Red Right Hand: Difference between revisions

* In [[Planetary]], {{spoiler|John Stone has a literal red right hand, the "Devil's Paw," hidden under artificial skin, with which he battles Jakita Wagner. [[Badass Boast|"I hacked it off of someone tougher than you twenty years ago. It had killed 180 people before I laid eyes on it."]]}}

** Likely a reference to [[Nick Fury]], whom Stone is an [[Expy]]; Fury's archfoe Strucker used a red mechanical gauntlet called the Satan Claw, and after beating Strucker and capturing it Nick has sometimes used it as well. The Satan Claw, then, is another example of the trope.

* Justified example in ''[[Creature Tech]]''. Jameson exchanged his hand for that of the demon Hellcat so he could gain demonic powers.

 

* Crowley in ''[[Good Omens]]'' is only moderately evil, but he does have yellow snake eyes (hence the [[Cool Shades]]). Since he gets given human bodies to blend in on Earth, the implication is that he/Hell can't change these. He also has snake-skin boots that are implied to not be boots and he can "do interesting things with his tongue", both of which are suggestive of his origin as the Snake which tempted Eve.

* The book version of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' has Erik's deformity cover the whole face, in that it makes his head look like a skull.

* In ''[[The Magicians]],'' The Beast (AKA {{spoiler|Martin Chatwin}}) appears completely human except for three or four extra fingers on each hand.

* [[Dan Brown]] seems to be fond of this, as he has a Deaf [[The Dragon|Dragon]] in ''[[Digital Fortress]]'', and an [[Evil Albino]] Dragon and {{spoiler|[[Evil Cripple]] [[Man Behind the Man]]}} in ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]''.

* Dimitri, the protagonist of a Brazilian novel released in English as ''Twelve Fingers: Biography of an Anarchist'' has... guess it. (and since he's really clumsy, they sometimes screw him over: he ''[[The Gump|almost]]'' starts [[World War I]], but jams both index fingers in the trigger, allowing for Gavrilo Princip to shoot... and the original title is ''The Man Who Killed Getúlio Vargas'' because the extra index [[The Gump|"suicides" a Brazilian dictator]])

* In the [[Alastair Reynolds|Revelation Space]] novels, people infected with the Haussman Virus spontaneously bleed from their right hands in stigmatic imitation of the crucifixion of Sky Haussman, which helps in tracking a {{spoiler|certain character through multiple [[Memory Gambit|memory gambits]] and deep covers}}

* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', about the only physical description given of Sauron's current form is that he is missing a finger on "the Black Hand." (It was chopped off after one of his previous defeats.)

* Most of the [[Big Bad]]s in the [[Alex Rider]] series don't exhibit this, yet it is quite common with [[The Dragon|Dragons]].

** It was also claimed that Kitsune couldn't pronounce 'moshi-moshi' when speaking, even in human form. This led to the tradition of using 'Moshi-moshi' as a greeting in Japan.

* In folklore of India the Rakshasa, tiger-headed demons, can masquerade as humans, but their hands always point the wrong way (palms up instead of down, and their thumbs point outwards).

* In Eastern European folklore, the werewolf will have fur growing ''beneath'' his skin in his human form, fur that becomes visible when you cut him. Something ''[[Van Helsing]]'' got right, shockingly.

* In Jewish folklore as well as some Eastern European traditions demons and vampires look like normal people except that they have bird's feet.

** In the [[New World of Darkness]], Freaks and Mutants are types of [[Serial Killer|slashers]], though some may lean towards [[The Grotesque]].

** The version of [[dhampyr]]s presented in the NWOD book ''Mirrors'' are all marked by a minor supernatural deformity.

** Although the Soul Drinkers are good guys, many of them still have mutations from a close call with Chaos, providing a constant reminder of how close they came to damnation. Luckily, they have uses for them - Sarpedon stabs people with his eight spider-like legs, for example.

** His hand is constantly bleeding with the blood of one of the greatest Eldar Heros who he murdered and was cursed for by the way.

* Ubiquitous in the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting, where committing an evil deed and then blowing a Powers check wins you a Red Right Hand of your very own.

** Members of the binder class in 3.5 gain power by channeling [[Eldritch Abomination|vestiges]], and can end up with Red Right Hand traits if they botch the checks involved.

* In ''[[Nobilis]]'', Lord Entropy (a.k.a. The Darkest Lord, Imperator of Scorn, Desecration, and Destruction, and the leader of Earth's Imperators in the War for the survival of Creation) has hands that constantly drip blood due to the sheer evil of the deeds he has done in the service of Creation.

 

* [[The Dragon]] from ''[[Deus Ex]]'', Walton Simons, has unpleasant-looking blue veins covering his skin as a result of his nanoaugmentation upgrades. (It's implied that JC and Paul would, too, if they shaved the sides of their head like Simons does—they certainly have similar markings elsewhere.)

* Averted by Sephiroth of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. He has striking green eyes with catlike pupils but he had them even before his [[Face Heel Turn]]. Played straight with his [[One-Winged Angel|single wing]] which manifests to show how inhuman he has really become in [[Advent Children]].