History Main / AnimalEyeSpy

* The spell Familial Bond in ''VisualNovel/TyrionCuthbertAttorneyOfTheArcane'' allows the caster to form an unbreakable fond with a familiar. The mage can see through the eyes of their familiar if they want, which is tremendously useful for blind people like Beatrice Frega.

* ''Literature/FateZero'': Fairly standard practice for familiars. Kiritsugu is unusual in that he prefers cameras since they can't be fooled by illusions while animal familiars still can be fooled.
* In both ''Anime/GoLion'' and its adaptation, ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'', the witch antagonist (Honerva in Golion; Haggar in Voltron) can see through the eyes of her [[AllWitchesHaveCats demonic cat]] (Jaga in Golion/Cova in Voltron).

* A story from Creator/RumikoTakahashi's ''Rumic World'' series called "When My Eyes Got Wings" involved a sickly child who could see the world through the eyes of a little bird.

* Roxana Agriche of ''Literature/TheWayToProtectTheFemaleLeadsOlderBrother'' uses some of her [[TheSwarm butterflies]] in that manner.

* The Flea in ''ComicBook/{{PS238}}'' appears to have this power at least to some degree when it comes to insects. After being swiped by a teleporter, the other characters were able to reunite with him by talking to random cockroaches, which he described as "better than cell phones."
* In ''ComicBook/{{Dreadstar}}'', the blind telepath Willow can see through the eyes of her pet monkey.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': DependingOnTheWriter, [[GreenThumb Klara]] has sometimes demonstrated the ability to "hear" through her roses, most notably in "Homeschooling", where she detected soldiers approaching the Malibu house because her plants told her that they were coming.

* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'': Torak's spirit walker powers allow him to do this, though he vows to never use it to fly again after flying as a raven angered the spirits. It's also implied that this is why he [[SpeaksFluentAnimal can talk to wolves]]; he speculates that when he was a baby being RaisedByWolves, he spirit walked into one of the pups while it was learning to communicate with its mother and siblings.

* In Jeramey Kraatz's ''Literature/TheCloakSociety'', this is part of Bug's superpowers -- limited to bugs, though.
* In ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' by Creator/StephenKing, the body-snatching EldritchAbomination Tak can enter and control animals, seeing through their eyes and feeling their thoughts, but only for short periods. [[PossessionBurnout Its presence inside living things causes them to wither and die]] and it has to [[BodySurf hop from one to the other]] fairly quickly. Tak prefers humans because they last the longest.

** In ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'' Count de Magpyr uses his vampiric abilities to see though the eyes of hundreds of magpies.

* ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'': In "The Lies of Locke Lamora", a mage can use their [[BondCreatures familiars]] to spy for them.

* ''Literature/HereticalEdge'': The theriangelos spell creates an animal that the caster can control and see through. This is one of the features of Sovereign, Aylen's cyberform hawk.

* In Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet, Daine talks to animals, sees through their eyes, and even had them sabotage an army for her.

* From Isobelle Carmody's ''Literature/TheLegendsongSaga'', Glynn discovers that is able to do this with the [[BondCreatures He-fienna]] while it is hurt. She also uses the link to experience occasional dreams like this with both the He- and She-fienna.
* Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' novel ''Gray Lensman''. Kimball Kinnison makes mental contact with a spider and sees through its eyes as he uses it to turn off a Boskonian's thought-screen. He can do this with higher level animals as well.

* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's HistoricalFantasy novel ''Literature/TheSpiritRing'' Abbot Monreale[[note]]In this setting the Catholic Church is in charge of regulating magic, and it's natural for a high-ranking clergyman to also be a fairly capable mage[[/note]] is able to cast a spell which enables him to use doves for surveillance. He can't actually see directly through their eyes, or hear directly through their ears; instead, a mirror is ensorcelled to show what the birds are seeing, while an object like a small tambourine made of parchment serves to transmit what the birds are hearing. Unfortunately, the enemy sorcerer is able to detect the birds (or the spell which has been cast on them) and the bird spies have no more immunity to crossbow bolts than do ordinary un-magicked birds.

* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. In "Sad Clown A-Go-Go", Ein is revealed to have been created by the same secret government experiment as SuperSoldier Mad Pierrot [=LaFou=], who can interface with such dogs for this trope. In [=LaFou=]'s case it drove him insane and gave him a fear of dogs, but he's still able to hack into Ein to find out who the ''[=BeBop=]'' crew are. Meanwhile our heroes are puzzled as to why Ein suddenly has GlowingEyes, then freak out as the dog's eyes project a HugeHolographicHead of [=LaFou=] to demand Spike come and face him or he'll kill them all. Faye is more freaked out by the hologram projecting thing than anything else, but they leave Ein behind on the docks as a precaution.

* ''Series/TheSandman2022'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E08PlayingHouse Playing House]]": [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Lord Morpheus]] dispatches Matthew, a [[TalkingAnimal talking dream raven]], to travel with Rose Walker in the waking world as his eyes and ears. It's not specified whether he can do the same with other dream entities; Matthew is effectively a {{Familiar}}, so it might be just him.

*** The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms spell ''Spidereyes'' allowed the caster to see through the eyes of a spider.

* ''TabletopGame/DCHeroes'': This is an available superpower called "Eye of the Cat".
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' biodrones are vat-grown animals with concealed implants for remote control and usually surveillance. Unlike regular drones they look like ordinary animals.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Lunars can do this with the "Sense-Borrowing Method" Charm. And inverts it with "Predator is Prey Mirror", where the Lunar causes their prey (possibly including [[ImAHumanitarian humans]]) to [[JawsFirstPersonPerspective see through their eyes]], disorienting and terrifying them.
* The TabletopGame/HeroSystem ''TabletopGame/FantasyHero Companion'' has several spells that grant this power.
** The A Friendly Ride spell creates a mental link between the caster and an animal. It allows the caster to see from the animal's point of view.
** The Beast Master spell allows the caster to see through the eyes of an animal that's up to a kilometer away.
** The Eye of the Beast spell enables a mental link between the caster and an animal familiar which allows the caster to see through the animal's eyes and hear through its ears.

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'': Bayek can use his eagle Senu like in ''Far Cry: Primal'' and use it to highlight enemies and objects of interest. [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]]'s daughter Io:nhiòte has the same ability, which manifested when she needed to warn her father about a pack of wolves.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': The Night Elves have two different spells: Sentinel puts an owl in a tree to provide vision until the tree is cut down, while Owl Scout summons a temporary but unkillable owl that can see invisible units.

* Master Seer possesses a cat in ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'' to spy on the main character, but Lady Nora uses her shapeshifting powers to distract it. He later possesses a horse. Its rider is suitably wielded out.

* ''Manga/HimechanNoRibon'': Sei Arisaka can do this along with being TheBeastmaster. For example, he can tell his cat to spy on somebody and be able to look through their eyes without being in direct control.

This character doesn't just [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talk to animals]] and [[TheBeastmaster order them about]]; they can see through their eyes and experience the world through their senses. The range of this power goes from [[BeingWatched paranoia inducing]] to SuperpowerLottery winner. On the low end, the character can see through one animal, usually a {{Familiar}} they are [[BondCreature emotionally and spiritually tied to]]. On the high end, she can do this through more than one type of animal, or even [[MindHive several at once]], making them close to TheOmniscient. Depending on the level of control, she may be able to go beyond seeing through their eyes and create TheSwarm out of local fauna.

* ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'': In "The Lies of Locke Lamora", a mage can use their [[BondCreature familiars]] to spy for them.

* From Isobelle Carmody's ''Literature/TheLegendsongSaga'', Glynn discovers that is able to do this with the [[BondCreature He-fienna]] while it is hurt. She also uses the link to experience occasional dreams like this with both the He- and She-fienna.

This character doesn't just [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talk to animals]] and [[TheBeastmaster order them about]]; he or she can see through their eyes and experience the world through their senses. The range of this power goes from [[BeingWatched paranoia inducing]] to SuperpowerLottery winner. On the low end, the character can see through one animal, usually a {{Familiar}} he or she is [[BondCreature emotionally and spiritually tied to.]] On the high end, she can do this through more than one type of animal, or even [[MindHive several at once]], making them close to TheOmniscient. Depending on the level of control, she may be able to go beyond seeing through their eyes and create TheSwarm out of local fauna.

* ''Fanfic/HalfPastAdventure'': Macy, the main character, learns the mass version of this while training under [[spoiler:Huntress Wizard]].
--> She saw the clearing before her once again, but this time from all perspectives at once. She was the puma, the grass, a starling high in a tree, a crystal golem slumbering deep in the ground. Everything came together in a vast mosaic[…]
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Ami, and other Keepers, can do this with animals, and people, that are their minions.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': Fairly standard practice for familiars. Kiritsugu is unusual in that he prefers cameras since they can't be fooled by illusions while animal familiars still can be fooled.

* Roxana Agriche of ''Lightnovel/TheWayToProtectTheFemaleLeadsOlderBrother'' uses some of her [[TheSwarm butterflies]] in that manner.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Mythology]]

* ''Series/TheSandman2022'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E08PlayingHouse Playing House]]": [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Lord Morpheus]] dispatches Matthew, a [[TalkingAnimal talking dream raven]], to travel with Rose Walker in the waking world as his eyes and ears. It's not specified whether he can do the same with other dream entities.

* ''Series/TheSandman2022'': [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Lord Morpheus]] dispatches Matthew, a [[TalkingAnimal talking dream raven]], to travel with Rose Walker in the waking world as his eyes and ears. It's not specified whether he can do the same with other dream entities.

* In the ''TabletopGame/DCHeroes'' roleplaying game, this was an available superpower called 'Eye of the Cat'.

* ComicBook/TheFalcon, of Creator/MarvelComics, can do this with birds, with varying strength in doing so. Considering a bird's eye view, it could be pretty useful. It's also been mentioned that this gives him one of the best spy networks in the world, because who ever pays attention to whether there's a ''bird'' watching or listening to them?

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' Bast is able to see through the eyes of cats, in one arc where Hell is up for auction she offers Dream information on his missing brother Destruction in exchange for Hell, but later on she confesses that she was lying and none of her people have seen him in fifty years, when his dog killed one of them.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': DependingOnTheWriter, Klara has sometimes demonstrated the ability to "hear" through her roses, most notably in "Homeschooling", where she detected soldiers approaching the Malibu house because her plants told her that they were coming.

* A story from Creator/RumikoTakahashi's ''RumicWorld'' series called "When My Eyes Got Wings" involved an IllBoy who could see the world through the eyes of a little bird.

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Väinö, the sentinel mage guarding a border between a safe area and a ForbiddenZone, has the ability to do this with seagulls.

** Wargs or skinchangers do this, mostly with wolves, but other animals are possible. With training, they can learn to actually control the animal, but this trope is the first hint that you've got the potential. All of the Stark children are potential wargs, though [[spoiler: Sansa never learned how due to her direwolf being killed, and only Bran and Arya have shown themselves to be able to use it on anything other than their direwolves. This can also be done to humans, though they don't like it - when Varamyr tries to take over a human she gouges out her eyes and bites off her tongue in the fight for control of her body.]]

** Herald Eldan, seen most prominently in ''By the Sword'', has animal telepathy as one of his abilities, which gives him a touch of this as well. Many Heralds with strong "sight" Gifts can [[SeeingThroughAnothersEyes See Through Their Companions' Eyes]], but [[BondCreatures Companions]] are not horses, despite being [[SapientSteed horse-shaped]].
** Despite having no other form of Animal Mindspeech, Amily develops this ability between ''Bastion'' and ''Closer to Home'' and develops it over the course of the latter book. It proves far more useful than it seems at first glance when she becomes the [[spoiler:King's Own Herald]]. Having familiarity with the animal in question improves her range and stamina, but she can develop this familiarity by way of another animal. To spy upon one half of a [[FeudingFamilies simmering feud]], Amily gifts a pet to the lord's daughter and "introduces herself" to the rest of the house animals by looking through the little dog.

* In both ''Anime/GoLion'' and its adaptation, ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'', the witch antagonist (Honerva in Golion; Haggar in Voltron) can see through the eyes of her [[AllWitchesHaveCats demonic cat]](Jaga in Golion/Cova in Voltron).

* In ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers of Victory'', Klarion is able to see through the eyes of his familiar Teekl, but has to cover up his own eyes to do so.