A question about Pupil-less eyes

[Majormario]

I presume most of us know that pupil-less eyes only exist in animes and video games, and my question is how does one's eyes get to become pupil-less? In fact, why do some characters have just white spaces for eyes? Is it genetics, supernatural mind-control, or a surge of power that gives one the pupil-less eye?

 

[Dags90]

Plot convenience. It's a visual representation of things which might not be visual, like when Willow's eyes turned black in late Buffy when she was addicted to smack magic. Also, eyes might appear to not have pupils IRL due to aniridia. The pupils are physically there, but there's no iris for contrast. I think Betazoids all have it.

 

[000Ronald]

I was under the impression that the pupil was a muscle that controlled how much light came into your eyes at one time. A person might very quickly go blind without it.

So, I don't know...stylistic choice, maybe?

 

[Majormario]

Plot convenience. It's a visual representation of things which might not be visual, like when Willow's eyes turned black in late Buffy when she was addicted to smack magic. Also, eyes might appear to not have pupils IRL due to aniridia. The pupils are physically there, but there's no iris for contrast. I think Betazoids all have it.

So, the whole "power corrupts" thing gets to the eyes, right? Also, the aniridia is an interesting disorder, but it severely limits perception from what I've read. I'm talking about characters with completely white eyes, somehow being able to see perfectly.

 

[Korak the Mad]

I was under the impression that the pupil was a muscle that controlled how much light came into your eyes at one time. A person might very quickly go blind without it.

So, I don't know...stylistic choice, maybe?

That would probably be the most reasonable response for the reason why certain anime characters don't have pupils, stylistic choice.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Because it looks unnatural and most likely evil. Also very cool.

Or if temporary, most likely appears in moments of shock or high drama to show how overwhelmed one has been that they can no longer register perceived events, so shocked are they.

 

[Rems]

If you didn't have pupil's you wouldn't be able to see.

An alternative explanation is that rather than pupil less a character in fact has enlarged pupils, resulting in apparently all black eyes. or of course a pigmentation issue.

But no pupils, that just a stylsitc choice. You need pupils.

What examples are you thinking of that feature characters with pupil-less eyes?

 

[Ghengis John]

It's just stylization my friend. I think it's great you're thinking about this, but no amount of logic will make sense of it. It generally seems to come with some surge of power or anger in video games and animes though (when not a full time thing). My supposition would be that it's use is to show the person being blanked as different to a human, either because their evil or anger has stripped them of their humanity, or because their power has transcended human. The eyes are a difficult thing to look at and not see some humanity. But I'm just making a guess here.

What examples are you thinking of that feature characters with pupil-less eyes?

Probably things like these.

 

[nothingspringstomind]

A friend of mine looks like he has no pupils but it's just because his iris is so dark brown it's almost black.

 

[thedoclc]

Plot convenience. It's a visual representation of things which might not be visual, like when Willow's eyes turned black in late Buffy when she was addicted to smack magic. Also, eyes might appear to not have pupils IRL due to aniridia. The pupils are physically there, but there's no iris for contrast. I think Betazoids all have it.

In the real world, Adie syndrome, caused by a damage to parasympathetic nerves heading to the pupil, leads to =pupil= expanding until there is almost no visible iris. It produces a similar effect.

Aside from that, eyes of one solid color in a media could be due to:

1) Stylistic choice
2) Limitations of a media (the medium is not capable of rending something with sufficient fidelity)
3) Haste on the part of the animator on minor visuals
4) Symbolism (eyes as the window to the soul, etc), especially if a character achieves the effect cosmetically
5) To portray an alien or very unusual biology

I think this list is pretty exhaustive. Anything else?

 

[Lilani]

I presume most of us know that pupil-less eyes only exist in animes and video games, and my question is how does one's eyes get to become pupil-less? In fact, why do some characters have just white spaces for eyes? Is it genetics, supernatural mind-control, or a surge of power that gives one the pupil-less eye?

In religious, psychological, and artistic history, the eye has always been considered to be the window to the soul. We consider it to be innately human. So, when the state of the eye is visually altered, it causes us to insinctually question the person's humanity: whether it be their sentience or presence of mind. Not having a pupil makes us feel like the person, literally, does not have a mind--or at least they are not fully present in their mind.

The anime characters who don't have pupils are typically evil, prone to trances, or are possessed. Characters who usually have pupils, but lose them temporarily are usually possessed, unconscious, mentally preoccupied, or dead. The pupils are a simple and universal visual metaphor for a person's state of mind.

Other times, though, it's just a stylistic choice. Look at Soul Eater--pretty much all of the characters in that series don't have pupils, except on special occasions. They aren't really going for soul allegories; that's just how they decided to draw the characters.

 

[Majormario]

It's just stylization my friend. I think it's great you're thinking about this, but no amount of logic will make sense of it. It generally seems to come with some surge of power or anger in video games and animes though (when not a full time thing). My supposition would be that it's use is to show the person being blanked as different to a human, either because their evil or anger has stripped them of their humanity, or because their power has transcended human. The eyes are a difficult thing to look at and not see some humanity. But I'm just making a guess here.

Thanks buddy, I now know much more about this! Thank you to everyone else, as well!

 

[Ghengis John]

I presume most of us know that pupil-less eyes only exist in animes and video games, and my question is how does one's eyes get to become pupil-less? In fact, why do some characters have just white spaces for eyes? Is it genetics, supernatural mind-control, or a surge of power that gives one the pupil-less eye?

In religious, psychological, and artistic history, the eye has always been considered to be the window to the soul. We consider it to be innately human. So, when the state of the eye is visually altered, it causes us to insinctually question the person's humanity: whether it be their sentience or presence of mind. Not having a pupil makes us feel like the person, literally, does not have a mind--or at least they are not fully present in their mind.

The anime characters who don't have pupils are typically evil, prone to trances, or are possessed. Characters who usually have pupils, but lose them temporarily are usually possessed, unconscious, mentally preoccupied, or dead. The pupils are a simple and universal visual metaphor for a person's state of mind.

Other times, though, it's just a stylistic choice. Look at Soul Eater--pretty much all of the characters in that series don't have pupils, except on special occasions. They aren't really going for soul allegories; that's just how they decided to draw the characters.

Very astute observation in regards to frame of mine, Lilani. It's nice to see someone else along the same train of thought.

It's just stylization my friend. I think it's great you're thinking about this, but no amount of logic will make sense of it. It generally seems to come with some surge of power or anger in video games and animes though (when not a full time thing). My supposition would be that it's use is to show the person being blanked as different to a human, either because their evil or anger has stripped them of their humanity, or because their power has transcended human. The eyes are a difficult thing to look at and not see some humanity. But I'm just making a guess here.

Thanks buddy, I now know much more about this! Thank you to everyone else, as well!

Np man, nice to see such thoughtful posts in here.

 

[ace_of_something]

Because it's vaguely unnatural looking.
All pupils is kinda freaky too.

You can technically speaking have 'black eyes' though it would be more accurately called 'super dark brown'

 

[lokiduck]

I think it's more for awesome looks I even use it myself in my series.

The only difference is that in my stories the pupil is still there it's just the same color as the iris

 

[silversnake4133]

Well, in reality it's kind of impossible to have no pupil, otherwise you'd be blind. The iris is actually very fine tissue fibers that are responsible for the color of the person's eyes and controls how much light passes through the eyeball and is received by the optic nerve located at the back of the eyeball. But if you'd really like to see what it looks like up-close, check out the images behind the spoiler.

Spoiler: WARNING: The images are of actual extreme close-ups of ACTUAL eyes. Do not look if you are squeamish or are easily disturbed.

As for the metaphorical, eyes are portrayed pupil-less when the person is dead physically, mentally, or emotionally. Pupil-less eyes in beings can also just be a lack of detail.

 

[Enkidu88]

I thought those pictures were fascinating, the second one down looked like a painting! Thanks for posting that.

On topic: Yeah, pupiless eyes are almost always due to a stylistic choice (most animes) or intentionally done to evoke fear or something. Personally I don't mind it in anime, but whenever a horror movie does it via those cheap looking contact lenses it just looks stupid.