Eyepatch of Power: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Perhaps both.

 

 

 

In [[The Future]], rough and tumble outlaws will often have a single, obvious [[Electronic Eyes|cybernetic eye]] which will give them some sort of special holdout ability or [[Super Senses]].

** Cross Marian's right eye is covered by a faceplate. And since he {{spoiler|was either killed or was [[Put on a Bus]],}} "God knows how long till we find out." (Because when an eye is covered by something, you know it's covered for a reason...)

* In ''[[Shura No Toki]]'', the main character Yamato keeps one eye closed as a self-inflicted handicap. So does his son.

* Irvine from ''[[Zoids|Zoids: Chaotic Century]]''. Though his eyes are completely normal, the eyepatch he wears effectively functions as combination camera, camcorder, and binoculars.

* Somewhat subverted by Dragon Shiryu in ''[[Saint Seiya]]''. {{spoiler|Shiryu either blinds himself or loses his eyesight in the peak moments of his fights, then emerges much more powerful.}}

** All the more so, because she's a ''pilot''.

* Benedict, the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'', has a collection of unique glass eyes, most of which have special functions, like explosives.

** In homage or (more likely, given the tone of the film) parody of the above, [[Big Bad]] Sarris from ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' has a metal plate bolted over his damaged right eye after surviving having his ship blown up by ''atomic mines''. He's a sadistic bastard, but that's pretty badass.

* Dilios, the sole survivor in the film ''[[300]]''. By definition (given his peers) a badass, he is perhaps more so because, with his one eye and his talent for storytelling, he is ordered to do the hard thing (for a Spartan): escape and live, to tell their story.

* Corum in [[Michael Moorcock]]'s novels is given the Eye of the missing god Rhynn to replace his lost eye. This allows him to see into - and summon the assistance of creatures from - other realms whenever he raises his jeweled eyepatch. Later on he has to give (the no-longer missing) Rhynn his eye back, and thereafter wears a conventional eyepatch.

* Uno in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' is introduced with just one eye, later on he starts wearing an eyepatch with a scary eye painted on it. While he IS a [[Badass]] he more of a drill sergeant.

* The Divine Fratery of [[Dan Abnett]]'s novel ''Ravenor Returned'' are an organization that dedicates their efforts to ruining the Imperium by scrying out possible futures and working to manifest the ones that would do the most harm. In order to become a full member, the supplicant must put out one of their own eyes and receive no medical treatment for any reason until they have completed fashioning the silver mirror they will use to divine the future. Constructing the mirror can take years. Those who are successful are given an augmetic eye to replace the one they sacrificed, and henceforth hide their remaining real eye behind an eye patch when not actively scrying.

* There are three people in the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' who each have a mechanical eye - Booster Terrick, General Edor Crespin, and Ton Phanan. Booster and Phanan each have a [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|glowing]] [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red]] prosthetic. When {{spoiler|Phanan}} dies [[Dies Wide Open|staring at the stars]] and someone closes his real eye, his mechanical one stays powered, [[Eye Lights Out|not dimming]]. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Crespin Crespin] is said to have got a glossy black prosthetic, but because people found it unnerving he wore a mirrored patch over it. Wedge suspects that he can see through it.

* Subverted in ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]'': David Bowie appears to Bret in a dream and tells him that he'd become more famous as a musician if he started wearing an eyepatch. Bret wears one for a while but stops after he complains about his poor depth perception causing him to miss chairs and run into walls. In his next dream, Bret tells Bowie what happened and he admits he had similar problems when he wore one (see Music below).

* In the same way goatees are commonly used to depict [[Evil Twin|evil]] [[Alternate Universe]] versions of characters in parodies (after Spock grew one in the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "Mirror Mirror"), eyepatches are used for the same purpose, because the evil version of the Brigadier wore one in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Inferno''. And as we all know, [[Evil Is Cool|Evil is Bad Ass]], therefore, this counts as a variation on this trope.

* Madam Kovarian from the 2011 series of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has some kind of cybernetic device over her right eye. A bunch of other characters start wearing copies of it in "The Wedding of River Song." The Doctor notes that all the servants of The Silence wear them, and as such is horrified when he sees Amy wearing one. She however is not [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] and notes that it is not an eyepatch, {{spoiler|it lets them remember the Silence}}. Which is why their servants wear them.

** The eyepatches also {{spoiler|act as kill-devices that electrocute their wearers to death once the Silence have no further use for them.}}

* General Martok, of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', was already badass as a Klingon. Add to that the removal of his eye, the scar tissue that covered up the socket in a ''natural'' eye patch, and his becoming the winningest Klingon commander of the war and eventually the new Chancellor, and you have a true badass.

** And on top of all that, in the [[Expanded Universe]] he becomes the ''Klingon King Arthur''!

* Lily Charles of ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' is missing an eye due to an incident while cleaning cat litter and is definitely bad-ass, {{spoiler|blowing her erstwhile assassin out the window with her shotgun after he thought her choked to death}}. Her lack of an eye is dealt with realistically, if a bit comedically, in that she [[Failed a Spot Check|misses the fact]] that Chuck, her niece{{spoiler|/daughter}}, is back from the dead despite Chuck standing right in front of her. You see, Chuck just happened to be in her blind-spot at the time...

* Travis in ''[[Blake's 7|Blakes Seven]]'' has a skinlike eye patch. Plus a laser-firing artificial arm.

* "Archangel" loses one eye after the Evil Dr. Moffett's attack on the control tower in the pilot of ''[[Airwolf]]''. From then on, he wears glasses with [http://awmod.uni.cc/info/Archangel.jpg one black lens], as well as a white eyepatch on occasions he can't wear the glasses.

* Subverted in the Disney series ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' during the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' spoof school for magic (where everyone must wear a bathrobe over their clothes and a pair of glasses just like Harry's to accessorize the bathrobes) the rude upperclassman who acts as Justin's rival wears an Eyepatch over a functioning eye, not to make himself better but just to get out of wearing the dorky glasses.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': G'Kar was badass even before losing the eye, but gets downright messianic afterwards. Also, his eye was part of a prophecy involving Londo - {{spoiler|"saving the eye that does not see" is one of three actions that would save Londo from bad, bad things. He doesn't. [[Grand Theft Me|Then the Drakh put a Keeper on him]].}}

* In the original television airings of ''[[The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles]]'', there were segments set in the present day (the ''then'' present, around 1992). These bits featured an elderly [[Indiana Jones]], who wore an eyepatch over his right eye, and a pair of glasses over the patch. He also had a nasty facial scar trailing out from under his eyepatch. However, [[Done a George Lucas|these 1990's scenes were all deleted in later airings of the show]], and still haven't become available on home video. A [[Eyepatch After Time Skip|time skip]] was involved here, because Indy still has both eyes in all the films so far (which cover events up to 1957, and when the ''Chronicles'' first aired extended only to 1938).

* One of the most popular characters on ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'' in the late 1980s was Steve 'Patch' Johnson who (in his backstory) had lost an eye in a fight with the show's main hero Bo Brady and wore a patch. Steve's initial storylines included terrorising Bo and his wife Hope but after a [[Heel Face Turn]], Steve reconciled with Bo and eventually married Bo's sister after taking over from Bo as the show's main hero when Bo was [[Put on a Bus|put on a sailing ship]].

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]],'' the alternate Kamen Rider TheBee has one. He lost his eye to {{spoiler|Souji.}}

* In ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', [[Cloudcuckoolander|Nadine Hurley]] wears an eyepatch over her left eye after {{spoiler|losing it in a hunting accident on her and her husband Ed's honeymoon}}. At the beginning of the second season after {{spoiler|attempting suicide}}, she not only loses her memory, but also gains [[Super Strength]]. In fact, she's so strong, she accidentally ''pulled a door off it's hinges''.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Based off the John Wayne character Rooster Cogburn (see Movies above.)

* There's a magic item in one ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' sourcebook called the Corsair's Eyepatch, which is transparent to the wearer so as not to impede vision. Depending on which eye it's worn over, the wearer can activate it to See Invisible, or gain the Blind Fight feat.

 

== Toys ==

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Kano from ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' had a red cyber-eye in a metal plate. Ironically, he's a bit of a jobber.

* Sagat from ''[[Street Fighter]]'' has an eyepatch, and embodies this trope to an extent.

* In ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' the protagonist Manny's sidekick Glottis, in awe after an eyepatch-wearing, gruff, salty sailor type has given a stirring speech, whispers "Wowww! Manny, could I have an eyepatch?"

* Since the Yagyu Jubei from the ''[[Samurai Shodown]]'' games is supposed to be the one from real life, he wears an eyepatch. Notable for him and Sagat earlier ... the nature of the graphics means the patch switches from one eye to the other when the character changes which way he's facing.

* Zato-1 from ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' is blind and blindfolded (his name is a homage to [[Handicapped Badass|blind swordsman]] Zatoichi). He's supposedly able to access better senses than with his eyes, which probably means that his shadow, the sentient bioweapon Eddie, sees for him. He ''is'' reasonably [[Badass]]... {{spoiler|for a dead guy (though Eddie's also pretty badass itself.}}

* Georg Prime in ''[[Suikoden V]]'' wears an eyepatch over his left eye. Even with the handicap, he's considered the greatest swordsman around, with a reputation for defeating all foes with his first attack. He eventually tells the main character that in his youth, he was careless in a battle and was slashed in the face, only surviving because the main character's father rescued him. {{spoiler|Still later, he reveals that the slash actually missed his eye, and that he wears the eyepatch as a reminder not to get too cocky. At that point he discards the eyepatch, deciding he doesn't need it anymore.}}

* Likewise, in ''[[Gungrave]]'', Grave lost his left eye when he was murdered. He wears glasses with the left lens blacked out and a white cross on top of that to conceal it, although sometimes his [[Peek-a-Bangs|hair]] has the same effect. Like Auron above it's not quite an eyepatch but Grave did take several levels of badass after being resurrected.

* General Beatrix of ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' has a badass metal eyepatch, and the first fights against her cannot be won. The goal is only to survive.

* The Demoman from ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' wears one, and is actually quite bitter about having lost his eye, referring to himself as a 'black, Scottish cyclops'. His lack of an eye has no impact on the player's vision when playing as him, however, and he still performs quite adequately considering his weapon of choice is a grenade launcher.

** He seems ''really'' bitter.

* Wolf O'Donell of ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]]'' goes through several variations of this. In the prototype ''Star Fox 2'', he is depicted with a scar over one of his eyes, while in ''Star Fox 64'', he sports an eyepatch (over the opposite eye) and later games give him a cybernetic eye, although it still comes with metallic straps as if it were still an eyepatch, raising questions about whether or not he can take it off.

* Interesting example from the ''[[Empire Earth]]'' opening movie. You see four warriors in four dramatically different epochs (stone age, British imperial age, second world war and the future). The stone age warrior has a white (blind) left eye, the imperial sea-captain has a cloth in front of his, the WWII commander has a standard black eyepatch and the futuristic warrior has a cyborg left eye.

** Yep. It even has a name- "Kellendros" and is described as the "Trigger device of the Gae Bolg" Though I'd be inclined to believe Kellendros and Ex Machina (his uber gun) are dual triggers for it since both are used to summon the extra uber cannon.

* Alfred Woden of the ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'' series wears a special pair of glasses which are shaded over his right eye. This was meant to evoke Odin, as was his last name, since Oden himself wore an eyepatch, and thus establishes himself as the one running the show. Max himself notes "In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed man is King"

* ''[[Monster Hunter]] Tri'': Your character has 2 if you are female and one if you are male, the female has an exclusive helmet in the deviljho gunner set with an eyepatch, and both genders have the Wyvernking Eyepatch which has 3 slots and is upgradeable

* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction]]'', the Smuggler has an eyepatch. It's probably just for show though, since in his first scene he lifts up the eyepatch and glares at Ratchet with the eye underneath (which appears normal). Also, the eyepatch switches sides between scenes . . . and this ''isn't'' a [[Ambidextrous Sprite|sprite game]].

* ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' has [[Date Masamune]] (who is also down there in the Real Life examples) and Chosokabe Motochika. Masamune's eyepatch of power is so badass that it's a tsuba. [[Gratuitous English|You see]].

* In ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', there is Balrahn, celebrated hero and Emperor of Aht Urghan, who in his day managed to collect 20 unique weapons (one for each job class, conveniently) as war trophies during epic battles with foreign powers. These "Mythic Weapons", now locked in the Empire's vaults, are obtainable by the player after completing a series of difficult and/or time-consuming tasks, one of which is to obtain Balrahn's Eyepatch, which is described as a sacred relic.

* In Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's (completed, not ongoing) webcomic "Yahtzee Takes On The World", the alternate universe Anti-Yahtzee has the token alt-self eyepatch, as well as the other inevitable deliberate clichés of the identical-but-opposite-colour clothing and the typical facial hair inversion.

* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', Judy's kitten had survived an attack from a dinosaur and now sports an eyepatch. It still looks very cute.

** She later gets her eye and arm back, so she loses the patch.

* In ''[[Galactic Maximum]]'', [http://maximumcomic.com/?strip_id=1 one uses a knife in the gun fight]

* Another historical example: Xiahou Dun, a Chinese general serving under Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Reputedly, he was such a [[Badass]] that, when an arrow shot him in the eye, he plucked it out and ''[[Eye Scream|swallowed it to instill fear in his enemies.]]'' In most literary and pop culture depictions of him (read: ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''), he's wearing either an eyepatch or a bandanna around his eye.

* [[Yagyu Jubei]], one of the most famous and romanticized samurai of all time, is a somewhat more ambiguous case. Although portraits from his own time show him with two eyes, somewhere along the line of centuries spent telling and retelling his story it became traditional to depict him wearing an eyepatch. Whether the historical Jubei ever wore one or it comes from Kabuki exaggerations is open to debate, but it has become a traditional part of his character, usually with the explanation that he lost it as a child while training. Other movies show him being wounded by a cut to the face as an adult, but developing his skill to greater degrees afterwards.

** Supposedly true story : He was once driving at forty kph over the speed limit with Shimon Peres in the passenger seat when they got stopped by a police officer. The officer of course didn't give them a ticket, but asked him how he could risk his and Peres's lives like that. Dayan's answer? "I can either look at the road or at the speedometer -- which would you prefer?"

* Jan Zizka had already lost an eye, either in battle or due to a childhood accident depending on the source, by the time he became the leader of the Czech rebel faction in the Hussite Wars. He soon lost the other one as well but continued to lead his troops into battle personally despite being ''completely blind''. As is fitting for a man of his stature, he is the subject of the world's tallest equestrian statue in Prague.