Board 8 > The Mount Rushmore of: Silent Protagonists

(+) Yeah! (+)

Updated and added some new rules.

Rules

1. You may vote up to 4 entries that fit the prompt.
2. No alts.
3. No deleting or editing posts; though, editing posts shortly after you post is fine.
4. If you change your vote, clearly indicate that you are changing a previous vote. Same for adding or subtracting picks.
5. In general, if there are two picks that can be considered the same product (i.e. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle), I will combine them.
6. If a vote is vague, I will pick the first available choice that best matches the vote (i.e. "Mario" for Wii Games becomes Super Mario Galaxy).
7. I will post the parameters of each Rushmore topic. Other than that, feel free to vote however you like and based on any criteria that best fits the "Mount Rushmore" of that topic.
8. If a vote doesn't fit the topic, it will count as a blank vote.
9. You may nominate 1 new nomination per day.
10. You have an unlimited amount of seconds for established nominations.
11. Every Monday, I'll post the schedule for the week. I will pick based on the number of nominations. Any ties will be determined by RNG.

Spreadsheet & Nominations

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aatA25pW6OsDn2RlAAGP1_GOGCMNvLLumAKckHOhtFk/edit?gid=1117984190#gid=1117984190

Last Topics Results

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/61632188.png

As someone completely out of this fandom, this was interesting to go through. Surprisingly close for that last spot too.

Last 5 Rushmores

Strong Bad Emails: Dragon / Comic / Techno / Japanese Cartoon
LGBT Video Game Characters: Ellie Williams / Bridget / Zagreus / Chloe Price
PS3 Games: Metal Gear Solid 4 / Uncharted 2 / The Last of Us / LittleBigPlanet
Looney Tunes Characters: Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Porky Pig / Wile E. Coyote
Star Wars Expanded Universe Characters: Grand Admiral Thrawn / Mara Jade Skywalker / Darth Revan / Kyle Katarn

This Week's Rushmores

Tuesday: LGBT Movie Characters
Wednesday: WRPGs
Thursday: Xbox Games
Friday: James Bond Movies (Europe Day special)
Saturday: Fictional Robots
Sunday: Flowers (Mother's Day special)

Next Themed Week: Fictional [Common First Name]s - Week of May 12 to May 18

Today's Parameters

You must pick protagonists that do not speak. This is almost always from a video game.

Characters that are implied to speak but have no canon words are considered silent.

Characters where you can choose their dialogue are considered silent; though, they would not be silent the moment the character expresses themselves without your choice.

Characters that have vocal expressions during gameplay segments but are otherwise silent are considered silent.

If the character speaks when they are no longer the protagonist or are in a spin-off, they are still considered silent.

https://www.giantbomb.com/silent-protagonist/3015-54/characters
https://www.giantbomb.com/silent-protagonist/3015-54/games//
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_protagonist

Pokemon Trainer Red
Link
Gordon Freeman
Crono

Was going to put Samus until I remembered that she talks in the opening of Super Metroid(?) and Crash but he does babble gibberish in some of the later games.

EDIT: Forgot Link

Mario
Link
Crono
Kirby

I guess.

Crono (Chrono Trigger)
Red (Pokemon)
Link (The Legend of Zelda)
Kirby (Kirby)

Mario
Link
Red
Crono

Pokemon Trainer Red
Link
Gordon Freeman
Crono

this seems right, I dont think Mario is silent btw

Link
Crono
Gordon Freeman
Mario (Paper Mario if the original doesn't count)

LiquidOshawott posted...

this seems right, I dont think Mario is silent btw

He is in the RPGs

Leonhart4 posted...

He is in the RPGs

even in this context its incorrect! He and Luigi both speak audible words in the Mario & Luigi games

LiquidOshawott posted...

even in this context its incorrect! He and Luigi both speak audible words in the Mario & Luigi games

Id say Paper Mario is silent but Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi arent.

Platformer Mario is.interesting. Not sure on that one.

Link
Pokemon Trainer Red
Dragon Quest III Hero
Mario, if he counts

How is Mario RPG Mario not silent? He doesn't even make sounds. He's the most silent of all these.

Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario just babble.

I guess you can discount platformer Mario since he says "Hello"

Bitto posted...

Id say Paper Mario is silent but Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi arent.

Platformer Mario is.interesting. Not sure on that one.

maybe its because of how much I have played Mario 64 but all the phrases Mario says in that game are burned into my brain

Its a Me Mario
Lets a Go
Mama Mia

yeah I would fight against it more than I would fight against extra cheese being a topping

I'll just leave it as: if you vote Mario, I would count it.

Link
Crono
Pokemon Trainer Red
Gordon Freeman

I opened the wikipedia article and it mentions Mario twice. There is no debate to be had just because he has some catchphrases in SM64 and whatever where he otherwise acts exactly as a silent protagonist by never speaking to whoever speaks to him.

Link
Gordon Freeman
Crono
Claude (GTA III)

ctesjbuvf posted...

I opened the wikipedia article and it mentions Mario twice. There is no debate to be had just because he has some catchphrases in SM64 and whatever where he otherwise acts exactly as a silent protagonist by never speaking to whoever speaks to him.

I think Mario is debatable and it's fine if people want to vote for him, but the Wiki mentions Mario and Samus in the context of their debut in the 80's. As well as another reference to criticism of Mario's silence.

"The earliest player characters in video games of the 1980s, including the likes of Mario, Metroid's Samus, and The Legend of Zelda's Link, were silent protagonists."

I don't think it necessarily excludes characters that were introduced as silent but later had dialogue. I think Samus has spoken enough that we largely don't consider her a silent protagonist anymore. Mario is silent in many games, but he does speak sentences and catch phrases in others.

Link
Crono
Pokemon Trainer Red
Gordon Freeman

LiquidOshawott posted...

maybe its because of how much I have played Mario 64 but all the phrases Mario says in that game are burned into my brain

Its a Me Mario
Lets a Go
Mama Mia

yeah I would fight against it more than I would fight against extra cheese being a topping

This sounds like vocalizations during gameplay segments aka Link.

Notably, hes not really talking TO anyone in game. Maybe the player.

PunishedJeezy posted...

I don't think it necessarily excludes characters that were introduced as silent but later had dialogue. I think Samus has spoken enough that we largely don't consider her a silent protagonist anymore. Mario is silent in many games, but he does speak sentences and catch phrases in others.

Yeah, but Samus also has had dialogue since she recapped the previous games in the opening of Super Metroid herself. Mario's words are equivalent to Link's yelling or whatever sounds he otherwise makes, it's basically a vocal expression and definitely a stretch to call any of it sentences. Nintendo fully treats him as a silent protagonist. There is dialogue in every Mario game and he never responds anything to any of it.

redrocket posted...

This sounds like vocalizations during gameplay segments aka Link.

Notably, hes not really talking TO anyone in game. Maybe the player.

Yeah, the one case against is that he says "Thank you so much for playing my game" to the player when a "The End" screen is there but he doesn't speak to anyone in games. Super Mario RPG is weird to exclude imo because he very notable visualizes events in that game instead of saying words. Again, he is a fully meant to be a silent protagonist, we're just considering if we should draw different lines for that definition here than what Nintendo has thought.

I wonder who the main iconic choices from JRPGs are. Joker from Persona 5 is the biggest I can think of?

Doom Slayer/Doomguy feels like a decent option in general.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Yeah, the one case against is that he says "Thank you so much for playing my game" to the player when a "The End" screen is there but he doesn't speak to anyone in games. Super Mario RPG is weird to exclude imo because he very notable visualizes events in that game instead of saying words. Again, he is a fully meant to be a silent protagonist, we're just considering if we should draw different lines for that definition here than what Nintendo has thought.

He talks to Donkey Kong here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlfp_PQt5Zk

"Hey, come back here! No you don't. What-a you doin'. What's goin' on here."

And his catchphrases and Italian accent are a very memorable part of his character. We don't see Link saying "It's-a me, Link!" or "So long eh, Ganondorf" or "Just what I needed!". Link's vocalizations are just vocalizations.

Link
Crono
Pokemon Trainer Red
Gordon Freeman

Link
Crono
Red
Gordon Freeman

MacArrowny posted...

I wonder who the main iconic choices from JRPGs are. Joker from Persona 5 is the biggest I can think of?

Aside from Crono and Red who I put on my list... Byleth, Adol though they're not totally silent (though neither is Joker!)

I thought about replacing someone with Joker or Adol, but eh, idk. The "Mount Rushmore" thing always has me banking on the characters I perceive as iconic. And, well... hrm. Joker is pretty iconic. Adol is certainly iconic within a smaller, but fiercely devoted, fandom. But I don't think either of them match the folks I picked.

I probably would have gone for Gordon before either of them. And that makes me sad, but it's not about me!

...Except when it occasionally is. I had to nominate Jadzia Dax, and I'm gonna do it again, for the LGBT topic(s). Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when a couple of other people nominated her alongside me - maybe it wasn't just about "me", after all!

MacArrowny posted...

I wonder who the main iconic choices from JRPGs are. Joker from Persona 5 is the biggest I can think of?

DQ3 hero easily

MZero posted...

DQ3 hero easily

Also a great pick.

• Link, Legend of Zelda
• Gordon Freeman, Half-Life
• Crono, Chrono Trigger
• The Tramp, Chaplin Cinematic Universe

Yet again, I have an entry that fits the letter if not the spirit of the category. Chaplin's Tramp is arguably the best example of a silent protag outside of gaming.

Link
Crono
Pokemon Trainer Red
Gordon Freeman

paulg235 posted...

Was going to put Samus until I remembered that she talks in the opening of Super Metroid(

Also in Other M, Fusion, and Dread

Link
Dragon Quest Hero
Gordon Freeman
Pokmon Trainer Red

Honestly, I think Crono is too niche to include here. "It's a meee, a Mario" is a voice clip in my head for Mario, so I think I won't pick him. I couldn't remember whether Samus was silent or not which should be enough to not pick her.

Link
Gordon Freeman

No one else is jumping out right now for the other 2. Certainly not Mario, who has got plenty of little vocal clips in a way that neither Link nor Gordon do.

paulg235 posted...

Pokemon Trainer Red
Link
Gordon Freeman
Crono

Going with this.

Link
Pokemon Trainer Red
Crono
Gordon Freeman

Link
Mario
Crono
Doomguy

The idea that a silent protagonist must be entirely mute is not typically the definition in that term. Specifically having short phrases nut not speaking to anyone is within the scope of the term. Link being "more silent" than Mario does not exclude the latter from being a silent protagonist by basically any definition of the term including what is given here in this topic.

I suppose if you want to exclude him based on the Mario vs. Donkey Kong spin off games that's fair.

I think Gordon should be included though, so I will probably remove one of my votes to include him.

Link
Crono
Gordon Freeman
Dragonborn

Dragonborn gets it because of Skyrim's immense popularity, and I feel that we need a customizable silent protagonist on there.

how can dragonborn be included when shouting is a major game mechanic

nominate: periodic table elements

redrocket posted...

This sounds like vocalizations during gameplay segments aka Link.

Notably, hes not really talking TO anyone in game. Maybe the player.

I guess but I feel like the vocalizations and words are such a key part of his character. Every gamer knows the Mario accent.

wont argue too much more (if you want to put him in go ahead) but just my general thoughts that I didnt think he fit in well with the prompt.

some other choices I thought of: Chell (Portal), Steve (Minecraft), Amaterasu (Okami)

MacArrowny posted...

how can dragonborn be included when shouting is a major game mechanic

Link shouts all the time too.

Haha yeah I was kidding.

LiquidOshawott posted...

I guess but I feel like the vocalizations and words are such a key part of his character. Every gamer knows the Mario accent.

Even if Mario started having normal conversations in all his games, he'd still count, if only for the pre-N64 games. Red talks in later games too, but still counts. Link talks plenty in the cartoon, and will talk in the movie, too.

No Red never talks. He very notably keeps saying "..." when encountered in every single game he appears in, which Blue jokes about in some of them.

Link
Mario
Frisk
Mr. Bean

MacArrowny posted...

Even if Mario started having normal conversations in all his games, he'd still count, if only for the pre-N64 games. Red talks in later games too, but still counts. Link talks plenty in the cartoon, and will talk in the movie, too.

Solid Snake doesnt speak in the original Metal Gear. Would you classify him as a silent protagonist?

Yes.

Pokmon Trainer Red
Link
Crono
Minecraft Steve

Link
Red
Gordon Freeman
Crono

Why is Mario receiving votes lol

ctesjbuvf posted...

No Red never talks. He very notably keeps saying "..." when encountered in every single game he appears in, which Blue jokes about in some of them.

He had at least one line of dialogue in Pokmon Masters. It surprised me enough to take a screenshot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/eb4e6419.jpg