History Main / RuggedScar

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''

* In ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' from the ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' series, Creb's eye is scarred over - his backstory reveals that this was caused by a cave bear attack when he was a young child.

** Aizawa has a scar under his right eye from the damage inflicted by the Nomu during the [=USJ=] arc. Later, he pics up a vertical scar across the first one from Shigaraki gouging out the eye on that side. His EyepatchOfPower conceals it somewhat. He also has a large scar on his elbow from the disintegration Shigaraki’s quirk caused.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Midoriya develops scars along his right arm from when he injured it grievously using the power of One For All. In particular, he has several scars on his right hand from overusing One For All on it during the Sports Festival tournament, and later develops a large scar covering a large area of his right triceps from fighting Muscular.

* BitchInSheepsClothing [[spoiler:Matt Engarde]] from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'' hides a double example under his PeekABangs; he has the claw-like scars over one of his eyes. This highlights that he's nowhere near as innocent as he seems, but hides it well as these never get seen before TheReveal that he's the BigBad of the case.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', many characters are CoveredWithScars or examples of EveryScarHasAStory, but [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Tsubaki]] stands out as he came into existence with a scar over his eyebrow. Fitting, since he's Orihime's sole form of attack and the most brash of her fairies.

* Jet Black from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' has a scar over his eye and a piece of metal bolted to his face below it.
* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' doesn’t shy away from acquired scars after so many encounters and battles with bloodthirsty demons:

* Laxus from ''Manga/FairyTail'' has a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt over his eye.

* Ibiki from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has multiple of these on his forehead from enduring physical torture in the past, and illustrates his capacity to endure pain without giving up the desired information to the enemy.

* Sakyo, TheSponsor of Toguro brothers from ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'' has a big scar that crossed his right eye and a good part of his face. Despise of this scar, [[EyesAreUnbreakable his eye is intact]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Invoked by [[IdiotHero Luffy]], who thinks it would be badass to himself a scar below his eye in tribute to his hero Shanks. After the {{time skip}}, Luffy sports another scar in the shape of an X on his chest after the battle with [[spoiler:Akainu]].
** Shanks' own scar is a claw mark scar over his eye from his fight with Blackbeard.
* ''Manga/DragonBall''
** Colonel Silver, a KnightOfCerebus, has a small cross-shaped scar on his chest.
** After coming back from offscreen TrainingFromHell at the end of ''Manga/DragonBall'', Yamcha sports a few facial scars indicating that he's come back stronger (although he still CantCatchUp).
* Bardock, Goku's father in ''Manga/DragonBallZ'' is [[StrongFamilyResemblance completely identical to his son]] (and his grandson as well), except for the fact that he has a scar on his cheek. Not surprising he'd pick something like that up, considering his job is to travel from planet to planet and wipe out their entire populations.

* Domon Kasshu, HotBlooded hero of ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', has a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek. The origin is never given, but it fits his brash persona, though a 4koma makes fun of this saying that the scar was actually Master Asia etching an 'X' on his cheek with a marker, punishing him when he messed up.
* ''Manga/BusoRenkin's'' Tokiko Tsumura has a large scar running horizontally across her cheeks and nose. It's very fitting, as she's the more aggressive of the main characters (her catchphrase is "I'll splatter your guts!"). It's left unexplained until the epilogue chapter, where it turns out she acquired it when [[spoiler:she was attacked by a humanoid homunculus and activated her Buso Renkin for the first time]]. The author stated in the liner notes that it was partly inspired by the scar he'd put on Himura Kenshin's left cheek in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''.
* Ibiki from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has multiple of these on his forehead from enduring physical torture in the past, and illustrates his capacity to endure pain without giving up the desired information to the enemy.
* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', Black Star ends up getting a scar over the tattoo of his clan symbol. This also momentarily makes him come off as a ChickMagnet.
* The creator of ''Manga/GingaNagareboshiGin'' and its sequel ''Anime/GingaDensetsuWeed'' is fond of this trope. Many characters of his have scars or acquire them at some point. Notable examples are the absolutely covered by them Riki, arguably the most powerful dog in either series, and his son Gin, the protagonist of ''Manga/GingaNagareboshiGin.''
* ''Manga/IsTheOrderARabbit'' has a rabbit with a cross-shaped scar. From his behaviour (such as terrifying Syaro) to his [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]], he can be considered to be BadassAdorable.
* The descriptively named Scar from ''Franchise/FullMetalAlchemist'' has a scar in the shape of an X on his forehead, that reaches down to go over his eyes.
* Midoriya, from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', develops scars along his right arm from when he injured it grievously using the power of One For All. In particular, he has several scars on his right hand from overusing One For All on it during the Sports Festival tournament, and later develops a large scar covering a large area of his right triceps from fighting Muscular.
* Laxus from ''Manga/FairyTail'' has a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt over his eye.

* Sakyo, TheSponsor of Toguro brothers from ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'' has a big scar that crossed his right eye and a good part of his face. Despise of this scar, [[EyesAreUnbreakable his eye is intact]].

* In ''Fanfic/GuidingLightAuroraRose2081'', Juan bemoans how Julieta's food heals all of his wounds because he won't get any cool scars out of their NearDeathExperience. Pablo retorts that he already has enough scars.

* Carlos from ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'', has an "X" scar underneath his right eye. WordOfGod explained it came from his bullfighting career. He's covered in other scars, including a massive gouge out of his shoulder, and appears to have something of a limp.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''
** In the [[Film/TheTerminator first]] and [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay second]] movies, the John Connor of the future has an unexplained scar on his face. We finally see what causes this scar in ''Film/TerminatorSalvation.''
** Sarah Connor was meant to have a similar scar on her face in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', but the makeup process was too time-consuming and difficult to implement.

* [[BlindWeaponmaster Blind Master]] in ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', played by [[Music/WuTangClan the RZA]], has a large gash running down his face. Its cause is not revealed in the movie, but he's shown to be a wise and skilled master.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Barbossa has a scar under his right eye, Pintel has a scar on his forehead, there's a couple guys with ritual scarification, Maccus has a bunch of scars across his head, the list goes on and on...
* In ''Film/IngloriousBasterds,'' Lt. Aldo Raine has a prominent rope scar on his neck [[NoodleIncident which is never explained]].

* In ''Literature/BillyBudd'', the Dansker has running across one of his cheeks "a long pale scar like a streak of dawn's light falling athwart the dark visage."
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** In the Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''The Emperor's Finest'', [[MasterSwordsman Cain]] gives Drumon, a Techmarine ([[SuperSoldier of all people]]) he's sparring with, one, albeit on his armour (which might as well be skin as far as a Space's Marine's concerned, especially a [[MachineWorship Reclaimer Techmarine]]). Drumon decides not to repair it as a reminder not to let his guard down (as he was deliberately holding back, and still confident that Cain wouldn't accidentally wound him).
** In the Literature/ShiraCalpurnia trilogy, Calpurnia has three scars running from her left eye up her brow into her hair, which she rubs unconsciously when she's deep in thought or mentally distressed. Their origin isn't revealed until [[spoiler:the memory of the injury is dredged out of her mind]] in the third novel.

* Though Wizards in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' do eventually heal sufficiently that scars disappear (they don't necessarily heal faster, but their bodies don't stop healing when a limb is functional but keep doing so until they're completely fixed), the title character has an impressive number of scars, to the point where Anastasia Luccio, the battle captain of the Wardens (the White Council's military wing) who's about two hundred years old, is astonished by their number during a ScarSurvey, saying that she knows wizards hundreds of years old without half his number of scars. A few books later in ''Literature/SkinGame'', he notes that the fairly thuggish bodyguards at a fancy party are nervous around him because 'they recognised one of their own kind and one who had better scars than they did'. This is particularly notable since he's in a full tuxedo at the time. That said, the classic awesome facial scar he has and the fact he's about six foot ten probably helps.

* In ''[[Literature/EarthsChildren The Clan of the Cave Bear]]'', Creb's eye is scarred over - his backstory reveals that this was caused by a cave bear attack when he was a young child.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Lionpaw wants one of these during ''Dark River''. He gets injured in a battle and hopes that his wound leaves a scar to prove how well that he fought.
* PlayedWith in ''Literature/RangersApprentice'', where some tough fighters do indeed have scars. It's when they have [[CoveredInScars an excess of them]] where it becomes {{subverted}}, as [[MasterSwordsman Horace]] and other expert fighters note it's usually more of a sign of their inability to avoid getting hit than it is of their badassery.
* ''Literature/{{Doglands}}'':
** Furgul is a lurcher covered with scars, which he receives throughout the story from either dodging bullets or fighting with other dogs. Female dogs find his scars especially attractive.
** Furgul's father Argal has his own scars due to his status as a wild, hardened LivingLegend who can fight off anyone.
** [[spoiler:Dervla]] gains a few scars from her time as a deadly AngryGuardDog.

* Averted in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' ''[[Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse novel]]'' ''Literature/StarTrekForgedInFire'' in that Federation doctors so throughly healed the survivors of the peace conference the Albino bombed that they didn't even have the scars from the blast. This is something Ambassador Kamarag complains about as he was deprived of scars he legitamately earned at that peace conference. He leaves saying that there will no doubt be other "peace conferences" where more scars will be easily obtainable.

* Zigzagged in an interesting way in ''Series/HogansHeroes''. General Burkhalter has a prominent scar across his right cheek, which does little to enhance the menace of the tubby, comic-opera LargeHam. However, that scar is not makeup (well, not compeltely, it was probably enhanced to make it more noticable on screen). The scar was genuine, and was inflicted on Creator/LeonAskin due to a vicious beating by Nazi thugs in Germany before he was able to flee the Nazi regime.

* In ''[[VideoGame/CrusaderKings Crusader Kings II]]'', if you get the "Wounded" trait (Usually from random events or [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething personally leading troops into battle]]) it will usually eventually heal into the "Scarred" trait which gives a -5 dip for attraction (modifier for how much people like you), but you gain a +0.5 prestige (general measurement of how respected you are) bonus every month.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with Samuel from ''Webcomic/AngelDown'', who has a large jagged scar over his left eye, but is otherwise a goofy, FriendlySniper.

* O'chul from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', one of the comic's most badass characters and a high ranking {{paladin}}, has a single jagged scar on his cheek. He gets upgraded to CoveredWithScars after a lengthy imprisonment by Xykon, who used him as his personal torture toy.

* In ''Webcomic/AliceAndTheNightmare'', Dee and Dum Vena both have ragged scars on their faces; Dee on her cheek and Dum across her mouth.
* In ''{{Webcomic/Niels}}'', Agent 250 is covered in scars like this, notably on his face, arms, and torso. Since he's in the paramilitary branch of the government agency he works for, it can be assumed they're all from previous missions. The only one that he acquires on-panel is the most recent one, a large scar where his bellybutton used to be, from [[spoiler: Niels shooting him in the stomach]].
* Ceres from ''Webcomic/{{Orbit}}'' has a dramatic-looking scar over his left eye; how he got it is never explained.

* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] subverts this in an episode where she meets her future self. The time-travelling Twilight does indeed have a scar, as well as an EyepatchAfterTimeSkip, but [[spoiler:she's only from next Tuesday and it's a harmless little cut]]. Later played straight during the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 movie]] with [[TheHeavy Tempest Shadow]]. A scar across her right eye as well as her broken unicorn horn show she's not someone to trifle with.
** The BadFuture version of Rainbow Dash from the Crystal War seen in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 The Cutie Re-Mark]]" has a scar running over her left eye. She also has a notched ear and a metal prosthetic wing on the same side.

* Song from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' survived a fire bender's attack, but has a scar on her leg. She bonds with Zuko, who has a burn scar on his face (which was given to him by his father).
* In a fairly rare female example, [[IronLady Lin Beifong]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Republic City's chief of police, has a pair of scars across her right cheek.

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'': Hard Master, former leader of the Arashikage Ninjas, had three scars on his head.

* To underscore the BadFuture, Future Enzo in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' has a scar over an eye. Though in this case, the audience gets to ''see'' when he receives this scar.
* ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' has Throttle's girlfriend Carbine, who leads the Freedom Fighters and has a scar just below her left eye. Her debut in the three-part episode "Back to Mars" implies that she first got the scar some time after Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo originally left Mars, but this was later retconned in the three-part finale "Once Upon a Time on Mars", which depicted her as having the scar when the titular Biker Mice were still on the planet.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' has Mariner recover in the sick bay. Doctor T'ana clears her to return to duty, but offers to repair the scars on Mariner's body. Mariner refuses the cosmetic procedure, stating "No way. These are my trophies." "Congratulations," sneers the [[CatFolk Caitian doctor]], "you look like a fucking scratching post."
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
** Hunter the Golden Guard, TheDragon to [[BigBad Emperor Belos]], has a large scar over his right cheek and [[EarNotch a notch in his left ear]]. This is actually somewhat subverted later on -- Hunter, is a {{Child Soldier|s}} with an extremely abusive father figure, which forced him to grow up fast and [[SourOutsideSadInside put on a facade of condescending haughtiness or sullen anger to hide his vulnerability]]. [[spoiler:After leaving the Emperor's Coven and getting the chance to be a normal teenager, Hunter is revealed to actually be a very kind and sensitive boy.]]
** Flapjack, Hunter's Palisman, is missing his left eye dude to a large scar carved into that side of his face.[[note]]Flapjack is briefly shown with two functional eyes in "Hunting Palismen", but this was later confirmed to be an animation error.[[/note]]

** The veteran soldier Markus Kruber has several scars across his left eye socket and another down his chin, plus he refers to more from a lifetime of campaigning. One cosmetic in the sequel, called "Veteran's Scars", foregoes his [[ConsistentClothingStyle usual hats]] to show off the damage to his forehead.

* Midoriya, from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', develops scars along his right arm from when he injured them grievously using the power of One For All. In particular, he has several scars on his right hand from overusing One For All on it during the Sports Festival tournament, and later develops a large scar covering a large area of his right triceps from fighting Muscular.