Silence, You Fool!

"Beth, I love you more than anything in the world but right now I kinda need you to maybe shaddup your face!"

— Santino Marella, Monday Night Raw

A powerful character needs to talk. He's important, so nothing else but "Silence!" will do to quell the unruly masses or to stop the plucky hero mid-sentence. It shows that he or she is in charge, and what those other people are saying is unimportant or foolish.

Do this with a crowd of mooks and impress your friends with how quiet they become. Use this to intimidate poor peasants begging for clemency.

You can say things like "Quiet!" or "Enough!", for a similar effect. However, the more vulgar "Shut up!" doesn't work as well, except when addressed to genteel types who would be stunned to hear such an improper outburst. Go ahead and hold up a hand, it helps with the image.

There are dozens of ways to parody this. A common one is for the villain to yell "Silence!" at a minion who's trying to reveal something important, and later demand to know why he wasn't given the important information. Another is to shout "SILENCE!" when nobody is speaking to begin with. A third is for the character to yell "SILENCE!"... and be completely ignored.

Here is the first and second compilations with a lot of examples.

See also Shut Up, Hannibal! and Talk to the Fist. Big "SHUT UP!" can sometimes overlap. Not to be confused with You Fool!.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In the latter half of Mobile Fighter G Gundam, a bizarrely drawn-out version of this trope (or rather its Japanese equivalent) is practically Master Asia's catchphrase.
• Brandon during the Battle Frontier arc of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire loved to interject with, "NO!!!" At least it wasn't a Big "NO!"... Well, he does like to tell challengers what they're doing wrong while they battle him.
• Say it with us now: URUSAI! URUSAI! URUSAI!!
• Used/subverted hilariously in Rental Magica when Adelicia asks Honami to marry her. (For reference, both of them are Tsunderes, and have been covertly competing for the favor of Itsuki for most of the show.) Itsuki is completely stunned, and his attempts at asking what's going on are completely drowned out by the rest of the True Companions merrily blabbering on about appropriate jewelery and the best date to set. Finally losing patience, he does his Hidden Badass Reveal spin, complete with Eyepatch of Power tear-off and shouts "PRESIDENT'S ORDERS!" The entire group instantly shuts up and leaps into battle-ready positions... only for Itsuki to turn around, revealing his Eyepatch of Power still firmly in place. He just wanted to get their attention...
• Hellsing: Alucard gets to say this with a dash of Red Eyes, Take Warning in the English dub of the OVA's second episode when he's getting lip from Luke Valentine. It's one of the few times the line is legitimately frightening.
  Luke Valentine: You're nothing but the Hellsing family toy! A dog for the Church of England, not even fit to call himself a vampire—!
  Alucard: SILENCE! I'm a dog? Then you're dog food.
• In the Sailor Moon episode, Little Miss Manners, Usagi says this to her teacher in her daydream while dozing off in class:
  Teacher: Serena, did you do your homework?
  Usagi: Silence! How dare you speak to a princess like that!
  Teacher: Oh, pardon me, you highness. Please forgive me!
• Komi says this to Touma in the dub version of Sakura Diaries:
  Touma: Don't take that tone of voice with me.
  Komi: Silence, loser!
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • In the five-parter "Match of the Millennium - Yugi vs Pegasus", Yami says this to Pegasus with a blunt, "Be silent!" after Yugi has lost consciousness in the Dark game (or "Shadow Realm" in 4Kids logic) after his last move in the dub version.
  • Marik Ishtar frequently says this to his minions or allies. The Abridged Series version takes it up a notch.
    Marik: Good. Now, SILENCE!!!
    Yami Bakura: Marik, no-one was talking.
    Marik: I know, it was a preemptive "silence"!
    Yami Bakura: So, you silenced the silence?... Good job.
    Marik: Yes, that silence didn't know what hit it!
  • Melvin enjoys this trope as well and even lectures about it.
    Melvin: Do you have any idea what the word "silence" means?
    Weevil: Umm...no.
    Melvin: It means stop talking.
    Weevil: Ah...yeah, I knew that.
    Melvin: So when I say "SILENCE," you cease making noise or I will cease it for you.
• In the Tenchi Muyo! OAV, Ayeka says one when torturing Ryoko:
  Ayeka: Siiiilence, criminal. How dare you.
• Ken, the Digimon Emperor, says this in the dub when whipping Wormmon. After this, Wormmon gives a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to him:
  Ken: That's it. Get 'em, Chimeramon!
  Wormmon: You can do it, Magnamon!
  Ken: Silence! [whips Wormmon]
• Near the end of "Shadow of the Moon, Sea of Shadow" arc of The Twelve Kingdoms, Youko says this when the Kei soldiers arrived in the cave:
  Kei Soldier: Stop what you're doing there, at once! How dare you kidnap a Taiho! That is a serious crime against the Heavens!
  Youko: You're all being decived by Joy! She's not the real queen! She's an impostor!
  Kei Soldier: That's pure nonsense! The Kirin has chosen lady Joy and that is all the proof we need!
  Youko: [long pause] Silence! Do you think of Joy were the real queen of Kei? That she would have to chain the taiho against his will? Have any of you heard the Taiho speak? And why do you think he's remained in kirin form? It's because the Taiho serves me! And if you still have any doubts, whatsoever, then raise your sword against me!
• Blue Submarine No. 6: Verg in the third episode 'Hearts' when he's impaitent with his father Zorndyke on whether to attack or not to attack the humans. The trope: 'Just shut up!' in the japanese; 'Silennnnce!' in the dub.
• Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z, being one of the more obnoxious and imperious characters (he is a prince, after all), utters something to this effect fairly often. In this clip, he even says it verbatim to Future Trunks.

Comic Books

• The Martian king, Monarch Prime, in Invincible: "Silence! It is I who will ask the questions, solid."
  • The Immortal said much the same to Monarch Prime when they met many issues later.
• From Infinity War #6, the conclusion of a Marvel Crisis Crossover:
  Galactus: Silence, fool! Mighty Galactus knows what must be done!
  Thanos: Does mighty Galactus know that our chances of outrunning this disturbance are minimal?
  Galactus: Does annoying Thanos have an alternative course of actions to suggest?
  Thanos: ...no.
  Galactus: Then let silence reign.
• Doctor Doom does this all the time to the point where it's almost a catchphrase, up there with "DOOM!" and "RIIICHAAAARRRDDSS!!!"

Comedy

• Whenever Jeff Dunham brings out Achmed the Dead Terrorist, expect this line to come out once or twice:
  Achmed: SILENCE! [beat] I KEEL YOU!

Films — Animation

• The Queen of Hearts from classic 1950's Disney animated film, Alice in Wonderland, says this trope.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame has two instances, both uttered by Frollo:
  • The first one happens when Esmeralda stands up to him as she frees Quasimodo:
  Frollo: Silence!
  Esmeralda: JUSTICE!!
  • The second one happens when the Archdeacon tries to stop his invasion of the Notre Dame cathedral:
  Archdeacon: Frollo, have you gone mad?! I will not tolerate this assault on the house of God!
  Frollo: Silence, you old fool!
• The Lion King (1994), Mufasa, when he encounters the hyenas at the elephant graveyard to rescue his son Simba and Nala from them.
  Shenzi: Oh, please, please. Uncle, uncle.
  Banzai: Ow, ow, ow.
  Mufasa: Silence!
  Banzai: Oh, we’re gonna shut up right now.
  Shenzi: Calm down. We’re really sorry.
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Simba, when his daughter Kiara pleads with him to listen to Kovu before the latter's exile.
  Kiara: Daddy, please. Listen to him.
  Simba: (to Kiara) Silence!
• From The Prince of Egypt: "Be still! Pharaoh speaks!" It's downright awesome because it's said by Patrick Stewart.
• In Shrek, Lord Farquaad silences the magic mirror, complete with raised hand. Too bad for Farquaad that the mirror was about to reveal what happens to Fiona after sunset.
• Quest for Camelot: Ruber says this that way in his first verse of his song:
  Ruber: Let's go back to war and violence! I was so bored with peace and [to a servant suddenly when he drops a cup in fear] SILENCE!!

Films — Live-Action

• Austin Powers: Dr. Evil and his "Zip it"/"Shhh" Overly Long Gags is close. He's also done it straight a few times when Number Two was trying to be reasonable with him.
• Bananas (1971):
  Esposito: From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now... 16 years old!
• Parodied in Freaked, when Elijah C. Skuggs asks for his rowdy, brawling audience's attention, and every last one of them instantly stops fighting and politely sits facing forward.
• Harry Potter
  • A dead straight example from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. After Quirrell runs into the Great Hall yelling about a troll in the dungeon and mass panic ensues, Dumbledore yells loud and clear, "Silence!" Everyone stops in their tracks and he gives out orders calmly.
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has one too, but more drawn out and hammy. "SILEEEEEEEEENNCCCCCEEEE!"
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Fudge silences Harry with a raised hand and "enough, enough..." during Harry's hearing. Harry's right to speak is then asserted by Dumbledore.
  • When Harry tries to tell the truth about Voldemort during Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Umbridge finally yells "enough!"
• Not really shut up, but pretty much Samuel L. Jackson made it clear with this quote "Enough is ENOUGH! I have HAD IT with these muthafucking snakes on this muthafucking plane!" that rather than discussing on how to clear the snakes from the cockpit, the passengers better shut up and strap in since he's about to open some fucking windows.
  • Not to mention, "I don't remember asking YOU a GODDAMN THING!"
• Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop: "SHUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUP!"
• Played straight by Jeremy Irons as Tiberias in Kingdom of Heaven: A hall full of knights, yelling at each other. The King holds up his hand. "SILENCE!" (deathly hush)
• From Sommersby, when Judge Barry Conrad Isaacs (James Earl Jones) furiously wants order in the court and says this 3 times, "Silence!", "Silence!", "Silence!"
• From The Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf finally gets sick of Wormtongue's sleaziness in The Two Towers:
  ''Be silent! Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm.
  • In the books, the original line is worded differently and delivered more calmly, as part of a longer "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
• In Manos: The Hands of Fate, AFTER the Master's wives seem to have finished an argument, the Master yells, "SILENCE! SILENCE!" at them. While holding out his arms to display his big handprint cloak for maximum effect.
  • In the MST3K version of Manos, Joel and the Bots improve the Master's lines immensely. "SILENCE!" "IS GOLDEN!" "SILENCE!" "IS GOLDEN!"
• Raiden does this in Mortal Kombat: The Movie, with the added intimidation of lightning special effects.
  Raiden: Enough!
• In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Fozziwig is shouting to get everybody to quiet down so he can deliver his Christmas speech. When everybody keeps ignoring him and carrying on, Animal walks in and yells, "QUIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEET!" Everybody shuts up, Animal quietly says, "Thank you" and walks off.
  • Similar to Night at the Museum, where Ben Stiller is trying in vain to address the arguing exhibits. The Easter Island statue bellows "QUIIIIIIETTT!" Everybody shuts up. "My dum-dum is talking."
• Superman II: General Zod says this by the end of the film to Lex Luthor while Lex talks to him about further world domination.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990):
  • Shredder says this in the original film:
    Shredder: Find her. Silence her.
  • Also in sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze:
    Shredder: This is not the reason I sent you to follow her.
    Assessor: No, master. But I thought—
    Shredder: Silence! This may be even better. Whatever caused this mutation may be useful to my enemies.
• The Ten Commandments (1956) has Yul Brynner using "Silence!" and "Silence yourselves!" quite often to quiet down his "henchmen" servants and priests once he becomes the Pharaoh of Egypt as Pharaoah Ramesses II, especially when they come complaining to him about each of the Ten Plagues.
  • Cedric Hardwicke also uses it in a few scenes in the first part of "The Ten Commandments" when he plays as Pharaoh Seti I, especially in the scene where he, Ramesses II, Princess Bithiah, and Princess Nefertiri are discussing the possibility of Moses being the "Great Deliverer" that they feared would help set the Hebrew slaves of Egypt free.
• Thor: Thor, together with his brother and friends, has gone to Jotunheim against his father's orders to investigate the Jotuns' appearance in Asgard. It eventually leads to a huge fight, threatening to break the truce between the two realms. When the group is surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, Odin suddenly appears through the Bifrost:
  Thor: [shouting] Father! We'll finish them together!
  Odin: [angrily growling] Silence!
• Twister
  Jonas: If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. Now keep your mouth shut, keep your foot on the gas, and stay on this heading.
• The Steven Seagal film Urban Justice has the main antagonist say this trope to one of his henchmen, William Shatner style.
• The Wizard of Oz: “SILENCE whipper snapper! The magnificent Oz knows why you have come!”

Literature

• Discworld:
  • At the climax of Going Postal, Lord Vetinari manages to silence a room full of excited people by saying "Silence" in relatively normal tones.
  • In Interesting Times, Rincewind winds up speaking with the Emperor of Agatea, but he is repeatedly interrupted in this manner by the court chamberlain. When Rincewind points out how impractical this arrangement is, the Emperor orders the chamberlain taken away and his lips cut off.
• The Dresden Files:
  • In White Night, Lord Raith shuts up a cave full of arguing White Court vampires by shouting this so loudly that dust falls from the cave ceiling. Even Harry, who holds him in a combination of hatred and contempt, has to admire this.
  • In Cold Days, Mab shows up at the climax and stops the entire battle with one sentence.
    Mab: Cease. This rudeness. At once.
• In the Garrett, P.I. novels, ailing underworld boss Chodo Contague is too frail to shout "Silence!", yet his power and menace is such that he can simply lift his finger and instantly bring a halt to conversations. Only if he's hushing a crowd who can't all see him clearly does he have his lieutenants, Crask and Sadler, invoke this trope for him.
• The White Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe says "Silence, fool!" on several occasions; on one of them to Edmund, when he dares to ask for Turkish Delight.
• In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the wizard uses loud exclamations of "QUIET!", "SILENCE!", and "ENOUGH!"

Live-Action TV

Creators:

• One of Jeff Dunham's puppets, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, has one of these as his signature line: "SILENCE! I KILL YOU!!"
  • Walter is also fond of this. "Ahh, shut the hell up!"

Series:

• Arrow. In the Lian Yu flashbacks, Oliver Queen is dumped at the feet of a female guard, only to find it's his girlfriend Sara Lance whom he presumed had drowned a year before. So Oliver won't talk and give away the fact that they know each other, she kicks him and says, "Prisoners do not speak!"
• In the UK The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar (sorry - Lord Sugar) would often say "shut up, I'm talking". He once lampshaded his importance with "there's only room for one big-mouth in this organisation: me."
• In Britain's Got The Pop Factor, when Cat Deely walks onto the stage she tries to ask the audience to keep quiet. It doesn't work, so she yells "F*CKING SHUT UP!" Silence.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Once More With Feeling").
  Giles: Spike, if I want your opinion... (looks at him in contempt) I'll never want your opinion.
• Doctor Who:
  • The first spoken line by the Cybermen in "The Tenth Planet":
    SIIIIlenCE! AnyONNNNNNNNNNNNE who MOOOOOOOVES willbekilled inSTANTlyyyyyy!
  • Take a drink every time Rago in "The Dominators" yells "SILENCE!" You'll be lucky to survive the entire serial.
  • "The Idiot's Lantern" has a truly unpleasant man repeatedly shout "I AM TALKING!" to silence anyone arguing with him. The Doctor cuts him off partway through the episode with "AND I'M NOT LISTENING!"
  • "Fear Her": The Doctor silences a group of squabbling people with the marvelous phrase "FINGERS ON LIPS!"
  • "Human Nature" has Jeremy Baines/Son of Mine shouting, in rapid fire succession, "SHUT UP! STOP TALKING! CEASE AND DESIST! THERE'S A GOOD GIRL!"
  • "The Pandorica Opens":
    The Doctor: Except, you lot, you're all whizzing about, it's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I am talking!
  • In "Eve of the Daleks" in response to the Doctor's snarking a Dalek blares "SILENCE!" The Doctor of course replies, "Never."
• In one "Rashomon"-Style The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode, Uncle Phil (played by James Avery at his hammiest), says this trope in Will's recollection of events.
  Will: Listen, Uncle Phil—
  Uncle Phil: Silence! If I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you!
• Late Night: Conan O'Brien does this every now and when when he does his "Judge O'Brien" skit
  Conan: I couldn't help but notice that the host looks pasty and white this evening.
  Make-Up Artist: ...but that's the way you always look—
  Conan: QUIET! [bangs gavel]
• Parodied in Danish sketch show Live fra Bremen. In a sketch, two aliens - a leader and a henchman - kidnap a human who reveals himself to be a rather oblivious member of a swinger club. The alien henchman is an annoying Yes-Man who is just as stupid as the human. This leads to the human and the henchman both saying lots of dumb things. In an attempt to interrogate the human, the alien leader several times tries to shut up his henchman's talking by saying "silence", but the henchman thinks it is directed at the human, so he eagerly follows up with "yeah, shut up".
• Various villains from Power Rangers, such as Lord Zedd, Goldar, and Rita Repulsa, say this trope a lot.
• In the 1977 mini-series Jesus of Nazareth, four separate scenes use this trope:
  • The first one is when the Sanhedrin of the Jewish priests send some of their Pharisees and Sadducees to investigate one of Jesus' miracles in the temple of Jerusalem of him healing a poor, beggar man born blind. When they enter the temple and make their way through the chattering and clamoring crowd, they angrily push the people of their way (while some others go ahead and make a clear path for them when they hear them coming behind or past them) in order to get to Jesus and them and their servants sternly yell out, "QUIET!" and "SILENCE YOURSELVES, THE PRIESTS ARE COMING THROUGH! MAKE WAY!" and of course everyone shuts up and goes quiet once they finally reach Jesus on the other end of the large room.
  • The second one is when the Sanhedrin have a special emergency meeting to discuss Jesus' miracles, preaching, and his cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem, and both Caiaphas, the leading High Priest, and one of his servants both yell out variants of "SILENCE!" and "QUIET!" in order to get the council of the Pharisees and Sadducees to quiet down.
  • The third one is when Jesus is finally arrested and they bring Jesus before the Sanhedrin for trial and again, Caiaphas, and his servants use this trope to shut up the clamoring priests and stop them from talking and chattering so much.
  • The fourth and final one is when Pontius Pilate comes in and uses this trope to quiet down his soldiers in his palace and later to quiet down the loud crowds of people when they are gathered to vote on whether he should release and pardon Jesus or Barabbas.
    • In one scene with Pontius Pilate, he is coming back home to his palace while an angry mob is outside, and because he is so fed up and frustrated, we get these lines of dialogue:
  (the angry mob outside of Pontius Pilate's house is rioting while Pilate and his entourage make their way to arrive at the palace on horses)
  (Pilate and his bodyguard soldiers and entourage get off their horses and enter inside the palace, Pilate having a frustrated and sternly scowl of an expression on his face)
  Quintilius (one of Pilate's assistants who acts like a secretary towards him): Welcome back from Caesarea, Lord Pilate—
  Pilate: WELCOME!? I'VE ONLY BEEN GONE FOR TWO WEEKS AND I COME BACK TO FIND A MOB CLAMORING IN THE STREETS, AND YOU DARE TO SAY TO ME, "WELCOME!?"
  Quintilius: But, Lord Pilate—
  Pilate: SILENCE! The only thing I want to know is who is this Jesus of Nazareth they've been shouting about?
• In the QI episode "Quiet," the panelists' buzzers all played recordings of people shouting "quiet!" in various tones... except for Alan's, which gave a condescending "Oh, do shut up."
• The Red Dwarf episode "Meltdown" features a wax-droid replica of Emperor Caligula shouting "Silence, Scum!" at The Cat, and slapping Lister in the face, several times.
• Rome. In Season 2, an adult Octavian shuts up his mother Atia with a curt "Silence" much to her shock, showing how the balance of power between them has now changed. He then expels her lover Marc Antony from Rome, and has Atia placed under house arrest.
• A variation in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, their first episode in the Mirror Universe: to quell an argument, the Intendent (an Evil Counterpart of Kira) simply whispers "Qui-et!"
• Commonly used by a pissed-off Grimlord in VR Troopers.

Music

• Verse three of the Four Seasons' "Silence Is Golden":
  How many times did she fall for his line?
  Should I tell her or should I keep cool?
  And if I tried, I know she'll say I lied
  "Mind your business, don't hurt her, you fool."

Pro Wrestling

• Used very often between wrestlers. Memorably Montel Vontavious Porter went on to say his goal was to get Chris Jericho off Raw so he'd never have to listen to him again.
• Damien Sandow frequently requires "SILENCE" as he tried to educate crowds who paid to see wrestling matches and not necessarily to hear him talk.
• Also a standard heel action to get a lot of heat, telling the crowd to be silent while they trash the face or sing a foreign national anthem, ensuring that everyone in attendance makes as much noise as they can for the duration.

Radio

• Good morning class.... GOOD MORNING CLASS... CLASS... SHUUUDDDUUPPPPPP!!! ... "oh, wow man" Thank you.

Tabletop Games

• Flavorfully speaking, the Magic: The Gathering card Swift Silence is a magical version of this.

Theatre

• The beleaguered Usher of the Court in Trial by Jury is constantly bellowing, in song, the words "Silence in court!" over the singing of the chorus of jurors and spectators.
• 1776. In the song "But Mr. Adams", John Adams vainly tries to convince each member of his committee to write the Declaration of Independence; each comes up with a reason to refuse; and each time the remaining members repeat the refusal in song — except in the last two verses when Adams interrupts them with "QUIET!"

Theme Parks

• At Universal Studios:
  • In the former Ghostbusters Spooktacular show, Gozer yells this when the tour guide won't stop talking back to him.
  • Both versions of Poseidon's Fury has the attraction's villain shouting this at one point to the attraction's guide.
  • Lord Farquaad's very first line in Shrek 4D is a big "SILENCE!", directed at his fairy-tale prisoners.

Video Games

• In the Rainbow Sprinkles trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company, Sarge hisses "Silence! This is supposed to be a stealth mission!" at Haggard and Sweetwater, to which they both just reply "Why?".
• Devil May Cry:
  • Several villains have been known to utter this. One that springs immediately to mind is Berial, the big fire demon from Devil May Cry 4 who is first fought by Nero and then by Dante afterwards. Nero couldn't resist making a quip after Berial just came out of a Hellgate.
    Berial: When I came to this world 2000 years ago, there was no other human from the likes of you.
    Nero: Wanna make it another 2000?
    Berial: Silence!
  • Dante himself also utters this near the end of the first game as a form of Shut Up, Hannibal! to Demon Emperor Mundus when the latter just insulted Dante's deceased mother, Eva.
    Dante: Why my mother?
    Mundus: That useless being? If you need a mother, I can create it as many as you want. Just like, I created Trish.
    Dante: SILENCE!
• Ace Attorney:
  • Objection!
  • HOLD IT!!
  • Franziska von Karma takes it to a new level with her whipping. And her foolishly foolishness of foolishly saying fool to fools.
  • SILENCE! Enough jabbering, lest you wish to taste the cold steel of Prosecutor Simon Blackquill's "blade".
• Super Robot Wars:
  Sanger Zonvolt: SILENCE!! AND LISTEN!! My name is Sanger... Sanger Zonvolt! The Sword That Cleaves Evil!
• Sonic Chronicles:
  • This trope is used to segue into a Heel–Face Turn. After taking some heat from Sonic and company, Imperator Ix has stated that enough's enough and that he'll wipe the party clean before claiming the Master Emerald, with world domination soon to follow. Shade, who was raised and disciplined believing that Ix simply wanted to return the Nocturne to the world rather than take it over, was literally right next to him at this time, and was 'rewarded' for questioning authority with this line - followed by being blown off Angel Island (though Knuckles manages to grab her before she falls completely off).
  • The German version translates "Silence" with the Latin word "Silencium!" instead of the German "Ruhe!" or "Schweig!".
• In Sonic Unleashed, Eggman apparently doesn't like taking lip from his own robots.
  Eggman: A brilliant shift in perspective! An idea worthy of Doctor Eggman, super genius! [laughs]
  Robot: [applauds sarcastically] Your skill at self-aggrandizement is unparalleled.
  Eggman: [continues laughing a little longer before looking at the robot menacingly] Silence! [slaps it]
• Karai says it in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus when the Turtles are about to engage in a boss battle with Karai.
  Karai: Silence. It is my duty to serve him. Enough talk!
• Maleficent says this twice to Lock and Barrel in Kingdom Hearts II.
• The Beast says this to Belle in Kingdom Hearts II as well.
• Vexen from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories yells this in response to Axel and Larxene mocking him. Larxene comments that his response was so predictable and says he's boring.
• Even though she's not evil, Grolla says this twice in RosenkreuzStilette: one in the main game to Tia in any of two versions of the confrontation with her just before the boss battle against her begins, and another in Grollschwert to Graf Sepperin when she confronts him.
• When using the Gentleman Cho'Gath skin, Cho'Gath from League of Legends will yell out "Quiet!" when he uses his Feral Scream. This spell silences enemies.
• In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, this is prosecutor Simon Blackquill's favorite catchphrase to use for loony witnesses and meddling attorneys. In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, he uses it on a certain arrogant prosecutor to announce his Big Damn Heroes moment.
• In the Shovel Knight games, this seems to be a recurring thing for King Knight.
  • Early in Shovel of Hope, when Shovel Knight appears to boot King Knight off his wrongfully-claimed throne.
  Shovel Knight: Prepare to taste justice! Shovel justice!
  King Knight: Silence!!! [Boss Battle starts]
  • Near the end of King of Cards, when the Enchantress tries to tempt King Knight into abandoning his friends and joining the forces of evil, and succeeds when King Pridemoor unwittingly pushes his Berserk Button.
  King Pridemoor: Have you learned nothing about being a king? Please... What would your mother think!?
  King Knight: Silence!! [knocks King Pridemoor into a pit]

Web Animation

• Lard Nar in the pilot episode of Invader Zim: A Very Tall Problem uses a shrill "SILENCE!" to shut Tallest Red up when the latter interrupts the former's gloating to try talking his way out of being executed.
• In Red vs. Blue, O'Malley would often try this. "Be quiet, you FOOL!" It never worked.

Webcomics

• In 8-Bit Theater we have this:
  Drizz'l: SILENCE!
  Fighter: Isn't it a bit ironic to yell "silence"?
• Girl Genius: Possessed Agatha in this comic gives a classic villainous "Silence!"

Web Videos

• Mr. Administrator in Echo Chamber, startling Tom and Dana out of an explanation of that week's trope.
• The Spoony Experiment: "Silence you fool! Don't you know that character is trademarked?!"
• Marik Ishtar in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series loves to do this. From the third "Evil Council" video:
  Marik: Right, yes, well, as I was saying, uh... Silence!
  Bakura: Marik, nobody was saying anything.
  Marik: It was a preemptive "silence!"
  Bakura: Oh. So, you silenced the silence. Good job.
  Marik: Yes, that silence didn't know what hit it!

Western Animation

• The robot elders in the Futurama episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" used this all the time, though most of the time they were interrupting each other.
  Elder #3: Silence! Come forward Bender. You will have the honor of executing the prisoners.
  Elder #4: Silence! I concur.
• The Council of Thirteen tries to do this in the season 3 premiere of The Venture Bros., and hang a lampshade on the phrase's use.
• Once in Xiaolin Showdown, Omi says "Silence, please!". Raimundo keeps talking anyway, and Omi freaks out a little.
  "I told you to be silent! I even said 'please!'"
• Dr. Doom in The Fantastic Four (1967): "Silence! Silence, I say! All of you! Listen to me!" And in The Super Hero Squad Show, he uses some variation of the line in just about every scene he has with his idiot minions, especially MODOK and Abomination.
• Balactus did this when the White Shadow started bossing him around on Minoriteam. "Silence. There are worlds to destroy."
• In The Fairly OddParents!, Elmer's boil says this to him when he contemplates telling someone about it.
• Displayed in an unusual way in the Star Wars spinoff cartoon Droids. During one scene, the local warlord is preparing to make a speech before his henchmen who will not stop talking. The warlord subtly gestures for silence but there's no change. He makes his movements more overt over the next minute or so. Eventually, he resorts to, "QUIIIIIEEEEEEEEETTTTTT!" and finally gets the result he wants.
• Transformers:
  • Megatron fame said this at least once an episode in the G1 cartoon. Usually to Starscream.
  • An ideological argument between Megs and Prime in the IDW comics had Megatron interupting Prime's famous motto with "Oh shut up!"
  • Beast Wars Megatron says this many times as well.
• Mojo Jojo says this trope in a few The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episodes. As well as from the girls themselves (but it's 'shut up' instead of 'silence').
• Sylvester's famous 'Ahhhhh, shaddup!' line.
  • Other Looney Tunes characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam and others, says this trope in many cartoons. However, in one Porky Pig cartoon, "The Wearing of the Grin", one of the Leprechauns says "Silence in the court!" and "Silence, me boyo!" twice to Porky Pig after Porky objects about stealing their pot of gold.
• The Tiny Toons episode, ' A Quack in the Quarks' has the Darth Vader-esque character say, "Siwence!" in Elmer Fuddese.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender has one from Ozai to Azula.
  Ozai: Azula, Silence youself.
• The Little Lulu cartoon Musical Lulu has one from the Judge:
  Lulu: He's a liar, awful liar!
  Judge: Silence is what I desire!
• The Felix the Cat cartoon "Neptune Nonsense" has one from Neptune himself.
  Neptune: So, you were going to cook him and eat him, eh?
  Felix: But I don't—
  Neptune: Silence! Silence!
• Batman: The Animated Series: In the episode "Deep Freeze", Mr. Freeze say this twice to Batman, who is telling him something he really doesn't want to hear. Subverted when Freeze realizes that Batman is right and switches sides.
• Skeletor in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983):
  Skeletor: Silence, you furry fool!
• Susan Storm, while being brainwashed by Psycho-Man, says this in the episode 'Worlds Within Worlds' from Fantastic Four: The Animated Series.
• A minor cat-themed villain on Johnny Bravo plans to steal enough yarn to conquer and rule the entire world, to which his kitten sidekick sensibly asks how he supposed to pull that off. His response: "I... Um... Uh... SILENCE!!"
• Lord Dragaunus, from Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series animated series, says this trope in a few episodes.
• From the British adult cartoon Monkey Dust, the Paedofinder General's catchphrase is a hammy "Silence!" He typically uses it as a "rebuttal" when someone points out the Insane Troll Logic he's using.
• A few characters from X-Men: The Animated Series say this trope:
  • Professor X from the Phoenix Saga arc, says this, when his mind is losing control causing him to attack Wolverine, Jubilee and Gambit, with a evil illusion of himself in his mind.
  • One from D'Ken to Gladiator in the Phoenix Saga arc:
    Gladiator: My lord, he insults you!
    D'Ken: Silence!
  • Brain Child in the "Reunion" two-parter episode:
    Professor X: You are the Master?
    Brain Child: Silence! You're not allowed to speak his name!
• The Simpsons: Happens in many episodes:
  • One example near the end of the second act from the episode "Bart Sells His Soul":
    Homer: Bart, you didn't finish your spaghetti and Moe balls!
    Homer's brain: Silence, you fool. It can be ours!
    Homer: [eating] Run, boy! Run! Run for your life, boy!
  • Also, Bart says one to Lisa after she teases him about Laura and Bart in the episode "The New Kid on the Block":
    Bart: Maybe Laura could watch us.
    Lisa: Oh, I get it. [seductively] Bart, the babysitter's here. Let me tuck you in. [making smacking noises]
    Bart: Silence!
  • And in "The Devil and Homer Simpson" while Lionel Hutz and the Devil (Flanders) prepare for the trial:
    Hutz: All right, first some ground rules. Number one, we get bathroom breaks every half-hour.
    Flanders: Agreed. Number two: the jury shall be chosen by me.
    Hutz: Agreed... no, wait!
    Flanders: Silence!
  • Again in "Skinner's Sense of Snow":
    Skinner: All right, that's it. I'm writing all your names on the detention list in my mind.
    Bart: Silence, Seymour. We're in charge now.
  • And again in "Girly Edition":
  Lisa: Bart, get out of my anchorchair.
  Bart: Silence, Octopussy.
  • And again in "Lisa the Skeptic" but from the so-called angel when it's revealed that it's not an apocalypse but instead turns out to be an opening for the Heavenly Hills shopping mall in Springfield:
  Lisa: Well, there you go. I hope you all learned a valuable—
  Angel: Silence! Prepare for the end... the end of high prices! Behold, the grand opening of the Heavenly Hills Mall.
  • Also one from Mr. Burns in "Homer's Enemy", as well, when criticizing Frank Grimes in his office.
  • From "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday":
    Wally: Well, I'm convinced. Tell you what, Mr. Murdoch. Let's just split the difference. The boys and I will just crouch here quietly, and take it easy on the snacks...
    Murdoch: Silence! [he throws something on the ground, and two puffs of smoke appear, revealing three policemen] Seize them!
  • The trope also appears in the Gracie Films logo sequence in this episode, as well.
  • From "New Kids on the Bleech":
    Skinner: Are you adequately prepared to rock?
    [the audience cheers wildly]
    Skinner: SILENCE!
  • This trope also appeared in a few Treehouse of Horror episodes: TOH VII segment, "Citizen Kang", has Kang (or is it Kodos?) say this trope, TOH VIII segment, "The HΩmega Man", has Mutant Sideshow Mel saying this trope, TOH X has Maggie(in a different voice) say this to Lisa in the episode's couch gag, and near the end of the TOH XI first segment, "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad", has the devil say "Silence, Sinner!" to ghost Homer.
• Dr. Robotnik gets several of these in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. One particularly hilarious instance, in which Robotnik, tired of Scratch and Grounder's bickering, punches a hole in his dressing wall thingy, knocking out Grounder (not to mention looking bigger than usual), and screams "SILENCE!!!!!!!" has undergone Memetic Mutation.
• In Challenge of the Superfriends, Lex Luthor says this Once an Episode in the Hall of Doom.

• Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. "Duck Takes Charge". Say it with us now... "SILENCE!" snapped the Fat Controller.
• A Mr. Magoo special retelling Noah's Ark has sensible eldest brother Shem disgusted with the antics of his libertine youngest brother Japeth. When Japeth comes home drunk after Noah was assaulted by robbers (clued in by Noah's attempts to find Japeth in the local Wretched Hive), a furious Shem slaps his brother's winnings out of his hands and shames him with this trope verbatim. Notable in that he does so in a harsh whisper, rather than at the full volume his tone implies he wanted, out of repect to Noah's ailing condition.
  Shem: Silence you fool! Our father lies in that room badly wounded and raving from the fever... because of you!
• Flying Rhino Junior High had its opening theme song end with The Phantom yelling "SILENCE!"
• Danger Mouse: In "Planet of the Cats," DM and Penfold are catapulted via a time warp into a future London which is now populated by cats under the rule of a future relative of Baron Greenback. Penfold, held captive by future Greenback, rambles as he explain what he's doing there, prompting an abrupt "Silence!" from the future Greenback.

Real Life

• Guards are known to occasionally use a variant at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
  "It is requested that everyone maintains a level of silence and respect!"
  • Said request is usually coupled with a Death Glare. It's very effective.

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