History Main / YourEyesCanDeceiveYou

* ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'', with Ricky's father training him in driving. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Since Ricky isn't a Jedi]], [[EpicFail it goes as well as can be expected]].

->'''Obi-Wan''': This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct.
->'''Luke''': With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?
->'''Obi-Wan''': Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them.
-->-- ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Film/ANewHope''

[[folder: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars''. Obi Wan makes Luke wear a helmet with the blast shield down (and Luke complains about being unable to see) before saying "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." Luke proceeds to actually do really well against the training orb thing. ESP is so handy. [[ChekhovsSkill Later in the movie,]] he puts this to use by turning off his targeting computer before firing the proton torpedo. Ironically, this would subsequently become the most glaring case of ForgotAboutHisPowers in the entire [[Franchise/StarWars franchise]]! In later films, Jedi and Sith alike were regularly shown as being taken by surprise by things they could not see or hear.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[LowerDeckEpisode "The Lower Decks"]] when the blind fighting session is actually training for a test unrelated to sight or combat: After receiving an insulting and abusive dressing-down from Cap. Picard, a young ensign is challenged to a blind-fighting test by her martial arts mentor, Worf. He's nearly twice her size, un-blindfolded, and a master hand-to-hand combatant. After several humiliating take-downs without her landing a blow on him, she rips off the blindfold and tells Worf she thinks the test is a totally unfair and inaccurate measure of her skill. That's when he admits that it was actually a SecretTestOfCharacter (with a name he made up to sound cool in Klingon) and suggests that the next time someone treats her so unfairly, perhaps she won't take as much punishment before speaking up. This helps her realize she needs to stand up to Picard, who is also giving her a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if she can handle a potentially harrowing and stressful secret mission.
* Bra'tac does exactly this to Teal'c in a flashback in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Threshold".

* In ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce,'' Troy practices blindfolded when the team is being beaten up by a MonsterOfTheWeek with SuperSpeed. Of course, being air-powered makes him and Emma the ones best at detecting his movements via air pressure, though the rest of the team does go through the same practice routine eventually.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Bobby Singer does the 'closing eyes and firing on sound alone' technique in "How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters". One hopes the MonsterOfTheWeek had actually killed the deputy it had snatched moments before, or this could have involved some FriendlyFire!
* ''Series/Titans2018''. In Season 2 Dick Grayson has the Titans training to fight while blindfolded, so they can continue to fight [[CrazyPrepared if they are ever blinded or unable to see.]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' has a mysterious bowling-pin-shaped imaginary mentor give--along with various IceCreamKoans--this advice, but for ''[[BowlingEpisode bowling]]''. [[CaptainObvious You need sight in order to know where the bowling pins are.]] [[spoiler: Subverted, as none of his training or advice proves useful and he cannot bowl at all. He was just created by a human who could.]]

In RealLife, this would only make sense if the skill itself involves an invisible element, or if the practitioner is expected to perform the skill under low- or no-visibility conditions (thick smoke, underground, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick eyes gouged out]], etc.) Soldiers in a TrainingMontage may field-strip their weapons, disarm bombs, or perform other precision tasks while blindfolded for this reason. {{Super Soldier}}s do it instead of (or while) smoking, usually during the briefing sequence or the calm before the climactic battle scene. The goal of blindfolded training in martial arts is not to teach someone to fight blind, but merely to speed up reaction time so as to not get caught by surprise, blind or not.

** [[CuteBruiser Toph]] a blind earthbender and the best in history, trains [[TheChosenOne Aang]] this way, the point of which was to get him to rely on vibrations through the ground to "see" what was around him, which, as Toph has repeatedly demonstrated, is damn useful, if not crucial, in earthnending. So useful that [[spoiler:it saved him from a sneak attack by Fire Lord Ozai in the finale.]]

In an attempt to show the supernatural affinity of a character with the skill he is training, [[{{Mentors}} The Mentor]] will [[BlindfoldedVision cover the pupil's eyes with a piece of cloth]], and say some [[DontThinkFeel "Don't 'see' the enemy, 'feel' the enemy"]]. A really key part of this is that the student ''always'' complains (either first thing or after getting their ass handed to them), and it rarely comes up again.

* The Anime/SDGundamForce try using invisiblity magic to sneak up on Kibaomaru, but not only has the warlord foreseen an ambush, his elite guards are good enough to sense the enemy's presence.

* Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[LowerDeckEpisode "The Lower Decks"]] when the blind fighting session is actually training for a test unrelated to sight or combat: After receiving an insulting and abusive dressing-down from Cap. Picard, a young ensign is challenged to a blind-fighting test by her martial arts mentor, Worf. He's nearly twice her size, un-blindfolded, and a master hand-to-hand combatant. After several humiliating take-downs without her landing a blow on him, she rips off the blindfold and tells Worf she thinks the test is a totally unfair and inaccurate measure of her skill. Thats when he admits that it was actually a SecretTestOfCharacter (with a name he made up to sound cool in Klingon) and suggests that the next time someone treats her so unfairly, perhaps she won't take as much punishment before speaking up. This helps her realize she needs to stand up to Picard, who is also giving her a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if she can handle a potentially harrowing and stressful secret mission.

* From a more metaphysical point of view, this statement sums up Plato's (and other rationalist's) stance on epistemology: The senses are not only unreliable in obtaining knowledge, they only convey a limited image of the world. Greater understanding and higher knowledge must be achieved through reason alone. See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_cave Allegory of the Cave]] and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line Analogy of the Divided Line]]. See also René Descartes' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes%27_meditations Meditations on First Philosophy]], which seek to build a construct of absolute knowledge through extreme scepticism of all sensory information, i.e. assuming the possibility that all we believe to know about the world is false.

* ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} blindfolds [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]] for training that involves riding train tops around Bludhaven and doing various balancing exercises to get a better grip of paying attention to his surroundings with senses other than his eyes. He also blindfolds himself, "[[ChallengeSeeker for fun]]".

* In ''FanFic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'', Nova Shine's energy-sensing ability lets him detect magical energy all around him, and he demonstrates this during a sort of play-duel with Twilight where he blindfolds himself and is still able to deflect and dodge magical attacks without issue. However, when Twilight blinds him with a particularly powerful burst of energy, he is forced to yank the blindfold off and return to eye sight.

** During training Giles has Buffy throw a basketball at him blindfolded. She misses him and he starts to lecture her, but the ball [[ExactlyWhatIAimedAt makes several bounces and hits him]].
** However when Buffy has to do an exercise for the Watcher's Council, involving a blindfolded Buffy protecting a training dummy from an axe-wielding Watcher, [[NotHelpingYourCase she ends up breaking the Watcher's ribs and axing the dummy herself]].

* Giles does this to Buffy, in one episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. She has to throw a basketball at him blindfolded. She misses him and he starts to lecture her, but the ball [[ExactlyWhatIAimedAt makes several bounces and hits him]].

* In Season 2 of ''Series/Titans2019'', Dick Grayson has the Titans training to fight while blindfolded, to [[CrazyPrepared prepare them for a fight]] where they might be blinded or unable to see.

** [[CuteBruiser Toph]] (a "super blind ''girl''") training [[TheChosenOne Aang]]. The point of blindfolding Aang was to get him to learn to use tremorsense, which, as Toph has repeatedly demonstrated, is damn useful in earthbending. So useful, that [[spoiler:it saved him from a sneak attack by Fire Lord Ozai in the finale.]]