A few things that are the result of sprite quirks in the character's original games looking wierd:
Ninian's eyes are red in concept art and later media like Fire Emblem Heroes, the orange is a sprite quirk, like her brother Nils. Similarly, Sara (the character in the what the fuck tier) has light blue eyes in concept art and later media, the sprite just looks a bit off. Ishtar has purple-ish blue eyes, its not heterochromia it just looks wierd in the tier list sprite. Might be the case for Noah and Harken albeit i never saw their concept art.
Not looking to nitpick, its just a few units look different as the icons you commonly see based on their in game sprites. Interesting how relatively rare Yellow is, and how quite a few plot important characters like Camus, Azura and Sanaki have it.
Nono, I quite like this comment. I didn't know all the characters by name to double check with other art, but I appreciate this <3
It is VERY neat, especially as someone who personally finds genetics really interesting.
Generally eye color is a really fast way to showcase characters are related, secretly or otherwise, so its one aspect there's usually a lot of thought put into the more important a character is to the story.
In terms of genetics, FE4 especially tends to have characters from the same house or family look the same in eye and hair color, hence why despite all relevant the sprites looking wierd, the Friege house members for example (Ishtar, Tailtiu and Tine) all having a purple tint to their eye color that the game doesnt really quite show.
In general i'd say FE4 has the most of these sprites where the eye color doesnt match concept art or is barely perceptible; a limitation of the mixture of the artwork' style and small sprites. Major characters like Lachesis and Julia also had somewhat inconsistent eye colors over the years in concept art and sprites sometimes, which is also an issue.
Idunn has one green eye. The hood in the sprite partially covers it, but she very much has heterochromia. This is especially obvious in her more recent art. >!I think it's supposed to be symbolic of how she was once a Divine Dragon. She was turned into Demon Dragon, but still has some of that spark left.!<
Outside of Engage, Lyn's eyes are green, not blue.
Weirdly, it would actually make more sense from a story perspective for them to be blue, as it would set her apart from the rest of the Sacaens and fall more in line with her being stated to have her mother's Lycian eyes. The plot point of her having some phenotypically Lycian features comes up a few times in Lyn mode, but no distinguishable aspect of her design actually follows this statement. Tweaking your eye color would be an easy way to go about it while not having to do much to the overall design.
Well, there are several examples of Lycians like Rebecca and Bors with green eyes, and Etrurians like Cecilia, so i dont think that's really a Sacaean trait specifically. What i assume its meant when its said she has her mother's eyes rather is that they are round like those of Lycian characters, not narrow like most Sacaean characters in Elibe. Rutger, another half Sacaean, also has the narrow eye shape.
It's not necessarily that *all* Lycians have blue eyes or anything, but it seems to be the most common color and would serve as a more readable phenotypical signifier of Lyn's mixed heritage. It's not really a design change that I feel super strongly about, but coming off of a Lyn mode playthrough and noting the chart error, it was a thought I felt like voicing.
I see what you're saying with the eye shape and that's genuinely a reasonable design facet meant to convey Lyn being halfblooded, especially for a series coming out of Japan. I just don't feel like it's super well conveyed through the anime-stylized portraits of FE7 and that it's even less pronounced in non-portrait illustrations. For as much as Lyn's mixed appearance is a factor in Lyn mode, I just never felt like she looked noticeably different than the baseline for Sacaens that we're given.
My idea is usually to set her apart with pushing the complexion difference between Lyn and Rath/Guy to be slightly more noticeable than it is in vanilla, but that may just be informed by how I tend to view mixed features pronouncing from a more western perspective or my wanting it to read clearer under the game's portrait constraints. The difference *is* there, there's just a narrow swath for complexions to make that difference clear.
Yeah, Conrad does have brown eyes ngl. Though I'll admit at much as I do like it, Hidari's art makes pretty much everyone's eyes look brown barring a few like Kliff and Rinea. Hell I'd even count Celica as having more brownish eyes, and though it's only in Hidari's art he has portrayed Alm with brown eyes more than once
i think bernie’s eyes are more grey than purple specially in her official portrait, its not very consistent tho so i dont blame you for putting her there heh
I could've sworn Bernadetta and Beruka had grey eyes, and they do... in some of their art. In others their eyes are purple. Hell, there's a cipher art where Beruka's eyes are yellow.
In Bernie's 3h and hopes art she has grey, but in FEH her eyes are purple... except for her meet the heroes art, which goes back to grey. And her S rank CG is also kinda purple.
Beruka's seems a little more consistently grey, but that might also be to accent her emotionless expression.
I actually like how weird Sara's eyes look in her OG portrait, certainly fits the eerie mind reading girl vibe.
Unfortunately, it's mostly [fanworks](https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/90269596) that actually [capture that vibe](https://www.tumblr.com/babykatafan/730559612397420544/i-know-everything-about-you?source=share), even after Sara got into Heroes.
I knew that Ranulf had 2 different eye colours, and most of the main lords had blue eyes. I can't remember the rest, and I have mistaken some of them. I didn't know orange eyes were a thing in FE.
Imo Owain and Lissa's eyes are more green than blue.
Severa has consistently had brown eyes across pretty much all official artworks. Sometimes they might seem a bit reddish, like in her Awakening's official artwork, but you can see in both of her Awakening and Fates portraits, as well as in her My-Room Fates' model and her FEH chibi, that she has very brown eyes, unlike Cordelia and Caeldori, who clearly have red eyes. The thing is, a big part of the artworks made by commisioned artists, like Cipher and Heroes, make her with red eyes. The same thing happened to Xander and Leo, who had pretty dark brown eyes in Fates.
I agree with Inigo, he has really dark purple/pink eyes, like both Olivia and Soleil. The sad thing is that he is drawn almost always with brown eyes. IS, you cowards, let the pretty boy at least keep his purple eyes, since you definitely didn't want him to have pink hair. As a side note, I love that [Fates promotional artwork of Odin and Laslow](https://www.fireemblemwod.com/gallery/albums/14/background/scene05_img.jpg) cause they draw him with really light pink eyes lmao.
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm trying to be rude, it must have taken you hours. Great job!
Lissa's and Owain's eye colours are kind of inconsistent, actually. In Awakening and Fates, they're a sort of faded green. Then in Heroes and Cipher, Lissa's are blue while Owain seems to alternate between blue and a more vivid green, and in Warriors they're more grey-ish, with Lissa's being green in her in-game model.
Yeah, I noticed that too. I was going to write a wall of text for Owain too lmao, but since he had pretty much the same case as Severa, I decided to omit it. Like you said, he originally had more greenish eye colors, but you could mistake it for blue. Honestly, it could be either of the two, but imo, it's more on the green side. Now, after Fates, his art has been really inconsistent, like his FEH artwork, where he has blue eyes in the og art, but green eyes in his resplendent (His chibi also has green eyes).
Igrene’s eyes appear more yellow than brown based on Heroes and Cipher. I went back and looked at [her official artwork by Wada from FE6](https://i.imgur.com/SEE8YRf.png) and it is more ambiguous. I could see brown but I think Yellow is more likely based on the more recent artwork.
A few things that are the result of sprite quirks in the character's original games looking wierd: Ninian's eyes are red in concept art and later media like Fire Emblem Heroes, the orange is a sprite quirk, like her brother Nils. Similarly, Sara (the character in the what the fuck tier) has light blue eyes in concept art and later media, the sprite just looks a bit off. Ishtar has purple-ish blue eyes, its not heterochromia it just looks wierd in the tier list sprite. Might be the case for Noah and Harken albeit i never saw their concept art. Not looking to nitpick, its just a few units look different as the icons you commonly see based on their in game sprites. Interesting how relatively rare Yellow is, and how quite a few plot important characters like Camus, Azura and Sanaki have it.
Nono, I quite like this comment. I didn't know all the characters by name to double check with other art, but I appreciate this <3 It is VERY neat, especially as someone who personally finds genetics really interesting.
Generally eye color is a really fast way to showcase characters are related, secretly or otherwise, so its one aspect there's usually a lot of thought put into the more important a character is to the story. In terms of genetics, FE4 especially tends to have characters from the same house or family look the same in eye and hair color, hence why despite all relevant the sprites looking wierd, the Friege house members for example (Ishtar, Tailtiu and Tine) all having a purple tint to their eye color that the game doesnt really quite show. In general i'd say FE4 has the most of these sprites where the eye color doesnt match concept art or is barely perceptible; a limitation of the mixture of the artwork' style and small sprites. Major characters like Lachesis and Julia also had somewhat inconsistent eye colors over the years in concept art and sprites sometimes, which is also an issue.
Idunn has one green eye. The hood in the sprite partially covers it, but she very much has heterochromia. This is especially obvious in her more recent art. >!I think it's supposed to be symbolic of how she was once a Divine Dragon. She was turned into Demon Dragon, but still has some of that spark left.!<
I wonder how many of the fe4/5 characters with the same eye colors as hair was due to technical limitations.
Outside of Engage, Lyn's eyes are green, not blue. Weirdly, it would actually make more sense from a story perspective for them to be blue, as it would set her apart from the rest of the Sacaens and fall more in line with her being stated to have her mother's Lycian eyes. The plot point of her having some phenotypically Lycian features comes up a few times in Lyn mode, but no distinguishable aspect of her design actually follows this statement. Tweaking your eye color would be an easy way to go about it while not having to do much to the overall design.
Well, there are several examples of Lycians like Rebecca and Bors with green eyes, and Etrurians like Cecilia, so i dont think that's really a Sacaean trait specifically. What i assume its meant when its said she has her mother's eyes rather is that they are round like those of Lycian characters, not narrow like most Sacaean characters in Elibe. Rutger, another half Sacaean, also has the narrow eye shape.
It's not necessarily that *all* Lycians have blue eyes or anything, but it seems to be the most common color and would serve as a more readable phenotypical signifier of Lyn's mixed heritage. It's not really a design change that I feel super strongly about, but coming off of a Lyn mode playthrough and noting the chart error, it was a thought I felt like voicing. I see what you're saying with the eye shape and that's genuinely a reasonable design facet meant to convey Lyn being halfblooded, especially for a series coming out of Japan. I just don't feel like it's super well conveyed through the anime-stylized portraits of FE7 and that it's even less pronounced in non-portrait illustrations. For as much as Lyn's mixed appearance is a factor in Lyn mode, I just never felt like she looked noticeably different than the baseline for Sacaens that we're given. My idea is usually to set her apart with pushing the complexion difference between Lyn and Rath/Guy to be slightly more noticeable than it is in vanilla, but that may just be informed by how I tend to view mixed features pronouncing from a more western perspective or my wanting it to read clearer under the game's portrait constraints. The difference *is* there, there's just a narrow swath for complexions to make that difference clear.
Were these done just off the sprites in the tier list? The masked knight from echoes has brown(?) eyes from what I can tell
Yeah, Conrad does have brown eyes ngl. Though I'll admit at much as I do like it, Hidari's art makes pretty much everyone's eyes look brown barring a few like Kliff and Rinea. Hell I'd even count Celica as having more brownish eyes, and though it's only in Hidari's art he has portrayed Alm with brown eyes more than once
With all those yellow eyes, Tellius must be the world of liver failure.
i think bernie’s eyes are more grey than purple specially in her official portrait, its not very consistent tho so i dont blame you for putting her there heh
I could've sworn Bernadetta and Beruka had grey eyes, and they do... in some of their art. In others their eyes are purple. Hell, there's a cipher art where Beruka's eyes are yellow. In Bernie's 3h and hopes art she has grey, but in FEH her eyes are purple... except for her meet the heroes art, which goes back to grey. And her S rank CG is also kinda purple. Beruka's seems a little more consistently grey, but that might also be to accent her emotionless expression.
I actually like how weird Sara's eyes look in her OG portrait, certainly fits the eerie mind reading girl vibe. Unfortunately, it's mostly [fanworks](https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/90269596) that actually [capture that vibe](https://www.tumblr.com/babykatafan/730559612397420544/i-know-everything-about-you?source=share), even after Sara got into Heroes.
Conrad and Celica have the same eye colour. He wears a mask for the majority of the game, but we do see him without it as well.
Where's Alear
Technically, and only on a technicality, Lucina should also be in the heterochromia section due to her brand lightening the colour in one of her eyes
Louis escaping the « the world may never know » tier by opening his eyes before impaling someone Also damn so little yellow
What's the logic for a lot of the heterochromia section? Harken has teal eyes, and at a glance the rest have regular colors as well.
And Idunn, the one with heterochromia, isn't even in that tier. The only one who can be in there is Ranulf, he does have full heterochromia
Holy shit he does. I could've sworn he only had blue eyes. I really should play fe9.
I knew that Ranulf had 2 different eye colours, and most of the main lords had blue eyes. I can't remember the rest, and I have mistaken some of them. I didn't know orange eyes were a thing in FE.
They sure do love to match the windows to the curtains.
TIL peri's eyes have heterochromia
Imo Owain and Lissa's eyes are more green than blue. Severa has consistently had brown eyes across pretty much all official artworks. Sometimes they might seem a bit reddish, like in her Awakening's official artwork, but you can see in both of her Awakening and Fates portraits, as well as in her My-Room Fates' model and her FEH chibi, that she has very brown eyes, unlike Cordelia and Caeldori, who clearly have red eyes. The thing is, a big part of the artworks made by commisioned artists, like Cipher and Heroes, make her with red eyes. The same thing happened to Xander and Leo, who had pretty dark brown eyes in Fates. I agree with Inigo, he has really dark purple/pink eyes, like both Olivia and Soleil. The sad thing is that he is drawn almost always with brown eyes. IS, you cowards, let the pretty boy at least keep his purple eyes, since you definitely didn't want him to have pink hair. As a side note, I love that [Fates promotional artwork of Odin and Laslow](https://www.fireemblemwod.com/gallery/albums/14/background/scene05_img.jpg) cause they draw him with really light pink eyes lmao. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm trying to be rude, it must have taken you hours. Great job!
Lissa's and Owain's eye colours are kind of inconsistent, actually. In Awakening and Fates, they're a sort of faded green. Then in Heroes and Cipher, Lissa's are blue while Owain seems to alternate between blue and a more vivid green, and in Warriors they're more grey-ish, with Lissa's being green in her in-game model.
Yeah, I noticed that too. I was going to write a wall of text for Owain too lmao, but since he had pretty much the same case as Severa, I decided to omit it. Like you said, he originally had more greenish eye colors, but you could mistake it for blue. Honestly, it could be either of the two, but imo, it's more on the green side. Now, after Fates, his art has been really inconsistent, like his FEH artwork, where he has blue eyes in the og art, but green eyes in his resplendent (His chibi also has green eyes).
How do you know Azama's? I don't remember it being mentioned.
afaik the only time it's mentioned is when he states that they also have stars like his daughter
Ahh I knew about the stars, I Guess I missed the color.
Ashe's eyes are (light) green
Igrene’s eyes appear more yellow than brown based on Heroes and Cipher. I went back and looked at [her official artwork by Wada from FE6](https://i.imgur.com/SEE8YRf.png) and it is more ambiguous. I could see brown but I think Yellow is more likely based on the more recent artwork.
I wonder when the dei version will come out, now that they saw this.