History Main / EvilRedhead

* Because of the association with Judas, [[GreedyJew Shylock]] of ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' was originally portrayed as a redhead, and this was generally a common trait of GreedyJew-style villains.

* Because of the association with Judas, [[GreedyJew Shylock]] of ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' was originally portrayed as a redhead, and this was generally a common trait of "evil Jew" characters.

%%** Though she's not as evil as the other villains, [[DarkChick Karin]] could qualify as well.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': General Hux from ''Film/TheForceAwakens''. Played with, but ultimately affirmed, in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', where [[spoiler:he betrays the First Order. It's not a HeelFaceTurn, though -- he's not doing it because he wants the Resistance to win, he's doing it because he wants [[EvilVersusEvil Kylo Ren to lose]].]]
%%** Emperor Palpatine. Especially apparent in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', in which he has ginger eyebrows, probably because Creator/IanMcDiarmid is (was?) ginger in RealLife. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample)

* ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'': Ruin, the personification of entropy, chaos, and destruction -- while usually either shapeless or impersonating people -- physically manifests as a redheaded man. Notably, the mind of Ruin (separate from the power) was actually once a man named Ati, and a note in ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' indicates that Ati was a nice guy before he became bonded to the power and it warped his mind. So his evil had nothing to do with being a redhead and his physical body was essentially completely irrelevant. [[spoiler:We don't even get to see his physical form until he's already dead.]]

* Grognon from ''Graciosa and Percinet'' becomes the WickedStepmother of Graciosa and repeatedly tries to get rid of her, using methods such as ordering her to be beaten, abandoning her in the woods, and imprisoning her.

* Buddy aka Syndrome, the main villain of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', has bright red hair that's styled in a flame-esque way.

** James' fiancee (and Jessie's [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals inexplicable doppelganger]]) Jessebelle is a stronger example: She's controlling, [[WhipItGood violently abusive]], and, going by the things she keeps in the basement, has a penchant for torture, while lacking any apparent positive qualities whatsoever.

** Aaronev is a former redhead (considering someone mistook his redhaired son for him) who has killed multiple girls, including [[FridgeHorror his own daughter]], in an attempt to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051116#.VvcG_uKLTIU download the mind of his former love interest into a new body]].
** Martellus has [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130603#.VvcHTeKLTIU kidnapped Agatha and altered her bodily chemistry]] so she is forced to stay near him at all times so that he can force her to marry him, and has tried to kill Tarvek and Gil multiple times.
** Xerxsephnia [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130701#.VvcHaeKLTIU isn't quite so bad]], but is still triple-crossing Martellus, Gil, and Agatha so that she can discredit Agatha and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140502#.VvcHneKLTIU trick Gil into marrying her]].
** Tarvek is technically a protagonist but is still not exactly the best role model, having [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060526#.VvcIheKLTIU double-crossed and betrayed]] multiple protagonists and antagonists, with most of his "good" actions being [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110211#.VvcJNuKLTIU calculated to his benefit]].
** Violetta is the WhiteSheep of the family but is still a trained assassin and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110907#.VvcJ-OKLTIU isn't too shabby at political intrigue]] either.

* Amon Garam from ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' is a [[FourEyesZeroSoul a glasses-wearing villain]] who is more of a WellIntentionedExtremist in that he wanted to create a world without poverty and unfairness. However, while his intentions were pure and [[PureIsNotGood he has no inner darkness in his heart]], he still ended up betraying his own morals in order to create the ideal world he wanted, so ultimately he ended up embodying the unfairness he sought to erase by betraying and manipulating his allies.

This trope is OlderThanTheyThink -- [[red:red]] hair was supposedly a mark of a witch and favored by Satan himself. In the Balkans, people unfortunate enough to be born with red hair were said to be doomed to rise as vampires when they died, if they weren't vampires already. In some parts of Eastern Europe, babies born with red hair were once common targets of ''infanticide''.

** In an inversion, to play VillainProtagonist Walter White, Creator/BryanCranston {{dye|ingForYourArt}}d his naturally reddish hair a duller shade to represent Walt's bland existence before the character turns to a life of crime. Later in the first season, after starting down the road to evil, Walt [[BaldOfEvil shaves it all]] anyway once he starts losing hair during chemotherapy. But you can still see the red in his [[GoodHairEvilHair facial hair]], which he [[BeardOfEvil grows into a goatee]] starting in the third season.

* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': Red Skull's daughter Sin is a redhead and completely AxCrazy.

* [[Characters/XMenRoguesGalleryAToI Arcade]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* ComicBook/RedSkull's daughter Sin is a redhead and completely AxCrazy.

* [[{{Satan}} Lucifer's]] hair is red most of the time in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' and [[ComicBook/{{Lucifer}} in his own comic]]. Of course he isn't exactly evil in them, but more like a rather amoral AntiHero.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s Claire Stanfield straddles the line between this and redheaded AntiHero, as a red-headed AxCrazy Heroic Sociopath in a BlackAndGreyMorality universe. It doesn't help that he's a complete WildCard.

* Sa Sakujun from ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' is... not a nice person. He serves as a red-headed ShadowArchetype to [[TheHero Shi Ryuuki]], both being intelligent men, except Sa is willing to manipulate people if they get in their way, and has a hard time understanding the concept of caring for someone other than himself.

* ''LightNovel/DanganronpaZero'' implies that the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' series's [[spoiler:BigBad Junko Enoshima, who is obsessed with spreading despair and turned her class into a BrainwashedAndCrazy terrorist group,]] naturally has red hair and red eyes, [[spoiler:which can be seen in her [[TomatoInTheMirror Ryoko persona]]]], although [[spoiler:she normally bleaches it strawberry blonde]].

** He's not explicitly stated to be evil,[[note]]since there isn't much canon information about him[[/note]] but there's something just plain ''off'' about the Happy Mask Salesman of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''. Especially noticeable when you tell him you can't give him Majora's Mask yet. [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda The manga adaptation]] implies that he orchestrated the events of the story for unknown purposes.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': [[spoiler:Diavolo, the boss of Passione, has pink hair and is the Part's BigBad.]]

** There are quite a few members of the Charlotte family with varying shades of red: Oven and Basskarte have fire-colored hair, Katakuri has maroon hair, Cinnamon and Mobile are dark brunettes, twin sisters Galette and Poire are fuschia-haired, and Marnier's hair has darker/lighter red-violet colors. All of them are fanatically loyal to their pink-haired mother, Big Mom/Charlotte Linlin, a ruthless pirate queen who, whenever she craves something, goes on a hunger rampage during which she destroys everything and kills everyone until she gets it.

** Eustass Kidd, who starts [[spoiler:[[AxeCrazy impaling people with glee]] once he's in the New World]].
** Gekko Moriah also fits this trope, being the main antagonist of the [[Recap/OnePieceThrillerBarkArc Thriller Bark arc]], or at least in his original coloring in the manga. [[AdaptationDyeJob The anime gave him purple hair.]]

** There are quite a few members of the Charlotte family with varying shades of red: Oven and Basskarte have fire-colored hair, Katakuri has maroon hair, Cinnamon and Mobile are dark brunettes, twin sisters Galette and Poire are fuschia-haired, and Marnier's hair has darker/lighter red-violet colors. All of them are fanatically loyal to their mother, Big Mom/Charlotte Linlin, a ruthless pirate queen who, whenever she craves something, goes on a hunger rampage during which she destroys everything and kills everyone until she gets it.

* ''Film/TheSchoolForGoodAndEvil'': Lady Lesso of the School for Evil is a red head. She even tortures Sophie's hair with an axe.

%%** The Stars arc[=/=]Sailor Stars season's Akane Karasuma, aka Sailor Lead Crow. Also a DarkSkinnedRedhead.

%%** The shape-changing ComicBook/{{Mystique}}, whose default body is a combination of [[DarkSkinnedRedhead blue skin and red hair]].

* Subverted with The Hex Girls from ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost''. Thorn's black hair is highlighted red and Luna is a DarkSkinnedRedhead. Shaggy and Scooby originally fear that they're evil vampires, but it turns out they're just [[DarkIsNotEvil normal]] {{Perky Goth}}s.

* Played with by Kyouko in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. She's the only redhead in the cast, and is easily the most amoral and violent, but Sayaka's influence causes her to evolve into more of an AntiHero. She was originally [[spoiler:an overtly heroic person like Sayaka, until her DealWithTheDevil convinced her religious father that she was an evil witch, and he killed himself and the rest of her family]]. After that, she decided to be completely selfish to avoid hurting people she cared about... by not having any.

** Before ComicBook/LexLuthor started sporting a BaldOfEvil, he was a FieryRedhead. Why he's bald depends on the continuity you're reading or watching. Pre-Crisis a lab accident made him go bald and he blamed Superboy, later incarnations don't really give a reason why he's a chrome dome. This is best exemplified in the Post-''VideoGame/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' relaunch, where he at one point [[ContinuityLockout pretended to be his own son while he was living in a clone body]], and he was [[https://filmschoolrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0cXrH7Y5ju2Y8IOez.jpeg red haired alllllll over]].

%%* Ashnod the Uncaring, from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''. (Admiistrivia/ZeroContextExample)

* ''Toys/MonsterHigh'': AlphaBitch catgirl, Toralei Stripes. Her crowning moment is stealing Cleo's routine at fearleadig camp as revenge for not being allowed to rejoin the school team after walking out on it.

* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'': Potentially subverted in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''. Late in the game, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Zelos Wilder was a spy all along]]. However, just prior the boss fight, [[spoiler:he defects back to the heroes' side]]. If you choose to talk to Kratos in an event prior to this revelation, though, [[spoiler:you kill Zelos instead and Kratos takes his place]].

* Bob, of ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', is a ''literal'' fiery redhead: His hair is red, his powers are fire-based, and when he's really pissed off, his hair tends to burst into flames. His place in the comic tends to swing between HeroicComedicSociopath and outright villain.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', pretty much the entire extended Valois family have been seen to have the same shade of red hair. Although not all of them are quite as evil as others, most fall into this category one way or another just because of their scheming and backstabbing. Out of the confirmed redheads:

** While he's only made a few appearances in the comic, the Norse deity Loki is a literal FieryRedhead and identified as being ChaoticEvil. On the other hand, he [[AffablyEvil seems pretty nice]] and [[FriendlyEnemy gets along well with Thor]].

* One ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' customer refuses to be served by a waitress wearing a pentagram necklace. The (black-haired) waitress goes to the back, removes the necklace and comes to find the customer all smiles, going on about that horrid red-haired heathen who just tried to serve them. [[HenpeckedHusband The customer's husband]] just looks tired, evidently going through this scene any time they eat out.