History Main / EyesNeverLie

* ''TheDresdenFiles'': 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-- ItOnlyWorksOnce, and the target gets to see the exact same things about the wizard.

* An episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' 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.

* While not foolproof by any means, eye movements and how someone looks at you can often be an indicator if they are lying to you or not. However, skillful liars can control this to an extent.

* Parents often order kids to look them in the eye if they think they are lying.

* Harry doesn't believe [[PrisonerOfAzkaban Sirius Black]] about his parents' murder until Black, in tears, looks Harry in the eyes and tells him the exact details.

* Subverted in ''[[{{Disney/ptitle3if599v0}} The Emperor's 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.

* All over the place in the ''HonorHarrington'' 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.

* All over the place in the ''HonorHarrington'' 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.

* ''TheMoomins'': In one NightmareFuel-worthy scene, the characters find a magic hat that transforms things. Moomintroll tries it out of curiosity and is turned into a hideous monster. None of his family members recognize him, but in the end Moominmamma can still tell that it is him by staring into his eyes.

* In ''TheAnubisGates'', Beth Tichy recognizes a monster as her fiancée, transformed, by the expression in his eyes -- [[spoiler:just ''after'' she shoots it]].

* ''{{Discworld}}''
** In ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic'' 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/WitchesAbroad''. For example Greebo, a witch's [[CatsAreMean 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/GoingPostal'' 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/NightWatch'' plays with the trope: it's noted that unwavering eye contact [[RevealingCoverup can make a confident liar stick out]].
* ''TheDresdenFiles'': 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-- ItOnlyWorksOnce, and the target gets to see the exact same things about the wizard.
* Disney's ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' -- that's how Belle realizes that skinny prince is really her Beast.
* ''TheNegotiator'' -- Danny Roman (SamuelLJackson) 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.
* ''TheMoomins'': In one NightmareFuel-worthy scene, the characters find a magic hat that transforms things. Moomintroll tries it out of curiosity and is turned into a hideous monster. None of his family members recognize him, but in the end Moominmamma can still tell that it is him by staring into his eyes.
* RealLife: Parents would order kids to look them in the eye if they think they are lying.

* An episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' 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.
* On ''{{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.
* Subverted in ''LegendOfTheFiveRings'' -- one of the Scorpion samurai mentions that lying with their eyes is one of the first things the youth learn in his clan.
* Subverted in ''[[{{Disney/ptitle3if599v0}} The Emperor's 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.
* ''BladeRunner'': 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 [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman replicant]].

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' this becomes a plot point. [[spoiler:Blind Pete is able to betray Haley because she relies upon this to sense motivations.]]
* Stephen Foster's song "In The Eye Abides The Heart".

* ''Series/LieToMe'': 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. [[DrJerk Cal]], [[TeamMom Gillian]], and [[HandsomeLech Loker]] studied for years to learn it. [[NaiveNewcomer Torres]] is a "natural", one of something like 5% of the population who has the ability to spot deception.

* In ''FireEmblem: Blazing Sword,'' Wallace declares Lyn trustworthy and joins her cause after getting one good look of her eyes.
-->'''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 ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' the characters can distinguish between their friends and their friend's evil counterparts from the MirrorUniverse by looking into their eyes.
--> '''Eizzil''': How did you know I wasn't really your stupid girlfriend?
--> '''Nigel''': When I look into Lizzie's eyes, I can tell she's not a jerk.
* In ''TheAnubisGates'', Beth Tichy recognises a monster as her fiancé, transformed, by the expression in his eyes -- [[spoiler:just ''after'' she shoots it]].

* ''LieToMe'': 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. [[DrJerk Cal]], [[TeamMom Gillian]], and [[HandsomeLech Loker]] studied for years to learn it. [[NaiveNewcomer Torres]] is a "natural", one of something like 5% of the population who has the ability to spot deception.

* In ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'' this becomes a plot point. [[spoiler:Blind Pete is able to betray Haley because she relies upon this to sense motivations.]]

* In ''TheOrderOfTheStick'' this becomes a plot point. [[spoiler:Blind Pete is able to betray Haley because she relies upon this to sense motivations.]]

* In ''GoodOmens'', the demon-in-human form Crowley adopts a stylish persona, including CoolShades 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.

** ''Discworld/NightWatch'') plays with the trope: it's noted that unwavering eye contact [[RevealingCoverup can make a confident liar stick out]].

* Averted in an urban fantasy novel, the name of which I cannot remember, but when fighting the narrator deliberately avoids watching her opponent's face and focuses on their chest. The reason being that a good fighter can lie with their eyes, but their chest muscles will show for sure when they are moving and when they are feinting.

** Frequently characters are unable to disguise the true nature of their eyes. For example Greebo, a witch's [[CatsAreMean evil-minded cat]] is transformed into a human. As a human he still has the glowing, slitted eyes befitting a cat. This rule has applied even to the gods.

->"Then one day Strangefolk arrived in the town.
->They came in camouflage, hidden behind dark glasses, but no one noticed them: they only saw shadows.
->You see, without the Truth of the Eyes, the Happyfolk were blind."
->-- ''Fire Coming Out of The Monkey's Head'', by {{Gorillaz}}

* As the page quote indicates, "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" by {{Gorillaz}} uses it as a plot point.
* One of the rules of the ''{{Discworld}}'' is that no character can disguise the true nature of their eyes. Thus, even when, for example, a witch's [[CatsAreMean evil cat]] Greebo is transformed into a human, he still has the glowing, slitted eyes befitting a cat. This rule applies even to the gods, and there doesn't seem to be a loophole out of it.
** However, the eyes don't earn any awards for honesty. Experienced conman Moist Von Lipwig of ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' 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.
*** Also, in at least one book (''Discworld/NightWatch'') it's noted that unwavering eye contact [[RevealingCoverup can make a confident liar stick out]].

* [[SamuelLJackson Samuel L. Jackson]] delivers a fairly accurate (if somewhat incomplete) lecture on the abovementioned facial cues in the film ''The Negotiator'', 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 one NightmareFuel-worthy scene in ''TheMoomins'', the characters find a magic hat that transforms things. Moomintroll tries it out of curiosty and is turned into a hideous monster. None of his family members recognize him, but in the end Moominmamma can still tell that it is him by staring into his eyes.

** While a good idea in general, I can see this technique being both [[MaleGaze a bit]] [[ThisIsNoTimeForKnitting awkward]] and harder to use if you're fighting a woman.

* By the conclusion of "The Judge Child Quest", JudgeDredd has reason to believe that [[spoiler: The Judge Child]] is not all he appears to be, so Dredd looks into his eyes to see if he finds someone who is misguided or a creature of malice. He only sees evil.

* If a character is transformed, looking them in the eye will still let you know that it is them. (Can be a form of RedRightHand for the audience.) Some characters will intentionally hide these behind OpaqueLenses, ScaryShinyGlasses, and SinisterShades.

* In ''FireEmblem: Blazing Blade,'' Wallace declares Lyn trustworthy and joins her cause after getting one good look of her eyes.

-->"Then one day Strangefolk arrived in the town.
-->They came in camouflage, hidden behind dark glasses, but no one noticed them: they only saw shadows.
-->You see, without the Truth of the Eyes, the Happyfolk were blind."
--->-- ''Fire Coming Out of The Monkey's Head'', by {{Gorillaz}}

* ''TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden (Wizard) can read the intimate details of any person's soul just by glancing at their eyes once. He calls this "soulgaze", and unfortunately, they get to do the exact same thing to him.