History Main / EyeSpy

* Gaara in ''{{Naruto}}'' can make a floating eye out of sand and connect his optic nerve to it to scout around.
* There's one Noah in ''DGrayMan'' who possess this ability, implanting his eye into his victim to spy on them. Thing is, [[ExtraEyes he has more than two eyes]]...

* That [[DungeonsAndDragons Beholder-like]] eyeball creature the heroes encounter in ''BigTroubleInLittleChina''. "What it sees, Lo Pan knows!"

* ''{{Discworld}}'': Blind Io has dozens of remote eyes.
* In the ''HarryPotter'' series, Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye. Also, it's used by Dolores Umbridge as a spycam.

* A MonsterOfTheWeek on ''TheXFiles'' was able to order his body parts about to act independently, including his eyes.

* In ''[=~Vampire: The Requiem~=]'', Belial's Brood has an investment called Flesh Spider that lets the detach body parts but still use them. This includes their eyes.

* ''Everyone's'' eyes in ''CleanAsia'' use this trope to {{take over the world}}.

* Arguably the whole point of Krumm's character design from ''AaahhRealMonsters''. He doesn't even ''have'' eye sockets -- he carries his eyeballs around in his hands. They get thrown around or rolled into places where he wants to see quite a bit.
* Bender from ''{{Futurama}}''. Although how his eyes function varies based on the RuleOfFunny.

* One of Gumball and Darwins' classmates in ''TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' is a flying eyeball who acts as the {{Sadist Teacher}}'s personal snitch.

* G'Kar picks up this ability on ''{{Babylon 5}}'': after [[TheCaligula the deranged Centauri emperor]] [[EyeScream gouges his eye out,]] it is later replaced with an artificial eye that can function even when removed from his eye socket.

* A first season episode of ''{{Angel}}'' featured a creepy Doctor who could do detach and levitate his eyes, his hands, etc (pretty much take himself apart and put himself back together again at will). He used his powers to stalk eventually try to kill a nice young lady, providing her with some literal NightmareFuel moments (like disembodied hands crawling in her bed, up her legs…)

* Gaara in ''{{Naruto}}'' does this during the first stage of the Chunnin exams.

* The 3rd sequel to {{Re-Animator}}, "Beyond Re-Animator", had this happen to one of the prison junkies who unknowingly injected himself with multiple revival serums belonging to the {{Mad Doctor}} Herbert West until he exploded (he reanimated himself) causing one of his eyeballs to pop out of his head. For reasons the movie doesn't explain, the doctor takes the eyeball and keeps it around until at the end of the movie when he discard the eyeball outside the front lawn of the chaos-infested prison, while it struggles to move.

* One of Gumball and Darwins' classmates in {{The Amazing World of Gumball}} is a flying eyeball who acts as the {{Sadist Teacher}}'s personal snitch.

* Randall Flagg in {{The Stand}} sends his eye to spy on the good guys in one scene.

* There's one Noah in ''[[{{Ptitlej8ixspaskltm}} D. Gray-Man]]'' who possess this ability, implanting his eye into his victim to spy on them. Thing is, [[ExtraEyes he has more than two eyes]]...

* Schlock from ''SchlockMercenary'' can move his eyes to any point of his [[BlobMonster amorphous body]] and has used this to spy around corners and in other tactical situations.

* There's one Noah in ''DGrayMan'' who possess this ability, implanting his eye into his victim to spy on them. Thing is, [[ExtraEyes he has more than two eyes]]...

* There's one Noah in DGrayMan who possess this ability, implanting his eye into his victim to spy on them. Thing is, [[ExtraEyes he has more than two eyes]]...

[[Bong milk is good for the brain.:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/werewolf_9693_8856.jpg]]

But you can't tell your boyfriend about it! He'd freak out and leave you, or worse. But then, you can't keep it a secret forever, either. At some point, one of your supernatural incidents will inevitably happen exactly when you were having a romantic dinner. Or maybe your relationship has simply reached the next level, and you feel that you need to be completely honest with him.

So what now? How will he react? Well, it turns out he's perfectly okay (well, for the most part he's perfectly okay) and understanding with it! That's right, as a reward for your sacrifices, the PowersThatBe will make sure that you end up with a truly noble and loving soul who loves you for who you are and doesn't care what you are. So no worries!

This trope is a DoubleStandard, in that wives and girlfriends are pretty much automatically accepting of their ActionHero husband/boyfriend's actions, whereas the number of husbands/boyfriends who automatically accept that their significant other is an ActionGirl are pretty thin on the ground. For the guy who is a super and needs a girlfriend, his powers are often a plus for her (because AllGirlsWantBadBoys). For women, finding a guy who truly doesn't have a problem with dating someone with superpowers when he's a {{Muggle}} is the bigger issue, because, well, NoGuyWantsAnAmazon.

Compare ButYourWingsAreBeautiful, when a disguise forms part of the powers. Compare to ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend for the ActionGirl [[InvertedTrope variant.]] Compare and contrast BoyMeetsGhoul, for the guy/girl who is on the other end of this trope. See also TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife, which is an aversion of this trope.

* The central premise of ''[[NogizakaHarukaNoHimitsu The Secrets of Haruka Nogizaka]]''. The titular girl is an otaku.
* Ditto with ''[[OreImo My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute]]''. Except that the guy is not a boyfriend, but the big brother... [[{{Squick}} yeah]].
* Austria from ''AxisPowersHetalia'', in regards to his VictoriousChildhoodFriend Hungary. While he's concerned for her well-being, in the end he knows that if she wants to fight, he better lets her... since she will go [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] and destroy the enemy. Considering their childhood, [[LoveAtFirstPunch he knows it beforehand]]!
* [[ShamanKing Keiko Asakura]] had been dumped by ''every'' single boyfriend she had when they learnt she was able to see spirits. Until the last JerkAss left her and a penniless musician with similar abilities comforted her. That guy was Mikihisa, and she would marry him.
* Horribly deconstructed with [[spoiler: Shiso and Ceres]] in ''AyashiNoCeres''. [[spoiler: Shiso started like this, but being left helpless when he and Ceres got attacked [[IJustWantToBeSpecial made him very frustrated]], so he asked Ceres to give him a part of her powers [[IWillProtectHer so he wouldn't be a burden on her.]] But then, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity said powers turned out to be too much to handle]], and ItGotWorse...]]


[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]
* [[NiceGuy Kong]] is this to [[XMen Kitty Pryde]] in UltimateMarvel, even going so far as to yell "You're welcome!" at AllOfTheOtherReindeer for not thanking her when she saves their lives.
* Back in the GoldenAge, Steve Trevor was this for WonderWoman (a remarkably progressive move for the times), and not at all threatened by the idea of getting rescued by or mooning over a woman who was twenty times stronger than him. The Silver and Bronze Age characterizations of him were...[[TooDumbToLive unfortunately]] [[JerkAss less so]], which probably led to him being deleted from continuity PostCrisis.
* In an old What If comic, Jimmy Olsen married Supergirl because of amnesia. Once she recovers and lets him know, he's totally fine with being married to Superman's cousin.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''InnocentBlood'', FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Marie has her understanding CopBoyfriend Joe.

* Elend in Brandon Sanderson's ''{{Mistborn}}''. At least [[spoiler:until he gets superpowers himself.]]
* Seth in ''WickedLovely''. When Aislinn tells him that she can see faeries, he has exactly one moment of "Is this a joke?" before accepting it and trying to help her with her faery situation.

[[AC:{{Live Action TV}}]]
* The ''GhostWhisperer'' features Jim the Understanding Husband.
* Both [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] and played straight in ''{{Bewitched}}''. The original Darrin (Dick York) was less than understanding, to the point of being downright hostile to Samantha when she used her magic. TheOtherDarrin (Dick Sargeant), on the other hand, tried his hardest to be understanding, the point that it was more the fault of Endora and the rest of Samantha's family that TheOtherDarrin didn't get along with witches.
* Played with in the ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' TV series. Harvey ''does'' leave Sabrina when he finds out she's a witch, not out of intolerance but because she'd been using magic to mess with his life for years. He eventually does come back to her, though, and says he never had a problem with her being a witch per se.
* Zack was the "gay best friend" equivalent of this in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', at least until ExecutiveMeddling got in the way.
* Unless she's dating one of the undead, Buffy never got this on ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (even Riley, who was himself a demon fighting super-soldier, had an inferiority complex due to dating a genuine superhero). It's Willow who hit the boyfriend jackpot with Oz; upon being told the truth about the supernatural world she runs in, he replies, "Actually, it explains a lot," and just goes with the flow from there.
* Tyler Ford in ''TheMiddleman'''s unaired season finale (released as a comic)...[[spoiler:at least, until MM pushes the ResetButton]].
* Allison's husband Joe on ''{{Medium}}'' believes in her powers and is understanding and accepting of them.
* In ''{{Series/Merlin}}'', 2x09. Merlin discovers [[spoiler: Freya turns into a bastet at night, but he isn´t afraid and stills takes care of her. He even pets her cat´s head...]]

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/understanding/ this]] ''WapsiSquare'' comic. Also the page quote.
* {{Subverted}} (although this may be a retrospective way of seeing it) in ''SluggyFreelance''. Leo seems to be accepting of all the weird things Zoë tells about happening to her - but it turns out that was only because he thought she was lying. In the words of another jerk he hangs out with, "You've got to respect a girl who realizes romantic relationships are based on lies and goes to town with it!" As soon as Leo finds out it was all true, he feels betrayed, and they eventually break off.

* [[PhineasAndFerb Candace]] seems to have this with Jeremy. Despite all of Candace's attempts to put a stop to PhineasAndFerb's projects, the guy never, ever seems to lose his cool, and they're still an item.

The ability to [[EyeScream remove one's eye]] (real or false, magical or mechanical) and use it to view hard-to-see areas during certain situations after placing it somewhere. The eye is not in any way connected to the owner, yet it operates just as well as it was. Apart from the creepiness value, it can also work as a SurveillanceDrone.

Compare DetachmentCombat, HelpingHands, LosingYourHead.

A SubTrope of FacelessEye. Can be used for SinisterSurveillance. Compare AnimalEyeSpy.

* Gaara in ''{{Naruto}}'' does this during the first stage of the Chunnin exams.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* The Emerald Empress, enemy of the ''{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' has a big giant eyeball that floats around and does her bidding. She can see what it sees.

[[AC:{{Film}} - Animation]]
* In the ''ToyStory'' series, the Potato Heads are often seen holding their eyes above their heads to see, etc., as a gag.
** ''ToyStory''. He took out his eyes and used them to see over the other toys at the windowsill who were watching Sid destroy his Combat Carl action figure.
** He did it again in ''ToyStory 2'' to see inside the room where Woody was being held.
** It becomes a plot point in ''ToyStory 3'', when Mrs. Potato Head loses an eye before leaving Andy's room, and later finds that she can still use it to see Andy's room from under the dresser where she left it.

[[AC:{{Film}} - Live Action]]
* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061019/ Spy in Your Eye]]''
* The alien does this in ''Brother From Another Planet''.
* That [[DungeonsAndDragons Beholder-like]] eyeball creature the heroes encounter in ''BigTroubleInLittleChina''. "What it sees, Lo Pan knows!"
* Aughra in ''TheDarkCrystal'' had this.
* The Black Queen uses these in ''MirrorMask''. For added creepiness, they have spider legs.

* ''{{Discworld}}'': Blind Io has dozens of remote eyes.
* In the ''HarryPotter'' series, Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye. Also, it's used by Dolores Umbridge as a spycam.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* A MonsterOfTheWeek on ''TheXFiles'' was able to order his body parts about to act independently, including his eyes.
* G'Kar picks up this ability on ''{{Babylon 5}}'': after [[TheCaligula the deranged Centauri emperor]] [[EyeScream gouges his eye out,]] it is later replaced with an artificial eye that can function even when removed from his eye socket.
* Aughra from ''TheDarkCrystal'' has only one eye, but she can remove it from her head and hold it up to get a better look at things.
* A first season episode of ''{{Angel}}'' featured a creepy Doctor who could do detach and levitate his eyes, his hands, etc (pretty much take himself apart and put himself back together again at will). He used his powers to stalk eventually try to kill a nice young lady, providing her with some literal NightmareFuel moments (like disembodied hands crawling in her bed, up her legs…)

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* In ''[=~Vampire: The Requiem~=]'', Belial's Brood has an investment called Flesh Spider that lets the detach body parts but still use them. This includes their eyes.
* In ''{{Shadowrun}}'' you have the option to replace one (or both) of your eyes with a [[IProduct Lone Star iBall]]. They are like normal cybereyes, until you take it out. Then they act as [[SurveillanceDrone recon drones]], which can roll around on the floor.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''EverQuest'' has the ability with some spells, an item, and a monk disciple to send out an eye to investigate for you.
* The Eye of Kilrogg spell in ''WarCraft 2'' summons a floating eye that works like this.
* In ''{{Blood}} II'', when Caleb picks up an eye, he can use this way.
* ''Everyone's'' eyes in ''CleanAsia'' use this trope to {{take over the world}}.

* Schlock from ''SchlockMercenary'' can move his eyes to any point of his [[BlobMonster amorphous body]] and has used this to spy around corners and in other tactical situations.
* Golgo (aka Angel Eye) from ''RiceBoy'' has a mechanical eye that's capable of functioning autonomously, acting as a flying video camera. He prefers it over his biological eye, referring to the mechanical one as "my good eye" at one point.
* Pages of the all-seeing lexicon in ''Webcomic/{{Bibliography}}''.

* Arguably the whole point of Krumm's character design from ''AaahhRealMonsters''. He doesn't even ''have'' eye sockets -- he carries his eyeballs around in his hands. They get thrown around or rolled into places where he wants to see quite a bit.
* Bender from ''{{Futurama}}''. Although how his eyes function varies based on the RuleOfFunny.
* In ''GodzillaTheSeries'', one of [[TheChewToy the N.I.G.E.L. robot]]'s eyes is a mobile microcamera.

* A first season episode of Angel featured a creepy Doctor who could do detach and levitate his eyes, his hands, etc (pretty much take himself apart and put himself back together again at will). He used his powers to stalk eventually try to kill a nice young lady, providing her with some literal NightmareFuel moments (like disembodied hands crawling in her bed, up her legs…)

* In ''{{Blood}} II'' Caleb picks up an eye he can use this way.

* In ''Game/{{Blood}} II'' Caleb picks up an eye he can use this way.

A SubTrope of FacelessEye. Can be used for SinisterSurveillance.

A subtrope of FacelessEye. Can be used for SinisterSurveillance.

* The Emerald Empress, enemy of the LegionOfSuperHeroes has a big giant eyeball that floats around and does her bidding. She can see what it sees.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons''. The Wizard Eye spell creates a magical flying version.

* In ''{{Shadowrun}}'' you have the option to replace one (or both) of your eyes with a [[IProduct Lone Star iBall]]. They are like normal cybereyes, until you take it out. Then they act as [[SurveillanceDrone recon drones]] , which can roll around on the floor.

* That [[DungeonsAndDrgaons Beholder-like]] eyeball creature the heroes encounter in ''BigTroubleInLittleChina''. "What it sees, Lo Pan knows!"

* In the ''ToyStory'' series, the Potato Heads are often seen holding their eyes above their heads to see, etc., as a gag. It becomes a plot point in ''ToyStory 3'', when Mrs. Potato Head loses an eye before leaving Andy's room, and later finds that she can still use it to see Andy's room from under the dresser where she left it.

A subtrope of Faceless Eye. Can be used for SinisterSurveillance.