her were by and large convinced this was an example of the Good variety. Their faith in her and her mission drove them to many victories as a result.

* These tropes can be thought of as the [[Theme Park Version]] of hearing voices, which for many is [[Truth in Television]]. People can hear evil voices that are abusive and disturbing, good voices that are helpful and supportive, neutral voices, or a mixture of these. Voices may give good or bad advice. Whether people actually listen to their voices depends on the individual and the type of voices. Whether people interpret their voices as coming from religious sources or not depends on the individual, and whether the people who hear them are insane or not depends on the individual. In [[Real Life]], hearing voices is generally unrelated to [[Split Personality]].

* A certain company has released a male's T-shirt that states "I only do what the voices in my wife's head tell her to tell me to do."

[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]

[[Category:Sound FX Tropes]]