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Love me with thine azure eyes,
Made for earnest grantings;
Taking colour from the skies,
Can Heaven's truth be wanting?
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "A Man's Requirements"
Innocent "baby blues" or clear, pure and shining, these eyes are blue to symbolize youth, naivete, inexperience, and purity of soul. In extreme cases, may indicate Heavenly Blue. Either way, a popular choice for heroes, heroines and younger characters. In older works, gray eyes were used for this instead. Common with golden hair. Contrast Icy Blue Eyes.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji's deep blue eyes fall into the "pure" or "innocent" category (at least, when he first started out) and were chosen for that exact reason — although the Manga depicts him with brown eyes.
- Fullmetal Alchemist's Winry has very bright blue eyes, which she got from her parents. Her eyes probably fit the first meaning.
- Mikado from Durarara is a subverted bait-and-switch of Innocent Blue Eyes. Early in the series, the audience thinks he's your average Naďve Newcomer, trusting and uncorrupted by Ikebukuro city, but later, we find out he's actually been the cold and calculating chessmaster and leader of the dollars this whole time, has been Obfuscating Stupidity, and is the type of person you don't want to cross. On one occasion, he actually shivved a guy with a pen. It's at this point that you realize they were actually Icy Blue Eyes all along.
- Reinforce Zwei of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has the bluest eyes of the series, emphasizing the childlike innocence of the character, as well as her magical nature (The first Unison Device created since the days of Ancient Belka) and her affinity to ice.
- Kimba the White Lion has the innocent/deep-blue varient.
- Yuuen of Wild Rock has absolutely huge blue irises of the innocent sort and golden hair to match.
- There are several blue-eyed characters in Baccano! that are harmless and (relatively) innocent (Eve, Isaac, Carol, Mary).
- Chrono Crusade has a couple of different examples. Siblings Rosette and Joshua Christopher both have blue eyes with golden hair—as children, they both seemed to have it to represent innocence, but as they get older, Rosette becomes The Hero, while Joshua goes insane after being recruited by the villains, and then they're definitely the "icy" version. Joshua's eye color could also represent his lost innocence.
- Vash from Trigun has softer, kinder innocent turquoise eyes in contrast to his twin brother's lighter, icier gaze. This difference may represent their different personalities.
- Naruto: Naruto has the innocent type of blue eyes, though he does have a mischevious streak.
- Tenshi Ni Narumon: Noelle's big baby-blue eyes totally fit into the "pure and innocent" category, together with golden. Besides, she is a heroine.
- Amati from Spice And Wolf has the "baby blues" variant, emphasizing his youth. He even has golden hair.
- Mahou Sensei Negima!:
- Nodoka, the resident Shrinking Violet, has blue eyes in the first anime series and the Ala alba OAD series. (She gets purple eyes in the manga and red eyes in Negima!?.) Rarely visible in the anime series, but as she came out of her shell between it and the OAD series, you see them a lot more there.
- The Innocent Robot Girl Chachamaru gets Blue eyes in the first anime series (she gets green eyes in all other adaptations).
- As a superhero with the personality of a wide-eyed Ingenue, it's only natural that Keith Goodman from Tiger & Bunny has Innocent Blue Eyes.
- Axis Powers Hetalia:
- Alfred F Jones, the personification of the USA has light blue eyes due to Phenotype Stereotype. As a child, he is a straight example of the trope. His role as a Love Freak with Chronic Hero Syndrome put him here, but it's played with since he's also a bit of an Attention Whore and his naivety borders on just being plain clueless sometimes.
- Subverted with France and Germany, who have blue eyes but are pretty much the least innocent characters in the show.
- Blue-eyed Hinako from Bitter Virgin is a tragic example, considering her status as a Broken Bird.
- Subverted by Stepford Smiler Glemmy Toto in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. His whole schtick is being an angelic pretty boy. He's anything but.
Comic Books
Film
- In 28 Days Later, Jim's wide-open baby blues leave him looking innocent and rather bewildered (right up until the...rescue scene).
- Michelangelo's eyes in the 2007 CGI Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie are blue, while the other Turtles have brown eyes. This gives Mikey a more innocent look, befitting his personality.
- Atonement's Robbie Turner has an impressive pair of big blue eyes. It's coherent with the director's interpretation of him as a character Too Good for This Sinful Earth.
- The Lord of the Rings: The film version of Frodo Baggins has enormous blue eyes, which suggest the general innocence and good-heartedness of hobbits (although Frodo doesn't actually have blue eyes in the book).
Literature
- Jake has blue eyes which, at the beginning of The Dark Tower series, fit into the innocent category, but as the story goes on, they're described as being eerily similar to Roland's icy eyes.
- In the second book in the Darkest Powers trilogy, Tori mocks Chloe for having blue eyes and golden hair, saying she is “just like [her] sister” - essentially useless and always in need of saving. Chloe, though angry about Tori’s insults, has to admit that this is kind of true, since Derek has to come running to her rescue quite a few times in all three books. Liam also comments on her eyes, saying they make her look cute and scared and thus very desirable, much to the anger of Derek.
- In John C. Wright's Fugitives of Chaos, Mortimer has innocent blue eyes as well as the mind of a 5-year old.
- Star Wars: Luke and Ben Skywalker both have blue eyes that can swing from innocent to icy at fancy's whim, and often quite suddenly, to the point where it scares Ben (to a small extent, anyway).
- Rand Al'Thor in The Wheel of Time is first described to have wide, innocent blue eyes. As the books progress, they change into the piercing, ice cold type. They switch between gray and blue as well.
- The Three Musketeers: The musketeer Athos has "azure" eyes, presumably as a symbol of his pureness.
- In Darkness Visible, William and Amelia Marsh have blue-green eyes. In Amelia's case, they show innocence. William starts out as innocent, but is definitely veering towards piercing and cynical by the end of the book.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Sansa's eyes are said to be particularly vibrant and lovely, arguably an indication of her innocence and goodness (at least to start with). It's summed up best in this scene...
Petyr studied her eyes, as if seeing them for the first time. "You have your mother’s eyes. Honest eyes, and innocent. Blue as a sunlit sea. When you are a little older, many a man will drown in those eyes."
- Brienne of Tarth is a very large, very strong, very ugly woman. Her one beauty is her innocent, sky-blue eyes.
- Sansa's brothers Robb and Bran also inherited their mothers' eyes, and are also initially optimistic and innocent.
- A couple of these in the Deryni works:
- Sean Lord Derry, Morgan's aide-de-camp, is human, but Morgan introduces him to the use of magic as part of his reconnaissance missions. When Morgan teaches him Mind Speech, Derry's "blue eyes were wide, but trusting."
- When confronted by a guardsman in Deryni Rising, Duncan McLain staged dropping his tabernacle key and "turned innocent blue eyes on the man". Duncan is also a Deryni (and as such, forbidden to be a priest), so cultivating this innocent look is important to his protective arsenal.
- Shannon and Ginevra in The Doctrine of Labyrinths are both extremely sheltered and naive and have wide blue eyes.
- Jerin's eyes in A Brother's Price are blue. He's very innocent, and prone to blushing.
- Subverted with Ferahgo and his son Klitch in Redwall; their blue eyes are only meant to make them seem innocent and friendly, when in reality they're both ruthless killers.
Live-Action TV
- Battlestar Galactica (Reimagined): Lee Adama in the 2000s show...though his are more of the "heroic and idealistic" variety. He was played by Jamie Bamber, possessor of said blue eyes.
- The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon Cooper has large, expressive, very innocent sky blue eyes. They may or may not be a physical manifestation of how clueless he is when it comes to social interaction, despite his intellectual brilliance.
- Cranford: Miss Matty Jenkyns has an enormous, shining pair of bright blue eyes. Given that Miss Matty is sweet, kind, innocent, and The Heart of the show — not to mention a woobie of epic proportions — they're very appropriate.
- Glee: Chris Colfer is sometimes blue-eyed, sometimes green, sometimes grey, depending on the lighting. Just look at his eyes when he's with his father in any scene, they're likely to be of the wide and innocent type. Judging by his intentional lash-fluttering when Finn tells Puck to stop pushing Kurt into lockers, the character appears to be aware of this trope.
- Horatio Hornblower: Archie Kennedy of this mini-series has the "innocent and sweet" variety. Quite appropriate for a broken Cutie and a character who is the heart and soul of the series.
- JAG: The Tall, Dark and Handsome Hero Harmon Rabb, Jr. has heroic variety of Innocent Blue Eyes.
- Law And Order UK: DS Matt Devlin (played by Jamie Bamber) has the "heroic" type of blue eyes. He's a Fair Cop who looks like an angel but can be pretty tough, and he has successfully lead many suspects to underestimate him. They're such an important character trait that they're the last thing we see of him in his final episode.
- Revolution: Charlie Matheson sports a pair of blue eyes representing her youth, naivete, inexperience, and purity of soul.
- Stargate SG-1: Majorly Awesome Samantha Carter has a vibrant pair of baby blues. They fit her personality quite well.
- Star Trek: The Original Series: Doctor McCoy has DeForest Kelley's bright, shining baby blues. He's probably the kindest, most compassionate character of the entire Trek franchise.
- Tin Man: DG has big blue eyes of the "innocent" type.
Music
Video Games
- Thrall from Warcraft has blue eyes that are actually both "baby blue" and piercing. That is, the colour looks both innocent and quite striking on an orc. Given his personality, that is probably exactly the intended effect. It also stands out, considering many orcs have red eyes as a result of the demon blood they drank (Thrall's parents didn't).
- Liara T'Soni from Mass Effect has bright, innocent blue eyes, matching both her personality and her skin color. Liara's eyes make for an interesting commentary on her alignment throughout the series. In the first game, she had the innocent blue variety, in stark contrast to her mother's darker, more piercing shade. In the second game, Liara's eyes become a darker but no less vibrant shade of blue, reflecting her hardening nature as she becomes more ruthless and vicious while hunting the Shadow Broker. It is most noticeable in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, where her face is visible without being lit by multiple orange holographic displays. However, if you carried a relationship over from the first game and re-established that relationship after the mission, she's back to the same baby blue she had before - perhaps reflecting your influencing her back to her old, optimistic worldview.
- In Lightning Legend Daigo No Daibouken, Cheerful Child Yuki Shirogane has this type of blue eyes. It's even pointed out in her in-game character profile, as the "distinctive features" part of it mentions: "Long hair; Big round eyes".
- Several Pokémon protagonists, such as May and Hilda, have these to indicate youthfulness.
- Lip from Panel De Pon has big cute blue eyes, befitting her roles as both the main character and one of the younger fairies.
Visual Novels
Webcomics
Web Original
- Gaelyn matches her blue hair, with a gorgeous set of warm blue eyes. And as usual for the series, she gets a series of close ups that show them off to the most. See her entry in the Character Page for an example.
Western Animation
- Timmy Turner of the Fairly OddParents. His eyes represent his youth, he's ten years old, and arguably his innocence. He is also arguably the hero of the series, albeit a Designated Hero many times.
- Charlotte from Making Fiends is an odd example; every human character is completely one color, and she is baby blue. This trope could be why, rather than using pink or yellow or something more "fitting" for her personality. She fits the character type, being innocent, childish, naive and optimistic. It causes her to contrast with Vendetta, who is completely moss-green, filling in for the negative Green Eyes.
- Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls. Her eyes represent her youth and her sweetness. Her element is sugar and she is known for being bubbly, kind and the cutest of the trio.
- While Recess uses a standard black eyes style, Word Of God says that T.J. has blue eyes. He's nine years old and very youthful, has an innocence about him, and is also The Hero of the show.
- SpongeBob SquarePants himself. He has an innocence about him. He is, also, the hero of the series, or at least, he is so in the movie.
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