History Main / DuelingScar

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', Link gives one of these to a JerkJock by cutting him just under the left eye.

* Parodied in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]] appreciate "fightin' scars," ideally a good, thick scar running from the top of the skull to the jaw, with any stitches or staples left in place. Thus, the Orkish ruling caste, or "Nobz," pick fights with each other just for a chance to earn impressive facial injuries, and "the generation of truly vile insults is about the only exercise an Ork Nob's imagination ever gets."

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Squall receives a scar over his face from dueling with Seifer, who receives a matching but flipped scar after Squall retaliates, making their scars a literal case of "Dueling Scars".
* Emma Honeywell from ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'' bears several scars on her face.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Coach Oleander comes complete with dueling scar and pickelhaube despite sounding suspiciously American.

* In ''Webcomic/MinionComics'' the main villain, Von Gernsbach, has a stereotypical German dueling scar covered partially by a monocle.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the assassin [[CatsAreMean Me-Mow]] strikes Finn on the cheek with her knife, which causes him to utter to the page quote. However, [[FunSize Me-Mow]] isn't much bigger than her knife, so [[StatusQuoIsGod the scar's completely healed by the next episode]].

* Arkady Duvall, a one-off villain in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', bears one from his days studying in the Heidelberg University fencing team.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', Dr. Drakken has one under his left eye. Like the blue skin, it is never explained why.
* The Twilight Sparkle of the future has one from the BadFuture she came from in ''"[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E20ItsAboutTime It's About Time]]"'' on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. [[spoiler:Of course the whole thing is a parody: It's just a paper cut from a future that isn't exactly bad.]]
* Fearless Leader from ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', who seems to have been based on Otto Skorzeny, a real-life Nazi with a scar that was seen as his trademark.

* Ezra Bridger from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' gets a pair on his left cheek in the season 1 finale from his first lightsaber duel.
%%* Adult Reptil in the FutureBadass episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow''.

->''"Give it up, Me-mow! You're only making my face look cooler!"''

* In the ''Anime/{{Leijiverse}}'', both Anime/CaptainHarlock and his long-time ally Emeraldas have left-cheek scars that are supposed to suggest this, though they are apparently genetic (Matsumoto's heroes are so badass, they come out of the womb with dueling scars). The origins of Harlock's scar are never discussed, but Emeraldas subverts or plays this trope straight, depending on the particular installment: in ''Arcadia of My Youth'', she is shot in the face by a member of the alien occupation force, but in [[Anime/QueenEmeraldas her own series]], she had received it while dueling Goddess Siren.

* Guen Ban Chon from ''Manga/{{Area88}}'' has several on both sides of his face.

* ''Literature/TheCityWhoFought'' by Creator/AnneMcCaffrey and Creator/SMStirling. The main character is a WetWareCPU whose onscreen avatar has a dueling scar because he thinks it's cool. Only one other character recognises it.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', Link gives one of these to a JerkJock by cutting him just under the left eye.

* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Kenshin got half of his iconic scar in a "duel" to the death (it was really more of a CurbStompBattle, but the man who gave him the scar had such a will to live that he managed to leave his mark).

* Guen Ban Chon from ''Manga/{{Area88}}'' has several on both sides of his face.
* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', Link gives one of these to a JerkJock by cutting him just under the left eye.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Shanks' scar across his left eye - which consists of 3 parallel lines - was done to him by Marshall D. Teach, back when the latter was one of Whitebeard's pirate crewmen. To be specific, he wielded WolverineClaws back then.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': Char gets one between his eyebrows courtesy of Amuro stabbing through his helmet during their sword fight inside A Baoa Qu. He retains it in his [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam subsequent]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack appearances]].

* In the MarvelUniverse, NaziNobleman and senior member of HYDRA Baron Wolfgang von Strucker has a massive one covering quite a bit of his head.
* [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel, Jr.]]'s archenemy Captain Nazi bears one such scar marring his otherwise handsome face. He's bitter about it because he's supposed to represent the Aryan ideal but he has an obvious flaw.

* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'': The Creator/DonaldPleasence version of Blofeld has a dueling scar. Blofeld grew up in what was then Germany but is now Poland.

* In the {{Literature/Flashman}} novel ''Royal Flash'', which is a pastiche of ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'', Flashman has to impersonate a German prince, and since the prince had one of those dueling scars, Flashman has to be given a scar in the same place. Unfortunately the [[KickTheDog villains insisted on giving them to Flashy the traditional way]], instead of just cutting him more precisely with a straight razor. Flashman later gets busted because [[SpotTheImposter the scars don't quite match the man he's impersonating]].
* ''Literature/GloryRoad'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein. Oscar Gordon considers attending Heidelberg so he can earn dueling scars. He thinks they'll be worth extra pay from a defense industry job.
* The two German recruits from the first day at boot camp in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' have them. But it's blink and you'd miss it; Johnnie doesn't see the scars, but Zim's dialog indicates they have them.

* According to a tie-in storybook based on ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', [[BigBad Scar]] actually got his, um, scar in a fight against a buffalo while complaining about why his parents liked his older brother Mufasa more than him. When Scar and Mufasa's parents find out that Scar now has a scar on his face, they reject him and make Mufasa the future heir to the throne, fueling his hatred.

* ''Series/GetSmart'': Ziegfried had a large scar on his cheek, revealed in TheMovie to be from a duel with his brother in Heidelberg.

* ''Series/{{Charite}}'' plays in the late 19th century in Germany; Medicine student Georg Tischendorf gets a dueling scar as a sign of his joining a fraternity in the traditional, regulated ''Mensur''. Not much of a RuggedScar though, because it doesn't actually make Georg a badass; he has to admit that in a real fight against his romantic rival, a veteran who's been serving several years, he'd be defeated in no time.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Coach Oleander comes complete with dueling scar and pickelhaube despite sounding suspiciously American.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Prince Zuko's burn scar. He's a young noble from a militaristic culture whose team colors are red and black. It would be more surprising if it wasn't a ShoutOut to the classic dueling scar, even though it turns out to be more a MarkOfShame (which technically speaking he did get during a duel).

* Fearless Leader from ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', who seems to have been based on Otto Skorzeny, a real-life Nazi with a scar that was seen as his trademark.
%%* Adult Reptil in the FutureBadass episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the assassin [[CatsAreMean Me-Mow]] strikes Finn on the cheek with her knife, which causes him to utter to the page quote. However, [[FunSize Me-Mow]] isn't much bigger than her knife, so [[StatusQuoIsGod the scar's completely healed by the next episode]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Obergruppenfuhrer Wolfcastle, Rainier Wolfcastle's announcer (and possible relative) on the ShowWithinAShow ''Up Late With [=McBain=]'' sports a few of these... and [[PuttingOnTheReich a full SS officer's uniform]].

These scars resulted from a peculiar tradition widespread amongst [[UsefulNotes/TheStudentenverbindung Studentenverbindungen]], euphemistically called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_fencing Academic Fencing]]--which is still practiced--mostly in the university towns of Germany, but also in Austria, Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Flanders. In Germany, the weapon is known as a ''schlaeger'', also known as the [[FanNickname "soup-plate of honour"]] due to the large size of the hand guard.

** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Anakin has a scar beside his right eye which is unexplained but is meant to hint that he [[WarIsHell hasn't been unscathed]] from three years of fighting in the Clone Wars. (An ExpandedUniverse work showed that he got it in a duel with Count Dooku's apprentice, Asajj Ventress.)

** This is clearly a case of DidntDoTheResearch since he's from a time when such scars were considered more handsome and manly.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Prince Zuko's burn scar. He's a young noble from a militaristic culture whose team colors are red and black. It would be more surprising if it wasn't a ShoutOut to the classic dueling scar, even though it turns out to be more a MarkOfShame (which technically speaking he did get during a duel).

* General Skarr of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOFBillyAndMandy Grim]] [[BreakoutCharacter &]] [[WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne Evil]]''.

* Adult Reptil in the FutureBadass episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow''.

* ''Film/BuddhasPalm'': The Hero, Long Jian-fei, gains a scar on hus cheek after being bested in a duel in the opening.

* ''Film/BuddhasPalm'': The Hrro, Long Jian-fei, gains a scar on hus cheek after being bested in a duel in the opening.