Need help finding a reason for someone of to lose an eye

Hi,

Why does it have to be anything significant? He got a scratch, the eye became infected, it had to be removed - simple. Of course as a pirate he now has to spend the rest of his life making up ever more bizarre stories about how he lost the damned thing! (And getting rid of anyone who knows the truth!)

Cheers, Greg.

 

It's pretty easy to lose an eye. I am like a sorta normal US kid (very rural though..and we had weapons) and two times I have come close: Once my friend and I were doing something very stupid, which was throwing an arrow at each other! and trying to block it with wood chips? anyway.. when one is young and stupid. anyway, arrow in my eye. luckily not a hunting arrow! but yeah, at the doctor, patch all of that and I was lucky and can see now but that eye has never been the same.

second time my brother wanted to show me a fencing move, and so- for whatever reason- I took down my actual sword from the wall (or maybe he did?- I swear it was all his idea anyway) he messed up the move and I stabbed him right along side the nose into his eye. A sound and feeling I will never forget- it haunted me like a low level ptsd for a while. Instantly his eye filled with blood and closed up- very lucky that it slid in the side and was not a cm the the right or he would have a glass eye now.

So yeah, pretty easy and for very stupid reasons!


-j

 

Thought you could use this in conjunction with Don Coyote's idea
Shortly after I was born my brain expanded and crushed the anterior pituitary gland and olfactory bulb against my skull, taking out the sight in my left eye. (The eye is still in place but useless). With the olfactory bulb gone, I have no sense of smell either.

Best wishes.

 

Did he really lose an eye? Or does he just wear an eye patch for the real reason pirates are depicted wearing them?

The real reason is that most sailors, not just pirates, would wear them in what we think of as the pirate era (16th-18th century), and the reason they did was to preserve night vision. They regularly had to climb in and out of the ship's hold, and they had to be able to see the whole time, which meant their eyes had to quickly adjust to the dark when they went into the hold. There was no lighting down there, and it would have been way too dangerous to bring a candle or torch, because the hold was full of gunpowder. One stray spark would've blown up the ship.

Keeping one eye covered preserved night vision in that one eye. Flip up the eye patch as soon as you were in the dark, and it would instantly become adequate night vision in both eyes. That was the only way they could safely navigate below.

If your character really did lose an eye, he's at a serious disadvantage. He can't preserve his night vision. He'll be stumbling blind when he goes into the hold.

If he really has two good eyes, his "how I lost my eye" story could be his way of having fun with landlubbers who have no idea why sailors wear eye patches, should he encounter any. He can make that as outlandish as you want.

 

I used to be an outdoor ed instructor. It was one of the stories we told the students on nightwalks, as we explained how night vision works. I learned it in staff training. But then, some of my students said they'd seen the same thing on TV--I think it was one of those explainer shows, but I don't remember which one--so there should be some outside source, it's just not one I can immediately link to.

 

I would say that i do this sometimes, and it works. I work in Theater and we often have to go from a very bright space (on stage) to off stage.. a very dark place and still be able to see. I am not an actor, so when I am in the bright it does serve me to close one eye as I go, as I live mostly in the dark and only sometimes need to hit the light so no need for a patch since I can easily hold a wink.

the lack of depth perception is less serious than you may think - you can certainly still navigate and pick things up etc (which is exactly what we are doing most the time) - never been a problem.

 

Stargazing isn't such a time sensitive activity. The stars won't move noticeably in 15-20 minutes. But if you're a ship's crew member and you repeatedly climb in and out of the hold, chances are you don't have 15-20 minutes to spare for adjusting your eyes.

 

It is indeed.

Remember, the reason for not carrying a light source below deck was gunpowder. There wouldn't have been gunpowder on a merchant ship. So, merchant sailors probably didn't need eyepatches. Navy ships would have had it. And, of course, pirate ships.

And that's era specific. Gunpowder on ships only became common in the 15th-16th century (and only on ships expected to use it, ie navy). It became obsolete by the end of the 19th century. So, gunpowder was being carried on pirate ships in the very era when we have the pirate with an eye patch trope.

 

Here's another possibility: this wearing of eye patches wasn't universal, among navy or pirates or anybody (but then, how did the non-eye patch wearers deal with dark holds full of gunpowder?), but a few did hit on that solution. The artists who depicted eye patch wearing pirates had either encountered or, more likely, heard of, those pirates who actually did wear eye patches for that reason, but didn't know the real reason, so it became "pirate wears an eye patch, that's just what he does."

 

Another possible reason for the eye patch not showing up on Navy sailors, particularly officers, is that officers were much more likely to be depicted by an artist in the first place, and officers in the Navy--and on merchant ships, too--kept strict boundaries between themselves and the crew. An officer would rarely if ever have gone into the hold, except maybe for an inspection. Quickly going down and back, fetching stuff, would have been the lowly crew members' job.

But pirate ships were much more egalitarian. Spoils were divided much more equally, the crew had much more say in decisions, and the captain was more likely to do at least some work alongside his crew. A Navy captain would never do the grunt work, but a pirate captain might take his turn at it.

 

of course, remember this is not a historical fiction site, but a fantasy writers site: So in your world pirates could have any number of reasons for having a patch- as long as its not unreasonable- and may even have been the case- go for it!