While some people wear glasses for fashion and style purposes, others may be wary about wearing them due to the stereotypes attached. In fact, the stereotype that people with glasses look smart or nerdy dates all the way back to the Middle Ages. At the time, monks used glasses to study despite their declining vision. As such, glasses became a common accessory for people who perform intellectual and other highly skilled work.

Today, many still associate glasses with competence-related characteristics like success, dependability, and intelligence. Still, the growth of eyewear as fashion accessories has contributed significantly to weakening the stereotype. Aside from fashion, the de-nerdification of glasses and other eyewear can also be seen in video games.

Video game titles with character customization features also commonly use glasses as in-game cosmetics so players can style their in-game characters or avatars the way they want. Our previous post on Call of Duty Mobile’s Season 2 Lunar Dragon update highlighted various stylish glasses players could purchase and unlock in the fast-paced shooter.

Many iconic video game characters today wear glasses without being geeky or nerdy in their respective settings. Below, we’ll look at a few video game characters known for their glasses who aren’t nerdy:

Gordon Freeman – Half-Life

The main protagonist in the Half-Life games, Gordon Freeman looks like an ordinary man, except he is armed and forced to defend himself and the human race from aliens and other enemies following a failed experiment. Despite the game being released in 1998, Gordon’s look is timeless partly because of the sleek, black-framed glasses he wears. Today, many eyeglasses frames for men follow the eyewear’s simple, rectangular design, from the Oakley Holbrook to the Ray-Ban RB7047. Notably, by steering away from rounded glasses, Gordon avoids looking too nerdy — even if he is officially a theoretical physicist.

Throughout the Half-Life games, however, Gordon’s science lab background continually shifts as he is appointed as a Resistance leader in the war against an interdimensional empire. In the Half-Life games, Gordon is almost always equipped with a weapon to help defend himself amidst explosions and intergalactic gore — squashing all, if any, nerd allegations along the way.

Jade Curtiss – Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss is a console RPG where players control a roster of characters in the hopes of defeating the game’s many antagonists. Aside from being considered one of the best party members in the game, Jade Curtiss is also incidentally the only protagonist who wears glasses. 

Like most RPGs, each protagonist plays a different role in the game’s battle system, but Jade Curtiss has long been referred to as one of the strongest and most overpowered characters in the game. Despite his always smiling appearance, Jade is a Colonel and mixes close-range melee battle with spell casting, making him a highly flexible and dynamic fighter — a far cry from the stereotypical nerd.

Most importantly, Jade’s purpose for wearing glasses is one quite unique to him. His glasses are used to help limit his fonic sight, which is a powerful energy force responsible for creating the universe the Tales series takes place in. Even in the rare times that he isn’t wearing the glasses, Jade demonstrates absolute power by being able to control his fonic sight.

Miles Edgeworth – Ace Attorney

Finally, as protagonist Phoenix Wright’s main rival, Miles Edgeworth is the farthest possible character from the stereotypical nerd or geek. While he wasn’t initially seen wearing glasses in the Ace Attorney games, his appearance in 2013’s Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies introduced a pair of Bayonetta-like glasses, matching his sleek, suit-and-waistcoat outfit.

The game’s scenario director, Takeshi Yamazaki, explained that the glasses aren’t “simply a fashion statement” but accessories that he needs “now that he’s doing a lot more deskwork as the new chief prosecutor.” The game also introduced new animations to go with Miles’ glasses in the game. The glasses were so well-received by Ace Attorney fans that plush keychains made by Capcom as official merchandise featured options for Miles’ plushie to be with and without glasses.

As a main rival to Phoenix, Miles’ personality verges on cold, ruthless, and aloof. To the rest of the series characters (and players), Miles is pretty much a snob — even if he does secretly have slightly nerdy hobbies, such as being a fan of the fictional television show Steel Samurai.