This is a bit of a random topic, but I'll write it anyway, I promise that at least some of it is applicable to comics too. Most of fiction theory is applicable to more than one creative medium.
Also bear with me with the long intro.
I was talking to my friend about videogames and all of a sudden we were talking about the topic of protagonist types. For context, my friend's a bit older than me and remembered the golden age of Final Fantasy, Metal gear and Persona games, aka: voiced protagonist games.
He was saying how he dislikes the idea of silent protagonists, viewing them as self-indulgent, self-inserts or non-characters. While I can understand his position and see where he's coming from, I fundamentally disagree and we immediately butted heads over this.
Anyway this got me thinking, I should make a written defense of the under-appreciated silent protagonist-kun.
This is entirely my opinion, but I feel that the videogame medium is uniquely built for silent protagonists, the medium plays to the strength of their character in a way films, comics, books etc cannot.
A game gives you mobility, the freedom of choice to do actions, create your own character dynamics and form relationships with other characters, essentially tailor your own experience.
In many instances I'd argue that having a voiced protagonist is in active conflict with this tailored experience, the voiced character will naturally have his/her biases and that will inevitably interfere with how the game will play out, perhaps against the intentions you had in mind.
The player character is there for you to build into a character not conflict with the player's run of that story.
That's not to say that a silent protagonist cannot have their own personality, traits and quirks, in fact I believe any form of characterization is welcome to a silent protagonist, so long as it doesn't interfere or actively conflict with the player's choices and interactions for said character.
Further, no silent protagonist is without personality, they by their interactions with the world and other characters alone cannot be entirely detached or void of personality.
A silent character's actions are his words, are his personality.
Further a game character can be both silent and voiced at the same time for very effective results, just look at a game such as the Metro series, the main character only talks during the intermissions of the story. It reveals enough to characterize him, without it becoming an interference to the game's experience.
This essay isn't really to argue one is better than the other, or to say that all voiced protagonists are better or worse than silent ones, it really depends on the game.
I just feel that silent protagonists don't get the appreciation they deserve as good characters some of the time, that just because they don't talk doesn't mean they are empty self-insert avatars.
Anyway, this is just some of my opinions I'd thought I'd share, I'd love to hear yours too.
bye.