Hearing Voices: Difference between revisions

'''Harley''': Sorry... The voices.

'''Harley''': Dhaha‐I'm kidding. Jeez. [[False Reassurance|That's not what they really said.]]

 

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.

 

Interestingly, Bob may not actually ''be'' hearing voices—a common variation is for Alice to make him ''think'' he is, using a hidden radio transmitter or the like. If that's the case, see [[Gaslighting]]. Subtrope of [[Terrible Ticking]], though they're usually implemented differently.

 

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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.}}

 

 

* ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'': Ultimate Green Goblin is so crazy, he not only hears voices, but also sees little floating goblins.

* Some versions of [[Batman/Characters|Two-Face]]'s insanity manifest in this way, frequently being divided between a "good voice" and an "evil voice".

 

 

* In Fritz Lang's 1931 film ''[[M]]'', the titular ''M''urderer of children, whom both the police and [[The Mafia]] end chasing, claims that he hears voices periodically, and kills to silence them.

 

 

* ''[[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)''.

* 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.

 

* ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'': Blanche starts with this trope as she begins having [[Sanity Slippage]].

 

 

* Subverted in ''[[NCIS]]'' when they investigate a case of a naval officer that was diagnosed with schizophrenia after her husband was killed in action and she starts hearing voices in her room. It turns out the "voices" were from a radio transmitter planted in her air vents. She had vital information regarding the whereabouts of a large sum of stolen money, and the criminals who wanted it were trying to get her out of the picture by [[Gaslighting|having her declared insane]].

* In the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Derailed", a train is taken hostage by a schizophrenic whose paranoia is driven by a voice in his head, which is depicted as a man standing behind him that only he (and the viewer) can hear.

 

 

* "Voices" by [[Disturbed]]. It's mainly from the perspective of the personality giving the insane suggestions, though.

* "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]]''

** 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.

** High General Brigitte Abbendis, leader of the Scarlet Crusade {{spoiler|after Grand Crusader Saiden Dathrohan is found to be corrupted}}, and later leader of the Scarlet Onslaught {{spoiler|until her death at the hands of the player}} believes that she is receiving the good kind of whispers when she hears voices telling her to go to Northrend. She was not.

* In ''[[Warcraft|Warcraft III]]'', the Lich King whispers to Arthas through [[Artifact of Doom|Frostmourne]]. More of an Evil instance, though.

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

* Doug from the ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' series is a schizophrenic with no medication. He thinks the [[Companion Cube]] talks to him.

 

 

* 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].

* In what is genuinely a creepy scene, [[The Nostalgia Critic]] hears manic laughing and all the bullies who teased him about ''[[Doug]]'', before snapping back and realizing there's blood all over his hands.

 

 

* 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.]]

== Evil ==

 

 

* Il Palazzo hears voices in the both the ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'' manga and [[Excel Saga (anime)|anime]], though they affect him differently depending on the continuity.

* In ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]: [[The Movie]]'', Sakuya enters an antique shop and immediately hears a woman's voice calling her towards a particular book. The voice, belonging to the movie's antagonist, Tsu Young, coaxes/[[Mind Control|mind-controls]] Sakura into opening the book, resulting in the capture of all but two of her friends/family.

 

 

* Used in the ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' movies, to hint at the One Ring's corrosive mental effects.

* ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]''. Picard keeps hearing the voice of the [[Voice of the Legion|Collective]] in his head.

 

 

* In ''[[Farscape]]'' John starts hearing voices after being subjected to the Aurora Chair. At first he isn't sure what's going on, but then he starts to see Scorpius as well, indicating that there is definitely evil at work.

'''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.

 

 

* [[Randy Orton]] in his heel role for the [[WWE]] uses Rev Theory's 'Voices' as his theme song and at one point claimed to be unable to control himself. Not sure if this counts as 'insane' or 'evil' but whatever it is, he's good at it.

* 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]]''.

 

 

* ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]:'' Both Vayne and Cid turn out to be taking orders from a [[God Is Evil|god-like]] being.

* 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.

 

 

* The evil souls involved in the "Soul-Splice" in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' basically share a body with the character, and provide input on the character's actions, such as telling which direction to go to dodge an attack, or telling them to "Tear down creation, just to see if you can."

 

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[He Who Fights Monsters|Refan]] hear voices. It's because his sword (which houses a malevolent spirit) is influencing him and trying to trigger his {{spoiler|demonic}} side.

* [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.

* In ''[[9|Nine]]'', it is barely hinted in the viral sites that 6 hears voices, and a deleted scene shows him speaking back. However, where the voices come from, why they talk to him, or even if they're good or evil or neutral is ''never'' explained.

 

 

* In the classic American horror tale ''Wieland: or, The Transformation'' the four main characters hear inexplicable voices that confuse, threaten, and utter prophecies that come true. Eventually these voices {{spoiler|drive Theodore Wieland himself to kill his own family,}} as he, deeply religious, believes they are coming from God. However, it turns out the source of the voices is {{spoiler|the local hobo/ventriloquist, Carson}}—Or Are They?

** 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.}}

* Are [[Battlestar Galactica|Head Six and Head Baltar]] the products of insanity, guilt, or divine intervention? {{spoiler|The series finale points to the latter.}}

 

 

* 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.

* ''[[Scratches]]''. Early on in the game, there are the eponymous scratching noices. Later on {{spoiler|the main charater starts hearing whispering voices mocking him during an exorcism}}.

 

 

* ''[[Xkcd]]'': [http://xkcd.com/440/ Black Hat Man strikes again!]

 

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[The Ladette|Ax]] and [[Anti-Hero|Deidra]] hear voices of ghosts because of their tribe's deep connection to the spirit realm. The spirits have different motives, some being helpful, others downright malicious or just having fun by chatting with the living.

 

 

 

* ''[[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.

* In ''[[Wakfu]]'', [[Big Bad]] Nox claims that he can talk to the Eliacube, the [[Artifact of Doom]] which both [[Amplifier Artifact|gave him his powers]] and [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|ruined his life]].

 

 

* St. [[Joan of Arc]] thought her military campaign was a literal [[Mission From God]]. Dr Craig Taylor said in his recent book on the subject, it's a matter of personal belief or opinion whether Joan belongs in the Good or the Insanity sections—the evidence we've got from other similar cases favoring Insanity.