With a character creator so in-depth as Elden Ring's, you'd be forgiven for spending altogether too much time editing and sculpting your player character until you're perfectly happy with it. You'll be playing with them for many, many hours after all.
It makes sense, then, that you'd notice it if something changed about your character, for example, the color of your eyes. There are three ways that your actions in Elden Ring can lead to this sudden cosmetic change - here's how they occur and how to revert the changes.
Draconic Eyes
This is probably the easiest example to explain - this change turns your normal eyes into yellow, almost draconic eyes. This happens after consuming a number of Dragon Hearts at either the Church or Cathedral of Dragon Communion.
The Church of Dragon Communion is located in Limgrave, on the other side of the Coastal Cave dungeon.
The Cathedral of Dragon Communion is located in the southern parts of Caelid.
Those who have performed the Dragon Communion will find their humanity slowly slipping away. Once they fully succumb to their fate, they are left no more than wyrms that crawl the earth. -Magma Breath Description
The above incantation description explains why this process happens. As you perform Dragon Communion (the act of consuming Dragon Hearts in exchange for powers), you gradually become more draconic. While this amounts to no more than a cosmetic eye change in-game, it's a neat indicator of your character's choices having consequences.
Bloodshot Eyes
Your eyes will become permanently reddened and bloodshot if you pursue White Mask Varre's sidequest. This begins at the Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes, and involves you invading a few other players and then soaking a cloth with the blood of a maiden.
These tasks are the steps you must take to become a Knight of Mohg, the Lord of Blood.
Once you've taken care of those tasks, return to Varre, and he will anoint your finger with blood in a ritual that sounds very painful.
This noble blood will be an immutable badge of honor, once it settles. Inside of you. Oh, good heavens. Clench your teeth, or something. Never forget that feeling of agony. For it is what binds you to Luminary Mogh, to all of us. Ha ha ha... You have the sweetest scream. My lambkin. -White Mask Varre
This ritual is what triggers the cosmetic change and seems to represent the noble blood settling inside you. It is possible that the anointment ritual actually has the purpose of making your blood accursed, with Mohg and therefore the knightly order that you join during this quest being associated with accursed blood.
The bloodshot eyes effect will override both your normal eye cosmetics and the draconic eyes effect. If you then remove the eye alterations with the method detailed below, you cannot get your draconic eyes back. The Frenzied eyes effect detailed below will also override the bloodshot effect, so be wary of that if you want to pursue that ending.
Frenzied Eyes
This cosmetic effect is linked to one of Elden Ring's many endings - namely, the Lord of the Frenzied Flame ending. One of the steps you must take to achieve this ending is to interact with the Three Fingers in the chasm behind Mohg, the Omen's boss arena. Their blessing will alter your eyes, bringing out a yellow, chaotic hue.
The Frenzied Flame is an Outer God who brought the flames of Chaos to the Lands Between, just like the Greater Will brought Order. The former was actually summoned in order to combat the latter, and now the Frenzied Flame seeks to destroy the Lands Between, cleansing it of the Greater Will's Golden Order. It has envoys in the Three Fingers, just as the Greater Will has the Two Fingers.
To gaze into one another's eyes is truly the most intimate form of human contact. -Inescapable Frenzy Description
Interacting with the Frenzied Flame is well-known to cause a horrific madness that affects body and mind alike ("maddening pain and unstoppable tears" -Unendurable Frenzy Description), and you can see this madness in your foes by their brightly glowing yellow eyes. It stands to reason, then, that your eyes not glowing quite as bright when you interact with the Three Fingers may imply that you have the ability to interact with the Frenzied Flame without such repercussions.
How To Get Your Eyes Back To Normal
Getting your eyes back to normal is a simple case of toggling the Eye Cosmetics option in the Detailed Face Details menu of the appearance-altering mechanic. This can be accessed in two ways:
- Speaking to Rennala after defeating her in Raya Lucaria Academy.
- Interacting with the mirror in Fia's room in the Roundtable Hold.
You will only be able to toggle the cosmetics on or off, you cannot choose between all of the cosmetic changes you've unlocked. Frenzied eyes override bloodshot eyes, which override draconic eyes.
