[EricD]

I've read a lot of fantasy in my time, from the works of Tolkien to Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire to Jordan's Wheel of Time. I've enjoyed most of it, but something struck me today, what is it with fantasy writers and grey eyes? Really, from the Elves and Dunedain of Tolkien to Rand al'Thor of the Wheel of Time, there are so many grey eyes. What is the attraction of grey eyes anyway? They aren't exceptionally rare, most times they're just a very light shade of blue eyes. In fact, the rarest eye colour on Earth is green, though I guess with Harry Potter, that may seem cliche now. Fantasy is awash with grey eyes, why?

[Taramoc]

My guess is because grey communicates wisdom and experience, so giving grey eyes to a young or at first unassuming hero, is foreboding of what he will achieve through the book/series. Same goes giving it to an immortal race, a sense of the millenia of its history.

Cheap metaphore I suppose...

[Banger]

My guess is because grey communicates wisdom and experience...

Yep. Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, was commonly described as having grey eyes. Wikipedia has an interesting etymology on it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena).

Eye colors have historically been associated with various personality types or qualities, and are often used in literature. For instance, Odysseus supposedly had green eyes, which James Joyce used for effect in his short story "An Encounter," in which two boys playing hooky from school check out to see if the sailors on the docks have green eyes, and then later have a rather disturbing encounter with an individual who has green eyes.

[MrBF1V3]

If you say someone has plaid eyes it kind of stops the story for a moment.

:)

It's an unusual attribute, people like to write their characters with something unusual about them.

B5

[BrianC]

Actually, I'm writing a story called 'The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes'

[Miriamele]

I think grey eyes are used a lot because grey as an eye colour is more attractive and interesting than brown, and less cliched and common than blue eyes.

I'm curious though, where in Tolkien are grey eyes mentioned? I thought that Tolkien tended to focus more on describing the landscape than the characters. I don't remember anybody's eye or hair colour in LOTR (except for Goldberry).

[Stark Raven]

Actually, I'm writing a story called 'The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes'

Is the main character's name Lucy? ;)

I think grey eyes are supposed to signify a character with a serious or brooding nature. It's intended to give them weight and depth. Just once I'd like to see a somber, brooding anti-hero with bright blonde hair, sky blue eyes and dimples.

[lin]

How can blue eyes be "cliched"???

I get sick of people even mentioning eye color, matter of fact. I think of it as a romance thing.

I've stopped many a critique read on a dime for "Fear flashing in his violet eyes..."

I don't know if I've ever seen anybody with grey eyes, actually. I'd say they're a lot less common than green.

Mine are hazel. Typical inability to commit.

[Abby]

I also see a disproportionate amount of redheads in fantasy fiction. :) This makes me happy, because I have red hair and blue-gray eyes. Fantasy writers think I'm cool.

Okay, in all seriousness, I never noticed the gray eye thing. I thought blue was a lot more common in fantasy. When I come up with the coloring of my characters, I try to give them a good variety.

[KatG]

Well there are some male brooding guys with blonde hair and blue eyes, but I can't think of any female ones right off. We women generally are not allowed the luxury of brooding. :)

Grey eyes, like green and violet shade blue, are more unusual than brown or straightforward blue. They are slightly less uncommon in northern Nordic/Celtic cultures though, where grey eyes are likely to show up with red, blonde or black hair. So they are useful for making a character seem distinctive, especially for certain looks.

Jordan, for instance, has the Aiel be culturally Arabic, but deliberately contrasts it with northern Celt coloring, so they have blue, green and grey eyes, and red and blonde hair. Rand being from the Aiel, he has red hair and grey eyes. It marks him as Aiel and as different from other cultures Jordan has set up. So the grey eyes becomes part of the characterization.

In other fantasies, a character might be given black or red hair to stand out, and grey eyes goes with that. I also don't remember anyone's eye color being described in Tolkein, except maybe Frodo's, but maybe Tolkein gave the elves grey or silver eyes to make them more elvery.