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Voice of the Legion: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"[Black Mage] has got some sort of screaming demon background noise reverb thing going on with his voice. I think he just wants attention."''|'''Fighter''', ''[[8-Bit Theater
Evil characters get a lot in the way of cool toys, [[Bad Powers, Bad People|powers]], and even [[Spikes of Villainy|wardrobe]] [[Evil Costume Switch|options]], but one of the coolest additions a sufficiently evil and powerful character gets is being able to speak with the Voice of the Legion.
The character's voice gains a reverberating [[Power Echoes|Echo]], sometimes a completely different voice(s) speaking in tandem and just ''slightly'' out of sync. Their voice will often [[Power Makes Your Voice Deep|drop an octave]] and become [[Evil Sounds Deep|deeper]], though even a falsetto can become jarringly creepy with the reverb alone.
The cause can be anything from channeling spirits, a [[Freaky Friday Flip]] situation, [[Demonic Possession]], or an [[Eldritch Abomination]] (or its servants) deigning to [[Aliens Speaking English|speak in English]] rather than the [[Black Speech]], except their accent bleeds through (like blood from the throats of so many virgin sacrifices) and makes the English they speak in sound positively scary and nightmarish. This is distinct from the [[Creepy Monotone]] in that the character may not speak in a monotone, but the voice ''itself'' is creepy.
Heroes or good characters ''can'' use this power, [[Dark Is Not Evil]] after all, and the possessing/channeled spirits might not be evil. Often, a good character will get this from performing a [[Fusion Dance]] with another good one, rather than a [[Demonic Possession]]. [[God|Gods]], especially the Abrahamic one, are often portrayed with such voices too. Either way, this character is not to be trifled with.
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* The original ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' had Baron Ashura, who would speak in a female voice when only its female half was visible, a male voice from the other side, and both at once when both sides of its face were visible.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]: Brotherhood'', there's The Truth, Hulk!Envy, Pride, and Father toward the end of the series.
* In the late ''[[Ranma ½|[[Ranma
* The Visored from ''[[Bleach]]'' talk like this when using their Hollow mask. Ichigo's own [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Inner Hollow]] talks like this regularly as well. Baraggan Luisenbarn also acquired this after his release.
* [[The Slayers|The Lord of Nightmares]].
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* In ''[[Transformers Energon]]'', the Alpha Quintesson's fifth, unseen "true face." {{spoiler|It sounds like many voices talking at once because it is -- "the voice of all those lost" when Unicron made a meal of his solar system.}}
* When [[Claymore|Claymores]] begin to [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Awaken]] they start to speak like this. Yoma and Awakened Beings speak with an Evil Echo whenever they're not disguised as humans.
* One of a the first of a series of horror stories stories from the manga "Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi" had the main character, Ootsuka Kaho, and her three friends receive a cursed text message. When two of her friends suddenly disappear, Ootsuka begin to panic fearing she will be next, but is calmed by her remaining friend, Maaya, who reassures her that the other two will be found eventually. When Ootsuka, though her texts, finds Maaya on the roof, she notices her talking in a completely different voice, which then become many voices. In a [[Twist Ending]], it's revealed that it was Maaya who was sending her the cursed texts. Her negative emotions were absorbed and amplified by malevolent spirits, covering her body in misshapen faces, including Ootsuka's two missing friends who were jealous of Ootsuka's relationship with a popular boy they were attracted to.
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* Played straight in a written fanfiction no less. [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4695538/1/Angel_of_Massacre Samael/The Boy in the Theater] speaks in an alternating Bold and Italic accent. [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1053449/Numbnut10 The Author] has complained about the difficulty involved.
* B-3-K, of ''[[Yukari Is Free]].'' Portrayed in written form via different colors of text.
* In the [[My Little Pony]]: [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Friendship Is Magic]] / [[Doctor Who]] Crossover [[Time Lords and Terror]], the G1 villain known as the Smooze is [[Darker and Grittier|reimagined]] as [[Adaptational Badass|The]] [[Eldritch Abomination|S’Müz]], a being so infused with unreality that its voice is described as
{{quote|''a billion different voices in a billion different tones, a low flanging and echo present in it's ominous timbre.''}}
** This is represented via text with bold italicized block capital letters colored red.
* In ''[[Halo Combat Deformed]]'', the Master Chief speaks in a deep, satanic rumble whenever he gets very angry.
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** He even says the line "[[I Am Legion]], for we are many!"
** Blackheart also has the [[Voice of the Legion]] before he gains the thousand evil souls; however, he originally only has the reverberating echo effect on his voice. It is not until the end of the film that this effect is enhanced, first used with the additional emphasis when he says the line above.
* [[Hamlet]]'s father, in [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s movie, has a Darth Vader rasp, a deep voice, and there's a mike (not shown, but you can hear it) inside his helmet. Possibly done to show just how scary [[Shakespeare]] meant it to be when Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost.
* [[Peter Jackson]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'':
** "In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me, and despair!" This scene is almost [[Large Ham]] levels of [[Narm]] in the movie.
** And don't forget Gandalf's voice overlaid with Saruman's in the second film, purely for the purpose of confusing the viewer as to which character is speaking (as his face is obscured). Both the overlayed voices imitate each other's style of speech for extra confusion.
** When Gandalf speaks the Ring verse in Rivendell, which is only seen in the extended cut of the film, but present in the book.
** The Mouth of Sauron from the extended version of ''Return of the King''. As the envoy for the undisputed lord of Darkness across all of Middle-Earth, the Voice of Sauron's actual voice is six kinds of creepy -- a hammy Russian accent, turned up to 11 and distorted considerably.
* In ''[[Howard the Duck (film)|Howard the Duck]]'', Dr. Jenning often has this sort of voice after the Dark Overlord possesses him (especially when he and the main characters are conversing at the truck stop).
* [[David Lynch]], in his film version of ''[[Dune]]'', depicts the Voice used by the Bene Gesserit to control minds in this way. It gets especially creepy when Alia does it, being not yet 7 years old at the time.
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** The voice of the [[Big Bad]] in ''The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'', like the Auditors', goes directly into the mind without entering the ears:
{{quote|It was all hisses, and it slid into the mind like a knife. }}
*** Death's voice is often described as going to the brain while skipping the ears completely. The Auditors don't do even that. You just suddenly remember that something was said moments ago.
** In ''Sourcery'', the Archchancellor's Hat plays this trope straight, which is appropriate for something that derives its intelligence from its hundreds of previous wearers.
* In Dennis L. McKiernan's ''Mithgar'' series, all necromancers must deal with this when trying to find out information. Nothing is hidden from the dead, but whenever a corpse is raised hundreds of spirits try to speak through it, and only a necromancer's intimidating power can force the voice he wants to speak just ever so much more loudly. [[Nightmare Fuel|Considering]] [[Body Horror|what most]] [[Complete Monster|necromancers]] [[Cold-Blooded Torture|are like]], this is hardly a surprise.
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* Xel'lotath in ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' has two voices with apparently different personalities. Its Greater Guardian has a standard Voice of the Legion.
* The Dormin in ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' speak with a male and female voice. Even in [[Speaking Simlish|Simlish]], it's creepy.
* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star
* ''[[System Shock]]'''s SHODAN starts alternating between thousands of distinct voices after being hacked to remove her [[AI Is a Crapshoot|morality controls]]. Her distorted voice, which also stutters, slows or speeds up, and has a lot of background noise, is actually meant to mimic a malfunctioning sound card.
** See also: The Many from ''System Shock 2'' who has three voice actors. A variation, as each voice speaks distinctly and separately, but with identical tempo and diction.
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*** With her inconsistent diction, she can alternate between [[Evil Sounds Deep]] and its inversion for equal menace, especially when all her distinct voices join in the same pitch change simultaneously.
* Viktoria of ''[[Thief the Dark Project]]'' and ''Metal Age'', played by SHODAN's voice actress, also drifted in and out of [[Voice of the Legion]] when revealing her true form. Sounds different from SHODAN's version, though.
* Death knights in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' have this as a selectable option in the game's sound menu.
** Thaddius, one of the main bosses in Naxxramas, also has such a voice. If you listen carefully, you can hear a female voice when he speaks.
*** This is entirely justified as Thaddius is "[[Nightmare Fuel|built from the flesh of women and children, it is said that their souls are fused together -- eternally bound within that foul prison of flesh.]]" Upon killing him, they say "Thank... you..."
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** The Protoss in general, including the regular Archon.
** And the Zerg Overmind. The Terran hero units also get a bit of it if they've been infested.
** Samir Duran, who already had the [[Voice of the Legion]] when he posed as an infested terran in Kerrigan's service, cranked it [[Up to Eleven]] when he met Zeratul on the Dark Moon.
* The Collective in ''[[Warzone 2100]]'' address the player and their own units in a menacing, reverb-laden voice. {{smallcaps| "Warriors of the Collective, attack! Attack and destroy all who resist the machine!!"}}
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' plays this trope completely straight with {{spoiler|Sovereign, the game's [[Big Bad]]}}. For bonus points it even says that "we are legion" at one point.
** ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' has Harbinger, who attains this when possessing other collectors.
** The hanar, which communicate with bioluminescence, but the [[Translator Microbes]] give them a "forward echo" effect to their speech.
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* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':
** Riku gets to do this in ''[[Kingdom Hearts (video game)|Kingdom Hearts]]'' after {{spoiler|allowing Ansem to take partial possession of him}}. Their voices speak in a creepy-yet-awesome as hell unison for the next few scenes, until Riku starts to disagree with some of the decisions they're making and tries to reassert his own will.
** In ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
** And in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' when Ven is possessed {{spoiler|by Vanitas. [[Jesse McCartney]]'s and Haley Joel Osment's voice qualities are similar enough that their voices mesh a little ''[[Nightmare Fuel|too]]'' well.}}
* Algol and Nightmare in ''[[Soul Series|Soul Calibur IV]]''.
** In Soul Calibur V, there is an option to add varying levels of this to custom characters. It is referred to in-game as "malfestation".
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** Some of the dragons, especially the corrupted black dragon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHnWLcQjOGA Deathwing].
** The H.P. Lovecraft inspired old gods [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLCE18C6fKQ C'thun] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_n1An8buCQ Yogg-Saron] (who can also impersonate other voices, such as the voice of his female mortal form, Sara).
** The Lich King himself (speaks with the voices of Arthas and Ner'zhul when the minds join together in the beginning, but then reverts to the old-fashioned type by the arrival of the next game).
** Arthas undead Nerubian servant [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp-XGu1M9M4 Anub'arak].
** The arch lich [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE2RZpLRFr0 Kel'Thuzad].
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1FvVwvaQtE Ashbringer] (which happens to be a weapon corrupted along with its wielder by the Lich King's influence). In addition, while it speaks the voice of the Lich King can be heard, but is more difficult to discern what is being said. However, in the final clip both voices are united in saying "Kill... them... all!" Creepy.
** Most demons, and a lot of the eredar.
** All the elementals, servants of the Old Gods, with special mention to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEel80FvkXg Ragnaros] the lord of the fire elementals. Including the new [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsAMs9wlsq8 Neutral Fire Lord] hero.
** The construct of Chaos, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFNWbGaxOM Setesh] and Earthrager [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtRo67iIMDg Ptah].
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* The Sidera in ''[[Earthsong]]'' get big [[Speech Bubbles]] with multicoloured, multifonted speech all saying the same words, which tend to be few. They are the [[Hive Mind|collective consciousness]] [[Genius Loci|of the stars.]]
* Possibly the case in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'': in chapter 7, Robot's regular speech-bubble effect (pointed and white) is covered up by a round, purple speech bubble. This is Annie's first clue that he is [[Not Himself]].
* ''[[8-Bit Theater
** Presumably applies to {{spoiler|Sarda}} as well.
* The Xul'kgmarhin aliens from [[The FAN]] have no word bubbles, and their lines switch between red and green to create the impression that they use two distinct voices that speak in tandem.
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* This effect is pretty much the whole point of a minor [[YouTube]] fad called "[[Nightmare Fuel|Extra Scary]]", where the video is placed in a weird colour scheme and the voice track has several pitches playing in equal widths apart in a voice-of-the-legion-esque style.
* In the ''[[Dragonball Z Abridged]]'' version of ''Lord Slug'', Goku develops a Legion-esque voice when he goes pseudo-Super Saiyan.
* The voice given to ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''' Tabuu in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUsh2zETGk4 The Dubspace Emissary].
* The Administrator from ''[[Echo Chamber]]'' speaks for the whole wiki -- he uses a [[Royal We]] whenever he speaks {{spoiler|except for [[The Stinger]] in episode 10}} and has punished a troper for "refer[ing] to himself in the first person."
* In the [[Metro City Chronicles]], Squid Kid will occasionally adopt a voice that's described as "three-part Harmony-of-the-Damned."
* Representatives of the [[Image Boards|Anonymous movement]] are typically rendered this way, such as in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXyLrTRXso&feature=related this video], which is about the danger of [[Big Brother|NDAA]].
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** [[Berserk Button|"TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!"]]
* Desiree from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. Quite spooky.
** All ghost have a reverb effect to their voice, (including Danny in ghost mode) however with most it's much more subtle.
* [[The Devil|Him]], from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'', is an example of this trope ''with a falsetto''.
** And it is ''[[Nightmare Fuel|damned creepy]].''
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* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Petergeist," when Stewie is sucked through the television in a parody of "[[Poltergeist]]", he speaks to the family in a wavy, disjointed semi-multi-voice from the other side. He takes this opportunity to sing the beginning of "In The Air Tonight" by [[Phil Collins]].
** Partial example: In a [[Cutaway Gag]], Brian dresses in a barbershop quartet outfit and sings 'Moonlight Bay' for the Griffin family, singing in full four-part harmony with himself.
* Used by two different characters in ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'': the first was The Ultimate Drako -- the [[Biological Mashup]] of villains The Ultimate Ninja and Drako -- who used in whenever it said something both characters felt. The second was the Ring of Ying-possessed April O'Neil in the episode "The Engagement Ring".
* [[Transformers Generation 1|Devastator]] (and the other G1 combiners, at least on the Decepticon side) has/have a very effective version of this, to represent a gestalt entity speaking. Some non-gestalt examples would be the giant Omega Supreme, both G1 and Animated, and Astrotrain. The Insecticons have one, but Shrapnel really is repeating the end of his sentences, ''sentences''. [[Big Good|Primus]] [[Transformers Cybertron|gets this too]], and [[Planet Eater|Unicron]] in [[Transformers: The Movie]]. Of course, what did you expect from [[Physical God]] [[Transforming Mecha]] with planets as their altmodes? It's really something else with Unicron, because in addition he's such a [[Large Ham]] he should have a curly tail.
* Phobos talks like this in the first season finale of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'' after getting a power-up by stealing some of Elyon's magic. Later on, Cornelia briefly has this kind of voice when wielding the powers of all five Guardians, as does anyone who uses the Seal of Nerissa {{spoiler|and Cedric, after eating Phobos and absorbing both his powers ''and'' those of the Seal}}.
* This is [[Horny Devils|Callie's]] version of shouting in ''[[Ugly Americans]]''.
* Tiamat in the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' cartoon.
* Baron Violent in ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' cartoon, when he's wearing his power belt. When Arthur starts using the belt, he starts speaking like this.
* Buufo in ''[[Adventure Time]]''. Justified, because he's actually a group of poliwogs, and it's hard to understand them if they talk out of sync.
** Also Princess Monster Wife, a [[Biological Mashup]] of body parts the Ice King stole from various princess to make his own princess. Because her misshapen head is made from the face parts of Princess Bubblegum, Lumpy Space Princess, and Turtle Princess, she speaks in all of their voices.
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* Tuvan Throat Singing is an art form practiced by the Tuvan people of southern Siberia. In this style two or more pitches sound simultaneously over a fundamental pitch, producing a mesmerizing, even entrancing sound. They literally sing in more than one voice as they are able to sing harmonies with one person.
* A live chorus will give this effect while performing, preferably in a music hall or a cathedral with good acoustics.
** As will a bunch of people reciting something from memory at the same time, or repeating after someone, such as the Pledge of Allegiance
* Similar to the throat singing, there's a technique when playing wind instruments called dual harmonics. The player plays one pitch on their instrument and sings another. This is most easily done with notes that are harmonically related otherwise the interference can make the sound difficult to control.
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