History Main / TheSpeechless

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* Julie Berry's ''All the Truth that's in Me'' is a book about a girl who has had half her tongue cut out. Although [[spoiler: she can speak at the end, she just didn't realise she could because her superstitious mother forbade her from trying]]
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* The Sandman in RiseOfTheGuardians can usuall be understood, so long as the other guardians notice he's trying to tell them something, since he can make pictures with his dream sand to indicate his meaning. However, as shown when the Man in the Moon was contacting them, he can have a very, very hard time getting their attention in the first place since not only can he not talk, but he seems unable to make sounds at all.

* An interesting version of this occurs in AMonsterInParis: the eponymous [[GentleGiant monster]], Francoeur, seems incapable of speech and communicates with chirps, but during the musical sequences is able to sing. This may have something to do with the fact that he got his voice from a ''singing'' potion, which probably doesn't cover the ability to talk.

* In ''TheGreatSilence'', the main character never speak due to having his throat cut.
* Pip, the Chipmunk from ''{{Enchanted}}'', can't talk in New York because... well, in the real world, animals can't talk. He actually knows what's going on from the beginning of the movie, but despite his very creative charades, is never able to convey it to the air-headed Prince Edward. Ironically in [[MagicalLand Andelasia]] he has a Noo Yawk accent.

* For much of the film ''{{Tommy}}'', the title character is rendered entirely deaf, blind and mute after being traumatised as a young child by the sight of his stepfather killing his (previously believed killed during WW2) father in front of his mother very shortly after the father re-appears. He does get better...eventually, but it is a couple of decades (at least) before he snaps out of it.

* The ProfessorGuineaPig from the original ''TheFly'' couldn't speak after his teleporter accident swapped his head with a housefly's, so communicated with chalkboard, typewriter, and by knocking on tables.
* In ''LightningJack'', Jack's sidekick is mute, which creates a funny moment when he knocks on a door, and when asked who's there he can't answer.
* Gymnasia in ''AFunnyThingHappenedOntheWayToTheForum''. See ''theater'' for her theatrical counterpart. In the movie version, instead, she gets her FetishFuel tendencies toned down, but she's still a towering blonde AmazonianBeauty expressing herself in made-up language (resembling just a funny barrage of unrelated charades) who Pseudolous only can understand. When Pseudolous reveal that Gymnasia's gestures meant something, the others show genuine surprise, believing her to be just TheUnintelligible.

** Dumbo's mother is also a speechless character, though other elephants in the movie do talk.

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

* The Monster in ''Comicbook/TheFrankensteinMonster'' starts out talkative like his book counterpart, but loses his ability to speak for several issues when a vampire-bite tores his larynx.

* [[TheInhumans Black Bolt]] of Marvel Comics is unable to speak due to the fact that his voice is so powerful that a mere whisper is enough to send TheHulk at his strongest flying. Thats right, the Hulk. As king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt tends to let his wife, Medusa, speak for him.

*** Well, what do you expect? He was still a ''baby'' in the original!

* The Blue Spirit from the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode of the same name appears to be this at first, communicating with [[TheMessiah Aang]] only by motioning with one of his swords. [[spoiler: This is because he turns out to be [[TheRival Zuko]] and speaking would have given away his identity. Later in the series, he speaks minimally as his Blue Spirit persona when dealing with characters who would not recognize his voice.]]

* In ''FruitsBasket'', Yuki and Kisa both temporarily lose the ability to speak, the former after being bullied by his mother, Kyo, and Akito, and the latter after being mocked by her classmates for her unusual red hair. Interestingly enough, they both recover thanks to their interaction with [[spoiler:Tohru]]

* Taz the Tasmanian Devil makes only unintelligible grunts and screeches. He doesn't appear to be trying to convey any specific meaning so doesn't qualify as TheUnintelligible
** Never-the-less, he can and does speak however. Both ''intelligibly'' and ''fluently'', which may sort of brings him toward being TheVoiceless.

* Despite making lots of noise, Scrat from ''IceAge'' doesn't speak. Also, the humans in the first film and Mama T.Rex and Rudy in the third film.

* Punch from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is this [[spoiler: Though no longer, thanks to Gil. In fact, now that he can speak his prose is ''quite'' wordy... And [[MotorMouth nonstop]].

** Odd Job from ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' who doesn't speak English so he never talks, the only thing he ever says is "Ah,Ah!" when notifying Goldfinger during their golf game.
*** In [[Literature/JamesBond the novel]], the reason that Oddjob cannot speak is beacause he was a cleft palate.
** Blofeld's henchman Hans in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. (Hans never speaks and, unlike Jaws in later movies, he is killed before we can find out if he can or not.)

* In ''{{The Non-Adventures of Wonderella}}'' the titular heroine (a [[CaptainErsatz pastiche]] of WonderWoman) sells her voice to an [[Disney/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.

* The Thin Man in ''CharliesAngels''. In the first film he's simply mute, in the second it is implied he's an ElectiveMute due to childhood trauma. He attempts to speak, but is killed (or is he?) before we find out if he's capable.

* Genma Saotome in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' is TheSpeechless when in panda form, forcing him to communicate by TalkingWithSigns. An early gag from the manga had him trying to answer a telephone, before hanging up in frustration and holding up a sign reading, "Argh! Pandas can't answer the phone!"

* Punch from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is this

* Shizune from ''KatawaShoujo''. Like the description she's smart, perceptive and wilful, though it's noted that the aggressive personality she has cultivated to compensate often ends up driving people away.

* The ''Black Titan'' from ''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: revelead 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 inconditional love for her]].

* The Mime from ''WebVideo/HappyTreeFriends''.

* Remy from ''{{Ratatouille}}''. The movie manages to maintain some sense of realism by having him unable to converse with his human co-star Linguini. However, he's very good at charades and can largely control the actions of Linguini when the human allows him to ride on his head and pull on his hair.