History Main / TemporaryBlindness

* Also showed up in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "Blind as a Bat", where our hero had to stop The Penguin from stealing an experimental military helicopter despite his impairment. Batman uses sonar system that somehow plugs into his brain to provide an artificial equivalent of sight (why he couldn't just plug a camera into his brain was never addressed), but it's conveniently damaged at the climax of the fight, forcing Batman to defeat the Penguin using only his sense of hearing.

** Subverted in the Mirage comic book story "Blind Sight", in which Leonardo is blinded via poison during a fight with a Foot Ninja, who was himself blinded by Leonardo in a previous battle. Leonardo lands what he believes to be a killing blow until he realizes that the ninja was gone and that he'd actually stabbed a homeless person who was in the area. This leads to a sequel mini-series, where the still-blind Leonardo deals with the HeroicBSOD caused by the experience.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'': Scott is dropped off in Mexico as a part of a trap laid by Mystique. He can see fine, it's just that she took his visor so he has to keep his eyes closed to avoid his EyeBeams causing massive damage to everything he looks at. Plus, you know, he's in the middle of the desert with no one to help him.

* In ''Manga/HimitsuNoAkkoChan'' the titular heroine, in the deaf variant of his trope, upon meeting a [[LongLostUncleAesop new deaf kid at her school]], uses [[LiteralGenie her magic mirror]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish herself deaf and mute]], thus empathizing better with the kid. In a rather scary moment of FridgeBrilliance, Akko-chan realizes that, having wished herself to go mute as well, she's unable to hit the ResetButton by asking the mirror, which only responds to verbal commands, to make her normal again. The ResetButton presses itself anyway, but not before some days of {{Wangst}} and the usual Aesop.

* In ''Manga/{{Basara}}'', Sarasa becomes temporary blind and must go to Okinawa to see a healer. This disability is very important to the Okinawa story arc. Because of this, Asagi tries to abuse her. In Okinawa, she witnesses a crime but can only identify voice of the murder.

* In ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', when Jason Bard tried to save ComicBook/BlackCanary, and they were caught in the act, a gun going off in his face blinded him. Because the villain had no reason to spare him, Black Canary insisted on escaping with him despite his blindness; his training makes him reasonably good at supporting her despite his condition, and at the end it is revealed that medical treatment can restore his sight.

** There was a short storyarc in ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' in which he went blind. Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} helped him use his SpiderSense in order to navigate.
** Once, Daredevil and Spider-Man had teamed up and the villain brought out his trump-card: he used a device that blinds the target ''on Daredevil.'' Spidey pretty much felt sorry for the poor guy when Daredevil let him have it. (It is not common knowledge to non-heroes that Daredevil is blind.)

* There's a miniseries in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, ''Vader's Quest'', in which Luke is blinded when he goes into a cave full of light-amplifying crystals and ignites his lightsaber in response to a threat. Gasping "A J-jedi doesn't... need ''eyes!''" he then fights off over a dozen people who ''weren't'' blinded, without killing them. He's more cautious for the duration of his blindness, but with the Force he doesn't have to adjust too much.

* One of the many afflictions faced by gunslinger ComicBook/JonahHex in his career (in ''Weird Western Tales'' #24). Another story line had him thrown from a wagon with the resultant jarring of his spine leaving him temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.

** Earlier in the series, we had this with Chen when she was blinded out of mercy during the events of 20XXI and didn't regain her sight until 20XXIV. In that vein, we had Yukari near blind the which she didn't recover from until about the end of 20XXIV.

* In the fic ''I Never Really Knew'', Ryuuko vision loss is the first sign that there is something wrong and said blindness is caused by brain tumor. When said tumor is removed, some of the other symptoms associated goes away but Ryuuko's blindness doesn't, so she's left visually impaired. However, while there's a chance, no one can say if her sight will fully come back, given how big the tumor was and how long her sight had been gone.

* Making this trope OlderThanFeudalism, in Literature/TheBible, Tobit is blinded when bird droppings fell in his eyes. His son Tobiah sets off to search for a cure, and is joined by the Archangel Raphael in disguise. After they free a girl named Sarah from the curse that killed [[DeathBySex her seven husbands in their wedding nights]] and Tobiah marries her, Raphael tells him how to cure his dad.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Skitter is blinded for about one (extremely action packed) day. She manages to get by using her [[AnimalEyeSpy swarm-sense]]. Since she wears a mask, she is able to hide it from the others until afterwards leading to shocked reactions when they discover she was blind the whole time.

* This happens to ''Series/TheATeam'''s [[AcePilot resident pilot]] Murdock in the episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E13TheBeastFromTheBellyOfABoeing The Beast From the Belly of a Boeing]]". While reclaiming a hijacked plane from a group of terrorists, one of the terrorists fires his gun in front of Murdock's face, giving him a powder burn rendering him unable to open his eyes. After the fight, Murdock is the only person capable of piloting still on the plane, and ends up having to [[ImprobablePilotingSkills tell Hannibal how to land the plane]]. He lands successfully, albeit through the wall of the airport, but it's [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged that it was ridiculous nobody got hurt]]. (TruthInTelevision, since the Mythbusters showed that it's possible to be "talked down" safely.)

* ''Series/ForeverKnight'': In "Father Figure", Nick is assigned to protect a girl who witnessed a crime. While Nick is trying to take care of the hit men sent to get rid of the girl, she accidentally reflects the sun into his eyes. Because he's a vampire, the results are worse than a what would happen to a human, and he's temporarily blinded and has to rely on his other vamp senses to save the day.

** Hawkeye is temporarily blinded by an exploding heater. During the course of his recovery he experiences a heightening of his other senses, up to and including Radar's ability to hear incoming helicopters.

* The title character of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' is temporarily blinded in one episode, only to find that he actually prefers being sightless, as what he can't see can't repulse or terrify him. He still recovers by the end of the episode, and suffers the customary disadvantage against a sneak attack from the villain of the week.

* ''Series/TheSentinel'': The protagonist is blinded, which is an odd twist in a show about a guy with SuperSenses. He decides to use his remaining senses to fake it for the duration of the episode, and does better than a normal person could.
* Clark gets blinded in the beginning of the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Whisper", which leads to his developing super-hearing. This also leads to a ContinuityNod where Clark has to wear glasses.

* Subverted in a ''Series/StargateSG1'' season 3 episode: "New Ground". [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Teal'c]] is blinded by an energy blast and his Goa'uld larva is injured, preventing it from healing him right away. The rest of the team is captured, so Teal'c stubbornly insists on riding to the rescue... and promptly walks into a solid rock wall, nearly knocking himself unconscious. [[spoiler:Finally, he swallows his pride and accepts the assistance of a native, receiving a partial cure for his condition. But he still can't shoot beyond point blank range and nearly blasts Colonel O'Neill. Really, it's mostly the native guy who saves the day.]]

* ''Series/TourOfDuty'': In "Brown-Gray Odyssey", Lt. Goldman temporarily loses his sight when his Jeep hits a mine, and has to be guided by a female VC prisoner he is holding at gunpoint.

* Heel wrestlers will often use some type of substance to blind their unwary face opponents (or sometimes, even jobbers) to gain a tainted victory or - if they were the champion - keep their title by deliberately getting disqualified. [[ForeignWrestlingHeel Foreign Wrestling Heels]], especially Asian ones, would use "salt" (actually, talcum powder that caused no irritation of the eyes) and throw it in the opponent's eyes, while during his first run as a heel, Wrestling/TheUndertaker used ash from Wrestling/PaulBearer's urn to "urn" victories. Heel wrestlers were also known to throw "{{fireballs}}," a trick Wrestling/JerryLawler was quite expert at back in the day, while during his 1987 run in the WWF, Killer Khan spit "green mist" in his opponent's eyes. However, it was not uncommon for this tactic to backfire for the heels -- a face wrestler would duck at the last second and the salt would land in the Asian wrestler's tag team partner's eyes instead, Wrestling/HulkHogan would grab Bearer's urn and throw the ash in Undertaker's eyes (or several times, he'd catch Khan's mist and then rub it in Khan's eyes), the opponent would [[HeroicSecondWind gain a second wind]] and either NoSell the "salt in the eyes" or roll up the Asian opponent just after the throw ... the list goes on.

* ''Radio/TheLoneRanger'' was shot in the throat and rendered temporarily mute in the 1940s radio serial. For several subsequent episodes, the Lone Ranger was unable to speak above a hoarse whisper while Tonto carried the plot. This was a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, since voice actor Earle Graser had died suddenly in a car accident. After five episodes of gradual recovery, Brace Beemer was the new voice of the Lone Ranger.

* In ''Webcomic/GiftsOfWanderingIce'' Kalare lost her sight to explosion during one of her experiments. She has to rely on her apprentice's - Elie - help until her eyes are healed.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' Peter decides to set a record for swallowing the most coins. Eventually he goes blind from nickel poisoning until the end, when he inadvertently rescues Horace the bartender when the bar was on fire. He gains his sight back when he receives an eye transplant from a hobo he accidentally killed.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' had the entire town of Miseryville like this after a lightshow, with Jimmy deciding to take advantage of the situation to do whatever he wants.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', Poet Smurf is struck mute, and learns sign language from a friendly elf named Laconia.

* The Creator/RankinBass special ''The Story of the First Christmas Snow'' begins with an orphaned shepherd named Lucas getting hit by lightning, the shock of which renders him blind. Naturally, it ends not only with him getting his wish of [[LetThereBeSnow having it snow on Christmas Eve]], but getting his sight back when the snow touches his eyes. The nun who was caring for Lucas during his recovery calls it a "gift from God."
* In the 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' episode "[[Manga/LoneWolfAndCub Lone Raph and Cub]]", Raphael is temporarily blinded, and must rely on the kid he was trying to help to orient him in a fight.
** Subverted in the Mirage comic book story "Blind Sight", in which Leonardo is blinded via poison during a fight with a Foot Ninja, who was himself blinded by Leonardo in a previous battle. Leonardo lands what he believes to be a killing blow, until he realizes that the ninja was gone, and that he'd actually stabbed a homeless person who was in the area. This leads to a sequel mini-series, where the still-blind Leonardo deals with the HeroicBSOD caused by the experience.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': In an episode, He-Man and Ram-Man visits a crystal cave along with a blind boy, so he can hear the "singing crystals". However, a crystal stalactite falls from the ceiling, causing a burst of light that blinds them both. Thus it's the blind boy who now has to guide the heroes back to the surface, due to being more used to the disability.

* [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Mystia Lorelei]], the [[PettingZooPeople night-sparrow]] {{youkai}}, can inflict night-blindness [[BrownNote with her singing]]. She uses it to turn a profit with her well-lit grilled-lamprey stand by inflicting passers-by with night-blindness, then lifting the effect as they eat her grilled lamprey.

* The Creator/RankinBass special ''The Story of the First Christmas Snow'' begins with an orphaned shepherd named Lucas getting hit by lightning, the shock of which renders him blind. Naturally, it ends not only with him getting his wish of [[LetItSnow having it snow on Christmas Eve]], but getting his sight back when the snow touches his eyes. The nun who was caring for Lucas during his recovery calls it a "gift from God."

* This happens to ''Series/TheATeam'''s [[AcePilot resident pilot]] Murdock in the episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E13TheBeastFromTheBellyOfABoeing The Beast From the Belly of a Boeing]]". While reclaiming a hijacked plane from a group of terrorists, one of the terrorists fires his gun in front of Murdock's face, giving him a powder burn rendering him unable to open his eyes. After the fight, Murdock is the only person capable of piloting still on the plane, and ends up having to [[ImprobablePilotingSkills tell Hannibal how to land the plane]]. He lands successfully, albeit through the wall of the air port, but it's [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged that it was ridiculous nobody got hurt]]. (TruthInTelevision, since the Mythbusters showed that it's possible to be "talked down" safely.)

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': In an episode, He-Man and Ram-Man visits a crystal cave along with a blind boys, so he can hear the "singing crystals". However, a crystal stalactite falls from the ceiling, causing a burst of light that blinds them both. Thus it's the blind boy who now has to guide the heroes back to the surface, due to being more used to the disability.

* Temporary deafness variant: In an episode of the mid-60s ''Series/{{Tarzan}}'' series, Tarzan is temporarily deafened when the episode's villains try to kill Tarzan by throwing hand grenades into the lagoon he is swimming in.

** [[Characters/WWEDivas Nidia]] was blinded by [[Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri Tajiri]] with a mysterious black mist, and her boyfriend, Jamie Noble, subsequently took advantage of this by putting her in harm's way to win matches.

* This trope kicks off the whole plot of ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids'', despite the fact that the story begins the day the protagonist is expecting to finally regain his sight, only to discover he's quite literally SleptThroughTheApocalypse.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Skitter is blinded for about one (extremely action packed) day. She manages to get by using her [[AnimalEyeSpy swarm-sense]]. Since she wears a mask, she is able to hide it from the others until afterwards leading to shocked reactions when they discover she was blind the whole time.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Series/{{Charmed}}'', at one point, the Halliwell sisters get the '[[MonkeyMoralityPose see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil]]' version - one is blind, one is deaf and one can't talk. They have the requisite attack from a villain who underestimates them.

* In the fic ''I Never Really Knew'', Ryuuko vision loss is the first sign that there is something wrong and said blindness is caused by [[spoiler:brain tumor]]. When said [[spoiler: tumor]] is removed, some of the other symptoms associated goes away but Ryuuko's blindness doesn't, however, there's a chance she may recover her sight in the future.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Temporary blindness has happened multiple times to Franchise/{{Batman}} in the comics.

* An issue of ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'' had Matt Murdock temporarily lose his enhanced senses. [[UnexplainedRecovery He Got Better]]. ''Daredevil: Black and White'' featured a total inversion of the trope, however - Daredevil is ''given'' sight by experimental surgery, but it fades away before long. Good thing it was [[spoiler:AllJustADream]].

* [[FanNickname Rulk's]] eyes get gouged by Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} during a fight in [[Comicbook/RedHulk Hulk]] #15 - he's blinded but he's fully aware his healing factor will restore his sight.
* A lengthier than usual example happened in ''Comicbook/CloakAndDagger'', in which Dagger stayed blind for a full year; a fair amount of page space was devoted to her learning to cope.
* There was a short storyarc in ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' in which he went blind. Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} helped him use his SpiderSense in order to navigate.

* Similarly, WonderWoman experienced a bout of blindness in one mini-arc of her own series. A variation in that [[DisabilityImmunity she intentionally did it to herself]] so she could fight a Gorgon without getting turned to stone.

* One of the many afflictions faced by gunslinger ComicBook/JonahHex in his career (in ''Weird Western Tales'' #24).
** Another story line had him thrown from a wagon with the resultant jarring of his spine leaving him temporarily paralysed from the waist down.

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya goes almost blind in one eye in episode 1 of the ''Franchise/PrettyCure''-style reboot, ''FanFic/SOSPrettyCure'', and is paralyzed from the waist down in episode 3. Both times she recovers completely.

* In Fanfic/Gensokyo20XX, 20XXV, we have this with an age-regressed Reimu, in the aftermath of her eating rat poison and the resulting brain damage thereof during the events of chapter 24 and didn't regain her sight until about 24 chapters later.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/{{Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues}}'', [[spoiler: Ron Burgundy goes blind in the second act. It turns out to be fixable, but Veronica didn't let him know.]]
* The movie ''HystericalBlindness'' with Uma Thurman.
* The movie ''Film/{{Blindness}}''. Which is perhaps best left unmentioned, anyway.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Skitter is blinded for about one (extremely action packed) day. She manages to get by using her [[AnimalEyeSpy swarm-sense]]. Since she wears a mask, she is able to hide it from the others until afterwards leading to shocked reactions when they discover she was blind the whole time.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

* A bored Sydney in ''Webcomic/UnintentionallyPretentious'' buys white Manga/{{Naruto}}-style contact lenses from Luthor's store to [[http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=63 temporarily]] [[http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=64 blind]] herself in order to relate to her blind roommate better.
** And later for her Toph [[http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=84 cosplay]].

-->::opens his eyes for an instant to get a look at his surroundings::\\

* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', Tammy the moth [[AnimalStereotypes stared too long at the light]] from Ray the firefly, resulting in corneal burns in all 3,000 eyes. Unsure whether she would recover, the two bonded on a much less superficial level than before, Tammy gaining love and respect for him. When she could see again, [[HeartwarmingMoments she said she saw Ray "for the first time."]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' episode "Blindsided", Astrid becomes temporarily blinded by a lightning bolt that nearly hit her. She remains blind throughout the entire episode, having to rely on Hiccup to get around and feeling useless in situations involving violence and peril. Later, her enhanced hearing helps her and Hiccup evade danger and even uses them to calm the Triple Stryke.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[spoiler: Roy Mustang is forced to open the Gate and loses his eyesight as a toll. He still takes part in the final battle, with Hawkeye guiding him. When its all over, he regains his eyesight thanks to Dr. Marcoh and his philosopher's stone.]]

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': episodes "The Negotiator" and "Blind Faith"

%%* The ''Series/MacGyver'' episodes "The Negotiator" and "Blind Faith"

* Happened in [[RecycledScript three seperate issues]] of ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian during TheEighties.

* A very similar plot occured in ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''. This is to be expected, as the series is somewhat of a spoof of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' (though not a direct spoof of [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries BTAS]], since the latter premiered after its cancellation).

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'': Scott is dropped off in Mexico as a part of a trap laid by Mystique. He can see fine, it's just that she took his visors so he has to keep his eyes closed to avoid his EyeBeams causing massive damage to everything he looks at. Plus, you know, he's in the middle of the desert with no one to help him.

* There was a short storyarc in ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' in which he went blind. Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} helped him use his SpiderSense in order to navigate.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Skitter is blinded for about one (extremely action packed) day. She manages to get by using her [[AnimalEyeSpy swarm-sense]]. Since she wears a mask, she is able to hide it from the others until afterwards leading to shocked reactions when they discover she was blind the whole time.
[[/folder]]

* A young UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was temporarily blinded by mustard gas during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. This is probably the reason he refused to approve the use of chemical weapons during WorldWarII, even during the final days of the war when he was pinning all his hopes on "superweapons" -- proof that there was at least one thing that [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Hitler wouldn't stoop to]].

* Averted in one ''Literature/TommyAndTuppence'' story, where Tommy is pretending to be blind (complete with shades and cane) for reasons that made sense at the time. He's caught by the villain, who gloatingly puts him in a room where an elecctrical system will kill him at the slightest contact. A seeing person would have no problem navigating it, of course, hence the villain's complete breakdown when Tommy does just that.