Evil Eye - Television Tropes & Idioms

You're dead, and she knows exactly where. No, that wasn't worded improperly.

"...You don't know of the illusion that the whole world could perish in an instant.
—That is what it means to see death.
These eyes, this power isn't something you can boast about like you did."

—Shiki Tohno, Tsukihime (game)

An eye that is the source of a character's power. Naturally, the eye grants the user power over perception, either the target's (illusion, mind control) or the user's (telepathy, premonitions, clairvoyance, etc). Usually, direct eye contact or at the very least line-of-sight is required. Other restrictions may apply.

If only one eye is an Evil Eye, an Eyepatch Of Power is very likely, especially if the evil eye possesses a distinct look, like color or shape (which might only appear during active use). The Evil Eye is often used as an excuse to apply certain patterns or symbols to a particular power, therefore making it Cool and Symbolic. Even more symbolic, the eye possessing the power is almost always the character's left eye (the left eye is considered the "sinister" eye, as "sinister" was once a word for "left"). Closely related to the Red Right Hand.

Evil eyes can be any color, but are usually glowing unusual colors like red eyes or two eyes different color.

See also Eye Beams for a more directly offensive use of eyes. Often part of an Evil Makeover. Do not confuse with the more mundane Death Glare.

Examples

Anime

Lelouch of Code Geass possesses a "Geass" in one eye that allows him to compel absolute obedience to his commands. Requires direct eye contact (can be blocked by visors) and can only be used once per person. Other characters in the series have Evil Eyes that let them read minds, freeze people in place, or rewrite memorieshe.
- Later on, Jeremiah Gottwald gets an "anti-Geass" that allows him to cancel the effects of ANY Geass in a certain radius. It even looks like an inverted version of the standard Evil Eye wich makes him an evil counterpart to lelouch until he became lelouch's ally
The Mystic Eyes, termed "Noble Colors", in Nasuverse. Supernatural beings in general tend to have them with various abilities, from charm (the standard), to immolation, to petrification (yes, that means Medusa).
- Shiki of Tsukihime possesses the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" that allow him to see "the concept of existence" on everything. Cutting the "lines" or "points" of death allow him to instantly bring their lifespan to its end - a handy weapon against things that shouldn't be able to be destroyed. Requires line of sight, and produces great strain on the human brain; it wasn't meant to comprehend death in such a way, not least the death of objects or concepts. Can only be blocked by his special glasses, though they can be overpowered by the Eyes. However, he can't kill persons/objects which possess no "death," such as Arcueid Brunestud during a full moon or his glasses which are just permanently indestructible.
- Arcueid Brunestud of Tsukihime possesses a different power through her Mystic Eyes as do pretty much all high-level vampire. Hers is more based around mental manipulation and deceit, presumably to make feeding easier. Unfortunately, when they impact the wrong people for the wrong reasons, it can go... badly. The use of Arcueid's Mystic Eyes on Shiki, for example, almost ends up with her getting raped due to the growing feelings of the two involved, as well as a very primal thought process at the time for Arcueid.
- Picture at top: Ryougi Shiki, from Kara No Kyoukai, who has Mystic Eyes of Death Perception but a different focus; she can understand concepts and non-physical things. At one point, she uses them to "kill" invisible psychic attacks. Of course, she also uses it against physical objects. For some reason, she doesn't possess Shiki's (of Tsukihime) weakness and uses Mystic Eyes all the time.
  - It's explained that, unlike Shiki, her mind doesn't actually do the comprehension, instead using Gaia itself as a sort of external proccessor, then works with the result it outputs (so to speak)
  - Where is that explained?
- Also from Kara No Kyoukai is Asagami Fujino, who has a very specific form of Telekinesis that is activated through her eyes.
  - Mirai Fukuin ("Future Gospel") introduces several different ways of seeing the future - while the villain could 'calculate' an absolute end result ( which is how he is defeated - as the future is so solidified and "true" that Shiki could see and kill it), Akira Seo could occasionally catch a glimpse of 'fate'. The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception were also described as a form of seeing the future, as it can see 'the end of things'.
- Also, the Shiki imposter from "Mystic Eyes Alliance" in Tsukihime Plus Disc has eyes that can see the past.
- Rider from Fate/Stay night has the ability to petrify anyone (whose magical defense is below a certain level) in her line of sight but wear a seal, being unable to deactivate her mystic eyes.
Pegasus of Yu-Gi-Oh was given the Millennium Eye, previously owned 3,000 years ago by the Turn Coat Akunadin, that granted him the power to read minds and (like the other Millennium Items) probably possessed other sinister powers if one knew how to tap into them.
In Death Note, characters with a Death Note could trade their eyes for the eyes of the shinigami haunting the book — granting them the ability to know the true name of anyone whose face they can see. This makes it much easier to kill using the note — and all for the low, low price of half of one's remaining lifespan. Several characters made the trade, but Light steadfastly refused, trusting his skills as The Chessmaster to see him through. A variety of characters also get glowing eyes at one point or another, but this is just a Rule Of Cool art effect that isn't actually happening.
Fuhrer King Bradley in Full Metal Alchemist possesses the "Ultimate Eye". This is his left eye, which holds his Ouroboros that gives him the foresight to see all possible outcomes of a given situation, allowing him to predict the moves of any opponent before they happen. His original eye rotted out when he was turned into a Homunculus and is covered by an Eyepatch Of Power.
A couple exist in Naruto: the Sharingan allows its user to perceive the inner workings of an opponent's techniques (one user, Kakashi, wore an Eyepatch Of Power), and the Byakugan gives three-sixty-degree x-ray vision. There's one more named Rinnegan. Its powers are potent and numerous.
- The Sharingan also has an upgrade (the Mangekyo Sharinagn). You get it by killing your best friend. While only two characters have been seen using Mangekyo Sharingan (the only Sasuke's has used was one he got from Itachi), it appears that its specific ability varies among different users. Itachi's has three techniques: Amaterasu (black flames that can burn fire), Tsukuyomi (the aforementioned painful illusions) and Susanoo (a giant spectral thing that gives him an impenetrable shield and a sword that can trap anyone cut by it in a blissful illusion forever), while Kakashi's has one power (that we know of) called Kamui (which sucks whatever he looks at into another dimension). This upgrade will gradually cause the user to go blind, however, and the only way to reverse the process is to steal your brother's eyes when he has a Mangekyo Sharingan, after which you not only have a permanent Mangekyo Sharingan, but you also become immortal and gain even more powers (which are currently unknown).
- It is Amazing how Orochimaru has not been noted yet, having been quite literally the holder of an 'Evil Eye' of the series, as one look in his eyes instantaneously gives the user a vision of their own death through his Killing Intent.
Hiei of Yu Yu Hakusho had a "jagan" (lit. "evil eye") eye in the middle of his forehead, whose powers were never fully defined. It was used during the series for everything from hyponosis to telepathy to clairvoyance. His Eyepatch Of Power came in headband form.
- So it was pretty consistently psychic powers. It also seemed to increase his power by a good deal when it was uncovered. Hiei's supposed "true form" consisted of him turning green and sprouting dozens of eyes everywhere, which multiplied the first eye's power, though he only did that once.
Mido Ban of Get Backers inherited his jagan (see above) from his grandmother. If he makes direct eye contact with someone, he can induce a hallucination that lasts for exactly one minute of real-world time. Limited by the fact that he can only use it three times a day, once per person per day.
Lucia in Venus Versus Virus inherited an evil left eye from her demonic father but hides it under an Eyepatch Of Power.
In Rurouni Kenshin, the man-slayer Udô Jin-e uses a sword style that possesses a technique unique to it known as Shin no Ippô, in which he uses his ki to immobilize people with a glance of his eyes. He can even use his Blade Reflection to perform the Hyoki no Jutsu, in which he hypnotises himself to bring out his full strength.
Dominique the Cyclops from Trigun has a demonic-looking eye, complete with snake pupil, behind a mechanical eyepatch/shutter that allows her to distill her opponent's senses.
Itsuki in Rental Magica has Glam Sight in his right eye. When his eyepatch is removed, he can see through anything magical and command very competently...at the cost of his sanity.
Lord Darcia in Wolf's Rain is cursed with a yellow wolf's eye (his left) which can render people unconscious. Usually covered by a mask. After he attempts to enter paradise and is destroyed, his yellow eye is all that's left of him. While the world's ecology is regenerated by the lunar flowers, his eye turns some of them black, tainting the world with its evil.
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle - Fye D. Flowright's blue eyes are the source of his magical powers; he gives the color up after becoming a vampire and gaining an Eyepatch Of Power.
In Project ARMS, Kei Kuruma's nanomachine implant "Queen of Hearts" is a sensor array in her eyes that allows her to see in Bullet Time.
Sven Vollfied's Vision Eye in Black Cat has the power to see a few seconds in the future, although this is apparently severely fatiguing. It later upgrades into the less energy consuming "Grasper Eye" that slows down what he looks at, enabling him feats like avoiding bullets fired at him (though from the point of vue of the others, he seems to be the one whose movements are being accelerated).
Both Oboro and Gennosuke from Basilisk have eye-based powers, so for both characters their eyes look off. However, Gennosuke, who has the ability to turn other ninjas' abilities against themselves definitely has the evil eye.
In Gundam 00, Allelujah Haptism has a greyish eye, wheras his Hallelujah persona has a brilliant yellow one. As he switches personalities, his fringe flips to the other side of his face, displaying only the appropriate eye.
Rokudo Mukuro of Katekyo Hitman Reborn has a red eye with kanji as the pupil, ranging from one to six. Each kanji represents a different "state" in the Buddhist Samsara cycle of reincarnation, and gives him a different power. His spirit medium/possessed girl/Morality Pet/etc., Chrome Dokuro, wears an Eyepatch Of Power on the same eye Mukuro does, and when it's removed, it's implied that he materializes through the power of illusions and takes over for her.
In Dragon Ball, General Blue has evil eyes which paralyze anyone who looks into them, glowing blue in the process. Like Medusa, but without the petrifaction.
In ''Steel Ball Run'', after Gyro Zeppeli gains the Saint AKA Jesus corpse's right eye, he gains X-Ray vision and the ability to see with his steel ball weapons.
- And Diego gets the corpse's left eye and gains the ability to transform into a were-raptor.
Mihoko's blue eye in Saki, which allows her to perfectly analyze a game to the point of clairvoyance and seems to have a side-effect of disrupting other people's abilities, as Jun found out.
In Moon Phase, vampires can "charm" (read: enslave) people with their eyes.
Not exactly an evil eye per se, but Contractors in Darker Than Black have their eyes glow red when activating their abilities. One of the Contractors can violently kill a person when looking at them, making it look very much like an Evil Eye.
Kuroshitsuji has Ciel whose right eye has a pentagram on it. The design makes his eye lighter and more of a purple color than his normal blue eye. He wears an Eyepatch Of Power to cover his eye unless its power is needed. The pentagram is proof of his contract with Sebastian, his demon butler.
Wisely, one of the Noahs of D Gray Man, has three evil eyes in his forehead. In his first appearance, he makes heads explode.

Comic Books

The Emerald Empress & the Emerald Eye of Ekron, in Legion of Superheroes. In one memorable scene, she grows to giant size, tears out her own eye, and sticks the Emerald Eye in the socket.
The Justice League Of America villain Despero gets vast Psychic Powers from a third eye. It was even removed once by surgery, but it grew back.
Wildguard: Casting Call featured the literally evil eye Wandering Eye, who attempted to use his hypnosis powers to force his was onto the team. Failing that, he hypnotized to other rejected applicants and forced them to serve his agenda of enlaving the entire world to his will, allowing him to finally be somewhat accepted by society. He was accidentally killed when Exploding Girl went critical.
Rayek in Elf Quest can paralyze with his stare - elves, trolls, animals - nobody's immune. Fortunately he turns out to be an Anti Hero rather than an outright villain.
Tommy Monaghan from Hitman had solid black eyes (no pupil, iris, or white, just black). His powers were x-ray vision and mind-reading anyone in his line of sight (he didn't mind-read too much - it gave him migraines). This made him very difficult to sneak up on.

Film

Richard B. Riddick, the Anti Hero of Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick has surgically-enhanced hypersensitive eyes which require him to wear special goggles during daytime. They allow him to see in the dark, and when he takes off his goggles his eyes are shown to glow.
- The video game suggests his special eye powers may actually be a result of being the last surviving Furyan.
In the recently-released film Push, mind-influencing telepaths need to make eye contact with their targets. The so-called "pusher's" pupils dilate drastically when they use their powers

Folklore

A widespread European folk belief was that envy physically changed the eye and caused it to inflict misfortune on those whom the person envied. Note that this was held to be out of the person's control.

Literature

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody of Harry Potter has a glass eye that can spin in its socket to face any direction, has x-ray vision, and can see through most illusions.
In the sequels to Enders Game, Olhado lost his sight when he was young. Technology was advanced enough to replace his eyes with metal ones, which allowed him to videotape everything he saw and play it back in slow motion. However, he only used one functional replacement; he gave up binocular vision to have one of the eyes be a jack that he could use to upload the video of his father's abuse of his siblings.

Mr. Teatime of Terry Pratchett's Discworld has a grey glass eye—which some of his associates claim is in fact a scrying crystal—that seems to give him the ability to perform such feats as moving faster than the normal human eye can see and doing backflips on thin air. Also interesting is that the other characters refer to his remaining eye as the scary one. His pinprick pupil is said to see into one's soul.
Demise from the Wild Cards series has the power to inflict the experience of his own death (he got better) on anyone by making eye contact with them, killing them.
The superpowered character Sahar (literally 'Evil Eye' in Arabic) in the Whateley Universe. Her main psychic power is the ability to make a person believe that he has been cursed. Her secondary psychic power is WAY scarier. Her eyes have red rings: the folklore sign of one with the Evil Eye. Her original reputation was that of a hated and feared villain on the Whateley Academy campus, but she appears to be trying hard to become a goodguy.
The Girl With Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts gets telekineses and some sort of vision-at-a-distance from her silver eyes.
- Sort of... Her eyes are just an outward manifestation of the mutation that occured when her mother, and four others took an expirimental anti-nasua drug while pregnant. She still has an unusual eye color, but it isn't quite the same thing as this trope.
  - This is not to be confused with the Dashiell Hammett Continental Op story of the same title, where the silver eyes are just an especially striking feature of The Vamp.
Boris Dragonasi, the big bad in Brian Lumley's Necroscope gains the power of the evil eye in the second half of the story. Earlier there was a legend told of the evil eye and how it can backfire on the user with gruesome results if it is used on someone who is already dead. Guess what happens to Dragonasi at the end of the book.
In A Wrinkle in Time, when Charles Wallace stares into the eyes of The Man With Red Eyes, he goes under the telepathic mind control of IT.
The title Anti Hero of William Beckford's Gothic novel The History of the Caliph Vathek is described as "pleasing and majestic; but when he was angry one of his eyes became so terrible that no person could bear to behold it, and the wretch upon whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and sometimes expired." The History was first published in 1782, making this Older Than Radio.
Jagang, the main antagonist of most of the Sword of Truth series, has eyes which have been describes as "twin windows into nightmare". It is not surprising that his powers are essentially mind reading and possession.
In Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos, the narrator hears of a technique used on infection: they culture some of the bacteria, and then get a man with the Evil Eye to look at them through a microscope. Later, he mentions the wonders a corporation has produced, including contact lenses that allow people with the Evil Eye to live normal lives.
Some Warhammer 40000 psykers use eye contract in Mind Probe.
- In Graham Mc Neill's Ultramarines novel The Killing Grounds, Uriel meet Leodegarius's ice-blue eyes and finds them filling his sight as the Mind Probe overwhelms his mental defenses.
- In James Swallow's Blood Angels novel Deus Sanguinius, when Rafen subjects himself to Mephiston's Mind Probe, it seems to him that the light behind his eyes overwhelms him.
In Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Chessmen of Mars, the kuldane's mind control depends on it; Tara learns if she looks away, she can not be controled.

Live Action TV

In Farscape Nooranti had a third eye that changed color and intermittently opened when she used her powers.
In The Lost Room miniseries, the Glass Eye is a powerful artifact that can restore/heal or destroy all flesh. Karl Kreutzfeld had to take his own eye out to use it, as the Glass Eye must be inside the eyesocket of the wearer to function.

Mythology

This trope is Older Than Dirt. In ancient Celtic/Irish mythology, Balor absorbed the poison of his father's druids as they were casting spells. This gave him an eye of death, which killed whoever he looked at. His eye was harnessed to bow strings so that he could open his eye properly, and he was used as a weapon. He learned from a man that his grandson would kill him, so he sealed away his daughter. Guess how well that worked?

Newspaper Comics

Li'l Abner featured the character "Evil Eye Fleegle", a zoot-suited New Yorker whose eyes could zap people with destructive whammies of varying degrees of power. He turned up in the movie adaptation of the strip as well.

Tabletop Games

The Eye of Vecna, from the Dungeons And Dragons Greyhawk setting, is a powerful Artifact Of Doom that requires the would-be user to remove his own eye and insert it into the socket.
- D&D also has the beholder monsters, which possess many eyes with various powers (including at-will telekinesis to make up for their lack of limbs). Certain variants had a class for cultists of various monstrous races that started to take on characteristics of the races they worshipped, and the beholder-worshippers grew eyestalks of their own.
- 4e D&D has Cyclopes and Fomorians that both use their Evil Eyes for various purposes, such as paralysis, mind domination, eye beams, etc.
In Vampire The Masquerade the vampire clan Salubri derived healing, fighting, and perception based supernatural powers from their third eye. Naturally it made them stick out like sore thumbs, and being the least evil group of vampires they were almost all wiped out because it couldn't be easily hidden. One of the survivors decided "Enough is enough!" and joined up with the Sabbat. His branch of the bloodline follows a different set of powers than the others, and their third eye looks angrier as a result. And since they aren't nearly as nice as the rest, they aren't so easily killed, so they don't care about hiding it.
Urza's powerstone eyes, from Magic The Gathering.
GURPS: Thaumatology has an extremely powerful ritual that's actually called "Evil Eye" which is targeted by making eye contact. If the victim is hit with it and succeeds in resisting he's still liable to end up nearly incapacitated by the effect, otherwise it causes a heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately if the mage waits too long to use it or fails the roll to strike the victim the spirits get bored and attack him instead.

Video Games

Radiant Dawn's Nailah has a covered eye and an exclusive skill called "Glare" which immobilizes an enemy for the whole chapter. Seems she's got her own Evil Eye.
- Yeah, it's just a shame that the ability sucks so much (almost never hits, and you'd usually be better off just attacking) and you can't get rid of it...
Zasalamel in Soul Calibur 3 has one gold eye, which contains his soul.
The main character in Planescape: Torment, being a regenerating immortal, can equip magical eyes in place of one of his original eyes. There is also a bar, at which the barkeep is holding for you an eye removed by one of your past incarnations that you don't remember-replacing one of your eyes with that one gives you an experience bonus and lets you remember part of his life.
Reisen Udongein Inaba of the Touhou series is a moon rabbit whose eyes can cause lunacy.
Jade in Tales of the Abyss has fonic sight, which allows him to use upper-level spells with ease.
- ...With ease. As a child, we're talking under eight or nine here(before he applied fonic sight on himself), he was able to cast spells that adults had problems with. Fonic sight amplifies his ability by who knows how much. Yeah.
  - Actually, if the glasses that his kid form was wearing in the ending montage is any indication, he had applied that extremely dangerous forbidden spell on his eyes back when he was still a kid, as he says that he otherwise has better than normal vision.
Seiken Densetsu 3 has a villain specifically named "The Earl of the Evil Eye".
In Meteos, the planet Meteo is basically a giant yellow space eye. Now, guess where all the planet-destroying meteors that you fend off in the game are coming from.
In Deus Ex it is strongly implied, if not outright stated that the otherwise relatively normal looking JC Denton wears sunglasses becsuse he has Evil Eyes.
Lieselotte of Arcana Heart has her Crimson Gaze move, where she looks straight into the eyes of her opponent to smack them with a confusion status that switches up their controls.
GoldenEye from the James Bond game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent has a cybernetic eye upgraded with powers over the course of the game, with powers like seeing through walls and hacking electronics.
In the first Jedi Knight game, dark Jedi can learn a force power called Force Deadly Sight. With it activated, anyone the player sees in his vision takes damage and dies.
Alma in F.E.A.R. seems to be able to do this at will (that is kill them by bleeding them to death and blowing up everything all around her). It isn't necessarily an eye related ability, but it may as well be.
The nameless protagonist of Planescape Torment actually doesn't have any evil eyes, but he can pluck one of them out and replace it with the Fiendish Eye of Kalem'Darr.

Web Comics

Intensely evil glowing eyes are joked off as having "cooties" in this Charby the vampirate strip.
While not a evil eye, per se, Miranda Deegan from Dominic Deegan has a glare that has been referred to as an "evil eye". It basically makes someone's willpower erode and derails trains of thought. Given what others in the comic have experienced, she is capable of giving someone the eye from nearly half a mile away, as well as around corners.
- Dominic himself may have an example of this, shown early on, when Gregory first refers to their brother, Jacob.

Web Original

One of the main symbols of Broken Saints is a circular red eye with a black cat-like slit for a pupil—basically, it's a simplified version of the Eye of Sauron from the Lord Of The Rings movies, although the series started before the first film was released. However, in keeping with the multi-layered nature of the series, the eye is not just an eye. Take a look at the symbol and how it is used in the series, and think of what else it looks like...
- Also, in terms of literal eyes, this trope is played with. In actuality, it seems to be a lack of eyes that represents evil. See: Lear, corrupted Shandala.

Western Animation

Duke Phillips, Jay Sherman's boss in The Critic has an evil eye that hypnotizes people into his willing servants. It's only seen once, and played for laughs (Duke was launching a Presidential campaign at the time, and used it to get out of one reporter's question.)
Professor Screweyes from Were Back A Dinosaurs Story. True, its actually a screw buried deep on his eye socket, but it pretty much acts as a magical eye, as he seems to be able to make magic with it (not to mention that the screw's slit is in a vertical position, giving it a Hellish Pupils look). In a deleted scene where he learn he lost his left eye thanks to a crow that pecked it out, he claims he can "watch" his biggest fear, the crows, with a "real eye and a steel eye", implying that his screw eye is far from being just a scary decoration