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No Eye in Magic: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:reflection-doesnt-kill01_8204.jpg|link=Percy Jackson
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== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series, vampires' mind magic works better with eye contact. One rather important thing Anita found out early was that this scales with a vampire's power: a young vampire can't get her with or without, but with master vampire, it took her from "I'm not even ''trying'' here" to [[Mind Rape]] in nothing flat. A good chunk of the introduction to the series is Anita describing herself trying to look tough while at the same time avoiding the vampires' eyes, so as to keep out of their magical control.
* ''[[
* 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.
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* Similarly, in ''[[The Seventh Tower]]'', anyone who wants to use a sunstone to produce light magic has to be able to see it- otherwise, they'll just be able to make it glow harmlessly. Consequently, blind people can't do light magic, and blindness is portrayed as a major phobia of [[The Magocracy|the Chosen]].
* 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.
* In the last section of [[Ryk E. Spoor]]'s _Digital Knight_, "Viewed in a Harsh Light", Jason is up against the Maelkodan, a creature which was the original inspiration for the ''Medusa''. Looking into its eyes allows the thing to consume your soul. After a chase that destroys a large portion of the town of Venice, FL, Jason defeats the creature by {{spoiler|putting on mirrored sunglasses while apparently helpless and face-down, so when the creature grabs him and turns him over -- it's looking right into its own eyes.}}
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* Inverted in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' with the Weeping Angels, which are only dangerous if you ''don't'' look at them. A later [[Retcon]] plays it straight, though, as they can also destroy you if you look them straight in the eye.
* In ''[[Alphas]]'', Nina's "pushing" ability (mind control, essentially) only works if she has direct eye contact with a person. Sunglasses are capable of nullifying it, as is a significantly unusual/different mind - Gary, with his autism - or someone who has trained to block it - Rosen - but that's another trope altogether.
* The ''[[Tales
* ''[[Haven]]'' has Chris Brody, who involuntarily causes people to fawn over him. Nathan learns to avoid it by not looking directly at him.
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== Tabletop RPG ==
* Standard for most ''[[
** [[Depending
** [[Averted]], though, with the iconic beholder, whose various [[Eye Beams]] will work on their targets just fine whether they look back or not.
* [[
* In both World of Darkness [[Vampire: The Requiem
* In ''[[
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* In [[Final Fantasy XI]], there are several types of attacks that require line of sight between target and caster, called "Gaze Attacks". Interestingly, they do not require literal "eye contact"; when monsters use the attacks on players, they will 99% of the time be facing the player because of the way the hate mechanic works. However, [[Mega Manning|Blue Mages]] can use the attacks and still face any direction; as long as the monster is looking at YOU, the spell will land.
* In [[World of Warcraft]], the Lunatic Gaze spell is employed during the battle with insanity-inducing [[Eldritch Abomination]] Yogg-Saron. The spell does damage to any affected player and lowers their sanity (a mechanic used for the encounter; if it reaches zero, the player goes 'insane' and is mind-controlled by Yogg-Saron for the remainder of the fight). In both instances of its use (periodically by Yogg-Saron itself, or constantly by the Laughing Skulls), facing away from the caster allows a player to avoid the effects entirely.
* [[Averted]] in ''[[Fate/stay
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== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Gargoyles]]''' "City of Stone", Demona casts a spell that affects only people who have both heard ''and'' seen it cast; Hudson's blind friend, who had been listening to it on TV, is unaffected, and the rest of the gargoyles are rendered safe when someone hits the Mute button.
* ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures
* Papa Smurf in ''[[The Smurfs]]'' episode "Romeo And Smurfette" uses an eye contact magic spell on Gargamel the wizard so that the two of them would switch appearances and that Papa Smurf would be able to stop the Smurfs from fighting over Smurfette. During this, however, Gargamel breaks into Papa Smurf's laboratory and finds the magic words so that he can make eye contact with Papa Smurf and transform back to their original appearances. Note that this scene is adapted from the European comic book story ''Smurf vs. Smurf''.
* In one episode of the Disney animated series ''Hercules'', the title character fights Medusa with a shony bronze shield which reflects her image so he can see her without turning to stone.
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