History Main / FacialMarkings

Gods, demons, reincarnated princesses 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 the forehead, on the cheeks, or both. These very often will tell the perceptive viewer the owner's moral and ethical alignment [[EvilMakeover (or lack thereof)]], their team affiliation, and maybe even their tax bracket. If their markings change when they use powers ([[DangerousForbiddenTechnique or more power]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide than they should]]), it's a MarkedChange.

* It's certainly not required for them to get their [[{{Mana}} Juice]] going, but sykers in ''{{Deadlands}}: Hell on Earth'' and ''Lost Colony'' frequently tattoo their (beautiful, beautiful [[BaldOfAwesome 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 [[LonersAreFreaks damn self-serving freaks]].)

* Pretty much every [=PC=] (Player Character) in The World, the [=MMORPG=] in ''[[DotHack .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).

* Haseo (and a lot of other people) from the ''[[DotHackGUGames .hack/G.U.]]'' trilogy. And they change as he powers up, too.

* In ''KamenRiderKiva'', members of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent 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 HalfHumanHybrid, gets two stained glass streaks on each cheek when he transforms into Kiva.
** Similarily done in ''KamenRiderDouble'', 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.

** In the [[ForWantOfANail alternative reality]] ''AgeOfApocalypse'', most characters have facial markings as well.
* Shatterstar has a star tattoo over his left eye. In X-Factor V3, he beats up a guy (and his friends, and some random bystanders) for making snide comments about it.

* ''SoulEater'': Free has the words "No future" tattooed above his [[EvilEye left eye]] and, well... he is an [[CompleteImmortality immortal]] [[BigBadassWolf werewolf]].

* Alpha from "WebOriginal/TOME" has black stripes from just above his eyebrows to just bellow his eye.

** The Yu-Yan Archers have red tattoos on their faces labeling them as elites. The [[EliteMook Rough Rider]] Vachir, who was a Yu-Yan Archer before being dishonored for failing a mission has one as well.

** The Yu-Yan Archers have red markings on their faces that might be tattoos.

* In ''SuperRobotWars J'', those who are in the Knight caste of the Fury, an alien race (most of whom are {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s), have facial markings on their faces.

* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', the various slaves, soldiers and other paraphernalia of the Goa'uld System Lords have markings on their foreheads which differ depending upon which System Lord they worship/serve. They also differ based on their rank (which follows the useful function of this trope), with the very high ranks having gold inlays, medium ranks having silver inlays (how do they switch when they get promoted?) and low ranks getting a black tattoo.

* The Atlanteans in Disney's Atlantis, particularly the royal family, have multiple facial tattoos. The DVD commentary says these were very hard to animate.

* 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 Jean Auel's ''Earth's Children'' series, the Mamuts (who are holy men, healers, and storytellers) 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.
* In Specials (the third book from the Uglies series), Tally and her Special friends get face tattoos that pulse with their blood circulation.

* 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.

* Rishan in ''Alien Dice'' have markings that indicate ancestry.

* Turians from ''MassEffect'' tattoo their faces with patterns which identify their home colony, a cultural artifact of the period of extreme nationalism prior to their [[ShoutOut Unification War]]. The Codex mentions that the Turians use 'barefaced' as a synonym for 'untrustworthy' (or [[AcceptableTargets 'politician']]), since such a person is concealing their true allegiance: [[{{Foreshadowing}} neither Saren nor]] [[spoiler:[[{{Foreshadowing}} the warden of Purgatory]] ]][[{{Foreshadowing}} have markings]].
** Mixed-blood [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Asari]] tend to have patterns on their faces in differing shades of blue and red. It's unclear whether they are genetic or tatooed.
** As of [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 ME3]], if she is romanced, the photo which[[WrenchWench Tali]] gives Shepard shows that quarians have distinct facial markings as well.

* In ''DragonballZ'', 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 the much-maligned ''DragonballGT'', the [=SSJ4=] transformation comes with scarlet eyelids.

* 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

** Let's not forget that Tsunade's lozenge is also where she stores an incredible amount of chakra for her [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Forbidden Jutsu]] which makes her [[NighInvulnerability invincible in battle.]] When she uses it, [[MarkedChange 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. [[spoiler: 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]].

[[quoteright:250:[[Manga/InuYasha http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1151096306659-resized.jpg]]]]

* Most of the youkai in ''{{Saiyuki}}'', incl. Kougaiji, Hakkai (in demon form), Goyjo (scars). Sanzo frequently recognizes demons due to their facial marking or birthmark.

* With those scar like markings around [[NeonGenesisEvangelion 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.