Eyes of Gold

Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
—title of a Ray Bradbury story

It's said that eyes are the window to the soul, and in fiction, their color is often the first way to hint at a character's true nature. In particular, characters who have gold and yellow-colored eyes tend to have some form of supernatural origin or powers that place them above normal humans and very often have an animalistic side to them. In the real world, several creatures have this eye color—ducks (you read right), wolves, foxes, owls, cheetahs (though their eyes are most commonly copper or light brown), lions, domestic cats, bearded dragons, and quite a few others. Humans can also possess this eye color, though it is rare, or at least very uncommon.

In the West, this also tends to be shown with characters who have feline or lupine traits, so, understandably, they're often accompanied by werewolf-like powers. In Japan, this probably traces back to legends of Kitsune (foxes) and their naturally golden eyes. It was said that a human possessed by a fox would gain gold eyes, and that a child born to a fox and a human would possess them as well. Because kitsune were also shapeshifters, this often shows up when characters change their forms.

It is also found around the world in many other contexts: in tales of Genies, witches, and other mythological beings, where they cannot hide their golden or two-tone eye-colors in animal form.

In the sorting algorithm of "Uh-Oh Eyes", gold eyes fall one step below Red Eyes, Take Warning, since it's entirely possible for the character to just be a Trickster rather than evil. Gold eyes are also harder to distinguish from "normal" colored-eyes, and hence can add more of an element of surprise if The Reveal shows a character to be something other than what they initially appear to be. They're also sometimes indicative of having a Super-Powered Evil Side.

A subtrope of Technicolor Eyes and Common Eye Colors. If paired with Hair of Gold, Blondes Are Evil, Blond Guys Are Evil, or Dumb Blonde, it becomes a case of Curtains Match the Window. May overlap with Dark-Skinned Redhead.

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; any case of a person whose eyes and personality both follow this trope is just pure coincidence.

Examples of Eyes of Gold include:

Anime and Manga

  • Akakabuto, the Big Bad of Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin.
    • Also, no points for guessing what color Gold Eye's peepers are.
  • Morgan Le Fay, the shape shifting fairy from the Ah! My Goddess movie, is shown with golden eyes.
  • Akito/Agito from Air Gear has eyes like these (though they're most pronounced when Agito is in control).
  • Aika from Aria. She's just a normal person, though. Cait Sith better qualifies here, being the King of Cats and all that.
  • In the anime adaptation of Axis Powers Hetalia, both Italy brothers and their grandfather, Rome, are depicted as having golden eyes. This is somewhat different in the manga, where North Italy and Rome have brown eyes while South Italy's eyes shift between brown and a deep green.
    • While his eyes are stated to be a light brown, China in the anime has what appears to be golden brown eyes.
  • Train from Black Cat has distinct gold eyes that look like a cat's. In the manga, his eyes being gold is the most distinct when he's giving off "killer intent". Creed, naturally, gushes about them.
  • Bleach has a couple of characters that fit the symbolism of golden eyes:
    • Yoruichi and Komamura have golden eyes, reflecting their animal-connections. Yoruichi spends a lot of time transformed into the form of a black cat and Komamura is an anthropomorphic wolf.
    • Hollows are human spirits who have lost their hearts to gain powers and thus are often ruled by their desires and instincts. If an 'inner hollow' is acting up, the eyes can turn to gold with black scleras.
    • The two vicious mad scientists, Szayel Appollogranz and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, both have golden eyes.
  • Chrno/Chrono in Chrono Crusade has golden eyes while in his demon form, although, when he's in his more common, human-like form, they're Red Eyes, Take Warning. He's not evil, but obviously supernatural, and does have a bad temper when provoked.
  • In Claymore, the titular "Silver-Eyed Witches" have them change color (and form Hellish Pupils) when they release a certain amount of their power. On occasion, a Claymore who's really pushing it will combine this with iris-only Glowing Eyes of Doom.
    • Likewise, the demons they hunt (and have been implanted with) always have golden eyes.
  • These appear on C.C. from Code Geass, an apparently immortal young woman who appears to be involved in an elaborate Xanatos Roulette within the series.
  • Ed in Cowboy Bebop has gold eyes, which is most likely a reflection of her semi-feral personality.
  • All of the Noah family in D.Gray-man have golden eyes.
  • In Devilman Lady, Jun's eyes changing from brown to gold signal her transformation into a Devilman.
  • Il Palazzo has yellow cat's eyes in Excel Saga, and though he's mostly just played as eccentric and crazy throughout most of the anime, in the manga, he's eventually shown to possess the power of teleportation, among other (far stranger) abilities.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed has his father's eyes, which is a mark of Hohenheim being ethnically Xerxian, i.e. belonging to a lost civilization. Although it originally doesn't have anything to do with this, Hohenheim's 'golden-headedness' is associated in ancient alchemical texts with the 'perfection' of an immortal man who is essentially a walking Philosopher's Stone.
    • Alphonse is also a golden-eyed blond, though, in the 2003 anime version, he had brown eyes and darker hair than Ed.
    • Ed and Al's characteristics are remarkable enough in Amestris that several characters, including their childhood friend Winry, comment on this. It's actually heavily implied that no one else other than Hohenheim, Ed, and Al have these characteristics, as the rare golden-eyed people of Xerxes have been extinct for four hundred years and Hohenheim is the last existing survivor of the civilization due to very strange circumstances. Also, the homunculus known as 'Father' looks like an older Hohenheim because he made a container for himself shaped like Hohenheim's body.
    • Solf J. Kimblee had these in the manga and the 2003 anime (though they are blue in Brotherhood), although, unlike the brothers Elric and Hohenheim, his golden eyes do not seem to be related to Xerxian ancestry, instead, cluing the audience into his psychotic nature.
  • An older work done by the same author of Fullmetal Alchemist, Stray Dog, has golden eyes as the main feature of the titular "military dogs". The protagonist has one golden eye.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 uses this twice to indicate danger. First, Split Personality Allelujah usually has one eye covered that turns out to be gold-colored and indicates that his (much more dangerous) personality, Hallelujah, has woken up. Super Soldier Soma Peries has golden eyes, being from the same program as H/Allelujah. Nena Trinity, a borderline Psycho for Hire, also has golden eyes, as does Mena Carmine, her Identical Stranger.
    • Artificial Human Tieria Erde has golden eyes when he's connected to the supercomputer Veda, as do Ribbons and the other Innovades, and Louise Halevy when she is being controlled by Ribbons. However, Setsuna also develops glowing golden eyes when he becomes a true Innovator. Golden eyes don't, therefore, automatically signal evil or danger in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, but they do indicate something beyond normal humanity.
    • In Gundam Wing, Gundam pilots under the influence of the Zero System tend to sport blazing golden eyes. In many cases, this should be your signal to run.
    • Cagalli of Gundam Seed has eyes of Gold as well.
  • The Major in the Hellsing OVA is depicted with golden eyes, which makes sense, given that he's a cybernetic, warmongering lunatic. As he's also an evil blond guy, the Curtains Match the Window.
    • Jan Valentine has some pronouncedly glittering orbs, and manages to be more volatile than the Major. That's an achievement.
  • Inuyasha: the known dog-youkai of the show all have golden eyes: Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru's mother.
  • In Angelic Layer, the Angel, Blanche, has yellow eyes, and her operator's partner's Angel, Shirahime, has red eyes. Both are some of the hardest opponents in the series, and two of three Angels to use Hyper Mode (in the manga, only Blanche can use it).
  • In Black Butler, Grell and the other shinigami have gold (gold/green in Ronald Knox's case) eyes. All of them are fairly neutral in the anime and manga, but are shown to be very powerful when crossed.
  • The eyes of Type Zero cyborgs in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha turn gold when they're using their cyborg abilities. Including Subaru Nakajima, at one point, just before she goes ballistic.
  • Both Mikoto and Reito have these in My-HiME, and while it's not too unusual for that world (where the heroine has red hair and purple eyes), later, it turns out that they are a Laser Guided Tykebomb and the object of Demonic Possession respectively, as well as serving as an early clue that they're brother and sister.
  • In the first episode of Mai-Otome 0~S.ifr~, Bruce and Sifr's eyes briefly flash gold when the M-9 android is revealed.
    • No doubt a reference to the earlier mentioned My-HiME characters.
  • Ruri Hoshino in Martian Successor Nadesico has these as part of her implied kinda-sorta Artificial Human background and general Mysterious Waif-iness.
  • Similarly, for Coco of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, yellow eyes 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 colours. However, a Double Subversion occurs when this is used as a warning with orange-eyed Man Behind the Man Sara: she's a mermaid princess too.
    • Lucia has yellow eyes while in human form (as a mermaid or idol, her eyes are blue).
  • Possibly subverted with Gilbert in Pandora Hearts since he's not exactly feline, lupine, or vulpine, nor has he been shown to be artfully crafty. He's a straight forward emotional mess. His brother, Vincent, however, not only plays the trope straight (more than Gilbert, anyway), but also (through his Mismatched Eyes) combines it with Red Eyes, Take Warning.
  • Gold from Pokémon Special has...well...gold eyes, but this is just because the Pokédex owners' eyes match their name as a tradition rather than any special heritage on Gold's part. Nonetheless, he is quite the prankster, with a habit of only acting towards his own benefit. On the other hand, his durability is almost at the point where it's a Goddamned superpower.
    • Sort of ironic, considering his anime counterpart, Jimmy, has purple eyes, and his game counterpart...well, back then the sprites [dead link] ' eyes didn't have a particular color at all. Ken Sugimori, the artist that draws the official art for the games, didn't exactly draw the characters' eyes until Crystal.
    • Art released for the Updated Release of Gold/Silver shows that his eyes are blue.
    • Yellow would probably also count. At first, this looks like a aversion of the "dangerous" part of the trope. It really isn't.
    • Grings Kodai, the villain from the 13th movie, also has huge golden-yellow eyes, which serve to hint at his Psychic Powers which enable him to see into the future.
  • Kei (and in the manga version, also Sasame) from Prétear has golden eyes, presumably just to match his hair color—the Redheaded Hero of the series has red eyes, and she isn't evil either. Fenrir, on the other hand, has glowing golden eyes, but her true/original form actually has green eyes.
  • Mytho from Princess Tutu has golden eyes. He's not evil, but he is supernatural—he's the Prince from a fairytale.
  • Eiko Magami from Project A-ko has amber-colored eyes. Her weirdness is evident right off the bat.
  • Whenever Kenshin goes into "Battousai Mode" in Rurouni Kenshin, his eyes take on a yellowish hue, in contrast to their usual violet color, and at one point, this tells Kaoru what's going on instantly.
    • His rival, Saito Hajime, however, is always shown with these. The historical, real person of Saito had brown eyes, but in Rurouni Kenshin, these are used to tie him to the The Shinsengumi, who were commonly referred to as the "Wolves of Mibu".
  • In Sailor Moon, Sailor Galaxia (Big Bad) has gold eyes to match her theme as the Golden Queen. Like several of the examples here, she's not evil so much as possessed. In the opposite direction, Helios (gentle priest) has gold eyes, possibly to represent his position as guardian of the Golden Crystal in the anime version, while Mamoru has it in the manga.
  • In Saiyuki, beings with golden eyes are labeled as heretics and are seen as dangerous enough for the Powers That Be to lock them up or, at the very least, shackle them. Son Goku, War Prince Nataku, and War Prince Homura all have golden eyes, though, in the latter's case, only one of them is golden. In the manga, Hakkai's youkai form has one golden eye, the other being a false one.
    • In the manga, the people Hazel brought back from the dead have yellow eyes. They are perfectly normal and nice people post-resurrection unless you happened to be a youkai.
  • Haruhi from Suzumiya Haruhi has brownish gold eyes, though they have little to do with her godlike powers.
    • In the anime, Yuki has them too, although, in the light novels, they're "obsidian black".
  • Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo!, tying into the demonic/supernatural aspect of her character. Her name is even stated to mean "spirit caller" at one point. She's even earned the Fan Nickname "Ol' Yellow Eyes" in some circles.
    • Ryo-Ohki also has yellow eyes, both in her cabbit and humanoid forms.
  • Viral in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Word of God says he's a cat/shark hybrid, so it makes sense. Yoko, the Badass Normal Action Girl, also has them, but they don't mean anything in the larger context of the series.
  • When Bu-ling of Tokyo Mew Mew transforms into Mew Pudding, her eyes turn yellow. Like with Ichigo, this doesn't mean she's evil, but she is playful and immature most of the time.
  • In Trigun, Legato has yellow/golden eyes and blue hair, which reflects his psychopathic tendencies, sinister way of being, and overall weirdness. Which is particularly remarkable, since most non-Gonk characters of the show have pretty realistic hair and eye colours and no character seems to notice that Legato basically looks like a mutant (in fact, he looks much weirder than the main tricksters, Vash and Knives, who are respectively blue-eyed and green-eyed blonds.) The manga only character Livio is a golden-eyed blond [well, white hair anyway] with hints of silver/grey in the left eye as an indication of his Split Personality. He has a pretty weird and unreal side due to his being a genetically 'enhanced' human and massive hitman for a Plant-worshiping cult, and that's without starting to discuss his Super-Powered Evil Side, Razlo.
  • In CLAMP's series Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, a vampires' eyes go gold and slitted when they use their powers. One Doujinshi has that world's version of Fuuma comment on this by saying that he and his sort-of-love-interest Kamui "match" now, prompting Kamui to throw him across the room. In the series proper, Fai's remaining eye turns from blue to gold when he becomes a vampire.
    • Syoran's eyes are amber-colored (to go with Sakura's jade, Fay's sapphire, and Kurogane's ruby). While he's neither evil nor a trickster, he does have a few issues.
  • The wolves of Wolf's Rain all have amber/golden eyes in human form—except for Kiba, whose human form has pale blue eyes to denote his Chosen One status.
  • Fuuma's eyes in X 1999 are gold colored, and it's only after the Wham! Episode that we realize what this was hinting at. In the anime series, they're red, because the Spoiler Opening gave away the wham of the Wham! Episode right in the first episode.
  • Judai (Jaden) in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX has golden eyes when his power as Haou/Supreme King awakens.
    • Asuka Tenjouin (Alexis Rhodes) has gold eyes all the time, although she exhibits no real powers.
    • In the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Rishid has golden eyes, though they appear to have no actual meaning or effect on him. Also, Dartz of the fourth season has a golden eye, his normal eye color. His other eye is green, from being tainted by a shard of Orichalcos.
  • Yoko Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho is a red-haired, green eyed young man in his human form, but as soon as he turns into his White-Haired Pretty Boy alter ego, his eyes change color. Naturally enough, he's a kitsune.
    • Also, you know that Itsuki isn't exactly a human psychic because of this trope and also because of his hair color. He's nowhere near a kitsune, though; he's a shadow demon called a yaminade. And another function of his eyes is to show the audience how bloody insane he is...
    • While possessed by his demon ancestor, Yusuke's eye color changes from their usual brown color to a gold color, at least in the anime.
    • Don't forget the creepy Elder Toguro. Though all his eyes represent is his demonic nature.
  • Haruko in FLCL, and like Guu, it's the least weird thing about her.
  • Mayo Mitama in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. No supernatural powers, it's just that she's a psychopath.
  • In Pet Shop of Horrors, Count D has one golden eye, and his grandfather has both eyes being golden.
  • Tiara's One-Winged Angel form in Shamanic Princess has golden eyes with a black circumference in the middle.
  • Naruto: big-time Big Bad and generally creepy dude Orochimaru, as well as anyone using the Cursed Seal (even the one that didn't come from him). In a mild subversion, this is because he's associated with snakes, and Red Eyes, Take Warning are associated with the actual demon kitsune running around.
    • Naturo hismelf acquires these later on - when in Sage mode, his eyes turn golden, although they're slitted sideways. However, this has more to do with his affinity for toads, instead of the fox in his belly.
  • Tao Ren from Shaman King. His eyes used to be purple in early manga chapters, but they switched to gold later on.
  • The heroine of the anime version of Witchblade gets these (with black scleras) when she accesses the titular Artifact of Doom's power.
  • Gash Bell himself has wide, saucepan-sized yellow eyes, although, being a demon, it might be excusable.
  • Yukito, Sakura's crush in Cardcaptor Sakura, has golden eyes behind his glasses and silver hair. These eyes are the first indication that there is more to him than he appears. Yue, his true form, has silver eyes. The same applies to his counterpart, Ruby Moon.
  • The Natsume family from Natsume Yuujinchou seem to have this; both main character Takashi and his deceased grandmother Reiko had these (they're both very powerful in the seeing Youkai department). At least one, and possibly both of them, were bullied with the name "Kitsune eyes" due to this.
  • Dragonball Z has Zarbon, Frieza's Bishonen right-hand man, who has gold-colored eyes. He was able to shapeshift into a single second form, which resembled a large, wrinkly, reptilian ogre.
    • GT also features Super Saiyan 4, which is preceeded by a transformation into a Super Oozaru form and has golden eyes once it's completed.
  • Brandon Heat of Gungrave, while, during his mortal life, he had light brown eyes and black hair, after being murdered and later resurrected as the necrolizer called Grave, he has yellow eyes and silver hair.
  • Hilda in Hols: Prince of the Sun, due to her deal with Grunwald. However, she seems to retain them after Grunwald's defeat.
  • Divine and Kiryu from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. A psychic and Dark Signer, respectively. Divine's also a Manipulative Bastard, while Kiryu's just plain nuts.
  • Death the Kid of Soul Eater has gold eyes and it is the mark of a Shinigami. Unfortunately, we don't get to see his father's, but we can assume that he also has Eyes of Gold. (Assuming that he even has eyes—or a face—behind that mask).
    • Then there's Cat Girl Blair. Her eyes are gold as well. And it's special (or normal, depending on how you look at it) heritage for her, as she's a cat.
    • Medusa. No explicit connection to the fact that she's a witch. The Hellish Pupils moments definitely are, though.
  • Not a supernatural reference, but twins Kaoru and Hikaru from Ouran High School Host Club have golden eyes. Let's face it, they're not exactly the nicest kids on the block and have a collective trickster streak several miles wide and a few continents long.
  • Gold seems to be the most common eye color in the Baccano! universe. Characters that have them include Luck, Chane, Huey, Nicholas, Rachel, and Ronnie.
  • Saralegui from Kyo Kara Maoh. He wears purple-tinted glasses to cover them, because having Gold Eyes means he's part of a very-near extinct race (that was sealed away) with extraordinary powers. His eyes glow blue whenever he's giving someone a 'hint', aka trying to possess them to do his bidding.
  • Tasuki of Fushigi Yuugi, who is initially portrayed with more of a wolf motif. The kitsune qualities and shapeshifting are trademarks of his comrade, Chichiri.
  • Lucia and King Raregroove of Rave Master are two rare examples of main villains with normal apperances. Except the eyes. We never get an explanation for that one. Then again, we don't get to hear about all the hair colors either.
  • Ray Kon from Beyblade has these as part of his cat-boy like appearence. Lee and Mariah have them too.
  • Ceres, the titular character from Ayashi no Ceres has gold eyes, and is a Tennyo, a type of Asian fairy. Whereas Aya, her descendant/alter-ego, does not.
  • Juraquille/Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk from One Piece.
  • Rushuna of Grenadier is a golden-haired, golden-eyed Innocent Fanservice Girl with large breasts. When she gets angry and flashes those golden eyes, expect that her Improbable Aiming Skills are about to come out.
  • Krad of D.N.Angel is a case of Curtains Match the Window and is most definitely not human or a good guy.
  • The titular character in Count Cain has these and it is mentioned by his tutor as proof that he and his parents were genetic relatives.
  • Miyu from Vampire Princess Miyu originally had Brown Eyes, but once she became a vampire, they became gold. She can still use magic to revert hem to their original brown to mix better with the crowd.
  • Guilmon from Digimon Tamers has a right to have yellow eyes, as he's a one-of-a-kind, fan-made Digimon, goes feral when sensing danger, and carries an uber-destructive computer virus inside himself.
  • Dlanor A. Knox and Willard H. Wright both have these.
  • Ayame Sohma from Fruits Basket has gold eyes, but this is justified as he's possessed by the spirit of the snake.
  • Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn has golden eyes, a trait he seemingly inherited from his ancestor, Vongola Primo. In the anime, though, it's a case of Kaleidoscope Eyes, as they're normally brown and turn gold when in Hyper Dying Will Mode.
  • Mikael from Tenshi ni Narumon has golden eyes which ties pretty well with the whole 'being more than meets the eye' and can point at his dual nature. Whether his truly evil or not is up to the viewer, but he sure is a polarizing character.
  • Mami from Puella Magi Madoka Magica has gold eyes, but in her case, it's more of a case of curtains matching the window, since there are other magical girls who don't have gold eyes.
    • Following her ascension as a goddess in the final episode, Madoka herself has gotten a set of these.
  • Both Yuuki Rito and Mikan completely subvert the mystical aspect of this trope in To LOVE-Ru (particularly noticable in Motto), having gold eyes and yet being completely normal. Well, unless being exteremely popular with the opposite sex is a superpower.
  • Ryoma (and his father) from Prince of Tennis have gold eyes.
  • Takatsuki from Wandering Son has Eyes of Gold in the anime. In the manga, she had simple Brown Eyes, before Art Evolution kicked in and gave her Black Eyes.
  • Word of God of Sailor Moon says that, after transforming, Minako's eyes are supposed to be like this.
  • In Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, golden eyes (and hair) are the trademark of Hypnos and his children, the Dream Gods (except for Oneiros). They're all pretty much supernatural—and evil, with Hypnos serving as one of the primary antagonists of the manga's first half (arguably the Big Bad for good part of it).
  • Though he wasn't necessarily evil, Diarmuid (Lancer) of Fate/Zero had these.

Comic Books

  • Shapeshifter Mystique of the X-Men series is often shown with yellow eyes. So is her son Nightcrawler.
    • Sabretooth is sometimes drawn with them as well.
  • The manipulative and often malevolent Desire from The Sandman is described as having "eyes tawny and sharp as yellow wine."
  • The main character of the indie comic book Finder has yellow eyes. He could be considered something of a trickster, being a nomadic "ninja do-gooder" in a largely city-bound world. (He also has an as-of-yet-unexplained Healing Factor.)
  • Lioness in ATOM has yellow eyes. Non-human heritage or Rule of Cool?
  • Lucifer in Lucifer has golden eyes, maybe the most justified case conceivable, as he's about as human as every star in creation put together.
  • Spider-Man villainess Paper Doll, a Loony Fan of celebrity Bobby Carr, has yellow pupils that are probably there just to make her extra creepy. Her main super-powers are the ability to flatten out her body, blend into her surroundings, "compress" her foes by enveloping them with herself, and administering lethal paper-cuts strong enough to slice through Spidey's webbing.
  • Ikaris in The Eternals.
  • Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash II) of the The DCU has naturally golden eyes; this, along with his wild auburn hair, serves as a character marker. He's a bit of a devil-may-care type (hence the codename), but his heart's undoubtedly in the right place. And he actually manages to make a normally sickly-evil eye color look really cute!
    • Probably inherited from his psychotic ancestor, Professor Zoom, archnemesis of the Flash family. Here's close-ups of both of their eyes - drawn by the same artist, to boot, though roughly 10 years apart. The critical difference in depiction is their personalities (physically, they have the exact same eyes, which is very unsettling, but that's it). Bart's joyful and friendly demeanor makes them bright like sunshine; Thawne is the exact opposite: his eyes burning like a raging wildfire - to the point where they sometimes turn reddish-orange. Bart's eyes can also turn into that fiery-orange color as well, but only under extreme rage or stress - it's a signifier that he isn't playing around anymore.
    • And, for that matter, so do his mother, Meloni (sunshine glow, just like Bart, though hers are actually closer to amber) and his Evil Twin, Inertia. Thad can pull off some stunning impressions of Bart's emotional body language (and that includes the famed Puppy Dog Eyes as well) when the situation calls for it, but his eyes usually default to a sinister glow, as seen here.
  • Doctor Finitevus has yellow-golden irises...and pupils. They really stand out because his eyeballs are entirely black otherwise.
  • Timmorn Yellow-Eyes of Elf Quest has, obviously, yellow eyes, which he got from his father, who was a wolf, his mother being an elfin shapechanger, making him basically a half-elf werewolf. Several other elves have yellow eyes as well, particularly Rayek and Nightfall. In Rayek's case, he's one of the few very magical Sun Folk. With Nightfall, it's likely just more to link her to Timmorn, the ancestor of all the Wolfriders, and emphasize her origins.
  • Guilt Hulk, one of Bruce Banner's many alternate personalities, and a purely malevolent one at that.
    • The non-Banner Red Hulks as well, partly because it's part of their "demonic" look, and partly because of their association with fire.

Fan Works

  • Dark Magical Girl Ashley McFly of Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy has slightly greyish yellow eyes, which turn bright yellow with slitted cat-ish pupils when she becomes Leather Ashes.
  • Subverted in A Soul's Songbook: Out of Print, a fanfic of Soul Eater. As mentioned above, the shinigami of Soul Eater have Eyes of Gold, and, well, if you are a naturally amber-eyed human with dark hair, there are Unfortunate Implications involved in that. One of New London's gangsters (who also falls into a completely different spelling of such) is a former sex slave of such coloring, but is completely human.
  • Kainatrol from Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon. She's got the animalistic connection (her Mind Control powers are based upon the concept of an animal tamer), she likes to be on top of things, and, sympathetic backstory or not, she's the most evil of the Quirky Miniboss Squad. Since everyone on Earth (known as the Land of Legends) has their Curtains Match the Window, naturally, Seira has yellow eyes, too, as does Kore by virtue of being Kainatrol's identical twin; neither is evil or even devious, however.
  • Ren and Ren II and Lien in A Gift of Love all have gold eyes.
  • Ditzy Doo's distinguishing characteristics in her storyline in the Pony Psychology Series are her eyes; not only did Gilda remember who she was when she saw bright golden eyes staring back at her, whenever Ditzy reverts to her original personality of a secret agent, they're described as being like a hunting hawk's.
  • Edward Cullen in Forbiden Fruit: The Tempation Of Edward Cullen is described as having eyes like caramel, or like gold velvet in the sun, which the author finds hawt HAWT HAAAAAWT. (Her opinion of his "man-carrot" is still not known for certain.)

Film

  • Anakin Skywalker of Star Wars Episode III, coinciding with his descent into evil. Having your eyes turn yellow and reptile-esque seems to be a side-effect of using anger to channel the Force, since, while they often turn up with Sith-aligned characters, some Sith don't have them. Palpatine is always in control of his emotions, so they don't turn yellow unless he either wants them to or is about to kill you anyway. Dooku is supposed to be a gentlemanly figure, so anger would be rather out of character for him, as well. Darth Maul, however, was forged to be a weapon of hate and, as such, has sickly yellow eyes all the time.
  • The bully Scut Farkus in A Christmas Story.

"Scut Farkus! What a rotten name! There he stood, between us and the alley. Scut Farkus staring out at us with his yellow eyes. He had yellow eyes! So help me God, yellow eyes!"

  • Yehoshua in The Passion of the Christ has subtly golden eyes. Yehoshua's name as known to us today? Jesus Christ.
  • In the live-action Death Note movies, characters with Shinigami eyes have their eyes show up yellow when they use this power.
  • Disney's animated film Mulan. The Big Bad Shan-Yu has Eyes of Gold, surrounded by black scleras.
  • In the film Wolf, yellow eyes are a sign that a character is turning into a werewolf.
  • The film GoldenEye, interestingly enough, has no examples of this, barring the Title Sequence.
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country features a golden-eyed alien that really is a shapeshifter.
  • Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one, anyway; his eyes look normal enough in the next two films, presumably since he's no longer under the curse).
  • The "outlanders" in District 9 have these. Then again, why not? They're aliens.
  • Mystique and Toad from X-Men. Also, Nightcrawler from the sequel and Beast in the prequel when he uses a "cure" made out of Mystique's genes that gives him blue skin/fur and gold eyes.
  • Tintin in the Thunderbirds live-action film has these when she uses her psychic powers. Her evil uncle, who has the same powers, falls under Red Eyes, Take Warning.
  • Kate and Eve from Alpha and Omega have these, which would make sense, in a way, since they're wolves.
  • Tai Lung, the villainous snow leopard from Kung Fu Panda, has yellow eyes.
    • Tigress has these eyes, too.
  • Heimdall, the Asgardian sentry from the live-action Thor film. Justified, seeing as how he's a sufficiently advanced alien and a God.
  • When Regan is possessed by Pazuzu in The Exorcist, her eyes become yellow.
  • Sawyer from Cats Don't Dance has yellow eyes.
  • The Na'vi from Avatar.
  • Bagheera and Shere Khan from The Jungle Book.
  • Simba, Mufasa, Sarabi, Pumbaa, and the hyenas from the first Lion King film, and Kiara from the second.
  • The Coachman from Pinocchio apparantly has large, bulging yellow eyes. They're most noticable during the scene where he says "They'll never come back...as BOYS!!!"

Literature

  • The mighty Doc Savage had golden eyes, but, being a Western pulp hero, this had nothing to do with the Japanese trope. SF writer Phillip Jose Farmer later gave Doc a pedigree containing just about every character in literature with yellow or light-brown eyes.
  • Hamish X, the main protagonist in the series of novels of the same name. He actually has said eyes because he is a cyborg.
  • The all-powerful Tyke Bomb in the Discworld novel Sourcery had gold eyes. They even started turning brown when he began a Heel Face Turn.
    • In addition, there was Windle Poons as an undead. "His eyes! Like gimlets!"
  • A. J. Crowley from Good Omens has yellow eyes, which he usually hides behind sunglasses. Unusually, for a Western example, Crowley's eyes are explicitly intended to be snakelike rather than feline or lupine. This is because Crowley was the snake in the Garden of Eden. Yes, that snake.
  • Perrin in The Wheel of Time series got yellow eyes after unlocking his crazy wolf powers.
  • In the Dragaera series, the members of the House of Phoenix are golden-eyed, identifying their rarity. They are also a symbol of the House's style of leadership when holding the throne, as the name alludes to Phoenix Emperors or Empresses being either decadent and incompetent or excellent leaders representing hope for the future.
  • Naturally enough, possessed by Gold-Eye from Garth Nix's Shade's Children. In his case, they only indicate his supernatural ability—precognitive power—rather than any sinister nature.
  • The Sword of Truth novels featured a creature called a screeling; hideously efficient killing machines, they were all but invincible unless you happened to have very dangerous magic on hand. They had golden eyes, so prominent that there was, in fact, a poem about them.
  • In the Recluce series of books, humans had many physical markers that hinted at particular power. Extremely powerful chaos mages (mostly fire-users) had gold eyes.
  • According to the legends, "the Golden Sovereign" in Yulia Latynina's Wei Empire cycle of novels had golden eyes, though, from what we know of him, he was a benevolent, but ineffectual ruler, so that's something of a subversion. However, the three friends from the cycle's first novel, Dattam, Harsoma, and Arfarra, all have golden eyes (well, Arfarra's have also been described as "amber", but later as "molten gold", so it still fits), and Dattam is, at a certain point, considered by some to be the reincarnation of the Golden Sovereign because of it. But that's quite irrelevant. What is relevant is that all three grew up to be Magnificent Bastards of truly epic proportions, whose subsequent rivalries and machinations drove much of the subsequent plot.
  • The Cullens and all vegetarian vampires in the Twilight series have gold-colored eyes when they've recently eaten and black when they are hungry. Less finicky vampires don't.
    • In Breaking Dawn, it is said that 'true' werewolves (called Children of the Moon) are distinguishable from the shape-shifters by having "yellow" eyes.
  • In the historical mystery series starring Sebastian St Cyr, he has yellow eyes that help him see better in the dark and hint at how mysterious and Badass he is. (Otherwise, the series is mainstream.)
  • In Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore, Coyote, Anubis, and their 'children' (Sam and Minty Fresh, respectively) all have golden eyes to denote their supernaturality.
  • The alien children in The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.
  • The villain in Dennis Wheatley's The Haunting of Toby Jugg is a satanist with yellow eyes.
  • Raistlin Majere from the Dragonlance series has gold eyes with hourglass-shaped pupils. They're a curse applied to him by the Wizards' Conclave because they thought he lacked sympathy; they cause him to see the effects of time on everything and everyone.
    • And from the War of Souls trilogy, Mina has "eyes of amber" that have quite an effect on people.
  • Amber from Kathleen Winsor's Forever Amber has, suitably, amber eyes. She was named after her father, who also had amber eyes.
  • Zane from Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series has gold eyes, also featuring the usual metallic flecks found in the irises of pretties. Apparently, the gold eye-color had just been approved by the Committee of Morphological Standards for use in pretties, and so Tally finds his eyes exotic.
  • Major characters in two of Caitlin R. Kiernan's novels have Eyes of Gold. Narcissa Snow in Low Red Moon, as well as the child she helped to birth (or is she?), Emmie Silvey. Emmie appears in the related follow-up novel, Daughter of Hounds, which also describes the ghul as occasionally possessing this eyecolor (which is not unreasonable, as they are fairly canine in appearance). However, to be perfectly accurate, they are both described as having yellow eyes and not gold, but so what?
  • A non-fantasy example, That Was Then, This Is Now, by S.E. Hinton, has the foster-brother Mark with gold-colored eyes. The protagonist initially views them as lion-like and comforting, but his view changes after the events of the book and the revelation of Mark's sociopathy.
  • F'lar from Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Rider books was described as having "golden" or "amber" eyes.
  • In Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson universe, when a werewolf starts to change from human to wolf, the eyes are one of the first body parts to change. Watching their eyes is one way to tell who's in control in there. Since most wolves have yellow eyes, most of the werewolves' eyes will brighten to gold. One character has blue eyes in wolf form, and her eyes turn from brown to blue when her wolf starts to come out.
  • In Robin McKinley's Damar books, the eyes of people with kelar turn gold when they get angry or use their magic (the two occasions are often related).
    • Also, when they fall in love. And it's dangerous to look in their eyes when they're gold, unless you have the kelar yourself. Kinda awkward for lovers without it.
  • In The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope, the protagonist Kate's spoiled younger sister has eyes described as golden or honey-colored.
  • In Lee Lightner's Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolf novel Wolf's Honour, having your eyes turn golden is the first physical sign that you are turning into a wolf-like creature, the wulfen.
  • According to Flight of the Eisenstein, the Primarch Mortarion had amber eyes.
  • Genghis Khan and his father in the Conqueror books are both stated to have gold eyes. Sure enough, their tribe is called the Wolves, and the first book is titled Wolf of the Plains.
  • A villainess in one of the Short and Shivery stories is "made" when a child notices her unusual eyes, which are "green and flecked with gold".
  • In Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, Flauvic Merindar has gold eyes. She seems to like this trope, as Tau from Inda shares this.
  • In Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Luke's irises turn gold after his body is possessed by Kronos.
    • Hyperion, Titan of Light and the East, also has golden eyes, but his burn bright "like miniature suns".
  • One of the two human bloodlines resulting from Arisian eugenics is marked by gold-flecked eyes. This line includes both Virgil Samms and Clarissa MacDougall Kinnison.
  • The Childlike Empress of The Neverending Story is also known as the Golden-Eyed Commander of Wishes.
  • In Emily of New Moon, Ilse Burnley is described as having "eyes like yellow diamonds". She also has Hair of Gold, so the Curtains Match the Window.
  • In Lois McMaster Bujold's latest series, The Sharing Knife, the Lakewalkers have metallic eye colors running the gamut between silver and gold. This is a marker of their magical heritage, their descent from the sorcerer-kings who first loosed malices on the world.
  • Shapeshifters in the Kate Daniels universe have their eyes change from human to animal when they're upset or losing control. Kate often refers to Curran's eyes as molten gold or fiery yellow when he's angry.
  • In The Phantom of the Opera, the original Phantom has eyes that are invisible in daylight but glow gold in the dark. He's human, but given his trickster like behaviour, it's quite appropriate.
  • In the Wolves of Mercy Falls Series, commonly known as Shiver, Linger, and Forever, Samuel Roth has yellow gold eyes. It is revealed this has nothing to do with him being one of the wolves that shift between human and canine depending on the temperature, because it is mention he has always had yellow gold eyes, and none of the other "wolves" display gold eyes or say anything about their eye color changing.
  • Totally averted in Warrior Cats. Obviously, everyone is a cat, so gold eyes (described as 'amber' in the series) are the most common color. They're usually relegated to secondary and background characters, and occasionally to main characters. So, basically, the same status as brown eyes in human society.
  • In the world of Black Jewels, the three long-lived races have gold eyes. Most often described are those of Daemon Sadi, who is described from the start as resembling felines.
  • In Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy, the "sorcerer's eye" is a mysterious magical item in the form of a crystal sphere, in which a single closed eye is seen to float unsupported. When in use, the eye within the sphere opens, revealing its golden iris.
  • Foxface, a minor character in The Hunger Games, apparently had amber eyes. In her case, they would've underlined her cunning nature and made her look more foxlike.
  • In The Child Thief, staying on Avalon long enough to absorb the magic in the food etc. would cause one's eyes to turn golden.
  • In Only Revolutions, Hailey has gold eyes with flecks of green. (Sam has green eyes with flecks of gold.)
  • From Apollo Alexandre's first book in the Metal Star Prophecies series, "The Green Owl", the main character, Moto Kanekoda, has yellow eyes. At school, he's known as the "Owl Boy" by the rest of the student body because he's a) book-smart and b) got eyes like that of an owl.
  • Lizzy of the web-novel Domina has this. In this book, it's not an impossible eye color, but it is noted as odd, and no one is quite sure if it comes from the toy maker. Although she does have supernatural powers (though it hasn't been revealed exactly what powers), she does subvert the "predatory" aspect.
  • Tywin Lannister in A Song of Ice and Fire is described as having green eyes "flecked with gold". This can either be representative of the lion as the Lannister sigil, or perhaps that the Lannisters are the richest house in the kingdom and the source of most of the gold.
  • Within the The Destroyer novels, golden eyes are used almost universally to hint that someone is Korean (almost always narrated with a note that Koreans are the only Asian race with golden eyes), usually right before it's revealed they have some connection to the mystic art of Sinanju.
  • A craftsman in the Discworld novel The Color of Magic has eyes made of literal gold. (His eyes were put out and he replaced them with bling.
  • In The 39 Clues, Isabel, Ian, and Natalie Kabra have amber eyes. This is suitable, considering their cunning and the fact that they can be considered to be the heroes' biggest threat out of all the opposing Clue hunters, not to mention Isabel's status as the first series' Big Bad.
  • In Devon Monk's Allie Beckstrom novel Magic to the Bone, Zayvion has Brown Eyes with flecks of gold -- until he leaves the magic grid, whereupon they are brown. When he drives back, his eyes turn pure gold with only flecks of brown.
  • Ultimately subverted in Doctrine of Labyrinths. Felix starts the story as the only person he or anyone else knows with a yellow eye, and he's such a powerful wizard that most superstitious people are afraid of his eyes (the other being blue of either the creepy or occult variety). Turns out where his mother comes from, people just have yellow eyes.
  • Lieutenant Luo of Someone Else's War is the antagonist seemingly for a good portion of the book, and he's the only character with an "ochre" eye color.

Live-Action TV

  • In the Hallmark miniseries The Tenth Kingdom, Wolf's eyes change to a feral yellowish-gold when his animalistic side comes out.
  • In The X-Files season 1, the liver-eating mutant Eugene Victor Tooms' eyes sometimes were a bright yellow-green. (The color of bile, appropriately.)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation had the gold-eyed android Data, who doesn't fit the mold, being decent and caring. His brother, Lore, on the other hand, was Exclusively Evil or close to it. B4, the third Data-like model shown, had no personality to speak of. Humorously, Brent Spiner titled an album "Old Yellow-Eyes is Back".
  • In the Doctor Who serial Survival, people under the malign influence of the Cheetah Planet acquired golden, cat-like eyes. This included the Master and Ace. The Master's subsequent incarnation (in the TV Movie) had golden Glowing Eyes of Doom, which may have been related to this, or his being a CGI snake for a while, or something else.
  • Supernatural has the appropriately named Big Bad, "Yellow Eyes", otherwise known as Azazel or the Demon.
    • In certain light, Gabriel's eyes are a light golden/amber color as well. Being that he's an all-powerful Archangel who can create something out of nothing, Richard Speight Jr.'s natural eye color worked wonderfully.
  • The titular character of Merlin has blue eyes, but they glow gold when he does magic.
  • Subverted in Stargate SG-1; the Enkarans are a race of humans with pale golden eyes and extreme weakness to radiation...but aside from that, they're indistinguishable from normal humans in both appearance and behavior.
    • Played straight with Adria, the recurring villain of season 10.
  • In Kamen Rider Den-O, every time Ryotaro is possessed by Kintaros, his eyes become yellow.
  • Megazords tend to have yellow eyes, and several individual Zords have them too.
  • All vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel have gold eyes when in Game Face.
    • Buffy herself has (quite different) gold eyes when the gang use an enjoining spell to infuse her with all their combined abilities.
  • In Sanctuary, Henry's eyes turning yellow is one of the first indications that his transformation into a werewolf has been triggered and are usually the very last to disappear when he changes back. On one occassion, he manages to tap into his werewolf side and use its strenght to escape a holding cell. He remains completely human throughout this, except for a glowing pair of these.
  • The Fades has the Fade Polus and his followers. This signifies both that they have powers beyond those of normal Fades and that the characters have pronounced animalistic sides, as the source of these powers is eating human flesh.

Music

  • The Flock Of Seagulls song I Ran: the girl has "auburn hair and tawny eyes".
  • The Sixx AM song, The Girl With Golden Eyes. The girl is a physical representation of Nikki Sixx's heroin abuse; more importantly, a heroin dose leaves a small golden track mark dot.

Myth and Legend

  • Shape-shifters in legend, especially Genies, witches, and the like, are frequently tipped off by golden (or two-tone) eyes, which they cannot hide even in animal form. Mythical creatures with Deadly Gaze may have golden eyes as well. Shapeshifter Mystique from X-Men probably got her golden eyes from this variant of the tradition, making this Trope possibly Older Than Anime.
    • The Celtic Púca/Pooka stands out as a notable example. A shapeshifting hobgoblin, one of the Fair Folk - Pookas can take on any number of animal forms, but their eyes are always a telltale colour, typically goat-yellow. Far less commonly, they are said to have otherworldly red, green, or blue eyes instead of yellow.
  • In Greek Mythology, Circe and her niece Medea had Golden Eyes. They were the daughter and granddaughter, respectively, of the Greek god of the Sun, Helios. His children were often associated with sorcery, and apparently, they all inherited his flashing eyes.

Tabletop Games

  • Dungeons & Dragons
    • (3.5 edition), or at least the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, mentions yellow eyes as a sign of celestial (angelic) descent, which usually corresponds to good alignments.
    • 4E extends gold eyes (along with Red Eyes, Take Warning ones) to the Dragonborn and Tiefling player races, with no indication of their Character Alignment (although Tieflings are generally considered a "dark" race)
    • Forgotten Realms has it widespread among the Gold elves.
      • The Drizzt Do'Urden novels had Dantrag Baenre, the weapons master of the First House of Menzoberranzan. He was noted for having unusual eyes for a drow (who normally have red) -- yellow, changing to orangey-red when he's angry. Their Archmage, Gromph Baenre, has amber eyes, and his daughter, Liriel (Starlight and Shadows trilogy), inherited this trait (along with his magical talent). At least this one is clearly In the Blood.
  • Some Vilani in the Traveller RPG have gold-coloured eyes.
  • As a Space Wolf inches closer to being overtaken by the Wulfen, the feral monster that lives inside of him, his eyes turn a shade of gold.
  • Harmonious Jade in Exalted picked up a set after taking the Second Breath as a Solar. (Before then, she had some absolutely gorgeous shining blue eyes.)
    • Also, all Sidereal Exalted Chosen of Journeys get yellow eyes as a sign of their station.
  • Magic: The Gathering Vampires of Innistrad's Markov line have, in a variation, golden sclera and black everything else.

Video Games

  • Morphs in the 7th Fire Emblem game have this as one of their main traits.
    • Also, Micaiah from Radiant Dawn has gold eyes. She is known for her ability to predict future events, and later turns out to be descended from the Heron Tribe and the true Apostle of the Begnion Empire. And the avatar of a goddess of chaos.
  • In Kingdom Hearts, golden eyes are symbolic of using the power of darkness. Ansem, Xemnas, Saix, and Xigbar all have them. In Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Master Xehanort and his apprentice, Vanitas, both have them, and Braig gets them later. Ven and Terra get gold eyes when possessed by Vanitias and Master Xehanort, respectively. However, despite Riku relying on the powers of darkness, he never gets golden eyes. Presumably because he didn't come to fully rely on them.
  • Shin Megami Tensei has a few examples
  • Some of the blarg in Ratchet and Clank have gold/yellowish eyes and some red. Drek's eyes are a shiny blue with no pupils.
  • If you look closely at him when you meet him in the Expansion Pack, Sheogorath of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has these (with black eye-scleras), although it's hard to tell if he's really evil, or good, or just crazy. Interestingly, he had glowing green eyes in Daggerfall. Completely green eyes, which glow, as can be seen prominently when he glares at you with an evil grin, with his eyes lit up. In his own words, "Daedra are the embodiments of change", so it's not at all unusual for supposedly-defining details of a Daedroth to shift for no reason, including gender. In any case, he's definitely a trickster.
  • The Warcraft universe features the night elves who normally have completely silver eyes (entirely silver, as they have no visible pupils). Those who had golden eyes were considered to be destined for great things, the most notable being Illidan Stormrage and Queen Azshara. Ironically enough, both of them ended up as villains.
    • Nonetheless, in World of Warcraft, it's divided along gender lines: male Night Elves have golden eyes, female Night Elves have silver eyes, and that's that. The encyclopedia on the World of Warcraft website mentions that, in truth, Eyes of Gold are merely a sign of druidic potential, and as the druids only recently opened their ranks to women, they are more common in males...which really makes no sense when you think about it.
    • And then there's druids. Malfurion Stormrage, the twin brother of Illidan, was born with silver eyes, but while practicing druidism over many centuries, his eyes turned gold, as seen here.
  • Dark Jedi in the Knights of the Old Republic series, especially Darth Revan, have yellow eyes (see the Star Wars example under Film, above). The player character can have them as well, if she/he goes over to the Dark Side.
    • This was influenced by Emperor Palpatine, who also gained them when his face became corrupted by the Dark Side (in some continuities).
  • In Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, in the official art of his "Awakened self", Soma has gold eyes (in contrast with his pale blue and almost colorless eyes). However, in game-art and Dawn of Sorrow, he has Red eyes instead, probably because it's easier to see.
    • Alucard is also drawn as having gold eyes in Symphony of the Night; in the retconned Legends, they're blue; in Obata's too-close-to-Sephiroth-for-comfort Judgment design, they're green. So as not to go wall-eyed, let's just says he's got gold eyes and leaves it at that, since Legends was retconned and Judgment is a flustercuck.
  • Zasalamel of Soul Calibur fame is an interesting variation - he has a fake eye made of gold.
  • Lands of Lore has a scene where the shapeshifting main villain masquerades as one of the player's allies. The only way to detect her (except trial and error) is by her eyes, which stay yellow regardless of form.
  • The Big Bad of Legaia 2: Duel Saga spends a good deal of the early game known only as 'the man with the golden eyes'.
  • In Tales of Symphonia, the soulless angels that show up as enemies have this.
    • In its sequel, the sadistic Alice has them as well.
  • Nu Wa from Warriors Orochi 2. If you look closely at the cinematics when she is present, you can see this.
  • Both Morrigan and her mother, Flemeth, have gold eyes in Dragon Age, and they also happen to be shapeshifters.
  • In GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, the titular character has a cybernetic eye that's gold in color.
  • Ultimecia in Final Fantasy VIII has gold eyes in addition to her various Power Tattoos and other physical signs of being a Sorceress. Edea, who inherits Ultimecia's powers and is possessed by her, also has gold eyes while in possession of her Sorceress Powers.
  • Shamir Shamazzle in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow has golden eyes, in all of his many forms. This helps the player identify him...just in case the various strangers encouraging the protagonist to do strange/dangerous/crazy things weren't obvious enough.
  • Adelle from Final Fantasy Tactics A2 has yellow/golden eyes, and she was part of "The Gifted, a group of people with extraordinary powers such as living for a long time. It is unknown if her yellow eyes have to do with the Gifted or not.
  • Sho Minamimoto from The World Ends With You, fitting the bill of the trope as a delightfully power-hungry sociopath who shapeshifts into a lion.
  • The second most common eye colour in Touhou. Of course, over half the cast has the most common (Red Eyes, Take Warning), so it's still not exactly seen everywhere.
  • Ganondorf, along with all the Gerudo, in The Legend of Zelda.
    • Interestingly enough, Groose shares this trait as well.
  • Erol in Jak and Daxter is The Dragon in the second game and the Big Bad in the third.
  • In The Sims 2, werewolves have yellow eyes; interestingly, so do plant-sims.
  • During Resistance: Fall of Man, this is how the narrator recognizes that Nathan Hale (the playable character) has been infected by The Virus. In the novel, his excuse is that yellow eyes run in the family, to cover this up.
  • Vampires in Gaia Online have yellow eyes when they're about to do something badass; otherwise, they're pale gray with Hellish Pupils. Psycho for Hire Zhivago apparently has this effect going constantly.
  • The character Slayer from Guilty Gear XX has golden eyes. This makes sense, since he is a vampire.
  • Many Sonic the Hedgehog characters have these: the Chaotix team, Silver the Hedgehog, and Blaze the Cat, for example.
  • The apparent Big Bad of BlazBlue, Hazama/Terumi, has Eyes of Gold. In the console version's opening cutscene, this is the first hint that this guy is trouble.
  • In Quest for Glory IV, all vampires have pupilless golden eyes.
  • Salazar and Saddler in Resident Evil 4 both have golden eyes. So does Ashley, for some reason.
  • Klonoa's eyes are a bright golden color, with catlike pupils that vary in degree of catlikeness with each game.
  • In Turgor, the protagonist has golden eyes. Some sisters call him that.
  • Although it can be hard to tell due to his glasses (of which he adds upon with a long braid, a trenchcoat, and a not uncommon tendency to use his eyewear to effectively conceal the only eye you ever see of his), Mr. R of the Boys Love game Kichiku Megane qualifies. Did I mention he's also the Big Bad?
  • In Xenogears, Artificial Human Emeralda Kasim has green hair and gold eyes. Kind of a dead giveaway that she's not normal.
  • In F.E.A.R., Alma's eyes glow either a dull red or a bright gold.
  • Gulcasa and Emilia in Yggdra Union and its spinoffs have golden and bright yellow eyes respectively. They're the descendants of a demon god.
  • In Madou Souhei Kleinhasa, Roze's eyes are normally this color. They turn red when she's using her magical Powered Armor.
  • Meta Knight from Kirby, with his mask on. When it falls off after a battle, he has white eyes.
  • In the original Doom games, whenever you pick up an invulnerability sphere or use the god mode cheat, the Marine's eyes turn solid gold.
  • Pokémon Colosseum's protagonist, Wes, has gold eyes. He's a good guy at the start of the game, though with a vaguely-defined, checkered past and having just defected from a Pokemon-napping organization.
    • As do several Pokemon.
  • In contrast to most other demons in the Disgaea series, Fenrich the werewolf has gold eyes

Visual Novels

  • Emiya Shirou from Fate/stay night, for no clear reason. Nobody comments on it. It's probably for the same reason he has red hair despite being completely Japanese. Also, in the "Heaven's Feel" route of the game, when Saber is possessed by Sakura, she gains these as part of her Super-Powered Evil Side.
  • The vampire Arcueid in Tsukihime has Red Eyes, Take Warning, but she's more of a ditsy good guy than anything else. When they turn gold, however, it's time to run. When her irises turn gold and the scleras of her eyes turn red, you're already dead. And, just for yet another level of Oh Crap, there's when her eyes return to being merely gold, her hair grows out, and her attitude turns cold and haughty, to indicate that she's not really Arcueid at all, anymore; someone else has taken over.
    • Kohaku from the same game has yellowish eyes (appropriately, her name translates as "amber"). She's not evil, per se, just kinda...messed up.
  • Misha in Katawa Shoujo has golden eyes, though it's not quite sure yet what that means.

Web Comics

  • Fa'Lina, Nutmeg, and Pyroduck in DMFA.
  • In Inverloch, Lei'ella, Kayn'dar, and other "Severed" elves have white hair and golden eyes. This is an inversion: instead of being powerful or tricksters, Severed elves are mortal and can't use magic, essentially being Brought Down to Normal.
  • In Amazoness!, the quite literally Raised by Wolves (or possibly cats) child Gatamache is shown with gold eyes.
  • Werewolves in Sorcery 101 have yellow eyes. It is also suspected to be the case in Strange Someone.
  • In Pandect, Aces (animals who have been given human bodies and minds) have yellow eyes if their animal species has them. The protagonist, Prince Fleance, is a melanistic leopard and has gold eyes with slit pupils in human form.
  • Most members of the Val'Kyorl'solenurn family from Drowtales seem to have yellow eyes. They tend to be religious fanatics and oppose the red-eyed Ver'drowendar.
  • Richard from Looking for Group has yellow/gold eyes and is probably one of the most powerful, destructive, and evil warlocks/beings/forces in the comic's entire world and/or universe. He's also insane. And undead. And hundreds of years old.
    • Sooba, the black panther, has yellow eyes as well. The golden-eyed companion with black fur for the golden-eyed warlock wearing black robes.
  • The heroine of Parallel Dementia, Fall Boxer, has these, as does Visage's fiancé in the extended flashback to his backstory.
  • The four main characters' of Cry Havoc eyes change to golden when they transform into werewolves. Their eyes also fluctuate between their natural color and yellow when in human form and stressed or excited.
  • Almost all the Trolls in Homestuck have yellow schlerae, while their irises turned out to be Gray Eyes in childhood then their blood color in adulthood. They tend to range from Jerkasses to Complete Monsters, a few are definitely tricksters, and they're both helping and aggravating the main characters. Kanaya's eyes later turn glowing yellow after she's resurrected as A Rainbow Drinker.
  • Poet from Pop 'n Music has bright yellow eyes (golden orange in her alternate colors). This is rather unusual, as her, ah, supernatural origin would be pretty obvious without it.
  • Florence Ambrose in Freefall has those(she's a wolf). The author omits them most of the time, though.
  • All the Goblinoids (as well as the Monster in the Dark) from Order of the Stick.
  • Wapsi Square: Jin has golden eyes.
  • In Sinfest, an enraged Fuschia.

Web Original

Western Animation

  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender and its Sequel Series The Legend of Korra, golden and amber eyes are a common characteristic of Fire Nation nobility and Firebenders in general. This may have something to do with the traditional association between kitsune and the element of fire. Katara was actually able to identify Fire Nation Princess Azula by eye color when the latter was posing as an Earth Kingdom Kyoshi Warrior.
  • Transformers Animated takes the concept of "Red eyes for Decepticons, Blue eyes for Autobots" from the original cartoon, and adds yellow eyes for those that are on neither side.
    • Jetfire also has yellow eyes, but this is probably just to go with his color scheme of being all warm colors. 'Cause, you know, flamethrower.
    • Some depictions of Optimus Prime, for some reason, show him with yellow eyes. Normally, they're supposed to be blue, like the other 'Bots.
    • Similarly, Shockwave, despite being a Decepticon, has a single yellow eye. In Animated, when Shockwave disguises himself as Longarm Prime, his single eye becomes a gold jewel on Longarm's forehead.
  • Captain Hook from the Disney Animated version of Peter Pan has gold eyes. They are visible in the scene where he talks to Tinkerbell and tricks her into revealing the location of Peter Pan's hideout. It's an interesting choice because his periwinkle Blue Eyes eyes are painstakingly described in the novel version by Barrie.
  • In Exo Squad, many Neosapiens have yellow eyes, including Phaeton.
  • Jade in Jackie Chan Adventures has these eyes.
  • Takanuva, Toa of Light has yellow eyes in Bionicle: Mask of Light, representing his light-based powers. His first toy also came with yellow eyes, though later incarnations changed them to lime green.
  • According to Zini the lemur, Neera (Aladar's love interest) from Dinosaur has yellow eyes.
    • Also, Carnotaurus, the main villain of the film.
  • Stork, of Storm Hawks, has yellow eyes. It makes sense, given that his species is vaguely amphibious in appearance.
  • Gaz, of Invader Zim, if she isn't squinting her eyes.
  • The least threatening example ever: Derpy Hooves of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.
    • On the flip-side, Pinkie Pie gains gold eyes in contrast to her normal blue eyes when she becomes absolutely livid at Applejack for breaking a Pinkie Promise in "The Last Roundup".
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