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Why Gerudo Eyes are Yellow in OOT but not BoTW

Dio

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In BoTW the Gerudo are green eyed yet keep the distinctive red hair and sharp noses from their appearance in OOT. However in OOT their eyes are a sinister yellow.

I came across a little something corncering the Japanese ALTTP manual that could provide an explanation in the lore as to why this could be rather than simply a creative design change. It goes something like
“The thieves pushed aside their comrades, the colors of their eyes changing, as they approached (the Triforce)“

Now in OOT itself when it comes to Ganondorf actually obtaining the triforce he does it alone. However there is implied to be a war 9 years prior to the beginning of OOT which is where Links mother was injured and ends up giving her son to the Deku Tree. It could have been during this that they got close to obtaining the triforce.

I personally think this is the civil war spoken of in the Zelda series and that it is one and possibly even the same as the interloper war spoken of in TP. The triforce was almost obtained during that as represented by the dark links and everyone was fighting for it after all. It could well be the case that the Gerudo came very close to it before it was sealed away again. Close enough to give them that yellow colour to their eyes anyway. All the Gerudo we see in OOT are adults and could well be old enough to have participated in the war especially considering how well their tribe ages.

Do you think this would be a good explanation to why their eyes are a different colour in OOT than BoTW or do you have your own explanation for it?
 

Mikey the Moblin

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I can't realistically believe that this translation is saying that the colors of their eyes literally changed, since eyes are reflective and likely being in the presence of a bright golden light like the triforce would give your eyes a yellow shine
 

Requiem Of Spirit

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Maybe the gerudo got their green eyes from the hylians, since some hylians have green eyes. Compared to OoT the gerudos from BotW would have been mixing with the hylians for a longer time, so maybe that's why.

I don't think the ALTTP translation is literal, it could mean that they were looking at the Triforce in awe, with greed, or with evil intentions.
 
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Uwu_Oocoo2

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I don't think it's a literal change alttp is talking about. My mind reason for that would be the end of albw, where Zelda, Link, Ravio, and Hilda are all standing next to the literal triforce with no adverse side effects.

Maybe the gerudo got their green eyes from the hylians, since some hylians have green eyes. Compared to OoT the gerudos from BotW would have been mixing with the hylians for a longer time, so maybe that's why.

I don't think the ALTTP translation is literal, it could mean that they were looking at the Triforce in awe, with greed, or with evil intentions.
This was my first thought when I opened this thread, mixing with hylians. Over the centuries we can see that the hylina DNA has started to affect the gerudo, most notably in how their ears were round in oot but pointed like a hylians in botw. One could assume the same happened with their eye color.
Of course, another explanation is offered for the ear change, that being that after the events of oot the gerudo became more open to the words of the goddesses, and they evolved pointed ears like the hylians so they could hear their voices. So if one wanted to speak metaphorically, given what @Requiem Of Spirit said, we could also say that after the events of oot the gerudo lost their sense of greed. They were theives, relentlessly searching for the triforce, but once Ganondorf was gone they focused on building an actual town and society. And so, they lost that golden greedy glow. That's probably not the literal reason, but symbolically it would make sense.
 

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