The Voiceless: Difference between revisions

A variant of [[He Who Must Not Be Heard]]. The gag may be extended by having other characters refer to just how talkative this character is -- [[Informed Ability|but that's never seen on screen]]. ("Sorry I'm late, but The Voiceless caught me in the hall, and I couldn't get him to shut up.")

 

 

 

* A series of '80s commercials for Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers featured the fictional Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes. Frank did all the talking for the duo. (See example [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LkWVqYecE here].)

 

* Joe Tetsuma from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]''.

** The irony of this would be that, even with his muteness ramped up to eleven, Keith actually ''does'' get an in-scene line in the first book: {{spoiler|"That guy's an idiot."}}

* Eucliwood from Kore wa Zombie desu ka... words are powerful enough to kill so she doesn't speak (except writing on paper and Ayumu's imagination).

* Kamemon from ''[[Digimon Savers]]'' starts out as this, but the real winners are the two PawnChessmon. They actually have to have Miki and Megumi [[Calling Your Attacks|call their attacks]] and announce their evolution, but Kamemon is just shy. So shy that everyone stares at him in shock when he finally speaks a full sentence, and he retreats into his shell. Which is cute, but the real hilarity is in the finale: Megumi and Miki take the PawnChessmon to sing karaoke... off-screen, of course.

* Zazie Rainyday in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]!'', made humorous by her phone conversation with another character. Somehow Zazie tells everything that is going on in her life with "..." [[Silent Bob|over and over again]], you do see her mouth moving in the panels. This confused the rest of the cast as well.

** {{spoiler|Only up until chapter 294, however}}.

*** {{spoiler|Nope, that's her identical twin sister. However she does talk...inside the ''[[Lotus Eater Machine]]''. Make of that what you will.}}

* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', Ginkotsu speaks very rarely, more often communicating in a grunt (typically written as "gersh"). After several episodes in a row of nothing but grunting, he surprises everyone by speaking in full sentences just before {{spoiler|self-destructing to protect Renkotsu}}.

* Megumi on ''[[Special A]]'' writes on a notepad to communicate in order to protect her singing voice, which as a result is devastatingly powerful. {{spoiler|She does speak a few times, though.}}

* The Captain from ''[[Hellsing]]'' says ''not one word'' throughout the series. His speech bubbles consist entirely of "..."

* In spite of having a voice actor, [[Gundam Seed|Rusty Mackenzie]] doesn't have a single line in the series. ''[[The Typical Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' takes this a step further when he's cloned. If any of his clones so much as ''tries'' to speak, they will die from some contrived fashion ''even'' if all they say is "...".

* In ''[[Black Butler]]'', Lau's favorite [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold|girl]] is this trope in the anime, but in the manga, Ranmao is simply a [[Cute Mute]] [[Ms. Fanservice|whose sole purpose in life seems to be wearing skimpy Chinese garb]], be Lau's lap candy, and please the fanboys who can stand the shounen-ai long enough to read through the series, but aren't into lolis. [[Ensemble Darkhorse|... she needs more screentime, her and Lau]].

* Me-Mania of [[Perfect Blue]]. There are only two scenes in which he has any dialogue at all, and in one of them he's just mumbling to himself.

* Switch from ''[[Sket Dance]]'' never speaks with his real voice. Instead, he uses a (very realistic) speech synthesizer, which he controls from the computer keyboard. Later his [[Backstory]] explains the tragic cause of this unwillingness to speak.

* Muu from [[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]] is a bit of a subversion, in that he's a crow, so he shouldn't be able to speak, but he's also the animal familiar of one of the Beast Knights, and all the other familiars can talk, so why not him? Thus there's some doubt among the characters as to whether Muu conforms to this trope or if he's simply incapable of speech (though he certainly displays human intelligence in other ways.) This is eventually settled when {{spoiler|Muu finally speaks in front of everyone right before he vanishes forever at the end of the war. We also learn from Muu's voice that she was a female all along.}}

* The Baker in ''Kiki's Delivery Service'' has one line in the entire film. "Oi" which is little more than a grunt.

{{quote|'''Spider Shadow''': You don't talk much, do you Flame?

'''Spider Flame''': ...''silence''... }}

* The Child from ''[[Berserk]]''. While he does not speak in his human form {{spoiler|when the body of light appears before Guts - which only appears when the Child is around - when he is on the verge of [[Super-Powered Evil Side|becoming a monster]], it does speak.}}

 

* [[The Inhumans|Black Bolt]]. His merest whisper can [[Make Me Wanna Shout|destroy vast spaceships]], so he uses telepathy and sign language instead. When someone translates for him, however, he proves to have a [[Silent Snarker|very dry wit]].

* Kevin, the especially disturbing silent killer of ''[[Sin City]]''.

** His father Cardinal Roark informs Marv that he only talks to him and that he has a wonderful singing voice.

* Snake-Eyes from ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. In Marvel continuity he was implied to have always been rather taciturn by nature, but on a mission he stayed in a crashing helicopter to save Scarlett and had a fuel line blow a window up right in his face. This led to a great deal of facial scarring and he also accidentally inhaled some burning gasoline, permanently scorching his vocal cords.

** A crossover comic with ''[[Transformers]]'' (one of many, actually), also plays with the second part of the trope, when, before the formation of the group, then-Colonel Hawk calls Snake-Eyes "Chatterbox", and reveals that he made a bet with the other soldiers that Snake-Eyes couldn't stay silent for the entire mission. Then Cobra attacks with brainwashed Autobots and Decepticons, rendering him silent for the rest of his life.

* In ''[[Joker]]'', Harley Quinn of all people is this. She does do some awesome stuff (and [[Of Corsets Sexy|look]] [[Stripperiffic|damn]] [[Fetish Fuel|good]] doing it), though. This might just be because Harley's [[Perky Female Minion|usual characterisation]] wouldn't gel with the comic's atmosphere so well.

 

 

* Taarna, the heroine of the final story of the 1981 movie ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]'', never speaks. Whether she can't or merely won't, however, is never explained.

** Strangely, this actually makes her the most interesting character in the movie.

** Also, the thief was silent throughout the original version. The only time he makes any vocalization is when he fakes getting his hands chopped off. Later versions had him speak, though.

* Spike from ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' is voiceless, only speaking in squawks and grunts. The only instants he speaks are when his sister falls down a ledge ("[[Say My Name|DUCKY!]]") and when he breaks through thin ice ("[[I Want My Mommy|MOM!]]") Justified because he's a baby, and adult Stegosaurs in the films are shown to be perfectly capable of speech.

* ''[[Dumbo]]'' as well. Also justified because of his young age.

* In ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'' although she was plenty talkative as a child, Ellie is never heard speaking once as an adult in the montage ([[No Dialogue Episode|though neither is anyone else]]).

* In ''[[Tangled]]'', the King and Queen do not speak. Despite this, they have three of the most emotionally charged and tearjerking scenes in the movie, which says a lot about the quality of the animation.

** In the special ''Tangled Ever After'', the Queen gets a single line in an [[Imagine Spot]].

* ''[[The Blind Side]]'': Michael, due to his [[Dark and Troubled Past]], when he first arrives at his new private religious school. He eventually opens up and starts talking after the Tuohys begin helping him.

* The Thin Man, played by Crispin Glover, in the ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' films.

* ''[[The View Askewniverse]]''/''New Jersey Trilogy'' movies by Kevin Smith

*** In ''[[Chasing Amy]]'' he starts gearing up for his speech when Jay gripes that, oh look, Bob's opening his mouth, motherfucker thinks that just because he never says anything that one time he motherfucking says something he thinks it's so motherfucking profound. Bob points out that he at least has a leg up on Jay, who talks all the time and yet has never said anything remotely meaningful.

** God, in ''Dogma'', since living humans would die instantly if they ever heard her speak out loud; the Metatron has to speak for her.

** Cotton, one of Jack's crew members, also never speaks, since his tongue was cut out. He speaks through his parrot instead (which isn't a very good speaker).

* Dwayne of ''Little Miss Sunshine'', begins the film as this because he's taken a vow of silence until he can join the Air Force Academy. However, he begins speaking regularly after {{spoiler|finding out he's color-blind and thus can't become a pilot}}. His first word is a very loud [[Precision F-Strike|"FUCK!"]]

* Colby (Lee Van Cleef) from ''[[High Noon]]'', seems to speak at the beginning, but has no lines beyond a few harmonica tunes.

** Not to be confused with Charles Bronson's similarly harmonica-bound character in ''Once Upon A Time In The West'', who was more [[The Quiet One]].

* Harpo of the [[Marx Brothers]] built his professional persona around pantomime. As a youth, his Uncle Al wrote him a vaudeville part that was silent, but Harpo insisted on ad-libbing some lines. Afterwards, he read a review that said his excellent pantomime was spoiled once he started talking. Thereafter, he never spoke in a performance again, and very rarely allowed his voice to be recorded. However, he does audibly sneeze in ''At the Circus'' and might be harmonizing "Sweet Adeline" with his brothers in ''Monkey Business''.

* Stanley, the title character in [[Jerry Lewis]]' ''The Bell Boy'', doesn't say a word until the very end of the film (although Lewis, in a dual role, also appears as himself and speaks while doing so).

* Lane's super-genius kid brother Badger in ''[[Better Off Dead]]'' never says a word on-screen, which doesn't seem to keep him from picking up trashy women. There's also a young Asian immigrant who never speaks because he doesn't know any English - although his brother does, and talks like Howard Cosell, thanks to repeated viewings of ''[[Wide World of Sports]]''.

* [[Implacable Man|Kroenen]] in ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'', on account of removing his lips, among other things. His character is completely different in the [[Comic Book]] and can speak quite well.

* Vega in the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' movie; he only speaks with his mask on or off screen. In the games, he can indeed talk whenever he wants. This sparked a rumour that the actor who played him couldn't speak English or was mute.

* Tiny never speaks in either ''House Of 1000 Corpses'' or ''The Devil's Rejects''. This may be due to the fact that he's completely covered in burn scars and can't hear very well.

* Nishi (played by Kitano Takeshi) in ''[[Hana-bi]]''.

* One of the comedy writers in ''My Favorite Year'' says nothing up until the film scene, when he finally blurts out, "Oh God, this makes me happy!"

* In the Scottish comedy ''Gregory's Girl'', the character of Charlie doesn't speak until the final scene, when he point out that the capital of Venezuela is misspelled.

* ''[[The Golden Child]]'', as a Buddhist [[The Messiah|Messiah]] figure, never speaks until the very end, after he's been rescued.

* Mitch in ''Waiting'', for the most part. Every time he is asked a question or tries to speak, he is somehow interrupted within the first two words of his response. Averted {{spoiler|in the end when he goes on a tirade at the end during the party}}.

* Everyone assumes the title character in ''What the Deaf Man Heard'' is a deaf-mute, until {{spoiler|he appears as a witness in a court case.}}

* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]'': Anna has never spoken after her torture by the Germans. {{spoiler|But that's all a lie, since she's actually [[The Mole]].}}

* In ''[[Scrooged]],'' the son of the TV executive's African-American assistant hasn't spoken since his father (her husband) was murdered a couple years back. Until the end with the TV executive, where he speaks: "God bless us every one."

* Inverted in [[Mel Brooks]]'s ''[[Silent Movie (film)|Silent Movie]]'': the only one who says anything is Marcel Marceau, the French mime, who gives an enthusiastic, "Non!" to appearing in the film.

* Riptide (Janos Quested) from ''[[X-Men: First Class]]'' never speaks.

* Laddie, the youngest of the vampires from ''[[The Lost Boys]]'', doesn't speak until the very end, when he bursts out with Star's name in his excitement over having become human again. He does snarl at the Frog brothers prior to this, but it's inarticulate growling, not words.

** An early version of ''H20'' also had Michael speak. Right before Laurie kills him with a javelin, he would've said her name.

* Similarly Jason Voorhees of ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13 th]]'' never spoke except as a child in the flashbacks and in the earlier films before he became a zombie he would occasionally grunt and scream.

* Mini-Me Dr. Evil's clone from the [[Austin Powers]] series, the only things he ever says are "Me or Eee" and during Dr. Evil's music video he says "You and I" in a deep voice.

* Vulnavia, [[The Dragon]] to the [[Villain Protagonist]] in ''[[The Abominable Dr. Phibes]]''. Offscreen, she apparently ''can'' speak, although she is [[The Quiet One]]. Onscreen, her only utterance is {{spoiler|a scream of agony as she is doused with [[Hollywood Acid]]}}.

* [[Repo! The Genetic Opera|Repo the Genetica Opera]] has two identical characters who speak one line in the entire film. Justified as they're the silent, [[Lovely Angels|badass]] bodyguards of Rotti Largo.

* ''[[The Artist]]'', the almost-but-not-quite "silent film", features an interesting twist on this trope. It is mostly a silent film where we can't hear characters speak except in inter-titles. However, in a dream sequence, we find that suddenly the world has sound (which we can hear), except that our hero finds he cannot speak, despite trying to. At the very end of the film he speaks, audibly, for the first time - indicating that {{spoiler|he has now accepted the inevitability of people talking in movies}}. We are also surprised by {{spoiler|the fact he has a strong French accent}}, which may explain earlier reluctance to appear in talkies.

 

* Inkie from ''[[The Seventh Tower]]''.

* In John Scalzi's ''Old Man's War'' Maggie is an example, though at one point after she speaks and is looked at oddly, she comments "What? I'm just quiet, not mute."

* In ''The Chronicles of the Black Company'', one of the company wizards (called [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Silent]]) is quite the embodiment of this trope.

* In ''The Dragonslayer's Apprentice'', the dragonslayer's assistant Ron is like this; he says little, if anything, and has mastered the art of nonverbal communication. He says so little that when the titular apprentice fills her boss in on the details of a celebration he got a little too drunk at, a big deal is made of Ron commenting that he likes the sausages.

** Lirael rarely talks to any of the Clayr after becoming a librarian. She does, however, talk to the Dog.

* Adah Price in [[The Poisonwood Bible]] communicates almost entirely by writing notes. After she {{spoiler|goes to college alone}}, she's pretty much forced to talk and starts acting more normally, much to Rachel's surprise.

* The only sounds Rip the Coyote from the ''[[Hank the Cowdog]]'' series makes are grunts of affirmation ("Uh") or negation ("Uh-uh").

* John [[The Tomorrow Series|Marsden]]'s ''So Much To Tell You'' is written as a diary by a girl called Marina. Before the book starts, she was horribly disfigured when her father threw acid in her face (while aiming for his wife). She hasn't spoken since, and does not break her silence until the final chapter when she visits her father in prison and announces that she has "[[Title Drop|So much to tell [him]]]."

* ''[[Harry Potter]]'': [[Those Two Bad Guys|Crabbe and Goyle]], until the last book.

* In ''[[Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close]],'' Oskar's grandfather slowly loses his ability to speak after {{spoiler|Anna's death.}} He resorts to writing everything in journals and even tattoos "Yes" on one hand and "No" on the other.

* In ''[[Dragaera|Tiassa]]'', Khaarven's servant Borteliff is widely assumed to be mute. He ''can'' talk, he's just found that silence in a servant is so prized by his employers that he'll go for a year or more without saying a word.

 

* Played for laughs in one episode of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' at season 2 where Sheldon ended up with laryngitis. As a result, he has to communicate with a laptop and does gestures while it talks to what he is typing at.

* In season 5 of ''Canada's Worst Handyman'', Matt's nominator Silent Keith fully lives up to his nickname, never saying a word or making a sound. {{spoiler|The one time he speaks is in the 2nd-to-last episode, when spoken to about not speaking.}}

** Maihar'du, the Grand Nagus's servant, is said never to speak except to his master. The only time his voice is heard in the series, it's not actually him but a wormhole alien using his likeness.

** In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Mr. Homn, Lwaxana's valet, never speaks until the end of his first appearance, surprising everyone when he gives his one line. He would never speak again.

*** Except they do communicate. All the characters can understand them just fine. [[The Unintelligible|It's just the audience that can't.]]

* Clarabell the Clown on ''[[The Howdy Doody Show]]'' (who did speak in the final episode).

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p68gWKNers "Goodbye, kids"]

** Also [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in one of the books, in which Bill is specifically handed a chance to ramble on... at length... about whatever he finds interesting... and we discover that it's probably just as well that we never actually hear him speak.

* Rajesh from ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' never speaks around girls, except when he's drunk (slipped up in one episode, though, prompting him to cover up his mouth).

* The enigmatic racing driver known as The Stig on the British car show ''[[Top Gear]]'' has only been seen to speak once in an interview, although he didn't say much else other than confirming that his name is The Stig. He is always wearing the same coveralls and helmet, which when added to his muteness suggest that more than one man may be playing the role.

** There have been two Stigs on ''Top Gear'': "The Black Stig" and "The White Stig" (named for the colors of the racing overalls and helmets that they wore). The Black Stig has been revealed to be British F1 driver Perry McCarthy, although McCarthy has stated that more than one driver has played the role of The Stig. To date, the identity of The White Stig hasn't been revealed. [[wikipedia:The Stig|The Other Wiki has an article on The Stig]].

** The White Stig was briefly revealed to be {{spoiler|F1 legend Michael Schumacher}} but the BBC swears {{spoiler|this was just a joke, presumably because the car being tested was the Ferrari FXX.}}

* The Haitian during most of the 1st season ("volume 1") of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. Many characters ''still'' believe he's incapable of speech.

* Brad, the ubiquitous piano player, on ''[[Glee]]''.

* ''[[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]]'' had gunfighter Utah Johnny Montana (he's from Idaho) who can't speak due to having been shot in the throat, and has a sidekick who does all his talking for him.

** Noted in one episode; When Lexi disguises herself in a cheap replica of Wacky's costume, and starts asking why the rest of the cheerleaders seem to hate her, one of them notes that Wacky never speaks.

* Jake Bohm from ''[[Touch (TV series)|Touch]]'', whose voice is only heard during the opening narration of each episode (except when he screams).

* On an episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'' set in a town full of sideshow performers, the heavily-tattooed Conundrum doesn't say anything until the very end, when he breaks his silence to deliver a lame punch-line.

 

* "The Shooter" Dean Malenko in the original ECW NEVER spoke, usually having a mouthpiece (Jason, Shane Douglas). At times this was played up in promos, such as when Douglas noted that Malenko was very happy after winning a title, and for his victory speech... he said nothing (even as Douglas held the microphone to his mouth). Of course, this made it an even bigger event after Dean's and [[Eddie Guerrero]]'s last match in ECW when he asked for the mike and gave a farewell speech.

** [[TNA]] later repeated the basic [[Suddenly Voiced]] gimmick with Abyss.

* Countless "evil foreigners", mostly of the Samoan or jungle variety (Wild Samoans, Kamala, Abdullah the Butcher, et al). Save for the occasional primal moaning, of course.

** Vladimir Kozlov passed through a fascinating progression of this. He started out never speaking at all (which was also emphasized by his ring entrance, which featured no music or sound). Eventually he got a musical theme and began speaking, but he could only say things in Russian with the occasional English phrase. Now he speaks in English (with a Russian accent) pretty much exclusively, but still doesn't talk all that much.

** Except now he's able to talk, thanks to a wish from Santa (yes, really).

 

* Slann Mage-Priests from ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' qualify. Usually, they're too busy contemplating to speak, and only one has ever said anything. His words? "Attend to the gates!"

** [[Word of God]] is that they do talk on occasion, but it's always in short blurbs. Then the Skink Priests take forever to figure out what they meant. (They've fought the High Elves for centuries because when a Slann first met some, he said, "They should not be here", and the Lizardmen took it as a genocide order... while he could have just as easily meant "Send them back to Ulthuan".)

** The [[Praetorian Guard|Phoenix Guard]] of the High Elves take a binding vow of silence.

 

* Paris in ''[[The Golden Apple]]''.

* Figaro in [[PDQ Bach]]'s ''The Abduction of Figaro''.

 

* The Zoq-Fot-Pik from ''[[Star Control]] II'' are a trio of aliens (one green and vaguely plantlike, one blue and cylindrical, and one red and spherical) who evolved together, and always come in groups of one each. The red one never seems to say anything, though.

** In fact, one of the dialogue options when meeting them is "Doesn't that guy behind you say anything?", to which the other two reply "Nope," and "Not a word."

* Link is one example. Other than the random grunts and yells, he never utters any words. The tradition is broken in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', when Link occasionally yells "C'mon!", but that's it.

** ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'': "I found a mirror under the table," though this is probably just his thought.

** [[The Legend of Zelda CDI Games|There's three good reasons for why]] [[The Legend of Zelda (animation)|Link doesn't speak a lot nowadays.]]

** An quick elaboration here is that while he ''does'' speak in the actual game, fanon explains his silent nature as when he actually does speak, something especially horrible will happen.

* Len of ''[[Tsukihime]]'' basically never says anything but "[[Visible Silence|.............]]" in official material. She's still somehow able to communicate, presumably just by showing her emotions really, really well. (Shiki, for one, seems able to pull full sentences just from reading her facial expressions.)

* Gordon Freeman from ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half Life]]''. Lampshaded in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' when another character comments "Strong silent type eh?"

* The player character from ''[[Saints Row]]'' never speaks during gameplay. He has exactly 4 lines in the game, each spoken during the final cutscene of a chapter. Subverted in the sequel, where he drops the mute act, and becomes a loudmouth nut.

* This describes many [[Heroic Mime|old school RPG protagonists the player controls]]. Even when you can choose things to say for them in certain conversations, you'll never hear the character's own dialogue. Take your pick: [[Chrono Trigger|Crono]], [[Legend of Legaia|Vahn]], [[Pokémon|Red (or really any Pokemon protagonist)]], [[Quest 64|Brian]], [[Dark Cloud|Toan]]... even [[Super Mario RPG|Mario]], [[Silent Bob|who often resorts to expressive pantomime in order to communicate]].

* In ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'', this is played straight with Isaac. He [[Suddenly Voiced|can talk]] in the sequel, though.

* Isaku, the main antagonist and [[Character Title|title character]] of the ''Isaku'' [[Survival Horror]] games and its anime adaptions, doesn't speak. He only communicates to the protagonist through notes narrated by someone else and videotapes of [[Is That What They're Calling It Now?|his deeds]].

* Isaac in the first ''[[Golden Sun]]'' game is a [[Heroic Mime]], and Felix takes over the role in ''[[Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age''. In ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'', Isaac's son Matthew doesn't get any written lines, but it's implied that he speaks anyway; sometimes you'll be prompted to elucidate an emotional response to a remark, and if you choose "angry" in the right spot, Karis will remark, "Wow! Graphic!"

 

* The Poopsmith in ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', who has taken a vow of silence (for no explained reason).

** {{spoiler|He broke his apparent vow of silence to sing the intro to [http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemailtwohundred.html Strong Bad Email #200].}}

* Whenever [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] shows up in ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]'', he says nothing except the grunting from Charles Martinet.

 

* Nate from ''[[Bob and George]]'' actually cannot talk at all, save for the line "Behind you, doofus", back when he was just a Yellow Demon (and presumably before the author decided on that character quirk), and when they were all in a computer. He communicates with [[Talking with Signs|signs that come out of nowhere]], so it doesn't really matter.

* In ''[[The Wotch]],'' when Jason/Sonja is turned into a child along with Anne and Robin, s/he never talks, instead communicating with thought bubbles (with pictures, not words.) Communication is accomplished by whispering (and we get graphical speech bubbles.) Gets one line at the end of the story, but it's not treated as a dramatic "Wow! S/he can talk!" moment, so it's possibly an oversight.

* Buddha is one of these in ''[[Sinfest]]'', serving as a comparison for the in-your-face Devil and the [[Deadpan Snarker]]/[[Cloudcuckoolander]] God.

* Scut from ''[[Gnoph]]'' never says anything apart from 'Kyuu!' and 'Ki!' (or variants thereof) except for one line, which was 'I'm sorry.'

* The ''[[Touhou]]'' 4koma series [http://danbooru.donmai.us/pool/show/1740 Journal] (warning: link leads to Danbooru, and thus may be NSFW, although the series itself is fine) involves several silent characters, most noticeably the main character Hakurei Reimu. As more silent characters are introduced later on, it seems that {{spoiler|they are able to perfectly communicate with one another without words}}, often baffling those around them.

* Stumps from ''[[Beyond the Canopy]]''.

* In ''[[Wake the Sleepers]]'', Ren appears as this until the end of the chapter.

* In ''[[Question Duck]]'', all the humans about the duck. Partly, perhaps, because of the difficulty of answering its off-the-wall questions. Except for #100 and #200.

* ''[[Bittersweet Candy Bowl]]'' has Amaya.

 

* Lucy in ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'', to sinister effect. She finally got a line in the late season 3 story "Prom: It's To Die For", although some fans were too busy reeling from the [[Wham! Episode]] to notice.

* The Watcher in ''[[Kate Modern]]'', who appears frequently but never gets a line. Mostly, he just... [[Mysterious Watcher|watches]]. Silently.

* Menelaos in ''[[Greek Ninja]]'' a lot of the time due to his limited knowledge of English.

* The Ninja-Style Dancer on ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall]]'' only communicates with cue cards. {{spoiler|Except in the Silent Hill: Dead/Alive review, but that was a hallucination.}}

 

* Grown-up Maggie, in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Lisa's Wedding". Every time she is about to speak she is interrupted. (And just to rub it in, Dr. Hibbert comments, "Heh heh, she's quite a hellion but she does have an incredible voice." And in another scene, Homer mutters to himself "Doesn't that girl ever shut up?") In fact, the only words Maggie has said at all (barring "Treehouse of Horror" shorts, hallucinations, and [[The Movie]]) is "Daddy" (and, after the credits in the movie, {{spoiler|"[[Sequel Hook|Sequel]]?"}}, as well as the 20th season finale, where she repeatedly says "Ya" after [[Ambiguously Jewish|the ambiguously Norwegian]] Ogdenvillians migrate to Springfield).

** In another episode set in the future, "Holidays of Future Past", Maggie is now a famous rock star, but is instructed not to speak while pregnant, as it turns out that "the umbilical cord is also a vocal cord".

'''Silent Bob:''' Word. }}

* Furball from ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' usually only spoke through meows, but there were two episodes in which he talked. In "Buster and the Wolverine", after Sweetie is eaten by the wolverine, he comments on how he wanted to be the one to eat her. And in a ''Star Trek'' parody, he played the role of Spock.

* [[Chilly Willy]] the Penguin from the [[Walter Lantz]] company almost never spoke; there are only a small handful of cartoons in which he actually speaks.

** Then who is that singing his (first-person) theme song?

* Hisomi, of the Ninja Tribunal in ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003), is one of these, due to his role as the Ninja Master of Stealth.

* Jericho, a last-minute inductee of the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' cartoon, has no voice of his own. His power of [[Body Surf|possession]] allows him to use the voice of whomever he chooses to overshadow.

** Also Kyd Wykkyd, a member of the HIVE Five.

* Shelby Bitterman of ''[[Baby Blues]]'' never speaks aside from the occasional grunt or sneeze.

* Hobie Brown in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' is always interrupted before he says anything, though he does eventually {{spoiler|get to deliver a monologue from Shakespeare.}}

** The series also has Mrs. Osborn who never speaks and only sits glumly. Norman Osborn isn't the greatest husband and father.

** Not all the time.

* Debbie Grund, Buck Strickland's secretary and mistress from ''[[King of the Hill]]'' was silent until the episode "Hanky Panky" she is also killed off in that same episode.

** The Firefighter "Beef" from "A Firefighting We Will Go" never speaks once but he does laugh plenty.

* [[Transformers Prime]] Soundwave combines this with [[The Blank]] to creepy effect. [[Word of God]] says he does have a voice, but chooses not to use it since coming to Earth. Instead, he "talks" through recordings of others [[Deadpan Snarker|(and it's usually something snarky)]].

* Ricardo, Jasper's boyfriend in ''[[Family Guy]]'' only appeared twice in the series and in both episodes, he never speaks. This is handwaved by Japser, saying that "Ricardo doesn't speak any English."

 

 

* In fact, a decent number of people (about 1 in 150 children, the same ratio as autism, and much fewer adults) have an anxiety disorder called selective mutism. As it sounds, this makes them mute in certain situations, usually because of extreme anxiety about social situations or communication, though occasionally for no apparent reason. The manifestations can be quite odd, from being able to speak to only one person in one situation to being able to speak anywhere but school to speaking to anyone but a teacher, while using gestures, written words, non-word noises, and/or whispers or not communicating in no-speak situations.

* Some autistic individuals themselves have what's known as nonverbal autism. Some have mental impairments that prevent speech but others have all the capabilities for speech, it's imply that other facets of the autism make it difficult to verbalize. It is essentially a form of selective mutism, but autistim-related rather than the above disorder. This can sometimes lead to others believing them mentally impared or incapable, but when they are given assistive devices, usually computer equipment, they can learn to communicate quite well. Others simply use pen and paper writing to communicate.

* Lucius Sergius Catilina (or "Catiline"), the guy who almost destroyed the Roman republic in 64 BC doesn't have dialogue in ANY historical writings. His speeches are mentioned and he is occasionally quoted, but nobody has any idea what his own voice sounds like. All we've got are people talking about him, such as Sallust and Cicero.

** Can also be used as an example of the "Voiceless Chatterbox", since Sallust describes a moment in the senate where he tries to defend himself against Cicero's verbal onslaught, but he's drowned out by the shouts of everyone else present.

* Indian mystic and spiritual leader Meher Baba stopped speaking in 1925, at the age of 31, and until his death in 1969, he only communicated by an alphabet board and hand gestures.

* Teller, of [[Penn & Teller]], in their various shows and specials, and even their appearance on ''[[Babylon 5]]'', with the sole exception being the end of ''[[Penn and Teller Get Killed]]''. Teller also spoke on camera for a television series on magic, though he kept his [[The Faceless|his face completely obscured]]. Teller talks openly off camera, such as while meeting fans after live performances, and in non-performance contexts such as radio interviews, lectures, and panel discussions like at The Amazing Meeting.

** A notable exception to this can be found in the Egypt episode of ''Penn & Teller's Magic And Mystery Tour''. Teller speaks quite frequently there, on camera and in full view.

** On his radio show, Penn Jillette revealed that Teller talks during every live show at least once, but it has to be a gimmick. Examples include arguing with Penn off-mic, speaking as an animatronic dummy of himself, or narrating his magic act aloud while an industrial wood chipper is drowning him out.

** The wood chipper example illustrates that Teller's silent act is a subversion of the typical magician's trope of stating the obvious throughout one's act: "I'm putting these needles on a thread, and I'm going to swallow them now..." Earlier in his career, it also made his act heckle-resistant, which was important when he was performing alone at frat parties. He later teamed up with Penn, who could simply shout over any crowd noise, but stayed silent so that they could maintain the integrity of their separate acts.

* Dane Cook mentioned this trope (and the "speaking for one dramatic moment") in one of his jokes about action movies. He says that every team in an action movie has the one guy who "never says anything, he just stands there. And he never talks, ever, except for like, ''one'' scene near the end where he says 'Let's go kill those bitches.'"

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Silence Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Television]]