Hmm here's a promising observation to add to the optimism list http://occupythedas....he-total-number
Morning. 
I couldn't find a better pic of him that wasn't in shadow, so that may explain the eye color in DA2. Then again, Frostbite seems to do weird things to screenshots. Remember the bug where everyone's eyes where brown? I'll try to grab a better screenshot of him in good lighting.
As someone pointed out, he got more classically handsome, with the higher cheekbones, the fuller eyes, and the more expressive eyebrows.
Nice 
I'm pretty sure it's the lighting, Varric's eyes are still brownish amber as far as I can tell.
And yeah they really made him more conventionally handsome this time around, I wonder why they did that. I guess maybe it's because some of his less conventional traits actually stemmed from DA2's lack of realism and soft "watercolor" aesthetic.
I would hope it's not just because they made him a romance this time around, because they didn't need to do that if that were the case. They actually uglified Garrus a little bit in ME2 (rocket to the face and all) and people still loved him
.