It's more than skin deep.
"Seeing the scar every day reminded me of the accident, and so I tattooed over it with a symbol of personal power. I took back control."
— Unnamed Drug Dealer, The Lost Symbol
People get tattoos for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they are mystical symbols, sometimes tribal markings, and sometimes simply a form of artistic expression. Occasionally, however, tattoos are used for the practical purpose of disguising pre-existing permanent markings, such as scars.
Many times this is purely for cosmetic reasons, as the character may be self-conscious of their scarred appearance. In these instances, and especially where plastic surgery is impractical/unaffordable/unavailable, they may choose to tattoo over the scars as an alternative. This is also commonly done in cases where the scars are self-inflicted. This allows them to turn a potentially embarrassing and/or shameful mark into a piece of art they can be proud of. A subtrope of Tattoo as Character Type.
In other situations, the character might wish to disguise their identity. If they already have some well-known or distinguishing evidence of former injuries, they may choose this as a means of concealment.
This is practiced in real life, but is a trickier process than tattooing on unmarked skin. Tattooing on top of scar tissue can be very painful. This may even cause the wound to reopen if it is done improperly or if the scar has not fully healed (a process that can take months). They also cannot correct the actual physical texture of the scar tissue, only distract from it with shapes and colors.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- One Piece:
- At the end of the Arlong arc, Nami gets a tattoo of a pinwheel and tangerines (which respectively symbolize her surrogate father and adoptive mother) in order to cover up a scar from where she stabbed herself in the arm during a Freak Out in an attempt to deface the Arlong tattoo that had previously been there.
- Those Made a Slave to the World Nobles/Celestial Dragons are given a unique Slave Brand known as the "Hoof of the Flying Dragon". The majority of the members of the Sun Pirates consisted of former slaves freed by Fisher Tiger (who himself was also a former slave), and when they joined the crew, their mark of slavery would be altered into a tattoo of a Red Sun, which was also the crew's Jolly Roger. This was primarily done in order to prevent the Marines and Bounty Hunters from being able to tell who was a former slave, as all of the crew members who were not former slaves were also given the Red Sun tattoo such as Jinbe and Arlong.
Literature
- Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: When Deucalion (the original Frankenstein's Monster) prepares to leave his home in a Tibetan monastery, one of the monks offers to help mask the hideously scarred right side of Deucalion's face (the result of his creator attempting to kill him with an explosive implant in his skull). The monk tattoos an elaborate tribal design over the scarring; the result is imperfect but helps make him look more human.
- Inverted in Kushiel's Mercy. Sidonie is placed under a mind-control spell by the Arc Villain, which is based on a mark placed between her shoulder blades. To ensure that the spell can't take effect again after her lover Imriel breaks it, she has him cut the mark off of her, leaving a small scar after the infection heals. Sidonie has her back tattooed with a sunburst that highlights the scar rather than concealing it, as a symbol of their love for each other.
- In The Lost Symbol, the villain, Mal'akh, is injured when he is shot after murdering his grandmother and attacking his father and aunt during home invasion. While he survives and escapes the scene, he falls into a deep depression, as he took an incredible amount of pride in his muscular playboy physique, which the scars on his chest now ruin. After hearing about this trope, he's prompted by a tattoo artist to find a symbol that means something deep to him. He ends up covering nearly his entire body with mystical tattoos, leaving only a small empty space on his forehead for his final planned mark, the titular lost symbol.
- The Stormlight Archive: Slaves in Alethkar are branded on their foreheads to convey their status to anyone who sees them. Slaves who've been freed usually opt to cover the branding scar with a tattoo which includes the date they were granted their freedom. Subverted with one character with such a brand, who tries several times to tattoo over it, only to find the ink mysteriously fading before the tattoo can set, leaving his brands always visible, as a form of Wound That Will Not Heal.
Live-Action TV
- Death in Paradise: In "An Unpleasant Homecoming", Monique has a tattoo of flowers over part of her scar from being burned in a house fire as a child.
- Elementary: The episode "Flight Risk" reveals that Sherlock has a tattoo on his wrist to cover up a scar from a childhood injury caused by him falling and breaking a bone so badly it stuck out from his skin.
- Congresswoman Jackie Sharp from House of Cards (US) was a military veteran before being elected to Congress, one of her first appearances includes her expanding on a tattoo that covers up a war wound.
- Invoked in the reality TV series Inkmaster where one of the recurring challenges is to apply a cover-up tattoo on a scarred area. In addition to the usual challenges of quality, speed and client satisfaction, contestants also need to contend with the specific hurdles tattooing a scar tissue brings.
- In Lucifer, Marcus Pierce has a military tattoo on his right shoulder. It serves to conceal a circular scar underneath, which marks him as Cain, the first murderer, and the source of his immortality. For added discomfort, his Healing Factor dissolves the tattoo every few weeks, necessitating that he frequently reapply it. At one point the mark itself is mystically removed after the tattoo dissolves, but he does not bother to reapply it.
Video Games
- C14 Dating: Dating Hendrik will result in seeing a piece of dialog in which he mentions getting extra tattoos on his arm to cover the scars he got in the car accident to which he lost his hand.
- In The Last of Us Part II Ellie has covered up the bite mark from the previous game with a tattoo of a moth and two branches with leaves, which encircles her entire right forearm. She also reveals that she originally burned herself with chemicals to obscure the exact nature of the scar, before having the tattoo later applied. In-game flashbacks show the tattoo's evolution.
- In Final Fantasy XIV, Arenvald is a Child Of Rape born of a Garlean man who forced himself on an Ala Mhigan woman. His traumatized mother attacked him and scarred his face when she believed he would develop a Garlean third eye. He covers the scar with Ala Mhigan war paint, emphasizing that he sees himself as an Ala Mhigan first and foremost and to bury the trauma of his past.
Webcomics
- Kingston of Cirque Royale has full body tattoos that cover all but his hands, feet, and face. They in part cover up the scars he got in a bombing that also killed his parents.
- In volume 2 of Ennui GO!, Izzy gets shot in the shoulder by Asher during a murder attempt. Shortly afterwards, she's shown to have covered the bullet wound with a small star-shaped tattoo.
