theory [OB] Sharplate causes blue eyes because of perception

[Farnsworth]

My theory is fairly simple, (so you should have very few problems tearing it down ). Basically, here is the issue. The Radiants did not all have light blue eyes. Only the Windrunners did, because their Gemstone was sapphire. Since Kaladin's eyes turn blue when he Surgebinds, it stands to reason that Radiants of other orders will have their eyes turn the color of there order. So Why does dead Shardplate, from any order, turn it's wearer's eyes blue? The only instance of this that we've actually seen is with Moash, and while it's possible that his armor was Windrunner armor, it seems unlikely that every single darkeyes to take hold of dead plate happened to obtain Windrunner armor (this is assuming that there is some truth in the legends). So, my suggestion is this: the only reason Moash's eyes slowly began to turn blue is because that is what he though would happen. We know that dead Shardplate is somewhat Invested, since it is "charged" by gemstones. So, Moash, or anybody wearing dead Shardplate, would have some investiture to utilize. Everybody at the moment thinks of Shardbearers as lighteyes, and so Moash is slowly using that investiture to turn himself into one. As would anybody else in dead plate. Ideas?

[Oversleep]

But Moash's eyes did not turn blue. They turned light tan.

[Calderis]

Eye color change is tied to the blade, and not the plate. The bond with a Shardblade that allows it to be summoned is what causes the eye color change. No such bond is necessary to use plate, you just put it on. 

And the eye color change with a blade is not always to blue, it's tied to the type of spren that the blade was before its death. 

Quote

Darkness (paraphrased)

When a darkeyed person obtains a Shardblade. Does their new eye color reflect the specific type of blade they bonded?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes.

source

 

[Farnsworth]

I see. 

[glotof]

So why don't lighteyes eye-colors change to match their blade? Why does it only happen to darkeyes?

 

[Yata]

11 hours ago, glotof said:

So why don't lighteyes eye-colors change to match their blade? Why does it only happen to darkeyes?

 

Because they already have this effect on them inherited by their Radiants anchestor and their natural Color mostly mask the change.

Notice for example that Shallan's eyes doesn't explicity change color because her natural eyes color mask It (but there is a degree of change).

With someone bonded to a Deadblade the effect would be still dumped 

[Weltall]

Yeah, Brandon has mentioned that surgebinders who are already lighteyes don't experience the change because they've inherited the 'lighteyes sDNA' already, while people like Kaladin and Lift who don't have it, get the dramatic visual effect. Brandon (and internally, Hoid) have both implied that the reason Vorin culture turned the lighteyes into nobility is precisely because people remembered that at one time, surgebinding=light eyes and built it into their cultural framework.

Quote

Questioner

My question has to do with the color of Shallan's eyes currently, because we've noticed over the books that Kaladin's eyes, as he's continued to use his Surge, changed to lighter and lighter blue. Whereas one could argue that Shallan is farther in her Ideals than Kaladin is, yet her eyes have not changed at all.

Brandon Sanderson

Right, 'cause they were already light.

Questioner

'Cause they were already light? So it only affects lightness or darkness in the eyes, not necessarily any other color?

Brandon Sanderson

It's not like it is-- It's not like it's saying "Light minus 50%".

Questioner

It's not like Honor is blue and--

Brandon Sanderson

No. It is not. It is just kind of the way that the changes the Stormlight is making the body and certain people are already descended from people who had repeated, over time, changes by the body which stopped physically... That's not to say that all lighteyes that's where they came from. There are some that are natural mutations.