No Brows

"Charisma oozes out of people without eyebrows, you know! Hot damn! I don't have eyebrows either!"

— Second Mizukage, Naruto

A Sub-Trope of Unusual Eyebrows, this is when a character has no eyebrows.

Typically, this is used to give the individual a more brutish, Neanderthal look (although, ironically, Neanderthals are stereotyped to be hairy). Alternatively, they deliberately be used to create an ethereal or alien appearance. In these cases, the brow ridges will tend to be fairly prominent and well-defined, so that the character can still make appropriate facial expressions. Occasionally, however, the artist simply doesn't draw them with eyebrows, and they have to find other ways to emote.

Contrast with Big Ol' Eyebrows.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Reiner Braun from Attack on Titan, according to design notes. However, most of the time it looks like he's merely got very thin (blond) ones.
• Kenpachi from Bleach. Also, As Nodt, for the second reason. Eeep.
  • Renji also technically doesn't have any. His tattoos work as his eyebrows.
• Akutagawa from Bungou Stray Dogs either has no eyebrows or very thin ones.
• In Code:Breaker, if you look under Masaomi Heike's hair, he actually has no eyebrows.
• L doesn't have any in Death Note; this was carried over in the live action movies, though it's not that noticeable until he goes outside into the wind. The manga artist said it was intended to make him look "dead-eyed." A couple of minor characters (like Ide) are also browless without any apparent justification.
  • In a few early panels, L actually does have eyebrows.
  • To make them look like L, Mello and Near also lack eyebrows, although their bangs mostly hide this.
• Level 3 Super Saiyans◊ in Dragon Ball Z. It gives them a distinctively Neanderthal-like look.
  • Android 20, Dr Gero. He had a rather bushy pair in his old body.
  • Recoome of the Ginyu Force. Dabura as well.
  • The "Ultra Ego" transformation has this effect too.
• Elfman and Gajeel from Fairy Tail. The latter has piercings in their place.
• Amarao of FLCL is almost always known for having Big Ol' Eyebrows (even giving some to Naota at one point), but they're actually fake. On the occasions where they pop off, he's shown to be completely hairless where his eyebrows would normally be. In FLCL Progressive, Amarao has a son who also has hairless brows.
• In Fruits Basket, Kyoko Honda née Katsunuma had such small eyebrows that her husband Katsuya teased her about not having any.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Jean Pierre Polnareff inexplicably lacks eyebrows, which was likely done to draw attention to his amusingly large forehead and pole-like hairstyle, as three of the main characters - Jotaro, Kakyoin, and Polnareff - are virtually only distinguishable due to their different hairstyles and outfits. He does gain eyebrows when he returns in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind as a result of the change in art style.
• The sinister Yokoya from Liar Game.
• Kai Shiden from Mobile Suit Gundam lacks eyebrows to accentuate his thuggish looks.
• Naruto:
  • Gaara doesn't have any. Probably to make him look unnerving. His father, the Fourth Kazekage, didn't either.
  • Zabuza usually has eyebrows, except in a few scenes in the anime, but they're incredibly thin and short, which was enough for Naruto to call him "eyebrowless freak" a couple times.
  • The Second Mizukage didn't have any either, which he claims are a sign of charisma.
• Several characters in One Piece have hairless ridges, including Franky, Smoker, Dragon, and Kid. Kaido doesn't have any in his natural state, but gains flame-shaped eyebrows in his dragon form.
• Snow White with the Red Hair: While Obi's brows are short understated things in the manga they don't exist at all in the anime.
• Jin and Jin's mom from Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku.
• Resident science genius Sanada (Sandor) in Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers) has a rather piercing gaze and no eyebrows.

Comic Books

• In All-Star Superman, it's revealed that Luthor has no eyebrows, likely a side effect of his baldness. He draws them on, which leads to a scene at the end of his spotlight issue where, after accidentally wiping off his left eyebrow, he draws it back on, but does so incorrectly due to lacking a mirror. This results in him giving Clark Kent an evil lecture about how he'll be remembered forever as the man who killed Superman, while he has a comically misshapen eyebrow that looks as if he's doing a Dreamworks Face.
• In his original design notes for Batman villain Ra's al Ghul, creator Denny O'Neil specified that he has no eyebrows to give him an exotic appearance, which is how artist Neal Adams originally drew him. However, many later artists have missed this detail (perhaps because of his prominent brow ridge) and have drawn him with eyebrows.

Films — Animation

• Mebh and her mother Moll from Wolfwalkers play with this; they both stand out for having no eyebrows, but they'll sometimes have darker lines over their eyes whenever they express strong emotions.

Films — Live-Action

• Dracula's old form in Bram Stoker's Dracula completely lacks eyebrows, in odd contrast to the book where bushy eyebrows are one of his most noticeable features.
• In Die Another Day, The Dragon Zao has no eye brows which underpins his Red Right Hand status.
• Bernie Rose in Drive (2011). Albert Brooks shaved off his eyebrows himself in order to make character look less expressive and emotional.
• Grí­ma Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings. Brad Dourif's decision to shave his eyebrows for the part is what really made the character look creepy, even more than his corpse-like makeup. Out of costume and off-set, people kept telling Dourif that something wasn't quite right about him.
• David Lynch likes this trope:
  • The "Mystery Man" played by Robert Blake in Lost Highway (see the page image).
  • The Cowboy in Mulholland Dr..
• The titular character in The Terminator starts out as a young, good-looking Arnold Schwarzenegger made to look creepy by a pointed lack of emotion. The attractive appearance falls away quickly over the course of the movie, culminating in the creepy skeleton. The first thing to go, however, are its eyebrows, giving it a more brutish appearance.
• In The Movie of the Pink Floyd album, The Wall, Pink shaves off pretty much all of his body hair, including his eyebrows, as he descends further into insanity.
• In Sha Po Lang II: A Time for Consequences, Ah Zai, The Dragon of the primary Big Bad, has no eyebrows, serving to highlight his role as a psychotic enforcer.
• Red and Umbrae from Us have weird scars where their eyebrows would be, emphasizing the differences between them and their counterparts, Adelaide and Zora.
• In Zack Snyder's Justice League, the malevolent aliens known as New Gods, including Darkseid, Steppenwolf and DeSaad, don't have eyebrows.

Literature

• Uriah Heep, from David Copperfield is described as having "hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes." His sinister appearance certainly fits his character.
• Discworld: In Feet of Clay, Vimes guesses that Cheery is an alchemist in part due to Cheery's lack of eyebrows, since alchemical experiments tend to explode.
• Grim Tuesday of Keys to the Kingdom had his eyebrows blown off. One of them became a monster.
• Aur the Villain Protagonist from How to Build a Dungeon: Book of the Demon King in his novels design. It gives great focus to his great frown.
• Abenthy, Kvothe's first mentor in The Name of the Wind, usually doesn't have eyebrows because he keeps burning them off in the course of his various experiments as an arcanist. Kvothe comments in his narration that this made Abenthy look perpetually surprised.
• Old Kingdom: Captain Gullaine, head of the Royal Guard in Clariel, doesn't have any hair on her head, including eyebrows.
• In the second book of The Pendragon Adventure, all of the characters residing in the eponymous underwater city lack eyebrows. Bobby mentions that it's quite unsettling, and that one doesn't normally consider eyebrows carefully until they're not there.
• In Zenobia July, Alpha Bitch Natalie makes fun of Zen for having bushy eyebrows, and at one point edits feelers and googly eyes onto a picture of them. Zen tries to pluck her eyebrows with tweezers, but she can't get them to look the way she wants, so she keeps plucking until there's nothing left to pluck. The next day, Uncle Sprink comes over and shows her how to draw on new ones with makeup.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who:
  • Karlton, Mavic Chen's advisor in "The Daleks' Master Plan", and the rest of his people. His entire head and eyebrows were shaved to make him look more alien, but it's unclear whether he's a Human Alien or a human from a culture that just does that.
  • Professor Sondegard in "The Mutants" has neither eyebrows nor hair, possibly a side effect from being around an environment constantly teeming with radiation.
  • The Fourth Doctor also has very fine, pale eyebrows that the makeup department often covered up further (although, like the Eleventh Doctor, he has eyebrows in some scenes thanks to an inconsistent makeup department). Between his lack of eyebrows and his unusually large Creepy Blue Eyes, he looks very alien indeed.◊
  • The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows, which disappoints Romana in "City of Death". The Doctor claims that until she pointed it out, he never noticed.
  • The Fifth Doctor is also known for his lack of eyebrow.
  • The Eleventh Doctor. It actually varies between this and very pale eyebrows, but it seems that Matt Smith has no eyebrows, and the makeup department is inconsistent in penciling them on. Lampshaded in "The Time of the Doctor" when Clara makes fun of his lack of eyebrows and he sensitively responds that his eyebrows are "delicate".
• The Observers of Fringe lack any sort of hair, including eyebrows.
• Victor Zsasz on Gotham goes for the completely hairless look, like the aforementioned Observers on Fringe but twitchier. In this case, it's because his actor, Anthony Carrigan, has alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss.
• House of the Dragon: Courtesy of Matt Smith, his small, near translucent eyebrows give Daemon an intimidating air. Is almost impossible to guess if Daemon is angry, happy or sad.
• In the Victorious episode "Crazy Ponnie", Cat accidentally waxes off Jade's eyebrows, thus causing Jade to fall under this trope.

Video Games

• Yuri, from Command & Conquer. Combined with his chillingly calm demeanor, this is quite some source of Nightmare Fuel.
• Keita Wakui in Devil Survivor 2, which gives him a more brutal appearance that fits his hotheaded nature.
• Sten and the other kossith from Dragon Age: Origins.
• The Highlander clan in Final Fantasy XIV are always shown with no eyebrows due to them shaving it off as a way to intimidate their enemies. Only the men do this.
• Leo Whitefang of Guilty Gear Xrd.
• Mass Effect:
  • Captain Ventralis, head of security on the Rift Station on Noveria in the first Mass Effect, is missing eyebrows, along with the rest of the hair on his head. Whether this is the consequence of days of fighting crazy, murderous aliens, or the result of standing too close to a Bunsen burner, is anyone's guess.
  • The Asari, who otherwise are Blue-Skinned Space Babes with hair tentacles, do not have eyebrows. However, many of them do have facial markings around the eyes that help mask this and make them look more human. In fact, Liara T'Soni — the most important Asari in the trilogy — has markings that just so happen to look like eyebrows, presumably to make her look more appealing as a Love Interest. Other Asari squad members also have their lack of eyebrows disguised, such as Samara, who has a "crown" on her forehead, and Peebee, whose face is covered in Furiosa-styled face paint.
• All of the Snakes in Metal Gear possess very pale and indistinct eyebrows, although the bandana substitutes for them in the ones who wear it.
• Pokémon
  • Pokémon Red and Blue: Team Rocket's leader Giovanni lacks eyebrows.
  • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Cyrus found eyebrows unnecessary for his perfect world. Similarly, Cyllene of Pokémon Legends: Arceus is effectively a gender-flipped version of Cyrus, including the lack of eyebrows due to being implied to be his ancestor.
  • Brassius from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet also lacks eyebrows, contributing to his Face of a Thug appearance.
• Claudia of Silent Hill 3, in order to invoke the Uncanny Valley.
• The Street Fighter series has many examples. There's Sagat, Guile, Dhalsim, Blanka, Bison (Dictator), Balrog (Boxer), Dee Jay, Akuma, Dudley, Oro, Hugo, Seth, Oni... It seems that if you don't have Big Ol' Eyebrows in the world of Street Fighter, you're likely to lack eyebrows completely instead.
• Yoshi from Super Mario Bros. (and similarly designed characters like Birdo and the Koopa Troopas) has no eyebrows, using his eyelids for expression instead.
• In Tales of Monkey Island, Gaffer Crimpdigit has no eyebrows as a result of one accident while on his glassblowing job. He even lampshades this a few times in Chapter 1.
• Hubert from Fire Emblem: Three Houses appears to have no eyebrows pre-timeskip, although it's unclear if they're just very thin or nonexistent. He loses this post-timeskip, although they're still thin. His portrait in Heroes (which uses his pre-timeskip design) makes them slightly more visible.

Webcomics

• Hakase from NEXT!!! Sound of the Future is a Mad Scientist who doesn't have eyebrows, presumably the result of either losing them in a lab accident or intentionally removing them as part of the significant alterations they've made to their own body. Their lack of eyebrows combined with the Scary Stitches all over them serves to give them an unusual, creepy appearance.
• Satra, the Deuteragonist of Nomads, doesn't have any eyebrows. He seems to have been born that way, as flashbacks show he didn't have eyebrows as a child, either. This is actually important to the plot: his lack of eyebrows is a very distinctive feature, making it easier for people to recognize him as the Crown Prince of the Sky Kingdom.

Websites

• Nobody Here: "Symmetry" is about Jogchem trying to keep his eyebrows symmetrical with tweezers, only to rip out every hair instead. He hates the result, as it's hard to look serious without them.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time is another show where most characters have no eyebrows by default, but may suddenly gain them for use in facial expressions.
• Animaniacs: The Warner siblings, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, don't have eyebrows. It's not normally talked about, but it is lampshaded by Mr. Director at one point:
  Mr. Director: [talking to Yakko] Oh, what is it, nice boy with no eyebrows?
• Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender is a half example, as his left eye does not have a brow due to a burn inflicted by his father Ozai.
• Matt Groening's art-style does not draw eyebrows for most of the characters in The Simpsons, Futurama, and Disenchantment, although some like Milhouse have huge eyebrows. Some characters, most notably Moe, have very prominent brow ridges that act in their place for emoting.
• Pizzazz from Jem shaved off her eyebrows and replaced them with makeup.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • Phineas and Ferb both have eyebrows, but they're only visible at certain times, usually to convey some intense emotion or for a quick joke.
  • Zig-Zagged with Isabella. In the first two seasons, she's almost never seen with eyebrows. In fact, an early "Learn to Draw" book claimed she didn't have any and that it was a sensitive topic for her. This never came up in the series proper, and in the second half of the show's run, Isabella's eyebrows started appearing more and more frequently. By the time the show ended, eyebrows became a consistent part of her character design.
• Steven Universe: Most of the Gems have no eyebrows, though in some episodes they gain thin eyebrows for certain expressions and eye movements. All the human character except Onion have eyebrows visible at all times.
• South Park: Nearly all of the Kids (as well as some of the Adults in the early seasons, such as Jimbo and Ned) usually don't have eyebrows, but will grow them for the sake of expression.
• Ash from Superjail! due to the fact that his face is horribly burnt and deformed.
• Cheetara from ThunderCats. Or at least they're completely hidden by her facial markings. Some of the villains as well - Tugmug (or possibly they're hidden in the black circles around his eyes), Slythe and Vultureman of the mutants (of course, neither of them are mammals, so lack of hair is to be expected), and Mumm-ra.

Real Life

• The Mona Lisa originally did have eyebrows, but all the cleaning and restoration work scrubbed the eyebrows (and a lot of details) out.
• Many redheads and some blonds have pale eyebrows that vanish into their pale skin. These include:
  • Queen Elizabeth I
  • Former US Speaker of the House Richard Gephardt
  • Tilda Swinton
  • English comedian Alasdair Beckett-King. Combined with his long hair, he is often said to resemble a ghost.
• Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway of the Thompson Twins used to shave their eyebrows off. Alannah in particular did it to draw attention away from her chest.
• David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust phase.
• Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Kane, has no eyebrows.
• Amanda Palmer has tattoos on her eyebrow region, which is usually hairless.
• Shaving off someone's eyebrows is a popular prank, and is sometimes done as part of a hazing ritual.
• During The Roaring '20s and The '30s, it was a very fashionable trend for women to pluck the eyebrows out and then draw a pencil-thin line above where they used to be.
• Makeup artists, and drag queens who don't shave their brows, use a technique known as the "gluestick method" to achieve a no-brow look without plucking every single hair on the brows. Basically, they apply gluestick on the brows, then flatten the hairs, and when dry, cover it with varied layers of concealer, powder, and foundation.
• Original Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett shaved his entire head, including his eyebrows, after quitting the music industry. Roger Waters got the idea for Pink's shaving of his body in The Wall from him.
• American character actor James Tolkan.
• There is a condition known as Alopecia universalis which causes the loss of all hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes included. Icelandic actor Tómas Lemarquis has this.

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