"The eyes are the window of the soul."
— Lorenzo di Medici
Eyes aren't just for seeing- they can tell you a lot about the entity behind them as well.
Eyes and eye motifs are traditionally associated with the spiritual and the occult, connected to the idea of perceiving/seeing something beyond the ordinary. Unusual eyes are a common trait of mystical or alien beings from ancient myth to modern science fiction. Body Horror just wouldn't be the same without eyes (or lack thereof). In animated shows and drawn media, the eyes often dominate expressions, and even in live action they are one of an actor's most important tools for emoting.
The following are just a few examples of how much eyes can reveal about their owner. (And the Game Show Eye Guess has nothing to do with any of these tropes.) Sub Index of Face of the Index.
Tropes:
- Alertness Blink: A chirping sound plays when a character notices something.
- All in the Eyes: When someone is seen in shadow, their eyes are lit in the full light to show seriousness or malevolence.
- Animal Eyes: Eyes resembling those of an animal.
- Animal Eye Spy: The ability to see through an animal's eyes.
- Animation Anatomy Aging: Eyes become smaller as a character grows older.
- Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: A being whose physical appearance is different to everyone who looks at them.
- Aside Glance: A character reacts to something by turning to face the audience.
- Attentive Shade Lowering: Lowering your glasses to show your intrigued eyes.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: The trait of cartoon and comic Butt Monkeys everywhere.
- Big Anime Eyes: Nothing shouts "kawaii!" in anime and manga like eyes that takes up 40% of the face, right?
- Big Eyes, Little Eyes: Smaller eyes = scarier and more intimidating, bigger eyes = cute and adorable.
- Black Bead Eyes: Eyes are just plain black circles with no sclerae.
- Black Dot Pupils: Cartoon or comic characters whose eyes are just simple black dots.
- Black Eyes of Crazy
- Black Eyes of Evil
- Blank Stare
- Blank White Eyes: Eyes with just plain white sclerae and no irises or pupils on them.
- Blind People Wear Sunglasses: How else could the audience tell they're blind?
- Blindfolded Vision: A character can see without using their eyes.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Door needs an eye scan to open? Grab a Mook and mash their eye into the scanner!
- By the Eyes of the Blind: Only certain people can see/hear a specific character.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: Characters walking about in the dark are made visible by their eyes.
- Can Only Move the Eyes: Someone is still conscious when rendered unable to move.
- Cartoony Eyes: Animals with generic and simplistic eyes that look nothing like they do in real life.
- Classical Cyclops: A monster from Greek mythology that only has one eye.
- Clint Squint: A frowning squinty-eyed expression used in various media, ever since Clint Eastwood made it famous.
- Color-Coded Eyes: Colour symbolism through the eyes.
- Comically Cross-Eyed: A character is humorously depicted as cross-eyed.
- Conjoined Eyes: A character's eyes appear to be fused together instead of being individual.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: A villainous or anti-hero with blue eyes.
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: A character has dark shadows under his or her eyes.
- Curtains Match the Window: A character's hair color matches their eye color.
- Cyber Cyclops: A one-eyed robot.
- Cyclops: A being with only one eye.
- The Darkness Gazes Back: Eyes visible from areas of otherwise pitch darkness.
- The Dead Have Eyes: Zombies still have functioning eyes or are somehow able to see without eyes.
- Deadly Gaze: When looks can indeed kill.
- Death Glare: Staring angrily at a person to show that you're very pissed off at them.
- Dies Wide Open: A character dies with their eyes open.
- Disapproving Look: The character's eye expression lets the audience know how disappointed they are.
- Dreamworks Face: Half-lidded eyes and a sideways smirk.
- Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: Eyes on a cartoon that seems half-closed all the time.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: A character is unhappy, and their expression is conveyed by their eyes.
- Electronic Eyes: Robotic / mechanical eye(s) on an otherwise living being.
- Elemental Eye Colors
- Empty Eyes: As empty as the soul...
- Evil Eyebrows: A thick eyebrow on characters that screams "I'm a bad guy!" from a mile away.
- Excessive Evil Eyeshadow
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Or panda eyes. To show how tired this character is.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Eyes with peculiar pupil and iris shapes and colorations.
- Extra Eyes: A being with more than the standard number of eyes.
- Eye Am Watching You: A form of non-verbal communication method.
- Eye Awaken: When waking up, the characters' eyes are shown.
- Eyeball-Plucking Birds: Having eyes ripped out by birds
- Eye Beams: Shooting energy beams from the eyes as a superpower.
- Eye Cam: The camera is viewed from someone's eyes.
- Eye Colour Change: Someone's eyes change their color.
- Eye Contact as Proof
- Eye-Dentity Giveaway: An imposter's real identity is given away by their eyes.
- Eyed Screen: Letterboxed view of someone's eyes.
- Eye Glasses: A character's glasses somehow change shape to match the character's emotions.
- Eyeless Face: A being who has no eyes.
- Eyelid Pull Taunt: Mocking someone by pulling the eyelid. Nyeh-nyeh!
- Eye Lights Out: The light or glow in a robotic person's eyes fade out when dying.
- Eye Motifs: Design based on eyes.
- Eye-Obscuring Hat: A character wears a hat that covers up their eyes.
- Eye of Providence: Eye in a triangle = conspiracy
- Eye on a Stalk: An eye at the end of a stalk.
- Eye Open: A media literally starts with the close-up of someone's eye opening.
- Eyebrow Waggle: Jiggling eyebrows up and down rapidly to show slyness or seduction.
- Eyelash Fluttering: Blinking repeatedly to flirt with someone or get attention.
- Eyepatch After Timeskip: A character is shown wearing an eyepatch in the future.
- Eyepatch of Power: A character who wears an eyepatch.
- Eyepiece Prank
- Eye Poke: Finger in the eye. Ouch!
- Eye Pop: A character's eyes pop out of their head in surprise or shock.
- Eye Recall: A flashback is shown through the character's eyes.
- Eye Remember: The eyes as a clue related to the plot.
- Eye Scream: Violence inflicted upon the eyes.
- Eye Spy: Eyes are removable and can be used to see through hard-to-reach spaces.
- Eye Take: A wide-eyed expression to show just how surprised someone is.
- Eyes Always Averted: NEVER. Make any eye contact.
- Eyes Always Shut: A character is always depicted with their eyes closed.
- Eyes Are Mental: When someone is shapeshifting, the only thing not changed is their eyes or parts of them.
- Eyes Are Unbreakable: When a character gets obliterated, their eyes somehow remain intact.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: A being who has eyes on places other than above their nose and below their forehead.
- The Eyes Have It: Inanimate objects suddenly move as if they were alive.
- Eyes Never Lie: A person's eyes tell the truth.
- Eyes Out of Sight: A character's eyes are always covered and never seen.
- Faceless Eye: The character's face is just one huge eyeball.
- Fade Around the Eyes: The view fades to black except for the character's eyes.
- Family Eye Resemblance: Two or more family members identify each other by their eyes.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: Arching one eyebrow to show suspicion or mischievousness.
- Fireball Eyeballs: Flame in the eyes expressing a character's sheer determination or fury.
- Fish Eyes: Someone's eyes shoot off independently from each other.
- Forced to Watch: Making someone watch their loved ones suffer, or witness something horrible or otherwise unpleasant to watch.
- Giant Eye of Doom: You're being watched by the suddenly-revealed eye of a gigantic monster.
- Glass Eye: Prosthetic, removable eyes made of glass.
- Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Instead of eyes, skeletal beings have glowing eye sockets.
- Glowing Eyes: Eyes that glow.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When a character's eyes glow, expect something bad to happen.
- Glowing Mechanical Eyes: Robotic eyes that glow.
- Go for the Eye: The eye is after all the weakest and most vulnerable part of the face.
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes
- Guyliner: Dudes wearing feminine eyeliners.
- A Handful for an Eye: Throwing something into a person's eye, a favoured tactic of Combat Pragmatists everywhere.
- Hellish Pupils: Slitted or rectangular pupil spells trouble.
- Hidden Eyes: When the eyes are obscured, despite the lack of caps, bangs, whatnot.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: One eye is visible, the other is hidden by hair. This indicates shyness, antisocial natures, and/or hidden personalities
- Hypnotic Eyes: Someone can hypnotize anyone with just one look.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Those pale blue eyes can stare right into your soul.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Blue eyes represent innocence and heroism.
- Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery
- Jeweler's Eye Loupe: A piece of equipment used to check the authenticity of jewels.
- Kaleidoscope Eyes: Eyes that change colour for no reason.
- Kubrick Stare: Someone looks up with their head down to show disapproval or malevolence.
- Lightning Glare: Lightning shoots out between two characters' eyes when they butt heads with each other.
- Looks Like Cesare: Hollow, soulless eyes inspired by Cesare from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
- Mad Eye: A character with a single, unusual, protruding eye.
- Magical Eye
- Magical Eye Streamers: Wisps of smoke, energy or something similar trail from a character's eyes to show that they're very powerful.
- Meaningful Look
- Mind-Control Eyes: When under mind control, the victim's eyes look weird.
- Moe Greene Special: Boom - eyeshot!
- Monochromatic Eyes: Eyes that are a single color.
- My Eyes Are Up Here: A woman calls out someone for staring at her breasts.
- No Eye in Magic
- "No Peeking!" Request: A character requests another to turn away or not to look while they perform an action.
- Occult Blue Eyes: Someone with blue eyes possesses superhuman abilities or origin.
- Oculothorax: A monster whose body is just one giant eyeball.
- One-Eyed Shot: Close-up of someone's eye.
- Open the Iris: A character's irises change size to indicate a different emotion.
- Pie-Eyed: The eye style used in 30s cartoons, black ovals with a slice taken out resembling a pie.
- Portrait Painting Peephole: Someone spies on people by looking through an eyehole on a portrait.
- Prophet Eyes: Eyes become pale white or milky green or blue when someone is blinded.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: A character's eyes turn huge when upset, begging, or otherwise emotional.
- Quivering Eyes: A characters' eyes tend to shake or wobble when in a state of anxiety or sadness.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: If a character has red eyes, it means they are evil or otherwise dangerous.
- Reflectionless Useless Eyes
- Reflective Eyes: Something reflects into a character's eyes.
- Secret Message Wink: Winking to secretly get a message across.
- Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Telepathically looking through the eyes of another person.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: A character's eyes glow to contrast with a dark or obscured face.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: A combination that's common in fiction due to complimentary colours but rare in real life.
- Skintone Sclerae: A character's sclera is the same color as their skin, which gives the appearance of the character only having pupils and irises.
- Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Falling asleep with your eyes open.
- Snap to the Side: When someone appears behind someone, their eyes snap sideways without turning their head.
- Sphere Eyes: Round, spherical eye shape.
- Squeaky Eyes: Audible blinking sounds.
- Staredown Faceoff
- Staring Contest: Two people try to stare at each other until one of them blinks or looks away.
- Staring Down Cthulhu: Staring down a monster instantly defeats it.
- Sudden Eye Colour: Someone normally drawn with black eyes suddenly gains an eye color.
- Sultry Bangs: An alluring character has bangs that hide one of their eyes.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Someone with superhuman abilities has yellow or gold eyes
- Tareme Eyes: A manga / anime art style drawing eyes upwards for Moe characters.
- Tears of Blood: A character cries tears of blood.
- Tears of Fear: Crying out of fear.
- Technicolor Eyes: Eye colours in fictional characters (usually) impossible in real life.
- Third Eye: Usually located on the forehead,. and represents wisdom or psychic powers.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: A character reacts to trauma by just standing there and staring at nothing.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: People who are mentally insane or freaked-out see the world differently than how it really appears.
- Tinkle in the Eye: Be wary when diaper-changing...
- Triangle Shades: The variation of the trope in which actual eyes are triangular.
- True Sight
- Tsurime Eyes: A manga/anime art style drawing eyes downwards, for Tsundere characters.
- Twinkle in the Eye
- Twitchy Eye: Someone's eye gets a little twitch to show insanity or fear.
- The Unblinking
- Unusual Eyebrows
- The Walls Have Eyes: You're being watched...
- What Beautiful Eyes!
- Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: A character's irises shrink in a state of shock or fear.
- Wild Take
- Wingding Eyes: A character's eyes change shape to look like whatever is on the character's mind.
- Wink "Ding!": When someone winks, an audible "ding" is heard.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Untrustworthy characters have yellow eyes.
- Young Face, Old Eyes
- Your Makeup Is Running: When crying, your makeup, usually mascara, drips down your face.
