Of course, the answer to the question posed in the title of this post is any colour you like! Frankly we should be at liberty to choose this as free-willed painters.
However, being somewhat pedantic (and liking to occasionally paint in the intended colour scheme), I decided to do a bit of research in to the issue about what colour the eyes should be according to some historic (i.e. Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness and Lost and the Damned) and modern (i.e. Codex: Chaos Daemons) tomes.
First up, Slaves to Darkness:
Bloodthirsters: Milky white with no visible iris or pupil.
Bloodletters: Same again: milky white with no pupil.
Flesh Hounds: Milky white.
Juggernauts: no comment is made.
Keeper of Secrets: no comment is made.
Daemonettes: Deep green saucer-like eyes.
Fiends of Slaanesh: Dark bottle green.
Mounts of Slaanesh: no comment is made.
Lost and the Damned:
Great Unclean Ones: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes show "normal" mammalian eyes, but obviously corrupted and decaying.
Plaguebearers: although it is said pus and blood run from the singular eye continually, no direct comment is made. However, illustrations and paint schemes in the book are a white milky colour, or show normal eyes.
Nurglings: no comment is made. Painted models show white eyes.
Beasts of Nurgle: no comment is made. Illustrations show normal eyes and the painted models show a yellow to red eye.
Lords of Change: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes are tough to make out, but some do have mammalian eyes.
Pink and Blue Horrors: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes are varierd to say the least: some have an iris, others are a pure milky white colour.
Flamers of Tzeentch: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes show a pupil-less eye.
Discs of Tzeentch: "penetrating little eyes", with illustrations showing a variety of eye types.
Codex: Chaos Daemons has the following to say, where a comment is explicitly made of eyes or their colours.
Bloodletters: burning eyes without a pupil (painting schemes are white)
Daemonettes: opal eyes (painting schemes are white)
Plaguebearers: rheumy (painting schemes are white)
Mounts of Slaanesh: glittering eyes
In Liber Choatica, the eye colours are generally described in similar terms to the Realms of Chaos book (e.g. Milky white eyes without pupils for bloodlettters and so forth). This is unsurprising given the strong association of the two volumes.
So in summary, it appears that for Khorne daemons most sources would indicate white, pupil-less eyes all round. Many older sources suggest a shade of green for Slaanesh daemons. But modern sources are divergent, with many having white pupil-less eyes as well. Nurgle is harder to pin down and they exhibit some pupils, unlike their Khorne and Slaanesh cousins. However, plaguebearers do seem to go for the milky white pupil-less eye variety fairly often. Tzeentch daemons, perhaps quite naturally, have the most variation amongst the sources examined and no further comment can really be made!
However, being somewhat pedantic (and liking to occasionally paint in the intended colour scheme), I decided to do a bit of research in to the issue about what colour the eyes should be according to some historic (i.e. Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness and Lost and the Damned) and modern (i.e. Codex: Chaos Daemons) tomes.
First up, Slaves to Darkness:
Bloodthirsters: Milky white with no visible iris or pupil.
Bloodletters: Same again: milky white with no pupil.
Flesh Hounds: Milky white.
Juggernauts: no comment is made.
Keeper of Secrets: no comment is made.
Daemonettes: Deep green saucer-like eyes.
Fiends of Slaanesh: Dark bottle green.
Mounts of Slaanesh: no comment is made.
Lost and the Damned:
Great Unclean Ones: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes show "normal" mammalian eyes, but obviously corrupted and decaying.
Plaguebearers: although it is said pus and blood run from the singular eye continually, no direct comment is made. However, illustrations and paint schemes in the book are a white milky colour, or show normal eyes.
Nurglings: no comment is made. Painted models show white eyes.
Beasts of Nurgle: no comment is made. Illustrations show normal eyes and the painted models show a yellow to red eye.
Lords of Change: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes are tough to make out, but some do have mammalian eyes.
Pink and Blue Horrors: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes are varierd to say the least: some have an iris, others are a pure milky white colour.
Flamers of Tzeentch: no comment is made. Illustrations and paint schemes show a pupil-less eye.
Discs of Tzeentch: "penetrating little eyes", with illustrations showing a variety of eye types.
Codex: Chaos Daemons has the following to say, where a comment is explicitly made of eyes or their colours.
Bloodletters: burning eyes without a pupil (painting schemes are white)
Daemonettes: opal eyes (painting schemes are white)
Plaguebearers: rheumy (painting schemes are white)
Mounts of Slaanesh: glittering eyes
In Liber Choatica, the eye colours are generally described in similar terms to the Realms of Chaos book (e.g. Milky white eyes without pupils for bloodlettters and so forth). This is unsurprising given the strong association of the two volumes.
So in summary, it appears that for Khorne daemons most sources would indicate white, pupil-less eyes all round. Many older sources suggest a shade of green for Slaanesh daemons. But modern sources are divergent, with many having white pupil-less eyes as well. Nurgle is harder to pin down and they exhibit some pupils, unlike their Khorne and Slaanesh cousins. However, plaguebearers do seem to go for the milky white pupil-less eye variety fairly often. Tzeentch daemons, perhaps quite naturally, have the most variation amongst the sources examined and no further comment can really be made!
3 comments:
interesting that you raise this. I have of late been doing my slaanesh daemons with light yellow eyes and then glazing that with green washes for a really bright green. Also referenced back to the old tomes.
It is an interesting topic. Most minis I have seen go for the straight white eyes with no pupils tho.
Agreed -- most painters do go for milky white, pupil-less eyes. I'm quite fond of that approach myself and can see the appeal of it.
Just been reading the Dark Heresy core rulebook, it lists Plaguebearers as having milky white eyes.
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