Sense Loss Sadness: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

This is when a character has one or more (or [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]] forbid, ''[[And I Must Scream|all)]]'' their senses deadened, sometimes to the point of total insensibility. This can happen because of an accident, damage to an organ/nerve, becoming a cyborg/robot (in which case, expect this to contribute to [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]]) or becoming one of [[The Undead]].

 

Interestingly, this might be counterbalanced thanks to [[Disability Superpower]] granting [[Super Senses]] in another faculty, or even oracular ability a la [[Blind Seer]]. However, a non-human or superpowered character who had senses past the standard five and lost one (like [[Telepathy]], [[X-Ray Vision]], or something stranger), the anguish will be no less acute. He, she or it will have to [[Brought Down to Normal|learn to make do with the puny five human senses.]]

 

{{examples}}

* This is what kicks off the culprit's [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] in the ''[[Case Closed]]'' movie {{spoiler|The Fourteenth Target.}} He had lost his sense of taste after being injured in a traffic accident, which was especially devastating given his career as a {{spoiler|''sommelier''--a highly-trained wine specialist.}}

* Akito loses his sense of taste in-between ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' and [[The Movie]]. Considering he is a professional cook, it is a very hard blow.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Max Damage from ''[[Irredeemable|Incorruptible]]'' goes through this ''every time he wakes up''. He only gets about an hour of normal senses before his invulnerability robs him of his senses of touch and taste.

 

* The crew of the Black Pearl in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' is cursed with living undeath, which makes them completely immortal and nearly unstoppable. This would be a pirate's dream, except they [[Blessed with Suck|can feel nothing but hunger and pain.]] Naturally, they gripe about it quite a bit and seek to undo the curse.

 

* There's a spy novel where the hero is charged with retrieving a superweapon, which turns out to be a gun that disconnects every one of the victim's senses (the hero knows it's fired because the victims are trashing on the ground, screaming like there's no tomorrow). In the end, he destroys it.

** Here's how the "pushing back" is introduced. Luke wakes up imprisoned and somehow can't sense the woman talking to him. She mocks him, welcoming him [[Brought Down to Normal|back to the world of mere mortals]].

{{quote|-and with a surge of adrenaline, Luke realized that the strange mental veiling wasn't limited to just her. He couldn't sense ''anything''. Not people, not droids, not even the forest beyond his window.

It was like going blind. }}

** [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dengar Dengar Roth] has a version of this. After he took massive brain damage, the Empire [[We Can Rebuild Him|rebuilt him]] with enhanced senses and a chemically-induced [[Photographic Memory]]... but they also cut away his ability to feel all emotions except for anger, hope, and - accidentally - loneliness. The idea was to make him into a dedicated bounty hunter, who could use anger while on the hunt, and whose hope that the Empire would do as promised and fix his mind if he served well enough would make him serve. Without compassion or sorrow, he wouldn't have that pesky morality in the way. Ironically, he ''still'' refused to kill a group of religious children that rebuffed the Empire's demands and left their service, and eventually had most of his emotions restored by a technoempath woman he ended up marrying. (Boba Fett was the best man.)

 

* ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'': Augustin Gaither became Thomas Walker this way. After losing all his senses except touch, he built a "sensor array" that was wired directly into his brain, granting him a very limited form of sight and hearing and translating speech to braille for him.

** Darien also finds other subjects of the same experiment. These "insensates" have gone mad and spend their time scratching themselves and walking into walls. Anything to feel ''something''.

** Conversely, when {{spoiler|Eiji}} and {{spoiler|Dr Maki}} begin transforming into Greeed, they slowly lose their senses.

 

* In the arc in the Eighth Doctor [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] stories taking place in a dimension where time does not exist, the Doctor becomes depressed, grouchy, and morbid when he effectively loses his time-related senses because of the aforementioned absence of time.

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** Considering [[The Force]] is supposed to tie everything and everyone together (even non-Force Sensitives are connected to it to an extent), this isn't suprising. Most people in the game think [[The Hero|the Exile]] is a freak for [[A Fate Worse Than Death|being cut off from it and still being alive]], if not [[Humanoid Abomination|worse]].

* Collette's {{spoiler|angel transformation}} in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]''. She starts by losing her {{spoiler|taste, then the ability to sleep, then pain, then her voice, then finally loses her soul, through her heart and memory.}}

** {{spoiler|It turns out that this was actually planned as part of gaining her angel powers. Cruxis's goal was to make her into a puppet, and therefore wanted to get rid of the personal senses that made her human.}}

** {{spoiler|Becomes a crowning moment of awesome when he forms some C4 into a butterfly, tosses it in the air, smoothly catches it, and slams it into place to blow the target sky high}}

* Completely inverted by Sandro in the ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' series. In ''The Shadow of Death'', we see his gradual transformation into a lich. In one mission he is shown musing on how much better life is without flesh. No more itchiness, hygiene concerns, or foul odors to worry about anymore. He's also happy to be rid of his lust, seeing that as a distraction.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Xykon of ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' snapped when he realized that his transformation into a lich robbed him of his sense of taste.

** More like Sense Loss [[Unstoppable Rage]] as he immediately executes an innocent (well, she was fiendish but hadn't done anything) waitress. He was bad before, but this truly made him a [[Complete Monster]].

 

* In one episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' Fry's "human horn" (ie, nose) is harvested by aliens to be sold as a black markest aphrodisiac for aliens. ''Futurama'' being ''Futurama'', this causes him to lose his entire sense of smell until his nose is reattached.

* Metallo does this in ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' in his introduction episode before he turns on Luthor. He is a mercenary diagnosed with a fatal disease. Lex Luthor offers a cure - to transfer his thoughts and brain patterns into a Killer Robot, powered by Kryptonite. Naturally Metallo is sent to kill Superman, but he soon realizes he cannot smell, taste or feel anything. Superman eventually defeats him by pointing out Luthor [[Unwitting Pawn|infected him in the first place]] to try out the experiment, and he turns against Luthor.

 

* A lot of people who suffer from Anosmia (lack of sense of smell) tend to [http://www.slate.com/id/2195018/ fall into deep depression because of it.]

** Actually, that's only for people who ''become'' anosmic later in life, and can happen to anyone who loses any sense (such as being blinded or deafened by an accident). Those who are born without it tend to not realize they're missing out on anything - or later realize they're missing out on the bad ''and'' the good, and ''not'' smelling the roadkill skunk is pretty awesome when the rest of the car is gagging. However, you have to remember that the majority of taste also comes from your sense of smell, so your ability to enjoy food and drink disappears as well.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]