The Faceless: Difference between revisions

[[File:Anubis.jpg|link=Stargate SG -1 (TV)|frame|There's a reason Anubis doesn't let you see his face. {{spoiler|[[Energy Beings|He doesn't have one]].}}]]

Non-recurring faceless characters tend to be either Cannon Fodder [[Faceless Goons]] (whose facelessness removes their individuality, their humanity, and -- [[Moral Dissonance|hopefully]] -- the—the audience's squeamishness about their deaths), or an [[Invisible President]] (whose face is hidden to prevent the episode from being dated by the next election).

The mask-wearing kind of [['''The Faceless]]''' often end with [[The Reveal]]. Sometimes this is [[Nerd in EvilsEvil's Helmet|a big anticlimax]].

== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==

* In the ''[[Get BackersGetBackers]]'' anime, whenever Raitei and the original Four Kings are shown in flashback, the 4th King, Kurusu Masaki is always hidden in shadow ([[Fridge Brilliance]] because he has the superhuman power to generate/manipulate light) and only his blackened silouhette is shown. This lasts until the first episode of the final story arc, where he is formally introduced

* ''[[Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo JosJoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' - The face of Dio Brando in the third series is never seen until a splash page [[The Reveal|reveal]] near the end and his Stand powers are also not shown until shortly thereafter. Although his face wasn't obscured in the slightest in the first volume, the art change since then leaves his true features a mystery, as his face is shown in shadow (often, the rest of his body will be perfectly visible). This is primarily because {{spoiler|he has taken the body of the protagonist from Series 1, Jonathan Joestar}}. In the arcade and PSX fighting game, this trope is literally embodied in the character of Shadow Dio, whose face is blacked out and whose Stand is shown briefly as a colorless apparition from the waist up. His attacks do not reveal his Stand powers, and hardly use his stand at all, focusing on his vampiric powers instead. However, {{spoiler|he can stop time just as the normal Dio can, has Dio's knife-throw as a standard move, and even has a special move where he stuns the opponent with his Stand, stops time, and surrounds them with knives as time starts again}}<br /><br />In the same part, Midler, wielder of the High Priestess Stand, is never seen clearly. When she appeared in the aforementioned fighting game, they couldn't do this; therefore the game is the first time her actual face is seen. She appears to resemble a sort of belly dancer.

* ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'' pulls the anime variant when boy-type [[Attractive Bent Gender|Hazumu]] appears in flashbacks.

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima (Manga)|Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Nodoka ''looks'' like she's one of these, but we get a full view of her face in the second chapter. She's cute.

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena (Anime)|Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' uses this trope extensively, in many different ways. Primarily there's the Shadow Girls, who are always putting on a shadow play and thus are only ever seen in shadow. All parents have their faces hidden as well, and ''everyone'' has their face hidden in flashbacks, even characters whose faces we normally see. Oddly, nothing obstructs the viewer from seeing their faces -- theirfaces—their faces are simply not shown, appearing instead as a blank spaceblack silhouette.

* ''[[Mai-Otome 0 Sifr|My-Otome 0~S.ifr~]]'': Sifr's late mother.

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]] OVA'': {{spoiler|Anna, Lloyd's mother}}

* ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'' - Giovanni, the leader of [[Team Rocket]], for a good part of the first season.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' thrives on this device. Yui's facial features are a mystery for most of the series {{spoiler|to hide Rei's striking resemblance to her and to emphasize Yui's value as an archetype}}. The face of Asuka's mother, Kyoko, is only shown once, in [[The Movie]] (and even in this case, it's not very clear), and her father's and {{spoiler|adopted mother's}} are never shown. Kouzou Fuyutsuki's students in [[Whole -Episode Flashback|episode 21]] are also [[The Faceless]], strangely enough. As for Shinji's caregivers in the manga, they are [[Hidden Eyes|The Eyeless]]! This device seems to be partly meant to accentuate the theme of alienation in post-industrial Japan... [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|oh forget it]].<br /><br />For [[The Reveal|fairly obvious reasons]], the face of {{spoiler|the pilot of Eva-03}} is hidden until the end of episode 18 too, though the character's identity is strongly implied throughout episodes 17 and 18. Also note that both in the manga and in the official spin-off (!) ''Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji's Complementarity Project'', the kids and adults who bully {{spoiler|Shinji and Rei, respectively}} are also [[The Faceless]], which adds to the creepiness factor and might also emphasize the mindlessness of bullying and/or the [[Faceless Goons|interchangeability of mindless bullies]].<br /><br />And in the yet-another-official-spin-off ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion Gakuen Datenroku|Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku]]'' (''Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy''), {{spoiler|Gendou}}'s face is hidden till the very last page of the first chapter in which he appears. Probably because he's supposed to be missing, but we know what he looks like and it's not like we didn't expect it (Shocking news! {{spoiler|Gendou Ikari}} is the head of the Nerv! And he might be scheming something involving teenagers and super-weapons!!). Also, so far Shigeru Aoba, Makoto Hyuga and Maya Ibuki (the operators of the main series) are only seen from behind if at all. Many of the {{spoiler|Angels}} are completely hidden in darkness when they appear.

* ''[[Naruto (Anime)|Naruto]]''

** One [https://web.archive.org/web/20120512204747/http://read.mangashare.com/Naruto/chapter-016/page002.html manga chapter cover] shows him in bed maskless but has him covering his face with his cover and hand.

* Zolf in ''[[Slayers]]'' goes from some sort of inhuman mummy man to a guy that could best be described as looking like Link's uncle from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: aA Link Toto T Hethe Past (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]''. Suddenly he's a lot more human and respectable of a character.

* ''[[Beyblade]]'' - Although seemingly a harmless computer geek, Kenny obviously had something to hide. Not only were his eyes always covered by his hair (they were shown once, in a [[Face Fault]]), in the original version he was also known almost exclusively by a [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|nickname]]. Suspicious.

* ''[[Ghost in The Shell|Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' has the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Man_:Laughing Man (Ghost_in_the_Shell)Ghost in the Shell)|Laughing Man]], who is such a competent hacker that he censors out his own face with a logo not only from any simple cameras that see him, but from the computerized brains of anyone who looks at him, in real time. Of course, he is revealed to viewers around halfway through, {{spoiler|and he also shows himself to Section 9 after the main conflict is resolved}}.

* Abe no Seimei in ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka Dede]]''. (Yes, ''[[Onmyodo|that]]'' Abe no Seimei. [[Trapped in Another World|Supposedly]].) Interestingly, [[Big Bad|Akuram]], who explicitly wears a mask, does ''not'' remain [[The Faceless]] for a long time...

* Hayate's parents in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' have kanjis for their faces. His brother's face is darkened/obscured in his appearance {{spoiler|up until chapter 263}}.

* Tokita Mako in ''[[Mx 0Mx0]]''. Her facelessness is part of the joke that her [[Gag Boobs|chest]] is so big that anyone can recognize her with her chest alone. {{spoiler|Her face is revealed in the final chapter.}}

* In ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'', this was [[Complete Monster|Johan's]] first appearance as an adult. His face is not shown until he {{spoiler|shoots Junkers}}, having first been obscured by shadows and then through the back view. At the end of the exchange, both Dr. Tenma and the audience get to see his face. When he's shown to be a [[Bishonen]] young man [[Dissonant Serenity|smiling pleasantly,]] it's ''even creepier.''

* In the ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'' anime, you never see the parent's faces, for some reason, just a voice and maybe (if you're lucky), part of their body. However, they're shown fully in the manga.

* The Brunette from ''[[Ben To (Anime)|Ben -To]]'' to the point of being a running gag where even the official character website's photo of her doesn't reveal her face.

* ''[[The Idolmaster (Animeanime)|THE iDOLM@STER]]'' - Kuroi and Takagi's faces are never shown.

* From ''[[Kuroko no Basuke (Manga)|Kuroko no Basuke]]'', we have the former captain of the Generation of Miracles, Akashi. He's always shown from the back or the neck down. Even when he's face-to-face with the main characters, he has a [[Face Framed in Shadow]]. {{spoiler|His face is finally revealed at the end of chapter 113.}}

* Most recurring females in ''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys (Manga)|Daily Lives of High School Boys]]'' have their eyes covered by their hair, save for Nago-san, [[Student Council President|Ringo-chan]], [[Longing for Fictionland|Literature Girl]], and the three girls in ''High School Girls are Funky''.

* ''[[Two Thousand AD (Comic Book)|2000 AD]]''

** [[Judge Dredd]] ''never'' shows his face. He almost never removes his helmet. On the exceedingly rare occasions he does it's an [[The Un -Reveal|Unreveal]]. One famous story revealed near the end that its protagonist, a [[The Drifter|mysterious drifter]] [[Walking the Earth|Walking The (Cursed) Earth]], was Dredd during a [[Ten -Minute Retirement]], but he was so badly scarred it didn't count as [[The Reveal]].

** Judge Fear: we never see his true face, just his helmet, which covers all his face and which he can open, which is apparently so frightening it can scare people to death -- gazedeath—gaze into the face of fear! Does not always work: Dredd: [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|gaze into the fist of Dredd!]]

* V in ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' chooses to remain behind his mask for the entire duration of the narrative, save for his revealing himself to Dr. Delia Surridge as she lays dying. She comments that his hideously burn-scarred face is "so beautiful..." This trope exists partly because V is more embodied as an Idea than as Individual.<br /><br />In the film adaptation (so goes the story), various prettyboy types were considered for the role of V, but they all wanted to do at least one scene unmasked. [[Hugo Weaving]] was therefore enlisted instead and his mask is never removed. The "mystery factor" is diminished since Weaving looks pretty much the same [[Captain America the First Avenger|in]] [[The Matrix|every]] [[Lord of the Rings (Film)|movie]], but what was lost there is regained in spades in the [[Large Ham|voice and physical acting]]. He does get a cameo in that he's one of the prominent faces (along with the others are characters who have died in the course of the film) in the crowd removing their masks at the end. It's rather poignant.

{{quote| "Gee, it sure is dark in here. You'd think with all our power and money we could afford a few lightbulbs."}}

* This is one of the trademarks of ''[[The Phantom (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|The Phantom]]'' (Ghost Who Walks, Man Who Cannot Die, etc.). When in costume he has his mask, and when travelling incognito as "Mr. Walker" he wears a hat and sunglasses all the time, claiming that he has a disfiguring skin condition when asked to remove them. If he isn't wearing the mask or the hat and glasses for some reason, he's either drawn from the back or in shadow to obscure his face.

* In ''[[Zot (Comic Book)|Zot]]'', the electronic assassin 9-Jack-9 has no face. (Creating difficulty for creator Scott McCloud when he held a contest for which character the readers most wanted to see [[Pie in Thethe Face|hit in the face with a pie]], and 9-Jack-9 won.)

* Variation: ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'''s [[Big Bad]], Lord Hijiki, is one of these--butthese—but only after his face is completely shown in his first appearance.

* Monsieur Choc, the arch-villain in ''[[Tif Etet Tondu]]'' is never seen without a knight's helmet that completely disguises his features. In the two page comic [http://coolfrenchcomics.com/chocstory.htm L'Image de Choc] one character eventually get hold of a picture of Choc without his helmet. However, the picture turns out to be useless {{spoiler|Since it depicts Choc when he was an infant}}.

* In the ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]'' storyline ''[[Batman: No MansMan's Land (Comic Book)|No Man's Land]]'', the person who takes the identity of Batgirl is never shown without her mask until {{spoiler|Batman fires her}}, at which point {{spoiler|she's revealed to be Huntress}}.

*** Mind you the Time Trapper has had his/her/its identity revealed four or five times making the TT effectively faceless no matter what. In ''LO3W'', Brainiac 5 speculates that the Trapper is a living alternate future, whose history is constantly been rewritten (he/she's previously been a Controller, his/her own sidekick Glorith, a future version of Cosmic Boy, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Entropy, and a future version of Lori Morning [who may have been the [[Post -Crisis]] Glorith]).

* [[Lampshaded]] in the ''[[Cracked (Magazine)|Cracked]] Magazine'' (was it #198 or #208?) parody of ''[[The Fall Guy (TV series)|The Fall Guy]]''. Colt asks Big Jack why she is suddenly wearing elaborate hats that conceal her face. Big Jack replies that the artist couldn't get her face right so decided to hide it behind the hat.

** The Jawas appear to be this as well. Very few of them in any material have ever removed their hoods--allhoods—all anyone sees of their faces are two glowing [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyes]]

* The Nazgul from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Their faces aren't ''hidden;'' rather they Nazgul are completely ''invisible'' to the normal world, and Frodo can see them when he puts on the Ring at Weathertop (clearly in the book, distorted in the movie). If the Nazgul take off their robes, living people see nothing; this is revealed in the end, where (in the book, and partially in the film) the head Nazgul takes off his hood, showing a crown sitting atop an invisible head.

* Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[From Russia With Love (Film)|From Russia Withwith Love]]'', ''[[Thunderball (Film)|Thunderball]]'', ''[[You Only Live Twice (Film)|You Only Live Twice]]'', ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Film)|On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'', and ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (Film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]''. His face is finally revealed in ''You Only Live Twice'' (the first movie where he's the main villain instead of just telling Rosa Klebb and Largo what to do) when he meets [[James Bond]], and is shown for the rest of his appearances, except for {{spoiler|his death in the beginning of}} ''[[For Your Eyes Only (Filmfilm)|For Your Eyes Only]]''. By then, the studio lost rights to SPECTRE and the bald guy with the white cat "technically" could have been anyone.

* ''[[Octopussy (Film)|Octopussy]]''{{'}}s face is obscured when Kamal Kahn goes to see her early in the movie; only her hands are shown as she feeds her pet octopus while talking to Kahn. This, plus the way he takes orders from her and the fact that the movie is ''named'' after her made it seem like she would be the [[Big Bad]] and not him.

* ''[[Flash Gordon (Filmfilm)|Flash Gordon]]'' (1980) - Klytus, Head of Ming the Merciless' Secret Police. His mask effectively obscures his features, though we're afforded a good view of his eyeballs and tongue when he gets tossed onto some spikes.

* In the movie ''[[The Ring|Ring]]'' (but not its American adaptaion), future [[Stringy -Haired Ghost Girl]] Sadako is always shown with her long hair covering her face, even in flashbacks to when she was still alive. {{spoiler|Her grisly, rotted features are revealed in ''Ring 2'', however, and her "good" half in ''Ring 0'' always has her face on display.}} Although even in ''[[The Ring]]'', the ghostly form of Samara remains with her face hidden behind her hair in almost all of her appearances. [[The Reveal]] of her face near the end of the movie easily qualifies as [[Nightmare Fuel]], if only for the expression on it.

* In ''[[Ben -Hur]]'', the face of Jesus Christ is never seen, [[The Voiceless|nor is his voice heard]]. Presumably that this is done out of reverence.

* The driver of the semi in Steven Spielberg's ''[[Duel (Filmfilm)|Duel]]''. Because the ''truck'' is the important character.

* The DJ who acts as [[Greek Chorus]] in ''[[The Warriors (Filmfilm)|The Warriors]]'' (although we do see her lips up by the microphone).

* Mara Chekhova, the operatic diva in Dario Argento's ''[[Opera (Filmfilm)|Opera]]''.

* In ''[[Ernest Saves Christmas]]'', Ernest has got a friend whose face we never see. All we see is his first person perspective, as Ernest clumsily bumbles about his house. This is a [[Shout -Out]] to Ernest's numerous commercials. Most of them had him talking about Product X to someone named "Vern", while "Vern" was doing something off-screen, like changing a lightbulb while Ernest held the ladder. Apparently, "Vern" is supposed to be a stand-in for the audience.

* ''[[The Thing (Filmfilm)|The Thing]]'' - [[John Carpenter]] invented another variant where the titular creature is seen frequently, but in forms which are obviously an ever-changing mishmash of other alien life forms, dogs, and/or men. Its natural shape is never revealed, even in death.

* Irene Adler's enigmatic employer in the 2009 ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' movie ( {{spoiler|A.K.A. Professor Moriarty}}) is presented like this in his appearances. We finally get to see his face in the second film.

* In ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]'', Thompson, the reporter whose investigation into "Rosebud" is the backbone of the plot, is only shown from behind or with his face in shadow. In fact, ''all'' of the reporters and news-media personnel in the film (those not employed by Kane himself) are The Faceless, reinforcing that what they do is more relevant to the story than who they are.

* [[The Dragon|Rinzler]] in ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]'', to hide the fact that he's {{spoiler|actually a [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] Tron}}.

* John, the mysterious alien Guide in Enki Bilal's ''[[Immortal (Filmfilm)|Immortel ad Vitam]]'' has his head completely wrapped in black cloth at all times, presumably to protect himself from Earth's hostile atmosphere. When he finally succumbs to our air, he evaporates into nothingness, leaving only empty clothes behind.

* An in-universe example actually happens to Mike Wazowski in the film ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'', who for some reason, ''always'' has his entire face covered up in every single media he's appeared in, such as a commercial, a magazine, and even the DVD! (the hole in the middle of the DVD was actually placed in a way so that it too covered Mike's face). A more straight example would be a [[Godzilla]] [[Expy|stand-in]] named Ted, who for some reason is seen only from the legs down and clucks like a chicken (he was originally going to sound exactly like Godzilla himself, but the idea was refused due to copyright reasons). A blooper at the end of the film actually revealed that his upper body actually belonged to [[Toy Story (franchise)||Rex]], here portrayed as a normal-sized [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] instead of a plastic toy.

* In ''[[Let Me In]]'', the English-language remake of ''[[Let the Right One In]]'', a clever stylistic choice signifies how it is a film principally about children ([[Not Growing Up Sucks|more or less]]), where the adult characters are mostly peripheral and often fleeting. Owen's island-like status is emphasised by his absent father only making one scene, by telephone, and his mother – a fairly constant presence in the book – appears numerous times yet is ''never once seen properly on camera'': she varies from being a distant figure, a ghostly reflection or obscured by a door, to fully visible yet thrown way out of focus or seen only from the neck down; even a passport-type photo glimpsed in her wallet is crumpled to the point of indistinguishability.

* Averted in ''[[Judge Dredd (Filmfilm)|Judge Dredd]]''. Although Dredd keeps his helmet on whenever he's on duty, he has it off most of the movie, unlike the original [[Comic Book]].

* ''[[ETE.T. the Extraterrestrial (Film)|ET the ExtraterrestrialExtra-Terrestrial]]'': With the exception of Elliot's mother, the audience doesn't see the faces of any adults until the final third of the movie, playing up the perspective from a child's POV.

* In ''[[Julias Eyes (Film)|JuliasJulia's Eyes]]'', during the middle of the film, in which Julia has her eyes bandaged, everyone she interacts with has their face obscured to the viewer; either we see them from behind or their head is cut off by the camera.

* Gene Hackman's employer in ''[[The Conversation]]'' is only ever seen in shadows. Made all the more tantalizing because he's played by a very famous actor, who was unbilled in the film's original release, leading many viewers to say [[Hey, ItsIt's That Guy!|'hey, is it really that guy?']]

* In the original version and first adaptation of ''[[The Lorax (Literature)|The Lorax]]'', the Once-ler's face is never seen in either the "present" or "past" timeline. The second adaptation takes a different approach--seeapproach—see the Western Animation folder.

* Orual of [[CSC. LewisS. (Creator)Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'' begins wearing a veil shortly before she becomes queen. As a result, her face becomes the subject of much rumor among the populace, and Orual herself was regarded as "something mysterious and awful". The truth of the matter is, she was ''ugly''.

* 'She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed' from [[H. Rider Haggard]]'s ''[[She (Literature)|She]]'' is usually draped from head to foot in gauzy, mummy-like wrappings because, according to her, her beauty drives men mad. Given that she is all powerful men who do glimpse her are wise to meet her expectation.

* Erik, the titular Phantom of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'', originally wore a full-face mask and was very much a Faceless - until subsequent remakes cut said mask and the underlying deformity down by a lot. A made-for-tv miniseries of this from the 90s goes a step further with this and never shows the Phantom's face to the audience, even when unmasked--thusunmasked—thus rather neatly avoiding a possible [[Special Effects Failure]].

* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' ''[[Blood Angels (Literature)|Red Fury]]'', the Angels Sanguine wear their face-concealing helmets even among their fellow Space Marines, also sons of Sanguinius; they only take them off when among themselves, and even there, they wear face shadowing hoods.

* The illustrated [[Roger Zelazny]] novel ''[[A Night in Thethe Lonesome October]]'' does this with [[Jack the Ripper]]. Other characters are shown full-faced in the drawings accompanying each chapter, but Jack appears once in a rear view and once with his arm raised, concealing his lower face.

* Norm's wife Vera on ''[[Cheers (TV)|Cheers]]''. Usually [[The Ghost]], she appeared in a couple of episodes as a sillouettesilhouette, and in one episode is fully visablevisible in the door of the bar ... just after being hit in the face with a custard pie.

* Captain Boday on ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', though that was presumably due to his allegedly squick-inducing transparent skull.

* Kosh on ''[[Babylon 5 (TV)|Babylon 5]]'', whose encounter suit made him a sort of hybrid of [[The Faceless]] and [[The Voice]], at least until he left it for the first time.

* Alan Brady on ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show (TV)|The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'' started out being [[The Ghost|talked about but never seen]] (meant to be ironic, since he was the star of the [[Show Within a Show]] while the actual show revolved around the unseen writers). However the writers (of the real show) found this too limiting after a while and started using Alan Brady in scenes, only with his face always pointing away from the camera. Eventually this was done away with too, and the audiences got to regularly see Alan Brady and scenes from ''The Alan Brady Show''.

* ''[[Police Squad!]]'' - Al, one of the cops in the stationhouse was so tall that everything above his shoulders was always out of shot. Al often had strange things going on up there, including non-regulation headgear and strange haircuts; sometimes they were lowered into shot.

* Anubis on ''[[Stargate SG 1 (TV)|Stargate SG -1]]'' is completely covered by a [[Black Cloak]] for the majority of his appearances. It [[The Reveal|turns out]] that {{spoiler|he doesn't ''have'' a face, since he has partially [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|Ascended To A Higher Plane Of Existence]] and is an [[Energy Beings|energy being]]. He still has a ''skull'', though, and at one point allows it to become visible to freak out his enemies}}.

* In ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'', when Omega was unmasked, he turned out to have no face at all. Nor indeed a head, or any other body part, having been eroded down to just his self will.

* One episode of ''[[Malcolm in Thethe Middle]]'' featured Malcolm's girlfriend, who's face was never shown.

* Sylar, until halfway through the first season of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''; his face is shown for the first time in a flashback. This was mainly because the producers were still auditioning actors for the role until they hired Zachary Quinto.

* Older Yuuto Sakurai in ''[[Kamen Rider Den -O]]''.

* The Grand Master from ''[[MIM.I. High]]'' is always shown with his face in shadow or out of shot in a homage/parody of how Blofeld was depicted in the early [[James Bond]] films. [[Lampshaded]] in the episode where he is captured and Lenny comments that, despite the Grand Master being in a cell, he never managed to get a good look at his face (and he is taken to the prisoner exchange with a bag over his head).

* Hello, ''[[Rhoda (TV)|Rhoda]]'', "This is Carlton, your doorman." Played by Lorenzo Music, he wwaswas only a voice on the intercom.

* "Charlie" from the 1970's TV series ''[[Charlies Angels (TV)|CharliesCharlie's Angels]].''

* ''[[One Hundred Deeds for Eddie Mcdowd (TV)|One Hundred100 Deeds for Eddie McdowdMcDowd]]'' has the titular character as [[The Faceless]] prior to becoming a dog (and since the show's been canceled, viewers will never know what Eddie [[Mc Dowd]]McDowd looked like before he became a dog).

* ''[[First Wave (TV)|First Wave]]'': Mabus.

* ''[[Titus]]'' used this trope a couple of times in the flashbacks featuring Ken Titus's many ex-wives and girlfriends (including the violent, manic-depressive schizophrenic Juanita, who was only [[The Faceless]] on a handful of episodes in which she wasn't prominently featured, but was mentioned by [[Christopher Titus]] whenever he talked about the differences between growing up with his [[Jerkass]] dad and growing up with his mentally-ill mom).

** Also, Titus's first girlfriend (the brainy, yet abusive 5'1" Jewish girl who punched him in the face a lot) was [[The Faceless]] to the extreme when Titus first talked about her on "Dad Is Dead." The only thing viewers could see of her was her hands in a POV shot of her punching Titus with the caption "Psycho Bitch Cam" underneath. She wouldn't be featured in full until season two's "The Last Noelle."

** Also from "The Last Noelle," Titus's second girlfriend, Taylor, was only seen from the back as she was cutting Titus's hair in his sleep and crying over her dead dog (the other two "psycho bitches" Titus dated -- Dakotadated—Dakota, who slept with a busboy at a bar, and Chastity, the Satan worshiper who had telekinetic powers -- avertedpowers—averted the trope, as their faces were actually shown).

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''{{'}}s "The Continental" sketches have never shown the face of the woman who always visits (and ends up running from) The Continental, only showing the woman's hands (and, on one occasion, her legs and feet). It should be noted that the original version of the show from the 1950s did the same thing (use subjective camera angles to to make female audiences believe they were being romanced through their TV sets), making the sketch accurate for the most part.

* Oddly enough, the humans in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The Faceless Ones'' have merely had their [[Face Stealer|faces stolen by aliens]], so in spite of the serial's title, [[This Is Not That Trope|it is not this trope]]. Instead, they actually count as [[The Blank]].

* Art Ofof Noise were intended at the very beginning to be a faceless non-group - in live performances, all the members tended to wear iconically-designed masks, and publicity shots were generally of things like spanners (with the ostensible reason that "[[Take That|A spanner is intrinsically more interesting than the lead singer of Tears for Fears]]". This was mainly at the insistence of the record company - the masks got dropped swiftly when the band jumped ship.

* [[Daft Punk (Music)|Daft Punk]] never show their faces. Their surealistic art-house film ''Electroma'' dwells on facelessness.

* MF DOOM always performs with an iron mask covering most of his face.

* Italian electro house musicians The Bloody Beetroots perform while wearing [[Spider -Man|Venom]] masks.

** ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' did a spoof that revealed his secret - he's actually an ugly little man who is chased by women because he happens to have a $100 bill stuck between his front teeth.

* [[Lena Hyena|Lena the Hyena]] in ''[[LilLi'l Abner]],'' who was the world's ugliest woman - the area around her face initially had a blank space with the words "Deleted by Editor." Al Capp held a contest for readers to draw Lena's face. Basil Wolverton won.

* ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' -- Bettle—Beetle's eyes have never, ever been seen. Even before he was in the army, he had a hat pulled down low to hide them. They probably just look like dots, though. An early strip confirms your theory. Also, Mort Walker allegedly mentioned Beetle's eyes as being "India ink" -colored. Makes sense.

** Faust from ''Guilty Gear X'' onwards has a rationale. He constantly wears a paper bag over his head to hide a previous identity he'd rather not be remembered for. This identity is strongly implied, but never directly stated, to have been Doctor Baldhead, the homicidally insane playable character from the first game in the series. He removes the paper bag in ''Guilty Gear XX'' during May's storyline, but you still don't see who he is due to his face being shaded. The only thing you can really tell is that he's bald -- madebald—made obvious by the bright light shining off his head. He apparently only does it to freak May out, as she claims to despise (and appears to fear) bald people. Things get hairy. Or rather, they don't.

* In ''[[Loom (Videovideo Gamegame)|Loom]]'', viewing the face of a member of the perpetually hooded weaver's guild is said to be fatal (note that [[By the Lights of Their Eyes|their eyes are still visible]] within the darkness of their hood, as in many cartoons). This later seems to be close to being revealed, [[The Un -Reveal|only to skip for a few scene happening outside the room in medium and easy difficulty mode, and being obscured by a flash of light in hard difficulty mode.]]

* In the ''[[Crusader: (VideoNo Game)Remorse|Crusader]]'' series of games, the Silencer is a [[The Faceless|Faceless]], as is President Gauthier in ''No Regret'', the second of the two games. According to an unverified report this editor has read (i.e. this editor has been unable to duplicate the results), being close enough to a massive explosion that it kills him but not so close that it sets him on fire or otherwise triggers a special death animation can sometimes knock the Silencer's helmet off. Underneath, he is supposedly a pale blonde man.

** Several Black Mage classes throughout the series have had the same look, from the ''[[Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|Final Fantasy I]]'' Black Mage up to Vivi in ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]''.

* ''[[Halo]]'' - Master Chief's face, hidden behind a face mask and [[The Un -Reveal|clever camera work]], is a source of debate among fans. This was because, despite having a voice, and "personality" they wanted to keep an active [[AFGNCAAPFeatureless Protagonist]] factor going. In the novels, Master Chief does take off his helmet occasionally: he's described as being deathly pale from spending so much time in his armor, and having brown hair and eyes. ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' and ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' also have protagonists who never remove their helmets. Reach also has one NPC squad member, Emile, who never removes his helmet (which has a skull etched into the front of it) either.

** In ''Halo Wars'', all the marines except Sergeant Forge wear balaclavas.

** In the epilogue of ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', the dying Noble Six removes his damaged helmet, but you still don't see his face.

* The Dark Savant, [[Big Bad]] of the last two ''[[Wizardry (Video Game)|Wizardry]]'' games, wears a face-concealing helmet at all times.

* Semi-averted in most of the ''[[Half Life|Half-Life]]'' games, wherein you don't see what the P.O.V. character looks like and there are no mirrors anywhere in Black Mesa, but the protagonists are shown in the box art... except Cpl. Shepherd in ''Opposing Force'', who wears a Black Ops-style mask there.

* ''[[Mega Man X]]'s'' face is obscured by light in the dialogue boxes from ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 2'' onwards. Before that, however, his "face" is just a ball of light, seeing as {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]] in the first game is a clone of him and exactly looks like him, save for the [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyes]]}}. Ditto Omega: his real face hidden underneath a facial armor. His real face is {{spoiler|that of Zero, since this Omega is possessing Zero's original body}}.

* In ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'', Isaac Clarke's head is completely concealed by his helmet throughout the whole time you play as him. His face is only revealed {{spoiler|in the ending, and also in the game's intro, if you use the analogue sticks to fiddle with the camera angles.}} This is averted in ''[[Dead Space 2 (Video Game)|Dead Space 2]]'' - although he still has his helmeted suits, he is often shown with his face on display.

* The ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' version of [[Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Literature)|Wei Yan]] is always portrayed wearing a mask. A cutscene in ''Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires'' shows Wei Yan's mask accidentally getting knocked off. He's only shown from behind, and the other characters react with shocked horror. Pang Tong, meanwhile, wears a veil that obscures his face from the eyes down.

* Caster in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'', played for an ambiguous and mysterious enemy. You can see her mouth, chin and lower cheeks, but most of her emotions have to be expressed through body language. When [[In the Hood|the hood]] finally falls off, it's revealed that she's actually incredibly beautiful... too bad she just skewered and is bleeding to death, hm?

* Taokaka and the rest of the Kaka clan from ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]'' wear [[In the Hood|hooded jackets]] that show nothing of their face except glowing eyes -- redeyes—red, for Taokaka -- andTaokaka—and a mouth full of sharp fangs. They probably look like normal catpeople under the hoods, though. Probably.

* Hector from the ''[[Riviera: theThe Promised Land]]'' and other Dept Heaven games is always seen wearing a [[Nice Hat|weird hat]] that [[Hidden Eyes|hides his eyes]]. Perhaps to make him more menacing as he'd be [[Bishonen|pretty]] [[Generic Cuteness|cute]] without it.

* ''[[Chzo Mythos|]]'': Trilby's]] face is never shown in detail; during the ending of ''The Art of Theft'', he's only shown from the nose down, his eyes shadowed.

* The ''[[Nancy Drew (Videovideo Gamegame)|Nancy Drew]]'' game ''Danger By Design'' features an eccentric fashion designer who's begun wearing a mask all the time. Solve the crime, and you earn [[The Reveal]] that {{spoiler|she's hiding a really stupid tattoo on her cheek.}}

* ''[[.hack (Franchise)|.hack//]]'' had a few of these:

{{quote| "And I thought I had a good poker face."}}

*** Kingdom Hearts has this as a requirement for every game, the first one ends with us just about to see a spiky-haired blonde's {{spoiler|[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|"Roxas"]]}} before the camera stops, and the same in Sora's story in ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories''. In Riku's story we finally see him... but now part of Riku's face is hidden {{spoiler|to hide his blindfold}} In [[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]] not only do the Organization cloaks hide most Nobody's faces, but the Masked Boy in the extra scene, and (in [[No Export for You|"Final Mix"]]) the Lingering Sentiment, who are revealed in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'', only for Young Master Xehanort to be hidden. {{spoiler|In ''[[Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance3D]]'', 6 members of the new Organization XIII hide their faces beneath the usual dark cloaks, but Young Master Xehanort's face is clearly seen this time, including in the secret ending.}}

* Pyro from ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', to the point where even the [[Ambiguous Gender|gender is ambiguous]]. In fact, we're not even sure that Pyro is a human being. Or any organic lifeform, for that matter.

* Agent XYZ from ''[[Tonic Trouble]]'' is permanently hidden [[Newspaper -Thin Disguise|behind a newspaper]].

* The [[Hello, Insert Name Here|nameless main character]] from ''[[Science Girls]]'' wears a mask for the entire game. She claims it's a psychological experiment.

* Both protagonists of the ''[[BioBioShock Shock(series)|BioShock]]'' series, [[Heroic Mime|who never speak either]]. The latter is a Big Daddy, who is The Faceless by definition.

* The Assassin from ''[[Monday Night Combat]]''.

* The ''[[Zettai Ryouiki NEW]]'' android app from Hastysoft stars a busty redheaded girl whose eyes are never shown - even in angles that would, she does the developers the favour of covering them with her hands!

* The Shy Guys from the ''[[Super Mario]]'' series. They all wear masks, and the trope is played straight even through Mario Power Tennis, where the Shy Guy's mask comes off during a cutscene. Luigi is the only one who sees its face, and all we get is his [[Reaction Shot]]. This is also played straight in Luigi's Mansion where, AGAIN''again'', Luigi is the only one who sees them sans masks... but all you see is two yellow eyes in a dark void, meaning that they still count, specially since it's implied that they aren't "real" ghosts, but creations of Vincent Van Gore.

* {{spoiler|Shiki's true self}} in ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' is only shown by the bottom half of her face.

* The ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series has a few examples, most notably the various ninjas, though a couple of them have appeared unmasked, and Kabal. In Kabal's case, it's because his face was scarred in an unknown accident that requires him to constantly wear a mask that doubles as a respirator. One of his fatalities does involve him removing the mask, causing his opponent to literally die of fright upon seeing his uncovered face. A pre-scarring Kabal appeared without a mask in Shaolin Monks, but it doesn't really count snce that game is not canon to the main series.

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has a [[Cerebus Retcon]] involving how none of the McNinjas ever take off their masks, even to eat or vomit. As nobody has seen their faces, they can remove the mask to disguise their identity and vanish.

** When he wore dark glasses as part of a disguise, he [https://web.archive.org/web/20090723213119/http://www.funnyfarmcomics.com/w/20030922.html sometimes] displayed [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] instead (even though you couldn't see his eyes anyway...)

* In ''[http://strangecandy.net/ Okashina Okashi]'', Dahlia, a mysterious female assassin, always hides in the shadows - even in an open battlefield. [http://strangecandy.net/d/20061026.html\]{{Dead link}}

* Black Mage in ''[[Eight Bit Theater (Webcomic)|8-bitBit Theater]]'' always kept his face hidden in the shade beneath his hat: {{spoiler|This was because his face [[Alien Geometries|didn't conform to euclidianEuclidian geometry]], and therefore looking upon it could [[Brown Note|drive people insane]].}}

* In ''[[Girls Withwith Slingshots]]'', there is a minor female character whose eyes are always covered by [http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws523/ her own speech bubble or someone else's].

{{quote| I still have no explanation for Miss Conrad's head.}}

* ''[[Pv PPvP]]'' also has a minor character ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110717220309/http://www.pvponline.com/2008/08/19/the-bonnie-situation-part-seven/ Jase's girlfriend, Bonnie]) whose face is obscured by her own speech bubbles.

* In the Mr. & Mrs. Rockhound cartoons of ''[[The KA MicsKAMics]]'' Mr. Rockhound's cousin Lenny is usually off-screen, but on the few occasions that he's 'appeared' the lights were out & we just saw his eyes, another time he wore a penguin costume so we just saw his eyes & tail, another time a rock had fallen on him so we just saw his hand.

* In ''[[Life and Death (Webcomic)|Life and Death]]'' Steve was like this originally, because he didn't want anyone to see his scarred face, but he's gotten that fixed. Bobby's face is, so far, kept secret from the audience, but Brunhilda thought it was very good looking.

* Galehaut from ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' is only shown from the neck down just because he's so damn tall.

* Anthony Carver in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', at least as an adult. Fitting, considering that (as of Ch 27) we know less of him and his motivation than any other major character in the comic.

* The [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Faceless Janitor Cop]] from ''[[Fruit Incest]]''.

** He had to take the helmet off once after he got [[Tele Frag|Tele Fragged]]ged in the throat with a rope, but [[The Un -Reveal|the comic switched to back views until he puts it back on]].

* Mr. Hand in ''[[The Mansion of E (Webcomic)|The Mansion of E]]''; his face is always covered or off-panel.

* The [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Chopping Block]]'' is consistently shown wearing a hockey mask, even in a flashback to when he was in the womb. He's taken it off two times--oncetimes—once with his [[Face Framed in Shadow]], and once to reveal {{spoiler|the face of the artist who draws the comic.}}

* Though his face is illustrated on the website, [[Red Letter MediaRedLetterMedia|Mr. Plinkett's]] face is never seen in his reviews - only his hands, present in first person perspective.

* ''[[Todd in Thethe Shadows]]'' (either [[Face Framed in Shadow]], filmed with his back at the camera, or [https://web.archive.org/web/20130728014452/http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2027320900106978597ZwpGhZ masked]).

* The Chief from ''[[Agents of Cracked]]'' is always lit from behind. Lampshaded in the first episode of the second series, when the Sarge points out that the Chief's office always has terrible lighting.

* Let's not forget every single character in ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''. Lampshaded in Season Three when it's revealed that they don't even take their armor off when they're off-camera (with the exception of Donut, apparently and unsurprisingly, and possibly Grif and Simmons when they were in surgery), as Church has no idea what if Tucker is black or not. Tucker's more upset that Church doesn't even know his first name, though.

* The full face of Mr. Administrator from ''[[Echo Chamber (Web Video)|Echo Chamber]]'' is never shown - he's only shown below the eyes.

** Also homaged in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', where it turns out that those legs are a pair of stilts worn by an off-screen performer.

* Fire Lord Ozai during the first two seasons of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. He is usually a shadowed silhouette, but is seen fully illuminated in one episode, with different parts of his face and head visible in different shots -- everyshots—every part ''except'' his eyes. His actual face is [[Pretty Boy|a good deal less intimidating then you'd think]] (if only because [[The Reveal]] was when he was in a good mood).

* The [[Big Bad]] of the sequel series ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'', Amon, keeps his face hidden behind a mask. He claims his face was destroyed by the same Firebender who killed his family; only time will tell whether this is true.

* Doctor Claw from the animated ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' (who wasn't just faceless, he was mostly bodiless; only his arms and hands were ever shown). This was later ruined by a toy that ''did'' show his face and body (and utterly destroyed his coolness factor by presenting him as [https://web.archive.org/web/20061019142830/http://www.progressiveboink.com/archive/drclaw.html a skinny white-haired man with a twisted-lip sneer]), and also to a somewhat lesser extent by a Super Nintendo game that showed half his face in the final battle (where he was at least given glowing eyes). The toy went out of its way to play it up, too. The packaging specifically covered his face with a sign, informing potential buyers that they would have to buy the package to see what he looked like.

* Kenny on ''[[South Park]]'' - with his full face finally shown in the movie ''South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' (and again on the season eight episode featuring [[Michael Jackson|Michael Ja]]--[[Last -Second Word Swap|Jefferson]].

* In an early episode of ''[[Mucha Lucha|MuchaLucha!]]'', Rikochet couldn't find his mask, and all they ever showed of him was ''really'' tight close ups of his eyes (and at one point, a shot where he's , and his head wearing other things (say, a paper bag, or a mailbox) to hide his masklessness. However, a model sheet of Rikochet's "special poses", which can be seen in the behind-the-scenes featurette on the "Heart of Lucha" DVD, shows four pictures of him without his mask, and all unobscured.

* "Wizard" Kelley, from ''[[The Proud Family]]'' -- a—a basketball star turned [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|scheming billionaire]] -- never—never has his head in the shot; he's just too tall.

** ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'' continues the tradition. We see only ''part'' of Cobra Commander's face. Destro is introduced prior to getting his mask but he gets it soon after, and Snake Eyes's remains mostly hidden, except for [[The Un -Reveal]] in one episode, when Zartan tried to steal his mask, and then promptly gave it back after commenting that Snake Eyes needed it more.

* Subverted on the Cartoon Network original series ''[[Cow and Chicken (Animation)|Cow and Chicken]]'': their parents are supposed to be faceless, but the first episode reveals they're actually no more than two pairs of legs.

* Sheldon in ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' never completely hatched and is just a walking egg. In one episode, he finally hatches - [[The Un -Reveal|to reveal another eggshell beneath.]]

* The original shorts of ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' had Timmy's [[Unnamed Parent|Unnamed Parents]]s are (like the ones from ''Cow and Chicken'') never shown from the waist up, but when it was made into its own show the parents' faces were seen.

* Subverted on ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. The first episode with Numbuh One's father involves his father's face being obscured from view quite blatantly; midway through the episode, though, it's suddenly seen. Several of the other character's parents were [[The Faceless]] at first, but later were shown, though some of the parents still haven't been seen. During season 6, the mysterious kid from the KND Splinter Cell was only shown as a shadow. In the Finale, it was revealed that he was in fact {{spoiler|[http://knd.wikia.com/wiki/Numbuh_74.239 Numbuh 74.239], and that the splinter cell was just a cover for the Galactic KND.}}

* Number One, the main villain of ''Birdman'', never removes his mask. (Then again, neither does Birdman himself.) For that matter, neither does [[Space Ghost]]. Nor Frankenstein, Jr., who makes one wonder why the mask anyway - he's a [[Humongous Mecha|Giant Robot]] -- difficult—difficult to hide that without a mask!

* Slade in ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', to such a degree that even getting a clear look at him in-costume (mask and all) is given the "big reveal" treatment. His mask is finally broken down the middle in the first season finale, but he manages to [[The Un -Reveal|cover the other half of his face]] with one hand as he escapes. Later, during the fourth season finale, his mask is knocked off, but under extenuating circumstances: he's kinda-sorta dead, so all we get is a skull (although it was still a cool moment). The rationale appears to be that he is missing an eye -- confirmedeye—confirmed when his mask is removed during the fourth season finale.

* Batman-ish vigilante Nobody, from the second ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, is one of these when out of costume, with his face always covered in shadow--evenshadow—even when the lighting is such that it shouldn't.

** Hawkgirl is a particularly interesting case, as her mask is part of a bulky, winged helmet, which she wears at all times, even when she's receiving medical attention inside Justice League headquarters. Her first unmasking, late in Season 2 (at the end of the second part of the episode "Wild Cards"), is presented as a dramatic and romantic scene. This is implied to be a point of Thanagarian culture--Hawkgirlculture—Hawkgirl stops wearing the mask/helmet for good after she severs ties with Thanagar.

{{quote| '''Question:''' You were right. I am the ugliest guy of all time.<br />

* Bruno's boss in ''[[Bruno the Kid (Animation)|Bruno the Kid]]''.

* The foot soldiers in the original '80s ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon were all literally [[Faceless Goons]]. They were also robots.

* Orko's people in the ''[[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe (Animation)|He-Man]]'' universe (called Trollians in the 2002 version) keep their faces concealed under wide-brimmed hats and behind scarves or veils; all that is visible are glowing yellow eyes in the shadows, and pointy blue ears sticking through the hat. It is explained in one episode that showing one's face to another being is, in their culture, at a level of intimacy on par with getting engaged.

* Dumb Donald's face in ''[[Fat Albert and Thethe Cosby Kids]]'' is always hidden behind a pink stocking cap with eyeholes cut into it. The 2004 live-action film version (In which the series' main characters are sucked out of the television and into the real modern world) plays around with/lampshades his lack of facial features, as Donald eventually "gains" a face after the long stay in the real world starts to transform the animated characters into "real" people and unmasks. Once the gang re-enters their cartoon world, Donald's face "vanishes" and his "head" shown as just a pair of eyes before he puts his hat back on.

* In ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batmanand the Brave And The Bold]]'', Bruce Wayne is ''never'' seen without his mask. If he's not wearing it, he'll be in shadow until he is. Finally averted in "Chill In The Night", where he unmasks himself to Joe Chill, the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, just to strike a whole other level of fear into the guy.

* In ''[[Batman: the Animated Series (Animation)|Batman theThe Animated Series]]'', there's an episode, "P.O.V.", which features a ''very'' puzzling example of this trope. Batman and three of the Gotham Police Department's detectives work together (though they don't officially team up) to bring down a crime ring. The [[Big Bad]] in charge of the gang is always seen either in shadow or partially in shadow, so we can only see the outline of his face and some of his more notable facial features. He looks suspiciously like The Penguin (short and bespectacled), but obviously can't be because (if the basic shape of his face is any indication) he is not at all disfigured like the Penguin. What makes him an especially frustrating character is the fact that Batman apparently knows who he is, ''but he won't tell us''! And as if all that weren't mysterious enough, this villain is [[The Voiceless]] as well!

* In ''[[X -Men: Evolution]]'', Magneto's almost always wears his psi-blocking helmet, as in most versions, but here the helmet's shadow often obscures his face as well, leaving only his eyes (which glow white when he's using or about to use his powers) visible. If Magento has the helmet on and the shadow isn't there, he's usually about to be given either a [[Pet the Dog]] or a moment of weakness- in other words, something that humanizes him. If the shadow's there, he'll usually be in straight villain mode. His face was revealed at the end of the first season, and from then on we see it even when he is wearing the helmet. Its implied that his earlier "appearances" were actually astral projection, and this Magneto appears to have more developed telepathic powers than other versions.

* On the animated adaptation of ''[[The Ricky Gervais Show]]'', Carl's longtime girlfriend Susanne is [[The Faceless]], always shown from behind or her face hidden by a book, a lamp, or other object, if not cast completely in darkness.

* ''[[Wakfu (Animation)|Wakfu]]''{{'}}s [[Big Bad|Nox]] removes his [[Cool Mask]] exactly once during the main series--withseries—with his back to the camera. His face is shown during his [[Start of Darkness]] episode, however.

* ''[[Stoked|Stoked!]]'' has two. Mr. Ridgemount is only ever seen fron behind or with a newspaper in front of his face, and Wipeout who is never seen outside of his mascot costume.

* God in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. His face is always just out of frame. This is easy to pull off since he's much taller than anyone else (being God and all.)

* Lt. Anna Baldavic from ''[[The Venture Bros]]''.

* ''[[Superman: theThe Animated Series]]'' (and its later spin-off ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'') features the Toyman, aka Winslow Schott. Orphaned after his father dies in prison, Toyman becomes a toy-crazed supervillain, hiding his face behind a Howdy Doody-like mask. Schott is never seen without the mask, although it's frequently cracked and broken in his battles with Superman, and even his fellow villains.

* The aptly named [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|No-Face]], the extremely dangerous EVO leader of The Bug Jar from ''[[Generator Rex]]''.

* The original three ''[[Bionicle]]'' movies were very weird about this. All of the true faces of mask-wearing characters (all the Matoran, Toa, Turaga and Makuta) were kept a secret. Their heads were shown from all conceivable angles, bar from the front, so we got a vague idea of what they may look like, but the precise facial details were still a mystery. Interestingly, despite the director's apparent efforts, the entire head of [[Big Bad|Makuta]] ''was'' indeed visible through the electric flashes in the first movie, and it looked ''exactly'' like on his toy -- atoy—a regular Toa head (toy version) turned upside down... so, technically, he didn't even ''have'' a real face, unless you count the one on the top of his head, looking backwards...<br />The second movie had Fire Drones -- littleDrones—little machines built up using the CGI body of a Bohrok and the maskless head of a Matoran. And they did face the camera... but their faces were too tiny to see clearly. In the same movie, the animators even went as far as to show the comatose body of Turaga Dume with his mask on, [[Fridge Logic|even though it was a major plot-point that his mask had been stolen.]]

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Ever heard of The Man in the Iron Mask? In real life the mask was made of silk, and the man was most likely a spy whose identity could have caused an international incident -- notincident—not Louis XVI's identical twin as per the book and the movie.

[[Category:Heart no Kuni no Alice (Video Game){{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:DragonHe HeadWho (Manga)Must Not Be Seen]]