History Main / ThousandYardStare

* The TropeNamer and page image is ''That 2,000 Yard Stare'' by Thomas Lea, set at World War II's Battle of Peleliu.

* Lara Croft ends up sporting one of these after her hellish experience on the island in the 2013 reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Tomb Raider|2013}}''. The ship captain who picks her up to save her at the end even mentions it.

* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'': In "Thanos vs Oppenheimer", Oppenheimer has one of these for most of the rap battle, and it has ''nothing'' to do with his opponent; kind of understandable given how much both sides' raps emphasize his role in, and subsequent ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]]'' over, the creation of the Atom Bomb.

* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'': In "Thanos vs Oppenheimer", Oppenheimer has one of these for most of the rap battle, and it has ''nothing'' to do with his opponent; kind of understandable given how much both sides' raps emphasize his role in, and subsequent ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt]]'' over the creation of the Atom Bomb.

** A dramatic take on the trope is used by Blitzo in the recent episode, [[Recap/HelluvaBossS2E4WesternEnergy Western Energy]] after he learns that [[spoiler:The all powerful demon owl Stolas can indeed be hurt plus the fact that his encounter with Striker got him bed ridden by the episode's end, to the point where its implied he didn't text back to Stolas when he was texting to him in his hospital bed out of sheer shock of what he just learned]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E68TheShelter The Shelter]]", Dr. Bill Stockton exhibits one after he emerges from the shelter, having seen and heard everything going on with the people that he considered friends for twenty years.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E80AQualityOfMercy A Quality of Mercy]]", Lt. Katell has one when he returns to August 6, 1945 as he has seen UsefulNotes/WorldWarII from another perspective and has come to realize that killing a weakened enemy is not as black and white as he initially believed.
** In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E82OneMorePallbearer One More Pallbearer]]", Paul Radin exhibits one as he believes that the world has been destroyed by a [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]] and he may be the SoleSurvivor. [[spoiler:The nuclear devastation is in fact a hallucination that he is experiencing.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E108DeathShip Death Ship]]", Lt. Mike Carter has one after he, Captain Paul Ross and Lt. Ted Mason [[DiscoveringYourOwnDeadBody discover their own bodies]] in a crashed duplicate of the E-89 on the thirteenth planet of Star System 51.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E128UncleSimon Uncle Simon]]", Barbara Polk has one when her uncle Simon's lawyer Mr. Schwimmer turns up to inspect the premises and ensure that she is abiding by the terms of his will.

The lights are on, but nobody's home.

See also HeroicBSOD, for what usually goes hand-in-hand with this. A character who exhibits this may be on their way to developing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posttraumatic_stress_disorder posttraumatic stress disorder]] and thus may develop into a ShellShockedVeteran. Such a veteran though may show it as well, particularly if it's something which helps them feel comfortable and cope after their duty is done.

[[quoteright:224:[[WarIsHell https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2000yardstare-lg_9954.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:224:[[ShellShockedVeteran He's]] not staring right ''at'' you, he's staring right ''through'' you. [[note]]This famous painting by Tom Lea, originally titled ''The 2,000 Yard Stare'', is set at the Battle of Peleliu - one of the bloodiest of the US's battles in the [[WorldWarII/WarInAsiaAndThePacific Asia-Pacific Theatre]].[[/note]]]]

* ''Series/RedDwarf:'' Adding to the general creepiness of Rimmer revealing just how bonkers he's gone in "Quarantine" is that he's not looking at the others, just staring into space.

* TheAce does this after being [[BrokenAce broken]] in the ''[[Series/{{Mash}} M*A*S*H]]'' episode "Heal Thyself." While [[OutDamnedSpot compulsively scrubbing away invisible blood]].

* In ''[[LightNovel/FullMetalPanic Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid]]'', this happens when [[spoiler:Sōsuke believes he's failed in protecting Kaname.]] This happens again [[spoiler:after Gauron tells Sōsuke that Kaname was killed by Yu-Lan and Sōsuke snaps.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': In "Remembrance of Courage Past", Courage goes into the stare when he starts having flashbacks of when [[spoiler:his parents were sent to he moon by an evil veterinarian]]. He remains frozen all night and into the next morning, and [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness he doesn't even flinch when Eustace pulls out the "Ooga-Booga-Booga" mask]].

*** Catelyn Stark after she gets the news of her husband Ned's death, though it only lasts [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask until she gets out of sight of the Northern soldiers]], then she breaks down in anguish.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Following the deaths of [[spoiler:Howard Hamlin and Lalo Salamanca]], when Mike is drilling Saul and Kim on how to deal with the mess they helped indirectly create, Kim sits there staring forward in utter shock and utterly traumatized by what she witnessed in the last few hours.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Following the deaths of Howard Hamlin and Lalo Salamanca, when Mike is drilling Saul and Kim on how to deal with the mess they helped indirectly create, Kim sits there staring forward in utter shock and utterly traumatized by what she witnessed in the last few hours.

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Following the events of [[WhamEpisode "Plan and Execution" and "Point and Shoot"]], when Mike is drilling Saul and Kim on how to deal with the mess they helped indirectly create, Kim sits there staring forward in utter shock and utterly traumatized by what she witnessed in the last few hours.