Faceless Eye: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Got no human grace, your eyes without a face.''|'''[[Billy Idol]]''', "Eyes Without A Face"}}

As [[Eye Tropes|other tropes indicate]], eyes are very, very meaningful. It's a cliché to call them windows to the soul. This trope reminds us that alone, eyeballs are fragile spheres of gel only vaguely reminiscent of their usual purpose of subtle social cues. So a single eye completely outside the context of a face is just creepy. Bad guys often favor a singular, unblinking, [[Faceless Eye]] as an ~~insignia-- bonus~~ points if said villain runs a dystopian society of unending surveillance. Even without an ominous [[Big Bad]] attached, the prospect of a thousand eyeballs shooting you to death with [[Eye Beams]] is fundamentally more unsettling than a thousand [[Mooks]] with [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]. Fighting them usually leads to "[[Go for the Eye]]".

As [[Eye Tropes|other tropes indicate]], eyes are very, very meaningful. It's a cliché to call them windows to the soul. This trope reminds us that alone, eyeballs are fragile spheres of gel only vaguely reminiscent of their usual purpose of subtle social cues. So a single eye completely outside the context of a face is just creepy. Bad guys often favor a singular, unblinking, '''Faceless Eye''' as an insignia—bonus points if said villain runs a dystopian society of unending surveillance. Even without an ominous [[Big Bad]] attached, the prospect of a thousand eyeballs shooting you to death with [[Eye Beams]] is fundamentally more unsettling than a thousand [[Mooks]] with [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]. Fighting them usually leads to "[[Go for the Eye]]".

A cyclops character is more relatable than this kind of being, since cyclopes have a recognizable facial structure, with at least a mouth. These examples are far beyond the edges of the [[Uncanny Valley|Uncanny Continent]]. It is also interesting to note that the representations of many [[AI Is a Crapshoot|insane AIs]] use this trope - most likely to underscore their creepiness.

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== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Eyes Without a Face]]'', Georges Franju's 1959/1960 Films Gaumont picture, features fun, staring creepiness that will scare anyone afraid of dolls with lifelike eyes. Real [[Nightmare Fuel]] and the source of Mr. Idol's fascination with the topic, in the first place.

* [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]]'s emblem is the fiery Lidless Eye. He's physically depicted as such in [[The Movie~~|The Movies~~]]~~-- which~~ makes him a living Clear Eyes ad, only without Ben Stein, and therefore, slightly less frightening.

* [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]]'s emblem is the fiery Lidless Eye. He's physically depicted as such in [[The Movie]]s—which makes him a living Clear Eyes ad, only without Ben Stein, and therefore, slightly less frightening.

* The [[B-Movie]], ''[[The Crawling Eye]]'', aka ''The Trollenberg Terror''.

* One of the monsters in ''Voyage Into Space'' was a giant disembodied floating eye.

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* ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]'' has Groth, a planet sized eyeball that floats through space.

* Everquest - One class of monsters ia a group of small eyeball ISLANDS! (their upper lids are covered with cracks and mountains). Another monster was a gelatinous, red-veined eyeball that attached itself to ceilings and used its wet tentrils to snatch unwary prey.

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' the lich-slash-god Vecna could transform an especially devoted cultist into one of two emissaries named for the two powerful artifacts named for him, this one being The Eye of ~~Vecna--a~~ humanoid figure with a gigantic eyeball where a human head used to be possessed of telepathic awareness that allows him to finish the sentence of others as the least of what he can do.

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' the lich-slash-god Vecna could transform an especially devoted cultist into one of two emissaries named for the two powerful artifacts named for him, this one being The Eye of Vecna—a humanoid figure with a gigantic eyeball where a human head used to be possessed of telepathic awareness that allows him to finish the sentence of others as the least of what he can do.

== [[Video Games]] ==

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* Many ''[[Pokémon]]'', including the Magnemite family and Unown. Duskull is strange, as it has one pupil, but wears a human-skull-mask over it. In the 3D Pokemon games, Duskull's eye [[Nightmare Fuel|switches from eyehole to eyehole whenever it wants to.]] Its body also appears hollow inside, implying that its "eye" is more like a lamp wavering back and forth inside, perhaps being its soul or something.

* The "Mind's Eye" creatures in ''[[Three in Three|3 in Three]]''.

* The "Orbs" from the obscure [[Sierra]] ''Manhunter'' [[Adventure Game~~|Adventure Games~~]].

* The "Orbs" from the obscure [[Sierra]] ''Manhunter'' [[Adventure Game]]s.

* The Mother Brain from ''[[Metroid]]'', especially in the ''Zero Mission'' remake and ''Super Metroid''.

* {{spoiler|Ameno-sagiri, the fake final boss}} in ''[[Persona 4]]''.

* The Evil Eye and Electro Swoosh enemies in ''[[Earthbound]]''.

* The final boss of ''Pandemonium''.

* [[Soul Series|Soul Edge]] developed a [[Faceless Eye]] when the series changed names to ''Soul Calibur'', and retains it in all its "awakened" forms.

* [[Soul Series|Soul Edge]] developed a Faceless Eye when the series changed names to ''Soul Calibur'', and retains it in all its "awakened" forms.

* The second stage of the original ''[[R-Type]]'' game has swarms of small enemies who look like eyeballs with ondulating tails.

* The Rhombulans in ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'' are led by an eye in a polygon. It narrows when it gets pissed off.

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* ''[[Wild Arms 3]]'' loves this, having three bosses that fit this bill, Mono-eye Titan, Hecto-eye Titan, and Heimdall. The first two are faced consecutively without a chance to save in between, and the third is a powerful [[Bonus Boss]].

* The [[Tool]] gig in ''[[Guitar Hero|Guitar Hero: World Tour]]'' has one of these. Tool didn't want the usual background of a virtual performance to accompany their songs, and instead created an animated background for the gig that incorporates several artistic motifs from their past album art and music videos, of which eyes feature in fairly prominently. Also arguably counts as an [[Eldritch Abomination]].

* Speaking of ''Guitar Hero'', Neversoft's [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Neversoft_Logo.png corporate logo] has a faceless eye for their "O". Most of their [[Vanity Plate~~|Vanity Plates~~]] for their ''Tony Hawk'' games play with this; not so much for their ''Guitar Hero'' plates.

* Speaking of ''Guitar Hero'', Neversoft's [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Neversoft_Logo.png corporate logo] has a faceless eye for their "O". Most of their [[Vanity Plate]]s for their ''Tony Hawk'' games play with this; not so much for their ''Guitar Hero'' plates.

* And speaking of [[Rhythm Game~~|Rhythm Games~~]], one of the ''[[Rock Band]]'' venues has a gigantic image of an eyeball (which appears to look in different directions during the performance) at the back of the stage. Surrounded by rings of teeth with tentacles coming out of the back of the stage.

* And speaking of [[Rhythm Game]]s, one of the ''[[Rock Band]]'' venues has a gigantic image of an eyeball (which appears to look in different directions during the performance) at the back of the stage. Surrounded by rings of teeth with tentacles coming out of the back of the stage.

* The [[Canis Latinicus|Eyeballus Jiggium]] plants in ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]''.

* The Wise One of [[Golden Sun]] fame is a rock... with a bright green eye embedded in it.