Death Glare: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

There are times even the [[Deadpan Snarker]] should know better and just shut up. This is especially true if the person being snarked at is giving him the '''Death Glare'''.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has Sweden, whose facial expression is thought as a death glare by the other countries. However, he's not angry at anyone -- [[Face of a Thug|that's just how he always looks.]]

* Anak from ''[[Tower of God]]'' who sports this when she realizes she is facing her parent's murderer. Who just took her keepsake out of his mouth.

** Boa Hancock gave Jinbe one when he started looking hungrily at a buffet Hancock [[Through His Stomach|made for Luffy.]] He was only allowed a few bites. She is also presumed to have the Conqueror's Haki.

** Dracule [[Badass Nickname|"Hawk eyes"]] Mihawk. It has been said that the one thing that all his victims remember are his eyes.

* Every character in ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'' has done this at least once.

* It's the ''default expression'' of the main lead of ''[[Angel Densetsu]]''. You do not want to see him [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant|actually glaring]].

* Seto Kaiba of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', according to [[Fanon]], uses this all the time. In reality, he doesn't use it so much... unless your name is something other than [[Morality Pet|Mokuba]]. Unsurprisingly, [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|Kaiser Ryo]] has a very potent one of his own.

* ''[[Berserk]]''

** Griffith. Just about all of the characters who have met with his [[Implied Death Threat|cryptic death glare]] have met with some [[Make It Look Like an Accident|unfortunate]] [[I Have Your Wife|events]].

** Guts too, as this is his most visible post-Eclipse expression next to his [[Perpetual Frowner|scowl.]]

* ''[[Soul Eater]]:'' Maka gives [[Magnificent Bastard|Medusa]] a truly '''murderous''' look during their final battle.

* Parodied in ''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys]]'' in which Kiyotaka's sister does this because she lost her contacts and was squinting real hard [[Blind Without'Em|in an attempt to see]].

* Wolfram in ''[[Black Butler]]'' is prone to these.

 

* Comics and strips would often indicate a Death Glare with daggers.

* [[Batman]] is one of the undisputed masters of these in comic book fandom, despite being very much a [[Technical Pacifist]].

* [[Daredevil]] 's look sent chills down [[The Punisher]] 's spine during their earlier encounters. [[The Punisher]] narrated it as being impossible to maintain eye-contact with [[Daredevil]] due to this trope. Eventually, [[The Punisher]] learned that [[Daredevil]] 's tendency to stare straight through him wasn't a psyche-out as much as [[Daredevil]] simply being blind.

* [[Ghost Rider|The Penance Stare]]. Backed up by being forced to feel every sin you've ever committed all at once.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Shows up occasionally in ''[[Turnabout Storm]]'', most of the time when [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix]] says something stupid for [[Did Not Do the Research|not doing the research]]. Using them it's also one of [[The Stoic|Sonata's]] main traits.

 

* "Glaring daggers" was, of course, taken to a twistedly literal degree in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''.

* ''[[Treasure Planet]]'':

* Astrid gives one to Hiccup in ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' when he wins out in dragon training over her.

 

* [[Clint Eastwood]]'s iconic [[Clint Squint]] usually takes the form of a Death Glare. There's a reason he's been referred to as "Father of the murder eyes".

* [[Lee Van Cleef]] usually wears a perpetual sneer while playing villains that is enhanced by his narrow eyes and hawkish face.

** Todd, Envy, and Julie all simultaneously give Knives one when she speaks, complete with "GLARE" written over their heads.

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''

** Davy Jones can also do a killer stare. When he snarls "Do ya fear death?", ''everybody'' takes him seriously.

* [[Daniel Day-Lewis]] is well known for his ability to perform these. One of his most intense ones is directed at the character of Eli Sunday in ''[[There Will Be Blood]]'' during his humiliating confirmation at the Church of the Third Revelation.

* Matsu, the protagonist of the ''[[Joshuu Sasori]]'' series, is largely silent, but has a superb line in Death Glares, producing fear, anger and insecurity in whoever they're directed at. Particularly when [[Extreme Melee Revenge|repeatedly stabbing people]], but most effectively when bound hand and foot, lying in a puddle, in solitary, having just been covered with a sopping wet blanket; her abuser laughs in her face...until she sees Matsu stare back - and grin.

* Every single [[Bruce Lee]] film is famous for this. The scary part about it is even when he is not pissed at anyone he still stares like that. Its more frequent in [[Enter the Dragon]], when he confronts Ohara and Han.

 

== Literature ==

** And Sam Vimes ''freezes''.

{{quote|''The chill radiated off him. The lines of his face locked like a statue.''}}

{{quote|'''Vetinari:''' Apparently you also looked at the ambassador in a very threatening way.

'''Vimes:''' It was only the way I usually look.

'''Vetinari:''' To be sure. }}

** Mr. Slant, a zombie lawyer, also manages to pull one these off on opposing lawyers. Knowing 200 years worth of law and precedent because you were there to make it can be quite intimidating.

** A favourite weapon of Keldas to keep the Nac Mac Feegle in line, to the point where the mere thought of it can terrify them.

** Molly Weasley has been described as a short, plump, motherly woman, and generally doesn't look very threatening, but if you piss her off, ''you will know about it''. Her glare is capable of terrifying even her twin sons Fred and George (both of whom have otherwise never shown any signs of cowardice), and even scares innocent bystanders (such as Harry himself in book 2). Even her own husband, also a brave and courageous individual, is reduced to nervous mumbling under her glare.

** Professor Minerva McGonagall is also capable of giving students "the sort of look that scorches."

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''

** In Book 12, Harry meets Agent Tilly. One word and a look from Tilly is able to send [[Smug Snake]] Rudolph running from the room. Quite impressive, as the only other things that have been able to accomplish this were a [[Our Werewolves Are Different|loup-garou]] and [[Our Vampires Are Different|a scourge of Red Court Vamps.]]

* In the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' graphic novel ''After the Flood'', Leafstar proves herself very capable of giving death glares. One of them is enough to make her mate drop the prey he's carrying.

* The first book of the ''[[Wooden Ships and Iron Men|Ramage]]'' series notes that when the title character is really angry, his eyes seem to bore straight through whoever he's staring at, and that at least one of the crew described him as being able to [[X-Ray Vision|"see through oak planks."]] Another passage says looking into his eyes when he's angry is like looking into a pair of pistol barrels.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Adama is known for this. Being of average height at best he prefers to get right in people's faces when he does so for maximum intimidation, although when he is further away it isn't much of an improvement. Notable instances include toward Starbuck in "Act of Contrition" and Athena in "Sine Qua Non". Olmos' glare in "Act of Contrition" was reportedly so terrifying that Katee Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck, thought Olmos was actually going to hit her! Heck, the Adama Glare has its own page on the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130521092728/http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Adama_Glare Battlestar Wiki]. It's like a punch to the soul. The effect of Adama's death glare is also well illustrated in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100715213817/http://theslackerz.com/index.php?nav=Comic&Page=69 this] comic...

*** Special props to Dr. Cottle, the only character in the series to withstand an Adama Glare without side effects. Dr. Cottle is just THAT awesome. In the words of the BSG wiki: "''So far, the only Colonial immune to the Adama Glare is Doctor Cottle, who is able to scowl intensely himself while making important medical decisions. Helena Cain resisted a Glare once, but the strain resulted in permanent back problems, exacerbated psychotic tendencies, and future vulnerability to the Adama Growled Ultimatum, a much weaker psychological weapon that fails to affect even D'Anna Biers on a later occasion.''"

*** Notably, in the mutiny episodes, Gaeta proves to be, if not completely resistant to the Adama Death Glare, then at least able to stonewall it for a good while. Adama ''really'' should have respected Gaeta a bit more...

** Helo kills Athena, his wife, because as an [[Artificial Human]] who gets better if killed, she will resurrect near their kidnapped daughter to rescue her. President Roslin berates Helo for compromising the fleets security, at which he just stands up... and being much taller than her, and given she had faked their child's death earlier leading to her kidnapping, he looks like he might very well double his homicide count for the day. Roslin wisely pipes down and berates him from behind Adama.

* Done in ''[[Serenity]]'' when [[Token Evil Teammate|Jayne]] is ripping Mal's leadership abilities by talking about how Mal got all the men in his unit killed back in the war. Zoe, the second in command and only other survivor of Serenity Valley, just gives Jayne a calm look and says "You wanna leave this room." Jayne, who is usually a muscle bound oaf without a clue, mutters, "Damn right I do," and does just that.

** Done earlier in the series as well, in the episode "Out of Gas", where Mal slams Wash into the wall and gives him a vicious glare while ordering him back onto the bridge. The sheer force of personality in this scene is so powerful that it makes Jayne recoil defensively.

** Simon can do this when he thinks River is threatened. In "Safe" he does this to his father, in "Ariel" he does this to Jayne in the "back off" scene. And a few times he and Mal have a mutual glare. Simon's glares don't exactly look death-like because of his fragile appearance. However they certainly look awesome.

** River delivers one of these, coupled with a [[Kubrick Stare]], at Jayne in "Trash." Later in ''Serenity'', River gives these to {{spoiler|the wall of Alliance commandos as she prepares to do to them what she just did to the Reavers}}.

** David Palmer is the ''master'' of the Death Glare. He's scarier than Jack at times, and that's hard to pull off.

** Jack himself is no slouch when it comes to the Death Glare either; at one point, he completely subverts the [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]], breaking {{spoiler|President Charles Logan}} by simply ''staring'' at him.

** Teal'c is the master. In one episode, even though a suspect ''knew'' that Teal'c was only present to intimidate him, he was babbling everything he knew within a minute without a word of questioning being uttered. The scene goes like this: the prisonner is sitting in an interrogation room, handcuffed. Teal'c sits at the table across from him and simply begins glaring at him without ever saying a word. The prisoner immediately catches on that they think Teal'c will intimidate/bully him into talking, saying it won't work. A few more minutes of silent staring later and the guy snaps. (Entering the room whilst subtly reminding his victim that he is probably the strongest person on base simply by flexing his jaw muscles also helps.)

** In another episode, Daniel has been {{spoiler|turned into a Prior}}, and is understandably considered very dangerous. Woolsey informs SG-1 that he's recommended to the President that they kill him. Mitchell stands up and gives him a look, and Woolsey steps behind Landry and stays there for the rest of the scene.

* Aeryn Sun off ''[[Farscape]]'' is very prone to these. Often followed by lots of gratuitous violence.

* Captain Kirk shoots off a pretty good one at Dr. McCoy in the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Doubly impressive in that he's buried up to his chest in dead tribbles at the time. (It probably helps that they had to drop those tribbles on Shatner something like 38 times.)

* A blooper scene in ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' showed Jolene Blalock (playing [[The Spock|T'Pol]]) forgetting her line and breaking down in nervous giggles when Scott Bakula (playing an evil [[Mirror Universe]] Captain Archer) moves menacingly towards her with his glare on Full Power.

* Hilariously played out, parodied, subverted or whatever in ''[[Scrubs]]'', with the Janitor giving J.D. the Death Glare with the song "[[Koyaanisqatsi]]" by Phillip Glass played. He later organizes a "group-glare" aimed at Carla, and rebukes Ted because the best Ted can manage is a sad glare. See both examples [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOqtnU2faTc here].

* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' episode "Dungeons & Dragons", Charley has a talk with [[Robot Girl|Cameron]], and compares her to Vick, a deactivated Terminator who [[Nightmare Fuel|she has been casually skinning and bagging]]. Once he calls her a "very scary robot," the normally emotionless and stoic Cameron gives him a sudden Death Glare, sets Vick's "corpse" on fire, and tells him "It's not safe for you here." Charley, understandably, runs the hell away.

* Katsumi Daidou does this in the prequel movie [[Kamen Rider W]] Returns: Kamen Rider Eternal. The villain of the movie tries to mentally break Katsumi by killing someone whom he cared about. After the kill, Katsumi delivers one hell of a death glare, signifying the audience its ass-kicking time.

* Abed pulls off a particularly awesome one in the ''[[Community]]'' episode ''A Fistful of Paintballs''. In fact, it's so awesome it's accompanied by an eagle's scream and hellfire vfx. The recipient drops his gun and runs in terror.

 

== Music ==

* The singing group Heart had one implied for a cheating lover in an appropriately named song called "[[Meaningful Name|If Looks Could Kill]]".

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Also for the imperium Commissar Yarrick, same deal. Currently it is an [[Eye Beam]] attack but he used to just be rumored to kill orks at a glance. That's the point: when he heard the rumor, he ''[[Eye Scream|instantly plucked out his eyeball]] [[Crazy Awesome|and replaced it with a laser]]'' to live up to his reputation.

** Also, in older pieces of fluff, Guardsman Pius, whom Horus killed with a mere flance for attempting to stand between him and the Emperor.

 

== Theater ==

* As the title character in ''[[Hamlet]]'', [[David Tennant]] delivers the Death Glare to Claudius several times, and at least once to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'', Link pulls off an epic one pretty much all the time {{spoiler|Demise}} is on-screen. {{spoiler|Demise is actually intrigued by this: Link is the first human he's ever seen who looks at him with anger and hatred, rather than fear and terror.}}

* This and [[Hulk Speak]] make up the entirety of [[Final Fantasy X|Kimahri Ronso's]] interpersonal skills. (Although he's actually quite the [[Gentle Giant]] when he warms up to you.)

 

== Visual Novels ==

* ''[[Tsukihime]]'': Tohno Shiki is usually quite gentle, doesn't particularly enjoy fighting and absolutely despises killing. However, if something truly angers him, [[The Glasses Come Off]], and his glare has more often than not completely terrified his foes. Of course, his [[Evil Eye]]s help. In the ''Melty Blood'' manga, the majority of his expressions can be summed up into three categories: Exasperation, shock and [https://web.archive.org/web/20170807071522/http://www.onemanga.com/Melty_Blood/12/23 tranquil] [https://web.archive.org/web/20170808220053/http://www.onemanga.com/Melty_Blood/11/21 fury]. It should be noted that he hasn't gone Nanaya at all since the first game, so his terrifying glare is limited mostly to his [[Beware the Nice Ones|normal persona]].

 

== Web Comics ==

* Miranda Deegan, mother of [[Dominic Deegan]], has what is called "the Evil Eye". It can hit from up to fifteen yards away and [https://web.archive.org/web/20140911210335/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2006-07-31 works around corners]! Even strong men quail at its influence.

*** Turns out, it has a slight justification. Miranda Deegan is a Circle Archmage, capable of banishing people into unknown dimensions, manipulating time and space, and packing more magical firepower than most countries. An Archmage glaring at you is a very good cause for alarm. Fortunately, Miranda has a great deal of self-control, so she saves all that for the ''actual'' bad guys.

* In ''[[The Optimist]]'', a retail worker can do nothing but [http://the-opt.com/?p=40 glare].

* ''[[Lackadaisy Cats]]''

* The Captain from ''[[Romantically Apocalyptic]]'' uses one {{spoiler|that literally explodes one of the heads of the aliens it's directed at.}}

* ''[[Wondermark]]'' [[Guest Strip]]: "Did You Know??" [http://wondermark.com/198/ Her majesty Queen Victoria once levelled [sic] a disapproving scowl of such ferocious intesity [sic] that none of the servants at Buckingham Palace were capable of shameful bodily functions for three days!]

* In ''[[Questionable Content]]'', the characters know better than get between Cosette and her date. [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1547 For good reason.].

{{quote|'''Luna:''' I saw... I saw a [[Go Into the Light|tunnel of light,]] with my granddad waiting at the end, waving to me...

* The normally mild-mannered and take-it-as-it-comes hero of ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' gives one [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20110611.html here]—literally.

* [[Heroic Self-Deprecation|Piro]] from [[Megatokyo]] has a [http://megatokyo.com/strip/867 surprisingly] [http://megatokyo.com/strip/706 good] [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1085 one].

* When the [[Freak Angels]] [[Hive Mind|link together]], [http://www.freakangels.com/?p=67&page=4 they can give a pretty spooky one], and the victim doesn't even have to be there.

* ''[[Sabrina Online]]:'' Amy the Squirrel lets Thomas '''''KNOW'''' [http://rigby-jones.net/es/sabrina/art/SabOnline118.gif right on the bat] that natural delivery is not for her at all.

* Bun-bun from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is a simply drawn rabbit, which means that most of the time he only wears one of three expressions: round eyes, bored eyes or angry eyes. When the last appears (which is not seldom), you should be very afraid. Many creatures multiple times his size are.

* [[The Captain]] in ''[[Romantically Apocalyptic]]'' gives an impressive (although unseen by the readers) Death Glare to {{spoiler|an alien - a literal one, as it causes the [[Your Head Asplode|alien's head to]] '''''[[Your Head Asplode|explode]]'''''}}.

{{quote|'''Massey''': Shh. I'm trying to kill you with my eyes.}}

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209185718/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2168 Monique drives off an alien invasion with one.]

 

== Web Original ==

* Lily, the [[Fantastic Racism|human-hating]] fairy of ''Felarya'' has a [http://karbo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3gz9ik truly frightening stare] (mildly NSFW) with a generous helping of [[Ax Crazy]].

 

== Western Animation ==

** Twilight uses one to convince Applejack to help out in "Luna Eclipsed".

* On ''[[Mission Hill]]'', death glares are often accompanied by daggers coming out of the person's eyes.

{{quote|'''Enzo''': (while they're in a FPS based on the ''[[Evil Dead]]'' film series) "The next level has ''zombies'', they have flesh on their bones!"

'''Dot''': "I don't even want to ''think'' about that! What kind of sick twisted individual gets enjoyment out of this kind of game?!"

'''Wilykit:''' *stiffens nervously* Nope.

'''Wilykat:''' It's cool. }}

 

== Real Life ==

* Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave one to Representative Joe Wilson when he interrupted Obama's healthcare speech by shouting "you lie". Hilariously pointed out by ''[[The Daily Show]]'' [http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-14-2009/apothecary-now of course.]

{{quote|'''Jon Stewart:''' Surprisingly, Joe Wilson survived that stare. Surprised everyone including myself, author of ''Nancy Pelosi: The Power of Her Peepers''.}}

* [[Henry Rollins]]—His page image is more or less his default expression.

* Any fighting event with a [https://web.archive.org/web/20110531130658/http://www.mmafighting.com/photos/ufc-130-weigh-in-photos#photo-1 weigh-in], for example [[Mixed Martial Arts]].

* What happens when you drop your daughter to catch a foul ball in front of her mother? [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Video-Next-time-he-8217-ll-keep-a-better-grip-?urn=mlb-wp21111 You get this.]

* The Transformer Owl, at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFwgblszf6s 1:15].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Psychological Combat]]

[[Category:Eye Tropes]]

[[Category:Stock Poses]]

[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]