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1%%
2%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1653541304094661000
3%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
4%%
5[[quoteright:350:[[Series/GoodOmens2019 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crowley_0.png]]]]
6%%
7
8->''"[[Myth/CelticMythology Cuchulainn]] has FOURTEEN FINGERS AND FOURTEEN TOES\
9ALSO FOURTEEN PUPILS\
10WHY FOURTEEN PUPILS?\
11BECAUSE TWO PUPILS IS NOT ENOUGH TO WITNESS THE SHEER QUANTITY OF HOMICIDE HE COMMITS."''
12-->-- '''[[http://bettermyths.com/cuchulainn-is-the-megatron-of-killing-people/ Cuchulainn is a megatron of killing people]]''', [[Blog/MythsRetold Bettermyths.com]]
13
14A character's pupils are [[AnimalEyes slitted like a cat's or snake's]], or rectangular like a sheep's or goat's, to indicate that they're channeling something nasty (or that they ''are'' nasty, period). Often paired with a [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] or [[SupernaturalGoldEyes yellow]] eye color to accentuate the wrongness. Also applies to eyes with such unusual designs that they seem wrong in the worst way.
15
16Curiously, nobody ever seems to notice this if the character isn't a known antagonist. It's a RedRightHand to identify trouble to the audience.
17
18Sometimes this is the GlowingEyesOfDoom with the dimmer switch turned down.
19
20A subtrope of UhOhEyes. May overlap with AnimalEyes, generally when the eyes of animals associated with evil and sinister motives, or those of animals with strange or unusual eye shapes, are used. Not to be confused with [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant evil school children]].
21
22Compare FireballEyeballs. Generally unrelated to WingdingEyes, which are PlayedForLaughs.
23
24%%Do not remove the folders, they are the standard.
25%%
26----
27!!Example subpages:
28
29[[index]]
30* HellishPupils/AnimeAndManga
31[[/index]]
32
33!!Other examples:
34
35[[foldercontrol]]
36
37[[folder:Comic Books]]
38* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
39** ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'':
40*** In an example with AnimalEyes overlap, Priscilla Rich's eyes gain slit cat-like pupils after she touches and is disintegrated and reformed by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Heart of Baetylus]].
41*** The Manticore that attacked Diana as a child had a swarm of pupils in each of it's eyes rather than just one, making it's otherwise human head very unsettling.
42** ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'': Spectre sometimes manifests images of skulls where his pupils should be, terrifying those who see him face-to-face.
43** ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'': The mischievous reality-warper Mister Mxyzptlk [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/d/de/Mister_Mxyzptlk_Cosmic_Adventures_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110926155016 has square pupils and golden irises]].
44** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Queen Atomia's poison green eyes are each split by a thin vertical slit pupil.
45** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Genocide's "eyes" look like writhing orbs of twisting tortured human corpses, and when Alkyone takes on some of her power Alkyone's pupils look like skulls.
46* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
47** ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Galactus has always had square irises.
48** ''ComicBook/XMen'': Nightcrawler is sometimes shown with these, but [[DarkIsNotEvil he is the nicest guy]]! [[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique His mother]], on the other hand...
49* ''ComicBook/PaperGirls'': The first "Alien Invaders" (or so they believe) that the Girls run across have triangular pupils. [[spoiler:though it turns out to be a RedHerring as they are actually the good guys, or at least the least hostile faction.]]
50* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'': Super Sonic, Sonic's SuperpoweredEvilSide, had red spirals instead of pupils. In some stories they seemed to reflect his demeanour; when he was at the peak of his evil powers the spirals were large enough to fill his eyes, but when he was good they shrank noticably.
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
54* ''Animation/SuurToll'': VanatĂĽhi the devil has three red pupils.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Fan Works]]
58* ''[[http://copperbadge.fanficauthors.net/Cartographers_Craft/index/ The Cartographer's Craft]]'': Peter Pettigrew performs a ritual to immensely increase his power, and his eyes are afterwards described as "yellow, with cross-shaped pupils; a goat's eyes."
59* In [[https://www.deviantart.com/misakiyu misakiyu]]'s illustrations of [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon SlifofinaDragon]]'s ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' fanfic ''Finally Home'' (chapter 1), UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi's daughter Kagehime "Kira" shows her [[WickedWitch witchy]] side, with her eyes being slitted like that of a reptile's.
60* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': In Chapter 8 of the original, right after [[spoiler:[[TouchTelepathy probing]] a {{mook}}'s mind with his [[PartialTransformation tendrils]]]], Kyril's pupils turn into slits as he regards the guards approaching him, clearly intending to walk through what's left of them.
61* ''Fanfic/PastSins'': Nyx has cat-pupiled inherited from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Nightmare Moon]], [[spoiler:because she is Nightmare Moon reincarnated]].
62* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'': In the non-cannon fic "Nightmares Yet to Come", the bad guys have these, which are gold, and glow... sometimes. The rest of the time TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse.
63* ''Fanfic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan'': As part of the [[TookALevelInBadass badass upgrade package]] he receives from Vulcan and [[spoiler:Chrysalis]], [[MookLieutenant Artful Dodger]]'s eyes are magically enchanted to increase his natural vision and grant him night vision, with a side effect being that they become cat-like, with slitted pupils and a slight glow.
64* ''Fanfic/SquidwardsSuicide'' is about Squidward getting hyper-realistic [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] GlowingEyesOfDoom and being told to kill himself before it comes, which he does at the end. The song he plays at his performance is also titled "Red Mist", and for some reason, it gives several audience members the red eyes. The Red Mist phenomenon seems to be named after the red and misty vision/appearance the eyes give.
65[[/folder]]
66
67[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
68* Justified in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'': Rattlesnake Jake is a western diamondback rattlesnake, so it makes sense for him to have slit pupils. The flaming-red irises certainly aid the hellish look, though.
69* Professor Screweyes from ''WesternAnimation/WereBackADinosaursStory''. True, his left eye is actually a screw buried deep on his eye socket, but the fact that the screw's slit is in a vertical position (instead of in a diagonal or horizontal one) pretty makes it look like the pupil of a snake or a cat.
70* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': Predators that go "savage" are signified by their eyes reverting to a more animalistic state, either turning dark or having slit pupils. This is a clue to the viewer that [[spoiler:Nick is faking going savage in the climax, because his eyes stay normal.]] The sheep (with the exception of Bellwether) are also depicted with realistic sideways pupils, unlike other mammals which have human-like eyes, which [[spoiler:makes them look more intimidating when they're revealed as villains]].
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
74* In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Lance Henriksen wanted to have his android character sport a pair of Hellish Pupils while performing his Facehugger autopsy, but director James Cameron declared that Henriksen's eyes were creepy enough as-is.
75%%* Lucifer in ''Film/AngelHeart'' has these.
76* The aliens in ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' have [[BlindedByTheLight sensitive]] lizard-like eyes with slit pupils.
77* ''Film/TheBoyWhoCriedWerewolf'': They're gained by humans close to transforming into a werewolf, as well as vampires, becoming slitted and yellow.
78* Due to having a soul no more, Miles Creighton displays these twice in ''Film/{{Chiller}}''; first when he wakes up after being brought back from his cryogenic sleep, and when he dies for good in front of his mother in the ending.
79* The [[MagnificentBastard Master]] [[RuleOfCool in]] [[RuleOfScary the]] ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[TheMovie movie.]] The last time we saw him in the series, he was fighting off the effects of turning into a cat-like creature with the same result.
80* In ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', Sarris's eyes are yellowish-green with dual pupils (one large one and a smaller one next to it).
81* In ''Film/InTheMouthOfMadness'', the [[AxCrazy ax-wielding maniac]] who attacks Trent early on has eyes with ''two'' pupils that overlap one another.
82* Employed subtly in ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn'': Eli's pupils turn slitted [[MST3KMantra in the dark]] and when [[OurVampiresAreDifferent her inner vampire comes to the fore]].
83* Thomas Jerome Newton from ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth''. Beneath the contact lenses he wears as part of his AlienAmongUs disguise, he has reptilian eyes -- yellow with slit pupils. He's a TragicHero and a subversion of this trope, but it doesn't keep his human mistress from regarding his true form as hideous.
84* ''Film/TheMummy2017'': As part of her ObviouslyEvil design Ahmanet has two pupils (w/ irises) in each eye.
85* The devil mating with Rosemary in ''Film/RosemarysBaby'' is shown to have yellowish cateyes. Their baby is suggested to have inherited them as well.
86* Megumi the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurei Yurei]] spirit does this in the [[ForeignRemake American version]] of ''Film/{{Shutter}}'', she has a scene where her eyes widen and her pupils go inhumanly small. Very creepy effect.
87* Evil magic user Zenobia does this in ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' manifesting feline eyes (for a few seconds) when using her full powers. (She does this ''twice'' during the film.)
88* Dren in ''Film/{{Splice}}'' has cross-shaped pupils, as an indicator of her hybrid nature.
89* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit?'' has [[spoiler:Judge Doom in his Toon form]] having such scary eyes that they could count as {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Literature]]
93* The HotWitch in ''Alchemy'' by Creator/MargaretMahy has eyes that initially appear normal, but turn yellow and catlike when examined closely. Somewhat surprisingly, she's a good guy--the antagonist is even creepier.
94* ''Literature/BeastsMadeOfNight'': Children are exposed as Sin-Eaters when their {{Puberty Superpower}}s activate and their pupils turn white.
95* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'': TheAntiGod Lord Foul has sickly yellow eyes "like decaying fangs". It's not entirely clear what is meant by this simile, but it's probably not anything good.
96* In ''Literature/DarkHeart'', this is the first sign of Myrren Kahliana's dark side emerging, along with her developing magical power.
97* The Westfolk (elves) from Katharine Kerr's {{Literature/Deverry}} novels all have catlike eyes (big irises and slit pupils), though they aren't exactly harbringers of trouble, most of the time.
98* The Knife in ''Literature/TheDollmaker'' has eyes that look like hourglasses. She's not really evil, but she's definitely inhuman, and doesn't have much against a little light murder.
99* The Sidhe in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' almost exclusively have these, unless they're going to some effort to hide it (it's sometimes a little more ambiguous with ones who were originally human), being almost exclusively referred to as 'feline'. Like cats, the Unseelie/Winter Sidhe are predators by nature and enjoy toying with their prey (to quote the protagonist, "these people think the ''{{Franchise/Saw}}'' movies are hilarious"). The Seelie/Summer Sidhe tend to be far less creepy, but even they tend to walk the GoodIsNotNice line and have a serious case of BlueAndOrangeMorality.
100* The mage Raistlin from ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' has pupils shaped like hourglasses, a side effect of a [[BlessedWithSuck magical talent]] he received when young. Naturally, Raistlin has SupernaturalGoldEyes, too.
101* ''Literature/EmpireOfSand'' has a variant: the [[ImmortalRuler Maha]] looks like a charismatic but normal SilverFox except for his pupils, which show that the insides of his eyes have a fractured gleam like light on broken glass, betraying that there's an entirely inhuman power within his body.
102* ''Literature/GoodOmens:'' [[NobleDemon A. J. Crowley]] has yellow, snake-like eyes (six thousand years ago he ''was'' a snake, hence the fact that he occasionally hisses, doesn't blink much, and can do 'odd things' with his tongue), hence his CoolShades. Crowley is a demon who lives in a fantastic London flat, designed the M25 London ring-road as one of his most evil deeds, and drives a Bentley. His shades are pretty damn cool.
103* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': The BigBad Voldemort has slit-pupiled, red eyes. They were ordinary brown eyes in his childhood; ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' reveals that the change was part of an EvilMakesYouUgly transformation brought on by creating an excess of {{Soul Jar}}s.
104* Mr. Teatime, the psychopathic assassin from ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', has jaundiced eyes with creepy pinpoint pupils. The fact that he only has one eye doesn't detract from this -- indeed, his glass eye is described as being the ''less creepy'' one.
105* Shahmeran in the ''Literature/LeagueOfMagi'' stories has eyes that go vertically slitted like a snake's whenever she manifests her powers (but remains in human form.
106* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Sauron is represented (in visions, and from there as a metaphor) by a great eye, with a slit pupil and yellow like a cat's, and [[IncendiaryExponent rimmed with fire]]. In Peter Jackson's film version, of course, that eye ''was'' Sauron.
107* In the ''Literature/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''Champion's Trial'', Kei Takahashi is [[spoiler:being transformed into a humanoid wasp.]] His eyes turn yellow-green with red pupils, which is nasty enough; however, his pupils then begin to divide, over and over, [[spoiler:becoming the compound eyes of an insect.]] Creepy.
108* ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'': The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Winter Queen]] appears to human girl Cecile as a perfectly beautiful woman, with glossy black hair, silver eyes, pearly teeth and perfectly manicured rosy nails. However, from time to time, especially when she loses control of her temper, her real nature pushes through her glamour, showing things like claws, pointed teeth and eyes with slit pupils. And she is highly dangerous, planning [[spoiler:total destruction of all trolls]].
109* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Ares has these in the form of literal hellfire when he removes his CoolShades. They get hotter as he gets angrier, at one time melting his sunglasses.
110* ''Literature/WarrenTheThirteenth'':
111** Subverted with Sketchy, who looks terrifying in part to his slit-shaped pupils, but turns out to be very friendly.
112** Aunt Annaconda has these to make her look similarly creepy, and possibly to indicate that she's a witch. They're especially prominent during her VillainousBreakdown.
113* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'': All Witchers gain catlike eyes during their mutation. This enables them to see in the dark, but also makes them distinctly more badass. And, coincidentally, in bright light as well (Pointed out in-text, when Geralt's pupils turned into thin slits, giving him an advantage in a fight). A cat's eye not only looks cooler, it's simply more awesome.
114* A somewhat minor (can TheDragon have a dragon?) villain in the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', the petty crime lord Zekka Thyne, has [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] with diamond-shaped pupils edged in gold, which reflect light when he's in the dark. The heroes are very happy to take advantage of this and [[NoNonsenseNemesis shoot him]] when he's trying to sneak around. (It happened ''twice'', and one of them even warned him earlier that if he slipped up he'd be tracked down by his "[[Narm/StarWars double-diamonds]]". No one told him about goggles, apparently.) Justified in that he's apparently some kind of HalfHumanHybrid.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
118* Jha'dur from the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E09Deathwalker Deathwalker]]" has cat eyes.
119* Inverted in the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "[[Recap/CriminalMindsS5E6TheEyesHaveIt The Eyes Have It]]" when a [[TaxidermyIsCreepy homicidal taxidermist]] replaces the realistic glass cat eyes of a preserved bobcat with the ''real'' eyes of the man who'd brought the animal in to be stuffed.
120* Those infected by the Cheetah taint in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival Survival]]" develop cat-like pupils. The Master retains these in his next appearance, in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie Doctor Who: The Movie]]''.
121* Crowley, demonic co-protagonist of ''Series/GoodOmens2019'', has yellow slit-pupiled eyes that have sclera or not depending on how snake-like he's feeling at any given moment. Between the contact lenses and the [[CoolShades dark sunglasses]], one suspects actor David Tennant was doing a ''lot'' of his acting effectively blind...
122* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': When Sauron screams in rage at Galadriel, his human disguise slips away to show he has vertically-slitted pupils.
123* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': Kermit the Frog obviously isn't evil, but he does have odd horizontal pupils with a bulge in the middle. Real frog species feature a variety of pupil shapes as well as irises often colored similarly to the rest of the frog, meaning that some species do have eyes resembling Kermit's, such as [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=frog%20photograph&order=9&offset=96&offset=144#/d34fbz1 the leopard frog]].
124* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', the Bane have pupils somewhere between heart- and apple-shaped.
125* The Silicates ([=AIs=]) of ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' have crosshair eyes.
126* The Wraith of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' have both the slitted pupils and the yellow iris. And they are pretty creepy. Well, at first.
127* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Members of Species 8472, one of Trek's few completely non-humanoid alien races, have cross-shaped eyes. How nasty are they? The ''Borg'' are terrified of them.
128* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
129** In "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E14DieHandDieVerletzt Die Hand Die Verletzt]]", when the teacher-demon-lady-whatever-thing is carrying out her/its rituals.
130** In "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E18TesoDosBichos Teso Dos Bichos]]", a rather infamous episode featuring [[spoiler:sewer killer pussy cats summoned by a jaguar spirit]], a shaman of Ecuador has cat-like eyes as well.
131** Seen at the end of "[[Recap/TheXFilesS06E07TermsOfEndearment Terms of Endearment]]", [[spoiler:revealing that the supposedly 'normal' wife of the demon is actually a demon herself]].
132* The "defiant pupil" in ''Series/{{Zoo}}'' is a distortion of the left eye's pupil, which all of the unnaturally-hostile animals seem to display.
133[[/folder]]
134
135[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
136* Virgil describes Charon as having eyes "like hollow furnaces on fire."
137[[/folder]]
138
139[[folder:Pinball]]
140* The Devil in ''Pinball/DevilsDare'' has green pupils with reptilian slits.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
144* ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': Urik von Kharkov, a darklord who can change into a panther, develops slitted pupils when he gets angry.
145* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': One piece of art depicts a pair of eyes with the [[TheCorruption eight-pointed star of Chaos]] for pupils. As a general rule: if you are in the Warhammer world and you see someone with those symbols in their eyes looking at you, it may be time to take a long vacation. And it's probably best if you don't stop to pack.
146[[/folder]]
147
148[[folder:Video Games]]
149%%* ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'': Killer Croc is full-on humanoid reptilian, while Copperhead still looks human enough, minus the bonus long forked tongue.%%And what about their eyes?
150* ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' likes this trope. Vincent briefly displays rectangular goat-style pupils each time he wakes up from a nightmare, [[spoiler:Thomas Mutton has eyes shaped like the spear of mars and the cross from the mirror of venus]], and [[spoiler:Catherine and Vincent have variants of these in the True Cheater ending]].
151* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'':
152** Many demons have this. Rozalin of the [[VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories second game]] [[spoiler:and other members of Veldime's Snow Clan]] takes it a step further by having ''white'' slitted pupils.
153** (Human) Princess Sapphire, from the [[VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice third game]], has white star-shaped pupils. Seeing as she's conclusively [[AxeCrazy off her nut]], it would be safe to call them hellish.
154* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': [[LadyOfBlackMagic Morrigan]] has cat's-eye pupils and SupernaturalGoldEyes. Unsurprisingly, she's a TokenEvilTeammate and a shapeshifter.
155* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': During the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, Hermaeus Mora (Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Fate) manifests as a singular giant yellowish eye with unusual biconcave pupil somewhat similar to that of a goat. Whilst not necessarily ''hellish'' in the sense of being outright evil, his intentions are anything but innocent given the BlueAndOrangeMorality typical of the Daedric Princes.
156* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
157** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Sephiroth, the BigBad, has the slitted cat-like variety, compounded with those oh-so telling "[[GlowingEyesOfDoom Mako]]" eyes. His eyes were always like that, even before he turned bad, presumably because of Jenova's cells. This is especially evident in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''.
158** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Rikku and the Al Bhed people have spiral-shaped pupils. They're not evil, though, just quirky and a tad ornery. Yuna has one eye like this, as she's half-Al Bhed (Rikku is actually her cousin, in fact).
159* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'':
160** ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters96'': Goenitz gets slitted pupils before fighting.
161** ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters97'': When Chris is possessed by Orochi, his eyes become slitted and either [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] or [[SupernaturalGoldEyes yellow]]; however, this is only part of the transformation.
162%%** In the Neo-Geo pocket games, the Heavenly King version of Yashiro and Chris also have these kind of eyes.
163%%* ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'': Marx has these when he goes OneWingedAngel.%%Has what?
164* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'': Klonoa is a heroic example, with catlike slit pupils surrounded by equally catlike golden irises. The pupils have widened somewhat over the course of several installments and spinoffs and currently resemble Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog's eyes more than the full-on cat eyes he had in his first game. Then again, Klonoa IS a Cat.
165* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
166** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Large deposits of Malice, a toxic substance created as a physical manifestation of Ganon's hatred and evil, can sprout large eyeballs with black scleras, glowing yellow irises, and vertically-slitted pupils.
167** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': Ganondorf's eyes in his Demon King form have black scleras, glowing yellow irises, and vertically-slitted pupils, just like the Malice eyes in ''Breath of the Wild''. These eyes are also present on high-ranking monsters like Gloom Spawn, Gleeoks, and the Marbled Gohma.
168* ''VideoGame/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' allows the player to control multiple characters throughout the game, including three dinosaur characters. The strength of the dinosaur characters' attacks are governed by an "Instinct" meter in the upper corner, which takes the form of an eye. The eye starts off as a green iris with a large, circular black pupil. The character can pick up items to change this, including a Full Instinct item, which makes the eye in the corner a blazing red, with a slit pupil. This Instinct boost causes the player's attacks to be significantly stronger, and the player must kill enemies in quick succession in order to keep the Hellish Pupil, otherwise the eye color begins to transit backwards through orange, yellow, and back to green, with the pupil changing back to a more circular shape. Obtaining Instinct and keeping it maintained is an important part of gameplay, as having full Instinct can make bringing down even the hardest of bosses a matter of only attacks hits, so it really pays the player to obtain the Hellish Pupil and keep it that way.
169%%* ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable'': The [[PsychoRangers Materials]] possess these, signifying their connection to the [[EldritchAbomination Darkness of the Book of Darkness]].%%Possess what?
170* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Solid Snake has slit pupils in the Platform/NintendoGameCube [[VideoGameRemake remake]]. However, they only appear in that particular game and he's not terribly evil despite the violence supposedly latent in [[InTheBlood his genes.]]
171* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Humanoid Shadows have these. Once denied by their human counterparts (the last step to being killed by one is to shout "YOU'RE NOT ME!"), they turn into full-out GlowingEyesOfDoom just before the transformation.
172* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
173** Albert Wesker's cat eyes, which were first seen in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica''. Possible ShoutOut to "Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller".
174** [[https://i0.wp.com/media.ign.com/games/image/object/000/000504/ResidentEvil2_US.jpg The cover art]] of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' features a zombie with yellow slit pupils.
175* ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'': Date Masamune has slitted pupils (well, at least in his one visible eye), despite being an ordinary human by the game's standards, and though questionably insane he's by no means evil. However he is often referred to as a "dragon", and whether this is to be taken literally or not his design sports a lot of dragon motifs.
176* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'': Nicola's pupils noticeably shrink when he is genuinely pissed.
177* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'': Mephiles' eyes after taking on the shape of Shadow the Hedgehog are red, with green irises, and vertically slited pupils. Despite this combined with [[NoMouth him not having a mouth]] and his evil-sounding voice, Silver doesn't seem suspicious in the slightest during their first meeting. The trope becomes even more apparent in Mephiles' crystalline form.
178* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': If you pay close attention to the skits, you'll notice that Presea's pupils are black while the pupils of the rest of the cast are white. She's not evil though.
179* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderUnderworld'': Lara's doppelgänger has pupils that constantly reflect light like a cat's.
180* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
181** The Scarlet Sisters, Remilia and Flandre, from ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'' [[DependingOnTheArtist sometimes]] sport red eyes and slitted pupils as part of their vampire package.
182** Nue from ''Undefined Fantastic Object'' misses her pupils almost entirely (they're just darker red spots). Despite ZUN being famously bad at character art, he does normally-colored eyes correctly, so much of the fandom accepts this as intentional.
183** ''Gouyoku Ibun'''s BigBad, Yuuma Toutetsu, a sheep youkai from Hell, has horizontally slitted pupils.
184* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': Beckett has slitted cat pupils and eyes that are ''completely'' red -- a side-effect of his vampire clan. He is, however, neither a villain, trouble, nor particularly sinister -- the worst he'll do is [[DeadpanSnarker be sarcastic at you]].
185* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'': Witchers tend to have eyes the slit catlike variety.
186* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'':
187** The first step of Konishi's OneWingedAngel is heralded with her taking her glasses off as her eyes turn into green cat's eyes. Her monstrous form, appropriately enough, is Tigrus Cantus.
188** Minamimoto's eyes, on the other hand, are constantly yellow and catlike -- his form is Leo Cantus.
189* ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion'': [[spoiler:Nessiah]]'s eyes were probably like this, considering that the one that's in the Gran Centurio has a slitted pupil.
190[[/folder]]
191
192[[folder:Visual Novels]]
193* The dragon's eyes in ''VisualNovel/DraKoi'' are slitted even as a human. The protagonist thinks they look reptilian.
194* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'':
195** Rider possesses square pupils, and as they're usually covered in the original game people only realize this right before being TakenForGranite by her powers.
196** Gilgamesh from the same game has slitted pupils and red eyes, Which is a trait all demigods have.
197** So does Lancer; it might be Fate-continuity shorthand for marking out someone who's got [[spoiler:divine ancestry; Lancer is Cu Chulainn, ergo his dad is the god Lugh, and Gilgamesh WOULD be two-thirds divine (not sure how that one works...), but he's had his godly-rating dinged by the fact that ''he really doesn't like the gods very much'' and is thus his usual, er... [[JerkAss charming]] self at them.]]
198** Rin has slitted pupils when she's angry. While she ''is'' a magus, it's probably artistic license more than any indication of anything abnormal. She has box pupils in Shirou's dreams. [[spoiler:As does Rider under her mask. [[FridgeHorror This isn't a coincidence]].]]
199* In ''VisualNovel/MarcoAndTheGalaxyDragon'', [[spoiler:Marco]]'s eyes morph into reptilian slits during her final confrontation with Astaroth.
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder:Web Animation]]
203* In ''WebAnimation/BabushkaTheMovie'', the more people that [[VideoGame/AmongUs the Impostors]] LetsPlay/{{Valkyrae}} and Creator/{{Sykkuno}} kill, the more [[EvilMakesYouMonstrous scary/inhuman/demonic]] they start to look. Both Rae and Sykkuno briefly gain slit pupils after their second kills (Sykkuno also briefly has [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]] and slit pupils just seconds before he commits his second murder), and Rae gets permanent slit pupils and BlackEyesOfEvil after her third murder.
204[[/folder]]
205
206[[folder:Webcomics]]
207* ''Webcomic/AvasDemon'': Unusually shaped pupils are common in the setting, but demon hosts are distinguished by having unusually ''colored'' pupils as well. A flashback shows that Odin's pupils changed from black to red after the near-death experience that opened his connection with Pedri.
208* ''Webcomic/BlackHaze'': [[spoiler:Dio Varus]] has these [[spoiler:in his demon form and accidentally in his human form]]. Unusually for this trope, the sudden change to this is ''exactly what'' alerts Rood to the fact that [[spoiler:Dio isn't human]].
209* ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'': [[BigBad Zenith]] combines this with RedEyesTakeWarning [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2010/07/25/whose-side-are-you-on/ when she meets her "sworn nemesis" Nin Wah again]].
210* ''Webcomic/TheDreadful'': Kit has vertically slitted eyes, to go with her demon girl motif.
211* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':
212** The transformation from normal pupils to this is used [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-04-17 here]] to signal the beginning of Grace's (almost) UnstoppableRage.
213** Whenever Tedd powers up using his Gauntlet, [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/layers-057 his eyes turn COMPLETELY black]].
214* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Vriska Serket has one normal eye and one eye with seven pupils, though she considers them to be seven different eyes. It fits the "hellish" part perfectly, since she's the TokenEvilTeammate (and considering [[CrapsackWorld where she lives]] and [[OurTrollsAreDifferent who her]] [[{{Jerkass}} teammates are]], that's really saying something!) It also fits her "eight" NumerologicalMotif.
215* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'': All reapers have vertically-slitted pupils.
216* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'': Jigsaw's pupils and irises turn red, with the whites replaced by black, when she really loses her temper. It's one of the signs that she's a vampire, and her powers seem to get a significant boost when it happens. It's not something she wants people to see, though -- she's trying to keep the fact that she's a vampire under wraps.
217* ''Webcomic/SatanAndMe'': Satan, being Satan, has snake-like pupils.
218* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'':
219** Urek Mazino, a neutral but freakishly powerful character, has red eyes with pupils that are vertical ovals, if not quite cat-like.
220** The anime adaptation gives Rachel clearly vertical pupils, though they're not actually cat-like either so it's not very noticeable. This seems kind of random since she's about the most ordinary human around. [[spoiler:It can be taken to foreshadow that she's far more villainous than she seems.]]
221%%* ''Webcomic/{{Wurr}}'': Most {{Hellhound}}s spot these. [[DarkIsNotEvil They are nicer than they look.]]
222[[/folder]]
223
224[[folder:Web Originals]]
225* ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'': [[LadyOfBlackMagic Shyralis]] has snake-like slitted eyes, and this disturbing appearance is part of the reason why she was bullied as a kid.
226* ''Webcomic/TheMotleyTwo'': Tetras, a descendant of ''Homestuck''[='s=] Vriska Serket, has four pupils in total (three in the left eye). Her NumerologicalMotif is, of course, four.
227* ''Literature/TalesOfMU'': In ''More Tales of Mu'', a dragon is described as having "jagged diagonal pupils".
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder:Western Animation]]
231* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'':
232** Several characters get these in the episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E3Splicers Splicers]]", from getting [[LegoGenetics animal DNA "spliced" into their own]].
233** Derek Powers had this even before becoming Blight. His eyes were black with white pupils.
234* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'':
235** Megatron doesn't just have regular red eyes, he also goes around with reptilian pupils when he's in Robot Mode. This becomes especially noticeable when he goes Transmetal.
236** ''GentleGiant:'' Rhinox gets {{red|EyesTakeWarning}} {{glowing|EyesOfDoom}} slit-pupiled eyes when he is temporarily [[BrainwashedAndCrazy turned into a Predacon]].
237* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'': The symbol of the AI antagonist XANA is a stylized eye. Humans and animals possessed by XANA have their pupils replaced by this symbol. (It also appears somewhere on all of XANA's monsters in the [[{{Cyberspace}} virtual world]], usually as a [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak spot]].)
238* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Magica De Spell has triangular pupils. WordOfGod is that they are the opposite of the other characters' PieEyes; that is, the missing pie slice.
239* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
240** The dream demon Bill has one massive, yellow-tinged eye with a slit pupil. Anyone who makes a deal with him and is subsequently [[DemonicPossession possessed]] also has the creepy eyes, as well as an unnaturally detailed face.
241** Gompers, the Mystery Shack's goat, has similar eyes...which isn't all that unusual for a goat.
242* ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'' features plenty of characters like this, being set in Hell after all. Many characters have no visible pupils, Cherri's pupil is a yellow "x", and Alastor's pupils turn to radio dials when he goes into his NightmareFace, made all the creepier by him not blinking when he does this.
243* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': Most of the Mutes have solid-colored eyes with slit pupils, and [[spoiler:Kipo developing these reveals her [[HalfHumanHybrid condition]]]].
244* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'' plays fast-and-loose with the works of Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs in many ways. The main example of this trope is Queen La, who is melded with the Leopardmen and given a pair of catlike eyes.
245* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
246** Princess Luna's evil persona Nightmare Moon has cat-like green eyes with slitted pupils.
247** Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings has, not one, but ''two'' irises in each eye, accompanying the viper pupils.
248** The unicorn GenericDoomsdayVillain King Sombra has slitted pupils, red irises and green scleras, and on top of all that, his eyes emit a purple mist.
249** Inverted with Grogar, who has normal pupils despite being a goat, but played straight with his CrystalBall, which has a goat pupil floating in it while on standby mode.
250* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pandamonium}}'': The cosmic villain Mondraggor has catlike slitted pupils.
251* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Light Spinner, before she became Shadow Weaver, cast a [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique dangerous, forbidden spell]], side effects of which include inverted Y-shaped pupils.
252* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderman'': Adrian Toomes the Vulture has comma-shaped pupils, which look particularly odd when he's out of costume.
253* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Diamonds have diamond-shaped pupils.
254* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Jinx has narrow, cat-like pupils, but she's [[DarkIsNotEvil not exactly]] [[AntiVillain "evil"]], [[HeelFaceTurn just fell in with the wrong crowd]].
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder:Real Life]]
258* Abnormal-looking pupils in animals include:
259** There are the famous slit pupils common among cats and reptiles. They also show up on some [[ThreateningShark sharks]] and [[CunningLikeAFox foxes]].
260*** Certain gecko species get special mention for having four distinct points along the length of the vertical slit, making them look even more unusual.
261** Goats, sheep, and horses have horizontal, blocky pupils. This can make them creepy looking to some people.
262** Some frogs, snakes, and octopuses have horizontal slit pupils.
263** Wavy, W-shaped pupils are the characteristic of cuttlefishes.
264* People who have undergone cataract surgery are often left with keyhole-shaped pupils on the surgical side.
265** A coloboma in the iris can also lead to keyhole-shaped pupils.
266* A certain defect in the iris can result in a cat's-eye-like appearance.
267* Funny enough, the most dangerous, venomous snakes (the Elapid family), and big cats, have round pupils.
268* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tache_noir_de_la_sclerotique Tache noir de la sclerotique]] gives this sort of effect, crossed with plenty of EyeScream, but actually is a sort of subversion, in that it's the ''sclera'' that's hellish. It's generally a side effect of DiesWideOpen, as a result of air getting into the open eyes of the corpse (who obviously can't blink to clear them anymore). ''Don't look it up'' if you have a [[NauseaFuel weak stomach]] or [[NightmareFuel nervous disposition]].
269[[/folder]]

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