Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,199
edits
m (Mass update links) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (→Anime and Manga: added example) |
||
(32 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:Anubis.jpg|link=Stargate SG
{{quote|''"And as years passed and there were fewer in the city (and none beyond it) who remembered my face, the wildest stories got about as to what that veil hid."''|'''Orual''', ''[[Till We Have Faces]]''}}
Line 18 ⟶ 17:
Occasionally, the recurring faceless character will be revealed in an especially poignant scene, typically just before the series (or the character's tenure on it) ends. Villainous characters tend to be hideously disfigured when their masks are removed, though the subversion has become just about as common, where the villain is revealed to be a perfectly ordinary guy. The faceless villain could also be a [[The Mole|Mole]] in the good guys' team the audience doesn't know about yet.
Non-recurring faceless characters tend to be either Cannon Fodder [[Faceless Goons]] (whose facelessness removes their individuality, their humanity, and -- [[Moral Dissonance|hopefully]]
May involve being [[Never Bareheaded]]. For other parts of the body, see [[Scenery Censor]]. If you don't see ''anything'' at all from a villain, watch your step; you're up against an [[Ultimate Evil]]. For ''literally'' faceless characters see [[The Blank]]. [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] is related. The hidden-by-shadow version combined with [[Chekhov's Gunman]] results in [[Sinister Silhouettes]]. If a character never appears ''at all'', they're [[The Ghost]].
The mask-wearing kind of
{{examples}}
* In Venezuela, there is this beer ad that features a [[Ms. Fanservice]] known as "la catira Regional" ("the Regional blonde", for the brand of the beer), who's always [http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__W1w33M6yfE/R7EbRmhcrxI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Ox6uHBL1kQ4/s400/CatiraRegional13.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp%3FTID3D53594%26PN%3D15&usg=__YSFIr_y0hWoZH9W_TftRbWdlWIg=&h=166&w=400&sz=23&hl=es&start=8&zoom=1&tbnid=Z5AfnFPokma4gM:&tbnh=51&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bcatira%2Bregional%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1 in a bikini] [http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mercadolibre.com.ve/jm/img%3Fs%3DMLV%26f%3D24435414_8152.jpg%26v%3DE&imgrefurl=http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ve/MLV-25372720-ccce2008-la-catira-regional-poza-vasos-sexys-cervezas-_JM&usg=__prdkA_3cYIrqp2woSfgwQsZJAYQ=&h=280&w=280&sz=11&hl=es&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=BCFxLS0TMJZpiM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=175&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bcatira%2Bregional%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C502&um=1&itbs=1&ei=kafDTO_bHcH6lwe5ir0H&iact=hc&vpx=606&vpy=254&dur=2090&hovh=224&hovw=224&tx=103&ty=72&oei=D6bDTImCHYL98Abc45TfBA&esq=17&page=2&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:19&biw=1280&bih=610 or some] [https://web.archive.org/web/20121031233637/http://dawarg.blogab.com/archives/261-La-catira-vestida-y-Regional-Pilsen-con-nueva-imagen.html other revealing outfit]. But everybody is more concerned about why she never shows her face: would she be ugly? Would she be a man...? And, not happy with making the whole country be worried about this matter, after years of teasing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9glHiGiCy-U they make this], where you can see her face very briefly for some seconds. Isn't it cruel?▼
▲* In Venezuela, there is this beer ad that features a [[Ms. Fanservice]] known as "la catira Regional" ("the Regional blonde", for the brand of the beer), who's always [http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__W1w33M6yfE/R7EbRmhcrxI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Ox6uHBL1kQ4/s400/CatiraRegional13.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp%3FTID3D53594%26PN%3D15&usg=__YSFIr_y0hWoZH9W_TftRbWdlWIg=&h=166&w=400&sz=23&hl=es&start=8&zoom=1&tbnid=Z5AfnFPokma4gM:&tbnh=51&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bcatira%2Bregional%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1 in a bikini] [http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mercadolibre.com.ve/jm/img%3Fs%3DMLV%26f%3D24435414_8152.jpg%26v%3DE&imgrefurl=http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ve/MLV-25372720-ccce2008-la-catira-regional-poza-vasos-sexys-cervezas-_JM&usg=__prdkA_3cYIrqp2woSfgwQsZJAYQ=&h=280&w=280&sz=11&hl=es&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=BCFxLS0TMJZpiM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=175&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bcatira%2Bregional%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C502&um=1&itbs=1&ei=kafDTO_bHcH6lwe5ir0H&iact=hc&vpx=606&vpy=254&dur=2090&hovh=224&hovw=224&tx=103&ty=72&oei=D6bDTImCHYL98Abc45TfBA&esq=17&page=2&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:19&biw=1280&bih=610 or some] [http://dawarg.blogab.com/archives/261-La-catira-vestida-y-Regional-Pilsen-con-nueva-imagen.html other revealing outfit]. But everybody is more concerned about why she never shows her face: would she be ugly? Would she be a man...? And, not happy with making the whole country be worried about this matter, after years of teasing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9glHiGiCy-U they make this], where you can see her face very briefly for some seconds. Isn't it cruel?
* A recent advertising campaign for the acid reflux medicine [[Unfortunate Names|Aciphex]] features either people shown only from the nose down, or people who have their faces from their nose up conveniently obscured by objects like a lamp, cupboard door, and a car front hood.
== [[Anime]]
* In the ''[[
* The [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Noein]]'' wears a spooky, warped golden mask that also muddles his voice and cloaks him in white energy. It turns out to be a good thing, because {{spoiler|he's another quantum version of the male leads}} and is damn creepy-looking.
* The face of the villain Gargoyle from ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'' was always hidden by a mask; said mask was finally destroyed near the end of the series. His actual face gets less than five seconds of screen time.
* Soichiro Otonashi, Kyoko's late husband in ''[[Maison Ikkoku]]'', has his face [[media:mangasoichiro.jpg|blacked out]] in all flashbacks of him. Even his yearbook photo was obscured by a large ink stain. When the main character is finally able to see a picture of Soichiro, it's an [[Un Reveal]] for the reader.
* ''[[Gun X Sword]]'': {{spoiler|Shino}} is only ever seen once, and that is in silhouette {{spoiler|behind a sheet as she hangs laundry in Ray's dying fantasy}}. However, we do see a waitress who Joshua says looks just like her. Also applies to {{spoiler|Elena}}, who appears in several flashbacks; her full face is never revealed and we never see her eyes.
* ''[[
** 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.
** Given what Jotaro did to her stand a few minutes ago, there was definitely an excellent reason to not show her face.
* ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'' pulls the anime variant when boy-type [[Attractive Bent Gender|Hazumu]] appears in flashbacks.
* Sabrac's head in ''[[Shakugan no Shana|Shakugan no Shana II]]'' consists solely of [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|blue hair]], wrapped bandages, and [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]. Given that the villain before him was some sort of centipede energy cannon, he most likely doesn't ''have'' anything else. His body is actually {{spoiler|under the city, apparently. They think they killed him but...}}
* Mitsune "Kitsune" Konno from ''[[Love Hina]]'' is a prime example of the [[Hidden Eyes]] variant.
* In ''[[
** Much, much later on, we have [[Big Bad|the Lifemaker]], [[Cool Mask|Dynamis]], and [[Enigmatic Minion|Lord of the Crypts]], although all of them reveal their faces at some point.
* ''[[
* ''[[Mai
* ''[[
* ''[[Pokémon (
* Many villains in ''[[One Piece]]''. At one point, an entire team of villains wear masks, although it is explained that masks are just popular in that town.
* In ''[[Trigun]]'', the face of the [[Big Bad]], Knives, stays hidden for most of the anime and the near-totality of the first manga. This is because {{spoiler|the fact that he is Vash's twin brother}} is an important [[The Reveal|Reveal]] that comes fairly late in both the anime and the early parts of the manga. At the end of the first manga, his face is still hidden behind huge clunks of wavy hair and at the beginning of ''[[Trigun Maximum]]'', he wears a mask for a few volumes before his face is finally drawn in detail around volume 4.
* In ''[[Inuyasha]],'' Onigumo, the human core of Naraku, is never shown, and his face is [[Un Reveal|Unrevealed]] often. When Kikyo was taking care of him, his face (and much of the rest of him) was covered in bandages. When we first met Naraku, he always wore his baboon pelt outfit, with face never seen within the hood. He took on a disguise early on (some young feudal lord), and it's the disguise's face that we start seeing under the hood on occasion. When Naraku separated the Onigumo-ness from him by turning it into another, humanoid demon, the demon [[The Blank|had a featureless face]], and took a face (and a name) from a monk who tried to vanquish him. In flashbacks with Onigumo's cohort Rasetsu, Onigumo's face is always kept in shadow.
* ''[[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
** 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]].
** 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.
* In ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', {{spoiler|the real}} Syaoran's parents' faces' are always hidden or shadowed when seen, his mother getting more shaded out than his father, for spoileriffic reasons.
* ''[[
** Kakashi wears a ninja mask over the lower half of his face all the time except when he eats - we never see his full face, fan edits aside. Shino Aburame averts this trope, though, because while his face is usually concealed from the nose down by his collar, it is revealed from certain angles during fights. He always wears his dark glasses, though.
** One episode has Team 7 trying to see his Kakashi's face without the mask. At the end of the episode {{spoiler|he shows them, but cops out with another mask underneath.}}
** 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.
** Likewise, the cover for chapter 245 has him without his mask, with part of his nose and face showing, but his mouth is covered by his hand.
** Similarly, Madara Uchiha has never taken his mask off. He tried to show his face to Sasuke once, but was interrupted after only showing a small part around his right eye then put it back on. He was shown unmasked when he was younger, but given his age, battles, and many other potential changes his appearance has likely changed dramatically. When an interrogator invaded {{spoiler|Kisame's mind}} and almost got a look at Madara's face, {{spoiler|Kisame bit his own tongue to break the genjutsu and [[Breaking the Bonds|broke free of a stockade]].}}
Line 65 ⟶ 66:
* Manga example: '' [[The Demon Ororon]]'' has God, with a massive set of emo bangs that hide his eyes entirely.
* Two examples from ''[[Dr. Slump]]'': one is a police officer never seen without his [[Star Wars|Stormtrooper]] helmet, the other one is a guy appearing in the last storyline of the manga, a biker who can't get off his bike due to some illness. He never ever removes his helmet, and not even his name [[No Name Given|is ever given]].
* 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:
* ''[[Kekkaishi]]'' - [[Action Mom|Yoshimori's mother, Sumiko]], is one of these. The most we ever see of her face is her enigmatic smile. {{spoiler|By this point, she--or rather, her Shikigami--has appeared.}}
* [[The High Queen|The Queen of the Witches]] from ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]'' always wears an opaque silk veil {{spoiler|to hide the fact that she's acutally [[King Incognito|Yuki-sensei]]}}. {{spoiler|At least, until [[The Reveal|episode 50]] of Dokkan}}.
* ''[[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.
* ''[[
* A vast quantity of Doujin mangas involve female characters being sexually involved with male characters whose faces are either obscured, drawn with scant detail, or in extreme instances with no face at all. The reasoning is most likely because the artist believes that the reader would prefer to fantasize about themselves being the guy doing the filthy things to said female character, rather than watching one of the official characters or some some stock thug/nerd/old man/etc do it. For the same reason, many H-games have the same black faced or eyeless wonder.
* Makoto Numata in ''[[Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service]]'' wears shades all the time. So far, his eyes have been visible only once, through his shades, for the sake of a reaction panel.
* [[Big Bad|Morganna Mode Gone]] of the ''[[.hack]]'' series takes this even further: she has no physical body. That's because {{spoiler|she ''is'' The World; she is the game and everything in it, given an intelligence.}} The only "appearance" she has is either a disembodied voice or the Phases, programs created to do her bidding.
* Abe no Seimei in ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka
* Hayate's parents in ''[[
* In ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', the Last General of the South Star is always shown wearing a helmet until it is is revealed that the Last General is none other than {{spoiler|Yuria, Kenshiro's thought-to-be-dead fiancee}}. An antagonist named Kaioh is later introduced whose face is initially concealed by a helmet when he first appears. This is done to [[The Reveal|hide the fact]] that he is {{spoiler|Raoh's blood-related elder brother (which was already obvious, [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|considering how similar]] he is to Raoh in every other aspect and the fact that they pull the same plot twist with Kenshiro and Hyoh).}}
* Tokita Mako in ''[[
* In ''[[Monster (
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' has Professor Tomoe, Sailor Saturn's crazy father. For a long time, all you see is a black shape for his face, a strange red smile and bright shiny glasses.
* ''[[Kodocha]]'' has Rei, protaganist Sana's "pimp" (actually her talent agent; Sana likes to exaggerate) who is constantly wearing sunglasses, even in the shower or in bed. Sana begins to wonder what he looks like without them, but he refuses to remove them. Toward the end of the first season, he finally takes them off. He then turns his perfectly normal face to the viewer and says, "sorry I'm not deformed or anything."
Line 86 ⟶ 87:
* In the Manhwa ''[[Witch Hunter]]'', we have [[Evil Is Sexy|Nor]][[Big Bad|th]] and Edea Florence. {{spoiler|In the latter case, it only lasts until Chapter 31}}.
* The Teacher from ''[[The Sky Crawlers]]'' remains unseen throughout the entire feature; you only see his plane in action.
* In the ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* ''[[Heart no Kuni no Alice]]'': Only [[Role Holders]] get faces.
* The rank-and-file [[The Heartless|Hollows]] of ''[[Bleach]]'' can be considered this. From the moment they are created, a bone mask covers their face. This allows for them to largely be dehumanized by both the Shinigami and the author despite their often tragic origins. A major reason that Shinigami are taught to attack them from behind is so that they won't see their human faces revealed in their death throes.
Line 92 ⟶ 93:
* The Conductor of ''[[Galaxy Express 999]]'' looks rather like a ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' Black Mage in a peaked cap. On one occasion, the cap fell off and he had no head; later, an assassin who went after him in the shower was deeply traumatized by his true form.
* [[Anatolia Story|Urhi Shalma]]'s face is hidden by a cloak for several chapters, until it's revealed later on. {{spoiler|Even later, his face gets hidden ''again'' via a cloak when he's [[Never Found the Body|presumed dead]] but is revealed once again}}.
* The Brunette from ''[[Ben
* Glen Baskerville from [[Pandora Hearts]]. So much, in fact, that in Lotti's memories, shadows obscure not only his face, but the top of his [[Badass Longcoat|red coat]] as well.
* ''[[The Idolmaster (
* From ''[[
* Most recurring females in ''[[
** This has been parodied on the skit ''[[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|High School Boys and]] Older Brothers and Sisters'', where Yoshitake didn't even know how his ''older sister'' look at all.
* ''Yattodetaman'', one of [[Tatsunoko]]'s ''[[Time Bokan]]'' series, has as recurring characters a newscaster and his cameraman who commented upon the mecha battles between good and bad guys. The cameraman [[The Voiceless|never spoke]] and was so tall that his face was always out of the picture frame. Sometimes he was so tall that could be seen only from the waist down!
* In ''[[Medaka Box]]'', Hanten Shiranui's almost always faces away from the camera. The few times he's facing front have his head obscured by something (usually a speech balloon).
* ''[[Goblin Slayer]]'' is almost never seen without his helmet, which contributes to the dubious reputation of "this weirdo who's always going on about goblins". And when he isn't wearing it, most people don't even recognize him. So when in Chapter 15 the Priestess finally asked him to remove it (she has sort of indecisive crush), this made a room full of drunk adventurers stop a victory celebration to turn and stare.
{{quote|'''Elf Archer''': (drunk and loud) Orcbolg took off his helmet!!
'''adventurers''' Huh? He did what!?
'''Guild Girl''': Wh- Wha—? This is huge! Isn't it sweet?
'''an adventurer''': Huh? He's human?
'''an adventurer''': Lemme see!
'''an adventurer''': Hey! Bring out that betting pool!
'''an adventurer''': Awww... I bet big he was [[Samus Is a Girl|a woman]]... }}
* Raimu Kawasaki from ''[[Bakuon!!]]'' is never seen without her motorcycle helmet. She's also [[The Voiceless]], as she never speaks on-camera, although it's fairly clear that she ''does'' talk when the audience can't hear her.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* Doctor Doom, enemy of the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'', another deformed-beneath-the-mask type. Doom may be one of the longest-running examples of this trope; Marvel has enforced an ironclad "Doom's face is ''never'' shown!" rule
▲== Comic Books ==
** Doom's face ''before'' the accident that deformed him is sometimes shown in [[
▲* Doctor Doom, enemy of the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'', another deformed-beneath-the-mask type. Doom may be one of the longest-running examples of this trope; Marvel has enforced an ironclad "Doom's face is ''never'' shown!" rule for over forty years. Characters who do see his face are almost invariably filled with a mix of extreme disgust and abject terror.
* The Marvel Universe versions of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee who produced a comic within a comic of the Fantastic Four always had their
▲** Doom's face ''before'' the accident that deformed him is sometimes shown in [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]].
▲* The Marvel Universe versions of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee who produced a comic within a comic of the Fantastic Four always had their face hidden when they appeared.
* Mary Jane Watson from the ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' comics has her face obscured in her first few appearances before becoming the main love interest. This was done because the original artist, Steve Ditko, couldn't draw beautiful women well enough to do her justice. Once he was replaced by John Romita, who was very skilled at glamour art, Mary Jane's face was finally revealed.
** This also had the effect that, since we never saw her face, and Peter was continually avoiding being set up with her on the assumption she ''wasn't'' attractive, the readers had the same surprise as him when he answered the door to her in a [[Splash Panel]].
* The Green Goblin in his first appearances was always either wearing his mask or had his face obscured by some random object.
* ''[[
** [[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
** Judge Death has never taken his helmet off.
** 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
* 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
** 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]] [[The 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.
* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' - John Wayne acted as a spirit guide to Jesse Custer. His face was always in shadow, even in the middle of Monument Valley with no shade. A similar thing occurs with the [[Elvis Lives|mysterious fat guy]] that Jesse gives a lift to in issue #53.
* An ''[[The X-Files|X-Files]]'' comic about the Fatima Prophecies had a scene with the Pope and a military commander discussing the third (unopened) prophecy. They were no backgrounds or faces, just the two symbolic outfits of "military" and "church".
* Taskmaster from [[Marvel Comics]] does better than most costumed types at concealing his true name and face; he never takes off his mask in-panel, whether others are around or not. When he is defeated and his mask is stolen in his own miniseries, we see him only in silhouette, and then from behind, before he retrieves his mask and makes sure the ones who took it aren't going to be telling anyone.
** One of the Udon comics actually did show him without the mask on... in a flashback to when he was twelve or so.
Line 121 ⟶ 131:
** It was shown once when Moon Knight defeated him and threatened to cut off his face literally but instead decided to just cut his mask off.
* Subverted in ''Radioactive Man'' by one of the members of "The Hellfire Club", sitting in shadow an profile, one of whom is clearly Richard Nixon:
{{quote|
* In [[The DCU]], [[Justice Society of America|JSA]] villain Johnny Sorrow no longer has a face, and to look into the space behind his mask where his face should be is instant death.
* This is one of the trademarks of ''[[The Phantom (
* ''[[Flaming Carrot]]'' - Carrot's identity is kept a mystery to the reader, and the only time we see him without his mask is when his face is covered in bandages. According to some theories, he's actually Jim Morrison.
* In ''[[
* Variation: ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'''s [[Big Bad]], Lord Hijiki, is one of
* Arch-villain The Octopus in ''[[The Spirit]]'' is only ever seen as a hand or pair of hands wearing distinctive gloves.
* Monsieur Choc, the arch-villain in ''[[Tif
* [[The Phantom Stranger]] from [[The DCU]] manages to keep the top of his face permanently obscured in shadow (thanks to carefully angling his hat) to the point that it seems like he wears a [[Domino Mask]].
* 'Hawg' Waller from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' is only ever shown from behind while standing behind his bar.
* Both incarnations of [[Marvel Comics]]' Baron Zemo have had their masks literally fused to their face. The younger Baron eventually finds a way to remove his, but his face is horribly scarred underneath.
* In the ''[[
* [[The Legion of Super Heroes]] villain Mano wore a transparent bubble helmet filled with the poisonous gases he needed to breathe so all the reader ever saw was a shadowy silhouette of his head.
** Another example from the Legion: the Time Trapper. His face is always in shadow from the hood of his tattered purple robe. In the recent ''[[Final Crisis]]: Legion of Three Worlds'' miniseries, he was revealed to be {{spoiler|A future version of Superboy Prime}}.
Line 145 ⟶ 155:
* In ''[[Le Scorpion]]'', Captain Rochnan's face is not revealed until ''The Treasure of the Templars''; his face being concealed by his armoured helmet before this. {{spoiler|And he falls to death not long after the reveal}}.
* The Surgeon General from ''[[Give Me Liberty]]'', whose face is always obscured by a surgical mask, cap, and tinted goggles.
* [[Lampshaded]] in the ''[[
== [[Fan Works]] ==▼
* The Fans in ''[[
▲== Fan Works ==
▲* The Fans in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]''. Actually aliens who describe themselves as “kinda lizardy, kinda birdy,” they use default faceless humanoid computer avatars when dealing with the four, and they're never even shown to the reader. Hints of their true appearance come out in their dialogue, e.g., “Ow! My tail!”
** Except Jeft, whose brief description by the other two suggests he is a fat [[The Greys|Grey]] with poor hygiene.
** Also the god Ardav, who is a bland sexless humanoid who cannot be remembered except as a faceless mannikin.
* The being known only as Cloak in the ''[[Worm]]/[[Luna Varga]]'' fic ''[[Taylor Varga]]''. She appears to be [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]] -- an [[Animate Inanimate Object|animated cloak]] that visibly has ''absolutely nothing'' inside its hood. In fact, she's known to stuff things into her hood for storage (and pull them out again), like boxes of donuts.
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* ''[[Master and Commander]]'': The French captain's face is never seen by the audience throughout the movie, {{spoiler|until the end, when his body is seen lying in the sickbay. And then it's not even his real face yet, because the real captain swapped clothes with a dead marine, and dressed up instead as the ship's doctor, who pretended to be treating the 'captain's body' in the sickbay when Aubrey turned up (sort of a [[Chekhov's Gunman]]). The real ship's doctor turned out to have died months earlier. Of course, Aubrey and Maturin only find out once the other ship is out of reach again... which means, ''Beat to Quarters''}}.
* ''[[Star Wars]]''
** Darth Vader in the original trilogy, although his face is finally revealed at the end of ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.
** The Sand People of Tattooine cover their faces with goggles and wrappings to protect themselves from blowing sand. According to the Expanded Universe, they tend to get ''very'' offended if anyone tries to get a peek at what's underneath.
** The Jawas appear to be this as well. Very few of them in any material have ever removed their
** The Imperial Stormtroopers. We never see any with their helmets off, keeping them as faceless goons.
** Boba Fett. The prequel trilogy revealed him to be Maori in appearance. In the [[Expanded Universe]], the Mandalorian helmet is treated as being his "real" face, because it's what his identity is tied to. He occasionally takes advantage of this, because nobody will connect his human face to the legendary bounty hunter.
** Darth Sidious, until ''Revenge of the Sith'' and later.
* 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
* ''[[
* ''[[Flash Gordon (
* In ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', Commissioner Gordon's daughter is at first completely unseen, and later we only see the back of her head (she looks to be about eight or nine). She is even only listed as "Gordon's Daughter" in the credits. Probably done to not get our hopes up about a possible future Batgirl appearance (or maybe just to not cause the confusion of the two Gordon kids both being Jrs. to their parents).
* In the movie ''[[The Ring|Ring]]'' (but not its American adaptaion), future [[Stringy
* In ''[[Ben
* Bill in ''[[Kill Bill|Kill Bill Volume 1]]'', but in ''Volume 2'' you see his face just about first thing.
* The driver of the semi in Steven Spielberg's ''[[Duel (
* King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'', who suffered from leprosy, wears a mask in every appearance until {{spoiler|his sister Sybilla removes it after his death}}.
* The DJ who acts as [[Greek Chorus]] in ''[[The Warriors (
* Mara Chekhova, the operatic diva in Dario Argento's ''[[Opera (
* In ''[[Raise the Red Lantern]]'' The Master's face is seen clearly only at a distance, and even that only a couple of times.
* 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
* ''[[The Thing (
* The 1976 film ''The Message'' depicts early Islamic history. Mohammad never appears on-camera; his presence is indicated by the camera taking his POV, and an organ music [[Leitmotif]] replaces his dialogue. It's longstanding Islamic tradition that Mohammad should never be seen in any form, under the premise that such depictions would run the risk of being used as idols, leading to worship of Mohammad rather than of [[God|Allah]].
* ''[[Treasure Planet]]'' - We viewers never get a good look at poor Jim's [[Disappeared Dad]]; some people on the Internet have taken advantage of this for video crossovers and/or fanart.
* Irene Adler's enigmatic employer in the 2009 ''[[Sherlock Holmes (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Radio Flyer]]'' Mikey and Bobby's abusive stepfather "The King"'s face is not fully seen throughout the movie until the end, reportedly this was done because his actor Adam Baldwin didn't want to be associated with child abuse.
* [[The Dragon|Rinzler]] in ''[[Tron
* ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' The Blank, until revealed to be {{spoiler|Breathless Mahoney}}.
* The gangsters' leader from ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]''.
* John, the mysterious alien Guide in Enki Bilal's ''[[Immortal (
* 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 (
* In ''[[REC]]'', the face of Pablo is never shown, given that [[Found Footage Films|he's the one behind the camera]] most of the time - and even when he isn't {{spoiler|(after he dies)}}, his face is never shown.
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* 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, It's That Guy!|'hey, is it really that guy?']]
* In ''[[Sister Act]]'', the Pope comes to visit; while the figure bears a physical resemblance to Pope John Paul II (the real-life pope at the time of the film's production), and is dressed in the traditional white cassock and skullcap, he is only seen in a single shot, in which he is seated with his back to the camera.
* The
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' - Lemony Snicket, the elusive author, is often photographed but never from the unobscured front.
** Sir, from ''The Miserable Mill'', always has his face obscured by a massive cloud of cigar smoke.
* In the original version and first adaptation of ''[[
* ''[[Discworld]]'' - Skazz, a student from the Unseen University has long hair that covers all of his face but his nose's tip.
* Orual of [[
* 'She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed' from [[H. Rider Haggard]]'s ''[[
* 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
* Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story ''The Minister's Black Veil'' tells of a Puritan minister who one day inexplicably dons a black veil to cover his entire face. The simple addition of the veil changes him from a beloved and respected figure to an [[Nightmare Fuel|item of fear and horror]], and he wears it for the rest of his life.
* The face of {{spoiler|Haliax, the [[Big Bad]]}} from ''[[The Name of the Wind]]'' (as well as most of the rest of him) is shrouded by both a black cloak and shadows. Considering the face of one of his subordinates that we do see, this is probably a good thing.
* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* The Reaper from ''[[Shannara|Elfstones of Shannara]]''. (And for that matter, for much of his appearances, the Dagda Mor, too.)
* The illustrated [[Roger Zelazny]] novel ''[[A Night in
* Joelle Van Dyne a.k.a. "Madame Psychosis", from David Foster Wallace's [[Doorstopper|magnum opus]], ''[[Infinite Jest]]'', is never physically described, and wears a veil over her face at all times. She claims this is because [[The Beautiful Elite|any man who gazes on her unearthly features instantly falls in love with her]], but ([[Unreliable Narrator|slightly suspect]]) anecdotal evidence suggests that while this may ''once'' have been true, the face beneath the veil was horribly disfigured. In either case, her unmasked features play a key role in {{spoiler|the [[Brown Note|titular film]]}}.
* Squickily literal example from the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' Taladas Trilogy- [[Big Bad]] Maladar ''peeled his face off'' as part of an unknown dark ritual, leaving a skull-like ruin behind. Even he's rather ashamed of this, so he usually wears a deep hood with magical shadow inside it to conceal his deformity, revealing it only when he wants to strike terror. This habit actually earned him the nickname "the Faceless Emperor" in-universe.
Line 215 ⟶ 225:
* In the original picture book of ''[[Mars Needs Moms]]'', Mom's face isn't shown until the end when {{spoiler|she gives her space helmet to her son so he won't suffocate, almost dying in the process}}.
* Many, though not all, of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Ten Who Were Taken]] from the ''[[Black Company]]'' novels are fond of hiding their faces- one of them takes this to the point that he's actually known as the Faceless Man (all the Taken, like most wizards in this setting, go by descriptive titles, since their true names could hold power over them). Most prominent, however, is Soulcatcher, who keeps her face concealed behind her helmet for the entire first novel- in fact, between the face-hiding and the fact that she usually wears masculine clothing, it's not until the end of the book that the protagonists are even sure she's female.
* Personnel of the Concord Police [[Secret Police|Special Services Branch]] (SSB) in M.K. Wren's ''The Phoenix Legacy'' trilogy wore an electronic mask called a "face-screen" at all times on-duty. It hid the face in what seemed to be shadows even when bright light was shining on it; because of this, members of the [[Thieves' Guild|"Outside"]] often referred to SSB men as "Shads."
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* George Steinbrenner on ''[[
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Wilson on ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' had the lower half of his face obscured by the fence in his yard; this later turned into a [[Running Gag]] where his face was half-obscured by other objects in scenes that didn't take place in the yard, and at least one instance where the ''top'' half of his face obscured but not the bottom half. In at least one press conference in real life, Wilson's actor, the late Earl Hindman, wore a miniature white picket fence over the lower half of his face. Another clip showing the curtain call at the end of the taping of one show also showed him holding a miniature white picket fence over his face. One Halloween episode had him dressed up as [[The Phantom of the Opera]], with the mask covering the ''upper'' half of his face
▲* George Steinbrenner on ''[[Seinfeld (TV)|Seinfeld]]''. Also the boss of Tyler Chicken, who sounds ''exactly'' like George Steinbrenner. Both were voiced by [[Larry David]].
▲* Wilson on ''[[Home Improvement]]'' had the lower half of his face obscured by the fence in his yard; this later turned into a [[Running Gag]] where his face was half-obscured by other objects in scenes that didn't take place in the yard, and at least one instance where the ''top'' half of his face obscured but not the bottom half. In at least one press conference in real life, Wilson's actor, the late Earl Hindman, wore a miniature white picket fence over the lower half of his face. Another clip showing the curtain call at the end of the taping of one show also showed him holding a miniature white picket fence over his face. One Halloween episode had him dressed up as [[The Phantom of the Opera]], with the mask covering the ''upper'' half of his face. Wilson made a couple appearances with face-paint on as opposed to a foreign object between him and the camera. Another episode had him completely on-camera in Renaissance Faire costume, wearing a fake beard. His face is finally revealed in the 'behind the scenes' episode.
** Al's mother also never shows her face.
* Norm's wife Vera on ''[[
* Captain Boday on ''[[Star Trek
* Sam on ''Richard Diamond Private Detective''. She was played by Mary Tyler Moore, but only seen from the legs down.
* Salem Saberhagen's face is always hidden in flashbacks to when he was human (technically a warlock, since [[Witch Species|witches and warlocks are a species]]) on ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]''.
* Kosh on ''[[
** The Grey Council, constantly wearing hoods with their [[Face Framed in Shadow|Face Framed In Shadows]]. Also the [[Powers That Be|Bureau 13]] operative, only showing her mouth until [[The Reveal]] at the end of the episode.
* Alan Brady on ''[[
* ''[[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.
** Subverted in the episode "Rendevous at Big Gulch"; at one point, the camera remains fixated below the shoulders of the evil mob boss stroking his white fluffy cat as he goes over his plan to deal with the do-gooder protagonist. Right before cutting to commercial, he ducks into frame to deliver his final line.
* Anubis on ''[[Stargate SG
** If Oma's appearance in the cafe matches her real world face, then maybe Anubis' does too (or the face he had with his last host?), plus they find a sort of clone of him that is definitely not this trope (pretty boy good looks)
* In ''[[
** Even attempting to see beneath the hood of a Headless Monk is punishable by death. This is because {{spoiler|they've cut off their heads and have little more than a bundle of nerves where their face should be.}}
* Once he dons his mask in the origin story, ''[[The Lone Ranger]]'' is never again seen without it or some other form of disguise. (Given he rides around in the hot sun all day with the mask on, he'd need some sort of disguise due to the unusual tan lines.)
* One episode of ''[[Malcolm in
* ''[[Top Gear]]'' - The Stig, the "tame racing driver" of the British automobile [[Magazine Show]]. Always appears wearing a full face racing helmet with a dark visor which obscures his face. Also extended to The Stig's African cousin and American cousin in the African and American specials.
* 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
* Phyllis Lindstrom's husband Lars, on ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]''. A clever variation came in a final-season episode where Johnny Carson is supposed to be the [[Special Guest]] at one of Mary's dinner parties. Just before he arrives there's a citywide power blackout, so when he shows up we only get to hear his voice.
* The NSA board of directors in one episode of ''[[Seven Days]]'' were, rather oddly, covered in shadow.
* The Grand Master from ''[[
* Played for laughs in ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' episode Tundra: Howard encounters a man whose face is completely shadowed by a fur-lined hooded jacket, who tells him to "look deep into the parka."
* ''[[Passions]]'': evil patriarch Alistair Crane. Initially only his hands were seen when his character appeared. When he was finally shown, the actor who played him died a short time later. He was replaced and was shown fully for the remainder of the series.
* Hello, ''[[
* "Charlie" from the 1970's TV series ''[[Charlie's
* Little Ghoul, a comic relief villain on ''[[Beetleborgs]]'', was only ever shown from the front as eyes beneath a hood. Characters who saw her face tended to run off screaming.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[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
** Also, Titus's first girlfriend (the brainy, yet abusive 5'1" Jewish girl who punched him in the face a lot) was
** 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
* ''[[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 ''[[
* On the show ''The Millionaire'', the mysterious benefactor, John Beresford Tipton, Jr.'s face was never seen. Usually just a hand, although sometimes other body parts, were seen.
* Cousin Itt from ''[[The Addams Family]]'' is effectively an example, as all we see of Itt's face is hair.
* In ''[[Cybill]]'', Maryanne's vengeful ex-husband Dr. ''Dick''.
* Sam, the mysterious and glamorous telephone receptionist in the 1957 series ''[[Richard Diamond, Private Detective]]'', whose voice was regularly heard but whose legs only ever appeared on camera. (She was played by a pre-stardom [[Mary Tyler Moore]].)
== Music ==
* Art
* [[
* Guitarist [[Buckethead]], who always wears a full-face carnival mask in public, and speaks through a hand puppet.
* The band members of [[The Residents]] have never appeared publicly without their masks.
Line 267 ⟶ 277:
* The band [[Lordi]] refuses to be photographed or seen without their elaborate monster costumes and makeup, in order to preserve their monstrous image. Even their real names are unknown to the public, with the exception of lead member Mr. Lordi. During the Eurovision contest they kept their costumes on constantly, with one shot showing the monsters peacefully lounging by the pool. A few Finnish tabloids have attempted to show Mr. Lordi without his costume and gotten a lot of criticism for it.
* George Crumb's avant-garde composition ''Vox Balænæ'' is usually given the subtitle "For Three Masked Players".
* MF DOOM always performs with an iron mask covering most of his face.
* Italian electro house musicians The Bloody Beetroots perform while wearing [[Spider
* [[Pink Floyd]] attempted to be this for much of their run. They never showed themselves on album art, they refused to speak directly to the audience during performances, and they often used their famously elaborate stage effects to keep the audience from looking at their faces. This has mellowed somewhat in recent years, since they're frequently sought out for interviews now that the band has broken up. For a while, though, the vast majority of fans didn't even know the members' names.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==▼
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
* In ''[[Peanuts]]'', there was a series of strips where Charlie Brown goes to [[Summer Campy|summer camp]] and tries to befriend a kid in the bunk next to him. The kid is always shown with his face turned toward the wall, and never says anything other than, "Shut up and leave me alone!"
* Downwind Jackson in the ''Smilin Jack'' comic strip, whose face was always turned away, usually to gawk at women. Creator Zack Mosley established that Downwind was a handsome ladies' man, but decided to leave his face to the readers' imagination.
** ''[[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 ''[[
* ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''
** In one ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' parody someone finally sneaks up to Beetle and rips his hat off. His face is much like you would expect, except that it turns out he was hiding a tattoo on his forehead reading GET OUT OF VIETNAM.
** In one actual strip, Lt. Fuzz noticed that he never saw Beetle's eyes, so in order to get a look at them, Sarge snuck behind him and yelled "BOO!" making Beetle's hat fly off his head. Unfortunately, Beetle was wearing sunglasses.
* Chip from ''[[Hi and Lois]]'' has everything above his nose hidden by his bangs. Any resemblance he has in that regard to Beetle Bailey is entirely intentional -- Lois is Beetle Bailey's older sister.
* The face of Mr. Pembroke, the boss of Roger Fox in ''[[FoxTrot]]'', is never seen. Portraits of himself in his office likewise have the face cropped out.
* Spots from ''[[Dick Tracy]]''.
* The title character of ''[[The Phantom]]'' is a very strange example; he wears a mask in his heroic identity, as most superheroes do (in fact, he was likely the one who started the trend), but even in his civilian identity of Kitt Walker, he wears a fedora, sunglasses, and a trench coat with the collars turned up. The readers have never been able to see his unmasked face clearly.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
* Eloeholth the Faceless is a possible main villain of ''[[Warhammer
▲== Tabletop Games ==
* Harlequin Shadowseers in ''[[
▲* Eloeholth the Faceless is a possible main villain of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]: [[Dark Heresy]]''.
▲* Harlequin Shadowseers in ''[[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]]'' wear face-concealing, featureless masks in combat (and outside of it?), ensuring that the last thing the enemy sees will be the reflection of their own face (though the implication is that it goes beyond a reflection, and the enemy literally feels as though they are fighting themselves). On that note, all other Harlequins use masks as well, but theirs have actual theatrical expressions.
* In ''[[Exalted]]'', the god Nara-O is always covered in thick dark bandages that completely obscure his features. As the god of Secrets Known To One Person, it is suspected that if any being besides himself was to know his appearance, he would cease to exist.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Matt Cameron's play ''Ruby Moon'' features an unseen character called 'The Wizard', who always wears a mask and creeps around the cul-de-sac knocking on people's doors.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''
** Darth Revan, whose face is masked during flashback scenes to hide the fact that {{spoiler|the player character is Revan him/herself, having been memory-wiped by the Jedi and put into the service of the Republic.}}
Line 304 ⟶ 313:
* ''Faceless Void'' and ''Bane Elemental'' in [[Defense of the Ancients]].
* In ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', a certain non-playable character is referred to only as [[No Name Given|That Man]], on top of which his face is constantly in shadows for no readily apparent reason.
** 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
* Shermie from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'', [[Blinding Bangs|who combs her bangs down over her face]] [[Hidden Eyes|so that her eyes remain hidden]]. It's said that they have a malevolent glare about them.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' dabbles in this a lot, usually replacing a character's portrait with a ? and ???ing out their name. Sometimes, they make fun of this, such as in MX, when their shadowing technique was to only partially shadow someone's face, so its really obvious who they are. At one point an EVA Monolith is partially shadowed out, but you can still see the words on it that say who is speaking through the monolith. In addition, [[Mooks]] virtually always have their face above their nose obscured, either by a helmet or shadows in place of their eyes.
* In ''[[Loom (
* In the N64 platformer game, ''[[Rocket Robot On Wheels]]'', Dr. Gavin's face is never seen.
* Meta Knight from the ''[[Kirby]]'' series. He will challenge Kirby to a swordfight, and when defeated, his mask is cleaved in half. He is briefly revealed to look [[Badass Adorable|very similar to Kirby]], before wrapped his cape around his face and vanishing.
* In the ''[[Crusader:
* ''[[World in Conflict]]'' does this with the main character, Parker, which represents the player and isn't defined at all with the exception of his name and rank. He appears in cutscenes, but always has his back to the camera or something blocks out his face. The game also features a name- and faceless president.
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series
** Several Black Mage classes throughout the series have had the same look, from the ''[[
** The original ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' had the Black Mage show his face when he upgraded to the Black Wizard. More recent remakes have redesigned the Black Wizard to retain the iconic "pointy hat" look.
** The Garif of Jahara in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' wear masks to cover their faces.
* ''[[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 [[
** 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.
* Oki from ''[[Okami]]'' wears a bear mask at all times, in fact every denizen of Wep'keer village wears an animal mask. The imps wear simple white paper masks as well and when Amaterasu dons a similar mask, she's accepted by them to be an imp, despite obviously being a wolf.
* Shiki from ''[[Tsukihime]]'', with the exception of the prologue (when he was a child). Since the game is told from his perspective, this makes sense; he only shows up on-screen during unlocked images, but never with any detail above his mouth. This only holds true in the original [[Visual Novel]] (not the sequel games, anime, or manga).
Line 324 ⟶ 333:
* Jack of Blades, the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Fable]]'', always wears a white and red mask. In ''Fable: The Lost Chapters'', it's revealed that Jack is a [[Body Surf|body surfing]] ancient entity that lives in the mask itself, who's moved from age to age by possessing the various dumb schmucks who've put the mask on.
* In ''[[Fable|Fable II]]'', the Wraiths are examples of this trope. These are floating spirits who summon ghostly children to attack you. They also mock you with revelations about your past and mistakes you have made.
* The Dark Savant, [[Big Bad]] of the last two ''[[
* ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' plays this trope straight with Corporal Miller and averts it with Staff Sergeant Blackburn and Dima, albeit Dima's face is revealed when you {{spoiler|switch to Blackburn for the end of "Kaffarov," which had mostly been Dima's level}} and in the ending cutscene.
* Semi-averted in most of the ''[[Half
* ''[[Fallout|Fallout 3]]'' LDC "Operation Anchorage" allows the character to command a squad of men- each one seems to wear a full face balaclava that means every one looks exactly the same (the same applies for the Chinese soldiers you fight against, and for the player character in the similation). This trope does not appear in the main game, though.
* We never see Vile without his helmet in ''[[Mega Man X]]''. But Being a robot, the helmet could very well be his head. Its never clarified.
* ''[[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 (
* The ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' version of [[Romance of the Three Kingdoms
** Pang Tong's is a more justified example, as in the novels, he was portrayed as being ugly. Despite his major contribution to deflecting the Wei forces at Chi Bi, Sun Quan refused to hire Pang Tong on the grounds that he was butt. Though Liu Bei took him in, he supposedly was not a Pang Tong fan, either.
* The player character of ''[[Pokémon]] Stadium'' has his eyes hidden by a hat similar to Red's hat and Ash's original hat. Oddly enough, he is the only faceless protagonist in the series.
** We never see any Cubone and Marowak without their skull helmets, either.
** Inverted with Diglett and its evolution Dugtrio, however. We actually ''never'' see their bodies from the neck down!
* Caster in ''[[Fate/stay
* Taokaka and the rest of the Kaka clan from ''[[
* Most games in the [[Dating Sim]] genre have a very generic, if not completely faceless, look for the main character so that the player can project themselves into the game. This extends to the animated adaptation of some of them: ''Sentimental Journey'', for example, the protagonist isn't even ''named''.
* Hector from the ''[[Riviera:
* ''[[Chzo Mythos
* Samus Aran usually takes her helmet off at the very end of each ''[[Metroid]]'' game. At the time when the original game came out, the fact that Samus was a woman was a [[The Reveal|big revelation]], but nowadays [[It Was His Sled|this is common knowledge]].
* The ''[[Nancy Drew (
* The protagonist of the ''[[Super Solvers]]'' learning games. Or is he [[The Blank]]?
* The [[Silent Protagonist]] of ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]'' wears a full-face mask. His face is revealed in the third game however.
* King from ''[[Tekken]]'', a [[Masked Luchador]]. In the intro of the first game he is shown donning his mask with his head offscreen.
* ''[[.hack
** Helba is always shown with a crown/mask covering her eyes. Her full face is shown in XXXX, but the XXXX series is not considered canon
** The same goes for Morganna. Whether she even has a face can be called into question, since she is The World itself. Every phase ''does'' have an eye located somewhere on its body, and this is commonly believed to be Morganna's eye watching through her phases. Again, in XXXX her face is somewhat shown, but these books are not considered to be canon due to their constant clashing of the original video games and plot line.
Line 352 ⟶ 361:
** When the camera is focuses on her helmrt, you can see her eyes and vague facial features- her face looks (at least superficially) similar to a human's.
** Tali [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this after playing poker with Shepard and members of the engineering crew:
{{quote|
* [[The Dragon|Vanitas]] from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]: [[Birth By Sleep]]'' transcends [[In the Hood|the normal way]] of remaining ambiguous in the series by wearing a mask-helmet-thing to hide his face, so he can pull off all of his [[Ax Crazy|badass]] stunts without restraint. He's seen with the helmet removed at least once {{spoiler|(before [[The Reveal]], anyway)}}; however, his face is hidden by the camera angle.
** Amusingly, if you can [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA9whgJ5r9s&feature=related alter the camera angle to scroll up in that scene], you'll find out that under that helmet is... {{spoiler|[[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|another helmet]].}}
*** 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
* Pyro from ''[[
* 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 ''[[
* 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!
* ''[[Eagle Eye Mysteries]]'': The player becomes this via first person perspective.
* Carmine from ''[[Gears of War]]'' is a (different) named soldier present in each installment who always wears his helmet while every other named soldier doesn't.
* 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,
* The player characters in ''[[Spiral Knights]]'' have their faces hidden in shadow with only their eyes peering out. This is to make them look gender neutral, as the only way to make your character look like a female is to wear a feminine-looking armor set, and also to keep the player in the dark about their race.
* {{spoiler|Shiki's true self}} in ''[[
* ''All'' of the wizards in ''[[Magicka]]'', including NPCs and the [[Big Bad]], have their faces permanently hidden in the darkness of their hoods, with the exception of Vlad ([[Suspiciously Specific Denial|who is not a vampire]]). In fact, every set of robes you can get for your wizards has the same hood, resulting in the same face-hiding. Strangely, they're all still surprisingly expressive.
* 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 main character of ''[[Dark Messiah of Might and Magic]]'' never has a face visible in gameplay. Indeed, his models all use a blob of untextured polygons where the head should be. The [[Porting Disaster|360 port]] averts this, giving him a prominent face that looks very goofy and old.
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
▲== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'' has numerous characters which fall under the masked variety. Though they are primarily mooks or secondary characters (and ALWAYS ninjas), Mr. Blank and Mr. Black served as major characters for one story arc. They were also distinguished by having their masks fully conceal their faces. Most other ninjas have an opening for the eyes, but their eyes are only drawn rarely. Mr. X and Mr. Y are also recurring characters who often cover their entire face, but sometimes reveal their mouths.
* ''[[
* Clifford Mayers, the main villain and [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|scheming billionaire]] in ''Funny Farm'' has an unexplained shadow covering the upper half of his face apparently caused by his characteristic hair, regardless of where the light is coming from. The shadow disappears later in the story when his [[Evil Plan|evil plans]] are foiled, and begins to reappear as he gets back into the scheming. [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]] from [[Start of Darkness|before he turned evil]] also reveals him as shadow-less.
** 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...)
* [[God]] in ''[[Sinfest]]''.
* 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 ''[[8-Bit
* Cartoonist Bill Hollbrook gets big mileage out of this trope:
** In ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'', Kell's boss, R.L., is only shown as a protruding - usually salivating - wolf snout (And occasionally his arms).
Line 384 ⟶ 393:
* Othar Tryggvassen (''Gentleman Adventurer!!''), from his very first appearance in ''[[Girl Genius]]'', wears a spiffy silver visor over his eyes. Astonishingly, when his eyes ''are'' shown, {{spoiler|they're the prettiest shade of baby blue imaginable.}}
* Lampshaded in ''[[The Wotch]]''. Up until recently, {{spoiler|Xaos/}}the Worlock had always been seen with a helmet that hid the upper half of his face, if not all of it. In [http://www.thewotch.com/index.php?epDate=2008-08-29 this] comic, we finally see him without his helmet on (in a flashback), and in the first two panels in which he appears, the upper half of his face is obscured by a tree branch. He then moves it out of the way, muttering, "Stupid tree branch keeps getting in my face".
* In ''[[Girls
** [[Lampshaded Trope|Lampshaded]] by the [[Alt Text]] of [http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-1208/ a later strip.]
{{quote|
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', [[Nebulous Evil Organization|Hereti]] [[Omniscient Council of Vagueness|Corp's]] board room is specifically designed to keep everyone's [[Face Framed in Shadow|faces hidden in shadows]]. Since many of these characters are rarely seen outside the board room (including [[Diabolical Mastermind]] Daedalus), it takes quite a while before readers get a good look at their faces. Daedalus in particular gets very annoyed if someone turns on the lights inside the board room and will usually cover his face until they're turned off again.
* An active parody of this in ''[[Looking for Group]]'': Richard's features are never shown clearly. Only his eyes are visible and the rest of his face is covered by a veil at all times. The character is [[Character Alignment|inherently evil]], so it's more than likely a parody.
* ''[[
* In the Mr. & Mrs. Rockhound cartoons of ''[[The
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Harkovast]]'', the Wizard Quinn-Tain is only seen from behind.
* Decoy Octopus from ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'' typically takes on the appearance of one of his coworkers. However, when he appears in a spiritual realm, such as when he is tested by The Sorrow, he appears as only a fedora and a trenchcoat, with no face or body.
* Haxor and his minions in ''[[WTF Comics]]''.
* Galehaut from ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' is only shown from the neck down just because he's so damn tall.
* Played with in [http://eecomics.net/?strip_id=1119 this] ''[[Emergency Exit]]'' strip. Kyran deliberately uses extremely dim lighting to create a sinister atmosphere for his guest. The guest, however, would really rather just have some lights on.
* Every "breather" in ''[[Carnies]]''
Line 401 ⟶ 410:
* In ''[[Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden]]'', after 17 chapters, we had never seen Augustus Amherst's original, pre-Renoir, face. Even in flashbacks he's NEVER seen.
* In ''[[Blip]]'', The Adversary has several layers of this. In his first appearance, in one of K's lucid dreams, K wills herself awake before he can appear on-panel. When he finally shows up on-panel, his face is obscured via in-story [[Pixellation]]. Then the pixellation is removed, and he's wearing a [[White Mask of Doom|white mask]] underneath it.
* Anthony Carver in ''[[
* Andrius in ''[[The Pocalypse]]''. His face is only seen [http://images.wikia.com/thepocalypse/images/6/6a/Andrius.png once].
* The black cat from ''[[Girly]]'' has no face, but still manages to produce a [[Hell Is That Noise|meow]] that shakes characters to their souls.
* The [[Exactly What It Says
* [[Knight Templar|Kore]] from ''[[Goblins]]''. His armor and helm conceal his entire body except for one eye and some beard.
** He had to take the helmet off once after he got [[Tele Frag
* Greliz from ''[[Beyond the Canopy]]''. He ''always'' wears a paper bag over his head, even if he's wearing another mask over it.
* In ''[[The Specialists]]'', [http://thespecialistscomic.com/page-72/ the Bombardier won't show his face, and won't tell why.]
* Mr. Hand in ''[[
* 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
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* ''IGSRJ'', a parody of [[
▲* Drew Avery in ''[[Lonely Girl 15]]''.
▲* IGSRJ, a parody of [[The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|The Angry Video Game Nerd]] and the [[Irate Gamer]]. Furthermore, IGSRJ [[Synthetic Voice Actor|speaks through a text-to-speech program]], making his voice hidden too.
* The Specter in ''[[Mega 64]]''.
* ''Maskie'' from [[Marble Hornets]].
* Though his face is illustrated on the website, [[
* ''[[Todd in
* The antagonist from ''[[Homestar Runner]]'''s [[Show Within a Show]] "Stinkoman 20X6". [[Epileptic Trees|Rumored]] to be Coach Z's 20X6 counterpart.
* 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
* The full face of Mr. Administrator from ''[[
** Zack as well; he's usually behind the camera, filming everything. {{spoiler|Although we do see his face briefly in [[Freudian Excuse|episode 2]]. It's dark enough that most of the details aren't easily distinguishable.}}
* Reyven Samoth in ''[[The Gungan Council]]'', who probably doesn't even have a corporal face at this point. Darth Apparatus also used to run around with a mask or obscured face until recently.
* [[The Spiffing Brit]]. In general he uses various versions of his avatar (and stock images) to represent himself and in place of [[Reaction Shot]]s, but he has made at least one appearance on camera in a YouTube short -- in which his face was obscured by the logo for his channel.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* A staple of "golden age" theatrical shorts (''[[Looney Tunes]]'', etc.) in the '40s and '50s was to have a human character, typically female, who was only shown from the knees down. Examples include Mammy Two-Shoes (and her white, sometimes Irish, replacement as seen in edited versions of the shorts and in the short-lived ''Tom and Jerry Tales''), in the ''[[
▲== Western Animation ==
▲* A staple of "golden age" theatrical shorts (''[[Looney Tunes]]'', etc.) in the '40s and '50s was to have a human character, typically female, who was only shown from the knees down. Examples include Mammy Two-Shoes (and her white, sometimes Irish, replacement as seen in edited versions of the shorts and in the short-lived ''Tom and Jerry Tales''), in the ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' shorts; Sylvester and Tweety's owner in ''Tweetie Pie'' (though not Granny in the later shorts); J.L. in the Daffy Duck cartoon "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," and Marc Antony's owner in Chuck Jones' ''Feed the Kitty''.
** Parodied and/or homaged in ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'', by Mr. and Mrs. Pipe.
** 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.
* Marvin the Martian in ''[[Looney Tunes]]'', and by extension the entire Martian race as seen on ''Animaniacs'' (the episode "Clown and Out" ended with {{spoiler|the Jerry Lewis-esque clown being blasted to Mars, where he's seen singing to Martian children}}) and ''[[Duck Dodgers]]', have this as a racial trait, their only physical facial feature being their eyes; otherwise, their face is a total blank.
* 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
* The [[Big Bad]] of the sequel series ''[[
* 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.
** Averted in [[The Movie]] where his face and appearance is that of a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]].
* Similarly, Spydra from ''[[Gadget Boy and Heather]]''. The only time she takes off her mask on-screen (gleefully lampshading it in the process), she's [[Transformation Ray|polymorphed]] into Heather.
* [[Ms. Fanservice|Miss Bellum]] on ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. Her full name is in fact Sara Bellum, homophonic to cerebellum, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that her head is never displayed. And also a reference to the fact that she's really the brains at the Mayor's office. She gets a partial reveal in the 10th anniversary episode.
* 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
* In an early episode of ''[[Mucha Lucha
* "Wizard" Kelley, from ''[[The Proud Family]]''
* ''[[G.I. Joe]]''.
** Cobra Commander, Destro, and Snake Eyes. Except Cobra Commander got revealed in the ill-received movie. Destro was subsequently shown without his mask via a 12" figure released in the mid-'90s (it was the main selling point!) and has since been shown without it in the current comics. Snake Eyes has been shown in one form of silhouette or another both pre- and post-scarring in all the various comics, usually showing the lower half of his face.
** Eventually the comics gave Cobra Commander one as well, not nearly as cheesy as the movie's version. He just looked kind of like {{spoiler|Che Guevara}}. [http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oafe.net/yo/art/gijsgcc4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oafe.net/yo/gijlcc.php&usg=__HK9IDqy5uVE06mQIjrMl3Fw9Ifw=&h=275&w=280&sz=48&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=kLOJSg8tfV9qiM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=149&ei=0Q9LTeCoEIG88gbKz-2iDg&prev=/images%3Fq3Dcobra%2Bcommander%2527s%2Bface%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D933%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=564&oei=0Q9LTeCoEIG88gbKz-2iDg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=72&ty=94 Link]. And even ''that'' was a disguise.
** Snake Eyes' face was eventually revealed in it's entirety in ''GI Joe Vol.1: Reinstated'' by Devil's Due Publishing. The reveal showed both the "before" as well as the "after" of his reconstructive surgery. [http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1GF4elKx_Z8/SfZEq--AuyI/AAAAAAAABQ0|AAAAAAAABQ0/MxKi7NN_e48/s400/snake_eyes_face.JPG&imgrefurl=http://demsgoodreadin.blogspot.com/2009/04/snake-eyes.html&usg=__rFt_htxzkJK65OcwReCZwyhqJ0c=&h=392&w=400&sz=44&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=HpJKbWSIfgJPdM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=145&ei=Dg9LTZ7RGsP78AbQnoSpDg&prev=/images%3Fq3Dsnake%2Beyes%2Bface%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D933%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=132&vpy=103&dur=1654&hovh=222&hovw=227&tx=137&ty=132&oei=Dg9LTZ7RGsP78AbQnoSpDg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=38&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0 It's right here, if you want to look.]
** ''[[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.
* Nanny on ''[[Muppet Babies]]'', seen only from the shoulders down (as were the non-Muppet adults in the babies' fantasy sequences).
* Subverted on the Cartoon Network original series ''[[
* 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
* 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
* 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]]
* Slade in ''[[Teen Titans (
* Conrad Fleem in ''[[The Replacements]]'' is always shown from behind. His most distinguishing characteristic is a huge moustache.
* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' series, FOWL High Command is always shown in shadow, revealing nothing but shapes and eyes.
* Batman-ish vigilante Nobody, from the second ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
* The masked superheroes in ''[[Justice League]]'' and ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' are very rarely, if ever, shown unmasked.
** Subverted in "Starcrossed" when they have to go into civilian disguise to hide in plain sight of the invading Thanagarians. Also made funny when Batman reveals that he's known who they all were the whole time.
** 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
** [[The Question]] was this, until a tender unmasking scene with Huntress in the episode "Flashpoint". (Unlike the comic book version, who was seen unmasked regularly.)
{{quote|
'''Huntress:''' Not in my eyes. }}
** Also especially appropriate, since his mask is designed to make it look like he [[The Blank|literally has no face]]. Technically, we get to see his face in his first appearance as he [[Not My Driver|kidnaps some schmuck in a taxi]]. However with the way the episode is shot the fact we see him unmasked likely [[Fridge Logic|won't register until much later.]]
* Bruno's boss in ''[[
* The foot soldiers in the original '80s ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987
** Casey Jones is never seen without his mask on (unlike other versions, he takes it off), even once when going undercover in a business suit.
* Orko's people in the ''[[He
* Dumb Donald's face in ''[[Fat Albert and
* ''[[Secret Squirrel]]'' has the upper half of his face covered by a purple fedora hat with eyeholes cut into it.
** His face was revealed once in "Goldflipper" while he was disguised as a girl scout.
Line 474 ⟶ 482:
* All adults in ''[[Peanuts]]''. The cartoons took this to another level by giving them their own [[Starfish Language]].
* Most of the character's parents in ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' are only shown from the waist down, the exceptions being Hampton's parents, Elmyra's parents, and Plucky's Dad's face has been seen a few times.
* In ''[[Batman:
* In ''[[Batman: The
* In ''[[X
* On the animated adaptation of ''[[The Ricky Gervais Show]]'', Carl's longtime girlfriend Susanne is
* Husband and Wife on ''[[The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show]]''
* ''[[
* ''[[Stoked
* 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.)
** All we know is that Homer described his appearance, IIRC, thusly: "perfect teeth, great smile, a class act all the way!"
* Lt. Anna Baldavic from ''[[The Venture Bros]]''.
* Ms. Mimi in her first appearance ''[[Angelina Ballerina]]: The Next Steps''. Her face is covered by the boxes she carries and is seen by the back of her head applauding for Angelina. Her face is revealed in the next episode.
* ''[[Superman:
* The aptly named [[Exactly What It Says
* Tn the ''Mighty Man and Yukk!'' shorts on the Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, Yukk! was supposedly the "world's ugliest dog." As such, he wore a [[Cool Mask|miniature doghouse]] on his head that concealed his features. But whenever it became convenient to the plot to stun an adversary into terror-induced paralysis, Yukk! would lift his doghouse, and show them his face...At which point whoever was looking would absolutely freak out in gaggle-eyed horror. Of course, the audience only ever saw Yukk!'s head from behind in these instances.
* 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
* [[Goofy]] had a wife - Max's mother - in some old cartoons, whose face was never seen. The only thing known for sure about her was that [[Drives Like Crazy| she was a terrible driver]]. Supposedly, the animators at the time could not make a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of Goofy that didn't seem ridiculous,
▲* The second adaptation of ''[[The Lorax (Film)|The Lorax]]'' takes a different tack than the first and the original story. In the present timeline, the Once-ler's face isn't seen until the very end, although we get a general idea of blue eyes and an unkempt beard. In the past, however, his face is frequently visible. (He looked a ''lot'' like the boy to whom he tells the story in the present timeline.)
== [[Real Life]] ==
* In many religious traditions, it is considered blasphemous to depict God visually. Whenever God is featured in a work of fiction, either His face is obscured or it's made explicit that His/Her chosen appearance is simply [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]] (the latter fulfills this trope conceptually if not directly). In Sunni Islam, it's also prohibited to depict the face of Mohammed, so in Islamic art he's frequently drawn as a figure with a face of pure light or something else of the sort. There are many old pieces of art that include the picture of Mohammed as well, but they have been defaced by later generations, and usually replaced his head with flames with similar symbolic meaning as the Christian halos.
** That's the reason for [[Chick Tracts]] and [[Veggie Tales]] having examples of this.
Line 499 ⟶ 506:
* The Unknown Comic, who made a running gag out of performing with a paper bag over his head.
* While American [[Professional Wrestling]] has portrayed masks as being [[Serious Business]], Mexican ''lucha libre'' takes it very seriously. Once a ''luchador'' has donned a mask, he will ''never'' reveal his face in public again until he's beaten in a match where he put up his mask against that of another masked wreslter or an unmasked wrestler's [[Captain Obvious|hair]] as a bet to end a fued. If the ''Mask'' loses he takes off the mask and [[Killed Off for Real|can never use it ever again]], and if the ''Hair'' loses, he has to shave his head.
* 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
* During Saddam Hussein's trial, the presiding judge was always shown from behind.
* Undercover police always wear masks on television to avoid being identified by criminals during operations.
Line 508 ⟶ 515:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faceless, The}}
|