History Main / GoForTheEye

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'': Shockingly subverted with Vaati, whose entire villain motif [[EyeMotifs revolves around eyes]]. Vaati is a GlassCannon who can be hurt anywhere on his body once you take down his defense. Said defense usually consists of eyes, however.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'': The Ghomas can only be harmed by shooting them in the eye, which can only be done when they open their eyelids to attack.

* Clementine, in true psycho fashion, tries this in her attempt to finish off Ainz in their duel in ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}''. Unfortunately for her, Ainz is a lich disguised as a warrior, and there are no eyes there to stab out.
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', Kaneki is told that even [[OurGhoulsAreDifferent ghouls]] are vulnerable to eye injuries......which Yamori promptly demonstrates by stabbing a needle into his eye. He keeps this lesson in mind, and later jabs for [[LightningBruiser Shachi]]'s eyes when normal attacks don't seem to work. Shachi [[SubvertedTrope anticipates this]] and counters by smashing his forehead into Kaneki's fingers, breaking them in the process. In the sequel, [[LadyOfWar Matsumae]] is defeated when a clever opponent shoves his fingers into her eyes, blinding her.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Averted in "Apocalypse Nowish". Team Angel find themselves in a melee with the Beast, an unstoppable demon covered in impenetrable bone-plate armour. There's a HopeSpot where Angel jabs a wooden stake at one of its eyes, only for a close-up to show the Beast has grabbed Angel's wrist, stopping the point an inch from his eye.
* ''Series/BlackMirror''. In "Metalhead", the protagonist is hunted by an implacable KillerRobot [[RobotDog Dog]], and is able to blind it by throwing a tin of paint over its radar, though it's still able to track her by sound.
* Brennan uses this on a criminal on ''{{Series/Bones}}''. She finds that “very few people are still scary after being poked in the eye”.

** The Nigerian masked zombie-demon in the episode "Dead Man's Party." Buffy didn't know it was the monster's only weak point but you'd be surprised how many things don't like having their eyes gouged out.
** This could be applied somewhat to Xander as well. Sure he's had an arm broken here and there, and has been beaten with a Troll God's Hammer, but all to little actual effect. It was only an attack on his eye that really harmed him. Right after telling his fighters to "go for the (...) eyes. Everything's got eyes." Ouch. Also... their opponents didn't have eyes.
** At one point Buffy lectures potential Slayers about dealing with monsters. She says to avoid things like tentacles and go for the brain, heart and eyes. It is then pointed out to her that Bringers don't have eyes.

** The Daleks' [[CyberCyclops eyepiece]] is the most susceptible to gunfire, though only comparatively. On more than one occasion, Daleks have been incapacitated by damaging or covering their single eyestalk: "[[AC:My vision is impaired!! I cannot see!!]]" The show parodied this once in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks "Remembrance of the Daleks"]]: After the Doctor repeatedly tells soldiers to shoot the Daleks in the eyepiece throughout the story, Ace ends up blowing one up entirely with a rocket launcher.

** Parodied and subverted in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E12TheStolenEarth "The Stolen Earth"]]: Wilf attempts to blind a Dalek with a paintball gun, only for the paint to burn off in seconds. "[[AC:[[SubvertedCatchphrase My vision is NOT impaired.]]]]"

** The second type of boss in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'', which are almost nothing ''but'' huge, floating eyes.
** In ''Fusion'', some doors are blocked by giant eyes. Absorbing their Core-X restores a large heap of energy, so they are actually there to help the player [[SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity (the next room usually contains a boss)]]. These doors are similar to ones found before bosses in ''Super Metroid'', and in both cases the doors are capable of shooting EyeBeams.

** ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'': The FinalBoss has five eyes on various parts of his body which act as his only weak points. Interestingly, only one eye is present at the time, one appearing only when the previous one is destroyed.

* ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'': During the ''Giganotosaurus'' rampage, its massive head destroying the tower the protagonists are hiding in, Claire is only armed with an anti-dino taser that seems pretty pointless against its tough hide. Until she manages to get close enough and targets the eye, sending a shock through it. That does the trick and the ''Giganotosaurus'' briefly retreats.

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'' has the demon boss Balore, who protects his eye with his right hand while trying to punch/squash Soma with his left. The only vulnerable spot is the eye, which also occasionally fires a laser.

No matter how thick the hide, hard the chitin, or magically impervious the body, the eyes are a natural weak spot for any creature that has them.

If you ever encounter a monster in a video game with a single, enormous, {{glowing eye|sOfDoom}}, you can bet dollars to donuts that said eye will be that monster's ''only'' [[AchillesHeel weak spot]]. The rest of its body will be MadeOfIron, and even the InfinityPlusOneSword won't damage it. Often, part of the [[PuzzleBoss strategy to beat the boss]] will be figuring out how to make it open its eye or to get the eye low enough so you can hit it for massive damage.

** Ozones B3 subverted the trope. It had a huge, glowing, single eye on its head... but it was not its weak point, and Kouji did not try to destroy it.

* Deliberately averted in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series of films. Making the Xenomorphs eyeless not only heightened their highly bizarre appearance, but it also removed a ''massive'' weak point that could be targeted when fighting them. You can't go for the eyes if the threat you're facing ''doesn't have any.''

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': All of the Fused Shadow-created bosses have giant eyes that must be attacked, as do two of the Mirror Shard bosses. The devs even have some fun with this. The boss of the Temple of Time is Armogohma, a giant spider with an eye on its back, which also serves as a weak point and a weapon. [[spoiler: Hilariously, the eye is revealed to be ''a smaller spider that was controlling the bigger spider!'' Even [[HeroicMime Link]] has a stunned look on his face.]]

** In the original game, a miniboss, Nipper, is a GiantEnemyCrab, and you defeat it by attacking its weak point, for massive damage.

* The eye is usually a good weak point in real life. It's soft, easily damaged, very painful, and causes a loss of vision. It's one of the first places you're taught to aim for in a self defense class. And on a similar note, "When someone stares at you, don't be intimidated. Eyeballs are soft, sensitive and filled with goo. They cannot hurt you."

* ''VideoGame/CrysisWarhead'': "This fucker has to have eyes...or something!", although the boss in question doesn't actually have eyes as a weak spot.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''L Ishgardians are trained to target the eyes of their mortal enemies [[OurDragonsAreDifferent the Dravanians]]. A dragon's MagicEyes are the source of their power and longevity, so it is one of the sure-fire ways of killing a dragon.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64:'' one of the enemies is simply a huge eye, and you defeat it by running around in circles.
*** Thres's also the pyramid boss with two hands, having an eye each; you have to punch the eyes to win.

* Subverted in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', where [[ReallyGetsAround Sister]] and [[ChivalrousPervert Tucker]] are fighting a Cyclops. Sister observes that the Cyclops has one of something and that is its weakness, but Tucker misinterprets her as to instead attack its one testicle, which takes out the Cyclops.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'': The final boss is an extremely odd creature with eyes on its articulated limbs. While you do have to shoot it to keep the fight moving, you kill it with the staple Resident Evil anti-boss weapon: a rocket launcher. Not to mention the fact that if you do shoot the eyes on the limbs, it gives you the opportunity to shove your ubiquitous knife into its main eye. ''Repeatedly.''
%%** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles Darkside Chronicles]]'': The G-Mutant gets ''even more eyes every time it mutates''.%%And?

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films-Animated]]

* In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', R2-D2 spars against a buzz droid with his electric prod. A few zaps don't kill it, but Obi-Wan recommends R2 aim for the droid's "eye" and thus it's instantly fried.

* ''Film/PacificRim''. After the [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] Striker Eureka is immobilised, the two surviving pilots climb out onto its hull and take potshots at the {{Kaiju}}'s eyes with {{flare gun}}s because it's the only weapon they've got left. The creature has six eyes though, and getting hit in one only pisses it off.

* The Bloodbeast found in a number of Literature/{{Fighting Fantasy}} books, perhaps most notably ''Literature/DeathtrapDungeon'', is described as a loathsome creature with blisters, which burst to reveal fake eyes, all over its body. It is utterly invulnerable (to attack by a sword, at least) unless they player intentionally or luckily hits one of its real eyes, in which case it dies immediately. The 'fake eyes' evolved as protection against this weakness.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', if an enemy can't be shot in the head for extra damage, you can shoot them in the eye instead.

Compare EyeScream, AHandfulForAnEye. For more human characters getting their eyes whacked, see MoeGreeneSpecial.

* Zira yells this to one of her followers in the climactic battle of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2SimbasPride

* Zira yells this to one of her followers in the climactic battle of ''WesternAnimation:TheLionKing2SimbasPride

If you ever encounter a monster in a video game with a single, enormous, {{glowing eye|sOfDoom}}, you can bet dollars to donuts that said eye will be that monster's ''only'' [[AchillesHeel weak spot]]. The rest of its body will be MadeOfIron, and even the InfinityPlusOneSword won't damage it. Often, part of the [[PuzzleBoss strategy to beat the boss]] will be figuring out how to make it open its eye so you can hit it for massive damage.

* In the climax of the martial arts flick, ''Film/KillersFive'', the heroine and her ally (a FakeDefector revealed to be on her side) needs to split up, him releasing the rest of their captured comrades, and her going after thepowerful bandit lord who's said to be "completely invincible". The fake defector advises her to "aim for his eye, it's his only weakness"... and indeed, she did exactly that, blinding the bandit lord via hairpin in the eye.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' (but not ''3''), it's possible to aim specifically for the eyes of your opponent (or appropriate sensory organ). It's usually the most difficult shot to connect with, but landing a critical hit to the eyes will almost always kill or blind a creature, making it mostly harmless or dead.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'', Harold mentions that a Deathclaw's eyes might be its weakness. It's true. Using this knowledge you can actually go kill one at a low level. However, since it's still so tough you need to hit it dozens of times even so, this leads to perhaps the most ridiculous DeathOfAThousandCuts ever. Deathclaws have incredibly sharp senses of smell and hearing, but rather weak eyesight. So blinding them is only a minor annoyance, but it's still the softest part of their surface and has a possibility of piercing to the brain. Damaging them anywhere else generally requires anti-tank weaponry.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', the Chosen One can do this to Rose's domesticated Mother Deathclaw in Modoc, ending the B&B's serving of Deathclaw Omelettes. [[ContinuityNod This is canon according to Jas Wilkins(Rose's grand-niece)]] in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''
** A character in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' claims to have [[BeyondTheImpossible done the impossible]] and shot a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin through the eye hole of their PoweredArmor. If you've met the Brotherhood and gotten in their good books you can challenge these BlatantLies by pointing out that their eye protection is bullet proof. He also claims to have killed a Deathclaw (misidentified as "Deathjaw") this way, earning him the nickname "Dead Eye". As with ''3'', however, it's not actually possible to target the eyes.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''
** The final boss from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' is an extremely odd creature with eyes on its articulated limbs. While you do have to shoot it to keep the fight moving, you kill it with the staple Resident Evil anti-boss weapon: a rocket launcher. Not to mention the fact that if you do shoot the eyes on the limbs, it gives you the opportunity to shove your ubiquitous knife into its main eye. ''Repeatedly.''
** The G-Mutant from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles Darkside Chronicles]]'' gets ''even more eyes every time it mutates''.

* ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]]'':

* The final boss in ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Legacy of Kain: Defiance]]''. [[spoiler: Not surprising as he seems to be composed entirely of eyes and tentacles - you attack both, but only the eye counts for the Life Bar.]]
* The [[GiantEnemyCrab King Crabber]] boss in ''[[VideoGame/SummonNight Summon Night Swordcraft Story]]'', whose only weak points are its eye stalks.
* Notably subverted in ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''. While the entire game is made up of boss battles against giant creatures, most of whom have glowing eyes, they are almost never a weak point. Even when facing the one where you actually are supposed to aim for the eye, it's only a preliminary attack and not what actually kills him.
* The stage 6 boss of the GBA game ''[[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Gradius Galaxies/Generation]]'' is simply a giant eyeball. Naturally, the off-screen announcer that usually tells you to "Destroy the core!" when a boss shows up will instead tell you to "Shoot it in the eye!"
* The first boss in ''VideoGame/LightCrusader'' consists of a meteor with a ton of craters and an eye that pops up in random craters. Aiming for the eye is the tactic to defeat him.

* "This fucker has to have eyes...or something!" in ''[[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crysis Warhead]]'', although the boss in question doesn't actually have eyes as a weak spot.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' The final boss in has to be shot in one of three misshapen eyes. Or in the mouth. The stomach weak point isn't as easy, as it only rarely appears and is really hard to hit.
** Also, the Oculus at the beginning of the final mission is essentially a giant floating eyeball that shoots laser beams.
** One of Tali's lines to her combat drone is "[[ShoutOut Go for the optics, Chiktikka! Go for the optics!]]"
* Completed Reapers in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' are mostly impervious to weapons under dreadnought-grade, ''except'' for the firing chamber of their [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], which sits in the center of each Reaper's "face" and happens to resemble a [[CyberCyclops single giant, baleful red HAL eye]]. Of course, the Reapers aren't totally stupid, so they cover this weak point with thick armor plates when not firing, meaning anyone hoping to get a lucky shot off will generally have to do it while dodging laser beams that can cut through warships with ease.
** The Cerberus Guardian enemy carries a large riot shield to protect itself from attacks from the front. To kill them, you need to either neutralize the shield somehow (use a forceful attack to stagger the Guardian, use Biotic Pull to rip the shield out of their hands, attack them from the flank where the shield doesn't protect them, or bring a weapon with enough cover penetration to bypass it) or carefully aim a shot through the narrow slit that they look through. You even get an achievement for killing 10 Guardians by shooting them through the shield's view-slit.
* In ''VideoGame/PacManWorld'', King Galaxian has four eyes. You defeat it by destroying its eyes, but it becomes faster, uses more shots, and summons more difficult enemies after each eye is destroyed.
* In ''VideoGame/{{World of Warcraft}}'', one of the final bosses of the old world was the EYE of EldritchAbomination Cthun. Merely defeating Cthun's eye was for a long time considered more difficult and hardcore than any of the raids that followed it.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}: Dark Legacy'', if you found the Javelin of Blinding, your character would throw it into the Plague Fiend's eye, temporarily reducing his near-perfect accuracy.
* Oddly enough, the Whomping Willow in ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''.

** This is the most obvious weak spot on the final form of Dark Mind from ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror''. However, you can actually cause more damage by attacking the mirrors it periodically summons for attacks, as they lack MercyInvincibility.
** In ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', the eye is the first part of O2 that you need to aim for, in order to stun it. Afterward, its halo needs be destroyed, which then exposes a spiky growth that can be attacked to cause lasting damage.
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', the FinalBoss has five eyes on various parts of his body which act as his only weak points. Interestingly, only one eye is present at the time, one appearing only when the previous one is destroyed.

* The second form of the final boss in ''VideoGame/{{Purple}}'' can only be hurt by throwing a frisbee on his pair of enormous eyes.
* ''[[VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame Ghostbusters 2009]]'' does this at least twice. The first time is with the Collector (and it's a VERY SMALL eye), and the second is the Juvenile Slor. The JS is a ''double'' example, as you must slime the single eyeball on its head ''and'' contend with the four orbiting "eyes" which threaten you and the others. Naturally there are about a hundred eye-puns throughout. The Sega Genesis game does this a few times, too. There's a One-Hundred-Eye Centipede, which is nothing but eyes, and a floating egg with an eye/mouth (!) that can shoot lasers.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' headshots result in large amounts of critical damage. For enemies that have armored heads you need to aim for the eyes.
** In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' critical hit locations can be anywhere depending on the monster - headshots for most humans, joint shots for Gun Loaders, abdomen shots for bug monsters - but threshers and the nastiest Loader variants, such as SGT and ION Loaders, are mostly vulnerable to eye shots.
* This is how you have to defeat the [[GiantEyeOfDoom Eyebot]] in ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'', by attacking the eye when it is open.
* In ''VideoGame/LaMulana'', Viy is only vulnerable when the lid of his eye opens, which is also when he can unleash his most powerful attack.
* Overlapping with EyeScream, one of the finishing moves against dragons in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' is for the Dovahkiin to jump onto the dragon's head and stab or slash it in the eye.
* The [[http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs41/f/2009/026/f/b/World_holding_up_the_Atlas_by_simplejay.jpg Atlas]] Assault [[HumongousMecha Battlemech]] in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 4'' has the cockpit occupying only one eye (with a [[EyeBeams laser cannon in the other]]. Trying to [[SnipingTheCockpit kill the pilot]] requires you to try and core through the eye armor with your weapons. In several games, the [[GlowingEyesOfDoom eyes also glow]] a [[RedEyesTakeWarning bright red color]].
** Ironically averted by the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 4'' version of the [[http://members.shaw.ca/Wandering_samurai/pics/MW4/MP2_stuff/cyclops02.jpg Cyclops]], which boasts an incredibly obvious red eye on its head. Unlike its mythological namesake, however, shooting out the eye isn't going to do more than inconvenience the 'Mech somewhat, as the 'eye' is actually an isolated and ultimately expendable weapon pod. The actual cockpit and sensors are hidden deep in the chest.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'', the best way to kill a human opponent is to shatter his gas mask, encouraging yout to aim the eyes. [[EyeScream Or melee him]].
* The Dribble Fountain boss in ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' is a giant, floating, horned, tentacled... thingie with a prominently large eye at the center of its huge head. Make three guesses where its weak spot is.
* In ''VideoGame/ChimeraBeast'', this is the weak spot of the second boss (a GiantSquid) and the FinalBoss (a bigger, meaner version of the VillainProtagonist [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Eater]]). Of course, like other Eaters, the final boss has ''multiple'', and you must destroy all four of them to defeat it.
* The Final Boss of ''VideoGame/EpicBossFighter'' can only be hurt in it's eye.
* An atypical example in ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander''. While it's not necessary, any enemy ship can be rendered harmless by disabling or destroying its sensors, making it incapable of firing back.
* The Wall of Flesh in ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' can be attacked in the eyes or the mouth, but the eyes have no DamageReduction and hence take much more damage from attacks.
* In the first ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' game the first boss is an enormous hydra with three eyes. When it opens an eye you have to target the eyes so your yokai will attack it and do more damage.
* Bolly, one of the hardest bosses from ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'', is a hovering machine that is MadeOfIron. The boss can't take any damage unless you shoot its only weak spot, the eye (and even that needs a lot of shoots to take damage, especially if your blaster isn't powered up).
* Ishgardians in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' are trained to target the eyes of their mortal enemies [[OurDragonsAreDifferent the Dravanians]]. A dragon's MagicEyes are the source of their power and longevity, so it is one of the sure-fire ways of killing a dragon.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', you fight [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=]]] by shooting missiles to knock off and incinerate the cores attached to her, all of which look like eyeballs.
** Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' when you have to ADD cores to [[spoiler:Wheatley]] in order to defeat him.
** It should also be noted that even though both [[spoiler:Wheatley and [=GLaDOS=] both have cores that look like eyeballs,]] they can be hit anywhere to knock cores off/add new ones.
* In ''Videogame/FromTheDepths'', ships and aircraft need sensors such as cameras, radar domes, and infrared viewers to detect targets and get ''accurate'' firing solutions. Typically, as on real ships, they are mounted on a single big fragile antenna as high as possible for maximum field-of-view. Knock out that antenna, and even the most heavily armored battleship is left blindly firing its guns in every direction. However, more advanced and damage-resistant designs also have supplemental sensors, such as narrow field-of-view cameras on gun turrets.

** This was the primary goal of the beginning of the first Gulf War - completely knock out the Iraqi radar net at the border in order to blind them, allowing the Coalition to move in unimpeded. Denial of enemy radar continued to be a top priority during the entire operation.

** Remains symbolically true of armored vehicles: any sort of viewing slit provides a gap in the armor, whereas a camera or other remote system is itself vulnerable to being shot off.

* In one crossover, ComicBook/SilverSable stopped ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}} by knocking him to the ground and aiming a gun at his eye, saying that she was willing to bet that his eye wasn't as bulletproof as the rest of him.