I'm probably going to get into a lot of trouble for starting this and I apologize if this thread topic has already been made elsewhere but I really want a definitive answer or at least an accepted consensus to this question: what do yellow eyes signify in Kingdom Hearts? As of recent years, the most prominent answer is that it signifies possession by Xehanort but is that the only meaning behind them? We also know the recipients of Xehanort's Heart fragments (willing or otherwise) take on other aspects of his appearance, that being his hair, his skin tone, a and his ears. But how did Xehanort gain these features? Obviously his skin and hair color are naturally his but his ears and eyes have changed as seen where younger versions of himself have rounded ears and browner eyes.

 

Some on this site, myself included, believe that these changes are a result of deep submersion in Darkness based on the idea that the vast majority of Heartless all have yellow eyes, the only exceptions being those who wear eye/face concealing clothing, have no eyes at all, or Scar for some odd reason. Others, seemingly including Nomura himself, claim that the yellow eyes are exclusive to Xehanort and his thralls but how does that explain all of the Heartless as well as Ansem The Wise? His eyes clearly changed between his time as Science King of Radiant Garden and his time as DiZ. Has he secretly been a Xehanort this whole time? If so, why was he fighting against Xemnas and the Organization? Obviously Xehanort's plans are ridiculously circuitous but that seems to be pushing it.

 

Finally, there is Vanitas, the Darkness of Ventus's Heart made manifest. We know now that he is allegedly one of Xehanort's vessels but has he always been one? Yes, he had the yellow eyes back in Birth By Sleep but none of Xehanort's other defining features, and Ventus's connection with Sora caused Vanitas to take on Sora's appearance instead. But as of his appearance (at least in the trailers) in Kingdom Hearts 3, Vanitas is wearing his helmet again. But why hide his face when we already know what it looks like? As a Xehanort vessel, he doesn't look like Sora anymore which means he now looks like Xehanort which also means that the eyes of his old appearance can't be from possession.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hide in a Flame proof bunker.

I think vanitas is wearing his mask for two reasons: first its iconic(obviously). Second if anyone isn't fully caught up on KH and decides to play KH3 will be surprised and confused when they see that he looks like Sora. But idk, I'm brainstorming out here lol.

 

 

Nomura: A person's eye changing to yellow means Xehanort influence

 

Idiots: Yellow eye means someone gives into darkness

 

 

 

And maybe Xehanort like had yellow eyes because those are like his natural eye color or something which is why his vessels have them because they have pieces of his heart.

 

And Ansem the Wise has orange eyes.

Just means Xehanorts influence. As of right now.

Just means Xehanort's influence. As of right now.

Pretty much, but like you said "as of right now".  The lore can still change come KH3.

Pretty much, but like you said "as of right now".  The lore can still change come KH3.

 

Too be fair, this series does retcon a lot of things. But yes as of right now that's the canon answer.

I'm not denying that in this scenario, yellow eyes equal Xehanort possession. What I'm trying to argue is that these two ways of thinking aren't mutually exclusive. Up until this plot twist, all visual evidence seemed to suggest the Darkness theory. Heartless have yellow eyes and they are incredibly dark beings, Xehanort, Xigbar, Saix, Ansem, Xemnas and Vanitas all have yellow eyes and are incredibly dark beings. It's easy to assume that there is a connection, that extreme exposure to Darkness results in physical mutations. Heck, we all assumed that the reason Ansem had yellow eyes is because he's a Heartless. Even the opening cinematic for Birth By Sleep/the KH2 Final Mix secret ending shows Terra's eyes suddenly turning yellow in moment of desperation, this was of course a mix of foreshadowing and fakeout but it was still put there. In fact, after watching through every single opening cinematic, it is the only one that has such a fakeout.

 

If Xehanort's eyes truly are naturally yellow without any kind of influence from external factors then he is the only one who's eyes are naturally yellow and there has to be some kind of meaning behind it. If there is one thing that this franchise teaches us, it's that everything has some double or triple meaning or underlying explanation. Not to mention how much of a coincidence it is that he and the Heartless just so happen to have the same eye color. There's even a breed of Heartless, the Darklings, that are explicitly born from Keyblade wielders succumbing to Darkness and they too have yellow eyes. With every retcon and every explanation that Nomura has had to give, there has always been some in-game evidence that could back them up even if it was minuscule but as of yet I can't figure out what that evidence could be beyond Xehanort's innate connection with all things dark. We know that eyes are important in this franchise, otherwise we wouldn't be getting closeups of the Seekers' eyes all the time, the eye poking out of their Keyblades wouldn't be such a big deal, and Riku wouldn't have needed that blindfold in order to control Ansem's power. Why are the eyes the first to change during possession? Half of the Seekers don't have any of Xehanort's features save for the eyes, not the ears (although it's hard to tell because many of them have long and potentially obscuring hair), not the hair, and not the skin tone.

 

Kingdom Hearts 3 is coming, just hopefully four months away, and hopefully we will finally get answers. Or it'll just pile on more questions because that's what this franchise does.