RAWWWWWRRRRR!!!
"Go Lions, Brisbane Lions, we'll kick the winning score!
You will hear our mighty roar!"
You will hear our mighty roar!"
— Brisbane Lions (to the tune of La Marseillaise)
It's quite simple: Big monsters have big lungs, that let them make big noises. Sometimes little monsters make big noises, too, but that's neither here nor there. When a Tyrannosaurus rex, lion, tiger, dragon or some other scary monster appears in a work that contains sound, it will make a mighty, terrifying, awe-inspiring ROOOOAAAAAARRR!!!!
If the creature roars before attacking someone, it's Roar Before Beating. If the roar is unique to that certain creature and hard to confuse with anything else, it is Signature Roar. However, if it's an animal that shouldn't be roaring at all, see Incorrect Animal Noise.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
- While all of the titular Titans in Attack on Titan are capable of it, the one done by Eren as the Rogue Titan, stands head and shoulders above the rest
.
- And yet, it inspires awe and hope. Not just fear.
Mikasa: "...I was slightly exalted. Because what I was looking at felt like the reification of mankind's anger."
- And yet, it inspires awe and hope. Not just fear
- The nine-tailed Kyuubi from Naruto deserves a mention with a roar powerful enough to cause miniature destruction across its path.
- Pokémon the Series: Generally, if a Pokémon is not repeating its name over and over again it has one of these.
- Special mention to Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina for having Kaiju roars out of the Godzilla movies!
- In the movie remake of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, the monstrous form of the Darkness of the Book of Darkness lets out animal-like roars during the final battle, in contrast to the banshee-like wails that the original TV version had.
- Kaiju Girl Caramelise: Harugon has a distinct, loud roar whenever Kuroe takes that form. At one point when Rinko startles Kuroe in her room, Kuroe even lets out the roar despite being mostly untransformed, frightening the people in their neighborhood who think Harugon has shown up again.
Fan Works
- The Bridge naturally has a lot of kaiju having a distinct bellow, shriek, or roar.
- The adult Godzilla Junior's features prominently in the text and videos, often compared to a constant thunder crash.
- Xenilla defeats Commander Tempest by assuming his true form with Princess Luna's help and roaring in her face. The sheer force having a 100+ meter tall kaiju empty his lung capacity directly in front of her sends Tempest flying backwards into a wall with the sheer vibration knocking her out.
- Child of the Storm has, in the sequel, the Elder Wyrm unleash several of these, capable of deafening those nearby, flattening sections of forest, and cracking windows.
Films — Animated
- The Lion King has these right on cue.
- Though when Simba's still a cub, this ends up being an anticlimax. His "roar" is a kitten-like "Reeer!". Truth in Television, as seen here.
- When the hyenas are chasing Simba and Nala, Simba attempts to chase them off with a small roar, which the hyenas laugh at. He tries it again, this time with a startling unexpected surprise.
- And Awesome Moment of Crowning at the end, where Simba's roar is answered by all the lionesses.
- Though when Simba's still a cub, this ends up being an anticlimax. His "roar" is a kitten-like "Reeer!". Truth in Television, as seen here.
- Beauty and the Beast: The Beast has a pretty powerful roar, most noticeable when he saves Belle from a snarling pack of wolves, grabbing one and giving it a face-full of roar before throwing it twenty feet in the air.
- A Bug's Life:
- Dim gives one to Thumper with a Tyrannosaurus rex's Signature Roar to scare him away from tormenting Dot one last time.
- The bird screeches in Hopper’s face when the latter believes the bird was fake, frightening him upon seeing it was real.
- Monsters, Inc. 1:
- James P. Sullivan's roar becomes plot-relevant when he accidentally scares Boo. Comically averted by his very tall friend Ted, who clucks. (They wanted the Godzilla roar, but couldn't get clearance.)
- In the credits, there's a blooper reel, in which Rex auditions. He does roar. In his own...special way.
- Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon gives an ear splitter right into Hiccup's face before running off after he's cut loose.
- One of Shrek's ogre abilities is roaring so loudly he can actively blow others away.
- In Turning Red, Ming throws her head back and powerfully roars after Mei calls her out.
Films — Live-Action
- Godzilla has a highly recognizable, unique roar. And oh how mighty it is. Sounds like a freakin' jet engine. Perhaps due to its origins as the wailing of a mistreated viola, it's ear-piercing in a pretty unique way and certainly attention-grabbing. Listing every example would be impossible, since he basically tends to let one loose at least once per minute of screentime, but some notable ones are:
- Godzilla (1954): Godzilla, in his very first appearance on-screen, pokes his head over the top of a hill to look at the fleeing people below and roars his hate and rage towards what they've done to him. Near the end, as his body is being ripped apart by Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer, he lets one out that sounds like a lament- or maybe a release.
- Godzilla Raids Again: This time we hear Godzilla before we see him, and as the tones of his anger echo off canyon walls, it's clear that this sound has become something to fear.
- Destroy All Monsters: In this film, which was intended to be the last, once the Earth's monsters finish off the Kilaaks and their pet monstrosity they roar their last goodbyes to each other, the world, and the audience. Until two years later, anyway.
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla: After finding out that someone has been impersonating him, Godzilla finds the culprit and lets him know how displeased he's made the Monster King in his own indomitable way.
- Godzilla vs. Biollante: After spending a few years trapped inside of a volcano due to the events of the last movie, Godzilla is set free by the human antagonists and the very first thing he does as he wades through the fire and lava around him is roar to signal his return- this particular one is so mighty that it not only can be heard across mainland Japan, but also sends out psychic shockwaves that cause pain in the ESP-sensitive.
- It's not just him, either, every member of his monstrous supporting cast has a Signature Roar and are given ample opportunities to use them.
- True to form, the MonsterVerse picks up where Toho left off:
- Godzilla (2014): It sounds even cooler in the reboot. The first time he busts it out, an entire airport of panicking, screaming humans goes dead silent in awe, and later he sends one the female MUTO's way that's so loud it shakes the earth and sends San Francisco's Chinatown decorations careening down the street.
- Kong: Skull Island: Despite apparently being the Titan equivalent of a teenager, Kong's throaty bellowing is deep and strong enough to echo for miles through the mountains of his island home. For the most part, though, he's content with grunts and short howls- it's not until he faces Ramarak that he really cuts loose, and damn if it isn't impressive.
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): In a movie stuffed to the gills with monsters, Godzilla still manages to come out as the champion of this trope. Two notable ones are just after he achieves the Monsterverse version of his 'Burning Godzilla' form and starts to kick Ghidorah's ass, and again shortly thereafter when he roars his victory to the heavens and shows exactly why they call him King of the Monsters.
- Godzilla vs. Kong: Our two titular protagonists just can't seem to stop roaring at each other every time they meet. The mightiest of them include Godzilla and Kong essentially screaming into each others' faces after the decisive Round 3 of their conflict, Kong's triumphant Skyward Scream after vanquishing the deadly Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla's final show of strength and authority to Kong before returning to the depths of the ocean.
- Godzilla (2014): It sounds even cooler
- As mentioned with the T. rex reference in the description, dinosaurs have a tendency to do this. Jurassic Park comes to mind as a specific example. In that case, it's most definitely a Signature Roar, and what an epic one it is! It's also inaccurate, since dinosaurs didn't have the vocal cords to produce mammalian-style roars; their closest living ancestors are crocodiles and birds. For the most part, tyrannosaurs made deep, nearly inaudible (to human ears) bass vocalizations which sound rather nightmarish in a more subtle way.note
- This particular roar has been used and parodied in other mediums, especially by Rex in Toy Story 3 during their kid's imaginative adventures.
- Jurassic Park III: The T. rex and the Spinosaurus roar at each other during their fight.
- At the end of Jurassic World, the T. rex is shown on the heliport of the research building and making one last roar while looking over Isla Nublar.
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. In a Call-Back to the above scene, the T.rex does a roar in its introductory scene with the erupting volcano as a background. At the end of the movie, a T.rex breaks into a zoo and competes with a male lion there to see who has the mightier roar.
- King Kong isn't the quietest gorilla in the jungle, either, for that matter.
- The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio has a roaring lion at the start of each of its movies.
- Little baby Clover from Cloverfield may have the most impressive set of lungs out of all the monsters. In fact one of the OST songs is explicitly called "Roar".
- The shark from Jaws: The Revenge actually roars like a lion in one of the most egregious cases of Artistic Licence – Biology.
- Otherwise loveable Ben Grimm aka The Thing confronted a bear on the verge of attack in the second Fantastic Four movie; he freaked out the grizzly with a loud, animalistic roar which sent the brute in retreat!
- In Inspector Gadget (1999), Scolex's creation, Robo-Gadget, emits one while rampaging through town.
- In the movie Primeval, Very Loosely Based on a True Story of a 20-ton giant man-eating crocodile in Africa, the giant reptile lets out a lion-like roar after devouring the Big Bad.
- Invoked by the designers of ED-209 from the RoboCop films, who gave their giant security-robot the ability to project animal roars and snarls for intimidation purposes.
- King Louie from The Jungle Book (2016) makes a really loud roar upon his emergence from his temple. This startles Bagheera, Baloo, and the monkeys from their battle before they could continue.
- Not long after that, Baloo roars at the monkeys, complete with standing on his hind legs, and stuns them. It doesn't last long because the monkeys immediately dog-pile him afterwards.
- The Suicide Squad. After being freed from its prison, Starro the Conqueror gives a roar before stomping off to crush or take over the inhabitants of the nearest city. The roar is mimicked by all the people it's assimilated with Puppeteer Parasites.
- The Loch Ness Horror. Nessie roars like...a TIE fighter from Star Wars?
- It Came from Hollywood opens with a woman being warned via the radio about an escaped Killer Gorilla. After warning against making loud noises that may attract the gorilla, the radio plays a recording of the gorilla's roar so the audience can watch out for it, which of course only makes the woman respond appropriately.
Literature
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Lion Jesus Aslan has one of these. He uses it twice in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: once in anger when the witch asks him how she will know if a promise will be kept, and later after he has returned from his sacrifice, and he tells Susan and Lucy to put their fingers in their ears.
- A staple in Dinoverse. Inevitably someone's put into the body of a big Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur and at some point roars horrifyingly loudly.
- Mouse in The Dresden Files has the ability to generate a magical bark. When he was a puppy small enough to fit in a pocket, his bark could be heard throughout a large building loudly enough to wake sleepers and trigger car alarms in the street outside. Mouse, fully grown, stands in excess of three feet at the shoulder and weighs over two-hundred pounds, and his bark is loud enough to transcend the borders between dimensions.
- Into The Broken Lands: Traveling in the titular Death World, the Human Weapon Nonee unleashes an earth-shaking roar to warn nearby monsters that someone even bigger and scarier is coming through. It succeeds in driving a lot of them away.
- Tarzan has his signature roar, described in the book as the victory cry of a bull ape. Unique example in that the character is a human, though he was raised as an animal.
- Temeraire has a special attack: a Super-Scream powerful enough to break tree trunks.
- World's Greatest Animals: Kibwana lets two roars out after he defeats two rogue lions. The second roar soon turns into a mystical, ultrasonic one.
Live Action TV
- Game of Thrones: The dragons of Daenerys, particularly the biggest —Drogon—, will let out some as intimidation sometimes.
- House of the Dragon: When she bursts out of the ground of the Dragonpit at the coronation of The Usurper Aegon II on the back of her dragon Meleys, Rhaenys Targaryen has the dragon roar on the new king and his parents and siblings to show them her contempt and warn them instead of incinerating them.
- Rover on The Prisoner (1967) has a distinct and decidedly creepy roar (perhaps made creepier by the fact that Rover is a sentient weather balloon).
- Several Power Rangers animal zords roar. First and foremost are the Wild Zords of Power Rangers Wild Force; the main Megazord's regular Finishing Move is even the component zords roaring Frickin' Laser Beams.
- Done for sheer Rule of Cool on Monster Bug Wars, which dubs ferocious sound effects onto footage of tiny creepy-crawlies preying on each other.
- Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation has one, which he uses to demonstrate Klingon mating behavior (minus the furniture-throwing).
Tabletop Games
- In Dungeons & Dragons, the androsphinx can let out a magical roar up to three times a day. Each roar produces increasingly severe effects: the first roar frightens the androsphinx's enemies, the second roar deafens them and paralyzes them with fear, and the third roar knocks them flat while inflicting damage.
Video Games
- In Banjo-Tooie, both the baby T-Rex and Daddy T-rex that Banjo and Kazooie can transform into in Terrydactyland can roar. Daddy T-Rex’s roar is so mighty that it shakes the screen, can scare away caveman guards, and can even kill baddies if Daddy T-Rex is close enough. The Stomponadon that is found in the stomping plains area of Terrydactyland will let out a mighty roar while trying to stomp on you with its giant foot.
- In the Monster Hunter games, large monsters will let out a roar before they start attacking you, when they go into rage mode, and before retreating to another zone. Bigger monsters will roar loud enough to stun your Hunter, unless you have gear with a high-enough level in the Earplugs skill. Tigrex in particular is notable for having a roar loud enough to harm other creatures.
- In Star Fox Adventures, the King Redeye puts his head into the room to roar before fully entering. On an earlier note, the Galdon does some roaring, as well.
- Pokémon has the move Roar, which makes the opponent Pokémon switch or flee the battle. Of course, it's learned by a lot of big Pokémon, but is specially notable on the legendary beasts of the second generation, which use it to escape from you if you ever find them and block their exit.
- Bizarrely, the Vulpix line, Lillipup line, Growlithe line, Snubbull line, Houndour line, and Tepig line learn this move. Apparently in the Pokémon world, dogs and pigs roar.
- The Litleo line's Signature Move is Noble Roar, which lowers both of the attacking stats of a foe.
- Ōkami:
- Their very own Orochi has one, and it's the key to defeating him. When he roars, your pour Sake into his mouth to lower his barrier.
- Gekigami has one of these. Fitting, as he's a tiger god of thunderstorms.
- From Sengoku Basara, the White Tiger's most powerful attack in an awesome howl that knocks you back several feet and makes the ground tremble.
- In SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab, Plankton gains one after turning into a giant.
- In Spore, the special ability in the creature stage that is rewarded upon completing cell stage as a carnivore is Raging Roar, which makes all nearby creatures run away in fear.
- While Asura in Asura's Wrath usually does a lot of screaming, his transformation into Berserker asura destroys tons of ships just from its shockwave. When they are above the earth's Orbit. It's his default scream in Berserker form as well.
- Chimeras in Dragon's Dogma are able to roar with their lion head, which will cause any character nearby to fly away. However, characters clinging to its body are exempt, and heavier characters don't fly as far as lighter ones. The roar doesn't do any damage itself, but the time it takes to get up could be enough for the chimera to make another attack.
- Subverted by the Tyranto Rex dream eater in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. Big and scary it is, but it sounds like an angry house cat. On the other hand, it can still "roar" loudly enough to stun its foes for one of its attacks.
- Dragon Quest has War Cry, an ability introduced from Dragon Quest IV onwards, which is used by monsters like Weartigers and Peepers to stun enemies in battle. Of course, the skill itself can also be learned by players and recruited monsters from Dragon Quest V onwards. In addition, future games such as Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest IX, and Dragon Quest X have stronger versions of the skill, such as Ferocious Roar, Raging Roar, and Total War Cry.
- In Starbound lore, the Apex, a technologically advanced humanoid race of monkey people, can indeed roar.
- In Evolve, the monsters roar after evolving, a sound loud enough to be heard anywhere on the map. As to why they do it, it's a mixture of pain from the evolution process and a warning to anything within earshot that they're more dangerous now.
- Minecraft has the Ravager, a behemoth of a beast that appears in Illager raids. They have a roar attack that not only knocks back entities in a radius around it, but also deal a considerable amount of damage to those that aren't Illagers.
Webcomics
- Rak, a giant Gozilla-like alligator from Tower of God.
- Then there's various beasts such as the White Steel Eel, the Bull and Zigena.
Web Original
- RUMBLEROAR!!! from a very memorable scene in A Very Potter Musical.
- The Angry Video Game Nerd leads an army of Gamers into battle with one in the TGWTG Year One Brawl.
Western Animation
- The Lion Guard: Simba's son Kion has the Roar of the Elders, which is powered by the spirits of past lions.
- Gargoyles let loose a Mighty Roar when they wake in the evening. They can also make some pretty bestial sounds depending on how ticked off they are.
Goliath: A gargoyle does not whine.... he ROARS!
- Leobreaker and Scourge of Transformers: Cybertron can let out some pretty impressive roars.
- Sandy from SpongeBob SquarePants does this in "Survival of the Idiots" whenever SpongeBob and Patrick wake her up from hibernation. Her having bulked up before her long slumber and her loud deep roar is quite terrifying.
- In the Tom and Jerry episode "The Milk Waif", Tom angers Jerry's when witnessing him slapping baby orphan mouse Nibbles with a flyswatter. In a rage he lets out a ferocious roar, actually King Kong's, before pummeling the cat into submission.
- The shark-men heroes from Street Sharks bellow roars.
- In The Legend of Korra, the heroine of the title calls in her polar bear dog to deliver one of these when being confronted by Jerkass Pretty Boy Tahno, who gets scared off by it along with the rest of his team.
- Timber Wolf in Legion of Super Heroes (2006) does this a few times in the series, fitting seeing he's the team's feral member (to the point where Phantom Girl nicknames him 'Simba' in the comic book adaption of the series). One of the more noteworthy examples is when he confronts his father in his lab he roars at the animal test subjects (his Dad wanted to unleash the animals on the Legion but they decided they'd rather go after him instead) forcing them to back off in fear.
- Although the titular Beast in Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is a very gentle and kind creature, he does have a Ferocious Roar.
- In the Grand Finale of The Owl House, the Titan grants Luz what little remaining life force he has to revive her along with temporarily embuing her with all of his power. Once it finally runs out at the end of the Final Battle, he exits her body in the form of a massive flaming spirit that gives a majestic roar before departing to the afterlife.
- The Simpsons
- In "Some Enchanted Evening", as Marge waits impatiently for Homer to get home, she unleashes a ferocious roar at her kids when they ask her to make them dinner.
- Marge pulls one again in "Homer Alone" when, following a mental breakdown, she stops her car in the middle of traffic and roars at an irate driver who yells at her.
- The Tex Avery cartoon "Slap Happy Lion" begins with a lion giving off a series of loud roars that cause the other animals of the jungle to flee in terror.
Real Life
- The lion has the loudest roar of all the big cats which can be heard up to 5 miles away. The other big cats aren't so bad either.
- Ironically, the tiger's roar is generally considered fiercer even if it doesn't travel as far, which is why The Lion King and many others use tiger roars for their lions instead.
- As this captive tiger demonstrates, a tiger's roar is as long as it is loud; this male is able to keep up a consistent sound for over a minute!
- Snow leopards, while not able to produce a roar in the conventional manner, produce a fairly impressive bellow instead.
- Mountain lions, while still considered a big cat, are unable to roar at all - instead, female mountain lions produce an eerie half-wail, half scream when looking for a mate, the sound of which has often been compared to - and mistaken as - a woman being murdered. Hence, they earned the other nickname, screamers. Somewhat adorably in the footage linked here, after a minute or so of screaming, it reduces to a single "meow!", demonstrating the mountain lion's ancestry - despite their size, as a member of the Felinae subfamily they're actually much more closely related to smaller cats (including house cats) than they are to their much larger cousins.
- Bears can easily give lions and tigers a run for their money in the roaring departments. Polar bears (the largest of bears and the largest land carnivore) are known for uttering particularly deep and primordial-sounding roars.
- Bull crocodilians pump up the volume on their usual rumbling vocalizations when contending for mates or territory.
- Male orangutans have a massive, low-pitched call they use to mark their territory.
- Howler monkeys- small animal but big sound. Their cries are considered to be the loudest of any land animal, clearly audible for more than three miles (it doesn't have quite as much range as a lion's roar because it's higher in pitch and the rain forests the howler monkeys live in muffle the sound more quickly than the savannas that lions inhabit).
- During their mating season, European Red Deer stags announce their presence (to attract mates and scare away rivals) by loud, deep roars. Their close relative, the American Elk shows similar behavior, but its roars (often called "bugle") are more high-pitched.
- Camels, of all creatures, produce some of the deepest, most powerful roars in the animal kingdom. In fact, their vocalizations are frequently used for dinosaurs, especially giant sauropods in movies and documentaries!
- Most large pinnipeds are capable of producing powerful bellows comparable to that of bears (unsurprising, since they are close relatives), but the walrus takes the cake, and like with camels, its vocalizations are frequently utilized in dinosaur media.
- Ironically despite films and media often having predators roaring, a majority of animals who can roar and roar the loudest are herbivores. Bison and elephant roars are loud enough for people to feel the air rattling around them when they hear it.
- In case you were wondering, giant carnivorous dinosaurs like T. rex probably didn't produce the mammalian kind of roar heard in Hollywood movies. Judging from their closest living relatives, birds and crocodiles, scientists think they probably actually produce a deep vibrating rumble not unlike those made by male crocodiles or some large flightless birds (like cassowaries and ostriches), only at a far larger scale. While maybe underwhelming for those used to the movies, it definitely would have been spine-chilling to hear and quite loud regardless — in fact, it might have been strong enough to have been felt as the soundwaves rippled through the air.
- One particular interpretation of what they might have sounded like sounds unnervingly close to iconic laughter of a Baltan.
- Hadrosaurs, or duckbilled dinosaurs, would have been the noisiest and loudest of dinosaurs. Many species, such as Parasaurolophus, used their fancy crests to produce loud honking bellows that would have sounded a lot like a trombone — certainly not a sound anyone would forget hearing on a misty morning in the swamps of Late Cretaceous North America.
