Sith Eyes: An EckhartsLadder Story

[@A_Mere_Shrubbery]

The entire "Palpatine isn't really deformed from the battle but instead the disguise has been broken" point is absolutely what I thought as a child watching Ep 3

[@johndiddilyjoe6258]

Yeah that was my understanding as a kid too. Like in fantasy where a witches spell or something gets broken and you see their true form or it breaks an illusion.

[@FriendlyDarkwraith]

It's probably a mix of both. I doubt Palpatine's face would turn that shade of grey just from getting a Force Lightning bukkake. It's the partially melted scrotum appearance that was probably (and explicitly confirmed in the RotS novelization) to be caused by the Force Lightning. Pre-Senator Palpatine probably looked worse than he did as a statesman, but not as bad as he does after getting his face fried.

[@elkpants1280]

@@FriendlyDarkwraithwhy do none of the characters that get zapped in the movies (windu, Luke) have any deformity?

[@darken2417]

I also thought this since I doubt Palpatine actually lost to Windu. It was an act. And Palpatine could easily have just made the force lightning weak.

[@TacosAreWizard]

@@elkpants1280 Idk. Cuz they’re sexy good guys

[@stevenle9960]

I think the sith eyes comes when the darksider fully gives into their hate/anger. Maul is a ball of rage, a rage so powerful that it kept him alive after being cut in half Palpatine can mask it but he is basically the epitome of everything that makes someone a sith and thus he is filled with hate. He can control it and direct it better than Maul but he's still a terrible, hateful person Vader was deeply conflicted even after he bent the knee to Palpatine -He didn't hate the younglings, he slaughtered them because Palpatine told him to: No sith eyes - He absolutely did hate the separatist leaders: Sith eyes - He didn't want to fight obi wan in the beginning and even tried to "reason" with him in the beginning: No sith eyes - Obi wan chops off his limbs, he literally screams "I HATE YOU": Sith eyes - Finally seeing his son for the first time in decades: No sith eyes I think this is very likely what George intended at least during the prequels. During the OT george probably didn't think about it much and just wanted to give palpatine a distinct look

[@DoratTheKiller]

This is the comment that makes the most sense in this whole section

[@Magikarp-4ever]

@stevenle9960 not bad not bad, I think the short "He can control it" and also "plot says so" are both equally legit, and I thought it showed Anakin with like changing eyes on the assault on the temple, best scene in all of starwars and cinema imo, but I'm also so dumb as a kid and super young teen that I was one of the few that didn't get it was the Emperor until he first spoke in the Emperor voice as Palpatine in the 3rd movie and I gasped out loud 😂😂 like OMG it's him! Oh god I'm the only one that didn't get it until then....

[@joshuasatterwhite9520]

Best theory and head canon here absolutely LOVE this man

[@Prince_Luci]

Not to mention Dooku never has sith eyes because he never truly gives in to the dark side, he merely uses it as a tool to accomplish his goals.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

Maul did not live. That is stupid

[@youtubeisapublisher6407]

A few things. In the Plagueis novel, Plagueis mentions offhandedly that the accelerated degeneration of the user's body and yellow eyes are at least common afflictions of a Sith, but that in the end the effects of the Dark Side on each user are somewhat individual. Bane also specifically states that in spite of still being superhumanly strong due to his constant immersion in the Dark Side, biologically his life is waning and at an approximate age of 60 he's been left with the decrepit body of an 80 year old. It would seem that at least for non-yellow eyed species, the development or at least brief transfiguration of glowing yellow eyes is associated with deep immersion in the Dark Side, in some cases it's temporary, but in other cases it becomes permanent, and unless a species is very long lived or has an abnormally robust physiology prolonged practice of Dark Side techniques will age, mutate, or degenerate their body at a preturnaturally fast rate. In the non-Disney version of the EU the reborn Palpatine also explicitly states that his merely human body is too weak to contain his massive power in the Dark Side, and he has been constantly using essence transference to cast his spirit into cloned bodies which rapidly age and die as his power rots them away.

[@AedanTheGrey]

Hell yes, EU!

[@MyUsersDark]

A bit like drugs, it decays your body with prolonged use. I could see that

[@TheDoctorofOdoIsland]

I don't think Bread Circus would consider the Plagueis novel canon.

[@LordVader1094]

@@TheDoctorofOdoIsland Yeah but that's stupid, because the Darth Plagueis novel gives more insight into Sith and the Dark Side than all canon material of the past ten years (or 2008 TCW) combined.

[@TheDoctorofOdoIsland]

@@LordVader1094 Bread Circus follows an interpretation of canon where older lore always overrides later works, including sources written before the prequels taking priority over the prequels themselves. The Plagueis novel played fast and loose with tons of details that had been officially established in a large number of sources before it came out, especially with regards to things like Darth Maul's early canon background and Palpatine's rise to power pre-Episode 1. There would be little left in the novel that could be made to gel with that interpretation of Star Wars canon. For example Bread Circus completely rejects the idea that Anakin was created by the Sith tampering with midichlorians.

[@ORLY911]

the jawas were sithlords the whole time, who woulda thought

[@The-Anathema]

I think the narrative device of 'sith eyes' is meant to represent their hatred, maul is just a big spiky ball of angery hatred. Palpatine is supposed to be evil incarnate but he can suppress that to mask it, and Anakin is supposed to be redeemed so we're shown that he's not inherently a hateful person but that he can succumb to it in the moment. This pretty much communicates the possibility of his redemption (which we finally get in Episode 6). This explains why Anakins eyes only become yellow in specific circumstances where the dark side overwhelms him (e.g being defeated and left to die on mustafar)

[@az-kalaak6215]

Hi! swotor player there! in swtor, you CAN have a change of eye color (and even skin color) based on your alignment. the light side does nothing (no modification) dark side make your eyes go from normal colour, to red-yellowish (yellow at darkness 1, red-yellow at darkness 5). the skin color changes too, but this one depends on your specie. you can at any moment ask to remove the dark side effects from your skin without paying.

[@the_cyberchill]

You can also hide them, and after a chnage to swtor's graphics alot of the eye textures that use to be red at stage 4 darkside corruption are now a more vibrant orange then stage 3 with only a few alien races retaining the original corrupted eye texture, as well as a few aliens with naturally red eyes like sith purebloods, mirialans, and ratataki

[@the_cyberchill]

I really wish swtor would just give the other races purple, and red eyecolors for human, human cyborg, etc

[@shadowmandeathstroke8232]

You also get eyeshadow and your veins start turning black at certain dark side levels

[@austinbaccus]

The real answer: Dooku just didnt have that dawg in him

[@HF7-AD]

Or he wore contacts

[@DoratTheKiller]

He was too sophisticated for that

[@histguy101]

​@@HF7-ADhe would if he had to. Keeping up appearances is important for the count

[@Scrubermensch]

😂😂😂😂😂 you guys are clowns lol

[@camber_courtney5250]

That bit at Yoda's hut was top tier 😂

[@TürkTeksaslı]

I personaly Believe in my headcanon is that the more a sith uses the darkside the more their bodychanges/Becomes Deformed, but that is just my headcanon

[@tali055]

This is clearly established, at least in the EU, I know of one mention of that and that's in the Bane trilogy and one of the reasons Bane was trying to learn the soul transfer ritual because his body started to wither from all the usage of the dark side. I bet there's more mentions to this in lore as well

[@FriendlyDarkwraith]

If using the Dark Side is unnatural, then prolonged use would probably start to affect their Living Force as well, causing their body to deteriorate. It probably has something to do with how the Dark Side affects the midi-chlorians, which are stated to be symbiotically responsible for the development of life.

[@SkywalkerFoe]

It is established in the EU, as tali said. At least as far back as Dark Empire, it is a major part of the Emperor's motivations.

[@ChaoticMartian]

No that is canon

[@thomasboland540]

It _used_ to be canon

[@sethtfp2373]

YES! I LOVE YOU BREAD CIRCUS! One point I’d like to make; as dark side corruption gets worse in SWTOR, the first step along has your characters’ eyes turn yellow (without payment).

[@Blue_Doge]

1:50 so have we just decided to not pay attention to what actually happend? this isn't darth vader, it's anakin skywalker hence the blue eyes

[@Xazamas]

His eyes turned from orange to blue instantly?

[@rageplai9555]

​@@Xazamas yup

[@m88youngling]

Poor R2D2 did not need to see what was happening through that window...

[@Ichikura2]

r2 has seen things....THINGS

[@selwrynn6702]

It may be worth noting that originally in SWTOR the Sith race could only be force sensitive (sith inquisitors or sith warriors) this was later changed as cosmetics continued to be added to the game, and the eye colors didn't change when you unlocked them for alternate classes. Also the game has (or at least 'had' as I haven't played it in years now) a "dark side corruption" mechanic where the more attuned you are to the dark side (based on your actions in game) the more "corrupted" you become which turns your eyes yellow with the red rims & bloodshot eyes as well as other cosmetic changes to your face.

[@smirkyshadow4152]

As someone that still plays a lot of swtor, it still has the corrupt mechanic although it's completely togglable (because cosmetics)

[@friendlysperg1372]

Despite being just 13% of Zabraks, Red Zabraks commit 50% of horn-related crimes.

[@Sigskogi]

Boy I sure do love seeing dog whistles and not knowing if they're sussy or joking. 😒

[@10011110011]

@Sigskogi Only dogs hear dogwistles and red zabraks are definetly not dogs. They are siths. Which is worse.

[@Swifty-Kommando]

That's why Republic census data became private information after 14BBY.

[@ThatCamel104]

Unbelievably speciesist. You must be reading rigged crime stats from the Jedi so-called "Order."

[@Sigskogi]

@10011110011 I guess that clears that up. Shame there's so many reactionary people skulking around in the Star Wars fandom.

[@Troopertroll]

Clearly, Bib Fortuna is a sith lord.

[@neonvioletstar]

*Mace windoo voice* "A sith lord!? How do you know?"

[@ThreeEyedMonkeyMan]

@@neonvioletstar He knows the ways of the force. He's been trained to use the dark side.

[@Keanine]

I feel like it makes way more sense to link the eyes with how deeply they're influenced by the dark side. After Palpatine is deformed he has no reason to disguise himself anymore. He already has control of the senate anyways and there Jedi are dead and labelled as traitors, so there's no reason to hide his powerful link to the dark side from them any longer and embraces it fully. Anakin likely goes back and forth because he's fighting the light inside himself and despite doing evil acts, isn't fully embracing the dark side at his core. Dooku is a more complex character and doesn't appear to embrace the dark side all too strongly. He's using the power for his agenda in taking down the Republic and the Jedi as part of the CIS more so than anything else. For that reason he wouldn't have sith eyes

[@dylanpearson9480]

Thank goodness Bread Circus is using his Star Wars knowledge and power for good and not Evil!

[@meztli432]

Does anyone know what Bread Circus's eye color is? 🤔

[@blindboygaming]

Great video as always, but I’m massively disappointed it wasn’t 12+ hours long.

[@sentrysapper45]

I've always thought it was reductionist to pigeonhole the Sith into having to adhere to certain conventions. Pursuing the dark side is inherently selfish, thus it makes sense that they would be more likely to eschew tradition than members of the more structured Jedi Order. Not all Sith have yellow eyes, red lightsabers and the "Darth" moniker. Exar Kun was one of the most infamous and powerful Sith Lords in the Legends continuity, and he didn't have any of these things. Heck, some ancient Sith Lords like Ajunta Pall and Naga Sadow were known to sometimes forgo lightsabers in favor of fighting with swords instead! EDIT: corrected a minor spelling error.

[@RaptorJesus]

This is something I've always thought as well. And I'd argue that it's not even really inherent selfishness, Sith are just hyper-individualists. "My will be done, though the heavens may fall" sort of stuff. While there'd be some variation in Jedi, they'd all conform to a rough idea. But Sith? Each Sith, barring the inherent influence you'd see between Master and Apprentice, should be unique. Because the whole schtick is "I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and no one can stop me". In Legends there was a Rule of Two Sith called Darth Vectivus. He was a Sith...who was way more interested in solitary study of the Dark Side and running his mining corporation. No mass death or grand schemes to conquer planets, no real megalomania. He was *so* normal that he died in his bed *of old age,* surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones.

[@saviorbob]

Yeah old palpy likely only had those eyes in the first place just to make him stand out from the shadow of the cloak

[@MrPiccoloku]

I read your comment in the joke Batman voice everyone uses and loved it. You should all do the same.

[@ClockworkGearhead]

The issue is chasing naked power can only take on limited forms. It's selfish, but it's also inherently shallow.

[@obscuramask7435]

Arcanns eyes change on screen for the Knights of the Eternal Empire cinematics. I think it's tapping into hatred and dark side, Sith Purebloods had natural "Sith eyes"

[@AnimaVox_]

Arcann's eyes change twice in the cinematic. It makes sense because he and Thexan weren't really Dark Side users and were trained more like Jedi. Vaylin's eyes stay yellow-red throughout after Nathema, except for when Senya rescues her. I don't recall them ever changing back, even when she hesitated and almost joined her mother and brother. I think it's supposed to point to a character being submerged in the Dark Side, to the extent it's no longer necessary to consciously 'tap' into the power because it's become second-nature, almost like a part of the user.

[@historicflame972]

@@AnimaVox_ I get they use blue lightsabers but the EE is far closer to sith than jedi

[@AnimaVox_]

@@historicflame972 I was more referring to the _way_ they fight. The Zakuul Knights, Senya, and the twins don't make frequent use of the Dark Side, if at all in most cases. But yeah, I'm not denying that the Eternal Empire is more Sith-aligned in its ethics/ideology.

[@historicflame972]

@@AnimaVox_ The knights shoot lightning and use thunder

[@AnimaVox_]

@@historicflame972 Do all of them do that, though, or some of them? It was my understanding that Valkorion lets Force-sensitives use their abilities however they want instead of making them stick to one side or the other. Could be wrong about that, so Idk. 🤷

[@oler777]

I always thought it was just to show the audience the evil in the character when they're on screen, since Dooku was really being manipulated and believed in what he was doing, he never got the eyes in return of the Jedi when they take Vader's helmet off he's been saved, so why make him more evil?

[@oler777]

Savoge opress Darth Maul's brother didn't have the eyes until magic witches Supercharged him with force powers

[@oler777]

And in the book Darth plagueus the wise they talk about it his training

[@elpsykoongro5379]

​@@oler777tcw is full with retcons and inconsistency It's pretty much the unreliable narrator of unreliable narrators

[@Myrddin_Nebelstein]

9:12 speaking from experience you can get yellow eyes from dark side choices/ leveling the dark side tiers

[@ahnok2855]

It works exactly how circus explains it would in the lore

[@Myrddin_Nebelstein]

@@ahnok2855 lol i meant the half sentence where he says "i believe you can get an eye overide, but you may have to buy it" specifically the buy part which is not true

[@youtube_moderator]

Anakin gained power from hate multiple times including the slaying of the the Sandpeople as revenge for Shmi's death.

[@ShortArmOfGod]

Bro WTF the term is middle easterner.

[@vanta8975]

90% of the dooku argument is disproven by the clone wars tv show because he is directly shown to have had sith eyes when he pushes his limits with force lightning

[@angellara7040]

Ani also switches eye colors in an episode for a few seconds

[@kaltenstein7718]

There is a very nice edit of Ahsokas and Anakins confrontation in Rebels S2 finale. In which Anakins eyes change colour from blue to yellow when he decides to kill her. That is of course not part of the actual show, but it would seem reasonable that when Vader is redeemed by Luke, his eyes return to normal. Meanwhile Palpatine is hiding the eyes through active means (like his force presence) from the Jedi in the prequels.

[@Styxelene]

Dooku does have sith eyes at at least one point in the clone wars show (where i remember this being is when he is training/torturing savage). Savage Opress has quite desaturated yellow eyes naturally it looks like and it seems they become a stronger yellow/orange after his transformation.

[@BungieStudios]

Also when being revealed as Darth Tyrannus.

[@colekimball4945]

Yeah, but apparently Clone Wars doesn't exist to Bread Circus since he was still referring to Maul as an Iridonian Zabrak after citing really outdated sources, rather than calling him Dathomiri. It seemed a bit odd that he ignored CW entirely.

[@Josh-bn4ki]

@@colekimball4945 I believe the opinion of Bread Circus is that whatever came first is cannon. And since Maul being an iridonian zabrak was created before the clone wars, they consider that cannon. In short, they mostly ignore any retcons.

[@Styxelene]

@@colekimball4945 I think the channel has a sort of lore purist line of thinking, the older the source the more valid. Whilst I think this is acceptable in some cases, there's clearly been some level of retcon, or just update to the lore. With some of the newer shows you can cite older sources that they are invalidating as a dislike with where they're taking things (e.g. boba fett's character assassination) or when they clearly just were not aware of the wider lore (Qui-Gonn appearing as a force ghost in Kenobi, after it is established in TCW that he was only a voice and did not become a full force ghost). Also thought it made no sense how when looking vader's eyes, it's stated he doesn't have yellow eyes like that is at all relevant. Anakin's helmet is taken off post-redemption, at the point he is no longer a sith and is able to become a force ghost. Anakin has been shown with yellow eyes AS VADER in rebels. Sure, you can take a purist approach but it is often illogical and relies on bending over backwards. Look at Bane's wiki, both canon and legends the photo used is with yellow eyes, and they both state his eye colour is yellow (specifying dark side for legends).

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@Styxelene I like that Grog approach more usually.

[@sgauden02]

Back when Disney first bought Star Wars, I said that Star Wars was in good hands. BOY, WAS I AN IDIOT!!!

[@FoxHoundUnit90]

I “had a bad feeling about it” when they first bought it but I let nostalgia blind me when Force Awakens and Rogue One came out. Then Last Jedi came out and I finally realized how bad it was.

[@st_orlie]

Love subscribing to youtubers and not getting their videos in my feed. Glad I saw this.

[@XangoFwet]

Count Dooku had yellow eyes during the clone wars after using more of the darkside

[@elpsykoongro5379]

Dave shill detected

[@icarusgaming6269]

One of the most frustrating parts of prequel lore. I really like your interpretation of Dooku's character, though

[@Celtic1020]

17:17 I love how you came to a very similar answer as myself, but doing all of the math differently. For races that don't look like that naturally, it's based on how much they are relying on the dark side at the time. Sidious was desperate, and Anakin was jumping in the deep end when he didn't know how deep the pool was. And basically everyone concluded that Dooku only uses the minimum amount of effort required for a given task.

[@saintsinner6195]

At the very end of the fight with Kenobi in Episode III, when Anakin is sliding down into the lava screaming "I hate you!" at Kenobi completely giving in to his rage and pain, you can see his eyes turn yellow. That's when he really became Vader. They weren't yellow when Luke took off his helmet at the end of Episode VI because by that point he had already redeemed himself in a way by turning from the dark side and killing the emperor saving Luke. He was Anakin again instead of Vader.

[@Magikarp-4ever]

@saintsinner6195 I had to go back in the movie and rewatch it, your right he does have the changing eyes then! Good catch

[@rooknado]

@@Magikarp-4ever And during Knightfall, the raid on Coruscant's Jedi Temple

[@ArcTrooper269]

Eckharts is the type of guy who takes advantage on the fact that not most of the average viewer read the books & is into the lore to spread lies, misinform them & make them take his Head-Canons as a fact (He does the same with Halo Lore, BTW)

[@bet0v966]

He didn’t say losing control of the dark side, he said losing themselves to it - to give in. They have to be all in. Plagueis was Palps master as yet he to had guise of which people just thought he was a rich guy. When an attempt was made on his life, he drops his persona & they’re is a change to him. He taught Palps this technique as well but once the great sith plan was achieved there was no point in suppressing anything. Dooku’s eyes do change but he only goes full on when backed against the ropes & he feels he needs to. Anakin’s eye change b/c they’re still some degree of conflict in him ; it’s why when he is Vader they’re yellow but when unmasked by Luke they’re normal or speaking to Kenobi with cracked mask they’re normal for short bit until he goes back to being Vader

[@matthewbreytenbach4483]

Some Sith (like most of the Brotherhood of Darkness) get glowing red eyes when channeling large amounts of power, and I would imagine that the case was the same for Sadow

[@notagooglesimp8722]

I can't believe we needed a video like this. And that we are having to go back to books is amazing. It means that Legends will probably win out.

[@lba_e_ross2152]

Another good video. Though I would say a few things. In regards to your comment on Naga Sadows eyes I'd take the comics as more authoritative than the sourcebook as to what color they are since that is where he appears and is depicted. Next one hiccup I do belive you referred to Naga Sadow as Exar Kuns master which isn't strictly true since it's the force ghost of Freddon Nadd who is instructing Kun and later Kun found some old stuff of Sadows on Korriban. As for Dooku I agree with you for the most part but given how you haven't yet read the CWMMP stuff I do believe he does get the Sith eye effect in there while using the Dark Side at times for things. Overall another great video! Can't wait to see what you cook up next!

[@thebreadcircus]

Curses, you're right! I completely skipped over Nadd, and it wasn't even an intentional attempt to simplify. (Could have been with some very slightly different phrasing, but it wasn't.) That may be the silliest mistake in any of our videos. -DZ

[@lba_e_ross2152]

@@thebreadcircus All good

[@Scrubermensch]

Jesus this video is insanely good. Great work man.

[@SymmetricalDocking]

Premise: The Dark Side is an easy path to power and makes you stronger, but also damages and warps your body. This is reiterated many times in the OT, Prequels, and EU, though like all things not consistent. An example of how it strengthens you would be Mace Windu's Vaapad, special in that he can control it and balance it. Assumption: How this works is that the body is a vessel that can be filled with the Force, and the Dark Side can flow Force in above that bodies limit. (overloading and mutating midichlorians, or however you believe it works) at the cost of damaging said vessel/body. Theory: Yellow eyes can be one of the temporary or permanent side-effects of the damage, whether Palpatine overloading in order to fend off Mace Windu with lightning, or whether Anakin not being able to moderate his new power as he goes to kill the CIS or yell at Obi-wan. That's also why he didn't get yellow eyes killing the younglings. He didn't need the power boost to do it.

[@dutch_asocialite]

The best Doom music channel on KZbin and the side of Star Wars lore & theories aren't half-bad

[@fraizuh]

We didn't see Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader with his helmet off, we saw a redeemed Anakin Skywalker who had let go of his hatred and embraced the light side of the force once more.

[@kelvinnkat]

Personally I like the theory that it's just a Sith tradition to wear contacts

[@leviwarren6222]

Hayden Christensen already covered this in an interview with Empire. The eyes were his idea and George Lucas went with it even though he said the color change wasn't universal to the sith. And George Lucas is The Maker so...we'll go with that.

[@ianatkinson5509]

The eye color being mentioned while the character with the reciprocated eye color blinking at the same time is a nice touch. 9 mins

[@Weatherman4Eva]

Oh sweet I didn't expect to get a bread circus video this morning. I love how in-depth he gets about the most random stuff

[@katathoombs]

That's not the _Doom_ music I expect to hear in KZbin videos these days.

[@ImmaSpam__________________Can]

But are you complaining, 👂✋ I'm not hearing any.

[@phorz85]

Anakin gets these eyes when the dark side energy flows the strongest through him which gets boosted heavily by fear hate n pain. We see it on corruscant after he betrayed windu n is in dispair whitch is emotionall pain. He prolly felt never b4 as lost n hopeless so thats a peak. We see it on mustafaar when he sees kenobi leaving padmes ship n acuses her to conspire with kenobi against him, a comination of a kind of fear (jealousy) that takes hate on kenobi n twists his jealusy into rage on padme that also reached a never seen b4 intensity. Finally we see the eyes when he's a burning cripple n suffers the total package, fear of death, dispair from helplessness, rage n hate on kenobi who left him that way and that all at once with levels of pain beyond anything he coild imagine and his eyes which r yellow red r extreme, so his example establishes at least human eyes could indeed shift depending on the level of dark side energy in them but their is a good second possibility That his eyes at the very end shifted back cuz he did let go of the dark side. His eyes were also show yellow on his arrival on mustafaar n while they could indeed have stayd yellow since he left sidios n went there we have no scene of his eyes after he recieves but before he lifts the helmet the last time. But he was home to padme after order 66 n his temple attack, after his eyes were show yellow first so they can switch back. It's unlikely that he projected his old eyes as force illusion to padme. It would b a good possibility for dooku tho. Not only fitting his vanity but he had use for it n sidious necessaty for him to b tought it. He had many appearences in public just like sidious. We really never see his eyes turn but it's unlikely that he hadn't embraced the dark completely. It should b impossible to throw sith lightning if his heart isn't fully in it so to speek. That he allways keeps his calm n doesn't shows raw fury shows even more how he has himself accepted the darksidefully cuz otherwise he couldn't channel that kind of power n bundle up enough. In legends we have jacen solo as sith n then he seems to have his sith eyes only in extreme situations, while losing or giving up his restraint that he usually keeps buttonned up n self checks it all the time, so it has indeed with the level of dark side power n the level of allowed freedom to do, in which it is allowed to radiate out of a sith.

[@ConsumerOfCringe]

I like the video and i dont think this necessarily invalidates it, but that wasnt Vader we saw at the end of Episode VI, and we seen Vader's yellow eyes when his mask is partially broken in Rebels and in Kenobi

[@KillerOrca]

I remember when he was small, starting off as a Star Wars channel. When he tried to get into Halo, he had to be drip-fed information. Fuckin hell.

[@ProtonetMan]

Something also to note, since you brought up SWTOR, in its predecessor, Star Wars Galaxies, you had the option of choosing yellow eyes for nearly any species. Galaxies used to be considered canon material as well, prior to the Disney buyout. Becoming a dark sider granted you glowing red eyes.

[@Markm8]

Well my co worker had yellow eyes, they must have been a sith and had a colon disease

[@LolcowAdmirer]

Jaundice is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural

[@KyoryuChange]

Darth Vader was dead, Anakin was saved and it was him we see when Luke takes his mask off, so he wouldn't have the yellow eyes. I normally call them dark-side eyes as anyone who depves deep in the dark side could achieve them, not just the sith. A darksider also doesnt always have the color change, as it's not necessarily a permanent feature. We see Dooku with red eyes in TCW and if I remember correctly, in some novels his eyes turn yellow in certain moments. Maul was from Dathomir not Iridonia. Also, he was raised as a darksider either as a baby(legends) or a child(disney), so it could account for why he has dark-side eyes all the time. He never had to hide his identity like Palpatine or Anakin(from Padmé on Mustafar)

[@shrapnelbmg6267]

When we see Vader without his helmet in RotJ, he is no longer a Sith. He has forsaken his hatred and anger in favor of love for his son. His eyes would no longer be yellow, even if they were while he was wearing the helmet. Force users get red/yellow eyes when they are fully immerced in the darkside. Maul spends his whole life like that, so by the time he's an adult, he's always angry always full of hate, so his eyes become permanantly like that. Even in death, he's thinking of revenge. He never gives up the darkside like Anakin does in the end, so his eyes never change back to their natural apperence. In RotS we see Vader go full darkside while he's executing the sepreatist leaders. When he kills the Jedi before that, he's just doing what he thinks he must, but when he kills the Seps, its something he has wanted to do since the start of the war. HE'S ENJOYING IT. He's fully embracing his hatred and his eyes reflect that yellow corruption, until he sees padme coming and his love of her stems the flow of his dark emotions. Later his eyes turn red again at the end of his duel with Kenobi when he's full of hate and rage, and then generally stay that way until his redemption. Palpatine hides his yellow eyes until he no longer needs to. Then we get incidents in other media, like the Old Republic game cutscenes, and we see Valkorian's son's eyes go red right when he decides to kill his father, but then go back to normal after he realizes he's killed his beloved brother in his rage. Dooku doesn't get the yellow eyes bevause he too is hiding his true nature as a Sith Lord to maintain appearences as a benovolent political leader standing up to the corruption of the Republic. He has embraced the darkside as a means to power, but he doesn't immerce himself in those powerful negative emotions since having evil looking eyes would generate questions among his followers that too only side with him because of the flaws of the republic rather than a desire to spread destruction. Being also an old former Jedi master, he doesn't give in to his emotions, he controls them.

[@Enderlinkpawnu]

I think in the OT, George just wanted Palpatine to look distinctly evil, so giving him sickly yellow eyes was the call. Come the prequels, we get the "sith eyes." Which is a sign of the Dark Side I guess eroding and decaying your body? It's never really explained as such, Palpatine could have easily have been deformed by, you know, getting force lighting'ed by Windu deflecting it. But I do think they eyes are a supernatural thing for dark side users specifically. - Palps is the most skilled and powerful darkside user in the galaxy at this point, as well as actively suppressing his force signature. Which explains why his eyes don't turn yellow until he doesn't need to hide anymore - Maul is a very angry man. But I like to think his eyes are yellow because it was natural, though, although its not out of the realm of possibility he has proper sith eyes. - Pre-suit vader gets yellow eyes when he is feeling excess hatred. We can assume he hates the separatist leaders, and he definitely hated Obi Wan for cutting his limbs off. Of course, he's been a dark side user for at most like a week at that point, so he doesn't wield the dark side with as much finesse as Dooku, Palpatine, or even Maul did. - Count Dooku *could* have the yellow eyes. But we never see him exert himself in the dark side, nor harbor extreme hatred so much as to cause them to appear. He is a very calm, gentlemanly man. So outbursts of anger and hate would be out of character for him, even as a dark side user. Note that we do see Dooku with sith eyes in the Clone Wars tv show, however it's not in the original movies, so I'll leave it up to the individual whether or not they consider it cannon.

[@angellara7040]

Considering Lucas worked on clone wars directly it's hard to argue that he atleast thinks so

[@callmev3531]

1:25, More importantly, Palpatine is not only hightly Force-sensitive but also has a stronger affinity that most towards the Dark Side specifically. One of the ways to explain why his features got warped by his own Force Lightning is that his control over his own Dark Side connection was so strong that he could suppress the physical symptoms of it, only to stop bothering to do so when he felt he no longer needed to, at least when it came to his eyes, as his skin being disfigured could have indeed been a result of his own Force Lightning damaging him since his specific appearance after being disfigured (in regarded to the almost burnt looking texture of his skin) isn't replicated by other deformed Darksiders in even the expanded lore. As a Sith, it would make sense that he would know how to conceal not only his signature in the Force, but also the physical affects of his connection to the Dark Side, as the Rule Of Two Sith before him would have likely spent years learning various methods to conceal their presence from the Jedi, knowledge he could have passed onto Dooku along with how to manifest Force Lightning. The other reason why some Darksiders may not manifest physical symptoms in regards to lore explanations is that their connection to the Dark Side is in flux, which is shown visually in Anakin's eyes switching from normal to altered depending on the intensity of his negative emotions, the stronger those emotions, the longer he has those yellow eyes. Out of lore, the writers and costumers may not always think that hard about details like this, especially these days with characters like Kylo Ren never once exhibiting yellow eyes even at the hieght of being a Darksider (which could be explained away as his connection to the Dark Side never quite being as strong to begin with, even if he was still drawn to it).

[@claudiaborges8406]

“The force works in mysterious ways” is the only explanation I’ll accept. That and “dark magic can change you”

[@ZonamaPrime]

I always imagined the yellow eyes being something that emerged when actively giving oneself over to the dark side, like a state one entered (ex. Goku going SSJ)

[@jacksongraham2212]

Interesting video. By the way, for SWTOR, dark side corruption is a free feature. It comes in five stages the first being the yellow and red eyes then darkening of skin colour, followed by dark cracks in the skin along the mouth and eyes, a thinning of the skin along the cheeks; along with pure red and black irises. The final stage has the skin go completely pale (even if your default skin colour is dark as my father unfortunately found out) along with the rest of the changes. Hope that helps clarify it for you.

[@cellulanus]

With TOR rather then looking at player customization it's better to look at NPCs. In most instances when Jedi fall they take on Force corruption, looking even worse them many full on Sith do. Jaesa Willsaam is probably one of the most extreme examples. When she falls to the dark side in the story she falls really hard in a traumatic way, becoming one of the most psychotic Sith in the game and her eyes turn yellow.

[@ClockworkGearhead]

I just assumed Count Dooku was just extremely proud as a person and refused to degrade himself, despite agreeing with the Sith on principle.

[@MrTheQuestioner]

excellent analysis as always

[@Deltabolster]

In the clone wars, dooku sometimes gets yellow eyes when he trains savage oppress and for swtor when you make enough dark side choices you gain a tier in the dark side and tier 1 your eyes go yellow and then the higher the tier the more sick, palw and decayed your character looks and this feature is completely free. Ps im just putting this here to add more examples of dark siders having switching eye colors and hiving explanation to a point he wasnt sure about himself in the video

[@CafeEnergy]

Ah, I see you’ve prepared a delicious morsel for me. Thankyou.

[@TürkTeksaslı]

Alot of Sith in swtor which is legends have yellow eyes

[@Dan-bq1dz]

This video was great, but the yoda x luke ending was why im subbed. Can't wait for your breakdown of episode 2. I still often think of your clever explanation of anakin's fatherless situation.

[@Wally480]

I never thought of Mauls eyes having anything to do with being Sith

[@ZorusSerif]

Sith can also make physical illusions as shown in rebels with sidious & ezra interacting

[@angellara7040]

Yup. Palp looks normal until Ezra tells him to screw off

[@KuraiLunae]

Answer seems fairly straightforward to me, though I admittedly don't have as deep a lore knowledge as many others. Eye color change is either deliberately allowed by the user, or is based on how steeped in the Dark Side the user is. In the first case, of course Dooku wouldn't allow his eyes to change, while Sidious could use it to further sell his "disfigurement" and Vader would let it slip during times of extreme emotional distress. In the second, Dooku just doesn't steep himself in the Dark Side. Sidious obviously revels in it, thus the permanent change, while Vader gives into it on and off throughout his corruption. This has the side benefit of explaining the Sith and Zabrak eyes as well (even though it's not necessary). Both species developed on worlds that were heavily tainted by, and steeped in, the Dark Side. Thus, some of that taint slipped into the species, leading to the defaulted yellow eyes.

[@DudeManDude-ot5fv]

Palpatine was using sith alchemy to hide his true appearance. The lightning did not hurt him much, he used it to make it seem like his life was threatened by the Jedi.

[@lukestarkiller1470]

I don’t know if you personally use the Clone Wars for information, but there are a few times in it where Dooku has Sith eyes. Once where he’s electrocuting his potential apprentice Savage Opress, and I think there’s some other moments but I can’t remember off the top of my head. I don’t think these change the outcome of your video but they are interesting to consider. For the most part Dooku kept himself in check, but every once in a while he fully embraced the darkness to a dangerous degree.

[@konk8429]

Konkgradulations on clearing 40K subs fellas

[@thebreadcircus]

Thank you! It seems like only a few months ago that we were stuck below the 7k mark. -DZ

[@anthonyshannon7559]

Feast your eyes on this engagement.

[@aggiedudesa9206]

@12:40 “mediocre results” 😂 I like that euphemism. Love both y’all bread and Ek.

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

For maul's red rims - it could also just be that different races display "sith eyes" differently. Humans get yellow eyes when fully commiting to the dark side, zabraks get a red rim instead.

[@Eclipse-mf6hc]

On that note I’m curious what Chiss sith eyes look like. In legends they have no pupils but in new canon they’ve got pupils. Like Chiss have naturally red eyes

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

@@Eclipse-mf6hc hm, red becomes yellow?

[@darken2417]

I think it would just make sense for your eyes to shift when fully giving into the dark side. Not for it being just a Sith thing. Anakin wasn't actually a Sith in Episode 3 when his eyes changed color since he lacked any ancient Sith knowledge. He was simply a dark side user.

[@Geist1027]

Babe wake up, a new Bread Circus video dropped.

[@redjulius33]

It's an older video your commenting on, but it still helps out

[@HolyknightVader999]

Dooku never got the Sith eyes because he was more morally gray than Palpatine, Maul, and Anakin.

[@randomusernameCallin]

There are a number that think Palpatine was using the dark side to perform battle meditation. In some sources, we know that the force can affect a person physically including increase speed.

[@UltimateSugar95]

To be fair, my girlfriend's eyes are usually a cool blue colour but when I piss her off, they turn grey

[@forcelightningcable9639]

I have to sub to anyone who uses “exotic” in such an exotic context.

[@ShinySephiroth1]

In the book "Dark Disciple", Quinlan Vos falls to the Dark Side and Ventress knows it is true when she sees him with yellow Sith eyes. They go away after he returns to the Light Side. I agree with what you say about Anakin, as my headcanon has been that he was so attached to the Light Side of the Force (like Kylo Ren) that it took a lot for him to be fully entrenched in the Dark Side. After becoming Vader, being constantly in grief believing Padme had died by his hand plus the constant pain from his injuries allowed him to be fully engulfed by the Dark Side. That is why he has Sith eyes in Obi-Wan Kenobi and when his Force Ghost fights Ahsoka in her show, the red lightsaber Dark Side manifestation of Anakin has Sith eyes but when he is Light Side aligned, he doesn't.

[@aaronbaron3155]

As usual your intense research has provided a good answer for star wars stuff. 😊

[@DIEGhostfish]

The comic came out before the essential guide the guide is likely just wrong because he forgot to check. Fly to Legendscon this summer and ask the Essential Guide author in person.

[@legodragon1999]

I had first heard of the Yellow Eyes details in one of the older Scholastic books, explicitly referencing Anakin's fall on Mustafar as a case of a Sith's eyes turning yellow after corruption by the Dark Side. While not necessarily a canon source, I had considered it accurate at the time and considered the discrepancy in Anakin's eye color as continuity goofs during filming...maybe it was a last-minute addition to Anakin while Palpatine's yellow eyes were consistent with Episodes 3-6, but Vader's eyes were never changed in rereleases of Episode 6. After watching this, I checked back in on the sequel trilogy to see if Snoke or Kylo had yellow eyes...nope, both have natural eye colors in their scenes. Maybe you can find cases in the canon animated series, such as Vader's confrontation with Ahsoka in Rebels or Anakin and Ahsoka's corruption on Mortis, but the utilization is so inconsistent it's hard to treat this part of the lore seriously. Still nice to learn more about Legends lore, though!

[@BubbleChumpkins]

I like your explanation! Ive always looked at the "sith eye" concept in a way that isn't solid but flexible and happens not with only the dark side but with the dark side + intense anger. If you consider each characters eye change to be due to the force and not a species specific quality I think gauging their level of anger based on their actions you'll see a trend that = the more anger the more yellow/bloodshot. Examples: - Very vibrant yellow/bloodshot - Maul is seething in anger - Very yellow/bloodshot - Anakin is going through bouts of intense rage with points of reflection - yellow - Palpatine uses his anger consistently as a tool to further his greed - normal - Dooku never seems angry and carries himself as if he believes he is doing the right thing (or as you said "sophisticated") I don't know if this is a catch all thought process but it does seem to fit in many scenarios. I also think that there are a myriad of emotions that the sith use to connect with the dark side so its possible that it is not entirely anger but it is what felt the most fitting from my perspective.

[@mkhud50n]

people glom onto the smallest bits of trivia that don't even matter to the overall story and freak out when their head canon gets ignored. the yellow eyes were just for dramatic effect so you know the person has turned. also light from the lava reflecting off Vader's eyes.

[@AnimaVox_]

The deterioration that happens after constant Dark Side use seems like an addict's drug abuse. They can both cause permanent damage too, mental or physical.

[@TheTb2364]

I think a significant methodology mistake was looking at swtor player customisation options, instead of NPCs that appear in game, as they don't have the same microtransaction angle. Good conclusions though.

[@blossom9510]

Darth Bane is in fact portrayed with yellow eyes multiple times. The cover for Path of Destruction for example. The eye color listed in the essential guide should then be taken to be his NATURAL eye color. In the same vein, Palpatine's natural eye color is blue, and the only reason this wasn't reflected in the early edition of the guide is because we weren't given a glimpse at what a young untainted Palpatine looked like until the prequels.

[@beatrixwickson8477]

It all depends on which type of Midi-chlorians you have. There are three varieties: Midi-tops, which turn your eyes yellow. Midi-bottoms which have no effect on eye colour. And Midi-switches, which can function as either depending on the circumstances. Source, West End Games adventure module "A Switch in TIme", 1991.

[@Blue_Doge]

heres my theory for anakin/vader, he (kinda) didn't really want to betray mace or kill the jedi, he had to but he gained yellow eyes after killing the sepratist council, people he hated, they put the lives of people anakin cared about at risk and killed many others, he would be embraceing much more hate and his other deep dark emotions. He loses those eyes when he steps out and starts to realize what he did and even sheds a tear, (now for the part that's a little less solid) he didn't gain his eyes when fighting obi wan or choking padme most likely because he wasn't as focused, and/or not utlilizing the same emotions he was when he was killing the seperatists, untill he gets lit on fire. He's probablly too weak when he's getting put into the suit but regains them after he learns that padme died and Dokus elegant manner and lack of yellow eyes showes that while he does use similar powers, he isn't nearlly the sith vader and palpatine are I see yellow eyes as a form of the physical toll and absolute dedication of the dark side, they are shown when sidious drops his mask to reveal his true nature, and show the dark side taking over

[@darken2417]

I actually prefer if some species are naturally inclined or even heavily naturally inclined toward evil. All of this individualism doesn't quite feel right. Red skin + horns = evil just seems right.

[@thebreadcircus]

That's quite reasonable, it would happen some of the time. With the sheer number of species in the galaxy, you could sort them into a 2x2 grid. One axis for "looks to be obviously evil" or not, and the other axis being "actually are inherently predisposed toward evil". I imagine all four cells are quite well populated. -DZ

[@liamwinberg3723]

Oooh spicy...

[@deutscheskaiserreich3094]

I personally think its just Sith choosing whether or not to have these dark side "deformities". Dooku isn't officially a Sith Lord, and like Palpatine he does have an image to uphold, it should also be noted that he may even find the "deformities" as unsightly, since he is a noble as well, and that is part of his personality. Palpatines only showed after he was confronted by Mace Windu, but I think he let them show simply because he stopped caring and dropped the pretenses. I think there are even examples in the Clone Wars of his eyes being yellow/orange, could be wrong though feel free to tell me. I think I remember in the 2nd Darth Bane book, it says that it takes a degree of effort to prevent these changes from happening, Darth Zannah has yellow eyes if I'm not mistaken too.

[@elpsykoongro5379]

Darth sion was full of scars, he was truly immersed in the dark side and was essentially inmortal

[@FreddyFazbear-ent]

How did C3P0 get his yellow eyes?

[@burningexperiment]

i think eye color change is related to oxidative stress of doing what is against your nature for extended periods of time

[@mirrorebutuoykcuf]

Star Wars lore really doesn't hold up to scrutiny, no matter what color eyes you look at it with.

[@rooknado]

I would certainly say otherwise.

[@Jean-Paul-Lane-Valley]

Anger and evilness ruins your liver in the Star Wars universe, hence the yellow eyes.

[@oler777]

13:36 watch the clone wars TV show where he gets the eyes very temporarily and is basically the chancellor for the separatist. He believes in what he's fighting for and barely understands that his master is manipulating him. He doesn't need to keep up appearances. He's just legitimately fighting the Jedi because he believes they're screwed up.