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If some characters have been in the dark for a while, this can occur with much weaker lights than normal, while leaving other characters unaffected, since [[Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes]].
An example of [[Truth in Television]], since the use of flashbang grenades is highly prevalent in modern police forces and armies have been using natural light in various ways to blind and hinder their enemies for centuries.<ref>The modern flashbang emits approximately two million candlepower when it goes off. By comparison, a 25 watt light bulb emits 1700. This is exactly as devastating to your eyes as it sounds</ref>
Compare: [[A Handful for
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== Anime and Manga ==
* At the beginning of ''[[Saint Seiya]]'''s "Asgard Saga," the God Warrior Syd of Mizar Zeta makes a very effective point to Shun about "attacking in the direction of the Sun" by leaping above him and using the bright midday Sun to blind the Andromeda Saint.
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** [[Warrior Prince|Ling Yao]] uses a flash grenade while fighting Wrath to blind his one working eye. Too bad about the ''[[Red Right Hand|other]]'' one though. {{spoiler|This is later Wrath's undoing. While fighting Scar, Wrath is temporarily blinded by the sun emerging from the solar eclipse, long enough for Scar to rip his arms off.}}
** Fu also uses a flash grenade to {{spoiler|temporarily stun Pride. He had been helpless in the dark until the villagers turned the lights back on, but with the extra light from the flash grenade he can't use his shadows either.}}
* ''[[One Piece]]''
** Parodied during the Skypiea Arc. Zoro found himself in a swords vs. guns battle with a Shandian, who used pistols that were equipped with Flash Dials as to blind the opponent anytime he shot at them. Zoro realized he can combat this with his goggles, but unfortunately, [[The Goggles Do Nothing]] since they're not tinted at all.
** The Flash Dial comes back during Luffy's fight with Usopp, which he uses after making Luffy hesitate with a cough of fake blood.
* ''[[Sky Girls]]'':
** During the first episode, [[Ace Pilot]] Eika got defeated by a new, Sonic Diver-piloting test pilot when her target [[Transforming Mecha|transformed]] and attacked from the direction of the sun. Granted, she is using a conventional fighter jet at the time and her opponent is ''very'' nimble.
** In a true show of piloting ability, Eika used the exact same tactic combined with careful maneuvering against a [[Teen Genius]] who very nearly beat her through sheer talent later in the series.
* The characters on ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' sometimes use this, calling it "Solar Flare".<ref>In the original Japanese, 'taiyo-ken', meaning 'fist of the sun'.</ref>
==
* In ''X-Wing: The Phantom Affair'', a gang of pro-Imperial thugs attacks Rogue Squadron pilot Tycho Celchu. He beats most of them down by himself, but the last one gets the drop on him and is preparing to deliver the final (possibly fatal) blow, when he's [[Eye Scream|slashed through the eyes]] by a phantom Jedi's lightsaber, causing instant blindness and much pained yelling. It turns out later that the "Jedi" is just a hologram, and given that holograms are actually just light (lasers, to be specific), this trope stands.
* One issue of ''[[The Punisher]]'' has him narrate how devastating a single flashbang grenade is to the senses. The next panel shows him dropping three at once through a skylight on some mobsters.
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== Fan Works ==
* Princess Celestia blinds Nightmare Moon by empowering the sun's glow in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfic [https://web.archive.org/web/20130813213433/http://www.fimfiction.net/story/16112/
* Melanie is recovering from a fight when she gets blinded a strange light at the end of the first chapter of the [[Spice Girls]] [[Alternate Universe|AU]] fic, ''[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21828973/chapters/52094644 Just Taken]'', {{spoiler| taking her away to [[Bedlam House| another hospital]] as she was sectioned long before}}.
* In chapter 4 of ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk S]]'', [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Mercury]] adapts the first bit of non-Senshi magic she's learned from mentor and tutor Doug Sangnoir, and casts a blindingly bright and burning cold light spell into the face of a youma boss.
== Film ==
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'': This happens to the Uruk-hai at the end of the Battle of Helms Deep when the sun rises behind the charging [[The Cavalry|cavalry.]]
* ''[[Hook]]'': The Lost Boys have one set of weapons that use mirrors to blind the pirates during the [[Final Battle]].
* Frequently shows up in action movies against bad guys with [[Night Vision Goggles]].
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* In ''[[Game of Death]]'', the enemy played by Kareem Abdul Jabaar has light-sensitive eyes. Bruce Lee gains the advantage by breaking holes in the walls to let the light in.
* In ''[[A Kid in King Arthur's Court]]'', Calvin opens his CD player and shines the laser into a bad guy's eyes.
* Darph Nader does this to Augie "Ben" Doggie during their battle in ''[[Hardware Wars]]''; it doesn't seem to make much difference.
== Literature ==
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== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' sports the Dazzle power which can do this for any sense.
* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', this is often used by users of [[White Magic]], specially [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205219 these] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83007 two].
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* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'': Most iterations of the series have a spell called "Blind" that effectively works this way.
* ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigis Mansion]]'': Luigi must use his flashlight to shock ghosts so that he may inhale them into his vaccuum.
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'': Well, it is based on [[Dungeons
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'': [[Player Character|PCs]] and [[Big Bad|bosses]] have abilities that can use light to completely incapacitate or at least hinder accuracy. A recurring element with bosses is the need to turn characters so they're facing away from the boss to avoid being blinded by the flash.
* ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'':
** Aside from using it as a makeshift flashlight, Kratos can put Helios' severed head to great use by blinding enemies with it. In fact, employing this strategy is how you're supposed to defeat [[Attack of the 50
** Perseus uses his reflective shield to blind Kratos several times in his boss battle.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', flashbang stun grenades are Kasumi's special power that are unlocked once her loyalty mission is completed. With advanced training, Shepard can use these grenades as well. Donovan Hock's mercenary guards and the Shadow Broker's troops also make regular use of flashbangs.
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** It only happens once in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', when you first properly activate the Helios One facility, you get blinded for just one second.
* ''[[Wizardry]]'': The [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Blinding Flash]] spell in the final trilogy. Simple and very effective throughout the early through middle parts of the games.
* Flashbang grenades are, appropriately enough, a common tool in your arsenal in ''[[SWAT 4]]''. Just make sure you're out of the doorway when you use one and that your NPC teammates don't, y'know, [[Artificial Stupidity|just drop it at their fee]]
* ''[[Battlefield 3]]''' features the tactical flashlight and laser sight. The latter is a red laser that is primarily used to boost the effectiveness of hip fire, but also causes an annoying red spotlight to cover the targets vision if it is aimed at them. The former, on the other hand, is purely used for blinding foes. [[Absurdly Bright Light|By blinding foes, I mean melting the eyes of the person controlling the target to a molten liquid, and setting their hair alight.]]
* Weaponized as a secondary function Spark Manbow in ''[[Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity]]''. If you hold up when you press the fire button, Mega Man holds up a lightbulb and causes a bright flash of light to cover the screen, which makes enemies stand still for a few seconds.
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== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Bob and George]]'': Someone tries to use this against Bob. Alas for him, Bob is wearing sunglasses.
* ''[[The Beast Legion]]'' : Brilight uses this particular trick twice in Issue 4 against Dragos [https://web.archive.org/web/20120307190214/http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-04-page-33-fall-of-the-goliath/
* In ''[[Far From Home]]'', [http://mightymartianstudios.com/2011/05/31/ffh-sci-fi-webcomic-dead/ pirates use high-intensity flares in missiles so as to take the heroes alive.]{{Dead link}}
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== Real Life ==
* There was a biblical battle that took place and overall the terrain was consistent no matter which direction you would attack from. So the attacker came around dawn from the east so the sun would be at his mens back and in the eyes of the enemy. This is actually a very valid tactic: if you can use it do so.
* [[World War
* During the age while armies still utilized campfires at night, it was not uncommon for those to be used as a means of deception. Merely looking at a light source at night temporarily ruins the eye's low light adjustments, meaning that while looking at such a campfire (or for that matter any other light source at night), it was impossible to actually see the people (if any) that existed around it; only the light source would be visible. Armies got pretty creative with this back in the day, from setting up false camps (the enemy won't know theres no one by the fire until its too late), to lighting a minimal number of fires to hide their number (sometimes going as far as just one big fire; good luck guessing how many people are sharing it), to ordering the camp to make several times its number in flames. A cunning general may even combine the various methods, essentially rendering the enemy's attempts to scout his position at night futile or downright counterproductive. Even in warfare, there are [[Subverted Trope|uses for fire]] [[Kill It with Fire|other than killing]].
* One of the armored vehicles used in the Normandy landings in [[World War Two]] was essentially an outdated tank with the gun replaced with a very high intensity lamp, entirely encased in the turret save for a narrow vertical slit. The turret would pan back and forth, perodically painting the German defenses with blinding light to make it impossible for them to see the troops on the beaches. They also had various filters they could put onto the light while in action, so as to make it harder to determine how far away the vehicle was if you wanted to [[
* In [[World War II]], the British "hid" the Suez Canal with an array of spotlights and shifting reflectors intended to dazzle the eyes of bomber pilots. When they tested it by having two British planes fly into the area, they found the effect disoriented the pilots so much that both planes nearly
Eventually, a chain of twenty-one searchlights covered the Suez Canal for its entire length. When illuminated, they created a curtain of swirling light over more than a hundred miles of Egyptian sky. In the following months enemy aircraft made a number of attempts to penetrate the curtain, and failed, and the canal remained open to Allied shipping throughout the war.
* The LED Incapacitator, a rather recent non-lethal weapon which works by creating a bright pulsing light with continously changing colours to dazzle and disorient an opponent when violence is not permitted. Again a very valid self defense tactic, very bright hand held torches might be expensive but stun\flash grenades operate on the same principle, making them worth every penny.
* A more mundane example: pilots who fly at night have to avoid any bright lights for upwards of 20 or 30 minutes before a flight in order to maintain their night vision. Their cockpit lights are run at the lowest setting that lets them see their instruments, because any bright light will force them to start all over again trying to readjust to the darkness of night. As a result, airports will often actually be ''much'' more dimly lit than some folks might expect, as the last thing they want to do is to blind a pilot who is trying to take off or land.
** Similar to the above, go out some night to visit a group of stargazers out doing their thing, and you will quickly learn that they do ''not'' like it when folks use any bright or white light near where they are stargazing. Stars are bright, but they are not ''that'' bright compared to closer light sources on Earth. The use of red-filtered light is common as it does not have the same negative effect on human night vision.<ref>
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Grenade Tropes]]
[[Category:Blinded by the Light]]
[[Category:Lighting Tropes]]
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