[HPforGrownups] Black eyes?

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

No: HPFGUIDX 21792

Amy Z quoted:

> PA 14:  "He didn't care that Snape's face had gone rigid, the black
> eyes flashing dangerously."

*swoons and falls over with a resounding THUNK*

Ahem.  What was I going to say again?  Gimme a second to collect my
scattered wits.  Oh, okay.  Yeah.  Black hair, black eyes.  I agree with
those who've pointed out that neither really exists among Caucasians; even
hair that looks black from a distance turns out to be dark brown on closer
inspection, and the only truly dead-black hair I've seen has been very
obviously artificial.  And I have never seen, met, or heard of a person with
absolutely black eyes; again, it's just a poetic term for dark brown.

However, we are talking about wizards here, not ordinary Muggles of the sort
we're all used to (and used to being, unfortunately).  Also, we're still not
entirely sure of Snape's true nature (much as I hate to admit it, there *is*
some room for speculation that he might not be entirely human) and Hagrid is
not only a wizard but half-giant as well, so black eyes may be quite
literally true in both cases.

I agree with those who've said it would be disconcerting to look at someone
who appeared to have no pupils, but perhaps the iris is not *quite* so dark
a black as the pupil and therefore it wouldn't look quite so weird as we
think.

Now I'm going to be very curious to see Hagrid's eyes in the movie (it may
be taken for granted that I was already planning to pay very close attention
to Snape).
--
Rebecca J. Bohner
rebeccaj at pobox.com
http://home.golden.net/~rebeccaj