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National Different Colored Eyes Day 2025
I know, it’s not my usual sort of topic, but today is National Different Colored Eyes Day. I think I only know one person who has this.
🟢👁️🟤 Heterochromia 🟤👁️⚫
One boyfriend… it took nine months to notice. He was like, ‘Do you have different‑colored eyes?’ I was like, ‘Are you joking? What have you been looking at?’ Nine months in! ~Alice Eve
To be fair, Alice has a green eye and a blue eye.
They’re similar in shade, so you have to look close to really notice the difference.
Everybody has something that makes them unique.
Kelly has amber eyes. Some people call them brown, but they’re actually not.
They’re a lighter, more golden shade than plain brown and they’re deliciously distinctive.
As often happens in the 🌞 summertime 🔥, our eyes will be hunting for books.
‘Tis the season for library book sales.
Since we’ll be out and about, there’s a fairly good chance we’ll be stopping through some of our favorite bookstores on the way home.
How Does This Happen?
Heterochromia: Different-Colored Eyes – How Does This Happen?
This guy’s heterochromia is a lot more conspicuous than Alice Eve’s blue/green combo.
Some people (like a neighbor of ours) have two eyes that are the same basic color, but one or both have a section that’s another color.
That’s certainly distinctive.
Naturally, it’s harder to tell if someone has this situation in the warmer months because we tend to wear sunglasses.
I suppose, if the difference in eyes is significant, it can be attention-getting or possibly offputting.
We shouldn’t judge by appearances, but humans tend to spot patterns easily.
The idea that someone’s eyes aren’t the same as they are on most other people is a pattern interrupt.
The variation stands out and triggers responses in the brain.
If you’re a happy, well-adjusted person, the response might be: “Oh, that’s interesting.”
If you’re not, the response might be a lot more hostile.
It could trigger someone’s fight/flight/freeze/fawn response.
If you do see someone with pronounced heterochromia, like the good doctor in the video, do yourself and them a favor and give yourself a moment to recover.
Having different colored eyes isn’t a threat. It’s just interesting.
Stay calm and carry on.
Tyrion
“One green eye and one black one peered out from under a lank fall of hair so blond it seemed white.” ~George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin took this natural pattern interrupt to make his character’s appearance even more unique.
Tyrion Lannister is the youngest of Lord Tywin’s children and has the unfortunate distinction of having lost his mother in childbirth.
He also suffered from dwarfism, leaving him at a distinct disadvantage against a world of hostile, sword-swinging maniacs.
Things were not entirely bad for Tyrion. He had the steadfast love of his brother, Jaime, and his keen intellect.
Because he was so dreadfully clever (in addition to his stature), Tyrion had been tagged as The Imp.
Most people didn’t dare call him this to his face. He was a lord of a major house and not to be trifled with.
Despite the reputation of his house and his too-clever-for-his-own-good demeanor, Tyrion is actually a fairly decent guy in a horrifyingly indecent world.
That’s how you build interesting characters.
We want to know what they’re like on the outside so we can picture them, but we also what to know what they’re like on the inside so we can know whether or not to back or oppose them.
More complex characters make for enjoyable reading.
They’re not just stock characters. They’re not mere shadows on Plato’s cave wall.
You want to feel as if you know these people, even when they’re just the doorman or the super at the protagonist’s apartment building.
If I say someone’s a barista, you might paint your own character over top of that generic tag and that might be good enough for the story.
However, if the protagonist needs to make chitchat, you could give your barista a name, an attitude and even an interesting tattoo.
It’s up to you. You can decide who gets a name, who gets a face and who becomes memorable.
That’s all for today. See you back on Wednesday for a summer staple 🌭