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‘NCIS’ Fans Speculate the Meaning of Gibbs’ Under-Eye Scar

“NCIS” fans love to theorize. In fact, when they’re not watching the latest episode of the crime procedural, they’re revisiting old episodes with new light. Take the scar under Mark Harmon’s Leroy Gibbs in Season 14 for instance.

One fan on Reddit has either a bonkers or ingenious theory on the meaning behind the scar. And it has everything to do with a real-world conflict between Harmon and star Pauley Perrette. The two actors reportedly entered a feud over Harmon’s dog, Dave.

Harmon brought his dog on the set, and it reportedly bit one of the crew members. That crew member had been playing with the animal but ended up needing 15 stitches. Afterward, Harmon continued bringing his pet to the set, creating what Perrette reportedly viewed as an unsafe work environment. This caused tension as a result and led to her leaving “NCIS.”

The Redditor believed that “NCIS” gave Gibbs a scar as a subtle call-out to the feud.

Here’s the theory as follows: “The end of season 14, Gibbs sustains a gnarly scar under his left eye while in Paraguay. This scar and placement [coincidentally] coincided with accusations made by former ‘NCIS’ castmate, Pauley Perrette, around the same time about ‘Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ Mark Harmon’s dog attacking a set member. Resulting in several stitches under the eye at the time of the attack. Many speculated the authenticity of Perrette’s claims she vaguely posted all over Twitter, yet Harmon remained silent.”

‘NCIS’ Fan Theory on the Scar

So the fan believes that “NCIS” gave Gibbs the scar as symbolism over the feud. According to the theory, “NCIS” producers sided with Harmon and gave the character the scar as a result of solidarity.

“I was watching the beginnings of season 15; noting the hairline scar under Gibbs’ left eye, I couldn’t shake the thought of the symbolism it may have represented,” the user continued. “Solidarity in the midst of drama? Scarring one’s own main played character as an act of sympathy and awareness? That, or perhaps Harmon himself was the victim at the other end of his dog’s attack. That led me to wonder, if true, why would Perrette make such a big deal about a dog attacking their owner (even if it was done on set). So I circled back to symbolism: is it possible that Harmon decided to brand Gibbs with similar scarring under the same eye as his set mate caused by his dog?”

But not so fast, several other fans took issue with the fan theory. They believed that the user may be reading too much into the small details on the show. But part of the fun of being a fan is watching the show and creating sometimes bizarre, sometimes creative theories.