Misdeedin' Eyes refers to the root cause of bloodshot eyes according to an old wives tale originating in the town of Bellwether.
Origins
It's unclear who started the tale, but it's believed that it first involved a group of women who suspected their husbands of being unfaithful. The story details three women usually whose names change depending on who is telling the tale. A common combination is one that rhymes such as "Kay, Faye and May" or the first two will rhyme and the third will have a comically simplistic name that goes against the naming scheme.
The story claims that the three women would convene and discuss their anxiety over their husband's suspected infidelities. As they shared their stories, they discovered that all three men would come home with bloodshot eyes, which by itself is not an uncommon occurrence; many people have suffered from irritation in their eyes. However the wives felt the coincidence was enough to confirm their suspicions.
That night the women confronted their husbands, who denied any wrongdoing. The men vehemently denied these accusations and each told their wives in some manner that if they pressed the issue any further they'd be out on their ass.
The women reconvened the next day still certain they were right, and made a pact. Each one would attempt to seduce one of the other's husband. Their success would be undeniable proof of their husband's misdeeds.
After a week the women met again in secret, each wearing a shawl that cast a shadow over their faces. They went around the table asking if their husband had been unfaithful and each woman would say some variation of "I'm sorry my darling friends, but we were wrong, your husband is as innocent as a lamb." None of the women believe the other and an argument breaks out, in which many storytellers add their own flourishes of vulgar name calling as if they were in the room themselves. As the women claw at one another and pull at each other's hair, the shawls come loose and it is revealed they "all had bloodshot,
misdeedin' eyes!" Unlike the rest of the story, this last line never changes from storyteller to storyteller, and ultimately popularized the term "misdeedin' eyes."
Validity
Most scholars of folklore question the validity of the second half of the story, in which the wives ultimately seduce and fall for each other's husbands, taking into account the inevitability of embellishments added as the story passes from one to person to another. However most people point to the setting of the story, the town of Bellwether, as reason enough to believe the salacious details particularly after the events of the Bellwether Misery.
Evolution
While initially about infidelity, the colloquialism "misdeedin' eyes" expanded into a more universal signal of confessed sins. This thought was even encouraged by certain
Balusters who sought to increase confessions among their congregation. In this culture, blood is thought to be the source of one's temperament, and Balusters would use this to support the myth, claiming that the blood in one's eyes was betraying the truth inside, unable to bear the guilt of a person's transgressions. They likened this to another malady of the blood
Torrid Heart, and that the only treatment was through confession and turning to The Articulation for guidance.
While most people, particularly in the more metropolitan city of Goroma, use "misdeedin' eyes" as a jest, there are citizens like the ones in Bellwether, who will urge their neighbor to meet with the local Baluster should they see their eyes are red and irritated.
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