The Quiet One: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Seto Kaiba from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' (the un-[[Macekre]]d one)... So, naturally, Kaiser Ryo (pre-[[Face Heel Turn]], at least) from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''.

** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'' on the other hand, this treatment is given to the ''main character'', more or less. In the very first episode, Yusei Fudo ''didn't even open his mouth'' until near the end. And as tradition, his first on-screen words were "Hey... duel me."

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Luca is always brooding but rarely speaks his thoughts, which is part of what makes him [[The Confidant|good for counsel]].

* Robin in ''[[One Piece]]''. She is not as heavy of a case anymore, though, but certainly was when she had just joined the Straw Hats - probably because she didn't want to open up to her new crew because she believed she would leave soon. But even nowadays, she is not that talkative unless the conversation really interests her, she needs to give a warning, or if someone asks her for [[Mr. Exposition|exposition]].

 

== Comic Books ==

* Omega from [[Omega the Unknown]], who says nothing for the first few issues, though he eventually deems it important enough to ask a suicidal woman how she could conceive of ending her existence, and opens up a little after that.

* Cougar in [[The Losers]].

 

== Eastern Animation ==

* ''[[Technotise Edit I Ja]]'''s autistic math genius Abel, who is, well, a quiet autistic math genius.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Andy from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]''. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Socrates:

{{quote|(trying to find Andy) "Well, [he] was never the talkative one. Admittedly, [[Character Development|he's gotten better]] [[Medium Awareness|this season,]] but...}}

 

== Film ==

* The Driver from ''[[Drive (film)|Drive]]'' speaks less than twenty whole sentences in the movie, and he's the viewpoint character. The reason for this is left ambiguous, but it's possible he has a mental disorder.

* Matsu, the protagonist of the ''[[Joshuu Sasori|Female Prisoner Scorpion]]'' series is very quiet. She says little in the first film (one of her lines is "you talk too much"), but the second is her most sparse; she's onscreen for most of the 92 minute runtime, but says only eight words across two sentences. By contrast, Yuki in the first film seems to be literally mute.

 

== Jokes ==

* A farmer tells the new farmhand: "I don't talk much. If I give you a nod, you'll come." The farmhand: "Guess we'll work together well, boss, 'cause I don't talk much either. If I shake my head, I won't come."

 

== Literature ==

* The Silent from ''[[Black Company]]''. {{spoiler|He speaks only once through entire series, when he performs ritual to bind Lady's powers.}}

* Ruth in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]''.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'': Madison (insert "Who's Madison?" joke here).

* Nathan Wournos in ''[[Haven]]''

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* Everyone by now knows [[Christian]] to be a bit of a Loud Mouth...but before that happened, he and [[Edge]] were part of a group known as the Brood (a gimmick of pseudo-vampires). He didn't even speak the first few months...until Ken Shamrock ankle locked him to revealing where [[Stephanie McMahon]] was during the [[Ministry of Darkness]] era.

* [[The Undertaker]] is also one; unless he's cutting one of his amazing promos.

 

== Radio ==

* Fred Norris of ''[[Howard Stern|The Howard Stern Show]]''. Although he's in the studio, his job is sound effects, and they'll often do more talking than he does. When he DOES talk it could be just a quip or a punchline to jokes or impressions or even responding to Howard or Robin. If you even DARE insult him or call him on something, run he has been known to react VERY strongly to criticism, sensitive issues in his life among other incidents, once Howard looked in his bag and Fred nearly quit the show after an ugly outburst.

* The classic [[Jack Benny]]-[[Mel Blanc]] "Sí, Sy, Sue" routine might fit here, with Blanc's character responding entirely in deadpan monosyllables that are, in context and timing, hilarious.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', a [[Space Marine]] chapter's Honour Guard are said to speak and advise little, as to not undermine the authority of the Captains despite how they are likely even more experienced than them, but this gives their words considerable weight to all of their battle brothers, even the Chapter Master.

** The Dark Angels and their successor chapters are known for this. They rarely speak to anyone outside of the chapter, and in one noticeable instance, the entire Consecrators Chapter deployed ''en masse'' and relieved an [[Redshirt Army|Imperial Guard]] force by fighting for six straight hours and killing the enemy's leader without sending a single transmission to the guard.

 

== Theatre ==

* In the musical ''[[How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying]]'', Miss Jones is the quietest of the secretaries until she lets loose in "Brotherhood Of Man".

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[RPG Shooter Starwish]]'' has [[Samus Is a Girl|Mare]], whose dialogue consists solely of [[Audible Silence|"..."]] {{spoiler|until the post-[["Wake-Up Call" Boss|Earthwall]]-battle cutscene.}}

 

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' [[The Big Guy|Roofus the Robot]] is probably the least talkative castmember, and he's nearly monosyllabic when he does speak. He's also probably the least intelligent of the regular cast (apart from wacky neighbors like Floyd and Heywood), though he comes across as one of the most [[Do Androids Dream?|soulful]] because he is so quiet. "Will I see the sky... when I am off?"

* X of ''[[A Magical Roommate]]'' has never once spoken more than four words or six syllables in a single panel.

* Zz'dtri from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''. Fitting as he is the [[Evil Counterpart]] of [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|Vaarsuvius]].

* Kanryl of ''[[Ears for Elves]]'' fits this, possibly because he spends most of his time with animals.

 

== Web Original ==

* Evek is the most silent of the [[Freelance Astronauts]], but then, given his competition, it's not exactly a hard title to achieve.

* Jennifer O'Connell from [[Behind the Veil]] communicates entirely through written notes, sign-language and text-to-speech programs, but only because of psychological reasons (her parents were killed in a car crash and she was trapped in the car with them for several hours because she had been paralysed for years and couldn't escape herself). She is still capable of speech, and recently began talking to her step-mother, but limits herself to short sentances.

 

== Western Animation ==

** To elaborate, starting with Season 2, he normally only says "Eeyup" or "Nope"... Apart from two times, one in which he switched speaking roles with Applejack, and one where he was under the influence of the a Love Potion.

* Brainy on [[Hey Arnold!]] has only said eight words in all the series: “something”, “I dunno”, “Hi Helga”. “I’ll go with you”. However, it’s because his [[Vader Breath]].

 

== Real Life ==

** He got the name for having the genius idea of ''not discussing his plans in bars where other people could hear them'', not for being laconic.

* Helmuth Count Moltke, who masterminded the Prussian campaign against Austria in 1866 and the German one against France in 1870/71, was known as "der große Schweiger" (the Great Silent).

* Introverts, especially [[Myers-Briggs|IxxPs]], tend to act like this.

* John Deacon of [[Queen]]. When the band was together, he never sang on the albums and only answered questions in interviews if they were specifically directed to him. After Freddie Mercury died, he dropped out of the band and, aside from one single released in 1997, retired from the music business entirely.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Silence Tropes]]

[[Category:Introversion Tropes]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiet One, The}}