History Sandbox / ScarsAreForeverWickCheck

* Characters/AllForLuzDemonRealm: King has got a fracture on the left-side of his skull during the Ten-Year War, curtesy of All For One.
* Characters/SecretWar: A horrific one is now on his left cheek.
* Characters/MonsterHunterOrage: Shiki has a thin lined scar on his right cheek.
* WesternAnimation/GolanTheInsatiable: According to a flashback in "Golan the Impregnable", the black markings under Dylan's eyes are not make-up, but rather scars from her clawing at her face in anger.
* Characters/ThePromisedNeverland: [[spoiler:She sports a wicked scar down her chest as a result of the surgery that implanted her DeadManSwitch in her heart.]]
* Characters/TheDinosaurLords: The knights who defiled her left a nasty scar on her face. - '''It might be AScarToRemember, but there's not enough context'''
* Characters/CyberTeamInAkihabara: He gets a big scar in the face from his fight against Aphrodite in the final battle.
* Characters/Mabinogi: His face is ''horribly'' scarred from Neamhain's attack on him in Generation 11.
* Characters/DragonCallingMainCompanions: Laeka'Draeon is given one of these across the right cheek by Shifra's dragon-fang dagger, during their first (and unfortunately hostile) encounter.
* Manga/DOGSBulletsAndCarnage: Badou has scars on both his right hand and right eye (underneath the eyepatch). [[spoiler: These are implied to have something to do with his older brother, but little more than a very brief, bloody flashback has been shown so far to explain the wounds.]]
* Characters/NiohOtherCharacters: His most noticeable feature is the explicit burn scar across his face, something inflicted upon him during Nobunaga's reign.
* Characters/NakaimoMyLittleSisterIsAmongThem: Shougo has one on his forehead. Apparently, he got it after he was hit by a car when he was younger.
* Characters/AMoreFlawedGem: Cielo hints at having a few [[GoodScarsEvilScars "cool scars"]] here and there, and is noted by a few to have a distinguishing scar across the bridge of his nose. [[spoiler:Turns out Raven put it there.]]
* KevinAndKell/TropesSToZ: Leona has a scar over her left eye thanks to a hunting match at Caliban where a branch smacked her in the face, requiring her to get stitches.
* Fanfic/LivingInAFrogWorld: [[spoiler:In the "Toad Tax" chapter, Frank gains two scars on his face during his fight with Tartarus: a small one on his left cheek, and a large one on his right eye. In the following chapter, after Anne removes the bandages from his head, Frank's eye scar still remains. He later gains a smaller scar on the right side of his mouth from Sasha in Chapter 23 during their duel at Toad Tower.]]
* TheRival/AnimeAndManga: As it stars [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personified countries]], many characters of ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' are [[TruthInTelevision this to one another, in both the past and the present]]:

* Characters/ILeftTheARankParty: He has a scar across his left eye.
* Characters/BusterKeel: Carries some scar from that time when [[spoiler: Keel's instinctive Gahou managed to actually wound her while she was shielding some thugs from his wrath.]]
* Characters/ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton: As revealed in Chapter 26 of ''The Girl Who Could Knock Out the Hulk'', [[spoiler:Doom stabbing her through the stomach with a Kryptonite dagger left a scar, apparently a permanent one, above her navel and a smaller, matching one on her back]].
* Literature/TheFirstLaw: Abercrombie seems to like scars on his characters. It appears to be one of the running features of his main cast to have some physical peculiarity or visible injury about them. If they don't, they soon gain it in one way or another, for example [[spoiler: Jezal, who was hit in the face with a mace]] and from ''Best Served Cold'', [[spoiler: Monza, who got thrown down a mountain after being stabbed several times.]]
* Fanfic/TheLionOfIvalice: AnyoneCanDie: Roughly halfway through the story, this trope sets in to full effect. While certain characters don't actually die, a few of them are still subjected to ScarsAreForever, such as [[spoiler:Wiegraf losing an arm and the twins' wounds under dark magic.]]

* Characters/TalesOfXillia2: The Official World Guidance reveals that the scar on Julius's left eyebrow comes from when he was sixteen and fought a Fractured version of [[spoiler:Claudia, Ludger's mother]]. The scar remains twelve years later and results in a bald patch that splits his eyebrow.
* Characters/TheOwlHouseTheOwlHouse: [[spoiler:After he gets his second horn back, a visible outline is shown around the area where it snapped off his head. Additionally in "King's Tide", he gets a large crack on his skull when the airship carrying him and the Hexsquad to the Titan's Head crashes and the injury is evidently still there months later given the bandage he has over the spot where his skull cracked in "For the Future". However, by the time of the epilogue of "Watching and Dreaming", several years later, the crack appears to have mostly healed - though still visible, it is significantly smaller and fainter, and he's wearing a green star-shaped bandage over it.]]
* Characters/DaikaijuYuki: [[spoiler: The gashes from where Allie stabbed him while possessed never truly leave.]]
* Characters/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrathKnorth: Jame's left cheek is permanently scarred after ''Seeker's Mask''.
* Characters/ReceiverOfMany: Most of his scars are thousands years old.
* Characters/MyHeroAcademiaVillainArmy: FacialHorror: After the explosive failsafe within Lady Nagant is activated, several cracks appear on her face before she detonates. The next chapter shows that they've left scars running across the middle of her face. [[ScarsAreForever She still retains them]] in her surprise reappearance in Chapter 378. [[/folder]]

* VisualNovel/Shelter2020: Despite Saurian Mana allowing healing and regeneration, quite a lot of the Canine characters sport prominent scars.
* Literature/Stardust: Yvaine limps after her fall from the sky, and Tristran burns his hand -- and in contrast to how it usually turns out in fairy tales, both are somewhat crippled for life as a result. Either there was no cure available, ([[ReedRichardsIsUseless which is difficult to believe]], since they are in a land full of magic, [[spoiler:and they eventually become king and queen of Stormhold]]), or they eventually just decided [[KeepingTheHandicap to keep their handicaps]].

* Characters/HorseshoesAndHandGrenades: The slash on his throat made by Ryusei is still on him when he's resurrected.
* Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIIOriginalPartTwo: After being brought back to life, a scar remains the front and back of his torso which serves as a reminder of his death at the hands of the Vermillion Apocalypse.

* Characters/DiceFunkSeason6Purgatory: [[spoiler:Sharon (as the Woman of Hurt) gets stabbed through the eye by a black amber blade and therefore [[WoundThatWillNotHeal can't be healed.]] She's a skeleton, so she's not bleeding out, but it means that anyone who knows about the Woman of Hurt's injury can put two and two together.]] - '''DistinguishingMark'''
* Characters/Hundred: She has a scar in the middle of her chest from a Savage attack, which also infected her with their virus. Exposing it (along with her breasts) allows Hayato to recognize "Emile" as his childhood friend. Subverted later on, as while she was initially told it would stay for life, it gradually disappears after reuniting with Hayato in Little Garden. - '''DistinguishingMark'''
* Characters/MetalGearSolidV: If you manage to get a good look at his face, you can see that [[spoiler:he still has Volgin's old lighting scars, further hinting at his true identity.]] - '''DistinguishingMark'''
* Characters/Watchmen: He never loses the half-GlasgowGrin he got in Vietnam, just as the perpetrator intended. - '''Presumably AScarToRemember?'''
* Characters/LoreOlympusOlympiansAndOtherDeities: She has two scars around her stomach, [[spoiler: remnants from when Kronos [[HalfTheWomanSheUsedToBe tore her in two]] during the war. They even sometimes reopen partially.]] - '''It's mostly "she has scars" variety, but the last sentence makes it WoundThatWillNotHeal, I suppose'''
* Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple: EyepatchOfPower: Kajima Satomi. The eyepatch (as well as the [[ScarsAreForever scars]] all over his body) is a symbol of his high level of combat experience, particularly learning to cope with defeat. Yet to be revealed whether he's really missing the eye. - '''CoveredWithScars'''
* ComicBook/BatmanThreeJokers: The first issue showcases the multitude of scars Batman has obtained over the years, as well as Barbara's gunshot wound and where Jason's head was smashed in. - '''CoveredWithScars'''

* Characters/Noragami: During a fight with Bishamon, Yato ends up cutting out one of Kuraha's eyes in self-defense. - '''EyeScream'''
* Literature/TheIllustratedMum: Marigold has two diamond tattoos covering up two scars on her wrist, which are the result of her apparent suicide attempt before Star and Dolphin were born. - '''TattooConcealsScars'''
* Characters/Brave10: He gets a long, deep slash from his sternum to his stomach from Fuuma, and forgoes baring his midriff from then on, covering up with a long black shirt underneath his usual clothes. - '''ClothingConcealedInjury'''
* Manga/TricksDedicatedToWitches: Helga has a scar around her neck from [[spoiler:her defeat against Valery two years ago]]. She keeps it hidden with a choker. - '''ClothingConcealedInjury'''
* Characters/PrincessMononoke: Ashitaka keeps one under his left eye, courtesy of San, even by the end of the film, when all his wounds have been healed. Miyazaki also made the decision to keep a tiny patch of Nago's curse scar on his palm to act as a reminder of what it cost to lift; stating that to remove it entirely would not only ruin the symbolism but be too condescending for the intended audience of teenagers who might think it will resurge in a sequel. The joke's still on us though. - '''KeepingTheHandicap seems to include scars, so I'd put it there'''
* Literature/NewJediOrder: In ''Ruin'', Ganner consciously chooses to heal an injury to his face in such a manner that it leaves a scar, as an admonition to himself concerning the arrogance that led him to be injured in the first place. In ''Rebirth'', Tahiri says that she refuses to allow the scars on her forehead to be removed because she "earned" them from injuries inflicted on her in ''Conquest''. - '''KeepingTheHandicap once again'''

* Literature/ProphetsHouse: Ira's fingers were brutally broken by his nurse as a child. [[spoiler:Later Marius cuts open his cheek.]] - '''The injury is described but no mention of any scar'''
* Characters/GhostRiderCentralRoguesGallery: Averted but he did hold a grudge against Ghost Rider for burning his face (because he was dumb enough to try and bite a flaming skeleton). - '''An aversion'''
* TabletopGame/CandelaObscura: so forever they come in three different categories depending on what happens to your investigator during a case; physical, mental, and supernatural.
* Film/MaryQueenOfScots2018: As in real life, Elizabeth is permanently marred by scars from her smallpox infection, even after recovering from the disease. This is the reason she wore heavy white makeup at all times. - '''It seems to fall somewhere between MaskingTheDeformity and TattooConcealsScars, though, admittedly, it's neither, technically speaking. Otherwise it's just "she has scars"'''
* Characters/FeralHearts:
* Characters/HekikaiNoAiON
* Characters/MyHeroAcademiaStudentsFromOtherClasses: InnocentlyInsensitive: She's not very good at reading moods when interacting with Class 1-A. She bluntly asks Todoroki [[ScarsAreForever about his burn]], Shoji's mask, and continues to play with Ashido's horns, despite her annoyance.

* Characters/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrathAnimals: What Greshan did to her to get revenge on Kinzi.
* GunsOfFiction/AssaultRiflesAToH: Rifles may change, but ScarsAreForever. - '''A caption to a picture of a gun'''
* Arrow/TropesNToS: Oliver's scars from his time on the island are a major plot point. See the page illustration to see what we mean.

[[folder:A character has a scar - 21 (38.18%)]]

[[folder:Some reference to the permanency of the scar is made - 6 (10.9%)]]

[[folder:Scars can be healed but are not with no explanation - 2 (3.64%)]]

[[folder:A scar from the lethal injury is still there after the resurrection - 2 (3.64%)]]

[[folder:Examples that fit other tropes better - 13 (23.64%)]]

[[folder:ZCE and unclear - 11 (20%)]]

I know it's an old trope with over 10K inbounds, but it's chairs. I mean, the laconic page is straight up CaptainObvious: "The visual aftermath of severe wounds is permanent." In real life it usually is. I understand that it's different in fiction, and this trope is supposed to be a subversion of expectation of any scar to be forgotten by the next episode, but it's not how it's used. The wick check is going to show that this trope is commonly used for "this character has a scar". At best it's the scar version of the DistinguishingMark, but the latter already includes scars: its trope image even depicts Harry Potter, whose DistinguishingMark is a scar.

I did use a separate folder for the examples that make some reference to the permanency or longevity of the scars, but imo even they are not substantial enough and still boil down to "a character has a scar".

Most examples that are not "this character has a scar" are already covered by other existing tropes.

Though there's an interesting idea about scars from lethal injuries still being there after the resurrection. It might be worth yarding.

There are also a couple examples of characters having permanent scars even though the setting allows healing and regeneration. What distinguishes it from KeepingTheHandicap is that no explanation for retaining the scars is given.

'''[[Sandbox/ScarsAreForeverWickCheck Wick Check]]''' 55 wicks has been checked:
* A character has a scar - 38.18%
* Some reference to the permanency of the scar is made - 10.9%
* Scars are left unhealed with no explanation - 3.64%
* A scar is still there after the resurrection - 3.64%
* Examples that fit other tropes - 23.64%
* ZCE and unclear - 20%

I suggest disambiguating it between DistinguishingMark, AScarToRemember, WoundThatWillNotHeal, CoveredWithScars, TattooConcealsScars, ClothingConcealedInjury, KeepingTheHandicap and maybe other scar tropes.

I know it's an old trope with over 10K inbounds, but it's chairs. I mean, the laconic page is straight up CaptainObvious: "The visual aftermath of severe wounds is permanent." In real life it usually is. And the wick check is going to show that this trope is commonly used for "this character has a scar". At best it's the scar version of the DistinguishingMark, but the latter already includes scars: its trope image even depicts Harry Potter, whose DistinguishingMark is a scar.

* Scars described as permanent or lasting - 10.9%

I can understand the intent behind this trope: unlike RealLife where scars simply exist, in fiction, especially in visual media, maintaining them requires a conscious effort on the creator's part. And it's incredibly common to forgo this effort for the sake of simplicity and/or aesthetics. So if they add a permanent scar to a character, they do it for a reason, therefore it must be some kind of a trope. But I don't see it here.

[[Sandbox/ScarsAreForeverWickCheck:Wick Check of 55 wicks]]

[[folder:Examples that fit other tropes better - 13]]

[[folder:Scars could be healed but are not with no explanation - 2 (3.64%)]]

* Characters/MyHeroAcademiaVillainArmy: FacialHorror: After the explosive failsafe within Lady Nagant is activated, several cracks appear on her face before she detonates. The next chapter shows that they've left scars running across the middle of her face. [[ScarsAreForever She still retains them]] in her surprise reappearance in Chapter 378. [[/folder]]

[[/folder]]