#reesearch

As he lost his eye as a kid, he had time to adjust to the disability; his father was still the clan head and so he was free to discipline himself. If Masamune had lost his eye as the clan head, I wonder how he would have fared. After all, I doubt that other rival clans would give him the time to compensate for his lack of depth perception and the new blind spots he has gotten. Not to mention that his very style of fighting would probably would have had to change. Masamune probably would have probably either been replaced as clan leader, temporarily or even (and more likely) permanently, or been killed in battle because he wasn’t used to his new handicap.

However, maybe he would have been fine. His relationship with his brother, retainers, and mother probably would have been different. As he had grown up without the stigma of being One-Eyed, it is unlikely his mother would have been able to gather the necessary allies for rebellion and his brother may very well have remained alive to assist him. As the clan head, he would have created a respectable reputation and a record for his success as a leader or people would be less likely to dispose of him.

Perhaps losing his eye later would have just triggered the same events as if he had lost his eye as a child. His retainers and mother would have viewed him as an unsuitable clan head because of his disability and planned to be rid of him and instate his brother. Losing his eye at all is just the starting point of all the same events that actually occurred when he lost his eye as a child.

One major thing I think would have changed would be his personality. He probably would have been surer of himself. Like, he is confident because he has to be. No one but Kojuro and a few select others believed in his ability to rule so he had to bolster himself up. However, he was still aware of all the doubts that people had of him, enough that even his mother tried to kill him, and has internalized all those criticisms. He is the picture of someone both sure of himself and highly critical and doubtful of his abilities. If he lost it later he might have been able to bolster a more authentic and stronger confidence from the support of more people. He might not have as many of those internal doubts.

How he would have fared after he lost the eye is another question entirely.

Masamune would have been less empathetic. Being sick and having to overcome such weakness as a child would have made him softer to those who had similar problems and made him able to endure. Such empathy would not have come to the Masamune who didn’t have to suffer such.