History Main / GlassEye

* The Smokers' leader in ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'' gets a plastic eye. Arguably, it looked more disgusting than the empty socket, so he switchs to an eyepatch.

* Wednesday from ''Literature/AmericanGods'' has one. Eye itself doesn't play overly significant role in plot (though it plays a role) but it's one of clues to Wednesday's real identity. Well, more the fact that he would actually need one, but still... It might also serve as an indicator that even he is changed by America, given that [[spoiler:Iceland's Odin]] favors an EyepatchOfPower.

* In ''Literature/ADarkerShadeOfMagic'', protagonist Lila has a glass eye due to a childhood injury. [[spoiler:It prevents her from being identified as an ''Antari'', since their distinguishing MarkOfTheSupernatural is a mismatched pitch-black eye]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* On ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' when Sammy Davis Jr. [[note]]See real life below[[/note]] is going to come over Archie warns Edith not to mention SammysGlassEye; of course Archie accidentally does so himself as soon as Sammy shows up.

* Bitores Mendez, the village chieftan from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' has one of these, it apparently has some coding in the iris that's used as a key to the castle.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has referenced Sandy Duncan's alleged glass eye twice: once in a CutawayGag where Peter had had a job as Duncan's eye, and during the Emmy Award winning song "You've Got a Lot To See" ''"Sandy Duncan's creepy phony eye"'' is mentioned.

* Sammy Davis Jr. is probably the best known celebrity to wear an ocular prosthesis, about which he was always very un-self-conscious and self-deprecating. (Example: In an outtake from a Creator/BobHope Special, Sammy blows a cue card line and declares, "Hey, I'm sorry -- I only got one eye, and it was lookin' the other way!!")

* The actor Creator/PeterFalk had to have an eye removed as a child, and so had a glass eye for most of his life. This kind of enhanced his performance as Series/{{Columbo}}, the master of ObfuscatingStupidity and PerpSweating, as it gave him a sort of squint where you didn't know if he was looking at you or not. A RealLife Crowning Moment of Funny: when playing baseball in high school, Falk slid into home, and was called out. He popped out his eye, handed it to the umpire, and said "You need this more than I do."
* Congressman Morris "Mo" Udall of Arizona, a prominent Democrat during the 1970's and '80's, wore a glass eye for most of his life, having lost an eye in a childhood accident.

* Sandy Duncan was commonly thought to have one, but in reality she lost sight in one eye after surgery to remove a tumor but did not lose the eye itself.

* A very creepy version is Mr. Teatime from ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}''. He has a grey (black in the FilmOfTheBook) glass eye that may actually be a crystal ball. As the author makes clear, though, it's Teatime's ''real'' eye which is the scarier, with its pinhole-sized pupil.

* Creator/UmaThurman's dad wore one.

* Creator/AliceWalker has worn one since a childhood accident with a BB gun.

* The actor Peter Falk had to have an eye removed as a child, and so had a glass eye for most of his life. This kind of enhanced his performance as Series/{{Columbo}}, the master of ObfuscatingStupidity and PerpSweating, as it gave him a sort of squint where you didn't know if he was looking at you or not. Which led to a RealLife Crowning Moment of Funny -- when playing baseball in High School, he slid into home, and was called out. He popped out his eye, handed it to the umpire, and said "You need this more than I do."

* ''Webcomic/TrippingOverYou'' has Alfons, though it hasn't been explained ''how'' he lost his right eye (it's implied it had something to do with [[NoodleIncident his sister running around with scissors in her hand]]. Alfons has a collection of variously colored glass eyes which he wears alternately, a fact that fascinates his kid cousin Liam to no end. After getting lost in a bar for a couple days, Alfons shows up again and the glass eye is missing, though his report of what he did the past days suspiciously avoids any mention of what happened to it.

* In ''Literature/ErecRex,'' the title character has one; most of his adoptive siblings are also disabled in some way. [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler The first book ends]] with him getting a magical dragon's eye to replace it, however.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' implies that the title character (like actor Peter Falk, see Real Life below) only has one functional eye, telling someone who was helping him search for evidence in one crime that "Three eyes are better than two."

* [[BigBad Raul Menendez]] from ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'' has one, after [[spoiler: Alex Mason [[EyeScream shot his eye out]] during the Angolan Civil War in 1986. He later uses it to hide a Celerium chip containing the virus which he uses to take over the US drone fleet]].

* ''Literature/FriedGreenTomatoesAtTheWhistleStopCafe'' has Frank Bennett have one glass eye, which he got after a bullet destroyed the real one. He likes to use it as a form of a joke by telling a stranger to guess which of his eyes is false, and buy them a drink if they guess correctly. Most people can't tell the difference. [[spoiler:One old man got it right and the bartender asked how he could tell, with the old man stating that the glass eye was the one that seemed to have even a shred of [[CompleteMonster human compassion]] in it.]]

->''"My grandfather had two glass eyes, and yet he could see. What happened was, he sadly lost one eye (he wasn't careless, he was ill). And he had a glass eye made, exactly like his other perfectly working, blue Scandinavian eye. Then he had one made that was bloodshot, and it was known as "Grandpa's Party Eye". He kept it in a box on the mantelpiece, and when he went out for the evening, he'd take out the false blue one and put in the bloodshot one, and he'd say, "I'm going out now, and I shan't be back till they match!"''

* TwoFaced Bretan Braith Lantry of ''Literature/DyingOfTheLight'' sports one, made of a material that glows blood red at night. The main character stops being scared of him when he realizes that Bretan must have consciously chose it for that effect. He's even ready to write Bretan off when another character informs him that he's actually a feared duelist.
* Mrs. Twit from ''Literature/TheTwits'' had a glass eye that was said to always be looking in the opposite direction. She would occasionally pop it out and hide it in around the house to play tricks on her husband.

* Ms. Crawley, the elderly lizard in ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'' has a glass eye, which kicks off the plot when it falls out and presses the "0" key on her keyboard twice, increasing the prize for the singing competition to 100,000 dollars.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Catscratch in ''Webcomic/TheSuburbanJungle'' has a glass eye to replace the one that was, well, [[MeaningfulName scratched out by a cat]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Niels}}'' has an eye taken out by Agent 300, afterwards he usually has a glass eye but sometimes wears an EyepatchOfPower. And then there's one time he finds a [[http://nielsg.com/never-forget-never-forgive transparent eye]] in order to gross out 300.
* Jin from ''Webcomic/{{Bastard}}'' has a glass left eye after a brutal childhood "accident" that left him [[TraumaInducedAmnesia amnesiac]] and his body battered. His classmates pejoratively call him "glass-eye," while his bullies go even further with "glass-eye [[PeekABangs emo freak]]."
* Sam's {{magitek}} glass eye in ''Webcomic/{{Kaspall}}'' [[http://www.kaspall.com/comic/2008/06/05 has a night-vision mode and optional subscription service.]]
* Vard's glass eye in ''Webcomic/UnknownLands'' magically follows the movements of his remaining eye but he can't see out of it. He grosses out traveling companion Marya cleaning it.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' Yes ol' Seth Briars sure is quite the piece of work. He destroyed his entire life hunting down the treasure. (He even admits a few levels earlier) His wife, his children, his business. '''All for a fucking glass eye'''. [[spoiler:However, according to the epilogue he eventually does find actual treasure that made him rich.]]

* In ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'', Bill "TheButcher" Cutting out his eye because it offended him when he lost to Priest Vallon in a street fight in early 19th-century [[WretchedHive New York City]]. He replaced it with a glass eye... with an ''[[WearingAFlagOnYourHead American Eagle for an iris]]''. He taps it with his steak knife to emphasize a point. Daniel Day-Lewis did the scene without blinking.

[[caption-width-right:330:He even has 'eye' in his name.]]

* Ragetti in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' has a wooden eye that has a tendency to fall out a lot and/or "splinter something fierce" especially when he rubs it. He wants to spend his share of the treasure to buy a glass one that fits. [[spoiler:It turns out to be one of the Pieces of Eight needed to free Calypso.]] He switches to a proper EyepatchOfPower after that.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* An example of an attractive character with one - in ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'', A-drei (A3), a handsome [[YouAreNumberSix deposed]] WarriorPrince, gets his eye shot out in the second episode. Later, he comes back with a replacement, which matches his other eye in color, except it isn't drawn with as much detail. The eye and the scar around it are often seen, even though they're under his [[PeekABangs bangs]]. It doesn't take away at all from his [[{{Bishonen}} beauty]].

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Kabuki}}''- While kabuki is stuck in prison a fellow agent switches her glass eye with a guard's. Her eye is smaller so the guards eye falls out every time he bends over. It plays into their escape plan

[[folder: Film]]
* Ragetti in ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}'' has a wooden eye that has a tendency to fall out a lot and/or "splinter something fierce" especially when he rubs it. He wants to spend his share of the treasure to buy a glass one that fits.
** [[spoiler: It turns out to be one of the Pieces of Eight needed to free Calypso.]] He switches to a proper EyepatchOfPower after that.
* BigBad of ''Film/LastActionHero'' has a selection of glass eyes. Some of whom double as bombs. Each of them with different motifs for the iris (such as a Happy Face or a target or a crosshair).
* Captain Ron from the movie ''Film/CaptainRon'' has a glass eye, but he won it in a poker game and it doesn't fit properly, so he usually has it covered with an eyepatch to hold it in. Later in the movie, during a festival, he tries to remove the eyepatch to blend in, but then his eye spontaneously pops out and bounces away. After searching around for a while, he gives up and puts the eyepatch back on.
** Since it's Creator/KurtRussell playing this character, it could be a comedic ShoutOut to his more famous character, [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]].
* ''TheSonsOfKatieElder'' has a LovableRogue as one of the sons. He has the trick of auctioning off his glass eye in a raffle at a bar in order to get money for drinks.
* In ''GangsOfNewYork'', Bill "TheButcher" Cutting out his eye because it offended him when he lost to Priest Vallon in a street fight in early 19th-century [[WretchedHive New York City]]. He replaced it with a glass eye... with an ''[[WearingAFlagOnYourHead American Eagle for an iris]]''. He taps it with his steak knife to emphasize a point. Daniel Day-Lewis did the scene without blinking.

* The Smokers' leader in ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'' got a plastic eye, arguably it looked more disgusting than the empty socket so he switched to an eyepatch.

[[folder: Literature]]
* A very creepy version is Mr. Teatime from ''{{Discworld/Hogfather}}''. He has a grey (black in the FilmOfTheBook) glass eye that may actually be a crystal ball. As the author makes clear, though, it's Teatime's ''real'' eye which is the scarier, with its pinhole-sized pupil.

* Wednesday from ''Literature/AmericanGods'' has one. Eye itself doesn't play overly siginficant role in plot (though it plays a role) but it's one of clues to Wednesday's real identity. Well, more the fact that he would actually need one, but still...
** It might also serve as an indicator that even he is changed by America, given that [[spoiler: Iceland's Odin]] favors an EyepatchOfPower.
* ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'':
** Isaac has one at the beginning of the book, as a result of a rare form of eye cancer. The eye itself isn't really mentioned except as part of his description.

* Brother Jack in ''Literature/InvisibleMan''.
* In a WW2 novel set in Italian-occupied East Africa (can't remember the title), a British soldier tells the natives he'll [[EyeSpy leave his eye behind to make sure they don't get up to mischief]]. It doesn't work because one of them is a former sailor and knows all about glass eyes.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Pinball]]

** The exact same thing occurs in ''Pinball/JackBot''.
** Also in ''Pinball/TheMachineBrideOfPinBot''.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[folder: Theatre]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* Catscratch in ''{{The Suburban Jungle}}'' has a glass eye to replace the one that was, well, [[{{MeaningfulName}} scratched out by a cat]].

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Sammy Davis Jr. is probably the best known celebrity to wear an ocular prosthesis, about which he was always very unselfconscious and self-deprecating. (Example: In an outtake from a BobHope Special, Sammy blows a cue card line and declares, "Hey, I'm sorry -- I only got one eye, and it was lookin' the other way!!")
* Once during the run of ''TheBradyBunch'', Barry Williams (Greg) told the other Brady kid actors he had a glass eye. When he was called on it, he borrowed one from an optometrist friend of his father and used that to freak out Eve Plumb (Jan).