I don't know... a different land probably wouldn't develop him much if he didn't talk... it would just react differently. But I do think he should stay mute, and I think that the first half of TP did very well there. The only problem was that for most of the second half or so he fell back into a mindless, OOT-like character up until the very end. Even then, he spent a lot of time just sitting around and watching Midna and Ganondorf talk.

Edit: Sorry for the double post.