Basic Trope: A character loses their voice, by natural or artificial means.
- Straight: Alice spends the episode unable to talk and she and Bob try to get her voice back.
- Exaggerated:
- She can't make any noises.
- She can't communicate at all.
- Nobody can talk for the duration of the episode.
- Downplayed:
- Alice, somehow, is only able to say certain things, but not others.
- Alice can talk, but her voice is hoarse.
- Justified:
- Alice caught strep throat.
- An evil sorcerer removed Alice's vocal cords or made her forget how to speak.
- Alice strained her throat.
- Alice has recently had a tonsillectomy, which can leave people with difficulty speaking.
- Inverted: Alice can't normally talk, but in one episode she temporarily can.
- Subverted: Alice appears to be straining to speak, but it turns out she was just faking it.
- Double Subverted: Then she loses her voice for real, or Bob loses his voice.
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged:
- Averted: Nobody loses their voice in any way, shape or form.
- Enforced:
- The writers made Alice unable to talk in order to justify a plot that's fueled by Poor Communication Kills.
- The actress who plays Alice has to rest her voice for medical reasons, but is contracted to appear in every episode. Delaying filming isn't an option, so the writers have to come up with a storyline in which Alice is temporarily unable to speak.
- Lampshaded:
- Invoked:
- Alice tries to strain her voice.
- Charlie casts a spell to take Alice's voice.
- Charlie tries to give Alice strep throat.
- Exploited:
- Alice actually lost her voice because she strained her throat. However, Bob can pretend she has strep throat and make their enemies worry she is contagious.
- With Alice's voice gone, Charlie can win the singing competition instead of her.
- Diane has invented a cure for lost voices, and with Alice's voice gone, it's a perfect opportunity to test it.
- Defied:
- Discussed: "How do I do this without losing my voice?"
- Conversed: "How did Alice lose her voice in that episode?"
- Implied: Alice is seen opening and shutting her mouth as if she's trying unsuccessfully to speak.
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: Alice tries to do charades to communicate with her voice gone, but Bob has no clue what she's saying.
- Played for Drama: Alice must say a spell before a certain time or die but she's lost her voice.
Back to Lost Voice Plot.
