Talk:Amon/@comment-4521003-20120216231217/@comment-76.24.189.176-20120218015347

While I doubt you would have come up with this idea if he didn't have a mask on, it is an interesting theory. It also makes a certain amount of sense, especially out in the open. If he didn't have a way to disguise his voice, not talking (or at least speaking very little) would be a good way to avoid recognition by voice.

You see, I have a pet peeve of sorts with masked characters in various shows that I have watched. Far too many of those shows have a character put on a mask, have it be way obvious who it is, and have the ones who know who the character behind the mask not be able to recognize them through the simplest disguises. This also happens a lot with voice recognition (or apparent lack there of), where certain characters are not able to recognize a voice they hear practically every episode just because it's behind a mask or costume.

In order to do a masked character right, the show has to make it not obvious. That should in theory be a given, but you'd be surprised how many shows don't do that. It appears to me like the disguise Amon wears (including the mask) covers enough of the person behind it so recognition wouldn't be easy through sight. That just leaves voice recognition. If he didn't speak much, it'd be much harder to recognize him. There also should be a way for him to disguise his voice when he does speak (even if he doesn't speak much), or else it would likely be very lame and take away from the show. It's also hard to have a main villain never say anything at all, and have it be done right.

I do, however, have faith that Amon will be done right in LOK. They did it right (despite us knowing who it was) with the Blue Spirit (although I saw just a bit if untapped potential there that wasn't used) and that was a silent masked character. (Not that Amon is being compared to the Blue Spirit as I suspect he'll be way different.) So it can be done, and done right with little or few words. However, I still have a hunch they'll make him talk quite a bit. It's just a hunch, though. Also, keep in mind that there are plenty of great characters that are mute and say nothing, or at least say very little, and don't wear masks. Longshot comes to mind, and if I remember correctly he never really wore a mask. I personally was shocked to find out he could speak.

The problem with a masked character saying nothing, is that we (the viewers) look for anything to take us behind the mask. In most cases, something needs to fill the lack of facial expressions for us to do this and relate to the character in our minds, and it is therefore very hard to convey a successful masked character without a voice of some kind. This becomes more true as the role that the masked character fills become larger. So a minor character who appears only a few times (like in the Rough Rhinos) can be masked and muted and not be a big deal. But things are different in a major role, like say when that masked character is THE main antagonist (at least at the beginning) of the show. It isn't impossible. But the larger the role the masked character plays, the more the viewers need something to make connections to him. We are already seeing this in various theories now, and the show hasn't even started yet. We already knew who the Blue Spirit was so it generally wasn't as necessary to have him speak, but no one knows who Amon is and that is a much bigger role then the Blue Spirit.