Follow TV Tropes

Following

YMMV / Voltaire

Go To


Voltaire The Performer

  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • In "Crusade," was it really a dragon? Or was it just the narrator dehumanizing an enemy, like his son would later do to Muslims?
    • Near the end of "When You're Evil", the singer briefly expresses sorrow and loneliness... only to claim they were lying. Was it really an act, or was it them letting a more vulnerable side of them slip and then trying to cover it up?
  • Applicability: Feathery Wings has been interpreted as being sung by a Guardian Angel, the Angel of Death, or even the devil. The song could also be applied to someone trying to talk a loved one out of suicide.
  • Complete Monster: "Robber Baron" & "Stakes And Torches (The Uprising of the Peasants)": Robber Baron is an greedy elitist who represents the worst of the Industrial Revolution. A "cold heartless beast" who rules an unnamed town, Robber Baron forces children as young as 8 to work in his assembly lines, uncaring if they lose a limb or two. Keeping his peasants poor and starving as he dines on delicate food inside his castle, Robber Baron also sends his own police force out to keep his citizens in line and terrified.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: "The Trouble With Tribbles".
  • Epileptic Trees: Some fans apparently think "Kill the Man Upstairs" is an anti-religion song. It's actually about irritating apartment neighbours.
  • Friendly Fandoms: Many Artix Entertainment fans are quite familiar and even became fans of Voltaire since he has been a staple special guest (mostly on Friday the 13th events) in their games and even features some of his songs as event stories.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: "They Know Me" sounds like it's describing Dr. Gregory House. It was written in 1998, years before the show ever existed.
    • He made a song called "Let It Go" in 2002.
    • In Aurelio Voltaire's song "The Vampire Club" he talks about someone named Missy "losing a fang". Come 14 years later there would be a (part)vampire character named Missi animated to some of his songs!
  • Jerkass Woobie: Satan is portrayed as this in "Almost Human".
  • Misattributed Song: A lot of people think Voltaire made the song "If I Only Were a Goth", but the song was actually made by the band ThouShaltNot. Granted, the singer does sound similar.
  • Squick: Cantina and The Straight Razor Cabaret can get pretty gruesome.
  • Trans Audience Interpretation: Some have interpreted Gina from "The Last Halloween Party" as a trans girl, due to her and her dad's fight being triggered by him disapproving of the dress she plans to wear to a party, and the chorus' emphasis on gender and what people choose to wear not mattering. The line from her father, "Boy, you've really gone too far," becomes harsher if you think he's misgendering her, but the ending arguably becomes even sweeter, since Gina and her dad make up and he tells her that even if he doesn't understand her, he loves her unconditionally.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: While he did do a song called "BRAINS!" for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, which airs on Cartoon Network, and is relatively kid-friendly, his other songs, most notably "Cantina" and "Zombie Prostitute," are not. Voltaire eventually did release a children's album, it still dealt with unfamily friendly subjects like cannibalism. Voltaire has stated that the album is specifically for creepy kids.
  • The Woobie: The titular character of "The Beast of Pirate Bay" turns out to be this.

Voltaire, the Author

  • Values Dissonance: Unfortunately, though progressive in many respects, Voltaire held some of the negative views common to his time. He was quite racist toward Black people, once saying their intelligence was in relation to Whites like that of the chimpanzees. Further, his antisemitism was pretty harsh as well (in fairness however, he did say good things of Jews too, and recanted his negative remarks later). He also promoted certain historical myths, such as claiming the Council of Nicaea compiled The Bible (despite what Dan Brown says, they only decided the fine details of the Trinity and some rules for bishops), saying Hypatia of Alexandria was murdered due to being a pagan/scientist (it was over a political dispute, not religion/science) and attributing the saying "Credo quia absurdum" ("I believe because it is absurd") to Augustine of Hippo (it's loosely based on a phrase Tertullian wrote, but he might more like "this was too strange for people to have invented"), specifically.
  • Values Resonance: Voltaire defended freedom of speech, religious toleration and secularism in a time when these things were highly controversial notions (totally contrary to French laws). Not only with words either-he campaigned to save religious dissidents persecuted under his country's government, saving some. He also criticized slavery harshly. Voltaire endorsed cultural pluralism, saying Europeans had slandered the Chinese since they held different beliefs, praising Confucianism, Hinduism and the Persian culture at a time when Western thinkers often disparaged the East wholesale. He also praised Native Americans, such as the Incan Empire.

Top