View source for Good Eyes, Evil Eyes

{{trope}}
[[File:ChaoticLystoneGoodBadEyes2 8916.jpg|frame| [[Traitor Shot|Amazing]] what a little [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] [[Open the Iris|can do]] to [[The Cutie]].]]


{{quote|''"Huge eyes means good!"''|''[[Wedding Peach Abridged]]''}}

In many animated series, goodies and baddies are distinguished by the size of their eyes. [[The Hero]], The Messiah, and the [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] will all have big, open, happy, trustful eyes. On the other hand, the [[Magnificent Bastard]], [[Evil Overlord]], and [[Card-Carrying Villain]] will have narrow, shifty eyes. Might be because large eyes makes the face appear more baby-like. See also [[Beauty Equals Goodness]].

However, this trope is slightly more complex than it used to be. Instead of one eye size for goodies and another for baddies, there is a continuum between the [[Friend to All Living Things]] and the [[Big Bad]] reflecting just how good or bad a character is. On the side of good, the [[Badass]] [[Anti-Hero]] willing to [[Shoot the Dog]] has eyes narrower than the hero's but wider than those of the villain. Villains with wider eyes tend to be of the [[Knight Templar]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], or [[Anti-Villain]] types; either that, or they will [[Pet the Dog]] a few times.

[[Common Eye Colors]] are more useful to ascertain personality traits and temperament than moral alignment. Note that characters who have their [[Eyes Always Shut]] do not really fit anywhere on this continuum, as they tend to symbolize something else entirely, whether good or evil. Also, in a [[Slice of Life]] series without heroes or villains, narrow eyes are often used to indicate a cynical, skeptical character. See also [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]. When this trope is used with [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|critters]] or [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|monsters]], it's [[Big Eyes, Little Eyes]]. Only tangentially related to [[Evil Eye]].

Likely unrelated but interesting nonetheless is the fact that ancient cultures often portrayed spiritual people in their art with gigantic eyes. They apparently believed that wider eyes meant someone was more capable of communicating with their gods.

See also [[Tsurime Eyes]], [[Animation Anatomy Aging]], [[Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains]], [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]], [[Dress-Coded for Your Convenience]].
{{examples}}

== Anime ==
* Played with in [[Code Geass]]:
** Lelouch Lamperouge, the resident [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Anti-Hero]], who is morally dubious at best, has very wide, beautiful, expressive eyes.
** Played straight with his older brother, Schneizel, who is unmistakeably a villain, and has narrow eyes.
** And again subverted with another [[Anti-Hero]], Suzaku Kururugi, who is (like Lelouch) morally ambiguous, and yet still has wide, sparkling [[Green Eyes]].
* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi Muyo]]'' is almost a case study in the example of Innocence vs. Cynicism. Compare the eyes of Sasami, Washu, Ryoko, and Mihoshi.
* ''[[X (manga)|X 1999]]'': Compare the eyes of [[Anti-Hero]] Kamui to those of [[Anti-Villain]] Fuuma. Or those of [[Blind Seer]] Hinoto to those of her evil sister, Kanoe. Or, indeed, any Dragon of Heaven to any Dragon of Earth.
** Another example: It's easy to tell that {{spoiler|Hinoto}} has gone to the dark side when her eyes appear significantly narrower.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'': Yami Yugi and [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Yami Bakura]] both have narrower eyes than their hosts. Malik already has narrow eyes, but his superpowered eviller side has even narrower ones.
* Used in, oddly enough, ''[[Saikano]]''. {{spoiler|Shuji's friend who joins the military, whose name escapes me}} is a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]], complete with literal wide eyes. On the other hand, the other soldiers, none of whom have any illusions about the state they'll return home in, all have extremely narrow eyes.
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': Though Col. Mustang is eventually portrayed in a sympathetic and somewhat heroic light, he initially comes across as a nasty piece of work, and possesses the narrowest eyes of the regular military characters. [[Psycho for Hire|Col. Archer]] has unrepentantly narrow eyes.
** This is especially apparent when Mustang finally  {{spoiler|found Envy, and was about to give in to his hatred.}} His eyes almost narrowed to a slit.
*** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Ed "Take a good look at your face before you do anything! You think you can lead a country looking like that?!"
** Ling Yao (or Lin Yao), from the manga, is a subversion. He's at heart a decent guy with a moral code, but his eyes are very narrow and he himself admits they look "shifty". (He's also an Asian in a cast full of Caucasians, so take that how you will.) He tries to mitigate the effect by keeping his [[Eyes Always Shut]].
*** After {{spoiler|Greed takes over Ling's body, the eyes signify who's in charge. In the manga if the iris is colored in, it's Greed. If the iris isn't colored in (or if his eyes are closed), then it's Ling. In the manga the direction his bangs are pointing also help distinguish the two. In the anime the two are mostly distinguished by their voices, but even then Ling usually keeps his "shifty eyes" shut when he's in control unless he's being serious.}}
** The heroic Hohenheim and the [[Big Bad]] Father look practically identical but for the fact that Hohenheim has much friendlier-looking eyes.
** Zolf Kimblee, a psychopathic [[Mad Bomber]] has eyes which are reptilian-looking pin pricks.
** The homunculus Pride when he drops the {{spoiler|Selim Bradley}} persona, [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100428181413/fma/images/c/c6/Selim_bradley3.jpg especially in]{{Dead link}} [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100607072550/fma/images/f/ff/PrideFace.jpg the animated adaptation]{{Dead link}}.
* ''[[Beyblade]]'': Tyson and Max have wide eyes. Ray and Kai, who both have degrees of [[Anti-Hero]], have narrower ones.
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', the heroes have generally big eyes, with [[The Chick|Orihime's]] being the biggest. Among Soul Reapers, the greater the [[Knight Templar]] tendency, the narrower the eyes. Well, everyone except for Gin, whose [[Eyes Always Shut|eyes always seem to be closed]] for some reason.
** Also, Aizen.  {{spoiler|Starts out good, eyes are wide. Once he reveals that he's evil, his eyes narrow considerably.}}
* ''[[Death Note]]'', both the anime and the manga, used this consciously. [[Villain Protagonist|Light]] normally has squinty, narrow eyes, but when he temporarily [[Memory Gambit|has his memory erased]] and becomes a good guy, his eyes widen considerably.
** This happened in a cycle. In the beginning, his eyes were in the wider variety. Then, as time went by and he grew more conniving and duplicitous, they grew narrower (accompanied by an overall harshness to his features).
** It is even almost lampshaded; after losing his memory, Light asks L if his eyes look like those of a murderer. Maybe he thinks L is [[Genre Savvy]]?
* Sort of used in ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]''. The series does not have any heroes or villains, but Kyon, being the most cynical character, has considerably narrower eyes than the rest of the cast.
* ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' subverts it - Van, the hero, has eyes half the size of his companions. It also plays the trope straight to a degree, however; his rival Ray has ''narrower'' eyes. This being a Goro Tanaguchi series, everyone's eyes double in width when they get pissed off, balancing things out.
* Parodied, perhaps inadvertently, in ''[[Project A-ko]]''. A-Ko's eyes, while wide, do not approach the massive [[CLAMP]]-influenced orbs of [[The Ditz|C-Ko]]. [[Gadgeteer Genius]] [[Psycho Lesbian]] B-Ko, of course, has the classic villainess eyes.
** [[Time Paradox|CLAMP-influenced...?]]
* ''[[Naruto]]'' plays this trope to a T. Naruto either has his eyes shut or open wide, fitting with his personality. When his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] takes over, his eyes narrow.
** The dark outlines around Gaara's eyes make them appear narrower when he is looking menacing, but wider when he is portrayed sympathetically.
** Averted with the first three Hokage. All three of them have very narrow eyes, but are calm and pretty much embody [[Lawful Good]].
* Although [[Implacable Man|Kazuo Kiriyama]]'s eyes in the manga version of ''[[Battle Royale]]'' are not appreciably smaller than those of the major male protagonists, they do not reflect any light, giving them a flat, empty appearance illustrating the character's complete lack of emotion.
** The same applies to many characters in the ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' manga, most notably Revy.
* In ''[[Genshiken]]'', while Ogiue is initially full of self-loathing and cynical, her eyes don't reflect light. Later, when she [[Character Development|begins accepting herself for what she is]] and her cynicism starts to melt, her eyes begin to shine.
* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' makes prolific use of this trope, specifically with Lucy/Nyu, who can either have large, bubbly, innocent eyes in her Nyu persona to signify her innocently ignorant mindset, or narrow, hateful, and tortured eyes (that are [[Hidden Eyes|hidden]] most of the time) in her Lucy persona to signify her extremely dark, murderous, and tormented mindset. In fact, a key characteristic of a diclonius who's been [[Break the Cutie|pushed too far]] is a piercing, glazed over look in their eyes, signifying their descent into murderous misanthropy (basically every diclonius in the show goes through this at one point or another, given that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|Humans Are Bastards]]). For some of them this is essentially a permanent state.
* Subverted with ''[[Kaiji]]'''s titular lead character, whose tire-punching vandalism doesn't make him evil, just a loser.
* ''[[Trigun]]'' uses this quite a bit, especially with Vash, who either puts on his ominous [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] or gets a narrow (if not [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]) look in his eyes, Knives, whose pupils dilate disturbingly whenever he's feeling particularly sadistic, and Legato, whose demonically evil eyes (or technically [[Hidden Eyes|eye]]) are specifically focused on when he makes his opening entrance (in fact, this is one of the reasons why Vash is so terrified of him).
* Used in ''[[GetBackers]]'' especially in regard to [[Psycho for Hire|Akabane]] whose eyes (which are already extremely narrow) dilate to the point that his pupils look like periods when he is feeling particularly unstable.
* Extremely noticeable in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]''. Not only do all villains have narrow eyes and all the protagonists have wide ones (the wider the eyes, the more optimistic/naïve the character). Kenshin's own eyes go from wide to narrow as he gets closer to falling into his [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Battousai mode]].
** However, it is also [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] and subverted once. When [[Anti-Hero]] [[The Rival|rival]] Saito first appears, Sano, [[The Lancer]], goes out of the way to point out his small, "squinty" eyes as a reason for concern. While Saito initially acts as an antagonist, he turns out to be ''even more'' tireless than Kenshin in fighting against the bad guys, living his life by the code of "Slay evil immediately". (Fans seemed to have noticed the trope too, as Kenshin's author made a note of how he received many letters from [[The Shinsengumi|Shinsengumi]] fans upset at Saito's villainous look when first introducing him).
** Also subverted with [[The Dragon|Soujiro]], who has big, [[Bishonen|innocent-looking eyes]].
** The [[Genre Savvy]] [[Religious Bruiser|Anji]] [[The Brute|Yukyuzan]] not only has narrow eyes  {{spoiler|(unlike in his past, where he had wide idealist ones until being horrifyingly broken)}}, but he applies ashes to his eyelids to make them look even smaller and squintier and have even more menacing looks.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': Just compare the eyes of [http://xfb.xanga.com/451c2a1b33130182112693/w139345007.jpg Spike] and [http://x95.xanga.com/732c541bd3630182113348/w139345563.jpg Vicious], and then guess which is the [[Anti-Hero]] and which is the [[Evil Counterpart]].
* While nearly [[Half-Identical Twins|identical in appearance]], there's a single major physical disparity between ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster's]]'' [[media:monsterjohan.jpg|Johan Liebert]] and his twin sister, [[media:nina.jpg|Anna]] that tells you which one's the [[Evil Twin|evil one]]. You have three seconds to get it right.
** [[Comically Missing the Point|Johan would have to stuff his bra and is therefore evil.]]
* Played with in ''[[Princess Tutu]]''. Ahiru, the main heroine, has ''huge'' blue eyes, even when she's in her duck form, showing her innocent, sweet nature. Fakir, a dark, brooding character who's often a jerk, has extremely narrow green eyes. He's the villain, right? {{spoiler|WRONG! Rue--whose eyes are narrower than Ahiru's, but not nearly like Fakir's--turns out to be the [[Dark Magical Girl]], whose eyes look significantly more narrow when she transforms.}} Also messed with in the second season with Mytho. {{spoiler|Normally his eyes are nearly as wide as Ahiru's, but when his heart is poisoned with Raven's blood and a selfish, evil personality takes him over, his eyes dramatically narrow before our very eyes}}.
* Also used often in ''[[One Piece]]''. Notable is how when Boa Hancock was first introduced, she had narrower eyes, but after  {{spoiler|her [[Freudian Excuse]] was exposed and she fell for Luffy}} her eyes got bigger. Luffy falls into this trope as well. When he's in a normal state, he's got big, cute, childish eyes. When angered, his eyes narrow considerably, making him look much older. (to add to the effect, his body is drawn to be more defined and adult.)
** Not to mention, his irises are also drawn. [http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee21/yourlocalchef/luffy-madethemcry.jpg The result gives him a gaze that makes this troper wonder, why anyone would dare to fight him...]
** Also, while (male) ''[[One Piece]]'' characters generally has very narrow eyes compared to most mangas, the good guys are more likely to have big, round eyes than the bad guys.
* In ''[[Deadman Wonderland]]'' there is a [[Good Eye/Crazy Evil Eyes|Crazy Evil Eyes]] version of this trope. The good-hearted, wide-eyed, main protagonist meets another good-hearted, wide-eyed, sweet girl who desperately wants to escape DW. He falls for her  {{spoiler|and soon after is betrayed. She was faking the whole time in order to drop his guard. Once she shows her [[True Colors]] her eyes become beady and wide as opposed to small and narrow.}}
* In yet another example of eyes changing shape after a personality change, {{spoiler|Nia Teppelin}} from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.
* Subverted in ''[[Toradora!]]''; Ryuuji has narrow eyes paired up with a creepy stare, which make everyone but his friends think he's a delinquent, while he's actually a very nice guy.
* Played straight and subverted in ''[[Anatolia Story]]'': Il Vani, Prince Kail's adviser and close friend, has extremely narrow eyes that make him look evil-ish, at the very least. The evil queen, however, has appropriately narrow eyes.
* In ''[[Hellsing]]'', [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires|Seras]] is pretty much the only good guy who has wide eyes (she doesn't have the [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] either). Curiously, the members of [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Millenium]] also tend to have wider eyes, though that's probably because they [[Crazy Awesome|have so much fun]] with what they do.
** It's also worth remembering that her irises turn red when she goes ax crazy
* This trope is played with quite a bit in ''[[The Law of Ueki]].'' Particularly noteworthy is the [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] of Ueki and Kobayashi. Both have heavily slanted eyes with very thin irises ([[Hellish Pupils|or no irises at all]]), a style typically used for evil characters or [[Hot Blood|hot-blooded]] [[Anti-Hero|anti-heroes]]. Yet, one is the justice-loving [[Technical Pacifist]] hero, and the other is his lazy, friendly, and ([[Badass Teacher|usually]]) [[Actual Pacifist|nonviolent]] teacher/mentor.
* Subverted in the manga ''[[Leviathan]]''; see [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/leviathan/v04/c019/31.html here]. That's the character with arguably the biggest eyes so far, going "There's not enough killing yet."
* Played with in the case of General Regius from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]'', whose small, beady eyes, [[Fat Bastard|fat frame]], and [[General Ripper|general temperament]] rang a lot of "obvious villain" alarm bells. Then he turned out to be a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who had the same goals as the heroes of protecting the little guys, only he had the misfortune of being manipulated like a puppet by the [[Omniscient Council of Vagueness]].
* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' - as time goes on, Rock's eyes gradually get narrower as he becomes more jaded and [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|cynical]].
* Mayo Mitama in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' has "mean-looking eyes," causing everyone to misjudge her . . . [[Devil in Plain Sight|she really is mean]], but everyone is so concerned with not judging by appearances that they think she must be nice.
* Both subverted and played straight in ''[[Code Geass]]''. Both [[Anti-Hero]] Lelouch and [[Anti-Villain]] Suzaku have very big, expressive eyes. The former is one of the most manipulative and deceitful [[Magnificent Bastard]]s in anime, the latter has a hidden death wish and a severe case of [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]. However, the rest of the cast mostly obey this trope.
* ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]''. The protagonists Mirielle and Kirika, despite both being ruthless hitwomen, have [[Badass Adorable|large round eyes]], whereas [[Knife Nut]] Chloe has narrow eyes. Later when Kirika starts to come under the influence of Chloe, her [[Moe Moe]] eyes become noticeably narrower.
* Ken Ichijouji from ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' is a good example. As the evil Digimon Kaiser, he has narrow eyes and small pupils. After his [[Heel Face Turn]], his eyes become larger and more expressive.
* Played straight with almost everyone in ''[[Angel Densetsu]]'', to the point that the two [[Ax Crazy]] female leads have nicer eyes as they become nicer. Subverted to hell by the male lead of course.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', the good Sailor Senshi have huge [[Moe]] eyes, and the more evil people from the Dark Kingdom/Black Moon Circus/insert latest antagonist group here have narrow eyes.
** This pattern only exists in the first arc. The second arc breaks it up with the narrow-eyed Sailor Pluto. Uranus and Neptune show up in the third arc, and when wide-eyed villains appear in the fourth arc, the pattern effectively dissolves.
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' generally does this; the villains have noticeably narrower eyes then the heroes, though there are exceptions;  {{spoiler|Chao's}} eyes are round, and Evangeline, while having narrow eyes, [[Noble Demon|only thinks]] [[Anti-Villain|she's a villain]].
** In addition, [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v04/c028/ Setsuna] has narrower eyes then the rest of the cast when she's introduced, as Negi briefly suspects her of being a bad guy. [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v12/c100/8.html Later on in the series] her eyes are wider.
** Although given recent events,  {{spoiler|Chao is likely more of a [[Hero Antagonist]], playing this trope straight after all.}}
** The eye scale is pretty straight if based on "untroubled" and "uncomplicated", with the exceptions being the characters whose facade is good enough to be semi-real. Noteworthy is that even the ''twins'' can be usually identified by their eyes. (Switch it to "Dark Eyes Light Eyes", add in the series' unusual values for "Dark" and "Light", and everybody fits in about perfectly.)
* Played up heavily in ''[[Liar Game]]''. The incredibly gullible (at first) and generous [[The Messiah|Nao Kanzaki]] has anime-standard, big googly eyes, whereas the current main antagonist [[Complete Monster|Yokoya]] has slit eyes so narrow it's sometimes hard to see them at all.
* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', good characters generally have big round eyes and bad ones have narrower ones. If a bad character turns good their eyes usually don't change. In an interesting twist, bad characters' eyes are fully outlined, while good characters only have the outside edges of the eyes outlined. Again, this generally sticks if the character switches sides. Continuing that, when Goku, Gohan or Goten first turn Super Saiyan their eyes adopt the "bad guy" look. Trunks has the bad guy eyes even in his normal state due to him being related to Vegeta.
* This is very noticeable in ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', especially when characters switch allegiances. For example, when Rei was originally drawn with beady eyes when he was first introduced, since his status as a hero or villain was still very dubious. Once his heroic credentials were established, he was drawn with rounder eyes.
* With the exception of Walker (whose [[Eyes Always Shut|eyes are always closed]], Izaya Orihara has some of the narrowest eyes in ''[[Durarara!!]]'' (and are also noted to be very [[Tsurime Eyes|sharp-looking]] in the [[Light Novels]]). He is also a [[Troll|giant]] [[Manipulative Bastard|fricking]] [[Jerkass|asshole]] and is more or less the series' [[Big Bad]].
* ''[[Umi No Yami Tsuki No Kage]]'' is about a pair of twins which acquire psychic powers. One of them turns evil. You can tell by the small, cat-like pupils she suddenly sports.
* In ''[[Sukeban Deka]]'' the main villainess pupils usually completely fill out her eyes (because, you know, she's beautiful and this is a shojo manga). But when her pupils narrow down to small little dots you know you should run for your life.
* A variation occurs in ''[[Wandering Son]]''. The resident [[Deadpan Snarker]], Chiba, changes between eye styles occasionally. In earlier volumes her default expression was wide-eyed like everyone else in the manga. After becoming increasingly more depressed and moody, her eye style changed to her apathetic look which both makes her look more mature and is more closed then her original look; it changed midway volume 4, one page she's her normal expression and the next she's the new one. She'll occasionally lap into the former, but typically only when she's ''really'' happy (at times even when she's happy it doesn't change though) or only for a panel or two.
* The eponymous ''[[Detective Conan]]'' applies this constantly. When he [[Older Than They Look|pretends to be a kid]], he's [[Tareme Eyes]]—and would switch to [[Tsurime Eyes]] in [[Meitantei]] mode.
* Homura in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. Specifically, {{spoiler|in the beginning, she was [[Tareme Eyes]], fitting [[Adorkable|her]] [[Cute Clumsy Girl|original]] [[Shrinking Violet|personality]]. The [[Break the Cutie|effect]] of the subsequent [[Groundhog Day Loop]]-sque [[Mental Time Travel]] culminated into her hiding all things she considered "weak"-- in addition to [[Letting Her Hair Down]] and [[The Glasses Gotta Go|curing her eyes with magic]],}} her eyes turned to [[Tsurime Eyes]].
* [[Manipulative Bastard|Kaede]] from ''[[Kämpfer]]'' usually has innocent looking eyes, but in episode 10, her eyes clearly shift to a more sinister look while trying to manipulate male Natsuru.
* ''[[Kamichama Karin]]'' plays the trope straight, although in this case it's at least partly due to the bad guys being [[Animation Anatomy Aging|a few years older]] than the good guys.


== Film ==
* In ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', the Na'vi have ''enormous'' eyes. The avatars' eyes are smaller, but still much larger than a human's.
* In ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly|The Good the Bad And The Ugly]]'', [[Black and Grey Morality|everybody is squinting, all the time]]—but [[Lee Van Cleef]] squints harder than anybody else. He is, of course, the Bad.
** Van Cleef is supposed to have said, "Being born with a pair of beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me."
** Though to complicate matters, Tuco's (Eli Wallach's character) look ranges from the determined squint through to the wide eyed amazement, and he is by no means a saint.
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'', Smeagol/Gollum's pupils dilate to show which personality is in control. Guess who has the narrower pupils.


== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' - Bellatrix Lestrange has "heavily lidded eyes". Her sister Andromeda Tonks looks a lot like her but has "wider, kinder eyes". Luna Lovegood has wide eyes.
** Likewise, while Hagrid has "bright, beetle-black eyes", Snape's are said to be black and unfathomable, like dark tunnels. And Ginny has big, bright brown eyes.
* In ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]],'' Liu Bei is introduced in the first chapter with a description that includes these, among other traits. Given how he ends up described, perhaps it's best not to take it all that literally.


== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Possibly subverted by Ben Linus on ''[[Lost]]'', who has done all kinds of nasty things, up to and including murder, but who has big old bug eyes.
** As of season 6 it was revealed he was  {{spoiler|actually both, but due to [[The Chew Toy|many misfortunes, including watching his daughter gunned down]], he's following his own agenda and has pulled a genuine [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.
* ''[[LazyTown]]'''s Sportacus has a pair of wide, friendly baby-blues that appear almost [[What Beautiful Eyes!|photoshopped in their blueness]]. On the other hand, Robbie not only has pale grey eyes, but also sports [[Evil Eyebrows|highly-arched eyebrows]] and heavy purple eye-shadow to emphasize the fact that he is indeed the villain.
* Inverted in ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''. Morgause has ''huge'' [[Brown Eyes]] but she is a recurring villain.
* Subversion: In ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'', the completely non-evil [[Straight Man]] Howard Moon has narrow eyes, though is rather sensitive about them.


== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* Gary Trudeau specifically mentions in a collection that he drew Barbara Ann "Boopsie" Boopstein's eyes [http://images.gocomics.com/images/doonesbury/strip/thecast/boopsie2.jpg wide and round]—in an intentional contrast to the usual [http://lh3.ggpht.com/_g7tLzt48He8/Sab9t3U9u5I/AAAAAAAAD0E/e4baoADN1x4/db090226.gif heavy-lidded, half-open]{{Dead link}} ''[[Doonesbury]]'' style—in order to convey her unique naivety and cheerfulness.


==  Real Life ==
* Our pupils dilate when we feel friendly and affectionate, and constrict when we feel wary and guarded. Consequently, we consider large pupils a sign of warm heartedness and small ones a sign of hostility.
** Pupil size is entirely controlled by the autonomic nervous system. The effect of mood is real, but much smaller than the far more basic accommodation for light level. It likewise is not as important as the function of the autonomic nervous system. Pupil dilation is a result of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, the part responsible for fight-or-flight. An aggressor will have dilated pupils, as will someone "wide-eyed with fright." Parasympathetic stimulation, the feed-and-breed side of the autonomic nervous system, causes constriction. Likewise, cocaine and amphetamines cause dilation, which heroin causes constriction. Take a look at the size of the pupil of this young Thai boxer [https://web.archive.org/web/20150427140839/http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000qR.z6BV7vzg/s/750/45-0604-TH-Mae-Sot-Boxing-0338.jpg here] for illustration.
* 19th-century women used to put belladonna (aka ''deadly nightshade'') extract in their eyes to dilate the pupils, so they would look prettier.
** This is less crazy than it sounds. The key here is that the poison is in the dose or, in this case, the route. The deadly in deadly nightshade comes from atropine (as it's scientific name ''Atropa belladona'' suggests). Atropine blocks pretty much the entire parasympathetic nervous system, which is the calm, feed-and-breed side of autonomic regulation. The PS system causes the pupils to constrict, so atropine (and deadly nightshade) would dilate the pupil. Used low dose topically in the eye, it doesn't really affect the rest of the body, and ophthalmologists used to use atropine for many years for some forms of glaucoma (rare today). Atropine has a few uses in emergencies (nerve gas and pesticide exposure, some heart conditions). Taken ''systemically'', deadly nightshade can live up to its name, especially before we had drugs which could counter its effects.


== Video Games ==
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'': Sora and Kairi have big, wide eyes (especially in the first game); [[Anti-Hero]] Riku's are narrower. And nearly all of Organization XIII have narrow eyes, even the [[Spoony Bard|goofball]] Demyx. Larxene, however, has eyes so big they rival Sora and Kairi's, and she's perhaps the [[Psycho Electro|scariest]] [[Knife Nut|member]] of the Org. [[Ax Crazy]] Vanitas also has large eyes by virtue of being  {{spoiler|a Sora look alike}}
* In ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney]]'', one of the most prominent differences between Phoenix and Edgeworth - apart from their clothing and hairstyles - is in their eyes, making the contrast between Phoenix's idealism and Edgeworth's cynicism that much more explicit.
** In Case 1-5, Angel Starr actually has one of each, always [[Peek-a-Bangs|covering one with her hair]] to show if she's being sweet or bitter. However, this is because she wears colored contacts to deliberately [[Invoked Trope|invoking this trope]] to have people trust her or fear her accordingly.
** Same deal with  {{spoiler|Matt Engarde}}.
** April May, Anita Tiala
* In those times where he appears separately (namely ''[[Tsukihime|Kagetsu Tohya]]'' and ''[[Melty Blood]]''), [[Tsukihime|Tohno Shiki]]'s [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Nanaya personality]] has narrower eyes than normal...though it might just be due to his [[Psychotic Smirk|default expression]].
* The first ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' videogame gave the (then comparatively innocent) main character and his romantic interest eyes the size of soccer balls. The villains' eyes were substantially smaller. Then, over the sequels, this was expanded upon - when Jak [[Took a Level In Badass]] at the beginning of Jak II and turned into an antihero with anger issues, his eyes shrank by about 45%. And then there are the glowing white eyes of his Light Jak form and the black pits of Dark Jak...
* [[The Chick|Merrill]] in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' has larger eyes than anyone has got a right to. She's also the nicest person on your team.
** This is the main characteristic of all the elves in the game, along with pointy ears. Even the brooding [[Anti-Hero]] Fenris has wider eyes than the humans of the team, even though they are narrower than Merrill's.
* Inverted with Fubuki Shirou of [[Inazuma Eleven]]. Normally he has a sleepy look and gentle personality, so when he gets aggressive in his plays {{spoiler|channeling his deceased twin brother}} his eyes widen and he's... suddenly a lot harder to approach.
** Played straight with Kariya Masaki in ''GO''. {{spoiler|Turns out he's not evil though--just a jerk whenever he feels like it. Plus he's mostly ditched his goody-two-shoes act.}}


== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]'' you can safely determine the status of a character by look of their pupils. Damned souls in Hell have tiny beady pupils, living furries, celestials and those of hell-denizen who became conscious of their sins and are eager to amend for them and escape damnation have normal eyes. Demons have glowing red eyes, Satan has pitch-black eyes and so does Jack when he gets mad.
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', you can usually tell whether Agatha or Lucrezia is in control. I have yet to determine whether it is mostly by the shape of the eyes or whether it's that plus other mannerisms.
** When Lucrezia is in, she frequently ditches Agatha's glasses (for some reason).. Also, she's usually smirking, whereas Agatha alternates looking like a scared rabbit and looking like an [[Evil Overlord]].


== Western Animation ==
* Disney does this a lot. In most of the [[Disney Animated Canon]], the villain's eyes are narrower than the hero's. They also tend not to reflect light, making them appear rather soulless.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': [[The Messiah|Aang]] and [[The Lancer|Katara]] both have quite large eyes. [[Deadpan Snarker|Sokka]] and [[Little Miss Snarker|Toph]] have narrower eyes, but they are still wider than those of [[Manipulative Bastard|Azula]]. Zuko is an interesting case - his narrow eyes indicate a dark character; however, [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|one is narrower than the other]], indicating moral ambiguity right from the start.
** In book 1 Zuko is pissed off all the time, and his one good eye is contorted in frustration. Later, as his demeanor improves, his face relaxes and the eye looks bigger, whilst his [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|scar]] becomes overgrown by hair. Also, young Zuko's eyes are larger than Teen Zuko, showing that he inherited more good from his [[Mama Bear|mother]] than his [[Abusive Parents|father's]] [[Complete Monster|evil.]]
** [[Perky Female Minion|Ty Lee's]] colossal eyes seem to indicate that she isn't completely evil, which was finally confirmed in "[[Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 3/15 The Boiling Rock Part 2|The Boiling Rock, Part 2]]". Of course, [[Emotionless Girl|Mai]] has eyes even narrower than Azula's,  {{spoiler|and she turned her coat moments earlier}}.
* In ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', the relatively naive and innocent Starfire has much larger eyes than her comparatively evil sister Blackfire.
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', most characters have [[Sphere Eyes|wide, bulging eyes]] - except for [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Mr. Burns]] and [[Serial Killer|Sideshow Bob]].
* Inverted in the [[DCAU]] where [[Superman]] has squinty little eyes of just an upper eyebrow and a pupil while [[Lex Luthor]] has more normal eyes with a white to them. Also ignored in most other cases as eye size seems gender based; all ladies get big eyes no matter how evil they are.
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' plays an interesting variation: black people have narrow eyes, white people have wider eyes. Due to its [[Animesque]] style, this makes white girls look like [[Generic Cuteness|your average anime girl]].
* Early episodes of the first ''[[Transformers]]'' episodes had a robot version of it: The good Autobots had blue eyes, and the evil Decepticons had red eyes. Taking this even further, there was an episode where the good guys were brainwashed into evil. The visual cue? Their eyes turned red.
* ''[[Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil]]'' gives wide eyes to the titular [[Anti-Anti-Christ]], but narrow eyes to [[Satan|her father]]. Jesus's eyes are wide, and {{spoiler|the nun who [[Knight Templar|tries to kill Lucy]] has narrow eyes.}}

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Red Fish Blue Fish]]
[[Category:Goodness Tropes]]
[[Category:Obviously Evil]]
[[Category:Graphical Tropes]]
[[Category:Eye Tropes]]
[[Category:Good and Evil For Your Convenience]]
[[Category:Boys Love Tropes]]
[[Category:Good Eyes, Evil Eyes]]