Significant Lily?

[thephoenixrisingteam]

No: HPFGUIDX 92865

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> 
wrote:

> In a thread this sunmmer, Richelle noted that in the Pensieve scene 
> we find out Lily's eyes are almond-shaped. Since we already know 
her 
> eyes are important, this was some additional information. The only 
> other character that has almond-shaped eyes is the sphinx in GOF. 
> Coincidence, red herring? I don't think so, because the BIG thing 
> we're going to find out about in Book 7 is the Harry/Lily eye 
> connection, so the shape is another clue. 
> 
> It just seems like the significance of the eyes has to be a power 
> Lily and Harry possess that is beyond the normal witch/wizard's 
> powers. 
> 
> Here's the thread if anyone is interested:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/75287
> 
> Jen Reese

Mlle: This is an out-of-book example, but it seemed to me food for 
thought anyway. I read this and immediately thought of Harry Potter. 
This is a passage from the Neverending Story, by Michael Ende:

"[Engywook says]...the Great Riddle gate. And the two sphinxes. That 
gate is always open, obviously. There's nothing to close. But even 
so, no one can get through unless the sphinxes close their eyes. And 
do you know why? The gaze of a sphinx is different from the gaze of 
any other creature. You and I and everybody else, our eyes take 
something in. We see the world. The sphinx sees nothing. In a sense, 
she is blind.  But her eyes send something out. And what do her eyes 
send out? All the riddles of the universe. That's why these sphinxes 
are always looking at each other. Because only another sphinx can 
stand a sphinx's gaze..." - Neverending Story - Michael Ende pg 81 
Penguin edition. 

Now, my question is, is there a common mythological story that 
relates sphinxes with significant eyes?

As a sidenote, another interesting thing about sphinxes is that they 
tell RIDDLEs...and we've already got a major character with that 
name..... hmmmmm...... I don't know what it means, but it certainly 
is interesting....