Prosthetics, the artificial replacement of organic limbs or organs, often play a role in fiction, particularly science fiction, as either plot points or to give a character a beyond normal appearance. Numerous works of literature, television, and films feature characters who have prosthetics attached.
Prosthetics are used, in a narrative sense, to either, provide a plot point in the characters back-story, a plot point to give to character a disability (or more often in Science fiction, an advantage), or just to distinguish the character in some way. Having a character in a story with a prostheses, can sometimes be the whole point of the story (eg Robocop is a full-body cyborg of police officer Alex Murphy, in essence he is a human/robot police officer, which is the basic premise for the film).
Prosthetic is an adjective. It should be Prostheses.
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Science fiction literature, television, and films often feature characters with prosthetics.
In Evil Dead, the main character Ash Williams has a chainsaw hand and later receives a robot hand in Army of Darkness.
In the myriad of Peter Pan stories and franchises, Captain Hook has a hook replacing his right hand which was eaten by a crocodile.
In Flannery O'Connor's story "Good Country People", the character Joy Hopewell/Hulga had her leg blasted off in a childhood hunting accidents and used a wooden leg instead that becomes important to the plot.
In The Fugitive television series and subsequent film, the fugitive Dr. Richard Kimble searches for the one armed man who killed his wife. In the film version, the one armed man also received a transplant - who was played by Andreas Katsulas. As a result, this would be another role in addition to his Babylon 5 role in which he received a prosthetic device.
In the novel Moby-Dick, as well as various productions based on the novel, Captain Ahab is a man who loses one of his legs to the great sperm whale Moby Dick. After losing his leg, a replacement of sorts is fashioned. This `wooden leg´, actually carved out of whalebone, allowed him to walk with minimal difficulty. The loss of this leg would fuel Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick, which cost him his ship, crew, and his life.
In the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric loses his left leg just above the knee and his entire right arm and has them replaced with metal limbs called automail.
In the Manga/Anime Ghost in the Shell, people who have had their bodies damaged or people who can simply afford it have their normal bodies replaced with a full prosthetic replacement. The main character, Motoko Kusanagi, is fully prosthetic. The 2011 video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution likewise centers around a future in which prosthetics have become commonplace.
The television series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff The Bionic Woman both featured main characters whose replacement parts gave them abilities above those of normal people.
In the Harry Potter novel series, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody has an artificial eye (able to see through solids) and a wooden leg to compensate for wounds he received during his career as an Auror. Wormtail, Voldermort's assistant, also receives a replaceament hand.
In the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, Dr. Eli Vance uses a prosthetic leg after losing his own leg below the knee helping his colleague Dr. Isaac Kleiner over a wall while escaping Black Mesa in the original "Half Life" game.
The character Rotwang from the film Metropolis has a black mechanical right hand after losing it for unknown reasons. Because Rotwang is an early "mad scientist" archetype, it is believed that this influenced other characters, such as Dr. Julius No (who, in the novel, had jointed metal claws; in the movie, however, he possessed actual artificial hands).
In the Akira manga and anime Tetsuo Shima, one of the main characters, loses his right arm and has it replaced by a mechanical limb. In the anime he's seen assembling the arm from pieces of junk using his supernatural powers, while in the manga the origin of the mechanical arm is unknown.
A running gag in the film Hot Shots! and its sequel is Lloyd Bridges's character, Thomas 'Tug' Bensen, featuring various prosthetics that replace parts he had lost in earlier battles. These prosthetics include; ceramic eyes, asbestos skin, a magnetic skull plate, aluminum siding facial bones, and stainless steel ear canals.
In the novel "The Horse Whisperer", Grace MacLean loses part of her right leg when she is involved in a horseback riding accident, and struck by a large truck. She get a prosthetic leg, and learns how to walk on it and ride again.
The Character "Peeta Mellark" from "The Hunger Games" loses his right leg at the end of the novel, after surviving a bad wound, blood poisoning. However, when he is attacked by one of the Mutts, the wound is bad enough that it later causes the leg to be amputated by the capitol. He is given a replacement prosthetic leg.