History Main / TheSpeechless

* The Silent Brothers from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', cannot speak due to Runes that mutilate their appearance, instead communicating through {{Telepathy}}.

-->-- '''Ursula''' (to Ariel), ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'' [[PluckyGirl Ariel]] ''becomes'' this, trading her voice to a WickedWitch in exchange for becoming human. To stay human, she must get [[PrinceCharming Eric]] to fall in love with her and kiss her within three days, which is difficult since she cannot talk to him.

* In ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' the titular hero (a [[CaptainErsatz pastiche]] of ComicBook/WonderWoman) sells her voice to an [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ursula rip-off]] for being granted her long awaited flight powers. After a brief stint as a SilentSnarker she gets her voice restored ([[http://nonadventures.com/2011/08/13/the-trill-is-gone/ and her newfound powers forcibly removed]]) because of her apparently awful singing voice.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'': The deaf mermaid Gabriella cannot speak and only communicates with sign language. Her octopus sidekick Ollie serves as her translator.

* Mimes as a species in ''Webcomic/CirqueRoyale'' cannot talk verbally; their "vocal" communication is actually done telepathically and only able to be heard natueally by mimes. Communication with other species is done with sign language. Kingston can (as can his children) as they're biracial, but they also "speak" in mime. When Kingston suffers flashbacks [[spoiler:remembering his parents' deaths on the twenty-year anniversary]], he wears himself out so badly he can't speak, and has to initially sign to his wife Quinn until she can put in her Blackfish earpiece translator (which she has because of him and the children).

* Black Bolt of ''ComicBook/TheInhumans'' is unable to speak because [[MakeMeWannaShout his voice is so powerful]] that a mere whisper is enough to send the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] at his strongest flying. You know, the Hulk. As king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt tends to let his wife, Medusa, speak for him.

** Some of the characters do eventually regain their ability to speak, at least partially. Froggy, for example, had a terribly similar situation to Razorback's, and had to learn how to use his new voice; ironically, he now speaks with a mellifluous and cultured manner ("I decided I might as well get it right this time") that is in contrast to his hulking, amphibious appearance. It was an InUniverse SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} when Screech (who has the same MakeMeWannaShout powers and problems as the aforementioned Black Bolt) managed to learn how to control her voice enough to speak a little.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Neo is unable to speak, communicating through silent gestures, text messages, and body language (including [[DanceBattler fighting]]), although she can make non-verbal sounds, such as [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle grunting in pain or giggling]]. However, her status as this wasn't made explicit until Volume 6, wherein Cinder tries to make a deal with her and an irritated Neo (once they're done fighting) points to her throat. The canon novel ''Literature/RWBYRomanHoliday'' reveals that she has had speech issues since birth, and her parents were extremely intolerant of it. The first person she ever met who was able to communicate with her was Roman Torchwick. [[spoiler:While in the Ever After during Volume 9, her Semblance evolves to allow her to create clones that can speak. They act as her voice, reflecting her thoughts and feelings as she breaks down Ruby. While she relies most heavily on a clone of Roman to speak for her, she does also use the clones of people Ruby cared about but couldn't save (Pyrrha, Penny, and Ozpin), and former allies (Lionheart, Clover, and Ironwood). Once the Cat possesses her, it's able to speak through her even though she naturally could not.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Neo is unable to speak, communicating through silent gestures, text messages, and body language (including [[DanceBattler fighting]]), although she can make non-verbal sounds, such as [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle grunting in pain or giggling]]. However, her status as this wasn't made explicit until Volume 6, wherein Cinder tries to make a deal with her and an irritated Neo (once they're done fighting) points to her throat. The canon novel ''Literature/RWBYRomanHoliday'' reveals that she has had speech issues since birth, and her parents were extremely intolerant of it. The first person she ever met who was able to communicate with her was Roman Torchwick. [[spoiler:During Volume 9 when her Semblance evolves in the Ever After, her illusions gain the ability to speak and help act as her voice by using illusions of the Jabberwalker, Torchwick, Pyrrha, Penny, Lionheart, Clover, Ozpin, Ironwood, and even Oscar. After the Curious Cat possesses her body, Neo is shown finally speaking with the voice of the cat after being taken over]].

* [[TheGrimReaper The Chairman from]] ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'' is mostly silent, since he only speaks in grunts, noises and thumb gestures, he is probably incapable of speaking normally. [[TheDreaded This doesn't mean that he isn't a terrifying and sadist being]].

* ''Film/TheDemoniacs'': After trauma of the rape, the two girls are struck dumb but can convey their acceptance of the terms of the DealWithTheDevil through drawings.

* Nat the Gypsy in ''Film/{{Dobermann}}'' is a deaf-mute who communicates through sign language. She does make some inarticulate cries of pain or rage during the film and manages to articulate a single word towards the end: [[spoiler:"Fuckers!"]].

* ''Film/{{Hush}}'' has Maddie, who does not speak throughout the movie because she is deaf-mute.

* Belinda from ''Film/JohnnyBelinda'' is a deaf-mute after having contracted an illness while she was a baby.

* John Singer, the central character of Carson [=McCullers=]' ''Literature/TheHeartIsALonelyHunter'', is a deaf-mute. Much of the novel involves his relationship with another deaf-mute, Spiros Antonapoulos.

* Celty from ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', being headless and all, types what she wants to say on her PDA or home computer and shows it to people. From Episode 4 onwards her messages and thoughts are accompanied by a voice-over as a matter of convenience for the viewer. Sometimes it is not even properly conveyed that she is not speaking, because the VA speaks (and the listener appears to be listening) ''before'' they look at the screen. Somehow there are some people who she has ''spoken'' to before she began speaking through her PDA.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Neo is unable to speak, communicating through silent gestures, text messages, and body language (including [[DanceBattler fighting]]), although she can make non-verbal sounds, such as [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle grunting in pain or giggling]]. However, her status as this wasn't made explicit until Volume 6, wherein Cinder tries to make a deal with her and an irritated Neo (once they're done fighting) points to her throat. The canon novel ''Literature/RWBYRomanHoliday'' reveals that she has had speech issues since birth, and her parents were extremely intolerant of it. The first person she ever met who was able to communicate with her was Roman Torchwick.

* In ''Series/TheBoys'' both Kimiko and Black Noir are complete mutes, with the former being unable to speak after enduring atrocities that traumatized her and the latter suffering severe brain damage with his HealingFactor keeping him alive & functional but not being strong enough to fully undo the damage. The most we have gotten out of them is a couple of near-inaudible gasps when Kimiko tried to force herself to speak to Frenchie, and a few audible sobs from Black Noir when he learned the truth of the origin of his powers.

** The aptly named episode "Mute" centers around a girl unable to talk. Everybody initially believes it is because she is in shock after seeing her house burned down (with her parents) but later assume it is because she had never been taught how to speak. Really, she was trained to be psychic from birth, and held all her conversations with her parents (who were part of some strange cult) telepathically.
** Another aptly named episode, "The Silence", invokes this trope. Jamie Tennyson, an incessant chatterbox in a gentleman's club, drives the wealthy Colonel Taylor crazy with his prattle. The colonel suggests a wager: if Tennyson can stay silent for an entire year (during which time he will be watched non-stop), he will win $500,000 (no slight change in the 2010s, but an even bigger sum in the 1960s). Tennyson takes the bet and stays silent throughout the year, despite other club members and even Colonel Taylor asking him to call it off. Finally, exactly twelve months have passed -- at which point Taylor confesses that he lost his fortune years ago, so he cannot pay; he never expected Tennyson to pull it off. Then comes the CruelTwistEnding: Tennyson did not expect himself to do it, either... so he ''cut his vocal cords'' to ensure that he would win. The episode concludes with Jamie dramatically removing his scarf, revealing a thick scar across his neck.

* In ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Humbug", the Conundrum (a geek, in the classical sense) does not speak at all [[spoiler: until the end: "Prob'ly something I ate."]].

* ''ComicBook/TheMask'' BigBad Walter never speaks throughout the entire run, in stark contrast to the extremely talkative Big Heads. It's played for satire in the spin-off ''ComicBook/WalterCampaignOfTerror'' where he managed to launch a succesful mayoral campaign despite the minor handicap of never uttering a single syllable. Why he doesn't depends on the continuity; in the original comics he can't because he took a bullet to the throat, but his [[WesternAnimation/TheMask animated incarnation]] is implied to be TheVoiceless who ''can'' talk but chooses not to.

* In ''Film/CannibalGirls'', [[SinisterMinister the Reverend's]] manservant [[TheIgor Bunker]] communicates only through weak moaning noises.

** The Death of Rats's vocabulary is limited to "SQUEAK", with occasional variations ("SNH, SNH, SNH"). Death understands it perfectly, as do Albert and Quoth the raven; Susan does not necessarily know what it says, only what it means.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Hector Salamanca suffered a stroke in the past which left him almost completely paralyzed, but still fully cognizant (he's only shown speaking in flashbacks and in prequel material). He mostly communicates by ringing a bell to answer simple yes-or-no questions, although his facial expressions remain readable and cue cards are sometimes used when other characters want him to answer more complicated questions.

* There are exceptions, but the default premise is that {{Golem}}s cannot talk. This is because in Aramaic and Hebrew, the words "soul" and "speech" are closely connected and since a golem doesn't have a soul, as a consequence it doesn't have a voice.

** The Honkers, cute furry monsters of various colors that don't speak, but communicate (and make music) by using their nose to honk the horns on their head.
** Linda (portrayed by deaf actress Linda Bove) doesn't speak at all because she is deaf, but she can communicate by using sign-language.

** Jessica is capable of using her CompellingVoice to command others to temporarily shut up, which she does to Michal when he annoys her and the school nurse after she's inflicted with severe burns and is rather justifiably screaming about it. Zia's {{telepathy}} allows her a peek into Michal's mind during this time, which reveals that he ''wants'' to speak, but finds himself physically unable to.
** Katheryn's power transformed her into [[BlobMonster a sentient mass of ink]]. As she no longer has vocal chords, she can't speak, and instead communicates by forming her ink into words.

* The "Cannot Speak" disadvantage in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' turns your character into this. Interestingly you can combine it with the Voice advantage, just because you can't form words doesn't mean the sounds can't be pleasing.

* King Sextimus in ''Theatre/OnceUponAMattress'' cannot speak due to an ancient curse. He is highly capable in mime, which even allows him to participate in a few musical numbers. [[spoiler: Towards the end, the curse is broken and he regains his speech.]]

* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt2'': Copen's sister, Mythl, was mute from a very early age [[spoiler:as a result of a life-saving operation that separated the [[MagicMusic Lumen]] Septima out of her]] and only communicates via text. [[spoiler:After she re-merges with Lumen, she becomes able to speak.]]

* The ''Black Titan'' from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'', [[ABoyAndHisX stalwart and reliable companion]] of Claudia, the resident CuteMute. Originally described as an animated soul of armor, crafted for Claudia's safety by her long dead parents, he's [[spoiler: revealed to be the corpse and the soul of a mute assassin, used for spare parts by Claudia's dad and seeking redemption by protecting his innocent ward. Also, being mute he came to empathize with Claudia's handicap, to the point of feeling unconditional love for her]].

** [[BigCreepyCrawlies The insectoid]] [[{{mons}} Digimon]] Kunemon is the only party member incapable of human speech, and communicates with his partner Ryo [[NonVerbalMiscommunication through body language]] although other Digimon can understand him just fine.

** Also all Moombas, who are intelligent creatures, being an evolved form of the Shumi. According to the Shumi Elder, Laguna once tried to teach one to speak because he felt sorry that it didn't know any words and he felt that words are "useful and precious." The Elder, however, felt that the truly important things can be communicated without words.

* Xochiquetzal in ''WebAnimation/NoEvil'' traded her voice away as part of a deal to save the world from the Black Ick. She communicates using sign language (useful given that her brother traded his hearing in the same incident), and works magic through a mandolin. She also has [[http://yourphysicsiskarkatrocious.tumblr.com/post/164073135316/how-to-facial-expression-a-guide-author an extremely expressive face]], which is used to full effect in, for example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUDD860Um-0&list=PL_9VobYoMHhBjLjSxq5vzNW_9b00VUxiE&index=16 "Welcome to Mictlan"]].

* Bina in ''Webcomic/AllNightLaundry'' has this for awhile due to [[spoiler:trauma from a seizure]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' has, as an important character, a sentient book, the Listing of Names. Listy can't speak vocally (maybe rustle), but manages with [[NarrativeShapeshifting shapeshifting]]. [[spoiler: In the final battle Knull is rendered speechless by a throat injury.]]

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Devils]] can ascend through five levels of power, gaining new bodies, greater abilities, and a different colour of {{Mask|OfPower}} as they do. Pale Devils are the lowest rank and are unable to speak.

* In ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' the titular heroine (a [[CaptainErsatz pastiche]] of ComicBook/WonderWoman) sells her voice to an [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ursula rip-off]] for being granted her long awaited flight powers. After a brief stint as a SilentSnarker she gets her voice restored ([[http://nonadventures.com/2011/08/13/the-trill-is-gone/ and her newfound powers forcibly removed]]) because of her apparently awful singing voice.

* [[http://40.media.tumblr.com/6166f5e2443db77bf2a40d79e43ca4ab/tumblr_ns9nk96kbO1sayvq7o4_1280.jpg This portrayal]] of "[[MonkeyMoralityPose Speak No Evil]]". To elaborate a bit more, she's had her vocal cords removed (as opposed to her mouth being covered), as the bleeding stitches on her neck would indicate.

** Razorback is perhaps the most notable of these; his velociraptor-esque body lacks vocal chords. When Jack manifested, it was assuming he was some sort of monster-like animal; he was attacked by people who didn't know he was actually was the [[GenderBender missing girl]] whom they thought he'd eaten, so he hid out in the Australian outback for a year before someone figured it out and taught him Auslan[[note]] Australian Sign Language[[/note]]. This also figured into his status as an [[UnstoppableRage Ultraviolent]] during his first year at Whateley, as the only one who understood the combination of Auslan and ASL[[note]] American Sign Language[[/note]] he was using was his roommate [[VoiceForTheVoiceless Jericho]], so he wasn't able to warn people when he was about to go berserk. Later, Jericho develops a voder for him to use, but he still prefers sign as the devise's electronic voice is irritating to him.
** There is also at least one side character (the minor [[SuperVillain supervillainess]] White Diamond) who lost use of her vocal chords as a side effect of her mutation, and communicates through ASL and writing.
** Some of the characters do eventually regain their ability to speak, at least partially. Froggy, for example, had a very similar situation to Razorback's, and had to learn how to use his new voice; ironically, he now speaks with a mellifluous and cultured manner ("I decided I might as well get it right this time") that is in contrast to his hulking, amphibious appearance. It was an InUniverse SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} when Screech (who has the same MakeMeWannaShout powers and problems as the aforementioned Black Bolt) managed to learn how to control her voice enough to speak a little.

* Creator/ChuckJones did a few cartoons featuring Porky Pig and his pet cat Sylvester encountering scary menacing phenomena, which only the latter is aware of -- but his most prominent trait, his big slobbery voice, is absent here and he can only attempt to describe the dangers in ineffectual pantomime to his blithely oblivious master.

* Marci from ''WesternAnimation/DotaDragonsBlood''. She is cute enough to be a cute mute - until she demonstrates her other skills. Simply being left in her company when captured is enough for Mirana to smugly declare "you never disarmed me". She's also remarkably convincing in debates for someone who can't speak.

* Claw of the Mutates from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' was stated to be so traumatized from the mutation that he became mute. He communicates through gestures and crude sign language, and it's not clearly known if he's literate or not.

* In the cult [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] preschool show ''WesternAnimation/{{Kerwhizz}}'' the three teams each consist of a kid and his/her android pet. Pip, the android dog, is constantly frustrated by the fact that although he's smarter than his girl partner Ninki he can only bark and growl, which means she often fails to realise when he gets the answer right, and shouts out the wrong answer instead. Ninki got her comeuppance in one episode where their voices were temporarily swapped. This caused Pip to launch into a long speech about how his talents would at last be recognised, while Ninki could only howl in despair.

* ''WesternAnimation/PetAlien'': [[TeamPet Scruffy]] is the only one of the aliens who can't talk; he only growls or whimpers, and there are even numerous episodes where he doesn't make any noise at all.
* [[AnimalSuperhero Perry the Platypus]] from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb,'' though he can make a weird sort of chittering sound (and once even sarcastically mimics Candace in it). Oddly he can't even talk when he switches bodies with Candace, though [[VoicesAreMental she can]], and Phineas and Ferb's animal translator registered his noises as meaningless.

** Because she's a baby and ''can't'' talk, Maggie fits this trope. Especially in "future" episodes, where she is shown as a sullen teenager who still never says anything, because she is prevented or simply disappears off-screen as she is about to speak in a RunningGag. Which is kinda sad. [[InformedAbility Don't you know she has a beautiful singing voice?]] There are a few non-canon episodes (including several Halloween specials) where she ''does'' talk, usually in a deep, scary masculine voice. Other than that she has said two canonical words in the series: [[spoiler:Daddy]] and [[spoiler:''Ja'']].
** Spoofed in the episode "Stark Raving Dad", where one of the asylum inmates Homer meets is a large Native American man [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep whom everyone calls "The Chief"]], because he supposedly never talks. Homer gives a friendly "Hey, Chief!" and he responds "Hello"; instantly he's surrounded by doctors with clipboards, and explains that "Nobody ever tried opening up to me before." (The character is, of course, a play on the supposedly deaf[=/=]mute Chief Bromden from ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest''.)

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "I Was a Teenage Gary" when [=SpongeBob=] is morphed into a sponge-snail hybrid by the snail plasma, he looses the ability to talk and can only communicate through meowing like Gary.
* Every character in ''WesternAnimation/StoppitAndTidyup'' is only capable of making various noises, unless you count the show's narrator as a character.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Kid Wykkyd appears to be mute, while Jericho certainly is. He can talk through those he possesses, however. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] when Jericho possesses Cinderblock and speaks through him... thus rousing instant suspicion, as Cinderblock never talks! (Interestingly, Jericho being able to speak through him means Cinderblock ''is'' physically capable of speech; until that moment in the ''next-to-last episode of the series,'' it had been assumed that a guy made of concrete probably just lacked vocal cords.)

* Doomguy/The Doomslayer in all of the Franchise/{{Doom}} games save for some grunting in Doom and Doom II.
** [[spoiler:As of the Ancient Gods Part 2, he [[SuddenlySpeaking finally gets a line that isn't from a flashback sequence]], and even then it's a simple "No."]]

* Although she first appears to just be incredibly quiet Chane Laforet from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is later revealed to have lost her ability to speak several years before the series began. [[spoiler:She appears to have willingly given up her voice.]] She communicates by way of hand gestures and body language[=/=]expressions.

* Celty from ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', being headless and all, types what she wants to say on her PDA or home computer and shows it to people. From Episode 4 onwards her messages and thoughts are accompanied by a voice-over as a matter of convenience for the viewer. Sometimes it is not even properly conveyed that she is not speaking, because the VA speaks (and the listener appears to be listening) ''before'' they look at the screen. Somehow there are some people who she has ''spoken'' to before she began speaking through her PDA.

* Shiro in ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' -- he is a reanimated skeleton and therefore has no vocal cords.

** This was originally suggested to be a trait common to all of TheBerserker-class Servants since their insanity has robbed them of their ability to speak. The Berserker of ''LightNovel/FateZero'' ([[spoiler:Sir Lancelot]]) also cannot speak and only vocalizes screams and growls. The one in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', [[spoiler: [[Myth/GreekMythology Herakles]]]], growls and roars a lot, but never talks. In fact, he's quite talkative after you [[spoiler: kill him]]. In ''VideoGame/FateExtra'', Lu Bu Fengxian likewise cannot speak. ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' did away with this convention, since a character who cannot speak is a very boring one to write for, and most of the Berserkers featured in it can speak, aside from those mentioned above.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'', the hyenas Shenzi and Banzai talk, but Ed does not; he only laughs.

** [[TheBerserker Berserker]][=/=][[Myth/GreekMythology Herakles]] in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' doesn't talk. He growls and roars a lot, though; and he ''could'' talk if he wasn't [[AxCrazy so crazed]]. [[spoiler:In fact he's quite talkative when you kill him]].
** This was originally suggested to be a trait common to all Berserker-class Servants, since their insanity has robbed them of their ability to speak. The Berserker of ''LightNovel/FateZero'' ([[spoiler:Sir Lancelot]]) also cannot speak and only vocalizes screams and growls. In ''VideoGame/FateExtra'', Lu Bu Fengxian likewise cannot speak. ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' did away with this convention, since a character who cannot speak is a very boring one to write for, and most of the Berserkers featured in it can speak, aside from those mentioned above.

* The mysterious aliens from the 1970-1 TV series ''Series/{{UFO}}'' are never heard to speak, though they can communicate with traitors and those [[{{Brainwashed}} under their control]]. In a late episode, the UFO pilots are revealed to be human abductees under the control of an unseen alien intelligence.

* The mysterious and aptly named Lady Silence in Creator/DanSimmons ''The Terror''.