"[Y]ou saw the wights come swarming up the Fist, a tide of living dead men with black hands and bright blue eyes."
— Jon Snow to Samwell Tarly, A Feast for Crows
These blue eyes indicate a character who either is demonic or possesses the "evil eye", magic, or witchcraft. In Mediterranean countries, this comes from the Demon's Eye amulet, which is always blue. Blue (or gray) is also the eye colour of choice for many wizards who are eerie or sophisticated instead of mysterious.
Commonly, these eyes weren't originally blue, but became that way through prolonged use of magic.
Glowing Eyelights of Undeath often take this colour, when they aren't red. Black Eyes of Evil is another common flavor. Compare Icy Blue Eyes and Creepy Blue Eyes, and contrast Innocent Blue Eyes.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Diva from Blood+ has blue eyes. When they start to glow even bluer, it's not a good sign.
- In Blue Exorcist, Rin Okumura seems to fit the demonic type (being the son of Satan and all).
- In The Case Study of Vanitas, the eponymous Vanitas was marked by the vampire of the blue moon, giving him the unique ability to use a magic grimoire and alter a vampire's true name. As a side effect, his eye color changed from deep blue to a phosphorescent blue.
- Decim from Death Parade has Icy Blue Eyes with a pale cross around his pupil. The cross allows him to receive memories of the deceased and also suppresses his emotions. Overlaps with Four Is Death.
- Devil Hunter Yohko has all humans with brown eyes, whilst the demon characters have blue.
- Doomed Megalopolis had a monk character called Kamo, whose eyes are usually squinted. But when opened, are revealed to be blue with YELLOW whites! Kamo only appeared in chapters 1 and 2.
- Midou Ban of Get Backers has almost preternaturally blue eyes, as well as being an actual case of association with witches, as noted above. He also has the ability to give the Magical Eye.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
- Evangeline is a blue-eyed vampire who is Really 700 Years Old.
- Fate is what Evangeline called a 'doll', being a magical creation of the Lifemaker, extremely proper and The Stoic early in the story, but prefers to drink coffee instead of tea.
- Pokémon: The Original Series: Puka is the only Pikachu without brown eyes. He has blue eyes to go with his ability to sense the ocean's waves.
- In Reborn! (2004), according to Gamma, many of the Sky Arcobaleno characters' eyes tend to look as if they expect an event would happen. It's true, since the Sky Arcobaleno have the ability to see the future.
- In Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, Fay's magic is explicitly tied with the blue color in his eyes, which is weird but still awesome.
- Taoist monster hunter Hyo from Ushio and Tora has a magical blue eye which has mystic powers, allowing him to see monsters for what they are, even when hidden. When he first appears, the demons he's fighting recognize him from that blue eye.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!:
- Season 4's Atlantean villain Dartz is depicted with one yellow eye and one blue eye. The Orichalcos had infected him and changed one of his eyes from yellow to blue. In Real Life yellow is the unnatural eye colour whilst blue is very common but then again this is anime. The Orichalcos stones are blue and much of Dartz's attire consists of blue as well to hammer home this trope.
- Kisara from season 5. She is exiled from most civilization because she has pale skin and blue eyes (very unusual for Egypt at that time), and is believed to be a witch. They aren't exactly wrong; her ka is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the most powerful one not possessed by one of the six priests .
Comic Books
- Doctor Strange's eyes are blue in most depictions, though according to his official description, they are grey. Sometimes they have a creepy greenish tinge.
- Superman is said to have "unearthly" blue eyes — one very big part of why he wears extremely thick glasses when in his Metropolis-Clark disguise (they obscure and diffuse the color).
- X-Men: Storm has blue eyes, which is extremely rare among non-Europeans (Storm is Kenyan). In her case, it's a mark of her family's magical heritage, in addition to the white hair.
- In Young Avengers, Wiccan is one of the candidates for Sorcerer Supreme, and he is usually drawn with brown or hazel eyes, despite his official bio saying that he has blue.
Fan Works
- Child of the Storm has Doctor Strange depicted with very striking diamond-blue eyes.
- In Lost in Camelot, Bo has to demonstrate these to Morgana to overcome Morgana's Arbitrary Skepticism at Bo revealing her true nature as a succubus; the only thing Morgana knows for sure about succubi is that they are said to have blue eyes, so she assumed Bo's naturally brown eyes proved that she was lying.
- Reverse Falls AU: The Pine twins are in Gideon's role while Gideon and Pacifica are in theirs. Mabel and Dipper are always depicted with Creepy Blue Eyes that usually glow, and they have psychic powers. In contrast, main continuity Dipper and Mabel are usually depicted with brown eyes (though Innocent Blue Eyes isn't too uncommon either).
Films — Live-Action
- The Avengers (2012) shows victims of Loki's Mind Control staff gaining these, which disappear when his hold over them is broken. Joss Whedon specially mentions on the commentary that these were added in post-production so the audience would be absolutely sure that someone was or was not being controlled.
- In Underworld (2003), many vampires' eyes turn a glowing, electric blue when they use their powers (although a handful of them have Supernatural Gold Eyes instead).
Literature
- Beka Cooper: Beka has "ghost eyes" that go from pale blue to ice colored when she's upset (may have something to do with her unofficial psychopomp status). She uses these to her advantage when she has a need to frighten people, usually criminals.
- The god Aldur in The Belgariad has strikingly blue eyes, even when disguised as an old man.
- Played with in The Children of Man; blue eyes are the exclusive province of the Nikelan Oracles, the mouthpieces of the setting's incarnation of the Christian God.
- In the Dawn of War trilogy, Ahramin has burning blue eyes — burning with sorcery.
- Diana Bishop from A Discovery of Witches has striking blue eyes with gold around her irises. She is also a powerful witch by heritage, but prefers to bury herself in academia and Renaissance history. Her eyes also count as Elemental Eye Colors, since she can use witchwater.
- Felix's blue eye in Doctrine of Labyrinths is treated this way by the superstitious denizens of the Lower City.
- The influence of the spice melange in Dune turns the whites of people's eyes an unnaturally bright blue and the iris a deeper blue. According to the in-universe science, this color change (known as "eyes of Ibad") is a normal biological reaction of humans exposed to spice. However, spice also has some psychoactive effects and gives psionic abilities to at least some humans, which links the two together in people's minds. While most people have to consume large doses of spice for their eyes to change color, it's so omnipresent on Arrakis, the planet which produces it, that every native has this effect to one degree or another.
- In Galaxy of Fear, Tash is blue-eyed, which goes with her Force-Sensitivity and appearance as a Creepy Child who knows too much. When she meets Luke Skywalker and senses their Commonality Connection, she feels like his blue eyes are piercing and see more than they should.
- 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". This is expanded on in the rest of The Giver Quartet, where blue-eyed characters like Kira and Matty invariably have some sort of Psychic Power.
- A number of the wizards and witches in Harry Potter have blue eyes, but Albus Dumbledore's are described as especially piercing, which goes with his Wizard Classic aesthetic. Another example is Alastor Moody's magical Glass Eye, which is "electric blue" while his remaining natural eye is darker in color.
- In the 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.
- The titular family of the Hurog series have these as part of their Strong Family Resemblance — it turns out that they're descended from dragons.
- Journey to Chaos: In the first book of the series, Tasio the Trickster expresses interest in changing Eric's eyes from the Innocent variety to one of these. Sure enough, Eric has developed the "Evil Eye" technique and made great strides in learning magecraft.
- In Kushiel's Legacy, Hyacinthe the Master of the Straits' eyes turn a vivid blue that deepens and darkens towards the pupils. The change is a sign of his power over the oceans.
- In the ebook Lockhart And Teague The Empty Chest, Avalyn Teague belongs to a cult of powerful magic users and is described as having very blue eyes. However, his eye color does not seem to be indicative of his status as a magic user as others of his kind don't have them.
- The Machineries of Empire: Agents of the Andan faction have their eyes turn deep, rich blue when they activate their mind-control ability. Anyone who makes eye contact then is enthralled until the Andan chooses to release them.
- In Mara, Daughter of the Nile, Mara has blue eyes, which are extremely rare in Ancient Egypt. Most characters, including her love interest, see them as exotically beautiful, but a few of the characters find them creepy or demonic.
- Matthew Swift: Matthew had brown eyes before he died. Afterwards, his eyes turn blue due to sharing a body with blue electric angels.
- The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth: Ivo Balthasar, the incubus from Elegy for a Demon Lover has gorgeous, but definitely paranormal, blue eyes.
- Rai Kirah: Humans suffering from Demonic Possession have their eyes change to cold, intense blue, which is an immediate giveaway to anyone who knows its significance. Their eyes are also described as cruel and hungry, though that says more about the nature of demons than the colour.
- In the Safehold series, an affectation by the late Nimue Alban means that her most-commonly used avatar/persona has become known for his "unearthly seijin-blue eyes".
- All witches in the Septimus Heap series have pale blue eyes.
- The Seventh Tower: Icecarl girls who apprentice as Crones have their eyes turn vivid blue. As their magic grows, their eyes turn to a luminescent silver, then finally to milky white as Mother Crones.
- In The Shadow Speaker, all Shadow Speakers have light eyes. Shadow Speakers have the ability to control shadows, and anyone with light eyes is feared. However, it's usually a case of Bad Powers, Good People.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Someone who has been raised from the dead by the Others has uncanny shining blue eyes with no life in them, usually described as looking like the cold light of distant stars. With one Wildling who no longer had eyes when she died, they appear as Glowing Eyelights of Undeath instead.
- In a prophecy, Stannis Baratheon is described, vaguely menacingly, as the "blue-eyed king who casts no shadow."
- Tailchaser's Song: Eyeshimmer is a far-senser with milky blue eyes.
- In Wody Głębokie Jak Niebo, mages or these with magical heritage have eyes blue as the summer sky. Because of this, only mages can wear ultramarine clothes.
- Kaladin ends up with these at the end of Words of Radiance, after speaking the Third Ideal of the Windrunners, though it only lasts a few hours after each time he uses his Shardblade.
- In The Worthing Saga, Icy Blue Eyes are part of a genetic package that includes telepathy and (after copious amounts of inbreeding) various other Psychic Powers.
Live-Action TV
- Buffyverse:
- Dracula has several supernatural abilities which set him apart from other vampires, such as shapeshifting and hypnosis. Several characters in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula" comment on his "dark, penetrating eyes", which are an unnatural shade of dark blue.
- Illyria from Angel looks like Fred with her whole body turned blue: just as Fred has brown hair, light brown skin, and brown eyes, so Illyria has blue hair, blue skin... and an unnatural shade of blue for her eyes. This use of blue eyes has the effect of making her look as eerie as possible.
- Game of Thrones showed the eyes of those raised from dead by the White Walkers like this
◊ (currently also this page's image). The White Walkers themselves also have occult blue eyes. Played for laughs once late in the series, when the defenders of Winterfell see an ally returning after an attack by the White Walkers and freak out that his eyes are blue. He angrily shouts back that his eyes have always been blue and he's fine.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The Dweller has unnatural pale blue eyes they seem almost white. She is also a powerful Black Mage worshipping Sauron.
- The main character of Lost Girl normally has brown eyes, which turn bright blue when she uses her powers.
- Mayfair Witches: Rowan's striking pale blue eyes help to highlight that she has powerful telekinesis. She shares these with her biological mother, Deirdre, and the first time we see Rowan in the pilot is a cut from Deirdre's eyes to hers meant to make it obvious they're related. She has inherited her ability from Deirdre.
- Power Rangers Cosmic Fury: The mysterious being Aiyon meets in the Afterlife Antechamber looks like his late friend Zayto, but has glowing blue eyes. The being explains that the void works according to A Form You Are Comfortable With rules, and their true identity is implied to be the ghost of Zordon, the franchise's original Big Good.
- Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine gets these when she's possessed by the Prophets.
- Both the djinn and angels in Supernatural have glowing blue eyes when they use their power.
- In Teen Wolf, eyes that glow blue are a sign that the werewolf possessing them has killed an innocent, except for Alphas, whose eyes are always red whether they have killed or not. Other werewolves have gold eyes.
- The dopplegangers in Twin Peaks can be distinguished from the "true" versions of people by their creepy pale blue eyes. They are physically identical to their real counterparts in every other respect.
Tabletop Games
- The Arcane Sight and Greater Arcane Sight spells in Dungeons & Dragons (3E/3.5 version) allows seeing magical auras and the spell-casting abilities of creatures without having to concentrate on maintaining the spell. They also make the caster's eye glow blue.
- In Empire of the Petal Throne, blue eyes are considered automatically creepy for this reason.
- Magic: The Gathering gives us Jace Beleren. Every time he uses his powers his eyes glow with blue light. And another not very occult example, but magical nontheless, is Ral Zarek. When he summons a massive amount of electricity or manipulates the weather, his eyes glow with the generic electrical blue.
- In Warhammer, the Norse consider blue eyes to be a sign of favour by the Chaos God Tzeentch. Since Tzeentch is not only the patron god of sorcery, but a Manipulative Bastard extraordinaire who's even fonder of inflicting mutations on his favourites than his brothers are, this may or may not be a good thing.
- In Warhammer 40,000, Ahzek Ahriman of the Thousand Sons is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the setting, and the novels regularly describe him as having piercing blue eyes which other characters find intimidating.
Toys
- BIONICLE's Big Bad Makuta, who could be the poster boy for the Red Eyes, Take Warning trope, had blue eyes on his original figure, and the promo material kept variating between these blue and red eyes.
Video Games
- In BlazBlue, there's Mu-12, whose emotionless, glowing blue eyes contrast with the green eyes Noel Vermillion had before she was "tempered".
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night: Miriam has blue-grey eyes and wields demonic magic due to having been infused with demon powers to turn her into a Shardbinder. Even so, she's still a very sweet All-Loving Hero.
- In Devil May Cry, Dante, Vergil, and Nero all have bright blue eyes. All three are part demon and have powers attributed to their ancestor, the Devil Knight Sparda.
- The Draugr from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have glowing blue eyes.
- The character morphing system in Fable gives the Hero these if he's a powerful non-Evil mage.
- Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII has these due to Mako exposure. It's noted several times in-game as a mark of the evil MegaCorp's Super Soldiers, as many characters guess his background with them based solely on having noticed his eyes.
- Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-: Aqua's phantom doppelgänger is physically identical to her save the eyes. Both are blue-eyed, but while Aqua's are a rich, inviting shade, the phantom's are pale and piercing.
- Stern and Lord Dearche of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable games, who possess blue eyes with Hellish Pupils to indicate their nature as Materials.
- In the Mass Effect series, unnaturally blue eyes are a sign that a person has Reaper implants.
- In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War, both you and any uruks you mind control have these.
- Prayer of the Faithless: When Serra gets a vision, her blue eyes glow blue.
- Leon from Rune Factory 4 is a Little Bit Beastly Dragon Priest Kitsune/Pharaoh guy with bright blue eyes to match his Facial Markings. Kiel also has blue-grey eyes and a magical streak a mile wide, though he falls more under Innocent Blue Eyes.
- Kyogoku Maria from Sengoku Basara 4 has blue eyes and is a very powerful sorceress.
- Hallelujah's blue eyes in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse aren't particularly striking, but they're incredibly rare in Japan (less than 1% of the population). He's a Nephilim and a powerful magic user; when he shifts to demon form, his eyes change from blue to red.
- Oleander from Them's Fightin' Herds is a unicorn who practices dark magic and has blue eyes. Her eye color also happens to be one of the few parts of her left unchanged after that same dark magic cursed her.
- Arthas in Warcraft III, especially after he became the Lich King. Blue is also established to be the colour of death in World of Warcraft, so many powerful entities associated with it (e.g., the death god Bwonsamdi or the playable death knights, but not ordinary playable undead or zombie Mooks) blue Glowing Eyelights of Undeath.
Visual Novels
- Nasuverse: In Tsukihime and Melty Blood, Anti-Demon characters usually have blue eyes (if not gray eyes). Melty Blood makes this more apparent by having their eyes glow when you select the character.
Webcomics
- In Agents of the Realm, Jordan, who's an Agent who unknowingly works for the Big Bad, has bright blue eyes.
- Tobias from Ghost Eyes has these because he is posessed
- Norway from Hetalia: Axis Powers, mixed with Creepy Blue Eyes, though sometimes they're coloured purple. He can see and speak to supernatural creatures and have been hinted to be able to use Black Magic.
- Off-White:
- Iki who is actually a God in Human Form — Sköll, the Sun Chaser.
- All white spirits have them. Their counterparts the black spirits have red eyes.
- Tsukiko the Mystic Theurge in The Order of the Stick. In an art style where most characters have Black Bead Eyes, she's drawn with Monochromatic Eyes in two shades of blue.
- In Roommates, humans have common eye colors but blue is the most widespread (and normal) for The Fair Folk (mostly combined with Monochromatic)... can also double as Mindcontrol Eyes for people under their influence.
- Inverted in Savestate, blue eyes apparently can't see supernatural beings as Kade was completely oblivious to Harvey's existence until he took the colored contact lens off his yellow eye.
Western Animation
- DuckTales (2017): Lena gains blue eyes after fully mastering her magic. Unlike most examples, this is actually portrayed in a positive light as she vows to protect the world from people like Magica and start her own legacy.