The Color of Vin's Eyes

[Valkynphyre]

I, Jordan Marble, Squirrel King, promise here after this wonderful 28th of May, 2010, to only read books that have been printed, annotations, and deleted scenes/preview chapters. I promise to not be a part of Brandon's pre-publish editing and therefore shall not bestow the name of Alpha upon myself.


_{Unless of course, I am asked to by Brandon Sanderson himself.}

[Creative_Vortx]

I, Jordan Marble, Squirrel King, promise here after this wonderful 28th of May, 2010, to only read books that have been printed, annotations, and deleted scenes/preview chapters. I promise to not be a part of Brandon's pre-publish editing and therefore shall not bestow the name of Alpha upon myself.


_{Unless of course, I am asked to by Brandon Sanderson himself.}

^THIS^ only with more fine print. I need ways out of this contract, I'll be sure to fill it with plenty of loop holes.

[Omelethead]

I, Gher, promise here after this wonderful Friday of May, to only read books that have been printed, annotations, and deleted scenes/preview chapters. I promise to not be a part of Brandon's pre-publish editing and therefore shall not bestow the name of Alpha upon myself.



Omega!

[Fireborn]

I think the Omegas are more of a club for Alpha wannabes.  I don't see swearing off Alpha-ness as a particularly smart thing to do.

[Renoard]

Be an able not an label!  Down with Alphas and Omegas, stick with the middle!

[Valkynphyre]

Fellow Omegas, Those who read prepublished Brandon Sanderson Literature who are not actual alpha readers (hereafter referred to as 'Betas') are evil and must therefore die.


DOWN WITH THE MIDDLE MAN! MUAD'DRIN TIA DAR ALLENDE CABA'DRIN RHIADEM! LOS VALDAR CUEBIYARI! LOS!

Oops, kinda slipped into the old Tongue, there.

[Comatose]

Vin's eyes are dark in colour.
If you want more specifics, they are a dark brown, I should know, I've met her myself.
As I am a shard, I have free access to any of Brandon's worlds, and thus petty, classifications such as 'alpha,' 'omega', and 'beta', hold no meaning to a superior  being such as myself...
Who needs to read books ahead of time: I live them.
Wahahahaha

[Renoard]

It does beg the question, why did eye and hair color come up so seldom in character descriptions in Mistborn?

[Inkthinker]

Actually, character descriptions at all are pretty sparse in Brandon's books.

To my (somewhat informed) understanding, Brandon likes it this way. He keeps description to a bare minimum as a way of encouraging the reader to fill out the character as much or as little as they need to. If a character trait (like hair or eye color) is important enough that it's relative to the story, he'll include it. Otherwise, it's left to the reader to imagine, and in a very real sense there's no way for you to be wrong.

The fact that people rarely notice the lack of descriptors is a testament to his characters themselves, and the fact that good character development is more about what they do than how they look. Hell, I didn't notice myself until I began picking the books apart for illustration purposes.

He's become a bit more descriptive since he began writing WoT, but he still leaves a lot of it up to you. And I have a theory that suggests in doing so, he's encouraging readers to have a deeper relationship with his books. It's a good thing.

 

[Shivertongue]

I thought this was because of the setting of Mistborn itself. Very dark, shades of grey, stark, ash falling from the sky, no green plants - that sort of thing. Any colour mentioned would have stood out, as it tended to do so in mention of clothing or ornamentation. That was my thoughts on it, at least, for why eye colour or hair colour or whatever were rarely if ever mentioned.

Contrast to Warbreaker, in which colour is rather important and is set in a more colourful world, and is thus mentioned a lot.

[Comatose]

I've found all his books a refreshing break from the "[insert hair color] haired, [insert eye-colour] eyed [insert gender specific noun]" format that character description often takes.
What he does spend some time on in character description is the clothes... especially from Vin's viewpoint, although he goes into detail with elend's uniforms as well.  Are clothes more important than the looks nature gave you?  I wonder....

[Inkthinker]

In a very real sense, yes. The clothing may be unique to the setting, and have some bearing on a character's status or position in society. But unless there's something specific to point out, people are people.

So it's enough to know that Vin is petite, with short dark hair and dark eyes. Is the rest really important?

You, the reader, can fill in those details as you like and be as valid and right as the next person. Your vision of Vin is yours, and that makes your reading experience a tiny bit unique.

[Renoard]

That might be true of Vin.  But when the whole cast is left with indeterminate features, hair, eye color, and build (with the exception of Vin and our noble Pusher), it really stands out that a relatively minor character like Quellion's sister is given skin tone, hair color, clothing styles, build etc.

[Comatose]

Kelsier and Marsh are listed as blond, and Zan and Elend have brown hair I believe.   And i think Mare is described as having similar coloring to Vin.  That's the only hair descriptions I can think of right now.

As for Quellion's sister, Beldre, perhaps it depends on viewpoint.  Vin might not be the type of person who focuses on that type of thing, whereas an infatuated Spook might be.

[Rezo]

I, Michal Piotr Andziak, thoughtfully take the oath to never, under any circumstances, read any of Brandon Sanderson's works that have not been published or released to wider public in any possible way. I take the oath to never betray my Omega fellowmen.
And I shall strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.