Temporary Blindness: Difference between revisions

** In the anime, Kenshin also was temporarily blinded during his fight with Shougo Amakusa. He recovers his sight later. Note that {{spoiler|Shougo has blinded his own uncle and teacher several years later, and the poor man never recovered his sight}}, so...

* In ''[[Dragon Ball GT]]'', Goku becomes blind when Eis Shenron claws his eyes; he regains his sight later on.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', {{spoiler|Roy Mustang is forced to open the Gate and loses his eyesight as a toll. He still takes part in the final battle, with Hawkeye guiding him. When its all over, he regains his eyesight thanks to Dr. Marcoh and his philosopher's stone.}}

* An issue of ''[[Daredevil]]'' had Matt Murdock temporarily lose his enhanced senses. [[Unexplained Recovery|He Got Better]]. ''Daredevil: Black and White'' featured a total inversion of the trope, however - Daredevil is ''given'' sight by experimental surgery, but it fades away before long. Good thing it was {{spoiler|[[All Just a Dream]]}}.

* [[Fan Nickname|Rulk]]'s eyes get gouged by [[Wolverine]] during a fight in [[Red Hulk|Hulk]] #15 - he's blinded but he's fully aware his healing factor will restore his sight.

* There was a short storyarc in ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' in which he went blind. [[Daredevil]] helped him use his [[Spider Sense]] in order to navigate.

* Similarly, [[Wonder Woman]] experienced a bout of blindness in one mini-arc of her own series. A variation in that [[Disability Immunity|she intentionally did it to herself]] so she could fight a Gorgon without getting turned to stone.

* There's a miniseries in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], ''Vader's Quest'', in which Luke is blinded when he goes into a cave full of light-amplifying crystals and ignites his lightsaber in response to a threat. Gasping "A J-jedi doesn't... need ''eyes!''" he then fights off over a dozen people who ''weren't'' blinded, without killing them. He's more cautious for the duration of his blindness, but with the Force he doesn't have to adjust too much.

* One of the many afflictions faced by gunslinger [[Jonah Hex]] in his career (in ''Weird Western Tales'' #24).

** Another story line had him thrown from a wagon with the resultant jarring of his spine leaving him temporarily paralysed from the waist down.

== [[Fanfic]] ==

* Temporary blindness is also a common plot device in [[Hurt Comfort Fic|Hurt Comfort Fics]].

== [[Film]] ==

* Non-action example: in ''[[Jane Eyre]]'', Mr. Rochester is blinded by {{spoiler|the fire that kills off [[Bertha in The Attic|crazy Bertha]]}}. However, after Jane returns and {{spoiler|they have their first child}}, his eyesight starts slowly returning. Not 100% better, mind, but he stops being completely blind.

* In ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|The Warrior's Apprentice]]'', Elli Quinn has her face burned off during a space battle. Thanks to future space medicine, she only loses sight while waiting for her reconstructive surgery, as her skinless face is bandaged in the interim. When her boss is accosted, she subdues the attacker by locating him with sound. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] by the fact that she practices fighting blindfolded to improve her balance.

** In the New Testament, a Jewish man named Saul was blinded for several days after his he had a certain encounter on the road to Damascus. He then had a [[Heel Face Turn]] and became Paul of Tarsus.

* In the novel ''[[Blindness]]'', this happens to an entire (unnamed) country, progressively, but for one woman. The "blindness" in question is unusual: milky-white instead of pitch-black. Needless to say, civilization crumbles in it.

* Hawkeye was temporarily blinded by an exploding heater in an episode of ''[[MASH|M* A* S* H]]''. During the course of his recovery he experiences a heightening of his other senses, up to and including Radar's ability to hear incoming helicopters. Later in the series, Klinger goes deaf for an episode.

** In another episode, Colonel Potter mentions that he suffered from this during World War I.

** A variation: Leela was temporarily blinded at the ''end'' of "The Horror of Fang Rock", and although she quickly recovered, her eyes permanently changed colour. This was a [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] [[Hand Wave]] to permit Louise Jameson to stop wearing the coloured contact lenses, which had been causing problems.

** In the episode ''Flesh and Stone'', Amy's brain gets invaded by a [[Nightmare Fuel|Weeping Angel]], and the only way to keep it from killing her is to keep her eyes shut. So although she can physically see, if she opens her eyes she dies, so she's effectively blind. She ends up having to escape alone through a forest full of the Weeping Angels, pretending she can see so they don't attack her.

* Clark gets blinded in the beginning of the ''[[Smallville]]'' episode "Whisper," which leads to his developing super-hearing. This also leads to a [[Continuity Nod]] where Clark has to wear glasses.

* On ''[[Happy Days]]'', the Fonz goes blind from being hit on the head with a tray.

* Temporary deafness variant: In an episode of the mid-60s ''[[Tarzan]]'' series, Tarzan is temporarily deafened when the episode's villains try to kill Tarzan by throwing hand grenades into the lagoon he is swimming in.

* ''[[Due South]]'': In "North", the first episode of its second season, Fraser is temporarily blinded due to a head injury suffered in a plane crash that leaves him and Ray Vecchio (along with Fraser's half-wolf Diefenbaker) stranded in the Canadian wilderness. Later Fraser (also temporarily) loses the use of his legs due to the same injury.

* The title character of ''[[Monk]]'' is temporarily blinded in one episode only to find that he actually prefers being sightless, as what he can't see can't repulse or terrify him. He still recovers by the end of the episode, and suffers the customary disadvantage against a sneak attack from the villain of the week.

** Two seasons later, they return to the same planet- and it happens ''again,'' this time to Crais.

* Elliot Stabler lost his vision in one episode of ''[[Law and Order SVU]]''

* Patrick Jane lost his in one episode of ''[[The Mentalist]]''.

* The ''[[MacGyver]]'' episodes "The Negotiator" and "Blind Faith"

* In the ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' episode "Blind Faith" (there's that title again), Sam leaps into the body of a blind pianist. Although able to see for most of the episode, he is temporarily blinded by a camera flash at the climax of the episode just as he needs to save the girl.

* Subverted in a ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' season 3 episode: "New Ground". [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Teal'c]] is blinded by an energy blast and his gau'ould larva is injured, preventing it from healing him right away. The rest of the team is captured, so Teal'c stubbornly insists on riding to the rescue... and promptly walks into a solid rock wall, nearly knocking himself unconscious. {{spoiler|Finally, he swallows his pride and accepts the assistance of a native, receiving a partial cure for his condition. But he still can't shoot beyond point blank range and nearly blasts Colonel O'Neal. Really, it's mostly the native guy who saves the day.}}

* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Something Blue", Giles is rendered temporarily blind due to a spell.

* Happens to Barney in the ''[[Mission Impossible]]'' episode "The Falcon".

* Hercules lost his vision in one episode of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]''.

** For that matter, Xena from ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' also went temporarily blind in one episode.

* This happened to Stabler once in ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' after he took some head trauma when he smashed his head against a car. It was played a little differently than most, in that he is not able to go off and do his usual heroics, instead simply waiting for his sight to return while his injuries heal.

* Crops up in one episode of ''[[Band of Brothers]]'', but unusually it lasts less than an hour and is apparently psychosomatic.

* There is an episode of ''[[Kamen Rider Agito]]'' in which Hikawa starts losing his vision as a result of stress and overwork. Hikawa being Hikawa, he insists on continuing to work as Kamen Rider G3 all the same, resulting in a rather touching turn of events when Hojou (who, to that point, had made it a point to butt heads with Hikawa and co. as often as possible) uses the G3 team's communication system to act as Hikawa's eyes and help him kick ass.

** The trope reappears in ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' with Nago losing his vision and Megumi shouting out directions for him. (It's worth noting that Inoue Toshiki was the head writer for both Agito and Kiva.)

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In one episode of ''[[The Smurfs]]'', Poet Smurf is struck mute, and learns sign language from a friendly elf named Laconia.

** Also, in the episode "Dark Ness Monster" Brainy Smurf is rendered practically blind after losing his glasses. He has to rely on Clumsy Smurf's guidance for the episode, which results in the two becoming best friends.

* This trope was used in "Blind Luck", an episode of the ''[[Rambo]]'' [[Animated Series]].

* In an episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' Hank is very uncomfortable with his mother's new boyfriend; one day when he accidentally walks in on them having sex the sight causes him to go blind for several days, only after accepting him as a stepfather does he get his sight back.

** Subverted in the Mirage comic book story "Blind Sight", in which Leonardo is blinded via poison during a fight with a Foot Ninja, who was himself blinded by Leonardo in a previous battle. Leonardo lands what he believes to be a killing blow, until he realizes that the ninja was gone, and that he'd actually stabbed a homeless person who was in the area. This leads to a sequel mini-series, where the still-blind Leonardo deals with the [[Heroic BSOD]] caused by the experience.

{{quote| ::opens his eyes for an instant to get a look at his surroundings::<br />

'''Scott:''' The good news...no one was there. The bad news, no one was there. }}

* In an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' Peter decides to set a record for swallowing the most coins. Eventually he goes blind from nickel poisoning until the end, when he inadvertently rescues Horace the bartender when the bar was on fire. He gains his sight back when he receives an eye transplant from a hobo he accidentally killed.

{{reflist}}