How does Rocket understand Groot?

Question

I don't really know much about the Guardians of the Galaxy outside the movie.

When they talk, Rocket seems to understand what Groot means, even thought Groot only ever says "I am Groot".

Is there an in-universe explanation for this?

The question: Why does Groot only say the phrase “I am Groot”? suggests a reason why most people don't understand Groot, but it does not explain why / how Rocket does.

possible duplicate of In Guardians of the Galaxy, why does Groot only say the phrase "I am Groot"? — Valorum, Nov 12 '14 at 10:25
@Richard not a duplicate of that at all, I'm not asking why Groot says I am Groot, I'm asking how does Rocket understand him... The clue is in the title! — Daft, Nov 12 '14 at 10:27
"it is this hardened nature of Groot's larynx that causes people, who are oblivious to the subtle nuances of his speech, to misinterpret him as merely repeating his name." — Valorum, Nov 12 '14 at 10:31
The other question does not explain why Rocket is so different that he can pick up the subtle nuances. — phantom42, Nov 12 '14 at 11:43
@phantom42 - That's true, but I'm unconvinced that that's sufficient to make it not a duplicate. — Valorum, Nov 12 '14 at 11:50
@Richard, phatntom42's point is valid. I want to know how Rocket understands Groot, not why everyone else does not. — Daft, Nov 12 '14 at 11:51
The answer to this is that we are oblivious to the subtle nuances of Groot's speech, but Rocket is not. Rocket obviously has had more time than us to understand these nuances. It's essentially been answered minus the blatantly obvious points. — Gorchestopher H, Nov 12 '14 at 12:23
The OP wants to know as to whether there are any references mentioning as to why exactly is Rocket sensitive to these subtle nuances. It's a perfectly valid question. It is not a duplicate. — Stark07, Nov 12 '14 at 12:28
Maybe because he's a raccoon and has a close familiarity with trees? — BBlake, Nov 12 '14 at 13:35
Maybe the same reason that Jabba the Hut can understand the nuances in "Yoto, yoto" when Princess Leia is disguised as Boush. — Brian Warshaw, Nov 12 '14 at 14:53
Previous version of Groot in the comics had no trouble speaking. See http://media.bnd.com/smedia/2014/07/30/15/16/Ik39L.AuSt.98.jpg and http://d2vo5twcnd9mdi.cloudfront.net/uploads_b327bd6c-ded9-4141-bead-5ceee53dc213-Groot_Earth-616_0001.jpg for examples. — Brian S, Nov 12 '14 at 15:46
Its not just Rocket that understands him, in the movie Star-lord thanks Groot for something, regarding his plan and Rocket gets mad at Groot for agreeing with Peter. Indicating some shared understanding between Peter, Rocket and Groot. — , Nov 13 '14 at 00:08
@LegoStormtroopr That's more of an acknowledgement on Groot's part than any actual dialogue between Peter and Groot. Peter suggests something and Groot nods his head while saying I am Groot, so I think it's clear he was agreeing. — Daft, Nov 13 '14 at 09:44
To me (who admittedly doesn't know any of the comic source material) that was quite a fitting Star Wars reference, where apparently everyone except for the audience, especially Han, perfectly understands what Chewbacca growls all the time. — TARS, Nov 13 '14 at 15:36

score 55 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 09 '17 at 04:05

55

Because Rocket and Groot have spent a long time together.

As shown in the film, Groot doesn't just say "I am Groot" in a completely dead voice; there's a lot of emotion and expression behind it. You're probably already able to pick out particularly strong emotions: for example, if he's feeling happy, or sad. What marks Rocket apart is that he can pick up nuance which we can't hear.

The idea that Groot expresses complex ideas through intonation is one supported by the comics. Here's a scene from early in Rocket and Groot's relationship, where Rocket is still confounded by "I am Groot", and Maximus the Mad has to explain it to him:

enter image description here

Here's what Maximus says:

The mature dendritic form of King Groot's people is robust and heavyweight. Often, the organs of acoustic generation become stiff and inflexible. It may sound as if he is simply repeating his name, but that is simply due to the hardened formation of his larynx. You must listen to the sigh of breeze beneath it. The nuance of meaning.

So presumably if you're willing to spend time with Groot and listen, you too would be able to understand what he's saying. This isn't a bond unique to Groot and Rocket (such as telepathy). We don't get details, but we know (MCU) Rocket and Groot have spent a long time together, and presumably this was long enough for Rocket to learn to understand Groot's "speech".

The Wikipedia entry for Groot gives the same explanation:

Maximus the Mad, Black Bolt's brother, asserted that whenever Groot is saying the trademark "I am Groot!" he has actually been saying any number of things, and his varying inflections of the sentence are the equivalent of words and sentences. People who have interacted with Groot are gradually able to decipher the meaning of the inflections and can carry on full conversations with Groot as time goes on.

Now that Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 is out, proof of this can be found in one of its mid-credits scenes which reveals that, by the time of Avengers: Infinity War, Peter too has learned to understand Groot's speech. So it's not anything special between Rocket and Groot; given enough time, anyone with good hearing can learn to understand what he's saying.

edited Oct 09 '17 at 04:05

DariM

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answered Nov 12 '14 at 12:56

alexwlchan

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So there is an entire language within the inflections Groot uses when he says 'I am Groot'? I was honestly expecting telepathy or an implant in Rocket's brain...
But I guess the inflection-nuance-language-thing is the correct answer! I'll accept it if no one else can produce another one.
– Daft Nov 12 '14 at 14:26
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Interesting. I suppose it's like a telepathic species looking at humans and asking "how can they understand each other just by making noises over and over?" Or like the Progenitors from Alpha Centauri, communicating by altering the reverb of whatever noise happens to be occurring at the time. I'd be curious for someone to come up with a "vocabulary" of reverb effects and "breeze patterns" that Groot might be using. – Nerrolken Nov 12 '14 at 17:51
@Nerrolken 'I am Groot' is such a short phrase, to fit a pretty much infinite combination of words and emotions into it is a bit much. Is it expanded if Groot can speak multiple languages? Or would all languages sound the same to / from Groot? If that's the in-universe explanation, then I can't really challenge it, but it seems kind of lazy to me. I know the movies for GotG are not sticking to the movie storyline, so maybe they'll come up with a different explanation. – Daft Nov 13 '14 at 09:40
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@Daft: It's not "lazy"; it's an in-joke of sorts. It's intended to be humourous. See also: ST:DS9's Morn. – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 13 '14 at 10:09
@LightnessRacesinOrbit haha... why did you put lazy in quotes? I wasn't being flippant when I said it. And I can't bring myself to watch DS9. I'd feel like I was cheating on Voyager if I did that! – Daft Nov 13 '14 at 10:17
@LightnessRacesinOrbit And I appreciate your comment btw. Any references to one of the writers mentioning it was a joke? Would be interesting. – Daft Nov 13 '14 at 10:23
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@Daft: I put "lazy" in quotes because it was a quote. I was quoting you. It was a quoted word. The quotes signify that. No, no reference; it's plainly obvious from the panel in this answer. – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 13 '14 at 10:24
@LightnessRacesinOrbit you quoted me back to myself? haha... fair enough. – Daft Nov 13 '14 at 10:26
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@Daft: Yes, in my response to you about it... – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 13 '14 at 10:36
@Daft "Or would all languages sound the same to / from Groot?" Probably not, but he might have trouble learning other languages due to hearing distinctions that aren't really there. IRL, when people who originally speak a tonal language (like Chinese) learn a non-tonal language, it can be hard for them to disregard the inflections they hear when they first learn a new word. But obviously they do figure it out eventually, without losing their ability to speak their tonal mothertongue. – MissMonicaE Feb 28 '17 at 18:31
@Daft: Keep in mind that Rocket was born as a normal animal. Animal communication tends to be a lot more non-verbal, thus making animals in general more capable of inferring from tone and context (e.g. cats understand more from other cats' meows than humans do). Humans can express themselves with a complicated language, which means they have not been forced to interpret subtle nuance (we tend to infer from word usage more than word pronunciation). Thought Rocket is now of course capable of similar human verbal communication, he's likely still capable of communicating like an animal. – Flater Sep 11 '17 at 13:48
@Daft: To finish my thought, Rocket has many advantages to understand Groot, compared to the other people we see. He's naturally inclined to read voices from context and with nuance (as most animals do), he's unnaturally intelligent (thus likely enhancing his ability to understand context and nuance), and he has been around Groot for a considerable amount of time, likely enough to both learn Groot's language patterns, but also understand how Groot's mind works and what he thinks (similarly, long time friends can often already guess how the other is going to respond to something) – Flater Sep 11 '17 at 13:51
@Flater yep, that's basically what Alex said in his answer: Because Rocket and Groot have spent a long time together. – Daft Sep 12 '17 at 08:46
So when we the audience hear "We are Groot" towards the end of the movie that means we have started to learn to understand Groot? :) – Dragonel Sep 04 '18 at 19:22

score -5 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '17 at 18:10

Rocket is highly intelligent, but he is still not human, or anything similar, as Drax and Gamora are. He isn't even supposed to exist, the result of illegal testing. As a result, he can speak English, learn quickly, is highly intelligent and strategic, and appears mostly human. But remember, he's not. He's an animal. Because of this, Groot and Rocket share an underlying connection to nature. And through this, they can connect.

Or, you know, Rocket has no idea what Groot is saying, and Groot has no idea what Rocket is saying. Rocket just takes his best guess. Seeing as Groot is just as annoying as everything else, he could just be creating a character to fit the tree that follows him around.

There's plenty of evidence that Rocket can understand Groot. — Valorum, Feb 28 '17 at 18:33

score -5 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 12 '14 at 13:10

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Rocket and Groot have been together for many years.

He knows Groot better than anyone else.

answered Nov 12 '14 at 13:10

user35971

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This doesn't really explain how he learned Groot's language though. Proximity doesn't equal learning. – Valorum Nov 12 '14 at 13:28
@Richard This just suggests that he knows him well enough to know what he'd think without him having to say anything meaningful. In other words, Groot has no (meaningful) language, Rocket just fills in the blanks. Given the comic in alexwlchan's answer, I think this answer is wrong (although a good guess, I suppose). – Tim S. Nov 13 '14 at 03:28

How does Rocket understand Groot?

3 Answers3