History Main / HeWhoMustNotBeHeard

* {{Zorro}}'s manservant, usually named Bernardo, is mute in most versions. He often pretends to be deaf as well in order to gather intelligence for his master (who is able to understand him). In some DarkerAndEdgier versions, this is the result of his tongue having been cut out by the bad guys; in the [=1990s=] TV remake - which featured a teenage version of this character named Felipe whom Don Diego had previously rescued from a battlefield - it was explained as psychosomatic. Naturally, the episode that explains this also includes Felipe's dramatic one-shot cry of 'Zorro!' just in time to alert Z to a bad guy behind him.

* Maine, from RedVsBlue, is only capable of growling menacingly due to being [[spoiler:shot in the throat.]] Even before that, he never actually spoke on screen.

* Skurge the Executioner, Annihilus, and Galactus from ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''.

* Sumiyoshi of ''Manga/ExcelSaga'', who never talks, but communicated solely by speech bubbles, in a Kansai/Geordie accent.

* Possibly subverted by Cotton from the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies. He's lost his tongue and the parrot talks for him. Of course, the Parrot only used nautical terms to do so, so someone has to interpret for the parrot. Except for the one time when, after passing the order down the line to "Watch the boat," the parrot passed the order to Cotton himself and Cotton, dejected, realizes that not only is there no one else to pass it along to, he couldn't do so even if there was.
* {{Zorro}}'s manservant, usually named Bernardo, is mute in most versions. He often pretends to be deaf as well in order to gather intelligence for his master (who is able to understand him). In some DarkerAndEdgier versions, this is the result of his tongue having been cut out by the bad guys; in the 1990's TV remake - which featured a teenage version of this character named Felipe whom Don Diego had previously rescued from a battlefield - it was explained as psychosomatic. Naturally, the episode that explains this also includes Felipe's dramatic one-shot cry of 'Zorro!' just in time to alert Z to a bad guy behind him.

* Mitch, the trainee from ''{{Waiting}}'', is a subversion. After several [[PreemptiveShutUp Preemptive Shut Ups]] and interuptions, he cracks and says everything that he wanted to say over the course of the day.

* Morn on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Of course, the rest of the cast joked that you could never get him to shut up.
** Morn laughed at a joke once, albeit in a muffled voice.
** Also the Breen, allies of the Dominion and the Cardassians (who are also FacelessGoons as well), spoke in unintelligible noise ... but all the characters around them, notably the Female Changeling, seemed to understand them perfectly.

* Maris from ''{{Frasier}}'' never makes any vocal sounds onscreen despite being quite an influential character — all her offscreen dialogue is related to the viewer through discussions of it by other characters, including RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear. She is also [[SheWhoMustNotBeSeen rarely seen in any way]] (except once as a silhouette, and once more in a brief glimpse of her completely covered in bandages in the hospital.)

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', three of the four Greybeards cannot speak even in whisper, as their voices are powerful enough to cause earthquakes. Thus, Arngeir speaks for them.
** The game draws attention to this in a rather awesome manner--if the player attempts to talk to one of them, they will greet him/her with a single whispered word, and the entire castle shakes as they say it.
* The main character of "EdnaAndHarveyHarveysNewEyes" usually gets interrupted before she can get a word in. That doesn't stop other characters from guessing (with suprising accuracy) what she was going to say though.

* While most of the animal cast in {{Happy Tree Friends}} are unintelligable, Mole the blind mole, Cro-Marmot the marmot, and Mime the reindeer mime have never spoken a word in the entire series.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' - Maggie normally doesn't speak simply because she's a baby. But even in the episode "Lisa's Wedding" she was still never able to say a word without being interrupted. In other episodes set in the future, she's often conveniently somewhere else for the duration of the episode in order to avoid having to answer the question of what Maggie will actually sound like. One Christmas episode does feature her as an adult and a rockstar famed for her magnificent voice. Unfortunately, due to a [[RuleOfFunny poorly explained pregnancy complication]], she is medically forbidden from speaking until the baby is born. At which point she's back to being interrupted before actually saying anything.

* The torso from the [[TwoThousandAD 2000 AD]] strip StrontiumDog. He has no head and therefore no mouth, yet everyone seems to understand him just fine.

* Black Bolt, king of TheInhumans from the ''MarvelUniverse'', has a voice that destroys anything in its path, whether he wants it to or not. Because of this, he never speaks in the presence of allies (and even with enemies, usually only as a last resort).

-->-- '''TheMicallefProgram'''

* ''TheMicallefProgram''. Australian comedian Shaun Micallef had a skit where he was a StylisticSuck SpaghettiWestern hero called Sotto Voce who'd ride up to characters on his white horse, whisper his lines faintly, then ride off (or shoot them) while they were trying to work out what he'd just said.

* A running joke in ''{{The Spectacular Spider-Man}}'' involved the character Hobie Brown (the future vigilante Prowler) being interrupted whenever he was about to speak. He finally speaks in the series' penultimate episode.

* Tom and Jerry are entirely voiceless (though "Spike the bulldog" does talk at times).

** It actually sounds an awful lot like the sounds made by the metal spider-things in ''LostInSpace'', the 1998 film.

* Rise Matsumoto of {{Manga/Yuru-Yuri}} is never audibly heard by anyone other than Nishigaki-sensei (and possibly Chitose), who will then comment on what she said, or say it to the other characters. Anytime she speaks, her mouth moves but nothing can be heard. One character [[LampshadeHanging says she can't hear what]] Rise is saying when watching the play that Rise is in and "speaking" in episode 12 of Season 2.

*** Hell, if he happens to wimper when hurt he makes the whole goddamn planet he's on Tremble.

* The Butler from ''ThePrisoner''. Originally the role was going to be a speaking one, as a tall, erudite gentleman. However, Patrick [=McGoohan=] decided to be a little less on the nose and cast dwarf actor Angelo Muscat in the role, also making it silent in the process.

* [[BadassDriver The Stig]] in the current format of ''TopGear'', also extended to The Stig's American cousin, The Stig's African cousin, and The Stig's lorry driving cousin.
* [[TheSootyShow Sooty]], in all his incarnations, never speaks as far as the audience can hear merely whispering his words into the ear of his human handler. His companion Sweep also has a restricted vocabulary, though in his case he does make a squeaking noise. In fact Sue, the female panda puppet, being the only one of the puppets that can speak...

* Leonoardo from the "Clyde Crashcup" shorts of the original ''{{Alvin and the Chipmunks}}'' would only talk by whispering in people's ears, but was inaudible to the audience.

** BlackOrchid is also completely silent. It serves to make her seem more mysterious, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but early script drafts indicate that she was intended to talk]].

* Black Bolt, king of TheInhumans from the ''MarvelUniverse'', has a voice which...well. Let's put it this way: When he declares "War", no one laughs at the pun (because they're too busy being ripped to pieces).

* Darius in ''MisadventuresOfAwkwardBlackGirl''. J first meets him when she partners with him for an icebreaker at work. Neither she nor the audience can understand him. In another episode, at Fred's party, he is the DJ and tries to start everyone singing "Happy Birthday" but nobody can hear him so everybody is off.

* "Pee-wee" from Creator/HarveyComics' ComicBook/RichieRich stories can understand everything said to him but never vocalises. His big brother "Freckles" always knows what his little brother wants to say and speaks for him.

->''His enemies all fear him, you can barely hear him, invincible and inaudible - Sotto Voce!''

* Snake Eyes from GIJoe can't speak due to his face being horribly scarred in a helicopter explosion.
* "Pee-wee" from Harvey Comics' RichieRich stories can understand everything said to him but never vocalises. His big brother "Freckles" always knows what his little brother wants to say and speaks for him.

* God in ''{{Dogma}}''; since God's voice is the voice of creation, living humans would die instantly if they ever heard her speak out loud (though saying "Beep" seems to be an exception). Handily, she has the Metatron around to pass on instructions to mortals.
* Possibly subverted by Cotton from the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies. He's lost his tongue and the parrot talks for him. Of course, the Parrot only used nautical terms to do so, so someone has to interpret for the parrot. Except for the one time when, after passing the order down the line to "Watch the boat," the parrot passed the order to Cotton himself and Cotton, dejected, realizes that not only is there no one else to pass it along to, he couldn't do so even if there was.

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* Creator/RowanAtkinson, as MrBean, is based mostly on silent comedy, so he rarely speaks. Atkinson has also said that the voice hurts his throat.

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* The Creation King, ''KamenRiderBlack'''s UltimateEvil, "speaks" using deep sounds that only his servants can understand. Luckily for us, those are interpreted for plot exposition.
* In an episode of ''Scrubs'', the wife of an Episcopalian couple is never heard talking, and is at one point told by her husband to stop making a scene when she audibly exhales. Like most elements in Scrubs, this is taken to a deeper and more serious level when the husband explains to JD and Turk that he and his wife don't communicate or get along well outside of the bedroom, and now that is being threatened by his erectile dysfunction.

* ''TheMicallefProgram''. Australian comedian Shaun Micallef had a skit where he was a StylisticSuck SpaghettiWestern hero called Sotto Vocce who'd ride up to characters on his white horse, whisper his lines faintly, then ride off (or shoot them) while they were trying to work out what he'd just said.

* Australian comedian Shaun Micallef had a skit involving a StylisticSuck SpaghettiWestern hero called Sotto Vocce who'd ride up to characters on his white horse, whisper his lines faintly, then ride off (or shoot them) while they were trying to work out what he'd just said.

* Shaun Micallef had a skit involving a StylisticSuck SpaghettiWestern hero called Sotto Vocce who'd ride up to characters on his white horse, whisper his lines faintly, then ride off (or shoot them) while they were trying to work out what he'd just said.

* Most of the Angels in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' are completely silent, and it's unknown if they even have the capacity to speak. While one Angel does have a conversation with Rei (by assuming her form and voice within her mind), only [[spoiler: Kaworu]], the final Angel, ever actually talks.

* Skurge the Executioner from ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''.

* Boomhauer's father from ''{{King of the Hill}}'' never speaks on screen, on at least one occasion he had just finished a conversation and Hank and the others complement how intelligent he is.

* ''TheSimpsons'' - Maggie normally doesn't speak simply because she's a baby. But even in the episode "Lisa's Wedding" she was still never able to say a word without being interrupted. In other episodes set in the future, she's often conveniently somewhere else for the duration of the episode in order to avoid having to answer the question of what Maggie will actually sound like. One Christmas episode does feature her as an adult and a rockstar famed for her magnificent voice. Unfortunately, due to a [[RuleOfFunny poorly explained pregnancy complication]], she is medically forbidden from speaking until the baby is born. At which point she's back to being interrupted before actually saying anything.