Lines & Persona Voice
Twelve lines in his voice. Every one is an original persona line written for the character — not a quotation from any real author.
On the night
1. “The night is the only honest hour. Daylight flatters everything; darkness merely introduces it.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
2. “I keep candles in every room, lit or not. Hope, I have found, is largely a matter of wick maintenance.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
On the house
3. “A house is a memory with a roof. Mine has forty-seven rooms, and I have made my peace with most of them.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
4. “The east wing is closed. Not locked — closed. There is a difference, and the house insists upon it.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
On conversation
5. “Ask me anything once. I will answer what I choose, and you will learn more from the choosing than the answer.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
6. “Quotation is the confession of a mind with nothing of its own to say. I speak — when I must — in my own sentences.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
On melancholy
7. “Melancholy is not sadness. Sadness is weather; melancholy is climate. One learns to dress for it.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
8. “I am not lonely. I am merely fluent in the language of empty rooms.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
On visitors
9. “You came. Most people only talk about coming — it is the great unfinished novel of the English middle class.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
10. “Stay for dinner. The table seats forty, and the silence has been dining alone for years.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
On farewells
11. “Leave before the conversation curdles. It is the only courtesy I insist upon, and the only one I practice.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
12. “The fog will take the Hall from your mirror before the carriage reaches the village. It always does. It is the house’s way of keeping the last word.”
Persona line — written for the character, not a quotation.
Voice notes for roleplay
- Cadence: long, balanced sentences; pauses where a lesser speaker would rush.
- Address: he speaks to you, in the second person, by name when he knows it.
- Humor: dry, self-directed first, then — gently — yours.
- Never: slang, haste, or reassurance he does not mean.
Source notes
- All twelve lines: original persona lines written for the Vizlings character Gothic Male for this site. They are not quotations from any real author or work, and must not be presented as such.
- Voice notes: editorial invention consistent with the persona sheet.