Follow TV Tropes

Following

Facial Markings

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1151096306659-resized.JPG

"Facial art! Oooh, how very wilderness of you."
Q to Chakotay, Star Trek: Voyager

Gods, demons, high priestesses and almost any other variety of being more powerful than the usual schmoe in the street will be indicated by convenient facial markings, usually in the center of their forehead, on their cheeks, or both. These will often tell the perceptive viewer the owner's moral and ethical alignment (or lack thereof), their team affiliation, and maybe even their tax bracket. If their markings change when they use powers (or more power than they should), it's a Marked Change.

In many series, androids may have an obvious mark that allows humans to instantly identify them as a robot. Sometimes this is a functional item, as in Chobits (see Unusual Ears).

Sometimes, they might simply be tattoos that are rarely commented on, maybe hinted to be clan/regional markers.

Compare Rubber-Forehead Aliens.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • A generic form of this is the forehead dot (or dots) signifying that this person is part of the Buddhist hierarchy. See Krillin from Dragon Ball.
  • 3×3 Eyes: the "Wu", the sanjiyans' immortal protectors, all have the Chinese character for "nothingness" (pronounced "wú") on their forehead.
  • The gods and demons of Ah! My Goddess! all have distinctive Facial Markings relating to their alignment and rank, including Skuld who is a Goddess Second Class Type One Limited. (Her sister Urd is almost the same rank as her, just one higher; so the only difference is that she has no hole in her markings.) All the Goddess' markings are their control programs that help them channel their powers. Belldandy explains this when, due to the crash of Yggdrasil, the Goddess' programs run wild aging Skuld and turning Urd into a little girl. Bell, goddess of the present, is unaffected. This is why Bell and Peorth (both holding identical licenses of Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited) have different markings.
    • Word of God has that the Goddesses classification is based on the types and classes of the Japanese driving license, because Kosuke Fujishima is just that big of a car nerd. Imagine wearing your driving license on your face in Real Life...
  • Shirahime in Angelic Layer had circuit-like marks on her face. It's clearly a design choice, as none of the other Angels look like that, even Blanche and Athena, who are from the same shipment.
  • Many of the Shinshou in Arata: The Legend, like Kannagi, have facial markings and markings in other places that tell other people who they are.
  • Alita in Battle Angel Alita has these, and even their origin is shown along the plot: she made them out of sewer tar in her final battle against Makaku — as a matter of fact, her first victory (against a major villain, anyway). For the OAV, replace "Makaku" with "Guryushika", and "tar" with "dog blood". Also note that this isn't their origin, per se, but an early example of her original personality, Yohko, seeping through the amnesia. The purpose of the markings (beyond cool factor) is unclear, but they could possibly act as glare-reduction. She has them permanently added to her face during the Rollerball arc.
    • Her android replicas Sechs, Elf and Zwölf also have those permanent marks. With Sechs interconnecting into his/her eyepatch.
    • Alita's Facial Markings are explained in the Last Order as a Panzer Kunst practitioner's insignia. She was pretty high in the order's hierarchy, and still considers them important despite (or, maybe, because) they remind her of her past mistakes.
  • Kai from Beyblade has blue triangles on each cheek. They were thought by fans to be tattoos, but apparently it's just face paint, and they don't seem to have any significance.
    • Actually in the Manga version it's a symbol for his hatred (or so...) for his father (or Beyblades).
  • Several Shinigami in Bleach have literal facial markings; Hollows, Vizard and Arancar also have variants on their masks (And some of the Arrancar paint them on their faces after they lose their masks).
    • Ulquiorra's markings actually grow bigger and more demonic as he takes more and more levels in badass in his final fight.
    • And let's not forget the stripes on the left side of Ichigo's mask, which seem to increase in width the more he gets "in tune" with his hollow side.
  • Subtly but ruthlessly deconstructed in Bokurano. Whenever it's the turn of one of the chosen kids to pilot Zearth, a tattoo appears somewhere on their body to indicate that Your Days Are Numbered. Some of these tattoos resemble the conventional use of this trope (the mandala-like design on Chizu's cheek comes to mind), but they don't come with any powers.
  • Aya from Ceres, Celestial Legend had the symbol of the hagoromo appear on her forehead at least once.
  • A large number of the demons in Chrono Crusade have marks on their face in their true forms, including Chrono and Aion.
  • Allen Walker in D.Gray-Man has a red symbol drawn over his left eye. This mark indicates that he's been cursed. It also allows his left eye to see the souls within Akuma, identifying them when they are in disguise.
    • The Noah family also has this, with seven star-like symbols across their foreheads.
  • Jun in Devilman Lady. Her demon beast form has red markings underneath her eyes, which nicely compliment her Supernatural Gold Eyes.
  • Digimon Frontier used this a lot. Agunimon, Kazemon, Grumblemon, Kumamon and Korikakumon all have them. Aldamon also has them due to basically being BurningGreymon with Agunimon's head and limbs while Susanoomon has Agunimon's markings on his helmet.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • In Dragon Ball Z, there are a few notable examples of Facial Markings. Frieza is an obvious one, but it's subverted in that his markings are neither the result of magic, demon heritage (though he can act like it), or tattooing. They're his natural patterning.
    • In Dragon Ball GT, the SSJ4 transformation comes with scarlet eyelids.
  • Each of the Seishi in Fushigi Yuugi have a character marking their identity somewhere on their body, which shows when they use their powers; significantly, Tamahome's is on his forehead, as is Nakago's. Also in this series, the character Tomo wears Chinese opera face paint.
  • Ranpha in Galaxy Angel has a triangle on her forehead.
  • Pretty much every PC (Player Character) in The World, the MMORPG in .hack//, has facial markings, as well as any other tattoos the player felt like adding. The novels explain that these are called "Wave marks", with the shape displaying the character's magical affinity (the different colour varieties are just there for decoration).
    • On one occasion in .hack//SIGN, Mimiru mistakes another player for Tsukasa until she sees his wave marks, since the other player is otherwise virtually identical.
  • Hakuron from Haou Airen has a very distinguishing dragon tattoo on the side of his face. Seems that only Kurumi has seen it and lived to tell.
  • Ladonia of Hetalia: Axis Powers has a thin streak of paint across his nose and right cheek that many mistook for a scar at first. It may have something to do with the fact that he considers himself artistic, and his claim that his king is a talented artist.
  • The above picture is from Inuyasha. This character is a dude named Jakotsu, a part of the Band of Seven, all of whom have stripes of some sort on their faces. Also, when the title character transforms into a full demon, he develops facial markings akin to his brother's (who has stripes and a crescent on his forehead, the later of which he inheritedd from his mother), except that demon!Inu Yasha's cheek stripes are more jagged and he has only one on each side instead of two like his brother. (Although the third film isn't considered canon, the design of Inuyasha's father was the manga artist's creation and it can be seen in the film that his stripes are identical to Inuyasha's demon form stripes and he has no mark on his forehead; apparently, it's Inuyasha who looks like his father, not Sesshoumaru.) Apparently the markings indicate the social ranking of the demon in question, though as for exactly what means what, no one seems to know for sure.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Caesar from Battle Tendency has small rounded triangles under his eyes. Mohammed Avdol and Okuyasu Nijimura also have their own facial marks: two zig-zags down his cheeks, and a sort of x-mark between the eyes, respectively.
  • Members of the Guild in Last Exile develop marks on their foreheads as their 17th birthday (which seems to mark adulthood) approaches. If they do not swear their loyalty to the Maestro within a week after their birthday, the mark is supposed to fade. Marks are also different colors: Most people have black marks, but Maestro Delphine's is pink, and Dio's is orange. It also changes shape after he undergoes the Trial of Agoon.
  • Ghanti from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (2005) has a star-shaped yellow mark under her left eye.
  • Macross:
  • The humanoid form of the Book of Darkness, before becoming the good Reinforce, in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. Red lines all over her body.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny: The Destiny Gundam has scar like markings around its eyes.
  • The Medicine Seller in Mononoke has Facial Markings that change from red to gold when he transforms. His unusual appearance is only noted in Bakeneko when the time shifts to the early 20th century, but is Hand Wave-ed by him stating that he dresses like this because people expect someone in his profession to look 'different'.
  • Naruto:
    • Naruto possesses three whisker-like markings on each cheek. When drawing on the Nine-Tails' chakra, their width increases and their color darkens. Then, they start to flake off the muscle... Naruto's whisker marks are revealed late in the plot to be birthmarks. His mother Kushina (a disciple of Mito Uzumaki) was the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi; as such it's likely that these are a side effect of constant exposure to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
    • Both of Naruto's own children would inherit his whisker marks. Both two on each cheek.
    • Naruto has a secondary facial marking when he utilizes his Sage Mode. In addition to his eyes changing color, the lids and surrounding skin turn red.
    • All members of the Inuzuka clan have dark red, fang-shaped markings on their cheeks. Similarly, Chouji has a set of spirals, while his father has two slightly squiggly lines that stretch from just underneath his eyes down across his cheeks.
    • Played for Drama with Neji, who has a manji/saltire branded on his forehead as part of the Caged Bird Seal that all members of the Branch House are forced to bear.
    • Gaara has the kanji for "love" above his left eye. It's a scar. When he was a young child, the person he trusted and possibly loved like a father was ordered to kill him and said with his dying breath that he has always hated Gaara. (Which turned out to not be true, but Gaara himself wouldn't learn that until several years later). Cue one cosmic-grade mental meltdown, in the middle of which Gaara uses his bound demon's sand powers to carve the kanji in his own flesh.
    • Kankuro's face paint (which changes from one arc to another) is in the style of bunraku artists of old. It's kind of a theme with him, seeing as he also wears an outfit in the style of a Japanese bunraku puppeteer. Including the cat ears.
    • Jiraiya has vertical lines under his eyes. Some flashbacks show these as distinctly smaller when he was younger.
    • Tsunade's diamond is where she stores an incredible amount of chakra for her Forbidden Jutsu which makes her invincible in battle. When she uses it, her face is covered in more markings, which disappear soon after. The lozenge also disappears after using the jutsu, but reappears when she starts storing chakra behind it again. Tsunade probably got the idea from her grandmother Mito Uzumaki, who's a fuinjutsu (sealing technique) user and who had the lozenge seal before her. Later Sakura gets one of her own.
    • In Hashirama's sage mode, though where other characters' sage modes are animal themed, his has a god motif.
  • Chao Lingshen of Negima! Magister Negi Magi has two cute little blush marks on her cheeks. Which are actually the only visible part of the extensive Marked Change that cover her body while she's using her Deadly Upgrade.
    • From the same series is Zazie Rainyday. One can presume that the vertical line through her right eye and tear shaped mark below her left eye are significant, but so little is known about her that it can't be said for certain. She's... quiet. Too quiet. It's later revealed that her twin sister has similar markings, so they may be birthmarks.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: With those scar like markings around Evangelion Unit-01's eyes, it's no coincidence that it's the most prone to going berserk, and has the highest angel body count.
  • Jio Freed from O-Parts Hunter has a black triangle on his left cheek and a white one on his right. While these seem to compliment his asymmetrical clothes they are in fact a tribute to his teacher, Zero who "dies" before the story begins. They are also yet another reflection of his split personality.
  • Luffy's scar in One Piece; even though it is just a scar, he proves to be fairly powerful.
  • In Pokémon: The Series, Ash has thin zigzag-like markings under his eyes. Also a few characters in the first few seasons were drawn with similar markings, with similar marks popping on others every so often in later season though less commonly. By Sun and Moon, the zigzag shape is used to represent Ash specifically, appearing as the symbol within Pikashunium Z.
  • Though not quite the same, when the tanuki in Pom Poko are in human form, dark circles can form around their eyes if they're tired.
  • San from Princess Mononoke has red markings on her face which appear to be tattoos.
  • Uni from Reborn! (2004) has a rather interesting symbol on her cheek.
  • In Revolutionary Girl Utena, Anthy Himemiya and her brother Akio Ohtori both have bindi; the markings are an early indication that they know more about what's going on in the plot than anyone else.
  • During their Transformation Sequence and upon using their extra powers, each of the planetary Senshi in Sailor Moon at least momentarily displays the astrological symbol for her planet on her forehead. In the manga, all of the senshi have their forehead symbols when in princess form. Sailor Moon herself displays a golden crescent moon when she's in her Princess and Neo Queen Serenity forms, as do the two mooncats, Chibiusa in her princess form (as well as when she uses her power beam in the anime), and Queen Serenity. Members of the Black Moon Family, one of the later sets of enemies, bear an inverted black crescent moon on their foreheads. The Amazon Quartet have a dot in the middle of their foreheads.
  • Most of the youkai in Saiyuki, including Kougaiji, Hakkai (in demon form), Gojyo (scars). Sanzo frequently recognizes demons due to their facial marking or birthmark.
  • In Seraph of the End, if these appear on Yuuichirou's face, that means he's/the demon inside of him is about to kick your ass (or already has).
  • Masami Eiri from Serial Experiments Lain has red vertical lines under his eyes when he's an evil-undead-digital-ghost-spirit-god-thing.
  • Soul Eater: Free has the words "No future" tattooed above his left eye and he's an immortal werewolf.
  • The living Emily in Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry, as well as her now-extinct kin.
  • Sasami and Tsunami in Tenchi Muyo!. When he's manifesting his full power, Tenchi also has a Facial Marking. This may be a thing with Juraians, as Ayeka has displayed them whenever going into immediate combat, as has Tenchi's mother, Achika, in the Tenchi Universe continuity. Strangely, it also seems to change their skintone to a darker, more silver-brownish shade.
    • In the Pretty Sammy spinoff series, all the characters in Juraihelm and the magical girls they induct get some sort of facial marking (usually something simple on the center of their forehead, but some have stripes on their cheeks).
    • The darkened skin and triangular black cheek markings seem to be part of the Juraian battle suits that Ayeka and Tenchi possess. Marks on the forehead, on the other hand, are indicators of divine power. Both of Emperor Azusa's wives have circular forehead marks (one for Funaho, two for Misaki), but theirs are just makeup. Jurai's patron goddess Tsunami, as seen above, has two circular forehead marks that are entirely natural. Her older sister Washu has three (but not in her normal "human" guise), and Washu's daughter Ryoko will manifest them as well if and when she achieves her power. Sasami's two triangular forhead marks are likewise not makeup, and instead signify her connection to Tsunami. Tenchi's three triangles appear (and glow) when he's manifesting the Light Hawk Wings, and signify his status as a divine being on a level even higher than Tsunami.
  • Benimaru and Shuna, the ogre prince and princess from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, both have singular red lines running from their eyes down their cheeks, distinctly resembling Tears of Blood. After Rimuru's Super-Empowering advances them along the Bishounen Line, Benimaru's tears become thinner and less prominent, and Shuna loses hers entirely.
  • Each member of Tokyo Mew Mew has a mark left on their body after their injection. Bu-ling's is, yup, on her forehead.
  • Ushio and Tora, the titular Youkai has noticeable black marks on his face, to the point that Hyo described him as the "Kumadori-wearing bakemono" (Kumadori being the facial make-up of Kabuki actors). When we see Tora's origin story, it's revealed that those marks were left by Tears of Blood.
  • Apollo and Mercury have facial marks to distinguish them from their hosts in The World God Only Knows. They're the only ones though.
  • Nataku in X1999 has a lotus-shaped design on his forehead.
  • Yona of the Dawn: Not only do Blue Dragon Warriors have golden, dragon eyes, but also small markings which, ironically are red. The markings seem to occur naturally on Blue Dragons since Shin-ah,s were there from birth. Sharp-eyed viewers will also notice that when Ao dies, his markings disappear as he finally loses his Dragon powers.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • In the original series, Marik sports an inky line under each eye, starting from the outer corner and angling back towards his nose. They're matching accessories for the much, much larger tattoo on his back.
    • In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, people sent to The Facility are given gold face tattoos. The meaning of the various designs, if any, aren't revealed, but the ink itself apparently emits a homing signal if the prisoner escapes.
    • That's in the English translation. In the Original Japanese, the 'Markers' are etched into the skin with a laser. While it is just a theory, the shape doesn't matter, it's the size of the marker (how much of the face it consumes) that could mean something. Like for example: Yusei's crime (trespassing into Satellite) and Kiryu's crime. (murdering a securities officer) Yusei's marker takes up his left cheek, while Kiryu's has the entire right side of his face. The graver the crime, apparently, the larger the marker.
    • The Dark Signers possess red marks on their faces as part of their transformation.
    • Placido has a black mark under his left eye, the meaning is which is as of yet unknown.
  • In YuYu Hakusho, when Yuusuke Urameshi transforms into his demon form, he gains markings on his face and shoulders along with spiky hair down to his knees.
  • In the Zoids: Chaotic Century/Guardian Force anime, virtually every character in the Zoids has some marking on their face. The Ancient Zoidians have dots on their forehead. These markings are absent in the later seasons.

    Asian Animation 
  • In Happy Heroes, one of Careful S.'s split-personality duplicates has noticeable red-colored physical traits to indicate his evilness as his main characteristic. One of these traits is that he has two red facial markings, one on each cheek.

    Comic Books 
  • Dart and her previous mercenary partner Dalia in Atari Force have markings not only on the left side of their faces, but also all over the left side of their bodies, with which they mark each other after a successful mission has been completed. Like her father Mohandas Singh, Dart has a red tilak on her forehead.
  • Tahani, an assassin from Batwoman (Rebirth),wears white facepaint on her cheeks and under her chin.
  • Members of WildStorm Comics' Coda Warriors usually have red facial markings. Zealot, for example, has a red circle on her forehead and red stripes on her cheeks.
    • Copycat of DV8 has an elongated red diamond-shaped mark on her left cheek. Her teammate Threshold has a similar mark over his right eye.
  • Drax the Destroyer and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy both typically appear with facepaint around their eyes. In both characters' cases, the paint is shown to be removable (and in Gamora's case, the color of often coordinated to her outfit).
  • The character 666 from Kingdom Come has one 6 tattooed over his entire face, while the other two 6es are tattooed on his chest.
  • Followers of N'rygoth in Rat Queens have facial tattoos (or ritual scars) above and below their eyes. The further one advances in the religion, the more marks one obtains.
  • In Strikeforce: Morituri, after his Darker and Edgier turn, Marathon uses an industrial laser to brand a massive "M" (for Morituri) across his eyes in order to frighten the Horde.
  • Squirrel Girl has triangles or lines above and below her eyes in most of her earlier appearances (think clown makeup). In The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl it's explained that this was a teenage phase.
  • The title character of Trakk: Monster Hunter has blue lines under his eyes going down the sides of his face.
  • Several characters in The Wicked + The Divine sport facial markings, often around their eyes. Amaterasu has rainbows around her eyes, which Laura emulates when she goes to see her in concert. The Morrigan's aspects Macha and Badb both have raven-like designs, whereas Gentle Annie has a rectangle over her right eye. Inanna has an eight-pointed star around his left eye, matching his icon. Tara's appearance on the cover of Issue #5 has the entire top half of her face coloured blue. They seem to be permanent changes to the gods' appearances rather than makeup or tattoos. For example, after Laura's ascension as the goddess Persephone, we only ever see her with the red triangle on the right side of her face, including after waking up in the mornings and while covered in blood. None of the pantheon with the markings are ever shown applying makeup, and the godly Instant Costume Change also comes with other physical differences, like hair color changes or great abs. Laura's mark disappears after she renounces her godhood and becomes mortal again, apparently confirming that the marks are indeed supernatural.
  • X-Men:
    • Bishop has an M (for Mutant) branded on his face. A lot of the mutants seen in his alternate future also have prominent brands or facial tattoos. Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller of X-Factor acquire received the same M brand from a visit to Bishop's future.
    • Rachel Summers, from another alternate future, was given facial tattoos (or scars, depending on the writer/artist) when she was converted into a Hound. Her Hound marks are almost always tattoos but sometimes Depending on the Artist, their shape, number, and coverage vary from thin dark spider-web-like lines to six larger red marks (recently, they've usually been depicted as two reddish triangular tattoos pointing inward on her cheeks). Generally, she uses her telepathy to mask them from others... or writers simply forgot she had them, as she's a lot prettier without them/with fewer tats. She drops the illusion when she wants to be more intimidating. Or when she's too pissed off to concentrate on it.
      • For a while in the 2000s, during her Marvel Girl years, A Phoenix emblem flared up over her left eye when she used her powers, even when she didn't have the Phoenix Force fragment.
    • Each Genoshan Mutate has their identification number branded on their foreheads.
    • In the alternative reality Age of Apocalypse, most characters have facial markings as well.
    • Shatterstar has a star tattoo over his left eye. In X-Factor Vol. 3, he beats up a guy (and his friends, and some random bystanders) for making snide comments about it.
    • Mister Sinister has a red diamond on his forehead. The Krakoan Age saga reveals that it's actually a playing card pip - whereas people had previously assumed Victorian scientist Nathan Essex became Sinister, he's actually one of four variants that Essex created, one for each playing card suit, and each taking a different path. Sinister's a geneticist and eugenicist, using mutants as raw material for his experiments. Doctor Stasis, similarly marked with a black club pip, seeks to enhance humans. Mother Righteous, marked with a white heart (on her red skin) explores magic powers. And Orbis Stellaris, who's marked with a black spade pip, takes to the stars to exploit alien technology.

    Fan Works 
  • In Bare Squadron, most members of the Pyso family have Dathomiri facial tattoos.
  • In Child of the Storm, Harry, naturally, has his scar.
    • In the sequel, Maddie Pryor a.k.a. Rachel Grey has magically applied facial tattoos.
  • Empath of Empath: The Luckiest Smurf has a yellow star mark on his forehead, which indicates that he has telepathic and telekinetic powers. It's actually his birth mark.
  • In Hero: The Guardian Smurf, the main character Hero has a gold H on his forehead, as does his Opposite-Sex Clone Wonder.
  • In Kara of Rokyn, Kara's cat White Star has a star-shaped mark between his eyes.
  • Ash's marks on the cheeks are a crucial plot point in Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, since many characters who share that trait begin to pop up frequently as the story goes on. It's implied that the reason for this is because they all share the same father, and that the mark is a family trait.

    Films — Animation 
  • The Atlanteans in Disney's Atlantis, particularly the royal family, have multiple facial tattoos. The DVD commentary says these were very hard to animate.
  • Coco: All the skeletons in the Land of the Dead have colorful markings on their skulls, giving them a resemblance to traditional sugar skulls that are decorated or eaten on Dia de los Muertos.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In Ender's Game, the half-Maori admiral Mazer Rackham has his face covered in ta moko markings.
  • The Expendables. General Garza uses them to instill patriotism and pride in his soldiers. (They're also meant to disguise the fact they're re-using the same stunt doubles and extras over and over.)
  • In The Grizzlies, Spring gives herself a traditional Inuit tattoo on her forehead after her ex-boyfriend Roger commits suicide.
  • Ardeth Bay, of The Mummy Trilogy fame, has tattoos across his forehead and both cheeks. They're just clan markings, though.
  • The wuxia Ode to Gallantry concludes with a lengthy, exciting climatic battle against the Three Elites - a trio of deadly martial artists whose faces are painted in red, blue and white, in that order, and with the motif of a burning fire painted on their foreheads. Naturally their facial markings denotes them to be the toughest boss fights in the finale.
  • The oldest son on Once Were Warriors joins a gang that uses markings related to their Maori origins (Truth in Television—see Maori below) and gets half his face tattooed.
  • In Repo Chick, Pixxi's hanger-on SixSixSix has 666 and a barcode tattooed above his left eye.
  • In Snuff Movie, the teenage murderer X has carved an 'x' into her flesh between her eyes at the top of her eyes.
  • Sgt. Todd (Kurt Russell) and the other characters in Soldier have facial tattoos with name, rank, serial number, and blood type.
  • Star Trek (2009): The Romulans have some particularly ornate tribal tattoos. (It's established in supplemental material that these are markings of grief.)
  • The Togrutas from the Star Wars films all have gray markings all over their faces (Shaak Ti's are shaped like rings, while Ahsoka Tano's are shaped like diamonds and jagged lines), as with the Zabraks (Darth Maul has red markings all over his face, while Savage Oppress has orange ones; these are Dathomirian/Sith tattoos that the typical Zabraks of Iridonia lack; their markings tend to be much more subtle) and the Mirialans (Luminara Unduli has thicker dark stripes on her face compared to Barriss Offee's two lines of diamonds across the bridge of her nose). With the Zabraks and Mirialans, these are tatoos related to rites of passage.
  • The Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok has markings near her eye.
  • Blink from X-Men: Days of Future Past, has tattoos around her eyes.
  • In Werewolf By Night, two of the monster hunters, Jack and Liorn, have markings on their faces. Jack tells Jovan that the dark paint around his eyes and white lines are in honor of his ancestors, while Liorn's aren't explained.

    Literature 
  • In The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jakob was attacked by a magician and left with permanent black-and-gray bands on his face as a result. He spent the next few years as a recluse, refusing to leave his family's home. Bartimaeus barely notices the "hideous" bands and assumes that they were intentional. Apparently men from Zimbabwe's Banja tribe will actually pay magicians to use that spell on them because they think it looks attractive.
    Bartimaeus: Anyway, from their point of view you look extremely eligible. [Beat] Except for your hair, which is pretty bad. But so's my master's, and it doesn't stop him from flouncing about in broad daylight.
  • Isaac Asimov's "Breeds There a Man...?": Dr Ralston has a distinctive chemical scar on his cheek.
  • In Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, all people have a clan-tattoo, usually on their face, to signify their clan. Torak has two lines of dots on each cheek (the Wolf Clan symbol), with a scar running through one dot. The scar becomes important when it's revealed in the fourth book that he's clanless, not a member of the Wolf Clan as he'd previously believed. He's also given a Mark of Shame on his forehead in that book, when he's formally made an outcast. Renn has three parallel bars on each cheek (the Raven Clan symbol), and gets a special marking when she starts menstruating. Dark is one of the only characters to not have a tattoo (at least until Skin Taker), since he was abandoned as a child before he was old enough to get his.
  • Heleth, from Douglas Hill's ColSec Trilogy. The tattoos are intended to help her hide in the shadows. And she has Innate Night Vision and preternaturally keen hearing.
  • In Dune, doctors who graduated from the famous Suk School are marked with a diamond tattoo on the forehead. This signifies that they have been through the Imperial Conditioning, which prevents them doing harm ... or so everyone thinks.
  • Earth's Children:
    • The Mamuts - the holy men/women, healers, and storytellers of the Mamutoi, have marks tattooed on their faces so others can easily recognize their status. This keeps being a point of contention for the main character, Ayla, when she claims to be a healer; as she studied with her camp's Mamut, but left before completing her studies, she did not earn the facial mark. She was a fully-trained medicine woman of the Clan (Neanderthals), though many people don't believe the Clan are intelligent enough to understand healing.
    • The Zelandonii have a similar practice; fully-initiated Zelandoni shamans / healers have tattoos on their foreheads, with Ayla gaining one after completing her training with them in The Land of Painted Caves. It's also mentioned other high-ranking members of the tribe have facial tattoos, such Marthona (a former cave leader) and Willomar (the Trade Master).
  • In Harry Potter, the titular character has his famous lightning-bolt scar.
  • The Hunger Games: The gold tattoos above Venia's eyes.
  • In the House Of Night series, vampyres magically develop a blue tattoo of the moon on their forehead. Fledging vampyres only have that symbol; if they survive Changing into adult vampyres, it's surrounded by art that reflects that person's soul. The heroes realize shit is getting really fucked up when they find vampyres with red tattoos...
    • Dragon Lankford's tattoo is, obviously, English-style dragons plunging down the sides of his face. (Yes, it's as cool as it sounds.) Zenobia's tattoo is an abstract design of plunging horses. Zoey's is a lacelike design filled with rune symbols. Shaylin's is a wave, emblematic of her control over water.
  • The titular character from Jennifer Government has a barcode tattoo under her left eye. Unlike most examples, it has no particularly significant meaning; barcode facial tattoos were fashionable in the yuppie set for a period, and Jennifer chose to get the barcode from a "Malibu Barbie" because she worked for Mattel at the time.
  • Monster Blood Tattoo series: Most teratologists have facial markings (like tattoos but made with chemical stains instead of needles and ink), particularly those with implanted organs that allow them superhuman powers, called lahzars. There are two types of lahzars: fulgars, who control lightning, are marked with diamonds somewhere on the face. Wits, who control a form of telepathy, are marked with arrows. Dexters have both sets of organs/powers and combine the diamond and arrow in various ways. There are also skolds (basically battle chemists, without any biological augmentation) and they generally have long stripes over their eyes, from the hairline to the jawline.
  • In Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series, anyone baptized with the Charter has a Charter Mark on their forehead; however, it's usually invisible unless touched, for example, as part of a salute, or if the character is being tested for evil. Nix gets a bit mumbly about what the forehead marks actually do, but it's implied that baptism prevents a person's body from being used by necromancers after death. It may or may not also be a necessary prerequisite to becoming a Charter mage. And in the case of Hedge, selling out to the forces of darkness caused his mark to break, becoming one of the wriggling corrupted charter-runes sometimes used in Necromancy and Free Magic.
  • In Snow Crash, some jurisdictions tattoo warnings on convicts' foreheads. Raven's forehead tattoo reads 'Poor Impulse Control'.
  • Gully Foyle, the Anti-Hero of the famous Roaring Rampage of Revenge SF novel The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, has the word "N♂MAD" (and a Maori-style mask of stripes) tattooed on his face by members of a Cult. (It's the name of the wrecked ship they saved him from.) He later has it very painfully removed, but it leaves scars that flush red whenever he feels anger or some other strong emotion, forcing him to learn to control his feelings.
  • There are multiple examples in the various Star Wars Legends and Star Wars Expanded Universe works:
    • The Kiffar, near-Humans, have markings that show what family they come from, among other things. Most well-known example would be Quinlan Vos.
    • Sith are expected to have a Sith tattoo (traditionally on the forehead).note 
      • As a Zabrak, Darth Maul is expected to tattoo his whole face to mark his heritage as well. He steps it up by tattooing his entire face and body with a red and black Sith tattoo that evokes a devil-like image in the movie.
      • The New Sith Order from Star Wars: Legacy has everyone wearing these tattoos, including their leader, who has his tattoos under his mask. Compare with Darth Talon, who shows off most of hers.
      • While most of Krayt's minions are tattooed red and black, Darth Nihl retains his original white skin, albeit with black tattoos, probably because it let him go for the skeleton look.
    • A number of Jedi women mark themselves. Master Fy-Tor-Ana had a tiny symbol in the middle of her forehead. In Shatterpoint, Depa Billaba bore two gold beads, the larger on her forehead, the smaller on the bridge of her nose between her eyes, marks of Enlightenment. Bariss Offee and Luminara Unduli, Mirialans both, had facial tattoos.
  • The Stranger Times: A sect of violent wizards called the Ceathramh (from the Scottish Gaelic for 'quarter') paint or tattoo their faces into multicoloured quarters.
  • In the Sword of Truth, Confessors do this in the Con Dar. War Wizards do this when they're really pissed off. The Mud People do it to communicate with their ancestors.
  • Tales of Kolmar: When Akhor becomes human, he loses the soulgem that was set into his forehead, retaining only a faint mark. His children similarly look human, but have tiny bumps in their foreheads where their soulgems would be, if they were dragons.
  • In Specials (the third book in the Uglies series), Tally and her Special friends get face tattoos that pulse with their blood circulation.
  • The Ugly Little Boy (1991): Timmie has a birthmark on his cheek that Miss Fellowes describes as a lightning bolt, and the neanderthal People call skyfire (thus naming him Skyfire Face).
  • Most of the Cetagandans of the Vorkosigan Saga wear elaborate full face paint that indicates their rank and clan affiliation. In "Cetaganda", it's mentioned that young people are currently experimenting with rebellion by reducing the paint down to just a cheek decal, a style being disapproved of by the older generation. Haut Women are the only Cetaganadans depicted without any face paint, their loyalty being to the Haut Genome first and foremost, rather than any Haut or Ghem clan, and they typically only go out in public in opaque forcefield bubbles anyway.
  • Warrior Cats: Archeye is named for the thick black stripe over one of his eyes.
  • In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the unnamed Good Witch of the North kisses Dorothy on the forehead before sending her off to the Emerald City, leaving behind a shining circular mark that indicates she is under the Witch's protection.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In Babylon 5, a silver triangle appears on Delenn's forehead when she senses Morden's connection to the Shadows, and in the flashback of the interrogation of Sinclair at the Battle of the Line.
  • The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: It's not usually obvious due to his hairstyle, but his forehead is blue. He shares this with Maudra Fara, so it seems to be a common trait of the Stonewood Clan.
  • Doctor Who: In "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos", the Ux are distinguishable from humans by the raised spiral markings on their cheeks.
  • The Expanse: Many Belters have facial tattoos to mark their allegiance and place of origin. Tattooing is in general considered a high art form among the Belters, and many Belters are elaborately tattooed.
  • Game of Thrones: Talisa describes a mundane version among the slaves of Volantis, who have cheek-tattoos to indicate their occupation.
  • Goodbye My Princess: Danchi men have tattoos on their faces.
  • In Kamen Rider Kiva, members of the Fangire race gain a stained glass-like pattern on their face when they transform into their monster form or feed on humans. The protagonist, a Half-Human Hybrid, gets two stained glass streaks on each cheek when he transforms into Kiva.
    • Similarily done in Kamen Rider Double, where every Rider gains facial markings for the duration of their transformation. And in a Jidaigeki influenced dream-sequence, Shotaro's facial markings get replaced by Kabuki-facepaintings.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Adar carries a Slave Brand on the left side of his face, implied to be made by Sauron.
  • Love and Destiny: Jing Xiu's subordinates have them. Jing Xiu himself has them on top of his head as well as on his face.
  • The Mandalorian: Cara Dune has a marking below her left eye that, at first glance, looks like a beauty mark but closer inspection reveals it's actually the Starbird symbol used by the Rebel Alliance.
  • In Red Dwarf, holograms always have a large metallic "H" on their forehead (except in rare circumstances where a hologram poses as a human).
  • Stargate SG-1:
    • Low-ranked Jaffa wear a black tattoo of their Goa'uld lord on their foreheads.
    • Some Jaffa have silver overlaid on their tattoos to represent a higher rank.
    • The gold symbol shows the Jaffa is First Prime to their Goa'uld. In "Bane", Teal'c explains that getting one involves cutting the forehead to the bone, affixing a mold, and pouring in molten gold.
    • Rak'nor, one of the leaders of the Jaffa rebellion/Free Jaffa Nation, had his father burn off his tattoo with a hot iron. Remember, this is a tattoo on his face. Regardless of which side they're on, Jaffa are hardcore.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "Past Tense," when Dax has travelled back in time to 21st-century Earth, a human who finds her inquires about her Trill facial spots, admiring her unusual "tattoos." She readily goes along with it.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: Chakotay has a facial tattoo which is a tradition of his (fictional) Indigenous American nation. At one point Q tries to one-up him with a bigger tattoo.
  • Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms: Yan Zhi and Bai Feng Jiu have black and red (respectively) markings on their faces.
  • The Tribe: It's after the collapse of civilization, food is in short supply, water is in short supply, it's a Crapsack World where scavenging is the only way to get anything, but everyone still has an unlimited supply of makeup and hair dye with which to cover themselves in tribal markings.
  • Vikings: Harald Finehair, his brother Halfdan the Black as well as their tribe (for the first part of season 4, at least) has their faces heavily tattooed.

    Music 
  • Adam Ant. The white stripe across his nose, the red stripes across the right cheek, and the thin black lines under the cheekbones.
  • Alice Cooper. Alice is famous for his creepy clown-like makeup.
  • KISS. Their infamous stage makeup takes this to an extreme.
  • Facial tattoos have become a staple of Trap Music aesthethics. Notable examples include Post Malone, XXXTentacion and Gucci Mane.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • "Exotic" Adrian Street, to emphasize how pretty he was, as did later imitator Rico Constantino.
  • Missing Link, as part of his "savage" gimmick.
  • The stalker painted camouflage on his face.
  • Kamala, Kamala II, The Great Kabuki and The Legion of Doom in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
  • Demolition as expies of the Legion Of Doom. Even Mr. Fuji got in on the act when he was their manager.
  • Sensational Sherri Martel had distinctive facial markings, alternating between excessive eye shadow and outright paint, which Alissa Flash used to imitate.
  • Doink the Clown, obviously, being a clown.
  • Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz painted his face to look like a baseball.
  • Zodiac had a zebra stripped face and zebra gear.
  • Luna Vachon and Bull Nakano had markings to make it look like they had veins popping out of them. Nakano on her cheek, Vachon on the side of her shaved head.
  • AJA Kong usually wrestles with her face red, or blue, or some combination of both.
  • Mr. Pogo, the Gladiator and Shark Tsuchiya of the Trope Namer for Garbage Wrestling, FMW
  • Sting typically painted his face as Surfer Sting, Crow Sting and Joker Sting and during his Blade Runner days, as did his partner, Ultimate Warrior.
  • Kamala and Zodiac were joined by The Taskmaster, Meng(who usually went without them) The Barbarian (presumably Tongan war paint) and The Ultimate Solution in the Dungeon of Doom. They were led by Kevin Sullivan after all.
  • Booker T wore a rebreather in WCW, for an example with "practical purpose". Satoshi Kojima and Montel Vontavious Porter also have been know for wearing them.
  • Vampire Warrior typically paints his face. He doesn't need to apply anything for the fangs though, those are always there.
  • AAA has Cuervo, Charley Manson, Escoria, Espiritu, Ozz and many, many others.
  • Tazz as "The Tazmaniac" in ICW/IWCCW, W*ING, the USWA, SMW and ECW, until he dropped the gimmick in mid-1995.
  • Jeff Hardy, who has distressingly gone so far as to paint his arms and torso too, with glow in the dark paint that rubs off on his opponents.
  • Goldust, specifically in emulation of the Oscar award. He also has a wig.
  • Crash The Terminator in ECW. Also Nova, to make him look more superhero like presumably. The depressed Raven often had black lines running down his face. The Blue Meanie had excessive eyeshadow.
  • When The Great Muta, who himself paints his face, unmasked Jushin Thunder Liger, he found himself staring back at another face painted man who proceeded to use his tricks against him in revenge.
  • Boogeyman has a red head, not hair, that's black, his head is red. And sometimes filled with shards of glass, but that's another topic.
  • Umaga, in addition to a bunch of tattoos. His face paint started to sweat off when he wrestled outside in Iraq.
  • Demus 3:16 and Stalker Ichikawa in Pro Wrestling Guerilla
  • Sara Del Rey and Amazing Kong took to painting their faces, the former giving herself and two giant eye brows and the latter two giant bags, when they teamed together to destroy their mutual enemy MsChif, who had already been known for painting her face before matches by that point.
  • CMLL, AAA star and member of Los Indestrucibles, Arez, not only has face paint but paint down his neck that makes it look like there is a mouth on it. One of Arez's partners, Impulso, has a blue lightning bolt painted on his face.
  • The Nigerian Nightmares and their manager in the USA, Voodoo Princess Sheeta.
  • Despite protesting that they are not "your father's Samoans." The Usos did end up painting half of their faces before matches. Even with that addition, they still likely weren't "Your father's Samoans".
  • Heidi Lovelace has markings on her face that make her look like she's been stitched together.
  • Tonga and Doc Gallows of Bullet Club cover their faces in paint.
  • In Progress Wrestling Jimmy Havoc has had his face painted on more than one occasion.

    Tabletop Games 
  • It's certainly not required for them to get their Juice going, but sykers in Deadlands: Hell on Earth and Lost Colony frequently tattoo their (beautiful, beautiful bald) heads. Many sykers on Earth that didn't swear the "Oath of Unity," a pledge to not harm other sykers, had their foreheads tattooed with big red letter A's through means unknown. (It stands for "Apostate", and apparently another group of sykers did it to mark the damn self-serving freaks.)
  • Almost all the Exalted have this in some form. They're not visible normally, but spending Essence makes them flare up.
    • Solars have a glowing golden symbol which is abstraction of the appropriate position of the sun for their caste.
    • Abyssals have the same symbols, but they're dark holes into the Well of Oblivion, and moreover drip blood.
    • Sidereals have the symbol of their Maiden, in her colour.
    • Lunars have a full moon for the Full Moons, a crescent moon for the Changing Moons, and a hollow circle for the No Moons, which rather unsurprisingly glow with moonlight. (And then there are the moonsilver tattoos, used to keep them from turning into formless, ever-shifting horrors called Chimerae from over-enthusiastic shapechanging or Wyld exposure.)
    • The Green Sun Princes' caste marks glow with the light of the radioactive green sun of Malfeas, and are different from the Solars, unlike the Abyssals. Slayers have a pair of crossed cutlasses, Malefactors have an hourglass, Defilers have an eye with a flame for a pupil, Fiends have a solid disc, and Scourges have a hollow circle.
    • Sidereals have the astronomical symbols of the Maidens corresponding to their castes on their foreheads, though these only show up if they spend lots of essence. For the most part, Sidereal anima displays are conveniently subtle.
  • Warhammer 40,000. Eldar Farseers, specifically females, tend to pop up in fan art/fic with a distinct style of facial markings: three blood-red lines extending down from each eye towards the chin. This is probably Macha's fault.
    • The members of the forces of Chaos can also have markings, sometimes runes sometimes pictures or the symbol of a dark god or the eight pointed star. Many of them are simply carved out of the flesh.
    • Aside from their pale skin and singsong accent, one of the more distinguishing characteristics of the Tanith-born members of Gaunt's Ghosts are blue facial tattoos that vary from man to man.

    Video Games 
  • Haseo (and a lot of other people) from the .hack//G.U. trilogy. And they change as he powers up, too.
  • The Dalish elves from Dragon Age have facial tattoos called vallaslin, most of which indicate reaching adulthood. This makes them very easy to tell apart from the elves that stay enslaved by humans. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Solas reveals that the vallaslin is actually an ancient type of Slave Brand used by Elven nobility of history to mark their slaves.
  • Pact-partners in Drakengard all have an intricate black mark somewhere on their body symbolizing the price they paid for their pact. Only one of them actually has a mark on his face (though we never see the whole thing in-game, it actually goes from his face down to his chest), but another has a mark covering his scalp, and a third is marked on his eyes. No, not his eyelids—his eyes.
  • Toar from Echo: Secrets of the Lost Cavern has a view red specks on his face.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • These are an option for the Player Character during character generation in a few games in the series. In Morrowind, they appear on a few default faces for the Dunmer (Dark Elves) and Nords. In Skyrim, a player character of any race can be created with a number of different styles, with some differing from race to race. They also appear on some random generic enemies, such as bandits. The Forsworn have unique versions that cannot be used by the PC (without using Mods, at least).
    • In universe, the Nibenese (one of the sub-races that make up the Imperial race along with the Colovians) would often apply facial tattoos. By the 3rd Era, this practice has all but died out.
    • Throughout the series, this is a common trait of the Dremora, an intelligent race of lesser Daedra who are most commonly found in the service of Mehrunes Dagon as his Legions of Hell. They are known to adorn their faces with red markings and symbols.
  • While all races in EVE Online can have tattoos and various body modifications for cosmetic purposes, the Amarr consider prominent metallic implants on the forehead/face to be a status symbol, available only to the higher echelons of society. Conversely, the Minmatar use their extensive tattoos to mark an individual belonging into a particular clan or having a specific destiny. They also use dyes that change color according to the wearer's state of mind.
  • In Evolve Maggie has patterns of black spots on her forehead and cheekbones, as well as some sort of flanged design over each eye. According to her they're not tattoos but facial paint. The design was the mark of a gang she ran with as a teenager, the Trapjaws, until the monsters attacked her colony. As the last surviving member of the group, as well as the planet in general, she keeps the markings as a reminder even after she acknowledges that she would have outgrown them.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.
    • Reno in Final Fantasy VII has seemingly red tattoos the shade of his hair curving under his eyes. His Kingdom Hearts officially confirmed Expy Axel has little dark purple upside down tear drops under his eyes as well, naturally, though he loses his after his Character Development takes him in a different direction.
    • Ultimecia of Final Fantasy VIII takes this to some kind of record-breaking extreme.
    • Every Guado in Final Fantasy X has some kinda weird network of colored ridges/facial markings over their foreheads and going down their cheeks. Lots of gamers mistake them for veins, but they're not — it's just that the color of the markings matches the color of the Guado's hair, and the Guado (or, more accurately, half) the game gives the most screentime to happen to have blue hair.
    • In Final Fantasy XVI, Bearers are magic users who are treated like slaves and given a tattooed Brand that runs diagonally on their left cheek. The ink used in the Brand is poisonous, meaning only skilled surgeons can remove it without killing the Bearer.
  • Most, if not all, Cat or Tiger laguz in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn have markings on their faces when in human form, usually the same color as the character's hair (and thus, their fur when when transformed).
  • Kratos in the God of War series of games has full-body markings, including a red mark going around his bald head, down his forehead, over his eye, and down to his cheek.
    • Though, his markings aren't actually story-related, it's the scar given to him by Aries when they kidnapped his brother Deimos, thinking a skin disorder was a prophesized mark that he was born to destroy Zeus, the prophets were vague, as the "mark" was the scar under Kratos' right eye.
  • In Golden Sun, Menardi has red markings around her eyes. In The Lost Age, Karst has a similar marking around her left eye (more obvious in her character art, because of how her face icon is shaded in-game). Whether it's tattoos, birthmarks, or just makeup is unknown, along with the meanings. Some interpretations of their respective partners-in-action give them more subdued versions as well.
  • Two different groups in GreedFall wear them. The first are the Nauts, who wear facial tattoos that tell their life story. The second are the islander natives, who often wear face paint while a select group will also have a plant-like marking somewhere along their face and/or neck.
  • The Apiarians in Haven (2020) all have white face markings. They're a naturally-occuring trait within their race that varies in intricacy from one individual to another.
  • The Krimzon Guard in the second Jak and Daxter game were tattooed to mark them as Guards. Of course, the Rebel Leader, The Dragon, and the Rebellious Princess have different tattoos than every other Mook.
  • In the first Knights of the Old Republic, Darth Malak, Uthar Wynn, and Yuthura Ban are all tattooed. Since this is only forty years after Exar Kun, they might be carrying on the tradition. Jana Lorso, also has some facial tattoos.
    • In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Republic players can choose to play a Mirialan, sporting the culture's tattoos. The Sarkhai culture (seen in the Consular story) also uses black painted facial markings, as seen on the Consular's Padawan Nadia Grell and her father. Consular companion Felix Iresso also sports some tattoos on his cheeks and jawline while his counterpart for the Inquisitor storyline Andronikos Revel has a tattoo covering his left eye.
  • Manamia from The Last Story has a ring or dots on her forehead.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • What Fierce Deity Link from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask lacks in irises and pupils, he makes up for with Facial Markings and supernatural badass.
    • If Impa in Skyward Sword and the Shrine Monks in Breath of the Wild are any indication, particularly pious Sheikah favor facial markings, including one of a large stylized eye covering the forehead (imparting a subtle Third Eye motif). In Breath of the Wild, Impa's granddaughter Paya also has this "Sheikah Eye" tattooed on her forehead and nose; she explains that it's a talisman for warding off evil that's customary among those with a long Sheikah lineage.
  • Turians from Mass Effect tattoo their faces with patterns which identify their home colony, a cultural artifact of the period of extreme nationalism prior to their Unification War. The Codex mentions that the Turians use 'barefaced' as a synonym for 'untrustworthy' (or 'politician'), since such a person is concealing their true allegiance: neither Saren nor the warden of Purgatory have markings.
    • Asari tend to have patterns on their faces in differing shades of blue, red and white. It's unclear whether they are genetic or tattooed, though Aria's markings' symbolic shape suggests they're tattooed.
    • As of ME3, if she is romanced, the photo which Tali gives Shepard shows that quarians have distinct facial markings as well.
    • Kasumi wears a geisha-esque square of purple lipstick both on and under her bottom lip, presumably as homage to her Japanese roots.
  • Most of the villains in the Mega Man X series of games have facial markings, most notably Sigma. His facial scars (obtained after he turned Maverick) managed to stay with him even if he had a new body.
    • Note that "new body" means "my head has detached and is now attached to this other body" at least half the time.
    • Don't forget Bass/Forte's purple face markings from the classic Mega Man series.
    • Rey and Pat from Mega Man Star Force also get markings when they fuse with Gemini.
      • Solo has them as well in the later games.
    • By the time of Mega Man ZX, humans and reploids are identical, save that reploids wear red triangle facial markings which resemble X's as a courtesy.
    • Harpuia and Fefnir of Mega Man Zero have green and red marks respectively.
  • Faith, the lead of Mirror's Edge, is shown with unusual facial markings along her right eye.
  • A few characters in Mortal Kombat have facial markings, such as Nightwolf, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, the latter of which has facial markings that only appear in Mortal Kombat 3.
  • Though she's wolf instead of human-shaped like the other examples on this page, Amaterasu of Ōkami is still a goddess, and so has a red pattern over her forehead and shoulders. The design becomes much more intricate once she achieves full power at the very end of game, along with gaining more pronounced "wings" on her forelegs and some kind of floating, skirt-like aura around her hindquarters.
    • Amaterasu's markings are Invisible to Normals, so most people see only a white wolf. The very powerful can see her true form, that of a beautiful woman.
    • The protagonist of the sequel, Ōkamiden, is a wolf puppy with very similar markings.
  • D.Va from Overwatch has a set of pink markings on her cheeks, which only further accentuates her Animesque characteristics. Given her status as an internet celebrity, this may very well be deliberate.
  • The Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl in Pacify has a black X over her mouth, and black covering her eyeslids.
  • Red Goddess: Inner World: Divine has white square-like markings on her cheeks.
  • A standard customization option for all characters in Rift.
  • The main character of Rogue Galaxy has inexplicable stripes on his face. Well, actually not so inexplicable, once you learn who his ancestors were . . . .
  • Most Felineko from Solatorobo have a single stripe on each cheek. Nero and Blanck both sport small, light lines as well, though theirs have more of a Tron Line appearance due to their purpose and unnatural origins.
  • Suikoden Tierkreis gives us an entire village where people's faces are ritually tattooed at a young age; outcasts have their tattoos magically turned red. The end result is that, no matter their combat prowess, even the 12 year olds look badass.
  • In Super Robot Wars Judgment, those who are in the Knight caste of the Fury, an alien race (most of whom are Proud Warrior Race Guys), have facial markings on their faces.
    • Nearly all the various Human Aliens who appear throughout SRW have these, in fact.
  • Aeon officers in Supreme Commander wear white makeup/tattoos, usually in a pattern of broken or unbroken white lines. Sometimes accompanied by other forms of makeup, such as Crusader Rhiza's green lipstick in Forged Alliance.
    • Cybernetic Symbionts have circuitry patterns on their faces. UEF Symbiont circuitry glows blue, while red facial circuitry is the hallmark of the Cybrans.
  • Klarth F. Lester of Tales of Phantasia has arcane lines running down his face and arms. They're never directly explained, but presumed to have something to do with the Summoning process.
    • The protagonist of Tales of Legendia has tattoos across his forehead and down his right cheek. They are never explained, nor remarked on by any of the other characters. However in Radiant Mythology he explains the marks look cool to another character from an unreleased game in America.
  • Seemingly averted by Virtua Fighter character Wolf Hawkfield who has facial markings that probably have more to do with his Native American heritage or his working in Professional Wrestling.
  • The female Night Elves in World of Warcraft sport various facial markings (or, sometimes, none at all). It's not clear if these are permanent tattoos or merely decoration.
    • It's stated in the most recent patch that they are, in fact, tattoos. The barbershop dude says something to the effect of, "We can cut hair, trim beards, and even ink Night Elf tattoos!"
    • Female Draenei also feature a sigil on their foreheads. Given that a glowing rune appears there when they use their racial healing ability, it's likely significant to their connection to the Naaru.
      • Or it could just be a sexually-dimorphic version of the big ol' bony ridge male draenei have on their foreheads.
  • Wulverblade: All the Player Characters have light blue markings on their faces. They seem to be purely aesthetic, though.
  • Xenosaga: In a flashback we see that Andrew, as part of his "personality reconditioning", displays glowing Hebrew letters on his forehead when extremely angry.

    Visual Novels 
  • Actually a plot point in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice. Monks and other holy figures in Khura'in all have facial markings tattooed on their face, each marking unique to that person. A registry of which marking goes to what person is kept in the royal palace, which is needed to identify a dead body.

    Web Comics 
  • Rishan in Alien Dice have markings that indicate ancestry.
  • But I'm a Cat Person: Lightning has dark streaks down the sides of his face, loosely mimicking the coloring of his Bearded Vulture form.
  • Every robot in Coga Suro will have some variation of facial markings, usually a box shape on either side of the jawline. The one combined robot features both of her "predecessors" facial markings overlaid over each other.
  • in Crankrats, most Altavians have "clan markings" tattooed on their faces.
  • Kili's facial markings in The Dragon Doctors are a form of Power Limiter; her spirit vision is too strong and without them, she'd go insane from seeing everything at once.
  • These are fairly common in the world of Drowtales, mostly taking the form of clan associated markings, usually in clan colors. The Kyorl'solenurn also wear facial markings (usually on the forehead) that denote which religious Order they belong to.
  • Gifts of Wandering Ice: The birth of twins is considered a bad sign in hunters' tribe, and to prevent any mischief that can possibly come from the visual identity of two people one of the twins — usually a younger one — is to be marked with a red tattoo on the face. Being a younger brother Rikter has such tattoo — three red stripes on his right cheek.
  • Girl Genius:
    • Bangladesh DuPree has a little stylized skull centered on her forehead, which makes her very easy to quickly identify even in crowd shots.
    • Squinaldo has rounded triangles tattooed on each of his cheeks, which helps make him stand out as one of the prisoners who can be identified and named.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court: Reynardine gets the alchemical symbol of antimony on his forehead to symbolize that he's been put on a leash. The symbol appears and disappears by his desire.
  • About 90% of the characters of Juathuur. More often than not, a given family will have similar symbols.
  • Though it's just fur, Cypher, Sudoku, and Jigsaw in Last Res0rt all have stripes of some kind going through their eyes, and they also happen to be the more interesting/dominant characters of the family. It may not be tied into any special powers, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
  • Violet from The Noordegraaf Files appears to have some; we've never seen her face, but pink marks can be seen when she is viewed in profile.
  • In The Order of the Stick, both Girard Draketooth and his son (or maybe grandson) Orrin Draketooth both have a facial mark. Girard's is on his left cheek and Orrin's is on his right, but they're otherwise identical. This may be some sort of clan tattoo, or it may be a symbol of magical power. Since neither man has made an in-person appearance yet, we don't know. It's shown later to be common to his entire family, and is actively called a tattoo at one point.
  • Outsider: Talon and Spiral have matching tattoos on their right cheeks, a symbol of their training in the same diral — trainee group — at the Tenoin Academy.
  • Pandect: Aces (animals given a human body) often have facial markings if their animal species has them (cheetah tear marks, for example).
  • In The Rifters Marsh definitely has something on his face. Not sure if it's a tattoo or paint, but it's a distinctive marking.
  • Meditans in Sarilho paint their faces with ash to signal grief. Nikita has his face painted through the entire fourth chapter.
  • Francesca of The Thing That Would Not Leave has a red heart painted beneath her right eye.
  • Graham's tattoo in Wizard School marks him as The Chosen One — despite being applied by a tattoo parlor whilst he was in a drunken daze.
  • In Yokoka's Quest, demon characters feature a variety of facial (and body) markings - it hasn't been made clear as to whether these are natural or tattoos.
  • Zebra Girl:
    • Viv has one on the right-side of her face.
    • Tomie's human form has her insignia tattooed on her forehead.

    Web Original 
  • Dreamscape: Soya has the standard '2 slash-like markings under the eyes' kind.
    • As of episode 7, Melissa gets purple dots under her eyes as part of her Clothing Switch.
  • DSBT InsaniT: Seth has silver rectangular ones under his eyes as of his Clothing Switch in episode 7.
  • Several Lucain markings on The Lands Of Evelon are these. Also, some other pets have unusual markings on their faces as well, such as the Baskerville, which has a skull marking over one eye.
  • Looming Gaia: The chiefs and chieftesses of the ancient Boanningwad elves, and in the present day the rulers of the Empire of Damijana, get red dots tattooed under their eyes and on their eyelids. If their people overthrow them, they have the tattoos removed by burning, blinding them in the process.
  • Mysterious Waif-tan sometimes has the Chinese pictogram for tea tattooed upon her forehead.
  • Alpha from TOME has black stripes from just above his eyebrows to just bellow his eye.

    Western Animation 
  • In Angel's Friends, Sulfus has his iconic red star over his eye. This makes him real gothic.
  • Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender has full-body arrow tattoos down his arms, legs, and spine, including a tattooed arrow pointing downwards on his forehead, designating him as an airbending master. All the tattoos glow along with his eyes when he taps into his Avatar Spirit.
    • The creators have confirmed that these tattoos are, indeed, "full body".
    • The assassin Combustion Man has a third eye tattooed on his forehead that is apparently a vital part of his explosive power.
    • The Yu-Yan Archers have red tattoos on their faces labeling them as elites. The Rough Rhino Vachir, who was a Yu-Yan Archer before being dishonored for failing a mission, has one as well.
  • In Code Lyoko, Aelita and Odd have markings on their faces (pink and violet, respectively) in their Lyoko forms; Yumi sports Geisha-style make-up.
  • Ember in Danny Phantom as one straight and one curvy black streak coming out of each eye, adding to her already punk rock look.
  • In Exo Squad:
    • The Neosapiens are occasionally referred to as "tattoo-heads" because each one has a unique "broodmark" tattooed on their forehead so Terrans can tell them apart.
    • Resistance leader Sean Napier, who wore a stripe of brown face-paint over his eyes and two blue streaks on his cheeks for no apparent reason. In the final episode, when he becomes a politician after the war ends, he stops wearing the paint, and is practically unrecognizable.
  • Fox from Gargoyles has a tattoo shaped like a fox's head over her right eye.
  • In the 2018 reboot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Hordak has dark lines on his cheeks and chin, as do other members of his species such as Horde Prime and the clones.
  • Ninjago: The Time Twins, Krux and Acronix, have green and black tattoos around their eyes. Word of God confirmed their markings are purely a designer's choice with no real reason for having them.
  • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: In a departure from the norm, this incarnation of the Turtles are each a different species. Leonardo is a red slider, and thus has red markings on his face over his eyes to represent this.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
    • Star Butterfly has permanent light pink heart-shaped markings on each cheek. Her mother's cheeks have magenta diamond-shaped ones, and some other Butterfly family members have them too (like Etheria has light pink tiny stars). According to Star and Marco's Guide to Mastering Every Dimension, the markings are a result of long-term use of magic. This can be seen in "Deep Dive", when Marco uses Star's wand in a moment of desperation, and briefly gains crescent-shaped cheek marks while doing so.
    • Miss Heinous, headmistress of St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses, had black club-shaped marks on her cheeks. It's eventually revealed that she's the half-Monster, half-Mewman daughter of Queen Eclipsa.
    • When magic is destroyed in the series finale, the markings also vanish since they are made of magic.
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Many clone troopers get their faces tattooed with designs of their choosing to show their individuality. These range from small and inconspicuous ones, such as letters, numbers, geometric line patterns, or shapes like stripes or teardrops, to large elaborate designs that cover most of the trooper's face.
  • Chiro from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go has an orange stripe under each eye when he's the leader of the Shuggazoomian Hyperforce.
  • Sergeant Hatred in The Venture Brothers, has a large red H on his face. He also has a red "A" "T" "R" and "E" extending down his chest. Because he is wearing underwear, we never get to see where the "D" is tattooed... Although, ahem, you can probably guess. After his Heel–Face Turn, Sgt. Hatred replaces the "H" with a Blue "V", and has the "A" "T" "R" and "E" removed. The "D" remains, because it's in a "tender area".
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender:
    • Alteans have small markings under their eyes. Princess Allura's are light pink, while Coran's are light blue.
    • Krolia has natural markings on either side of her face.
    • As of "The Black Paladins", Keith has a marking on the left side of his face (whether or not it's a scar is left unclear) similar to Krolia's natural markings.
  • In Wakfu you get thick black streaks on your skin after being possessed by a shushu, at least if you free yourself (Eva's vanished when she was rescued, but Percidal's facial markings remain). Also, sacriers tend to have tatoos, on their faces and elsewhere.

    Real Life 
  • Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, have elaborate facial tattoos called moko. Those worn by men cover the entire face, while those worn by women cover only the lower lip and chin. Originally, all Maori had moko. While they've largely gone out of use, or are only painted on for special occasions, some Maori still get permanent moko tattoos.
  • Facepaint in American Football and camouflage for the military.
  • Devoted Hindus may wear Tilak, a clay marking on their forehead denoting worship of a particular identity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those devoted to the Godhead as Vishnu (Vaishnava) or the Avatar Krishna (Hare Krishna) have a U-shaped Tilak. Those who worship the Godhead in the identity of Shiva (Shaiva) have a Tilak shaped like three horizontal lines.
  • Inuit women traditionally had facial tattoos that was one of the things that were stamped out by religious and secular authorities in the 20th century in Canada, but in the last few years some Inuit women have revived it to reclaim their cultural heritage. One prominent example is Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, member of Parliament for Nunavut between 2019 and 2021.


Top