Eyes Never Lie: Difference between revisions

It's well known that the eyes are the "[[Windows of the Soul|windows to the soul]]" -- in—in fact, it's mentioned in perhaps half of the [[Eye Tropes]] we have. What does that actually mean?

Some very common subtypes:

* You can read your opponent's intent in combat, giving you time to prepare for their next move and revealing feints.

* You can detect lies this way. Lovers will know that the others' feelings are true ''after'' their eyes have met.

* ''[[Blade Runner]]'': Replicants don't have human-normal eye reactions to emotion -provoking situations. Rather than helping them lie, the lack of reaction is a vulnerability, marking them as a [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|replicant]].

* In ''[[The Negotiator]]'' --, Danny Roman ([[Samuel L. Jackson]]) delivers a lecture on facial cues, specifically touching on the tendency of the eyes to look toward the upper left when accessing memory and to the upper right when accessing imagination and making something up.

* In the 2005 film [[The Island]], after the duo escape from the cloning organ facility they once believed to be their sanctuary and home, while watching TV the heroine is somehow able to tell that the news reporter is lying about the events they just experienced due to the expression of her eyes.

** In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'' it's stated that gods, no matter how else they may transform themselves, are unable to disguise the true nature of their eyes.

** A similar rule applies to the various transformed creatures in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]''. For example Greebo, a witch's [[Cats Are Mean|evil-minded cat]], is transformed into a human. As a human he still has the glowing, slitted eyes befitting a cat.

** Experienced conman Moist Von Lipwig of ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' notes that he likes the sort of person who looks in one's eye to see their true self, and has a whole gallery of true selves to show them.

** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' plays with the trope: it's noted that unwavering eye contact [[Revealing Coverup|can make a confident liar stick out]].

** Slightly more inexplicably, [[Discworld (Literature)/Snuff|Snuff]] proves that Vimes can also identify a ''murderer'' by eye contact. Because he recognises in their eyes [[Not So Different|the same thing]] he sees in [[Shoot the Dog|his own reflection]].

* ''[[The Dresden Files (Literature)|The Dresden Files]]'': Wizards can read the intimate details of any person's soul just by looking into their eyes, which is called a soulgaze. It has its limitations, though-- [[It Only Works Once]], and the target gets to see the exact same things about the wizard. Also it's stressful at best, and can cause a person to [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation]] at worst, especially since one can never ''ever'' forget what they see. Wizards tend to avoid making eye contact unless they have a damn good reason to do otherwise.

* In ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]'', the demon-in-human form Crowley adopts a stylish persona, including [[Cool Shades]] that he wears all the time (and gets mocked for by another character). Near the climax, he loses the shades, and it's revealed that at least part of the reason he wore them was that even in human form he still has his real eyes.

* All over the place in the ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]]'' series, where stoic naval officers with otherwise perfect poker faces give away their inner worries or kindness (e.g. Honor Harrington herself), and sociopathic villains give away the hollowness inside.

* ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Franchisenovel)/|Harry Potter and Thethe Prisoner of Azkaban|Harry Potter]]'': Harry doesn't believe Sirius Black about his parents' murder until Black, in tears, looks Harry in the eyes and tells him the exact details.

** Throughout the series, Harry is said to "Look a lot like your dad, but you have your mothersmother's eyes." Later in the series, we find out that HarrysHarry's resemblance to his father is mostly superficial (Physicallyphysically and personality-wise), and that ultimately, he is much more like his mother.

== [[Live -Action TelevisionTV]] ==

* An episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' invokes this when Giles is turned into a demon; Buffy recognises him by looking him in the eyes and noting that no one else could look as annoyed with her. Lampshaded when Buffy suffers a [[Grand Theft Me]] later on.

{{quote| "Giles, you turned into a demon and I knew it was you! I mean, can't you just look in my eyes and be all intuitive?"}}

* ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'': Dr. Cal Lightman and the rest of the Lightman Group use microexpressions (a minute form of facial movements) and body language to determine whether or not someone is telling the truth. [[Dr. Jerk|Cal]], [[Team Mom|Gillian]], and [[Handsome Lech|Loker]] studied for years to learn it. [[Naive Newcomer|Torres]] is a "natural", one of something like 5% of the population who has the ability to spot deception.

* On ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'' Kate claims she could tell if a person was good by looking into their eyes, but was not very good at it as she accidentally helped a bomber blow up the place where she had worked, then let the terrorist who later tries to kill her go because there was good in their eyes.

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'': River looks into the Doctor's eyes for this reason in the finale of Season 6.

* "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" by [[Gorillaz (Music)|Gorillaz]] takes it to an extreme: the Happyfolk are so dependent on the "Truth of the Eyes" that they are unable to even see people with covered eyes. It's probably a metaphor for dangerous innocence.

* Subverted in ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' -- one—one of the Scorpion samurai mentions that lying with their eyes is one of the first things the youth learn in his clan.

{{quote| '''Wallace:''' I've been a knight for 30 years, and there is one thing I learned. A person with eyes as bright and true as yours is no deceiver.}}

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'' this becomes a plot point. {{spoiler|Blind Pete is able to betray Haley because she relies upon this to sense motivations}}.

* Disney's ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and Thethe Beast]]'' -- that—that's how Belle realizes that skinny prince is really her Beast.

* In ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' the characters can distinguish between their friends and their friend's evil counterparts from the [[Mirror Universe]] by looking into their eyes.

{{quote| '''Eizzil''': How did you know I wasn't really your stupid girlfriend?<br />

* Subverted in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]''. Pacha refuses to make a deal with Kuzco unless he looks him in the eye and means it. He fails to notice that Kuzco is playing him for a sucker until he's hanging above a chasm.

* Subverted in [[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]].

{{quote| '''Homer''': Look me in the eye boy, and tell me you didn't do it.<br />

'''Bart''': I didn't do it.<br />

'''Homer''': Why you little...!<br />

''Throttles Bart''<br />