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* Hiei from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. The Sailor Senshi have planetary marks appear on their foreheads when the plot deems it important.
* The Signers, and their antithesis, in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Ds5D's]]''
** And in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', the Eye of Anubis fulfills this trope. Sometimes mistaken for The Eye of Wdjat, which is the symbol on Yugi's Puzzle, it can appear on the foreheads of bearers of the items when they use shadow magic. Glowing gold. It has also turned up on <s>the Steves</s> those under the power of Marik through the Millennium Rod.
*** Would the Orichalcos symbol also count? It does turn up, glowing, on people under its influence like the Eye of Anubis.
* The Geass mark from ''[[Code Geass]]''. Geass users have it on their eyes, whereas those who can grant Geass powers have them elsewhere, typically the forehead.
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* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' and its Spiral Power: the users have generally spiral-shaped pupils. And Lordgenome has ''spiral body hair''.
* ''[[G Gundam]]''. Symbols of the Shuffle Alliance.
* +Anima markings in ''[[Plus Anima (Manga)|Plus Anima]]'', though they're actually scars.
* Orochimaru's Curse Marks in ''[[Naruto]]'', although they turn into [[Marked Change|Marked Changes]] when activated.
** Kyuubi's seal may also count.
* In ''[[King of Thorn (Manga)|King of Thorn]]'', Marco Owen is a [[Tattooed Crook]] to begin with, but one in particular marks his upgrade from [[Badass Normal]] to [[Badass Abnormal]]: {{spoiler|when Alice alters his body so that he'll stand a chance against Zeus, he gains a large tattoo on his chest resembling the anarchy symbol}}.
* In ''[[D .Gray Man (Manga)-man|D Gray Man]]'', Kanda has that huge tattoo over his chest. Or at least the left side of it. It's related to his [[Healing Factor]].
** {{spoiler|Alma Karma too. Apparently, all of the Second Exorcists did. Or would have, anyway.}}
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' has the Huckebein, all of whom possess a tattoo on their body to identify their Eclipse infection. Cypha, for example, has one on the left side of her neck. As Tohma shows, these turn into [[Marked Change]] [[Super-Powered Evil Side|when the Eclipse goes out of control]].
* Negi from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' gets these when he initially activates his [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Magia Erebea]]
* Brain from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has these and act as a [[Power Limiter]] sort of.
* After being [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|electrocuted]] by god, Olgrius is covered in markings in ''[[Wild Wind (Manga)Fangs|Wild Wind]]''. These pass on to his descendents which mark them as masters of manbeasts. [[Wild Rose (Manga)Fangs|Mikhail's]] are natural but [[Wild Fangs (Manga)|Syon's]] are actually [[Bio Augmentation|genetically engineered]].
* In ''[[Tokko]]'' people with [[Powers Via Possession|phantoms]] inside them develop tribal-looking tattoos when they first awaken their powers.
* Ai from ''[[Dragon Crisis]]'' has red markings on her right shoulder caused by the [[Transformation Trinket|Lost Precious]] inside her body.
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' book series, a magician race called the Patryns uses tattoos for protection, amongst other things.
* ''[[Thieves World (Literature)|Thieves' World]]'' stories. The Adepts of the Blue Star had a blue star tattooed on their foreheads as the symbol (and price) of their powers. It glowed when the wearer felt strong emotions.
* ''The Black Tattoo''. And it was pretty darn creepy.
* Junichiro Tanizaki's ''The Tattooer'', a short story wherein a sadistic artist drugs a young geisha and tattoos a black widow spider on her back, thus releasing the [[The Vamp|cruel seductress]] hidden within her.
* Eugenie Markham of Richelle Mead's ''Dark Swan'' series has multiple tattoos, most of which invoke the powers of the assorted deities she uses to enhance her magical abilities.
* The fledgling [[Phantasy Spelling|vampyres]] get a crescent moon on their forehead in ''[[The House of Night]]''. When it fills in completely, they have finished the 'change'. The main character [[Mary Sue|Zoey Redbird]]'s tattoo has already filled in of course, along with her getting various others when she gets her numerous [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands|special abilities]].
* Jennifer Lynn Barnes' novel ''Tattoo'' is about this. A woman from [[The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday]] gives a girl named Bailey and her friends some stick-on tattoos that last for a week. Each of them gets a different power for the time they have their tattoos, though they don't know this when they get them.
* Mr. Dark, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (Literature)|Something Wicked This Way Comes]]'', controls the other carnies this way.
* Gorlist, drow warrior from novels of Elaine Cunningham, has a dragon tattoo. Its glow indicated the presence of a dragon somewhere around, as well as [[Colour-Coded for Your Convenience|its kind]] (which is needed to prepare for the encounter).
* The Charter Mages in Garth Nix's [[Old Kingdom]] series. Among other unspecified things, the forehead marks allow "uncorrupted" Charter Mages to identify each other with a touch.
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* [[The Fallen]]'s protagonist Aaron has this whenever he activates his angelic powers.
* The protagonist of ''The Warded Man'' and ''The Desert Spear'' by Peter V. Brett covered himself in magical wards, each of which had a different power.
* Shade from [[Dark Life (Literature)|Dark Life]] is a variation. {{spoiler|His tattoos are a manifestation of his Dark Gift, which is to alter the color of his skin.}}
* The half-vampire members of the Fellowship of St. Giles in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' have tattoos that indicate how much they are utilizing their vampiric powers, and thus how close they are to losing control.
* Members of magically-inclined families in ''[[Collegia Magica (Literature)|Collegia Magica]]'' are required to bear a tattoo of their family crest on the back of the left hand, whether they themselves are magically talented or not.
* Cabaline wizards in ''[[Doctrine of Labyrinths (Literature)|Doctrine of Labyrinths]]'' are tattooed from elbow to knuckle as a display of their power and status.
* A variant appears in ''[[Burying the Shadow (Literature)|Burying the Shadow]]'' involving dyeing the teeth as a visible sign of someone's powers. Soulscapers dye their teeth pink. Scryers dye their teeth indigo.
 
 
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* Gabrielle's [http://images.ados.fr/television/photo/5535277553/dernier-episode/xena-gabrielle-883126441.jpg back tattoo] in the [[Xena: Warrior Princess]] finale, which only glows once, but protects her from a fireball that would've seriously injured or killed her.
* The tattoos of the Checkmate Four in ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]''
* In ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'', Darien's quicksilver Indicator tattoo on his wrist. Doubles as [[Mark of the Beast]], as when it's red it means he's in the throes of quicksilver madness.
* Played straight in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' with [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Nikki/Jessica.]]
* This was the point of ''[[Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills]]'', an early 90's [[Follow the Leader|knock off of]] ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. [[Tropers/Lucky Mc Dowell|I'm]] somewhat ashamed I remember it.
* The tattoos that Lindsay gets in ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' to hide himself from the senior partners.
* In the first season of ''[[Smallville]]'' when nearly every citizen in town got powers from [[Green Rocks]], a gang has tattoos with meteor rock ink that allow them to pass through solid matter.
* After being possessed by demons a few times, [[Supernatural|Sam and Dean]] get protective tattoos to stop it from happening again.
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* Sample character Kane Taoka in ''[[Scion]]'' has birthright tattoos, put on his body by the Titan Mikaboshi. One of them is a dragon he can summon at will, and two more are wings.
* [[Portmanteau|Electoos]] from ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' - it's a little unclear exactly what they do. Sometimes they are simple rank identifiers, whilst other authors use them as remote access keys, or even cybernetic circuitry.
* In ''[[Demon: The Fallen (Tabletop Game)|Demon: The Fallen]]'', a tattoo that you can change at will is something humans have been known to make a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] to obtain.
 
 
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* The mark of the Triforce in some ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games, which generally appear on the back of the dominant hand.
** Not to mention the [[Super Mode|Fierce Deity form's]] facial tattoos from ''[[Majoras Mask]]''.
* Used literally in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' where Tattoos are one of the main pieces of equipment and confer numerous benefits on their wearer, as well as some playing a part in the plot.
** In addition, one of the Nameless One's non-equipment tattoos is the Symbol of Torment itself, a physical manifestation of pain that he always bears, even if he forgets it's there. {{spoiler|Do things right in the game, and his torment ends - and the tattoo falls off.}}
* Most of the palms in ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'' are this.
* Heraldry in the ''[[Star Ocean]]'' series, the equivalent of magic, uses symbols drawn on the body.
* The Mystics in ''[[Legend of Legaia (Video Game)|Legaia II: Duel Saga]]'' all have tattoo-like birthmarks on their body. One of them, of course, has it somewhere that doesn't get shown.
** The Hero Lang and Big Bad Avalon have their tattoos in visible sight (Lang's a bit too open about his). [[Shrinking Violet]] and [[Magical Girl]] Maya shyly refuses to reveal the location of her tattoo. Another character almost too eagerly explains the location of her tattoo. And nobody cares where [[The Obi-Wan|Kazan's]] is. Too bad for him. And the other three mystics are minor villains, so it's not even brought up with them.
* ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' has the Atma Marks as this. Bonus points because you can get one ANYWHERE on the body and the transformation pose has the character reaching out to touch it or show it off (hint: Jinana has hers on one of her butt cheeks).
** Likewise, in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|Nocturne]]'', the main character gets [[Power Glows|glowy]] sorta-power-tattoos all over his body, "sorta" in that they're a natural part of his demon body.
* Shanoa of ''[[Castlevania]]'' has a nice set of three Power Tattoos, one on each upper arm and a large one on her back, which use Glyphs to cast her spells.
* When Jin Kazama of ''[[Tekken (Video Game)|Tekken]]'' becomes [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Devil Jin]], he grows several [[Power Tattoo|Power Tattoos]] on his chest and especially forehead.
* The Rood Inverse tattoo of ''[[Vagrant Story]]'' is quite literally a ''Power'' Tattoo, as it unlocks the power of Lea Monde and grants its user complete control over the city and its spirits. It makes [[Anti-Villain|Sydney]] effectively immortal. {{spoiler|When Guildenstern acquires it, he uses it to much more destructive purposes.}} Needless to say, the thing is practically [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]]. Which is why they need [[Badass|Ashley]]...
* [[The Heartless|The Noise]] in ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' all have tattoos which make up part of their bodies. In a particular example, the Psychedelifox, Ambiefox, and Progfox, who can steadily gain extra tattoo-tails during battle, which in turn allow them to do more vicious attacks.
* Although never seen due to graphics limitations, enemy mages in ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] 2'' have these. They operate as an improved Contingency spell [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|granting the ability to simultaneously cast multiple spells of any level]].
* ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'' magi generally all have a Magic Crest of one sort or the other. It's a mixed blessing: it tends to make you better at whatever branch of magic that Crest is based on and some have additional powers such as providing mana for usage or {{spoiler|keeping Tohsaka alive after getting stabbed because she wasn't out of mana yet.}} However, they bind you and drastically limit your options. Tohsaka is somewhat jealous that Shirou doesn't have one and doesn't think he should ever get one. There's [[All There in the Manual|another type of crest the Magic Association gives]] but this one sucks even worse because all it does is mark you as too valuable to let you possibly run away.
* The Tsoo from ''[[City of Heroes]]'' gain their powers from these.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', l'cie have "the mark of a l'cie", which varies in design based on the fal'cie that chose them. It glows when they use magic or summon Eidolons, and changes over time to serve as a sort of countdown. If the l'cie doesn't complete their focus before it finishes changing, they become a cie'th, basically an undying inhuman monster.
* In ''[[Prince of Persia]]: The Two Thrones'', the Prince becomes infected by the [[The Corruption|Sands of Time]], and occasionally transforms into a unique being known as the Dark Prince, which functions as a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. His whole body is covered by glowing tattoos while in this state. He also has normal tattoos when he isn't transformed.
* Almalexia in ''[[The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind]]''.
* These act as powerups of a sort in ''[[Clive BarkersBarker's Undying]]''.
* [[Phantasy Star Universe|Beasts]] can turn into a large humanoid monster if they get a special kind of tattoo, known as a Blast Badge.
* ''[[Fable|Fable III]]'' has tattoos that start to glow as you gain more magic power and morality. And then there are glowing markings that appear on your clothes if you use flourish attacks, their amount are increased as you gain more magic power. If your morality is good, your tattoos glow blue, just like the tattoos of Maze in the first Fable.
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* In ''[[Golden Sun Dark Dawn]]'' Himi of Yamatai has [[Facial Markings]] on her forehead that greatly resemble the Third Eye Stone. Conveniently, the Third Eye is what she needs to [[Fainting Seer|wake from her visions]] and extract useful knowledge from them.
** Mysteriously, villain Blados has similar markings on his forehead. Their purpose is unknown, but [[Epileptic Trees|speculated]].
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2 (Video Game)|Neverwinter Nights 2]]'': Ammon Jerro in the original campaign. Safiya in ''[[Expansion Pack|Mask of the Betrayer]]''. In both cases, derived from the [[The Magocracy|Red Wizards of Thay]].
* [[Dungeon Fighter Online]]: The [[Leeroy Jenkins|Male Fighter]]'s subclass, [[Ki Attacks|Nen Master]], makes use of tattoos to harness the power of nen without having to devote time. [http://dungeonfighter.nexon.net/GameGuide/Characters.aspx?page=malefighter According to the websight], these tattoos [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|decrease someone's life span by several years.]]
* The never-released game [[Tattoo Assassins]] revolved around fighters with magic tatoos. It isn't nearly as good as it sounds.
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== Web Comics ==
* Zoe's cursed necklace tattoo in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' fits the bill, though turning into a camel whenever someone says the magic word "shupid" is a power that very rarely benefits her. The tattoo itself is pretty inconvenient because her mother would blow a fuse if she ever saw it.
* In ''[[Dan and MabsMab's Furry Adventures]]'', Dan's clan mark finally manifests during his fourth battle with Dark Pegasus, indicating that he has exceeded some sort of power threshold.
* In ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' this is actually subverted. Kili the shaman has such powerful spiritual sight that she'd lose her mind if it weren't for the tattoos that [[Power Limiter|suppress]] her spirit vision.
* Two ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' teachers [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=521 got a magical tattoo] giving remote access to the [[Magitek|device]] that that protects from Renard's [[Body Surf]] and binds him. And have lots of [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=1009 other]... [[Mundane Utility|highly useful functions]], while they're at it.
* Susan from ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-10-05 has a mark] shaped like Venus symbol on her back. [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-05-26 She needs it] to call magical weapons, but the specific shape was [[Straw Feminist|her own]] choice.
** Dex, a background character, seemingly spontaneously develops [[Summon Magic]] in one story arc. Other characters realize the power was actually bestowed on him by an Immortal when they see that he has a marking like Susan's, in the shape of a fairy on his chest.
** Later we find out that {{spoiler|Justin}} has a tattoo that makes him stronger, and {{spoiler|Rhoda}} has one that lets her make things bigger. Both characters are unaware of the tattoos or the powers.
* Graham in ''[[Wizard School (Webcomic)|Wizard School]]'' receives a magical tattoo on his face while in a drunken stupor - making him look like [http://www.meetmyminion.com/?p=1228 "Rainbow F***ing Brite."]
 
 
== Web Original ==
* [http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm233/Vkthsu/?action=view¤t=tattoofamiliar.jpg How about] a tattoo [[Familiar]]?
* Talies from ''[[The Motley Two (Fanfic)|The Motley Two]]'' (as well as other [[Geometric Magic|Writer-Mages]]) has a rune inscribed on his palm that, apart from marking him as part of the order, gives him a sensitivity to the flow of magic.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', the Air Nomads are tattooed with sky bison arrow marks along their chi paths when they master Airbending. Since Aang is [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|the last Airbender]] [[Last of His Kind|alive]], his tattoos are also a dead giveaway that he's the Avatar. They [[Power Glows|glow]] along with his [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|eyes]] when he's in the [[Unstoppable Rage|Avatar State]].
** Also "Combustion Man" fires powerful beams from his third-eye tattoo.
* ''[[Young Justice (Animationanimation)|Young Justice]]'' has the new Aqualad, whose arms are tattooed. They [[Power Glows|glow]] when he is using his hydrokinesis.
 
 
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