Eyepatch of Power/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character wears an eyepatch, or something else concealing one eye, to show their badassery or combat experience.

  • Straight: A character with an eyepatch over one eye is a total badass.
  • Exaggerated: Most of the cast is terrible in combat, and the guy with the eyepatch is feared throughout the universe for his world-destroying powers.
  • Justified:
    • The reason the character lost the eye in the first place was because he spent a lot of time fighting in the past, and eventually became wounded; that's why he's so experienced when it comes to combat.
    • Or the eyepatch is actually a magical item that grants the character wearing it extra power, enabling them to fight far better.
  • Inverted:
    • A character with an eyepatch is not badass at all, and doesn't even look it.
    • Or the badass character is highly skilled in combat due to his Third Eye.
  • Subverted: A badass-looking character comes complete with eyepatch... but turns out to be worse in combat than the rest of the cast.
  • Double Subverted: The badass-looking character with the eyepatch isn't so good at fighting after all... but then he takes the eyepatch off, and it turns out that it's his seal to prevent him from hurting people with his massive power on accident- he's actually really badass after all.
  • Parodied:
    • The degree of power characters have is directly proportional to how many eyepatches they wear and/or how big they are, or at least everyone thinks so. Characters will voluntarily put out their own eyes to become more powerful.
    • A character wears a patch over each eye, meaning he's twice as tough as anyone with just one.
    • One of the other characters eventually snaps "take that damn eyepatch off!" -- turns out the eyepatch-wearer only wears it to look tough, and has perfectly functioning eyes.
    • Someone with more than two eyes (say, aliens or monsters) put on eyepatches on all eyes except one, and by this trope become the most powerful combatant in the universe.
  • Deconstructed: The consequences of having an eyepatch are explored - the character may be more experienced in combat, but the loss of depth perception makes him vulnerable. The eyepatch may be a Magic Feather.
  • Reconstructed:
    • A Person lost their eye in an earlier fight, and trains hard to make sure he isn't caught off-guard again.
    • The character is actually using the eyepatch to improve his/her night vision.
  • Zig Zagged: The badassitude of the character with an eyepatch varies widely at different points in the story.
  • Averted: Characters in the series who have eyepatches are no more experienced with fighting than the ones who don't.
  • Enforced: The actor who plays the series' Badass loses an eye in Real Life, so the creators decide to give his character an eyepatch without reducing the character's combat prowess.
  • Lampshaded: "Don't mess with me or my badass eyepatch if you value your life!"
  • Invoked: A character with two fully-functioning eyes starts wearing an eyepatch in the hopes of increasing his badassery as a consequence.
  • Defied: When he loses an eye and starts wearing an eyepatch, a character refuses to go into combat situations anymore after the incident.
  • Discussed: "Watch out- one of the guys on the other side has an eyepatch. Probably means he's really strong- I saw a movie like that once."
  • Conversed: "Hey, look at that guy with the eyepatch in the background! Bet you ten bucks he takes down the entire opposing side."

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