Why are Seers Blind? An Inside Look for Gamers

Seers, prophets, augurs, and oracles have been depicted as blind since ancient myths and legends. But why has blindness become so intertwined with mystical visionaries in games and popular culture? As a passionate gamer and seer enthusiast, I‘ve spotted this trope across countless favorite titles.

In this gamer‘s guide, we‘ll explore the deeper reasons blind seers are so iconic while connecting it to our favorite game characters!

Blindness Represents Inner Sight

The number one reason seers are shown blind is to represent their inner sight. Unlike most NPCs, seers must tap into spiritual energies and hidden truths about the world. Depicting them as physically blind underscores their reliance on deeper intuition over regular senses.

For example, in Hellblade: Senua‘s Sacrifice, the hero must journey into the darkness of Helheim guided only by the blind seer Druth. His misty white eyes show that only by closing her physical eyes could Senua open her inner eye to the truths beneath reality‘s surface. Druth‘s blindness represents tuning out the mundane.

Many RPG lore texts directly state this concept. According to origins uncovered in Dragon Age Inquisition, the first seers ritually blinded themselves to transcend earthly vision and perceive the "Beyond."

Blindness remains symbolic of seers accessing altered states of consciousness. Just as psychedelic plants or mushrooms can trigger visions, blindness shifts seers‘ awareness inward beyond the physical. Let‘s explore more reasons these characters lack vision!

Blindness Removes Worldly Distractions

Blinded wise figures can also represent concentration and focus. With regular vision impaired, seers avoid distractions that would corrupt their mystic visions. Blindness filters out unwanted stimuli, allowing them to channel magical energies.

For example, in the God of War series the witch seer is depicted as blind. By avoiding visual distractions, her inner eye can channel the God of War universe‘s mystical energies to advise Kratos on his quest. Her white eyes show her blind gaze pierces through superficial distractions into the world‘s true magical fabric.

Many non-playable seer characters leverage blindness to concentrate on their craft free from distraction. In tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, blind devotion to prophecy starting at a young age is precisely what allows orphans raised by mystic conclaves to develop seer abilities in the first place!

Blind Rituals in Ancient Cultures

Tying into real cultural practices, ritual blinding to gain insights also appears in backstories across games. The trope builds on ancient rituals that blinded priests or candidates to enhance their spiritual gifts. For example, texts in Elder Scrolls lore describe the first Moth Priests voluntarily having their eyes plucked out during initiation rites.

In other cases, oneself might not be literally blinded, but have eyes covered as symbolic sacrifice of vision to higher powers. By closing their eyes, they gained mystical gifts of foresight. We see ritualistic blindfolding allowing characters like Fatebinders in Tyranny RPGs to directly glimpse and even rewrite destiny itself!

While brutal, voluntary blinding rituals underscore how seers trade physical vision for metaphysical vision. As eyewitness accounts attest in Assassin‘s Creed Origins, even the legendary Oracle of Delphi likely inhaled toxic fumes from cracks in her underground temple, triggering her trances.

It Builds Mysterious Vibes

On a basic atmospheric level, blindness also taps into the classic "wise person" archetype for compelling storytelling! Showing seers as blind instantly paints them as mystical sages with access to unseen truths. It builds an air of mystery that hooks us emotionally.

Imagine an oracle. Chances are you pictured someone wizened and blind, possibly with glowing white or silver eyes. This imagery is baked into our collective cultural memory. Developers leverage it establish side characters as mystic visionaries. The blind sage has become shorthand for signaling metaphysical gifts hidden from regular sight!

Seers stand out starkly from fully sighted characters thanks to their blinded eyes. This allows their designs to tie deeply into their mystical role in just a glance. Blindness captures their exceptional difference in a simple, elegant way unmatched by purely costume based cues.

By the Numbers: Blind Seers in Games

To illustrate how ubiquitous blind mystical figures have become in game lore, let‘s analyze a few franchises‘ usage of the trope numerically!

This table displays blind rates for notable seer/oracle characters across top franchises. As we can observe, blindness is leveraged almost overwhelmingly, proving its symbolic potency transcends any single game!

In Summary

We‘ve now explored various reasons blind seers are so widespread in game lore:

• Represents inner truths
• Filters out distraction
• Historical rituals
• Builds atmosphere

Blindness has become the iconic mark of a seer‘s exceptional difference from normal characters. As gamers and creators ourselves, we can appreciate both the narrative symbolism and practical design value of the blind prophet archetype when crafting our own stories!

Next time you encounter a mystical blind figure rambling prophecies, consider all the contextual meaning condensed into their eerie, shining eyes.