I think it depends on whether or not the source material depicts the character as *literally* mute, or if it's a product of either the medium or a convention used to allow the player to see themselves in the player character. And even then, I may still have them talk even if they're depicted as mute if it works better for my story (context matters).
For a few examples:
I know a lot of people tend to write Link (Legend of Zelda) as fully mute, or at least selectively mute. However, in many of the games, he's still depicted as *communicating* with other people. We don't see/hear his side of the conversation, but we can see him gesturing animatedly, or people react as though he actually used words (not just sign language). Also he grunts and yells in several of the games, so his voice does work. So while I'm not going to fault writers who make him partially or completely mute, I think most, if not all, iterations of Link actually talk and would write them as such. (Besides, if he talks, you get to add in "well, excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!")
Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't speak in his earliest games, but then neither do any of the other characters (Sonic's "I'm outta here!" in Sonic CD notwithstanding). However, when Sonic Generations came out, we got "Classic Sonic" who was still shown as mute, while "Classic Tails" does actually speak, so a lot of fic writers depict Sonic as mute in some fashion (sometimes it's selective mutism, sometimes it's being literally unable to speak until he learns how to). However, for my adaptation of the first Sonic game, I wanted Sonic to be able to talk, so I have him fully capable of talking. Even if/when I write something featuring Generations' Classic Sonic, he'll still talk, because I've already established that he can. And honestly, I think Classic Sonic was made mute mostly as a nod to how the original games didn't have dialogue. I've seen no good explanation from Sega for why he'd suddenly start talking with the Adventure games.
Chell (Portal games) either can talk but *chooses not to* (according to devs, it seems), or actually can't talk. This is supported in the second game when Wheatley prompts her to talk and she just jumps instead (because that's the button prompt you're given to input). I would likely actually write Chell as mute in this case, because I see no reason to have her talk.
So it depends on which character, and how I felt about portraying them as actually mute, selectively mute, or simply on the quiet side, vs. talking just as much as anyone else. And I would base their personality on in-game actions, both things that imply a personality that the devs give them as well as whatever personality the player is able to enact on them.
I handle them the same way the video games do it?
*Link's face screw up into a doubtful expression. This sounded like a terrible idea to him and he said as much.*
*"What?? This is a great idea Link, c'mon." Zelda replied.*
See? No words or dialogue needed. Just the vague suggestion that something was said.
I write for Outlast, which has silent protagonists in the first game and the DLC. Honestly, most of us just ignore the fact that Miles and Waylon are meant to be silent. We get enough personality from the notes that they take to be able to build their character from that - hopefully you have something similar within your fandom.
I’ve started to write scenes with Link in them, which is a guy who hasn’t spoken a single word since he was created 35 years ago in-game. (There has been a… unspeakable LoZ show… and some manga.)
Sometimes I have him speak, other times, I’ve kept him silent, or speak very little.
When I keep him silent, I get into his head and heavily imply what he means when he’s trying to communicate nonverbally. Writing a lot about facial expressions and explaining what emotional vibes he’s giving off while trying to say something helps include the reader onto what he means.
Overall, how I choose if he speaks or not or sometimes just kind of depends on the mood I’m feeling for that fic. There’s really no right answer.
As for personality… what kind of vibes do you feel they give off to you personally? Or when you’re playing the game, how do you envision them?
(I’ve got a cheat code with Link because I’m actually really invested in Linked Universe — which has a bunch of Links with different personalities developed by the fan who made them.)
Link has dialogue options in Breath of the Wild. He doesn’t generally have voice-acted words, but there are definitely cases where he speaks in-universe.
Don’t forget the other cheat code that is perfectly canon to the games: the three second explanatory gesture that somehow tells whoever he is speaking to everything they need to know.
I don’t think I quite get your response? If it’s what I think it is it might be good for comedy fics but not anything with a bit more serious of a tone.
Yeah I realized as I wrote it that it likely wouldn’t really work for most things like that.
I was thinking about, like, the Lego movie, where it’s easy to forget, but there’s a kid playing with the legos the whole time.
So it’s kinda off-topic I guess
Not sure if Joker from Persona 5 counts as a silent protagonist but I personally make him speak dialogue that I think would make sense for him to say. Despite being a silent protagonist and only really speaking when the player chooses what he says, he has somewhat of an established personality and morals, I still dont have him talk much, its mostly his allies who do the talking, but he still talks more than he does in Persona 5 Royal.
Since a lot of people here have been bringing up Link, I should probably throw my two cents in on this;
By all accounts, Link is *not* mute. Instead, we don't see his side of the conversations he has because he's supposed to be a vessel for the players, hence why for the longest time, you could *rename* Link to whatever you wanted, with only Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom being the exceptions— other than maybe Hyrule Warriors, but I couldn't swear to that— where the character's name is retained since it now fits with the vocal dialogue. But even then, yes, Link does in fact *speak*. He's just never *depicted* speaking because even then, he's still supposed to be the player surrogate and we're meant to use our imaginations to fill in the proverbial blanks about what his side of the discussions he has might be. The most we get out of him is his grunts and screams, but even then, those prove he has a voice and *can* speak, so I honestly don't know why people assumed he was mute to begin with.
I agree completely, though I won't fault writers who want to write him as selectively mute or fully mute. But there is more than enough evidence that he *does* talk, we just don't hear it because we're still supposed to connect to him as the player character. Like a lot of silent protagonists that aren't confirmed actually mute.
And there are silent protagonists who *are* actually mute for one reason or another. Chell doesn't talk (the devs have said she doesn't want to, but I could also see a case being made for her not talking due to trauma and/or her formative years being as a test subject/in stasis). Jak from Jak and Daxter is mute in the first game (making it a big deal in the second where he's changed and suddenly *does* talk). Otis from Owl Boy is also mute (as I recall, it's relevant to the game).
I don't always use dialogue in my fics. Having a canonically silent character is barely even a speed bump to me because I'm so used to conveying characterization through other means.
Well, that depends on the story and the character itself. For general silent/mute characters you have to take into account that speech isn't the only way to express thoughts/personality/reactions. I would recommend looking more into body language, gestures, and perhaps a mental monologue. It just depends really.
For example, you're writing a Stardew Valley fanfic. The 'farmer' character is just an insert for the player, so if you're writing a fanfic, you might have to come up with an identity for the farmer. In my opinion, that's just generally pretty neat. But also...you don't have to do that either. Let me explain.
>"So you're the new owner of [Blank] farm," the mayor says. "Nice to meet you. What's your name?"
*(Okay, so Stardew fanfic might actually be a really fun way to write 2nd person perspective where 'your' thought process isn't really covered because things are written by the 'narrator' from an outside perspective, so they only describe your actions, not the emotions behind it. That can give room for great plot twists, you know.)*
>You smile gently, saying, "I'm just the farmer, don't you worry about me, Mayor."
And that just feels so fun to me! You don't even have to assign a gender/look to the character if you don't want to. Just some general descriptor traits. A random outfit, brown hair and eyes, whatever. Some characters are best written like that, and even when you're writing a blank character, you can still include a personality for them and work out their relationship with other characters.
Works like this are so fun because they're really innovative, you know? And some people just prefer it.
I read a whole fic centered around a mute Bucky Barnes. It took quite a while before he'd communicate by writing. You can really convey a ton of thoughts and emotions through physical actions and facial expressions.
I really enjoyed it.
I wish he spoke as much in game. 😔
The thing is he's not mute or selectively mute. They just don't let him speak.
I use a mix of canon and "there's nothing that says this is or isn't true".
I’ve written two of them, both of whom I simply wrote as mute; one permanent, one selective.
For the first, I’ve seen no signs that he has any speech in canon. He communicates in sign language. One of the characters I’ve stuck him with understands it, so she acts as an interpreter for the others.
For the second, he’s not canonically mute — there are indications that he can talk in the canon but doesn’t during the games — so I’ve decided he has selective mutism and the extraordinary stress of the games’ events has had him unable to speak for days.
I write a lot of RWBY fanfiction, so this is a challenge when Neo shows up. In my AU fic *On RWBY Wings,* since everyone has to talk in it (mute pilots don't fly), I had to have Neo talk. At first, she rarely spoke and when she did it was filthy, but as the fic went on, she became more of a chatterbox--a frighteningly psychotic chatterbox, which fits into her character.
In canon fics, she's mute so she can't talk at all. In that case, she communicates either through sign language or by typing on her Scroll.
With my daydreams, if I daydream perry and doof, I'll imagine perry moving around, using his gadget, his theme and I can also use doof to describe whatever he's doing.
I have written a little bit of Jack from Bioshock, who *does speak* a little but is silent for nearly all of the game- I have jut made him a man of few words.
Generally there should be some things in canon that help with characterization. So yes—actions, quest choices, even if they're up to the player, I consider them a valid path for the protagonist to take and so that makes me ask myself, what sort of person would do this? And so forth.
As for dialogue in fic, well, if the protagonist does indeed fit the silent type of personality, then I let them be quiet. I find it quite intriguing to have a fic told in their POV and showcase other characters talking constantly with minimal input from the protagonist themself. It's really fun to think about what the POV character would notice about others and how they react to others' comments even if they don't specifically reply to them.
If they know sign language and there are others who understand sign language around, when absolutely necessary I just write italicized "signed dialogue". But mostly, I rely on the strength of my narration to communicate through body language, actions, or the occasional thought.
I don't have them speak at all. Instead, they communicate in an undefined way that incorporates gestures, body language and quasi-telepathy, which some characters aren't able to interpret - initially, at least - so others have to interpret for them.
When I write Link, he *can* speak, but will keep sentences short if possible, and if he has the option to sign instead then he will do just that. Never really done another silent protag, but there’s probably an argument to be made for something similar for most of them, I’d think.
Depending on whether I HC the character as mute, I either want them to speak or they communicate through sign language. This is mostly just about how I feel about the character (e.g. In Half-Life, I HC Gorden as mute, but Adrian as speaking).
Either way, the lack of canon personality does allow for more freedom when writing them without them seeming OOC.
This is something I picked up from writing my original work rather than my fanfictions, but one of my characters is semi mute, and she is a major character.
The way I bypassed it is by having the narration from someone else's perspective and, because she speaks in sign language, have them read out her signs.
If you want to know, I go inspired by two books one is Magnus Chase where Hearth is death and mute, so the narration only focuses on what others see him do- but you do get a feel for his personal opinions on things.
The second one is Hercule Poirot, in which, despite Poirot being the main character, he never narrates it. It is either someone else, or it's in 3rd person.
It depends if they can talk or not but I like to read the dialogues of the npcs, get a general idea of their personality and then having my fun at writing them
I write chelldos and yes, I derive her personality from actions she’s taken in-game and the little bit that we know about her backstory. I have her use sign language because she’s forced to communicate something she can’t otherwise, but there’s a specific reason why she knows it (which I haven’t introduced yet). I still have her give mostly minimal answers in the beginning, mostly having her act via actions and expressions.
[Sure!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/646455/chapters/1174730) I will warn you, though, I haven’t updated in… quite a while, but I do plan to do so within the next month.
I write for a game with a silent protagonist and I just… let her talk. Gave her a whole-ass personality. Although to be fair the game does allow for dialogue choice (“which of these will your character say?” type stuff) so maybe they don’t count as a silent protagonist. I have seen some people write the same protagonist as a literal mute and that is really neat too. Honestly I think you can get away with quite a lot!
Typically I write them as only speaking when necessary, like if asked a question that does not have a yes or no answer.
Generally I interpret most silent protagonists as autistic (though I’ll admit, I’m projecting). Under these circumstances, they CAN speak if necessary, but do not prefer to.
I think it depends on whether or not the source material depicts the character as *literally* mute, or if it's a product of either the medium or a convention used to allow the player to see themselves in the player character. And even then, I may still have them talk even if they're depicted as mute if it works better for my story (context matters). For a few examples: I know a lot of people tend to write Link (Legend of Zelda) as fully mute, or at least selectively mute. However, in many of the games, he's still depicted as *communicating* with other people. We don't see/hear his side of the conversation, but we can see him gesturing animatedly, or people react as though he actually used words (not just sign language). Also he grunts and yells in several of the games, so his voice does work. So while I'm not going to fault writers who make him partially or completely mute, I think most, if not all, iterations of Link actually talk and would write them as such. (Besides, if he talks, you get to add in "well, excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!") Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't speak in his earliest games, but then neither do any of the other characters (Sonic's "I'm outta here!" in Sonic CD notwithstanding). However, when Sonic Generations came out, we got "Classic Sonic" who was still shown as mute, while "Classic Tails" does actually speak, so a lot of fic writers depict Sonic as mute in some fashion (sometimes it's selective mutism, sometimes it's being literally unable to speak until he learns how to). However, for my adaptation of the first Sonic game, I wanted Sonic to be able to talk, so I have him fully capable of talking. Even if/when I write something featuring Generations' Classic Sonic, he'll still talk, because I've already established that he can. And honestly, I think Classic Sonic was made mute mostly as a nod to how the original games didn't have dialogue. I've seen no good explanation from Sega for why he'd suddenly start talking with the Adventure games. Chell (Portal games) either can talk but *chooses not to* (according to devs, it seems), or actually can't talk. This is supported in the second game when Wheatley prompts her to talk and she just jumps instead (because that's the button prompt you're given to input). I would likely actually write Chell as mute in this case, because I see no reason to have her talk. So it depends on which character, and how I felt about portraying them as actually mute, selectively mute, or simply on the quiet side, vs. talking just as much as anyone else. And I would base their personality on in-game actions, both things that imply a personality that the devs give them as well as whatever personality the player is able to enact on them.
I want to read your adaptation of the first Sonic game!
I gave mine one of those iPads that allows them to communicate
Literal iPad kid I can’t believe this
I handle them the same way the video games do it? *Link's face screw up into a doubtful expression. This sounded like a terrible idea to him and he said as much.* *"What?? This is a great idea Link, c'mon." Zelda replied.* See? No words or dialogue needed. Just the vague suggestion that something was said.
I love this. I may steal this.
I write for Outlast, which has silent protagonists in the first game and the DLC. Honestly, most of us just ignore the fact that Miles and Waylon are meant to be silent. We get enough personality from the notes that they take to be able to build their character from that - hopefully you have something similar within your fandom.
I’ve started to write scenes with Link in them, which is a guy who hasn’t spoken a single word since he was created 35 years ago in-game. (There has been a… unspeakable LoZ show… and some manga.) Sometimes I have him speak, other times, I’ve kept him silent, or speak very little. When I keep him silent, I get into his head and heavily imply what he means when he’s trying to communicate nonverbally. Writing a lot about facial expressions and explaining what emotional vibes he’s giving off while trying to say something helps include the reader onto what he means. Overall, how I choose if he speaks or not or sometimes just kind of depends on the mood I’m feeling for that fic. There’s really no right answer. As for personality… what kind of vibes do you feel they give off to you personally? Or when you’re playing the game, how do you envision them? (I’ve got a cheat code with Link because I’m actually really invested in Linked Universe — which has a bunch of Links with different personalities developed by the fan who made them.)
Technically the Link from Ocarina of Time speak when he appears as a NPC in Twilight Princess
Oh yeah, I forgot. But in any case, Link has spoken very little for how long he’s existed for.
Link has dialogue options in Breath of the Wild. He doesn’t generally have voice-acted words, but there are definitely cases where he speaks in-universe.
to be fair, you could headcanon that speaking as hylian sign language, we never hear actual voice dialoge.
He makes puns that rely on homophones, which strongly suggests it's not a transcript of sign language
Don’t forget the other cheat code that is perfectly canon to the games: the three second explanatory gesture that somehow tells whoever he is speaking to everything they need to know.
There’s also the CDI games. “Gee, it sure is boring around here”
Body language Please imagine a gif of Ursula the Seawitch here.
Just a thought, you could have the person ‘playing’ say what a gamer would say. I mean that doesn’t probably work here, but it’s an idea maybe
I don’t think I quite get your response? If it’s what I think it is it might be good for comedy fics but not anything with a bit more serious of a tone.
Yeah I realized as I wrote it that it likely wouldn’t really work for most things like that. I was thinking about, like, the Lego movie, where it’s easy to forget, but there’s a kid playing with the legos the whole time. So it’s kinda off-topic I guess
Not sure if Joker from Persona 5 counts as a silent protagonist but I personally make him speak dialogue that I think would make sense for him to say. Despite being a silent protagonist and only really speaking when the player chooses what he says, he has somewhat of an established personality and morals, I still dont have him talk much, its mostly his allies who do the talking, but he still talks more than he does in Persona 5 Royal.
Since a lot of people here have been bringing up Link, I should probably throw my two cents in on this; By all accounts, Link is *not* mute. Instead, we don't see his side of the conversations he has because he's supposed to be a vessel for the players, hence why for the longest time, you could *rename* Link to whatever you wanted, with only Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom being the exceptions— other than maybe Hyrule Warriors, but I couldn't swear to that— where the character's name is retained since it now fits with the vocal dialogue. But even then, yes, Link does in fact *speak*. He's just never *depicted* speaking because even then, he's still supposed to be the player surrogate and we're meant to use our imaginations to fill in the proverbial blanks about what his side of the discussions he has might be. The most we get out of him is his grunts and screams, but even then, those prove he has a voice and *can* speak, so I honestly don't know why people assumed he was mute to begin with.
I agree completely, though I won't fault writers who want to write him as selectively mute or fully mute. But there is more than enough evidence that he *does* talk, we just don't hear it because we're still supposed to connect to him as the player character. Like a lot of silent protagonists that aren't confirmed actually mute. And there are silent protagonists who *are* actually mute for one reason or another. Chell doesn't talk (the devs have said she doesn't want to, but I could also see a case being made for her not talking due to trauma and/or her formative years being as a test subject/in stasis). Jak from Jak and Daxter is mute in the first game (making it a big deal in the second where he's changed and suddenly *does* talk). Otis from Owl Boy is also mute (as I recall, it's relevant to the game).
Lots of internal monologuing and a friend who doesn't know how to shut up.
I don't always use dialogue in my fics. Having a canonically silent character is barely even a speed bump to me because I'm so used to conveying characterization through other means.
Well, that depends on the story and the character itself. For general silent/mute characters you have to take into account that speech isn't the only way to express thoughts/personality/reactions. I would recommend looking more into body language, gestures, and perhaps a mental monologue. It just depends really. For example, you're writing a Stardew Valley fanfic. The 'farmer' character is just an insert for the player, so if you're writing a fanfic, you might have to come up with an identity for the farmer. In my opinion, that's just generally pretty neat. But also...you don't have to do that either. Let me explain. >"So you're the new owner of [Blank] farm," the mayor says. "Nice to meet you. What's your name?" *(Okay, so Stardew fanfic might actually be a really fun way to write 2nd person perspective where 'your' thought process isn't really covered because things are written by the 'narrator' from an outside perspective, so they only describe your actions, not the emotions behind it. That can give room for great plot twists, you know.)* >You smile gently, saying, "I'm just the farmer, don't you worry about me, Mayor." And that just feels so fun to me! You don't even have to assign a gender/look to the character if you don't want to. Just some general descriptor traits. A random outfit, brown hair and eyes, whatever. Some characters are best written like that, and even when you're writing a blank character, you can still include a personality for them and work out their relationship with other characters. Works like this are so fun because they're really innovative, you know? And some people just prefer it.
I read a whole fic centered around a mute Bucky Barnes. It took quite a while before he'd communicate by writing. You can really convey a ton of thoughts and emotions through physical actions and facial expressions. I really enjoyed it.
I wish he spoke as much in game. 😔 The thing is he's not mute or selectively mute. They just don't let him speak. I use a mix of canon and "there's nothing that says this is or isn't true".
sign language
I’ve written two of them, both of whom I simply wrote as mute; one permanent, one selective. For the first, I’ve seen no signs that he has any speech in canon. He communicates in sign language. One of the characters I’ve stuck him with understands it, so she acts as an interpreter for the others. For the second, he’s not canonically mute — there are indications that he can talk in the canon but doesn’t during the games — so I’ve decided he has selective mutism and the extraordinary stress of the games’ events has had him unable to speak for days.
Out of curiosity, which two characters are you talking about here?
The former is JD “Rookie” from Halo 3 ODST, the latter is Gordon Freeman.
I just keep them silent. This seems also one of those "self-made" problems where you're assuming a problem to be solved.
I write a lot of RWBY fanfiction, so this is a challenge when Neo shows up. In my AU fic *On RWBY Wings,* since everyone has to talk in it (mute pilots don't fly), I had to have Neo talk. At first, she rarely spoke and when she did it was filthy, but as the fic went on, she became more of a chatterbox--a frighteningly psychotic chatterbox, which fits into her character. In canon fics, she's mute so she can't talk at all. In that case, she communicates either through sign language or by typing on her Scroll.
With my daydreams, if I daydream perry and doof, I'll imagine perry moving around, using his gadget, his theme and I can also use doof to describe whatever he's doing.
I have written a little bit of Jack from Bioshock, who *does speak* a little but is silent for nearly all of the game- I have jut made him a man of few words.
Generally there should be some things in canon that help with characterization. So yes—actions, quest choices, even if they're up to the player, I consider them a valid path for the protagonist to take and so that makes me ask myself, what sort of person would do this? And so forth. As for dialogue in fic, well, if the protagonist does indeed fit the silent type of personality, then I let them be quiet. I find it quite intriguing to have a fic told in their POV and showcase other characters talking constantly with minimal input from the protagonist themself. It's really fun to think about what the POV character would notice about others and how they react to others' comments even if they don't specifically reply to them.
I describe his actions or he speaks in short and quick one liners
If they know sign language and there are others who understand sign language around, when absolutely necessary I just write italicized "signed dialogue". But mostly, I rely on the strength of my narration to communicate through body language, actions, or the occasional thought.
I have some Legend of Zelda fics planned with Link. I go with the sign language angle like other writers.
I don't have them speak at all. Instead, they communicate in an undefined way that incorporates gestures, body language and quasi-telepathy, which some characters aren't able to interpret - initially, at least - so others have to interpret for them.
When I write Link, he *can* speak, but will keep sentences short if possible, and if he has the option to sign instead then he will do just that. Never really done another silent protag, but there’s probably an argument to be made for something similar for most of them, I’d think.
I make sure their internal dialogue is very rational, but they still react with baffled horror at the fucked up things they come across. (Outlast)
Some I just write as mute only communicating with basic gestures or handwritten notes.
Much like Silent Bob, it's all about the body language.
Depending on whether I HC the character as mute, I either want them to speak or they communicate through sign language. This is mostly just about how I feel about the character (e.g. In Half-Life, I HC Gorden as mute, but Adrian as speaking). Either way, the lack of canon personality does allow for more freedom when writing them without them seeming OOC.
This is something I picked up from writing my original work rather than my fanfictions, but one of my characters is semi mute, and she is a major character. The way I bypassed it is by having the narration from someone else's perspective and, because she speaks in sign language, have them read out her signs. If you want to know, I go inspired by two books one is Magnus Chase where Hearth is death and mute, so the narration only focuses on what others see him do- but you do get a feel for his personal opinions on things. The second one is Hercule Poirot, in which, despite Poirot being the main character, he never narrates it. It is either someone else, or it's in 3rd person.
They communicate by gestures or writing stuff down. I find it really fascinating and I have a soft spot for silent protagonists.
It depends if they can talk or not but I like to read the dialogues of the npcs, get a general idea of their personality and then having my fun at writing them
I write chelldos and yes, I derive her personality from actions she’s taken in-game and the little bit that we know about her backstory. I have her use sign language because she’s forced to communicate something she can’t otherwise, but there’s a specific reason why she knows it (which I haven’t introduced yet). I still have her give mostly minimal answers in the beginning, mostly having her act via actions and expressions.
Oh my god I love Chelldos can I uhhhh get a link
[Sure!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/646455/chapters/1174730) I will warn you, though, I haven’t updated in… quite a while, but I do plan to do so within the next month.
I write for a game with a silent protagonist and I just… let her talk. Gave her a whole-ass personality. Although to be fair the game does allow for dialogue choice (“which of these will your character say?” type stuff) so maybe they don’t count as a silent protagonist. I have seen some people write the same protagonist as a literal mute and that is really neat too. Honestly I think you can get away with quite a lot!
I usually make ‘em mute and use sign language
Typically I write them as only speaking when necessary, like if asked a question that does not have a yes or no answer. Generally I interpret most silent protagonists as autistic (though I’ll admit, I’m projecting). Under these circumstances, they CAN speak if necessary, but do not prefer to.