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"He'll have that scar forever."
In Fiction Land, it's easier to come back from the dead than it is to get rid of a scar or recover a lost limb.
While it's true that Beauty Is Never Tarnished, and it's a Good Thing You Can Heal means it's highly unlikely for serious injury to happen or leave scars in the first place, there are occasions when a character can't count on that to save them, and they get badly injured in the line of duty. These injuries can be scars, lost limbs, or losing an eye... and the wounds you would expect to see in Real Life aren't reset or Ret Con'ned away.
They become a grisly and more permanent form of Rape Of The Lock, a constant reminder of their sacrifice or failure.
That said, a few series have ingenious ways of keeping the character spry after these injuries. Scars always look cool regardless, and Artificial Limbs are awesome, then of course there's Disability Superpower, or just plain taking a level in badass because Eyepatches are cool!
A few magical series may have the Healing Hands to completely cure or regenerate these wounds, but an author set on hurting their characters can find ways to avoid removing them. A few choose to keep them, or discover the wound is cursed, or is too old to heal. Losing the scar can be just as momentous as well; there are wounds that " only love can heal" and will only be healed once an epiphany is reached.
To The Pain usually does not get carried out — but when it does, count on its leaving scars.
See also Death By Origin Story.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- In Busou Renkin, Tokiko got her scar from a homunculus attack. She first activated the Valkyrie Skirt for her counterattack. Bravo said she could have had it removed, but she kept it to signify her birth as a warrior.
- Rurouni Kenshin has a part where they talk about how supposedly scars that have strong emotions associated with them linger longer, and as a result, Kenshin's cross-scar sticks around until he reaches emotional resolution near the end of the story, and the future scenes mention how it's finally fading.
- Guts in Berserk lost his right eye and part of his left arm to the demons during the events of the Eclipse that end the anime. He has the arm replaced with a cool metal one that doubles as a repeating crossbow and a gunpowder cannon, but nothing can be done about the eye. He's also got the Brand of Sacrifice on his neck which acts as a lightning rod for more demons, and it's not going away anytime soon either.
- As the story's gone on, he's acquired more and more scars on his face and body.
- After his repeated use of the Berserker Armor (Which keeps broken bones together by piercing his flesh with spikes), nearly every inch of his body is covered with scars, or at least wounds that aren't likely to heal soon.
- In Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, the scar Yzak got when fighting against Kira is kept for the entirety of Seed, but is removed by the time he reappears in Seed Destiny.
- Hand Waved that Yzak could have gotten it removed at any time, but saw it as symbolic of his grudge against Kira (who inflicted it) and thus didn't.
- Gundam's Char carries a slight scratch from the end of the original series for the rest of his appearances.
- In Bleach Grimmjow intentionally employs this trope, preventing Orihime from healing the nasty chest scar he got from Ichigo during their second fight.
- Ikkaku's scar from his fight with Ichigo doesn't seem to have healed.
- In Cynthia The Mission the fights play out with deadly realism, and many characters bare not-so-sexy scars on their necks or chests, especially since a certain killer enjoyed cutting such areas.
- Mello from Death Note after blowing up his base.
- Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. Giant musket wound in the chest? Gone the next morning. Tiny scratch under his eye? That's here to stay, even after the Forest Spirit brings him back from the dead. Go figure.
- In Dragon Ball, Tien takes a cut to the chest from Tao Pai Pai which remains for the rest of the series. Goku gets a hole blown through his shoulder around the same time as Tien gets his, but that scar only stays until the Time Skip to Dragon Ball Z. Yamcha also acquires scars, but that happens during the Time Skip just before the end of Dragon Ball, so we never find out exactly what caused them.
- While Dr. Black Jack has demonstrated that A) he is a master at plastic surgery and B) he is skilled enough to perform surgery on himself, he has never bothered to do anything about the massive number of scars that cover his own body. Granted, the worst of them (the miscolored skin graft on his face) does have sentimental value, but you have to wonder about the others.
- Mahou Sensei Negima: Negi refuses to have a scar on his arm he received in a fight with a temporary backup image of his father healed, preferring to keep it as a memento.
- He also didn't heal the scar Setsuna gave him on his face, keeping it as a reminder to not get so caught up in the thoughts of his father that he forgets his students.
- Ako has a large scar across her back that is a source of much Angst. We still don't know what it's from, though.
- Konoka's father has several scars on his upper body, presumably from his Ala Rubra days.
- Vash the Stampede. Vash has an absolutely ridiculous number of scars covering his body, as well as a missing arm and a gash in his chest so deep that metal bars had to be put over it to protect it from further injury. The only one that we actually see happen, however, is the loss of his arm. His signature red Badass Longcoat hides all of these wounds, making them even more shocking the first time they are shown.
- In Rosario To Vampire, Tsukune is shown in the shower with all the scars he got from attempting to protect Moka.
- C.C. from Code Geass has a Healing Factor that undoes any damage in a matter of minutes; the only exception being a Geass sigil-shaped scar beneath and partly on her left breast, which never heals. Eventually Lelouch (and the viewer) learn that she got it when the nun who raised her back in the Middle Ages forced the Code onto her, making her immortal.
- That's weird, since for a while in R2 C.C. is shown without her scar, and I can't seem to recall it being mentioned that season...
- Seems like the Healing Hands in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has a limit on what it can repair. Cinque's eyepatch covers an eye she lost back when she fought and killed an over S-Rank Mage. Meanwhile, the body of Commander Waltz, Subaru's commanding officer in the Disaster Rescue division, is covered with burn scars he got when he pushed himself too hard during the airport fire incident, an act that made him known as a hero, but injured him enough to be retired from front-line duties.
- In the original series, Nanoha's father, when seen in the bath, is covered with scars. They were received during one incident he had at his old job that resulted in him being hospitalized for a long time. Presumably, this incident was the same one that killed his counterpart in Triangle Heart 3 Sweet Songs Forever, so this Shirou got off lucky.
- One of Fullmetal Alchemist's major plot points centers on the main characters trying to reverse this trope, as one of them lost an arm and a leg, and the other one his whole body, and both of them have devoted their lives to getting them back.
- And the character Scar, who is named for (obviously) the large scar in the middle of his forehead, received at the same time as his Red Right Hand.
- One Piece, though notorious
 for its Hollywood Healing, has a couple of examples of this, both with Zoro. The first one is a huge diagonal scar that takes up his whole chest, from being all but cut in half, and always reminds him of his reason to fight (to defeat the man who gave it to him). The second (and third) are two matching scars around his ankles from when he tried to cut his own feet off. Oddly enough, they have absolutely no sentimental significance and haven't even been mentioned since they happened.
- Luffy himself has a semi-circular scar under an eye that never vanished. He cut it himself as a kid to prove to Shanks how hardcore he was.
- Crocodile has stitches that look as though his entire upper-face was nearly cut off, and Epileptic Trees say it will play some more important soon.
- Fans occasionally joke that his nose itched and he scratched with the wrong hand.
- Inverted in Saint Seiya, where going blind seems to be as easily reversed as a slight scratch in your skin. At least for Shiryu
- Not for Ikki who still has a scar in his face from his training in Death Queen Island.
- Chichiri in Fushigi Yuugi has a massive scar where his left eye used to be. He has the magic power to get rid of it permanently, but chooses not to as a form of penance for his greatest failure. Instead, he covers his face with a permanently smiling mask.
- In XXX Holic, Himawari gets a bunch of scars across her back when she decides to take Watanuki's scar wounds for him after he fell out of a window and onto a bunch of broken glass.
- Xanxus from Katekyo Hitman Reborn has a bunch of burn scars inflicted by the 9th, including a huge cross-shaped one across his whole face. The thing is, they remain hidden most of the time, and only show when his anger reaches its apex. Nevertheless, they are permanent.
- Gun Grave: in both anime and games regardless of Grave's powerful healing factor neither scars from mortal life not his lost eye regenerated themselves after death.
- Oh, boy, is this trope followed in Full Metal Panic - most notably with Gauron. Almost every fight he has with Sousuke ends with him receiving a new scar - to the point where his final scars and wounds leave him limbless and with only one eye. Sousuke also has a cross-shaped scar on his chin that is permanent, though it's never explained.
- He also has some more on his body. Not quite as noticeable in the anime, since he rarely takes his shirt off.
- Black Lagoon: Balalaika's face was badly burned during the Afghan War. Her enemies call her Fryface (but they do so at their peril).
- Baccano! features Nice Hollystone, whose body is is covered in horrible scars. It's later revealed that she gained them (and lost her eye) in a childhood explosives accident.
- Randel from Pumpkin Scissors has scars all over if you get a chance to look at him one is most evident across his nose bridge and his cheeks.
- In the Blade of the Immortal manga series, Manji has two scars horizontally across his forehead and cheeks/nose, and a third going vertically through his right eye that he received shortly before he became immortal.
- In Mirai Nikki, Uryuu Minene takes a dart to one of her eyes during her introduction. This leads to her wearing an Eyepatch Of Power for the rest of the series.
- Dilandau of The Vision Of Escaflowne gets his scar not long after he's introduced in the series, and said scar becomes his trademark. Strangely, it disappears completely from his face at the end of the series when he reverts to Celena Schezar, Allen's sister.
- Kaoru from Ai Yori Aoshi has a forest of incredibly nasty scars on his back. We do get to see where they came from, however...
- In Soul Eater Soul suffers a massive scar after Chrona cleaves his entire torso open when he tries to protect his meister Maka in their first fight against the swords...man...woman...person?. It retains some plot relevance since it allowed the black blood into his body.
- Black Star gained a permenant, significantly-placed scar during his fight with Mifune. It cuts across the star tattoo on his shoulder, and could have been removed by Kim's magic but he decided to leave it as it was. It could be seen as an image of how his new resolve about the Nakatsukasa Purpose has allowed Black Star to turn from the path of the Kishin, which his clan fell to and eventually destroyed them (well, figuratively speaking. Technically, Shibusen was responsible).
- Stein has scars all over him, as he experiments on himself when he can find no suitable test subjects.
- In Pokemon Special, Ruby has a rather nasty one hidden underneath his hat that he recieved by protecting Sapphire when they were children. Seriously, seeing a little boy get his head slashed at and the same boy smiling with blood running down his head, saying, "Look! I scared away the Salamance!" is something I really don't have words for.
- And of course, that scar is what makes Sapphire realize who he is.
- Allen in D.Gray-Man has a cursed scar across his left eye, and later a huge scar across his chest from impaling himself on his own BFS. (It Makes Sense In Context, we swear.) And Tyki never lost the scars from Allen stabbing him. So now they match.
- General Klaud Nine has an X-shaped scar across her face.
- Banba of Eyeshield 21 got tons of scars after some sort of mysterious training. Many chapters later, while mentoring Kurita, we find out that his training was boxing, learning how to absorb attacks.
- In the Gunsmith Cats manga, Goldie gets two scars after being shot by Rally - first on her hand, then on her cheek.
- Emeraldas and Captain Harlock in the Leiji Verse.
- Fist Of The North Star. Kenshiro is "the man with the seven scars". His former friend and future Big Bad Shin is responsible for that.
Comic Books
- At the end of the first Elf Quest series Kahvi hits Cutter with her gauntleted fist in order to prove a point. Although Leetah could heal the scar, Cutter decides to keep it to remind him of the lesson.
- There's also Sun-Toucher, Leetah's father, who's gone blind after looking at the sun too long too often but refuses to let his daughter restore his sight because he's quite comfortable getting by on his remaining senses. A more straightforward example of the trope is the Wolfrider One-Eye, who in the backstory lost an eye (duh) to an injury the tribe's former healer couldn't fully mend. And it's an attack coming from his blind side that kills him later in the series.
- Miyamoto Usagi has a scar on his forehead from a wound he took at Adachigahara, where his lord died and he became a ronin.
- From the Marvel GI Joe comics, Snake-Eyes originally wore a mask because he was really ugly without it—burn scars and so on. About halfway through the comics' run, he got reconstructive surgery and looked pretty much normal afterward, except for a scar on his lip. He kept wearing the mask, mainly because he
wouldn't sell as many toys without it is supposed to be a Bad Ass ninja supercommando.
- He also immediately got a cauldron full of hot coals tossed into his face by one of the trio of torturers the Baroness had hired. As an issue all of 4-5 issues before the end of the original run showed, his face was still somewhat badly scarred, just in this case it looked more like the burns were nowhere near as severe as the original ones. Which makes sense, when we balance aviation gas from a crashing helicopter versus a bunch of hot coals...
- Doctor Doom received third-degree or chemical burns to the face in an ill-fated experiment in college, and later made it worse by putting on a steel mask while it was still red-hot. Why he keeps the scars is known only to him, maybe as a reminder that even he isn't perfect. It isn't for lack of restorative means; he once healed the severe burns on Storm's arm and restored nerve and muscle function after she was burned by the Human Torch, so he has the technology laying around. But still, one of the most consistent things in the Marvel Universe is that the scars themselves are never shown on panel, just other characters commenting on how horrid they are.
- Jack Kirby drew Doom without his mask once as he interpreted the character. Doom's scars were non-existent, except for a single light scar on his cheek. The King thought Doom was so vain that such a little scar was enough to make Doom hide his face forever.
- Ultimate Doctor Doom has a weird take on it. For instance he was part of the original accident which gave the four their powers, him becoming the Chinese element of steel (living armour). Though he turns out to be able to heal any would or disfigurement whilst as that. Yet his own spikey projectiles scarred him permanently, him being unable to heal it. Invert, subvert, introvert, very verty vert bert.
- The movie continuity (which is similar to Ultimate FF, but the accident happens In Space!) is just about as weird. It starts out with the Jack Kirby freaking-out-over-a-small-cheek-scar scar, but after he uses (I believe his own) metal for a mask, the mask burns his face, and even though he probably could heal the scars after peeling the Living Metal mask off, he'd just have to go through it again after the next time the mask grew back. So subverted, played straight, and deconstructed.
- The scarred left half of The Goon's face, a result of an incident in his Dark And Troubled Past.
- Mina's scars in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, legacy of her encounter with Dracula. Far from being the discreet little hole punches of legend, her entire neck is ravaged. She always covers them up with a scarf and- until she and Allan start their affair- believes she's now so hideous no man could want to touch her.
- "A star for Starr." And that's only the beginning...
- Several Love And Rockets characters, especially Casimira, who lost her arm when she was accidentally shot as a child, and Khamo, who was horribly burned when he tried to save his lover TonantzÃn from burning herself alive.
- Katchoo in Strangers In Paradise has Z-shaped scars on her wrists, probably after a suicide attempt (but there's no explanation in canon). Tambi seems to have scars everywhere except on her face, but the criss-crossing ones on her hands are the most obvious. There is a canonical explanation for her scars: she used to cut herself to relieve her angst.
- In Modesty Blaise, Willie Garvin has an S-shaped scar on the back of his hand, courtesy of his nemesis Simon Delicata.
Film
- Yvaine's limp from a broken bone in Stardust. In the original novel, Tristran's burnt hand also qualifies - and both are somewhat crippled for life as a result.
- The scar on the Kurgan's neck in Highlander, although this is justified - immortals only die if they're beheaded, so logically neck-damage would stay.
- Daniel Craig's James Bond has what looks to be a bunch of scarring on the left side of his face throughout Quantum Of Solace, apparently from the massive beatings he took in Casino Royale. Considering the movies are directly related in plot and are meant to portray a realistic take on the classic spy thriller, this is a welcome change from the disjointed "continuity" of the previous twenty films.
- Some of Harrison Ford's roles provide an explanation for the scar on his chin, acquired in a car accident in Real Life. Han Solo got his in a knife fight in an Expanded Universe book; Indiana Jones cut himself the first time he used a bullwhip in the flashback at the beginning of Last Crusade.
- Working Girl, on the other hand, claims that he fainted while trying to pierce his ear and smashed his face on a toilet.
- Speaking of Star Wars, the entire Wampa scene in The Empire Strikes Back was included last-minute to explain Real Life facial scars that Mark Hamill incurred during a car accident.
- Lucas and Hamill usually both deny this as a myth or exaggeration.
- Tony Montana from Scarface has a scar across his right eye from a knife fight as a kid.
- Ironhide has a small scar above his right eye befitting a 'Bot of his advanced years and Badassness. When he tranforms, it becomes a ding over his headlight.
- The Joker from The Dark Knight. It is quite uncertain how he achieved those scars because of his tendency to give a multiple choice past for them. The accounts in the film are used by the Joker as a Freudian Excuse to why he is the way he is.
- In Serenity, Mal still has scars from being stabbed by Crow and later tortured by Niska in Firefly.
- In Face/Off, Agent Archer has a scar in his chest from where Castor shot him (and accidentally killed his son). Before the surgery to change into Castor, he tells the doctors that he wants his scar back afterwards. At the end of the movie, after finally defeating Castor, he tells them he doesn't need it any more.
- In Halloween II (2009), Annie Brackett has scars on her face from Michael Myers torturing her in the preceding film.
Literature
- In The Odessey, Odysseus has a scar on his foot from a boyhood hunting accident that turns out to be extremely relevant to the plot, making this one exceedingly old indeed.
- In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, Harry has a scar the shape of a lightning bolt. According to Tonks, it would be hard to change or cover up even with magic.
- Did the "I must not tell lies" incident leave a scar on his hand?
- Yes. He shows that one to Scrimgeour in the sixth book.
- Similarly, Bill Weasley's scars from werewolf attack and George Weasley's missing ear, both being cursed injuries, leave permanent scars, unlike the numerous other injuries faced on a regular basis by Hogwarts students.
- Dumbledore has a scar that is a perfect map of the London underground. He could get rid of it, but what if he needs to find his way around the London underground someday?
- Don't forget Wormtail's missing finger, crucial in making the entire wizarding world believe Sirius had killed him.
- Harry manages to get two more scars during the seventh book: one on his arm from when Nagini bites him, and the other on his chest from when the Horcrux fused to him.
- In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings novels, Frodo Baggins is wounded by a Nazgul blade and a spider's sting. The wounds never quite heal and throb and ache every year on the anniversary of his wounding. Word Of God says it's psychosomatic.
- Are we forgetting the loss of a finger?
- Tolkien fans are used to lost limbs staying lost, so therefore probably the oversight.
- And then there's Sauron. Word of Gollum says that he's still missing a finger from when Isildur cut it off, even though Word Of God says that he rebuilt his body afterward.
- Its implied that Sauron's evil means he is incapable of removing the marks of severe injuries (or possibly, injuries inflicted by a righteous cause). For example, when Numenor was destroyed for its blasphemy by the wrath of God, Sauron was present there in his beautiful form. After its destruction, he was never again able to assume a form that was not terrifying. Same goes for Morgoth, who received numerous injuries to his body and foot during his duel with Fingolfin, as well as having his face slashed by one of Maedhros' eagles, and is described as being troubled by the scars ever afterward, as well as walking with a limp.
- JRR Tolkien also had Beren lose his hand permanently.
- In Ian Watson's novel Queenmagic, Kingmagic, injuries inflicted by magic can only be healed by personally killing the magician who injured you. If someone else happens to kill them first, you're stuck with a permanently unhealed injury for the rest of your life. This can be very nasty if it's something like a broken arm or fractured skull.
- Eragon got a scar on his back in The Inheritance Trilogy. He got better. With Deus Ex Machina.
- Murtagh, of course, does not get his scar removed. Which apparently makes Eragon a better person, because Beauty Equals Goodness.
- Fitz got numerous scars and his namesake badgerlock in Robin Hobb's Royal Assassin when he was tortured in Regal's dungeons. Later, in the follow-up Tawny Man trilogy, an out of control Skill-healing erases the scars, including the one on his scalp, and heals the permanent damage done by that torture.
- Eisenhorn, having been tortured by a Chaos cult, suffered permanent nerve damage. The most noticeable effect is in his face; the torturer promised he would never smile again, and the nerve damage did secure just that.
- In the Gaunts Ghosts novels, many character suffer permanent damage. Of particular significance is a chainsword scar across Gaunt's stomach — pointed out as noticable even among his other scars — and Merrt's jaw, which makes his speech difficult and lost him his snipper skills.
- Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride has two facial scars given to him by his father's murderer when he was ten years old (eleven in the movie).
- In The Wheel Of Time, Sammael has a scar that runs from the corner of his eye to his chin. Even though the scar could have been easily removed, he elected to keep it as a reminder that it was given to him by Lews Therin 3000 years ago. Plus, in the timeframe where the books take place, the only person in the world with the knowledge to remove said scar is a twisted sociopathic torturer who extracts a toll in pain from anyone she Heals. People would tear their wrists open with their teeth when they heard they would be handed over to her as prisoner.
- What, the first Wo T example you could think of was Sammael? Try Rand, the main protagonist. He has branded marks on both of his palms and an unhealing double wound on his side. Not to mention Mat with his hanging scar, and Thom, whose leg was left stiff after a fight with a Myrddraal.
- Glokta from The First Law trilogy was tortured for two years, and spent all his time between torture sessions locked in a cell too small for him to stand, sit, or lie down in. As a result, one of his legs is crippled, he's missing every other tooth (opposite teeth in each row, so that he's incapable of chewing anything), and one of his eyes is permanently squinting, prone to bouts of twitching and weeping independent of the other. His back is frequently painful. He also had his nipples and all of the toes on one of his feet cut off. As one would imagine, he becomes a fairly unpleasant person; somehow, he still manages to be awesome.
- Then there's Logen Ninefingers (no explanation required), Jezal, Ferro... and pretty much everyone else.
- Garik "Face" Loran, child actor working for Imperial recruitment, picks up a scar during a botched Imperial raid on an (unsanctioned) Rebel attempt to kill him. He could've had it removed, of course, through bacta treatment, but he keeps it for years, as a reminder of the harm he did indirectly. After Ton Phanan dies, a provision in his will requires Face to remove the scar (which he does, though he keeps a fake one for a while), which is in turn symbolic of Phanan's help convincing Face that he really shouldn't feel guilty about it.
- For that matter, Phanan - since he's allergic to bacta, serious injuries require him to receive prosthetic replacements for many of his limbs and organs. Upon having two limbs and his face replaced, he switched out of the medical profession and became an increasingly cynical pilot, eventually telling Face that that young doctor couldn't come back. Not all of him was there anymore. After he dies, Word Of God holds that although he feared death and fought against it, he didn't have anything to live for, either.
- The vampire Risika in Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' In The Forests of the Night has a scar that was made centuries ago with a magical knife. Although she has since grown powerful enough to hide it, she still wears it as a symbol of her hatred of the vampire who gave it to her.
- Hester Shaw from Mortal Engines is hideously scarred thanks to Thaddeus Valentine trying to kill her as a baby. It shaped her career as an assassin and is the principal reason why she is so screwed up, angry and violent.
- In the Doctrine Of Labyrinths series, one of the principle protagonists, Mildmay, has had a long scar across his face since he was thirteen that distorts his upper lip and runs up to his hairline. It became infected while healing, leaving the nerves dead so that he can't move that side of his face and it slurrs his speech. Neither that scar, nor the ones on his leg or on his brother Felix's back have ever really faded.
- The author Sarah Monette seems especially fond of this trope, it appears again in Companion to Wolves cowritten by her and Elizabeth Bear when both the protagonist and several secondary characters are badly scarred.
- Honor Harrington is missing an eye and an arm, though prosthetics means that this isn't usually an issue, and is occasionally a hidden advantage, like when she uses the gun hidden in her finger to stop an assassination attempt.
- Diana Gabaldon seems very fond of this trope— the scars of Jamie's whippings from the events of Outlander never disappear, and true to realistic form, characters who have injuries inflicted on a particularly delicate area (such as multiple small bones in Jamie's hand being broken with a mallet) have no chance of complete recovery. (Fergus also has a hand crushed, but he gets a really awesome hook. Or a glove full of bran.)
- Jasper from Stephenie Meyers' Twilight has numerous vampire bite marks on his body and Bella has a small scar on her hand where she was bitten by James, the tracker vampire
- Sam Uley's fiance, Emily, has three long, red scars running down the side of her face, a result of an unintentional attack by Sam, contorting her face slightly.
- In the Uglies series, Tally keep her cutting scars for the memories they provoke, even though medical technology in that future allows scars, skin and eye colour and even facial structure to be changed.
- Thomas Covenant in The Chroniclesof Thomas Covenant lost two fingers on his left hand when his leprosy first manifested, before he'd learned how to check himself for injuries. Upon being transported to The Land, this disfigurement reminds everyone of their greatest hero of legend, Berek Halfhand.
- Richard Sharpe is described as having a scar on his cheek, as well as a back covered in scars from an unjust flogging. He also has a number of battle wounds. Two notable supporting characters also are scarred. The villainous Obadiah Hakeswill has a scar around his throat from an unsuccessful hanging. Captain William Fredrickson is missing an eye, his front teeth and part of an ear.
- Averted in The Dresden Files despite Harry's huge scar collection. Injuries of wizards don't heal until the wound closes, like a normal person's- they heal until the injury is GONE. As in, there's no sign that the injury ever happened. This has happened several times to Harry; he's had a number of broken bones in his life, and yet not a single formerly shattered bone has any healed fractures. His bones simply look as if they've never been broken. He's in the middle of this process now with his left hand (which effectively melted when Harry's magical shield kept out the flames but didn't keep out the heat); over five books, it's gone from a lump of flesh the doctors wanted to amputate to a human hand again, albeit one with shiny red scars on the fingers, hand and palm.
- In the Anita Blake books, Anita has her arms and collarbone scarred from various attacks, Asher's face and upper body is half-melted due to the Church experimenting with holy water to cure him, Jean-Claude has whip scars on his back from before he was a vampire, and at least two of the vampire bad guys have holy water scars from Anita or another Marshal.
- In Trickster's Choice, the heroise deliberately scars herself and breaks her nose when enslaved to avoid being sold for sex. She later complains when a god explains that this was totally unnecessary, but when the god offers to fix her nose, refuses, saying "I got this the hard way, thanks."
- In one of the Protector of the Small books an overenthusiastic minor character makes Neal leave a scar after he is wounded in the face by bandits "to impress the ladies"
- Not quite a scar, but in Alice Hoffman's Green Angel, the title character, Green, is blinded when her house burned down and her family killed in an enormous fire. She stays like that for the entire book until she finally allows herself to mourn her family, although you're not supposed to ask how crying could possibly cure blindness.
- In the tales of the Otori, Kaede has her hair set on fire, burning the back of her neck, and somehow meaning the hair could never be as long again. Takeo has two fingers cut off, along with various other scars from encounters with Tribe assassins.
- James Bond has numerous scars all over his body, commented upon in Thunderball by both the doctor at the health farm he attends and his sweet old Scottish housekeeper. He also has a facial scar which he only bothers to hide with makeup once, in Diamonds are Forever.
- On the other hand, literally, the Cyrillic letter carved into his hand at the end of Casino Royale is hidden by cosmetic surgery, although this results in that hand being hairier than the other (the skin graft was from his forearm).
- The Highborn of PC Hodgell's Chronicles Of The Kencyrath can heal almsot injury using dwar sleep. However, if the injury is major and a healer doesn't tend to it, it will leave a scar. This becomes a plot element in Seeker's Mask when Jame has her cheek sliced open to the bone by Kallystine's ring. Because this could cause a diplomatic incident, throughout much of the book, her keepers are trying to track her down so that she can be properly healed. Knowing of the potential incident, she intentionally avoids dwar sleep and letting the wound heal throughout most of the book.
- In Richelle Mead's [[Vampire Academy]] series, minor character Tasha Ozera has a large scar on her face from a Moroi (evil vampire) attack about a decade before the books start.
Live Action TV
- Babylon 5 had G'kar lose an eye during torture, and replace it with an autonomous prosthetic he could remove to spy on others.
- Saul Tigh's lost eye in Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica.
- Xander's lost eye in Season 7 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
- Another Buffy example is the flashback in Season 5 that explains the scar on Spike's eyebrow. He got it from a sword wielded by the first of two Slayers he killed. The real scar on James Marsters' forehead was received in a mugging.
- Early on in Heroes, it was revealed that Future-Peter would have one of these across his face. In "Five Years Gone", we see him with it, and it's a doozy, but how he got it - and why it won't go away despite his regeneration abilities - remains unexplained. Interestingly, it seems to be a constant across differing timelines.
- Season 3's currently powerless Peter might explain how this becomes possible.
- In fact, as of the end of Volume 3, he has an unhealed cut on his face - but it's not in the same place as the future-scar. There's been a lot of discussion over whether this is that scar, or whether events have now diverged sufficiently for it to vanish from his future, even though we've seen it in at least two timelines by now.
- Sharpe has a lot of scars, notably on his back and face. At least one of them is real, the result of Harrison Ford hitting Sean Bean in the face on a movie set.
- The real Martok's scar and lost eye in Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
- Is it still a part of this trope if the character has the option to remove said scar but simply chooses not to, as this exchange indicates:
Bashir: "Turning off the holosuite safety protocols during a battle simulation is a dubious idea at best. For a man with only one eye it's idiotic. Now, if you'd like to consider an ocular replacement..."
Martok: "I do not want an artificial eye!" (He really means it)
Bashir: "Then accept the fact you have a disability and stop acting like —"
Martok: "There are limits to how far I will indulge you."
- Krycek's forcibly removed arm in The X-Files.
- Subverted in the rest of the characters, though. In fact, in the commentary track for season eight's "Existence", Kim Manners jokes that if all the characters had the scars from all the injuries they'd recieved over the series, they would look like the Elephant Man.
- Buster's hand in Arrested Development.
- The scars from the scratch that turned George into a werewolf in Being Human.
- Highlander The Series: Immortals heal most wounds without scarring, but Xavier St. Cloud's hand did not grow back when Duncan cut it off, and Kalas retained a deep scar on his neck when he was nearly beheaded. Needless to say, both of them held grudges about this afterward.
- There was always a bit of debate among fans as to whether or not Xavier's hand would grow back with time or not. Rendered a moot point when he lost his head the next season.
- Kalas' neck injury was similar enough to The Kurgan's that it's probably the same issue- severe neck wounds don't regenerate completely.
- Averted in Dollhouse. In "Epitaph One" Dr. Saunders/Whiskey is shown without her scars.
- Evram Mintz, the ships doctor on the Antares in Defying Gravity has massive burn scars on his back.
Video Games
- Klungo from Banjo-Kazooie's face is still screwed up from Gruntilda's beatings when we see him again in Nuts and Bolts.
- In Fable II, when the hero's health is reduced to zero, they do not die, but instead get back up on their feet with full health and a surge of energy. They also get scarred, potentially rather hideously.
- In the original Fable, taking any major hit can result in a nasty, jagged scar running along the damaged part of the Hero's body. Scars do dull over time, but never disappear. By the end of the game, it's almost certain that your Hero's face and body is going to be a patchwork of faded slashes and cuts. The only way to avoid this is to use Physical Shield to avoid major injuries altogether.
- The Nameless One from Planescape Torment is effectively immortal, but he's covered with scars from his previous deaths. He can regenerate limbs and eyes, though. At one point, you can actually find a severed arm from one of his past lives. It's an equippable weapon, too. If that sounds worthy of then know that the eye is an armor slot. Yes, you can use eyes from previous incarnations, too.
- Metal Gear Solid has four dramatically or plot relevant scars, one in each game. The first occurs when Cyborg Ninja cuts off Ocelot's arm, a injury that stays with him until the second game where he replaces it with Liquid's. This becomes a very important plot point. He later cuts the arm back off himself because Liquid could control him through it, and his plans require that everyone only thinks Liquid is controlling him.
- Metal Gear Solid 2 also has Solidus, who loses an eye in an explosion. Amusingly enough he's absolutely thrilled with it as it makes him look like his late father. Even more amusingly it can be abused in the boss fight against him, as he has a prominent blind spot on that side.
- We see how his father lost his eye in the prequel game Metal Gear Solid 3, where it gets burned by the muzzle flash of a gun. Like Solidus he too has problems with it, his depth perception thrown off for quite a while afterwards.
- Snake himself gets scarred in Metal Gear Solid 4, when he saves Eva from a fire and gets half of his face burnt off. It nicely landmarks the stage where Snake's age really starts to get to him, not to mention making him look all the more noble.
- Several other characters also have distinctive scars. Drebin on the left side of his head, Zero across his left eye, The Boss on her chest, and Volgin across his entire face.
- Despite being quite darned hard to kill, single-handedly conquering the world, (un)living some thousand years and evolving past his human form, the titular character of Legacy Of Kain carries a scar from the sword that killed him.
- At least until his "firstborn" Raziel gives up his (un(un))life to heal and purify him. In accordance to a prophecy. No, don't ask me to explain it to you.
- Raziel's whole body is scarred and deformed after he was thrown into the abyss (except his hair, which came out looking pretty decent, all things considered). Most prominent is his jaw having melted off. He uses the now-vacant space to devour the souls of his enemies. Just don't ask how he manages to talk.
- Ganondorf carries the blade that was used to execute him in The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and he has a large glowing scar on his chest.
- Before he got his Eyepatch Of Power, a prototype Wolf O'Donnel from Star Fox had a scar over his eye instead. The eye was discolored, but the size of his profile image makes it hard to tell if he's supposed to be able to see with it or not. Interestingly, this was over the opposite eye his eyepatch ends up on.
- Auron from Final Fantasy X sports several rather nasty scars. Unsurprising, considering all the crap he went through.
- So does Jecht, and his are a little more visible since he is a walking Shirtless Scene.
- Setzer's face is heavily scarred and seems to have been that way for quite some time.
- The most iconic scar in the series probably goes to Squall Leonhart in Final Fantasy VIII. However, the game opens with him and his rival Seifer both getting their scars on the same day as the game's events begin, so for once it actually makes sense for them to still sport them since the game only takes place over a short time period. However, the trademark scars they share are so iconic they are even present for their very different roles in Kingdom Hearts, and we are given no explanation for how either got them, so it's safe to say this is played straight outside of the source game.
- Zack's scars in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core are integral to his major moment of Character Development and remain in spite of his mako-infused SOLDIER abilities.
- Double Subversion in the Adventure Game Dragonsphere involving the female captain-of-the-guard, who has a large scar on her face. After Shape Shifter Pid reverts from being (and believing he is) the king to his real form, he is accused of killing the real king. The captain-of-the-guard won't let him enter the city, and will kill him if he tries, unless he can give her the one thing she really wants. Pid then removes the scar using his Healing Hands, and she revels in her new beauty for half a minute before demanding the scar back. Pid returns it, but when he asks why, she reveals that the scar gave her the drive and respect needed to become captain-of-the-guard in the first place, and it is more important to her than looking beautiful.
- In the Street Fighter series, the nasty scar on Sagat's chest that was made by a particularly nasty Dragon Punch from Ryu has been with him ever since he got it in the very first game.
- Also, Gouken has ugly scars, probably from his last fight with Akuma/Gouki.
- Tsukihime also deserves note, as Shiki possesses a gigantic wound in his chest from the 'accident' that gave him his Eyes of Death. Like Kenshin, this wound heals up when the story is complete and He kills Roa/SHIKI. He still has Anemia, though.
- Darth Sion of Knights of the Old Republic 2 is almost completely composed of scar tissue and shattered bones. The only thing holding him together is the power of the Dark Side.
- During a knife fight cutscene in Resident Evil 4, Leon suffers a cut on his face that remains until the end of the game. The enemy Leon was fighting has this more noticeably due to the fact Leon cut him across the front of his chest and he has a Shirtless Scene later on.
- During the trickle of information for the week leading up to the Sniper/Spy class update in Team Fortress 2, Valve released the eighth in their Meet The Team series of videos, Meet The Spy, where one scene has the Spy give the Sniper a cut across the face shortly before killing him with a backstab. When the update was released, the Sniper had gained a scar across his face.
- Duster the thief of Mother3 has a limp throughout the course of the game. It is implied that Wess's intensive thief training had rendered this injury upon Duster.
- Xiahou Dun from Dynasty Warriors got his eyepatch like this: When he was arrow'd in the eye during the course of battle, he plucked it out, along with the arrow.And ate it.
- Hanako from Katawa Shoujo, of course
- And it's possible that we're seeing her after they tried fixing them.
- All versions of Commander Shepard from Mass Effect have a fairly prominent scar, gained during the decisive events of the backstory (chosen via Multiple Choice Past). In the sequel, Shepard is killed, brought back to life, and gains an entirely new set of scars that are consistent across all characters. However, these scars bring with it a new problem: The cybernetic implants underneath react to emotional stress, and positive emotions cause them to heal while negative ones eventually turn them into huge, angry, glowing red lines like cracks in lava.
- Most significant characters in Mega Man X are robots, giving ample room for head-scratching over this trope. Zero has been repaired after being torn into three pieces with nary a telltale scratch. The purple-black scars that X burned into Sigma's eyes, however, persist throughout all the different bodies he uses.
Webcomics
- Kobayashi Akira of Heliothaumic was scarred while working in a smelting plant - and not by accident.
- Gunnerkrigg Court, sort of. Antimony gets a cut on her face, courtesy of a ghostly swordswoman's rapier, but the cut completely disappears as soon as the ghost does. But then the cut reappears when any Etheric influences start acting up in Annie's vicinity.
- It's speculated that the cut was inflicted on sonme sort of spirit plane, and only Annie's astral projection is scarred. It gives a nice way of saying "something weird's going on" to the viewers without telling Annie, though.
- Dominic Deegan boasts Karnak, known as the Demon of Wounds before he ascended to become the King of Hell. While being a Bad Ass of high caliber to boot, his personal schtick was that not only do any wounds he inflicts invariably cause ugly scars, but most of them remain permanently open even in the face of white magic. As the Trope describes above, the character most afflicted with one of these wounds wore it as an external symbol of the depravity in his soul that he had fallen into ever since it was inflicted.
- Szark Sturtz, owner of one of the grievous example above, has only managed to get it closed when Karnak became the King of Hell, and only then because it has since been assumed that he's now got so many new powers to play with that he can't be bothered to keep track of them all. Even then, the scar is still livid and healing seemingly in tandem with Szark's progress towards redemption.
- In Goblins, Thaco had his ear cut off by Captain Goblinslayer, who keeps trophies including Thaco's ear. Captain Goblinslayer has also carved words into the heads of several prisoners, including Fumbles, one of the major goblin cast members.
- Last Res0rt has several:
- Daisy Archanis's leg was amputated and replaced with a bionic substitute prior to the start of the story.
- Given she was — and technically still is — stuck inside a prison, access to limb-regenerating technology is likely not an option.
- Likewise, Daisy said it herself in the B Side Comics that Meridian (Jigsaw's mother) has a similar set of robotic legs, but it's an exoskeleton because those legs weren't rebuilt properly.
- Arikos's scarred eye is the result of an ironic attack from his own children in the Back Story. Why it's refused to heal is anybody's guess, but given that there are all Celeste we're talking about here, we're going to lean towards both "It's very big" and "It's likely magically reinforced".
- Faye from Questionable Content has a scar from a car accident.
- The Obligatory Order Of The Stick Example: Right-Eye and Redcloak are both missing an eye, which is quite easily healed in-universe. There's a reason why their eyes remain missing, though.
- Grey of Inhuman is horribly scarred all over his body from various apparent tortures and experiments at the hands of his Rulerist captors.
Western Animation
- Zuko's burn scar in Avatar The Last Airbender. Katara did offer to heal it once, but owing to a combination of circumstances, it never happened. The fangirls would have been outraged if it had, anyway.
- Word of God states the Spirit Water would not have worked anyway. If you doubt this, consider it saved Aang's life but he still had a big fat scar.
- Only some of them. The lead-up shots were bad enough in terms of keeping that ship afloat...
- Ratchet on Transformers Animated has a dinged crest and a cut in his arm despite being a robot doctor. He does it to remember "for those who can't." Most notably Arcee, who lost her memory when Ratchet was forced to wipe it so she couldn't be interrogated.
- The scar across Wheeljack's Autobot insignia in Transformers Armada, marking the point where he did his Face Heel Turn.
- Hudson on Gargoyles has a scar through one eye, giving his eye a permanent yellow color. He got it fighting the Archmage, who blasted him into a rock inside a cave. Gargoyles heal from most injuries when they turn to stone, but it isn't explained why his scar never healed despite this fact.
- Word of God says that some types of injuries (loss of limbs etc.) cannot be healed even by stone sleep, and apparently losing the use of an eye falls into this category.
- Doctor Drakken from Kim Possible has a scar across his face. Considering how big it is, it's possible that it couldn't heal properly.
- Possibly caused by whatever turned him blue, since neither scar nor color were present during the college years flashback.
- On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Heloise has a scar on her forehead. How this happened is a mystery, even to Edward Kay, who only states that it adds to her twisted apperance.
Tabletop Games
- In Werewolf: the Apocalypse, part of the old World Of Darkness, werewolves had massively increased healing factor and any injury would heal more or less instantly except those inflicted by fire, silver, raw magical energy or the fangs and claws of supernatural creatures (including other werewolves). Such injuries could only heal naturally and would leave "battle scars" which could only be removed by magical healing rituals. Especially nasty scars could permanently cripple a werewolf warrior, but were also considered a mark of glory, and having them removed was considered shameful.
- They also included how to handle scars from radiation poisoning...
- Vampires have the same rule for wounds inflicted by aggravated damage (sun, fire, fangs and claws of other supernatural beings, etc.). Surprisingly few descriptions of vampires seem to feature such scars, given how frequent they would likely be, depending on your storyteller
- I seem to only recall that they merely needed a full day of rest and spend five blood points to repair a single level of aggravated damage. Nothing was said about scarring.
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