History Main / HouseOfBrokenMirrors

-- '''[[spoiler:The Shadow King]]''', TheCityOfDreamingBooks

->"I saw the monster I had become. Not the one [[spoiler: Smyke]] created. ''[...]'' So I destroyed that mirror. I shattered them all in a blind rage."
-->--[[spoiler: '''The Shadow King''']], TheCityOfDreamingBooks

Mirrors are traditionally seen as symbols of [[SevenDeadlySins Vanity]], since the beautiful and narcissistic (or just [[MilesGloriosus plain]] [[TheMagnificent narcissistic]]) constantly stare at their reflection and adjust their hair, clothes and makeup. A broken mirror isn't a simple [[{{Antonyms}} reversal]] however, a symbol of ugliness and [[GoodSamaritan selflessness]]... but of ugliness and '''''insanity.''''' The mirror casts a jumbled and distorted reflection, with missing pieces and dozens of small, fractured copies (and probably a little blood on it) and is oddly ''silenced''. It can't reflect back a true image, and anyone normal looking at their reflection will feel a little diminished doing so.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* Disney's ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', conveniently enough, has this. The opening montage shows the beast shred his claws across a portrait of his former prince self right before the end of the montage. Belle discovers the portrait during the movie, but is interrupted by the beast before she can adjust the fragments of the image to see it. ''And'' the mirrors in his room are smashed.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* Happened in ''{{Punisher}}: Warzone'' with a villain who got messed up in the face.
* In the movie ''TheSkeletonKey'', all the mirrors in the house are covered up. The reason for this is that [[spoiler: the mirrors reveal the true form of the owner of the house, who is really a voodoo priestess possessing the owner's body]].
[[/folder]]

* In the InteractiveFiction game ''Bronze'' by Emily Short, a retelling of ''Beauty and The Beast'', the heroine has moved all the mirrors in the Beast's castle into her room, at first to keep the beast away, and then, later, when she comes to know him, says that she'll keep them there because she knows the beast doesn't like seeing them around the castle.

* Granny Weatherwax in [[{{Discworld}} Witches Abroad]] has a sort-of subversion of this- she goes around destroying or hiding every mirror she comes across, however, this is because [[spoiler: her sister is watching them through the mirrors.]]
** When she breaks [[spoiler: Lily's own mirrors]], however, this is played straighter as [[spoiler: the jagged, fractured reflections symbolise ''Lily's'' insanity]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''AreYouAfraidOfTheDark?'': In "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror," a girl visiting the house of her new employer (who owns a beauty salon) notes that there are no mirrors in the house, even in the bathroom. Turns out it was to avoid GlamourFailure.

* ''{{Exalted}}'': The Lunar Exalted Ma-Ha-Suchi. He used to be a dashing, urbane {{bishounen}} who everyone desired (and not just the women), but centuries of hiding in the [[RealityIsOutToLunch Wyld]] have warped him into a goat-man monstrosity. So now he set out to destroy anything resembling civilization, saying that they breed weakness. But of course the elder Lunars know his real reason. He also has a literal house for this, the Nameless Lair. Once the Salon Provocative, a wonderful temple devoted to the finest beauties of the First Age, Ma-Ha-Suchi destroyed most of the artwork inside once he got back from the Wyld, and only kept around a few things either because they were useful or they were enchanted not to break.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Terra's betrayal is accompanied with a bunch of broken mirrors in a carnival. This scene is revisited in "Things Change" the series finale when [[spoiler: Beast Boy sees Slade who claims that Terra chose to disassociate herself from him.]]

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* ''{{Exalted}}'': The Lunar Exalted Ma-Ha-Suchi. He used to be a dashing, urbane {{bishounen}} who everyone desired (and not just the women), but centuries of hiding in the [[RealityIsOutToLunch Wyld]] have warped him into a goat-man monstrosity. So now he set out to destroy anything resembling civilization, saying that they breed weakness. But of course the elder Lunars know his real reason...

So what does it say about a "person" when all the mirrors in their home are broken, and all the pictures have his or her face clawed or blacked or cut out? Quite simply, that [[{{Understatement}} they are not well]].

* No, the mirror in [DeusExHumanRevolution Adam Jensen's] apartment hasn't been replaced yet. How did it get broken, anyways?

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batb_mirror_resized_2481.jpg]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Terra's betrayal is accompanied with a bunch of broken mirrors in a carnival. This scene is revisited in "ThingsChange" the series finale when [[spoiler: Beast Boy sees Slade who claims that Terra chose to disassociate herself from him.]]

* In AvatarTheLastAirbender, Azula's descent into madness starts with her primping herself in her vanity mirror. [[SarcasmMode Three guesses for]] [[RageAgainstTheReflection what happens at the end of that scene.]]
* In TeenTitans Terra's betrayal is accompanied with a bunch of broken mirrors in a carnaival. This scene is revisited in "ThingsChange" the series finale when [[spoiler: beast Boy sees Slade who claims that Terra chose to disassociate herself from him.]]

** When she breaks [[spoiler: Lily's own mirrors]], however, this is played straight as [[spoiler: the jagged, fractured reflections symbolise ''Lily's'' insanity]].

Generally, whoever goes to the trouble of smashing all the mirrors in their home and removing or defacing all their likenesses has had some disfiguring accident or [[TomatoInTheMirror ego destroying]] revelation. The destruction is a kind of "defense" against being reminded how "ugly" they've become, or how far they've fallen. Typical examples include: BeautyToBeast, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] [[GlamourFailure without reflections]], and victims of a BalefulPolymorph. Where this can be especially terrifying is if the resident is normal, or even ''beautiful'' save for one ''[[MinorInjuryOverreaction tiny]]'' scar or flaw, or from decades of emotional abuse brainwashing them into thinking they're ugly.

* In AvatarTheLastAirbender, Azula's descent into madness starts with her primping herself in her vanity mirror. [[SarcasmMode Three guesses for what happens at the end of that scene.]]
* In TeenTitans Terra's betrayal is accompanied with a bunch of broken mirrors in a carnaival. This scene is revisited in "ThingsChange" the series finale when [[spoiler: beast Boy sees Slade who claims that Terra chose to dissascociate herself from him.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Happened in ''{{Punisher}}: Warzone'' with a villain who got messed up in the face.
* In the movie ''TheSkeletonKey'', all the mirrors in the house are covered up. The reason for this is that [[spoiler: the mirrors reveal the true form of the owner of the house, who is really a voodoo priestess possessing the owner's body]].

[[folder/ Anime and Manga]]

* In the first episode of ''{{Ange}}'' Cordelia realizes she's in the home of a vampire due to the house having a lot of very thick curtains for Los Angeles, and the total lack of mirrors.

* ''AreYouAfraidOfThedark?'': In "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror," a girl visiting the house of her new employer (who owns a beauty salon) notes that there are no mirrors in the house, even in the bathroom. Turns out it was to avoid GlamourFailure.

* ''AreYouAfraidOfThedark?'': In "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror," a girl visiting the house of her new employer (who owns a beauty salon) notes that there are no mirrors in the house, even in the bathroom. Turns out it was too avoid GlamourFailure.