Line #67 Main/NoFaceUnderTheMask


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4	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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9	[[quoteright:200:[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sorrow_7138.gif]]]]
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11	When a character [[TheFaceless always wears a mask]], one will wonder what his face really looks like. Sometimes it turns out that he doesn't have a face. Instead of some kind of mundane [[DramaticUnmask climax]] or [[AnticlimacticUnmasking anticlimax]], we get thrown straight into NightmareFuel territory: Instead of a face, the character has some kind of blank slate, rotten mess, arcane forcefield or other completely inhuman thing that does not qualify as being a face.
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13	Also happens when someone mistakes a suit of AnimatedArmor for a person.
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15	Not exactly a SubTrope of TheFaceless or TheBlank, since those tropes are character types and this trope is a situation where a character transitions to the second trope from one specific subtype of the first trope. It's a kind of TheReveal as well as a kind of TheUnreveal. As such, '''expect unmarked spoilers'''. Compare NotAMask, where what you'd see if you took the "mask" off would probably still be pretty bad.
16	----
17	!!Examples:
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
22	* Celty from ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' wears a motorcycle helmet to conceal that she is a [[HeadlessHorseman dullahan]] and thus has no head.
23	* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', True Assassin wears a white mask to conceal the fact that he doesn't have a face.
24	* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''
25	** Alphonse Elric appears to be a large man wearing a medieval suit of plate armor, unless his faceplate is lifted or his helmet is knocked off, revealing ''empty space''. (Technically it's his soul, as it was bound to the armor when his body was consumed by a failed transmutation spell, but souls are invisible.)
26	** ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheSacredStarOfMilos'': [[spoiler:Literally invoked, as the villain of the film had his face torn off by a chimera years before the events of the movie.]]
27	* The Conductor from ''Manga/GalaxyExpress999'' wears a high-collared uniform paired with a brimmed hat, giving him the appearance of [[ShadowedFaceGlowingEyes a shadowed face with two glowing eyes]]. Taking off his hat reveals the truth about him: [[InvisibleStreaker he's an invisible alien wearing clothes so he can be seen]].
28	* In ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'' (2018), Nanashi's true appearance behind his mask is nothing but a void of darkness, along with having a [[OverlyLongTongue very thin tongue]].
29	* In the MindRape scene of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', the hooded demons that Asuka meets are like this.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comic Books]]
33	* Sort of happened during ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s first encounter with ComicBook/{{Anarky}}. Batman took Anarky's mask off, only to see a flat white plastic surface underneath. [[spoiler:Anarky was just a teenager, so, underneath his cowl and mask, he wore a plastic mannequin part on top of his head to appear taller.]]
34	* One ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' story has some AppliedPhlebotinum separate all the heroes and their secret identities into separate people, and the separated Batman has only the barest outline of a face under his cowl. This is to symbolize that without Bruce, the identity of Batman barely has any motivation, while Bruce himself slowly goes insane from not having an outlet for his righteous fury at crime.
35	* ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' villain Johnny Sorrow was flung into AnotherDimension and remade by the EldritchAbomination that calls it home. Afterwards he is an invisible, intangible specter while wearing his mask. When he removes it, he becomes solid and reveals an other-dimensional visage so incomprehensibly hideous that all but the most powerful (or blind, or insane) of living things will instantly die at the sight of it. The reader typically only sees a bright light. The one time that it was shown, it appeared to be a disgusting, incongruous mass of tentacles.
36	* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'':
37	** When Sensor Girl joined and Ultra Boy used his vision powers to see under her mask, he sees a blank face. [[spoiler:Sensor Girl is Projectra and the blank face was created with her illusion power.]]
38	** Another Legion member, Wildfire, is really a sentient ball of energy and his body is a humanoid-shaped HAZMAT suit which contains him.
39	* In the first albums of ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'', Mazikeen chose to have a half-face and to wear a mask over the faceless half. Mortals assume she wears it for RuleOfCool or because of some mundane injury. TheReveal freaks out at least one human enough to make a ''really'' bad choice.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
43	* Downplayed in a ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip where Jon puts on an ugly mask to scare Garfield. Garfield, unphased, tries to unmask Jon, only to pull the masked head clean off Jon's torso, much to his shock. Jon then reveals he somehow managed to contort himself so his face was at belly-level, with the masked face just a fake-out.
44	* In ''ComicStrip/SnarfQuest'', Princess Penelope falls in love with Aveeare: not understanding that he is a robot and believing him to be knight in a suit of armour. At one point she sees him with visor up (as he is conducting repairs) and sees that he has no face, just circuitry which she interprets as a mass of scar tissue that has completely obliterated his facial features.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
48	* In the LiveActionAdaptation of ''Film/FatAlbert'', Dumb Donald removes his ever present face-covering hat after some time [[RefugeeFromTVLand in the real world]] to discover a rather attractive face. Once the gang returns to their world at the movies end, they're disturbed to find that everything under his hat doesn't exist, leaving a pair of eyes floating around, because nothing was ever drawn under there.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Literature]]
52	* In ''The Doomfarers of Coramonde'' by Creator/BrianDaley, the general of the evil wizard's army is wearing a golden mask. Turns out he is blank under the mask: No eyes, no nose, no mouth, no nothing. The wizard must have either created him or mutilated him horribly.
53	* In Creator/FritzLeiber's ''Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser'' stories, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face wears a mask to conceal the fact that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin he has no eyes in his face]] -- there's just a flat patch of skin where eye sockets ought to be. This doesn't seem to cause him any difficulty with vision, but then, he is a mighty wizard.
54	* Creator/ThomasLigotti uses this trope to drive home a rather unsettling point about identity in "The Greater Festival Of Masks". Variations on the theme also occur in "Masquerade Of A Dead Sword" and "The Last Feast Of Harlequin"; it is also used as a metaphor in several of his poems.
55	* An iconic scene in ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'' has the title character remove the bandages from his face to reveal that his face (and the rest of him) is indeed [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin completely invisible]]. Quite likely the TropeMaker.
56	* ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'': [[spoiler:The Piper]] has been almost completely dissolved by Nothing, and wears a mask mostly to give himself a form.
57	* Robert Chambers' ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' owed an obvious debt of inspiration to Poe, though when it comes to the Stranger at its masked ball (who is probably some kind of HumanoidAbomination) the "mask" in question may be not so much an example as an [[NotAMask inversion]]:
58	-->'''Camilla:''' You, sir, should unmask.\
59	'''Stranger:''' Indeed?\
60	'''Cassilda:''' Indeed, it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.\
61	'''Stranger:''' I wear no mask.\
62	'''Camilla:''' ''(terrified, aside to Cassilda)'' No mask? No mask!
63	* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the Lord of the Nazgûl (the Witch-King) wears a mask-cum-helm to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, despite having no corporeal head beneath it. In the film version he is seen placing it atop his robe's empty shoulders, in effect ''defining'' his head. Otherwise, all the Nazgûl wear concealing hoods, which have the same function -- in fact, their robes as a whole define the shape of entirely invisible bodies. Of course, with the benefit of Ring-O-Vision, Frodo gets to see 'through' to the ethereal remains of their faces.
64	* When the revellers unmask the stranger in the Red Death costume at Prince Prospero's masked party in Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath", the costume is completely empty and falls to the ground, because the stranger was actually the personification of the title plague, which wastes no time in killing everyone.
65	%%* Bo Cleevil is revelaed to be this near the end of the ''May Bird'' trilogy.
66	* One of the most famous examples is ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', who's described in the book as being hideous-looking and skull-faced underneath his mask. This has not held true of all the film adaptations, however, especially the most recent one where Gerald Butler appears to have just a mild skin rash underneath his half-mask.
67	* Creator/MichaelMoorcock's ''The Queen of the Swords''. Literature/{{Corum}} uses the Hand of Kwyll to open the visor of Prince Gaynor the Damned to reveal a vaguely-face-shaped mass of rot.
68	-->Corum stared at a youthful face which writhed as if composed of a million white worms. [[RedEyesTakeWarning Dead, red eyes]] peered from the face and all the horrors Corum had ever witnessed could not compare with the simple, tragic horror of that visage. He screamed and his scream blended with that of Prince Gaynor the Damned as the flesh of the face began to putrefy and change into a score of foul colours which gave off a more pungent stench than anything which had issued from the Chaos Pack itself.
69	* ''Literature/ReaperMan'' uses this trope when Death, as “Bill Door”, confronts the “new” Death who has arisen in his absence from duty. The old Death manifests as a skeleton, but at least it’s a ''human'' skeleton; this shows that he has some sympathy with humanity. The new Death is an immaterial spectre, and utterly inhuman.
70	* Two examples in ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'':
71	** At the end of ''Literature/MoonOverSoho'' [[spoiler:Lesley takes off her surgical mask and Peter's reaction is that the scars and wreckage left from Punch's possession of her means that what is left]] no longer qualifies as a face.
72	** A variation occurs in ''Literature/BrokenHomes'': when facing off against the BigBad of the book, the faceless man, Peter realizes he has a spell that obscures his face (thus his name). After essentially disbelieving the effect, Peter still can't see the villain's face: he is wearing a mask under the illusion.
73	* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' give us "The Veiled Lodger", who is described as this:
74	--> ''It was horrible. No words can describe the framework of a face when the face itself is gone. Two living and beautiful brown eyes looking sadly out from that grisly ruin did but make the view more awful.''
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
78	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
79	** Not only does Omega lack a face under his mask, but he doesn't even have a body. His willpower was the only thing that kept his existence. (The best part is, doesn't even realize he doesn't have a body anymore. When his mask is whipped off and it's all revealed he has a bit of a VillainousBSOD.)
80	** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora "The Masque of Mandragora"]], Count Federico does a DramaticUnmask of the astrologer Hieronymous, who is dressed in the [[SecretCircleOfSecrets mask and robes of his cult]], only to get a nasty shock when he finds his face is just a glowing light after absorbing the Mandragora Helix.
81	** The Headless Monks are another example, having no heads beneath their hoods.
82	* Stark of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has two-thirds of a normal humanoid face, while the other third is a shimmering golden energy mass with telepathic properties, normally hidden beneath a leather mask.
83	* At the season six climax of ''Series/StargateSG1'', master villain Anubis sheds his mask to the ascended Daniel Jackson, who reacts with considerable surprise. Not until partway through the next season would we find out what lies beneath his mask and cloak: a black, cloudlike energy form, the physical manifestation of the "half-ascended" Anubis.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Multiple Media]]
87	* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'':
88	** Played with with the Toa Inika's faces: on the toys, they're featureless blanks. According to the story, their heads glow so brightly when they remove their masks that nothing can be seen of them.
89	** As well, Makuta Teridax's nature as an entity composed of gas and armor is revealed in-universe when the Piraka attempt to steal his mask off his [[NotQuiteDead corpse]], but find absolutely nothing underneath. Ironically, in the movies, he's the only character whose maskless head can be seen, and it's the same as the actual Lego piece -- certain moments of SpecialEffectFailure do reveal that none of the other character models were given faces underneath the masks, just a flat surface with eyes.
90	** The toy version of Kazi uses an all-purpose connector piece for a head, so he has no face. Krika, Bitil and Gorast also lack faces, because their masks weren't designed to fit on any head-piece -- however unlike Kazi, they probably had no faces in the story either, due to being Makuta.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Video Games]]
94	* In Chapter 5 of ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'', [[PlayerCharacter Henry]] breaks Sammy Lawrence's mask during his BossBattle, revealing him to have nothing but an inky blob of a head under it. This elicits a DontLookAtMe from Sammy.
95	* A variant shows up in ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'' - Osmond is a small, rabbit-shaped creature covered head to toe in clothes. When Monica asks him to lend the protagonists a hand, he considers it for a moment, then detaches his glove to give to her, revealing that he has no hand or arm underneath it.
96	* Happens briefly in ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' when [[spoiler:the archangel Tyrael defies Heaven. His hood falls back, revealing empty space where a face begins to form as HumanityEnsues]].
97	* In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', [[spoiler:Void Termina]] wears a [[WhiteMaskOfDoom heart-shaped mask]] in its first and third phases. When it is knocked off, there’s nothing but a portal to its [[WombLevel internal organs]].
98	* One possible answer to the question of what's under Darth Nihilus' mask in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''.
99	* Implied to be the case with Bobbin Threadbare and the rest of the Weavers from ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}''.
100	-->'''Cob''': Why not? There's nothing to fear under that fine robe of yours, is there?\
101	'''Bobbin''': If you fear Nothing, then you'd better not touch me.
102	%%* The Shy Guy Ghosts in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''.
103	%%* Doku in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Black/Sigma''.
104	* Strongly implied to be the case in ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' for Tunon, perpetually seen floating just above the ground, emanating [[SuperSmoke inky black smoke]], and wearing a WhiteMaskOfDoom. At any rate, [[BerserkButton do not ask him what's under the mask]] unless you are actively seeking to make an enemy of him.
105	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfHorror'':
106	** If you know the correct response when you first meet Aka Manto, he takes his mask off to fight you, revealing he doesn't have a face.
107	** There's also the Crestfallen Mask, which can be used to inflict this upon [[spoiler:your own protagonist by equipping it]].
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Web Animation]]
111	* A FacialHorror variant happens in ''WebAnimation/DingoDoodles''. [[spoiler:Gothi always wears a wooden mask because she survived having her face sliced off, leaving her with no lips, nose, or eyelids. Under her mask is only eyes, teeth, and scar tissue.]] One person who sees this immediately vomits.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Webcomics]]
115	* In [[https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/headcanon this]] ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'' page, Wolf and Dark Pit speculate about what [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Dark Samus]] looks like under her helmet, only to find out that there's nothing there.
116	* Parodied in ''Webcomic/DarkLegacyComics''. In [[http://darklegacycomics.com/311.html one strip,]] two characters are busy unmasking "liars", thus ruining everyone's Halloween costumes. In the end, they "unmask" a pandaren by tearing off his real face. Since he doesn't have any face left under that "mask", well, ewwww....
117	* In ''Webcomic/{{Exiern}}'', we have a woman who has a human body but no face or physical brain. Instead, her mask hides a swirl of bluish energy that she can use in combat. [[http://www.exiern.com/?p=1064 At first, the kids who run into her and knock her mask off don't realize this.]]
118	* ''Webcomic/{{Flipside}}'': TheArchmage Qtalda is a child-sized figure whose clothing completely hides her body; her face is covered in bandages and a headdress. This lets her escape an [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat apparently lethal]] disintegration spell. It's unclear what she does have for a body other than that it's tangible and leaves footprints.
119	* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'': Willa [[http://latchkeykingdom.thecomicseries.com/comics/477 wakes up trapped]] in a jellyflesh bodysuit that won't come off, and covers her mouth. But when her friend Debbie [[http://latchkeykingdom.thecomicseries.com/comics/480 uses electricity]] to shock the suit off, it turns out [[http://latchkeykingdom.thecomicseries.com/comics/481 there's nothing underneath]]: The jellyflesh construct has duplicated Willa's identity before being [[http://latchkeykingdom.thecomicseries.com/comics/490 driven off]].
120	* Downplayed in ''Webcomic/SidekickGirl''. [[spoiler: Declan Jade]], antagonist of the ''Gravity'' arc, wears a WhiteMaskOfDoom that covers all of his face except for one eye. When he removes it, wee see that half of his face is relatively normal, but the other half is a mass of scar tissue, [[spoiler:due to the accident that nearly killed him]].
121	* This is implied to be true for Leyland in ''Webcomic/UseSwordOnMonster'', and the possibility disturbs him greatly. [[spoiler:Later confirmed when we learn that Leyland, or at least a different version of him, was created through the LawOfNarrativeCausality and the narrator never bothered to give ''that'' Leyland a physical appearance beneath his getup.]]
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Web Original]]
125	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Invoked in the very first WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail, where Strong Bad actually mentions that taking off his mask and boxing gloves is the same thing as taking off someone's face and hands. The email "the chair" had a scene with Strong Bad actually taking off his mask, but when he does so, [[TheUnreveal he is completely covered up by the back of the new chair]] he bought from Bubs in the same email. His pained reaction and declaration of "[[ImNotDoingThatAgain I am NEVER gonna do that again!]]" seems to prove that his mask really is his face.
126	* In the Website/RapNews video on 2012, this is how Anonymous is represented: when the main speaker takes off their Guy Fawkes mask, nothing is underneath.[[note]]As in, [[NothingIsScarier the figure's head is completely transparent]].[[/note]]
127	* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' has Ace, who constantly wears a WhiteMaskOfDoom. Beneath it, [[spoiler:his "face" is a writhing mass of tentacles or possibly worms]].
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129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Western Animation]]
132	* Played for comedy in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode that introduced the supervillain Man-Ray. At the end of the episode, he takes off his mask and cowl to show his turn away from villainy... and he has no head under it, just a stump of a neck. Nobody particularly minds.
133	* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Mr. Saturday Knight," the Black Knight not only wears his helmet in the locker room, he ''shaves'' with it on; meaning he spreads shaving cream on the side of the helmet and shaves it off (and then curses under his breath when he cuts himself with the razor). Apparently, as with Man Ray above, his helmet is his head.
134	%%* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' featured such a villain.
135	* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', a villain created magic clones of the heroes, including [[MaskedLuchador El Toro Fuerte]]. Later, when the heroes accidentally removed his clone's mask, [[GlamourFailure the face comes off with it]]. The others turned out [[spoiler:''all'' like this, each wearing a LatexPerfection mask]].
136	* Referenced by Willow in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Follies at the Coven Day Parade" when she and Gus are debating what they think Emperor Belos' real face looks like.
137	-->'''Willow:''' I heard there's just a mirror underneath. ''[Whispers]'' The real emperor was society all along.
138	%%* Perils of Penelope Pitstop 2900 (a futuristic version of The Perils of Penelope Pitstop) has H.C. 2000(a robot version of the former) in the same outfit as his human may years ago, when Penelope Pitstop IV unmasks this robot, it's just metal.
139	* Hexadecimal of ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}''. When Bob removes her mask in one episode, there's nothing there but a hole with a bright white light pouring out if it, and she nearly explodes, which would've taken all of Mainframe with her. This does open up a bit of FridgeLogic as to how she keeps changing masks all the time without this recurring, though...
140	* Slade of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' loves it. In "Masks", Robin defeats him and removes the mask, revealing the communicator screen and [[ThisPageWillSelfDestruct the self-destruct timer]], since it was [[ActuallyADoombot actually a Sladebot]]. In the season four finale, Slade's mask is knocked off, [[spoiler:displaying a bare skull with a single blazing eye, as by that time he was TheUndead. He gets his human body restored later, but we don't get to see his normal face]].
141	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NoFaceUnderTheMask