No Eye in Magic: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A quick search of this site will let you know that [[Eyes Never Lie|eyes are the windows to the soul]]. Well, sometimes in a [[Fantasy]] setting, these windows not only let outsiders see inside, they can also be wide open and allow power or information in or out.

Basically, certain magic ''requires'' the caster to make eye contact with the object of the spell in order to work properly.

 

 

Because of this line-of-sight requirement, the object of the spell can usually avoid it by hiding behind a conveniently-available large object, covering him/herself with something, or simply not looking back at the caster. Blind characters will sometimes [[Disability Immunity|be immune to this]], depending on the nature of the spell (for example, the power of a Gorgon or Basilisk requires the victim to see the attacker, so blind people will be immune). Following the same idea, indirect eye contact is usually considered safe; that is, these spells generally don't work via reflection, or can at lessen the effects. An auditory variation might involve avoiding the effects of a [[Compelling Voice]] by listening to recordings instead of the actual source.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', Kaname Tousen, being blind, is immune to {{spoiler|Aizen's Perfect Hypnosis}}, and when this is brought up, reveals {{spoiler|he's been working for Aizen the whole time}}.

** In the first season a body possessor needed eye contact. Among other things, he discovered that head movements are limited when another guy presses him into a fence using tight strangling wire.

** Second season, one Contractor, August 7, is a [[Reality Warper]] who can pretty much do anything so long as he's looking at you. He's not very competent though, and is defeated in about 5 minutes or less after the [[Anti-Hero]] just throws his [[Badass Longcoat]] over August's head and [[Shock and Awe|electrocutes him]].

*** That's probably less incompetence on August 7's part and more super competence on Hei's. After all, {{spoiler|August 7 shows up just fine at the end of the season.}}

* Because Erza's right eye in ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' is fake, any spells that work through eye contact only have half the effect on her. She still sees illusions but also recognizes them for what they are automatically, and any [[Taken for Granite|Medusa stares]] are easily reversed on her.

** Evergreen can turn people to stone with eye contact, but it doesn't work if she or her target is wearing glasses.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', genjutsu cast by the [[Evil Eye|Sharingan]] seem to work this way.

* Two seprate ninja powers in [[Basilisk]] are based on eye contact. The Dojutsu turns an attacker's aggresion against themselves, leading to some spectacularly bloody suicides. Oboro's mystic eyes have the power to nullify another ninja's abilities as long as eye contact is held.

 

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', when a wizard looks directly into someone else's eyes, they can see the essence of that person's soul. This ability is called a "soulgaze." Unfortunately, this is an automatic effect, once it's activated it can't be stopped, and since it's eye-to-eye it's very much reciprocal, so the other person sees into the wizard's soul as well. Harry himself spends most of the series avoiding direct eye contact with people, unless he has a good reason for it, or has already soulgazed them, since it can only happen between two people once.

** Which is a bit bizarre, because Names can change, but you only ever get one look at someone's soul.

*** Weirdest of all, one person was petrified by seeing it ''through a ghost''. The ghost was petrified instead of killed because he was [[Captain Obvious|already dead]].

** There is also Legilimency, the ability to extract emotions and memories from a person's mind, which usually works via eye-to-eye contact. Dumbledore, Snape and Voldemort are expert Legilimens, and scattered through the series (even before we knew what Legilimency was) we can find instances where Harry felt they could "read his mind". Almost a "missed" example, but once or twice Harry does look away from their gaze; initially the reader would just assume he felt uncomfortable under scrutiny -- [[Foreshadowing|now we know better]].

* Played with in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series: Magic is done by weaving together tendrils of power into complex forms. It's been directly stated that if you can't see the object you're working magic on, you can't put a "weave" (spell) on it. However, there have been cases of people using magic in considerable, though perhaps not complete, darkness.

** In one book, one of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Forsaken]] use a weave on someone's brain. So, it's just difficult, but not impossible. Also, we can just chalk it up to the Aes Sedai [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|authoritatively stating something when they have no clue what the hell they're talking about.]]

* Weird variant: In ''[[Perdido Street Station]]'', anyone looking at a slake-moth's wings would fall into a hypnotic trance. Looking at a reflection of the wings was safe, because the image was inverted right-to-left, but looking at ''a reflection of the reflection'' was not, because the image seen would then be identical to the actual wings. Strange helmets and periscopes incorporating an odd number of mirrors were developed by slake-moth handlers to take advantage of this effect.

 

 

 

== Tabletop RPG ==

** [[Depending on the Writer]], some versions could kill or petrify ''themselves'' by looking in a mirror, even if others could view them safely that way.

** [[Averted]], though, with the iconic beholder, whose various [[Eye Beams]] will work on their targets just fine whether they look back or not.

[[Category:Eye Tropes]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]