Basic Trope: Bob's face is always hidden, either by a mask, shadows or camera angles.
- Straight: Alice meets up with Bob, who hides his face standing partly in shadow.
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed:
- Bob's face is seen, but it is always shown from a far distance and/or partially obscured.
- Only a part of Bob's face is ever seen, like his mouth or eyes.
- Justified:
- Bob is The Mole, and needs to hide his identity.
- Bob's identity serves as The Reveal.
- Bob, being self conscious, uses shadows or masks to hide facial damage.
- The story is being told by a narrator who remembers everything about Bob, except for his face.
- Bob's face is so disfigured that if anyone were to look at it directly it would scare them to death.
- Bob'thulu's face is… well, lets just say you'd Go Mad from the Revelation.
- Inverted: Bob wears thick armor that conceals his height and build, but leaves his face exposed.
- Subverted:
- Bob starts in the shadows, but later steps into the light for a dramatic face reveal.
- At first, it seems like Bob is wearing a mask that he never takes off. However, as it turns out, Bob never kept his face hidden at all. In fact, we’ve been staring at his real face all along…because his “mask” isn’t really a mask. It’s his actual face. Bob either isn’t even human or is some kind of mutant, and his face looks like a mask, so everyone assumes that this trope is in play when it actually isn’t.
- Double Subverted: ...only to show he has no face to reveal.
- Parodied:
- Bob removes a mask, only to show he wears yet another mask underneath.
- Bob removes his mask, revealing the mask is actually a replica of his real face.
- Zig Zagged: Bob's mask is removed, but it turns out that Bob had an alibi for the last time the mask appeared. Later, the masked person appears while Bob is in the room. Then it turns out that that masked person is also Bob underneath the mask, because they are a Clone Army.
- Averted: The viewer knew who was the murderer to begin with.
- Enforced:
- "We can't show who The Mole is yet, so we have to have something covering his face."
- "Nothing Is Scarier than what our viewers' imagination can cook up."
- Lampshaded: "Is Bob self conscious about his face or something?"
- Invoked: Bob can't reveal his identity, but he still needs to relay an important piece of info to the investigators.
- Exploited: "You wouldn't have investigated the issue if some random guy had just walked up to you and given you the info! Now a mysterious masked man, that made it interesting."
- Defied: Bob just walks up to the investigators and gives them the info.
- Discussed: "And I suppose whoever gave you that order was standing in a darkened walkway with shadows over his face and a whispery voice, right?"
- Conversed: "Does he have a super power to summon shadows around his face or something?"
Back to The Faceless
