Blue Eyes

No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes

—The Who, "Behind Blue Eyes"

Blue eyes vary greatly in their meaning:

  1. Innocent Blue Eyes: Beautiful, innocent "baby blues" or clear, pure, and shining. Either way, a popular choice for heroes and heroines. Common with Hair of Gold.
  2. Icy Blue Eyes: Piercing and icy, seeming to look right through you.
  3. Midnight Blue Eyes: Heroic, Badass, and often times either mean, cynical, or loners.
  4. Creepy Blue Eyes: Given to particularly degenerate characters, sort of light and watery, and there are blue eyes that seem to be too open where one starts to hope they'll blink soon.
  5. Occult Blue Eyes: Possessing the Evil Eye. In Mediterranean countries, the Demon's Eye amulet is always blue. (Xenophobia may explain this.)

If a blue-eyed character has a magic talent or "element", it's most likely water-related, except Midnight Blue Eyes, who are capable of using wind or lightning (much like a storm), though blue (or gray) is the eye color of choice for many wizards who are eerie or sophisticated instead of mysterious.

Blue-green sometimes marks a dreamy personality, but is nonetheless also a good "default" shade of blue eyes for the hero/heroine. The blue then indicates the heroic qualities and the green the independent personality associated with Green Eyes.

In some cultures, blue eyes, along with green eyes, are seen as a witch's eyes and are supposedly capable of controlling people and cursing them. However, this is a rare superstition and considered little more than a cultural quirk even in the places where it originated, so it usually doesn't come up in fiction.

Gray Eyes as a characterization tool have a lot in common with Blue Eyes.

It should be noted that these eye color tropes are not just for characters who have eyes of this color, but when the color actually stands for something significant to that character, like blue for water, green for earth, red for evil, ect. Please do not add characters who just happen to have eyes of this color without a substantial reason behind it.

No Real Life Examples, Please

Examples of Blue Eyes include:

Anime and Manga

  • While this can happen in many forms of media, Blue Eyes in anime and manga almost always signify that the bearer has had a Dark and Troubled Past, will experience in series trauma, or both.
  • Belldandy of Oh My Goddess! fits the first variation of Blue Eyes quite well—complete with Hair of Gold (usually). However, her element is wind—the water powers go to her little sister Skuld, who is brown-eyed. When she can make her powers work, that is.
  • In Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Fay's magic is explicitly tied with the blue COLOR in his eyes, which is weird.
  • Touga and Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena have eyes that are such a dark blue that they can look Purple Eyes. In Nanami's case, they were once described as "being the type where when you look into them you don't know what she's thinking". Utena herself has sky blue eyes, and they fall under the innocence type, as do the Kaoru twins, Miki and Kozue, though Kozue's seem intended to invoke ice.
  • Evangeline in Mahou Sensei Negima. She uses ice magic and is highly cynical.
  • Three of the four regulars in Slayers fit the spectrum of blue eyes: Amelia has the innocent kind, Gourry has a more neutral pair, and Zelgadis has icy, turquoise eyes. A lot of secondary characters also have blue eyes.
  • Blue-eyed characters in Baccano!! usually fit into one of two groups: harmless and (relatively) innocent (Eve, Isaac, Carol, Mary) or completely off their rocker (Ladd, Lua, Graham, Christopher).
  • Saint Seiya: several characters, for various reasons. All three of the Gods (Athena, Poseidon, and Hades), Hyoga for being An Ice Person, and most of the Gold Saints. Strangely adverted in the Manga with Aquarius Camus who, despite being An Ice Person as well, had red eyes.
  • Eda from Black Lagoon hides her baby blues behind a pair of sunglasses, even at night. The reason for this becomes obvious (particularly in the show) because they're such a brilliant blue that they practically glow [dead link] .
  • The Arume of Blue Drop, natch. Since they're aliens, they get the glowing blue variant.
  • Kiba's human form from Wolf's Rain has eyes that look either blue (icy, piercing variant) or blue-gray. It denotes his Chosen One status, since the other wolves keep their amber eye color even in human form.
  • Kämpfer: Natsuru has blue eyes. The irony is that he uses FIRE attacks instead of the usual ice.
  • 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.
    • Mari, on the other Hand, goes well with the classical stereotypes for blue-green eyes.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist's Winry has very bright blue eyes, which she got from her parents. Her eyes probably fit the first meaning. Most people coming from Amestris also have them. It's actually used in Brotherhood to distinguish Amestrian soldiers from the Ishvalans, who have red eyes. Though the soldiers' eyes are more the 'piercing and icy' kind.
    • Partly subverted. Almost all of the "good" characters (save for Winry) DON'T have blue eyes. Reference Ed and Al (Eyes of Gold), Mustang (Black Eyes), Hohenheim (also gold), Hawkeye (Brown Eyes) and the list goes on. The only one who DOES is Armstrong who deserted the front before the above scene took place.
  • In Bleach, Hitsugaya and Ishida have blue eyes of the "piercing, icy" variety. Hitsugaya has elemental ice powers and Uryuu is the last practising member of a clan of "magic"-using hollow-hunters.
  • Both Keiichi and Rena from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni have blue eyes, though Keiichi's are Purple Eyes in the anime adaptation. They fit both the innocent and piercing trope.
  • A lot of characters from Trigun: both Vash and Knives (being twins), with Vash having a softer, kinder turquoise and Knives having a lighter, icy (almost beau) blue. This difference may represent their different personalities. Also, Milly sports a bright pair of blue-green eyes, that matches her kind and happy-go-lucky character, while Wolfwood's eyes are a very dark, almost gray blue, again, reminding us of his morally gray, ambiguous personality.
  • Seto Kaiba of Yu-Gi-Oh! has cold, blue eyes. And then there's, of course, his "Blue Eyes White Dragon". Other blue-eyed characters are Kisara, Isis, and Anzu.
    • Often, the Portmanteau Couple Names involving Kaiba are derived from shared eye colours. Blueshipping (Kaiba/Kisara), Azureshipping (Kaiba/Anzu), etc.
    • Also, Weevil/Haga has blue eyes. They may be of the piercing variety as they are somewhat unsettling, but they're more likely just blue because he has light blue hair.
  • Every Char Clone from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. At best they tend to be cold and icy, at worst, Omnicidal Maniac. Oddly they tend to switch between the cold version of the eyes, and a rather tortured-looking version of the innocent one.
  • In contrast to the majority of characters in Durarara!! (who typically have Brown Eyes of varying shades), Mikado Ryuugamine sports innocent blue eyes that mark him as the Naive Newcomer unless he snaps, at which point they go disturbingly icy.
  • 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.
  • Midou Ban of GetBackers has almost preternaturally blue eyes, as well as being an actual case of association with witches, as noted above.
  • Amati from Spice and Wolf has the "baby blues" variant, emphasizing his youth. He even has Hair of Gold.
  • November 11 from Darker than Black has very light blue eyes that can most definitely be described as "icy". This is appropriate, since he's a sociopath with ice powers.
  • In Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, The Hero has these eyes in mermaid form or idol form. (In human form, she has Eyes of Gold).
    • All Blue mermaids have these eyes too, but they are just a racial trait, as mermaids are Color Coded for Your Convenience and those from different countries tend to have themed hair and eye colors. By extension, Hanon has blue eyes as well (although, in human form, she has Hazel Eyes).
  • In Tsukihime, Shiki's eyes are a piercing icy blue when he's not wearing his glasses.
  • Ahiru/Duck in Princess Tutu has wide, blue eyes...even in her duck form! It's probably to make her look cute and innocent.
  • Guardian of the Sacred Spirit has Prince Chagum, who carries the egg of a benevolent water spirit. He also has a noble, innocent personality typical of blue eyes.
  • Asakura Ryoko of Suzumiya Haruhi has quite beautiful blue eyes. This matches up with her outward appearance, but definitely not with her inner workings.
  • Sailor Moon/Usagi herself has big innocent blue eyes, and several people comment on how beautiful they are.
    • Sailors Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune also have blue eyes of one shade or another. Venus and Uranus follow Usagi and pair them with blond hair, while Neptune and Mercury's Curtains Match the Window.
  • Mello of Death Note has blue eyes of the piercing, icy variety.
  • Mireille Bouquet of Noir is a fairly major aversion; she's got bright baby blues and Hair of Gold to match, but she's anything but innocent. Unless, by "innocent", you mean "cold-blooded assassin".
  • The OVA and TV series of You're Under Arrest gave Miyuki Kobayakawa the clear blue variety.
  • In the Macross series, Hikaru Ichijo has baby blues, while Misa Hayase's vary between blue and blue-green. The colors and the corresponding personalities carry over to their Robotech counterparts, Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes.
  • Both Heero Yuy and Zechs Merquise from Gundam Wing have the "piercing and icy" type, as does Treize Khushrenada.
  • In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, all three of the Sky Arcobaleno, Luche, Uni, and Aria, have deep blue eyes that are always resolute, according to Genkishi, who was unable to fight Tsuna with full force because Tsuna's eyes looked so much like Uni's. According to Gamma, Tsuna, and many of the other characters, their eyes tend to look as if they expect an event would happen. Actually, it's really true, since the Sky Arcobaleno have the ability to see the future.
  • Chrono Crusade has a couple of different examples. Siblings Rosette and Joshua Christopher both have blue eyes with Hair of Gold—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. Father Remington also has blue eyes, although that could just be part of the Phenotype Stereotype.
  • Yusei Fudou of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's has incredible, bright, piercing blue eyes.
  • Renamon from Digimon Tamers has the "piercing and icy" variant. The effect is magnified ten-fold by the black whites.
  • Kimba the White Lion has the innocent/deep-blue varient.
  • Naruto has more of the innocent type and his father Minato can go from friendly to his True Companions to piercing to his enemies.
    • Deidara and Ino possessed them as well.
    • Naruto's can now also go lava-chillingly cold when pissed, to an extent that even the Kyuubi backs off after a look from him.
  • Chizuru from Squid Girl is the piercing type but usually, she keeps them closed.
  • Satoshi Hiwatari/Hikari of D.N.Angel . His eyes of blue are cold, though they are dark. Though it's not his fault; he's got the Homicidal Blonde to deal with.
  • Tenshi ni Narumon: Noelle's big baby-blue eyes totally fit into the "pure and innocent" category, together with Hair of Gold. Besides, she is a heroine.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia uses this a lot, though they may just have blue eyes to signify European blood. In particular, America has blue eyes, which seems to signify his lighthearted, hopeful personality.
  • The Thompson sisters in Soul Eater have blue eyes and blonde hair, but neither are innocent. Probably used to indicate they're American.
    • Chrona's eyes are sometimes a very pale shade of blue, which fits an odd variant of "cold piercing" in that they usually signal him/her going into 'kill mode' (or the closest thing to a Game Face Chrona gets).
  • In One Piece, Nico Robin fits the second type.
  • In Fushigi Yuugi, Nakago fits the second type. He and the rest of his tribe are described as having hair like gold and eyes the colour of the sky.
  • Yuuen of Wild Rock has absolutely huge blue irises of the innocent sort and Hair of Gold to match.
  • Johan Liebert from Monster, and given the kind of man Johan is, they are VERY creepy.
  • In Blue Exorcist, Rin Okumura seems to fit the fourth type (being the son of Satan and all). His fraternal twin Yukio fits types one and two better.
  • Kamijou Touma of A Certain Magical Index has type 1, being the protagonist. He's not pure or innocent though, just idealistic.
  • The pregnant woman in the first Mononoke story has huge, innocent blue eyes, plus Hair of Gold. She looks like a stereotype of an American, but no one comments on her appearance, just like how no one notices the medicine peddler's weird clothes, facepaint, or pointy ears.
  • "Blue Eyes" is actually the name of a character in El Cazador de la Bruja. Her eyes are actually more of a teal color, but her personality fits the second profile. Additionally, Both of the main characters have blue eyes. Nadie doesn't actually fit with the personality aspect of the trope, but Ellis is definitely a Type-1, complete with Hair of Gold. However, when she is using her powers, her pupils expand and start to fall into Type-4 or 5 territory.

Comic Books

  • Blue eyes were popular for Golden and Silver Age comic characters because they are easy to render in color: simple blue instead of a blue-yellow mix (for green) or a blue-yellow-red mix (for brown).
  • Fairly common in The DCU, but perhaps most iconic with Superman, who has the innocent baby blues to play up his heritage as a naive, good-hearted farmboy.
    • Superman's eyes are steel blue. Man of steel, remember. They are supposed to be so intense and uncommon that Clark needed to hide them with glasses even before becoming Superman.
      • His eyes look more baby blue when he wears his glasses, which fits the whole "mild-mannered reporter" guise.
    • Both Batman and Nightwing (the first Robin) have blue eyes, though theirs are of the piercing variety. As they're both Sherlock Scan experts, this shouldn't be too surprising. The three other Robins also have blue eyes — in Steph's case, more of the bright and innocent variety. However, as Robin, her eyes were green. As Batgirl, they are definitely blue, and they varied sometimes as Spoiler, though are usually and now definitively blue. In the Robin/Spoiler special, they were blue-green.
  • Storm from the X-Men has blue eyes, which is extremely rare among non-Europeans. In her case, it's a mark of her family's magical heritage, in addition to the white hair.
  • Sin City has an assassin named Blue Eyes. Guess why that's her name.
  • One of Ben Grimm's nicknames is "The ever loving blue-eyed THING!"
  • On Earth-982, an alternate universe where Peter Parker's daughter lived, May Parker was shown with blue eyes.
  • Played with, with Batman's Harley Quinn, whose baby-blue eyes (plus classic Hair of Gold) are matched with a villainous and mad/obsessive personality, but who is still dementedly naive and almost innocent when it comes to her Mad Love with The Joker.
  • Captain America (comics) has blue eyes, along with Hair of Gold.
  • Betty from Archie Comics is typically drawn with Black Bead Eyes; however, the few times she isn't, she's typically shown to have blue eyes.
    • Archie himself once appeared with blue eyes on an issue cover, as did Jughead and Veronica.
  • Two-Face's "good" eye is usually portrayed as a blue one. Whether the "evil" side's eye matches or not is all dependent on the artist.

Film

  • The Big Bad from Beverly Hills Cop had the watery blue type.
  • Cillian Murphy gets this so much. In Batman Begins, he's got the icy, piercing, creepy variety (when he takes off his glasses in the first mask scene, the director basically choreographed them to glitter), and in Red Eye, he's got the 'please blink, please blink' villainous variety, to ratchet up the perceived threat to the poor, virginal heroine. In 28 Days Later, his wide-open baby blues leave him looking innocent and rather bewildered (right up until the...rescue scene), and in Breakfast On Pluto, his eyes are probably the most feminine thing about him. He's like a living, breathing Mary Sue. Spooky.
    • In Inception, Cillian's eyes go from cold businessman to cool and collected under stress, to devastatingly woobieish near the end. Tip: if you don't want your whole audience to start sobbing, don't let Cillian Murphy cry. Ever.
  • Christopher Eccleston's blue eyes can go from a happy light blue to an intimidating icy blue, depending on the tone of the scene. It's so noticeable and rather attractive. Example: every episode of series 1 of Doctor Who.
  • Blue-green marks a dreamy personality? Can you say "Giselle from Enchanted"? Or Ellie Fredrickdon from Up?
  • 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). As a side note, Luke has Hair of Gold, while Ben is a Fiery Redhead (with the typical personalities ascribed to those hair colors).
  • In the 1978 film The Boys from Brazil, a number of boys have been cloned and are having their lives socially engineered with the intent that they'll grow up into "Hitlers" and bring about a new Reich. They are described as having the "piercing" variety of blue eyes.
    • Including Indians with (artificially) blue eyes.
  • Steve McQueen also had piercing blue eyes, which makes one wonder if the "blue-eyed, pretty-boy Badass" could be considered its own character type. It seems to have been especially prevalent in the '60s, though Daniel Craig has assumed this role in recent James Bond flicks.
  • Michael Keaton got the Batman role mainly for his frightening blue eyes. Otherwise, he had little in common with Batman.
  • Michelangelo's eyes in the recent 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.
  • A big reason Steven Spielberg hired Paul Freeman to play Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark was because he had "striking (blue) eyes that could see right through Indiana Jones".
  • Word of God says that one of the reasons Daniel Craig got hired for Road to Perdition was that his eyes are as piercing blue as Paul Newman's.
  • In the adaptation of Sin City, Becky has blue eyes, which stick out, given how much of the movie is in black and white. Given Becky is played by Alexis Bledel, you can understand why Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller kept those blue eyes. The final scene of the movie, when Becky meets the Salesman, caused some Wild Mass Guessing that Becky will actually become the assassin Blue Eyes if a Sin City sequel is ever made.
  • Alisa in Guest From the Future, played by Natalia Guseva.
  • Jean Jacques-Annaud mentioned in the commentary for Enemy at the Gates that one of the reasons he so wanted Ed Harris for Major Koenig was because of his icy, unusually blue eyes. When he plays villains, critics often note the intensity of his glare. (One of the critics, reviewing The Rock, said "Here's a guy whose glare could give Clint Eastwood chills.")
  • Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange has blue eyes of the "Grade-A psycho" variety. They look even creepier/cooler now that his hair's turned pure white and his face has gotten all craggy.
  • Jonathan Rhys Meyers' blue, blue eyes have been used for several different effects - ice-cold as Chris in Match Point, creepy-pale as Pitt Mackeson in Ride With the Devil, innocent woobie eyes as Bruno in B Monkey, and psychotic just about everywhere else.
  • Snake Plissken may have but one eye, but that eye is of the "piercing, icy" variety and ends up creating quite a striking effect; even leading other characters (notably, the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills in the sequel) to comment upon it.
    • Come to think of it, just about any movie Kurt Russell's appeared in. His eyes even seem to glow in the dark at times.
  • Timothy Spall, as well, has extremely blue eyes. They can make his characters downright charming (i.e. Nathaniel in Enchanted or Mats) or just plain farking creepy (The Beadle and Wormtail).
  • Manon of Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring gets many close shots of her face, focusing on her intensely blue eyes. Because of this, we see her constantly discerning the strange events going on around her, even at a young age.
  • Frank's eyes in Once Upon a Time in the West get a lot of focus. Originally, Henry Fonda wanted to wear brown contacts, as he felt these were more suited to a villain, as opposed to his innocent looking blue eyes, but director Sergio Leone told him to take them out.
  • In The Last Unicorn, Lír and Lady Amalthea have dark blue eyes.
  • Most of the characters in the film adaption of The Lord of the Rings have blue eyes, most notably Frodo. Aragorn and Boromir both seem to have blue-green eyes.
  • James McAvoy has made a career out of his ability to break an audience's heart with his big, teary baby blues. The more frightening it is when those seemingly Innocent Blue Eyes suddenly belong to a driven-mad-by-power chef, or a homicidial, strung-out rent boy.


Literature

  • The beautiful Fleur from Harry Potter has captivating blue eyes, of course. Dumbledore (and his brother, Aberforth) famously have "piercing blue eyes."
    • Mad-Eye Moody's magic eye is blue.
  • Rand Al'Thor in The Wheel of Time is first described to have wide blue eyes. As the books progress, they change into the piercing, ice cold type. They switch between gray and blue as well.
    • Siuan Sanche has the piercing type too.
  • Having blue eyes, or at least light as opposed to dark, is very rare in the community in which The Giver is set and seems to be a sign that one is capable of "seeing beyond".
  • Chiyo/Sayuri of Memoirs of a Geisha stands out because of her blue-gray eyes, unusual in Japan. Characters often remark that she has a great deal of water in her soul.
  • In Darkness Visible, Lord Lewis has blue eyes, whilst William and Amelia Marsh have blue-green ones. In Lewis' case, they're certainly the uncomfortably piercing sort, while Amelia's are more in order to show innocence. William starts out as innocent, but is veering definitely towards piercing and cynical by the end of the book.
  • St. John Rivers, the noble but often insufferable cousin of Jane Eyre, has piercing blue eyes (and, arguably, innocent blue as well, to indicate the extreme purity of his soul).
  • The last Kingpriest of Istar from the Dragonlance series of novels is a Knight Templar and is described as having the third type, watery blue eyes.
  • Vigilante Man Mack Bolan's icy blue eyes are mentioned on numerous occasions in The Executioner series. For many villains, it's the last thing they ever see.
  • In Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series, any powerful magic-user is going to wind up with blue eyes regardless of what they were born with as a side effect from the amount of magic they use. Companions also have their blue eyes frequently mentioned, with newly Chosen Heralds usually spending a while staring into them when they first meet.
  • Kell Tainer is mentioned to have very pale blue eyes, very slightly too dark and narrow to make him look like a madman. If this actually meant anything, the author was fairly subtle about it, but it does seem odd. Hardly anyone in the series has eye colors mentioned.
    • Tycho Celchu gets the 'piercing' variety — an incredibly fast thinker, reserved, calm, and a very good Ace Pilot. Also incorruptible and a Woobie.
    • Ysanne Isard has a blue eye (called "Hoth-cold" in one book). Her other eye is red. She's not good people.
  • Branching off into the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe...
    • Anakin Solo is the only blue-eyed child in his family (his eyes are always described as icy, though not cold); his brother, sister, and parents are all dark-eyed.
    • Bria Tharen has blue-green eyes; she's somewhat naive at first (blue), but grows much more strong-willed later on (green).
  • In the second book in the Darkest Powers trilogy, Tori mocks Chloe for having blue eyes and Hair of Gold, 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.
  • This is a Tully family trait in A Song of Ice and Fire, along with Red Hair. All but one of the children of Catelyn Stark (nee Tully) inherited them; Sansa's are said to be particularly vibrant and lovely, arguably an indication of her innocence and goodness (at least, to start with). The royal Baratheons are known for deep blue eyes and dark hair, traits which all of Robert's bastard children inherited — wonder why his "trueborns" didn't?
  • Warrior Cats, where there is a startlingly high number of blue eyes for a feral cat colony (inbreeding? mutation?). Not to mention, there are many solid-colored cats and non-bicolor tabbies with blue eyes, which is genetically impossible except in purebreds. The authors seem to particularly like blue eyes on gray fur, a combination that at least six major cats sport. Most blue eyes belong to either gentle cats or cats known for being bitter or sarcastic. There's also the example of Hawkfrost, who was named for his cold blue eyes (and who is one of the few cats with a coat/eye combination that is possible).
  • Of immense importance in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, when the blue eyes among the People of the Wind (Native Americans) can be traced back to Madoc, a Welsh prince who married into them. Also, for some reason, Charles Wallace, the main character, has the intensely piercing kind (they can summon a unicorn from a star, they're that piercing.
  • All witches in the Septimus Heap series have pale blue eyes.
  • In Kate Griffin's A Madness of Angels, much is made of Matthew's formerly dark eyes having changed to a bright, unsettling blue.
  • In Mara Daughter of the Nile, the titular character has blue eyes, which are extremely rare in Ancient Egypt. Most characters, including her love interest, see them as exotically beautiful, making them a type 1, but a few of the characters find them creepy or demonic.
  • Variel the Flayer stands out from his brothers in arms not only because he isn't a native born/genebred Nostraman, but because he trades their Black Eyes of Evil for type two Blue Eyes. He's one of the emotionally coldest members of a company made of Dreaded, Ax Crazy Torture Technicians.
  • In Dune, anyone exposed to the spice for long gains blue eyes with no scleras.
  • Granny Weatherwax and Susan Sto Helit from Discworld have the piercing kind. Susan may have inherited them from her grandfather, although, in his case, they're a blue glow within hollow eye sockets. Jonathan Teatime in Hogfather has one blue eye. With a pinpoint pupil. And he's completely Ax Crazy.
    • Vetinari, as well.
  • Roland Deschain of The Dark Tower has faded blue eyes to go along with a piercing stare (in the series, they're often called 'bombardier' eyes). He's still basically a good guy, if a complete and utter Badass.
    • Jake also has blue eyes which, at the beginning of the series, fit into type 1, but as the story goes on, they're described as being eerily similar to Roland's eyes.
  • The identifying trait of Saint Dane's various forms in The Pendragon Adventure is his icy blue eyes.
  • Athos the musketeer has "azure" eyes, presumably as a symbol of his pureness.
  • Subverted in Redwall with Ferahgo and his son Klitch, who both have beautiful blue eyes but are pure evil. May have a dash of subversion of What Measure Is a Non-Cute?, since they're weasels.

"That chappie could charm the birds from the trees with his baby-blue peepers, wot? Though I'd hate to be the bally bird that fell into his claws."

  • Erast Fandorin, a steely, "piercing" type.
  • Ter Borcht in Maximum Ride has "pale, watery blue eyes"...and repeatedly states that the flock are overdue to be terminated.
  • Professional Killer Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men has eyes that are described as the color of Lapis and are supposedly very unsettling.
  • Leodegarius in Graham McNeill's Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarines novel The Killing Grounds has the piercing variety. Particularly when he is Mind Probing Uriel and meets his eyes to do it.
  • In C.S. Goto's Blood Ravens trilogy, Ahramin has burning blue eyes — burning with sorcery.
  • In Tamora Pierce's Provost's Dog series, Beka's ice-blue eyes are piercing, especially when she's angry.
  • In John C. Wright's Fugitives of Chaos, Mortimer has innocent blue eyes as well as the mind of a five-year-old.
  • Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian. More burning than flashing, actually.
  • In L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero Lost, the eye color of the immensely powerful but benevolent Father Christmas.
  • Dallas Winston from The Outsiders is specifically mentioned to have blue eyes like "blazing ice, cold with a hatred of the whole world". Darry Curtis, determined and tough, also has "cold" eyes like "two pieces of pale blue-green ice".
  • Martie Rhodes of Dean Koontz's False Memory has type 1. Not the innocent aspect, but she's an optimistic, determined woman fighting a severe case of induced autophobia. The Big Bad is fascinated by them and often remarks on them in his internal narration, even composing haiku about them. At one point, when he's put her in a trance to program her, he shows her disturbing images that make her cry. Being the creep that he is, he licks her tears and remarks on how tasty they are.
  • Annie comments that Paul Sheldon has lovely blue eyes in Misery.
  • Rhodry in Katharine Kerr's Deverry Cycle has "cornflower blue" eyes.


Live-Action TV

  • NCIS: Gibbs has the piercing variety. Very piercing. Kinda scary, actually...

Tony: His steely gaze can cool a room by ten degrees!

  • Hugh Laurie fans make a really big deal out of Hugh Laurie's; House has the "piercing stare" variety.
  • Geordi La Forge gets electric-blue cybernetic eyes to replace his VISOR in Star Trek: The Next Generation. An Expanded Universe novel (taking place between Generations and First Contact) that depicts the changeover has him leaving them that color as an act of protest against the Jerkass Admiral that essentially blackmailed him into getting the procedure.
  • Though Cameron of The Sarah Connor Chronicles has brown eyes normally, she can light them up with her "actual" eyes, which glow blue, contrasting the normally red eyes of Skynet's Terminators.
  • Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory has large, expressive sky blue eyes of the innocent variety. They may or may not be a physical manifestation of how clueless he is when it comes to social interaction, despite his intellectual brilliance. And the fangirls praise them to no end.
  • Merlin has those beautiful blue eyes that contribute to his adorableness and sweet nature.
    • Actually, if you look, you'll find that the entire central cast, apart from Guinevere, are of the baby blues persuasion, though they do tend to settle into two camps: Upstanding-Member-of-the-Royal-Community-Blue (I.e., Arthur, Uther, Gaius) or Nefarious-Druid-With-The-Dark-Hair-Blue (I.e., Mordred, Morgana). Merlin himself, interestingly enough, could be taken as either of these.
  • Piercing blue eyes are a racial trait of the Vorta on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
  • Illyria from Angel looks like Fred with her whole body turned blue: just as Fred has brown hair, pale-brown skin, and brown eyes, so Illyria has blue hair, blue skin...and an unnnatural shade of blue for her eyes. Of course, this use of blue eyes has the effect of making her look as eerie as possible.
  • The titular character of Franco Zeffirelli's miniseries Jesus of Nazareth has pure, penetrating blue eyes that never blink.
  • Battlestar Galactica: in the reimagined series, Lee "Apollo" Adama has blue eyes, as does his father, William Adama (Edward James Olmos wore blue contacts over his brown eyes so he and the naturally blue-eyed Jamie Bamber would look more convincing as father and son).
  • Archie Kennedy of the Horatio Hornblower mini-series has the "innocent and sweet" variety, adding greatly to his appeal; they're popular enough with the fans to be nicknamed "sapphire bullets".
    • Basically, this trope applies to all characters played by Jamie Bamber, and with good reason - he really does have beautiful eyes.
  • Lynda Carter, star of the 1970s Wonder Woman TV show, has such beautiful blue eyes that she once starred in a TV commercial for contact lenses.
  • The cast of Breaking Bad hosts a variety of interesting eye colors, but the award has to go to Jesse Pinkman, who even gets an in-story mention:

Cashier: He had really... blue eyes. Really, really blue.
Hank: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's dreamy, okay.

  • In Doctor Who, the Doctor had nine consecutive incarnations with blue eyes, which were quite often piercing. Or at least strikingly wide and protuberant. He's heroic, unearthly, and has his naive moments, so it's fitting.
    • Harry Sullivan has bright blue eyes of the friendly, innocent type. Although one particular scene from Terror of the Zygons shows Harry's Zygon duplicate glaring out of the shadows. A closeup of his eyes shows that they have noticeably darkened.
    • Captain Jack Harkness of Doctor Who and Torchwood has eyes that go from Type 1 to Type 2, depending on his mood and the situation.
  • Castiel from Supernatural has the pretty-but-scary variety. Would you just fricking blink, already?
    • Fanfic always makes a big deal out of them, and with good reason: they're lovely.
      • Jared Padalecki [Sam's actor] cites those "big, pretty blue eyes" as a reason why Misha Collins [Castiel's actor] couldn't have played a demon.
  • In Mash, Hawkeye's big, blue, soulful eyes are still much-loved by fangirls.
  • Damon Salvatore has startling blue eyes, which further adds to his creepiness.
  • In Lost, you have Claire's and Aaron's baby blues, Sawyer's shifty blue, and Juliet and Ben's piercing blues. Kate's mom, Diane, also has blue eyes, as does Claire's mom, Carole, and Ben's mom, Emily. Interestingly enough, blue eyes are usually paired with blond hair. This may be an intentional reference to Disney's Alice in Wonderland.
  • Naomi from Skins has very, very pale blue eyes, which look almost gray on occasion. Effy's blues are more the piercing (defrosting) Ice Queen variety, while her brother Tony's eyes are a slightly darker blue.
  • Human Target: both Chance and Guerrero have blue eyes. Even with his Harry Potter-like glasses, Guerrero's eyes are quite piercing.
  • Chris Colfer of Glee is sometimes blue-eyed, sometimes green, sometimes gray, 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.
  • Cain of Syfy's Tin Man has blue-gray eyes, which go back and forth between piercing and warm (the former to threats, the latter to his True Companions). DG has big blue eyes of the "innocent" type.
  • Dr. McCoy of Star Trek: The Original Series has normally friendly blue eyes that can nevertheless pull off an intimidating glare.
  • Jayne Cobb of Firefly has blue eyes, mostly intended to be of the Badass variety.
  • Starsky and Hutch both have blue eyes; Starsky's eyes are a little darker than Hutch's.
  • The Duke brothers in The Dukes of Hazzard both have blue eyes.


Music

  • The quote up top from the song "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who.
  • The Crosby Stills And Nash song "Sweet Judy Blue Eyes". The title is taken from Stephen Still's ex girlfriend, singer Judy Collins, who had piercing blue eyes.
  • Frank Sinatra, nicknamed "Old Blue Eyes".
  • Alice Cooper posesses the icy, piercing variant.
  • Billy Joel has a song called "Blonde Over Blue", which includes the line, "They shine as though you're burning inside."
  • One of Elton John's less-popular songs is called "Blue Eyes" and seems to fall under the first type mentioned.
  • The song "The Bluest Eyes In Texas" by Restless Heart is about a girl with Type 1 eyes.
  • Bono's trademark shades hide his blue eyes.
  • "Diamond Lights" by Glenn and Chris, a So Bad It's Good Old Shame song performed by a couple of footballers, mentions "Eyes that freeze like ice, cold electric blue those diamond lights".


Other

  • Just about every Dumb Blonde stereotype out there is innocently blue-eyed.
  • Noel, one of the main characters of Titan Legends, has eyes that have been described as ice-blue, which would translate to the piercing variety here. His intellectual and somewhat overly-serious personality supports this.
  • In German, "blauäugig" (blue-eyed) can have the non-literal meaning of "naive".


Tabletop Games


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). Of course, Arthas also has blue eyes (Glowing Eyes of Doom blue eyes, since his transformation into the Lich King). They were originally blue-green.
  • Many Nintendo "mascot" (first-party) characters in general seem to have blue eyes.
    • Link and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda, though the latter's eyes are slighty Violet Eyes in color. Link's eyes were made to be green-tinted black in the Toon variants.
  • Slippy, Falco, and Katt of the Star FOX franchise all have blue eyes of an indeterminable type, while Krystal has blue-green eyes. Fox's eyes were blue in earlier games, but since Star Fox Assault, they have settled on Green Eyes instead.
  • Devil May Cry has Dante, Vergil (playing the piercing-ice straight), Nero, Eva, Trish (being a copy of Eva), and Sparda in human form.
  • A lot of Final Fantasy characters have this characteristic.
  • The Prince character in the Prince of Persia games.
  • KOS-MOS from Xenosaga's eyes occasionally change from red to blue. When her eyes are blue, she changes from an emotionless weapon to a seemingly caring woman with enough firepower to destroy nearly anything.
  • The English version of Phoenix Wright saw fit to change his eyes to blue, probably to invoke the "innocence bordering on stupidity" archetype. His hair, however, remains jet black, so the combination is a bit odd, to say the least.
  • Phantasy Star IV has a number of characters with blue eyes, all of whom fit the trope:
    • Rune, whose hair and eyes are the same shade of ice blue, is a powerful wizard who is an Esper and grew up on Dezolis, the frozen planet. He also has a sharp personality most of the time.
    • Kyra, who is an Esper and psychic healer — also a bit of a subversion, as she's stubborn and hotheaded.
    • Rika, who fits the "innocent" bill and the "magical" bill, being possessed of an unexplained but definitely present sixth sense.
  • Square Enix seems to really like this trope. In Kingdom Hearts, our hero, Sora, has big, blue eyes. Other blue-eyed cast members also include Kairi, Roxas, and Namine. As of Birth By Sleep, we now also have Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.
  • Most of the classes from Team Fortress 2 have blue eyes (with the obvious exceptions of Demoman and possibly Pyro). The trope really comes into play with Engineer (type 1), Spy (type 2), and Medic (extremely type 2, unless he's looking at Heavy).
  • Wheatley from Portal 2 is basically one big, blue eye. He's pretty much innocent stupidity incarnate...at first.
  • The Mario Brothers, Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina from Super Mario Bros., though Rosalina's are slightly lighter in color.
  • Garrus Vakarian from Mass Effect has extremely pale blue eyes. Then again, he is an alien. Liara T'Soni has bright, innocent blue eyes, matching both her personality and her skin color. Commander Shepard, of course, can be customized to just about any eye color you want, including several shades of blue.
    • 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.
    • On the Anti-Hero/Big Bad side of things (depending on your alignment), both Saren and The Illusive Man have similarly creepy, glowing blue cybernetic eyes.
    • Also, Grunt has blue eyes which is very unusual for his species. He is very young, though, and the eyes are probably meant to help give him his baby-like appearance.
  • A boatload of characters in Final Fantasy II: the good, beautiful Princess Hilda of La Résistance; minor character until you play as him in Soul Of Rebirth Prince Scott, noble and true; Leila, pirate captain but good through and through; and Minwu, whose blue eyes both serve to underscore his purity and idealism as well as look very striking against his dark skin.
    • Final Fantasy IV: Cecil and Rosa both have the classic kind and heroic blue eyes.
    • Final Fantasy VI: Celes has icy blue eyes to match her ice-based magic affinity. The clear-and-pure variant on blue eyes are given to the Figaro twins, Edgar and Sabin/Mash.
    • Final Fantasy VII (and the Compilation thereof) gives extra significance to blue eyes: all members of the SOLDIER force have very bright blue eyes as a result of their exposure to mako energy. SOLDIERS are thus recognizable for their "mako eyes", Zack and Cloud having the Most Triumphant Example of Gorgeous! Pure! Blue! Eyes! The original SOLDIER, Sephiroth, has eyes of a more greenish shade.
    • Final Fantasy VIII: Squall Leonhart has the "piercing, icy" variety.
    • Final Fantasy X: Tidus has cheerful, innocent, ocean-blue eyes.
    • Final Fantasy XII gives these eyes to Penelo (pure, sweet, innocent child), Basch (good and noble knight, mixed well with Hair of Gold), and Ashe. Interestingly, despite Ashe's personality best fitting the "piercing and icy" variant, her blue eyes are the warmest and richest of all the cast's.
    • And, in Final Fantasy XIII, Snow is a subversion of the "icy blue" type—despite his name and his very pale blue eyes, he's one of sweetest, warmest, and friendliest characters in the cast; if anything, his eye color is meant to signify his primary element. His fiancee, Serah, has the innocent-and-sweet blue eyes. On the other hand, Lightning plays icy blue straight.
  • In the Disgaea series, Adell, Yukimaru, and Almaz are depicted as having blue eyes in the art work. All three of them have dark piercing eyes. Justified, as Adell and Almaz are front line fighters. Yukimaru also covers the elemental trait, which is a clan trait.
  • The Pokémon Darkrai has the really creepy, icy kind of blue eyes (made more unsettling by the fact that they are not steely but neon-bright); it IS the Nightmare Pokémon after all!
    • Likewise, Celebi has large sky-blue eyes; the species as a whole is mostly playful and innocent.
    • As with many other characters from the franchise, both human and Pokemon alike.
    • In fact, Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs even has a villain actually named Blue Eyes!
  • Alex Mercer and his sister Dana from Prototype. He has the "creepy stare" version, but hers are normal. Both fall pretty close to Gray Eyes on the scale of colors, but especially Alex, due to graphics issues.
    • Early teasers and concept art indicate that piercing, creepy blue eyes were a characteristic of Alex from his first incarnations onward. A trailer depicts his irises glinting from beneath his hood's shadow and his shapeshift sequence changing every aspect of his body but leaving his eyes until last.
  • Lucifer Cyril of Star Ocean the Second Story has piercing, cold blue eyes.
  • In BlazBlue, the eyes of Robot Girl Mu-12 are of the creepy variety. Especially in contrast to the red eyes of Nu-13 (who was either an Emotionless Girl or a Yandere if Ragna's about) and the hidden eyes of their predecessor, Lambada-11 (who was treated as an Empty Shell), but most of all, compared to Noel's green eyes, until she was Mind Raped and forcefully converted (or finished being built by some arguments) into Mu (don't worry, she gets better).
    • Carl and Tsubaki, however, have blue eyes by nature. Carl can be type two at times, but for the most part, both are the shining type one. Carl's sister, Ada, also had blue eyes (also type 1) before being turned into Nirvana.
  • Tear and her brother, Van, from Tales of the Abyss are more of the piercing type. The former loosens up.
  • The default female Hawke from Dragon Age II has piercing, aqua blue eyes.
  • Pharos from Persona 3 has both innocent and piercing blue eyes. They may also be unnerving to some who see him as a Creepy Child.
  • Faye from Amya Chronicles has crystal blue eyes of the beautiful and innocent type.
  • Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog has blue eyes. Eggman does as well, but you almost never see them.
    • Maria Robotnik and Tikal the Echidna have blue eyes as well - they're both innocent, optimistic, and very wise. Both of them commit a Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Jet the Hawk also has blue eyes of the piercing variety (being a hawk, of course), but his characterisation suits midnight blue eyes more. His name is also air-themed and was originally going to be 'Wind'. Of course, the real design reason he has them is because his fur and eye colours are Sonic's swapped and made lighter.
  • In Metal Gear Solid 3, a couple of characters remark on Big Boss having beautiful Innocent Blue Eyes. Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4, his clone, has eyes the exact same colour, but they are definitely Icy Blue Eyes and described as 'blue-Gray Eyes' in his records (Big Boss's are just 'blue').
  • Even though blue eyes should go well with the armor of the Blue Bomber, only the Original Mega Man (along with his sister Roll) and Mega Man Zero's Zero have them. As for the rest of the franchise, green eyes are usually the default choice (sometimes even for the original Rock & Roll).


Visual Novels


Webcomics

  • In Drowtales, the entire Val'Sullisin'rune clan all have Heterochromia, with one blue eye. They have a reputation as empaths who like to party.
  • Roark 'Rocky' Rickaby. Despite the comic itself being sepiatoned for flavor, color portraits of the Rocky character and of Rocky the cat show them both to possess blue-within-blue eyes. In the case of Rocky, this definitely falls under the purview of 'insane-blue' in terms of character.
  • In A Modest Destiny, people with blue eyes are considered to be innately evil and untrustworthy. Significantly, one character hides their heterochromia due to this.
  • In Strays, here. Perhaps the White-Haired Pretty Boy may be good after all.
  • In Sinfest, the angels.
    • And Blue as well, of the icy kind on occasion.
  • Homestuck: John Egbert, initially according to Word of God and later confirmed in-comic through a dramatic zoom-in on his eyes in response to seeing his dead father. They match his text colour. Similarly, in accordance with their blood colours, Vriska and Equius would have developed blue eyes had they reached adulthood and not been Killed Off for Real; their ancestors, Mindfang and Darkleer, had them.
  • Ashton from Winters in Lavelle has piercing, almost glowing blue eyes. This has caused much grief for him, since the most definitive trait of the universally hated "Blue Princes" is their "cold, dead" blue eyes.
  • Having Blue Eyes in Off White indicates that your spirit is white. The three blued eyed characters we've seen so far have been a innocent, if useless, wolf; a malevolent snow leopard; and a wolf's raven minion/messenger.
  • Klaus Wulfenbach from Girl Genius, of the piercing variety.
  • Samurai Princess's Austin has some icy blue eyes which are in odd contrast to his powers of combustion.


Western Animation

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