The Voiceless: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* 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]]''.

* Keith Gandor of ''[[Baccano!]]'' doesn't speak throughout the entire anime series, despite being a main character and frequently appearing. This is taken to a much larger extreme in the light novel series, which mentions that he has a tendency to go ''years'' without talking.

'''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.}}

* Kirby himself in ''[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya!]]'', which is odd, as the other characters have lots of dialogue.

 

* [[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]]''.

* 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.

 

* Chirp of the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfiction ''[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/6848/Silent-Knight Silent Knight]''. Thus far, [[Word of God]] says his primary purpose it to serve as "a large, human chibi."

 

* 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.

* 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]].

* ''[[Battle Royale]]'': Kiriyama, one of the most psychopathic students in the game, never says a word. The only noise he makes is blowing into a loudspeaker.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[James Bond]]'' movies:

** Oddjob from ''[[Goldfinger]]'', the title character's hulking Korean bodyguard. He can't speak English, so he simply doesn't speak.Not that he needs to in order to get his point across.

* 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''.

** According to Joe Adamson in ''Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers'', the producers of their next-to-last feature, ''A Night in Casablanca'', wanted to give Harpo a single spoken line—a scream of "Murder!"—so they could promote the film with "Harpo Speaks!" Harpo listened to the proposal, thought it through, and shook his head. (However, he did like the proposed tagline enough to use it as the title of his autobiography.)

* 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]]''.

* The demonic nun from ''[[The Conjuring]]'' does roar in a few scenes, but never actually talks.

* In ''[[Us]]'', the only member of the Tethered who talks is Red, who does so with difficulty. Otherwise, they seem not only unable to talk, but don't understand anything victims or intended victims say.

* 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.

* [[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."

* A running joke in John Morgan Wilson's ''Benjamin Justice'' series. Fred, one of Justice's elderly landlords, has virtually no dialogue, beyond the occasional grunt.

* 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.}}

* 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.

* [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]] was this trope for a while after debuting at ''Bad Blood'' in 1997. He helped to cement his role as a silent badass monster. Over the years, he slowly found himself capable of speaking more and more usually during face runs in order to humanize him which eventually culminated years later when he unmasked. First, he started talking with a voice box when he challenged [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] to a First Blood match in 1998. Later, he revealed he could make noise when he let out an animalistic yell over a downed ally (X-Pac... or was it [[Chyna]]? This troper can't remember...) Then, finally, they had Kane speak on his own - and, yes, his words were "suck it."

* Sin Cara, a high-flying masked WWE wrestler, hasn't spoken a word,<ref>Though, a rival wrestler who briefly replaced him (and now wrestles as "Hunico") did speak while assuming the identity.</ref> opting instead to gesture at his opponents, and of course, dazzling the fans with an impressive aerial arsenal.

 

* 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."

* Hawke from ''[[Nintendo Wars|Advance Wars 2 and DS]]'' partially qualifies. Where other Commanding Officers would cheer or lament at a good or bad turn of events for each simulated battle respectively, Hawke would only respond with "...", regardless of whether he suffered a crushing defeat or completely obliterated his opponent.

 

* 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 comic ''Unshelved'', Colleen's adopted daughter Doreen never spoke for years, apparently because she was too little. When Dewey finally wondered about this, he found out she ''had'' been speaking—just [http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20050830 not to him] (and thus not to us, since he's the viewpoint character).

* 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.

* Emm from ''[[The Wisdom Of Moo]]'' is an odd example. She speaks frequently, but ''never'' as herself—she's a ventriloquist who speaks only through her cow hand puppet, the eponymous Moo. Later on, she had to talk when Moo was in the wash, and made her shirt-sleeve into a makeshift sock puppet to do so... {{spoiler|then ran away when she accidentally spoke for herself, rather than through a puppet.}}

* Aylee from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' once became unable to talk {{spoiler|due to having her throat slit by Oasis.}} She got better.

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

* Erma, from ''[[Erma]]'' - in over 250 strips, she's had one speech bubble - and it didn't have any words in it.

 

* 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.

* Neo from ''[[RWBY]]''. The only vocalizations she has made (so far) have been gasps and grunts. In the [[Spin-Off]] comedy series ''[[RWBY Chibi]]'', she goes so far as using [[Talking with Signs|signs]], [[Looney Tunes]]-style, instead of speaking.

 

* 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?

* 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."

** Actually, he ''does'' speak in a deleted scene from "You May Now Kiss the, Uh, Guy Who Receives."

 

 

* 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.

* One author who presents himself this way is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxBoCiB5qHI ItsJustSomeRandomGuy], who does the ''[[I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC]]'' shorts on [[YouTube]].

* 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.

* Mana from Malice Mizer and more recently Moi Dix Mois does this on purpose. During televised interviews he does not speak or emote, keeping a perfectly deadpan expression and opting to whisper his answers into a bandmate's ear so that they can answer for him, although he has been known to use mime and yes/no cards. According to him, this is because his music is his voice. So far he has kept it going for about 15 years with only two mistakes, not counting the time he sung through a distorter at a Malice Mizer live performance.

* 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]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voiceless, The}}