Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-12323841-20130716084813/@comment-26984208-20160215222956

Ifnsman wrote: GamerSophie wrote: The Nightingale who Barenziah slept with and is Karliah's grandfather was a Dunmer. Karliah's father could possibly be a Nord, High Elf or Breton as his race is not confirmed anywhere yet but no other race could possess purple eyes except for the Chimer, the ancestors of the Dunmer. Every Chimer we've seen have gold eyes, not purple.

As of both TESV: Skyrim & TESO, Dunmer can possess purple eyes, and it's definitely not due to the ancient Chimer.

As Karliah proves, though, purple eyes aren't a pure Dunmer trait. ESO wasn't made by Bethesda, if it was the lore would actually be accurate.