[[quoteright:267:http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blondRapnuzel.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:267:{{Rapunzel}}, like most FairyTale heroines, is illustrated with HairOfGold]]
->''Well I keep on thinkin' 'bout you\\
Sister Golden Hair surprise\\
And I just can't live without you\\
Can't you see it in my eyes?''\\
— '''America'''

The character is a blonde. Therefore, obviously, she is [[BeautyEqualsGoodness beautiful]], [[IncorruptiblePurePureness good]], young and innocent. Sweet, wholesome, kind, and feminine tend to be included, and the innocence can range up to VirginPower.

Men falling under this trope are [[BlondGuysAreEvil rarer]], but the blond hero can also have Hair of Gold. Such a hero is more action-oriented than the HairOfGold heroine, but he is also [[TheHero good]], wholesome, kind to those weaker than himself, [[ThinkNothingOfIt modest]], and prone to be the ChasteHero or CelibateHero.

A prevalent trope wherever blond hair occurs naturally in the population. (Where it does not, EvilForeigner tends to trump the color.) Since hair tends to darken with age, blondness does correlate with youth, and [[ChildrenAreInnocent the innocence is correlated with that]]. Fiction runs with this so that the women are ColourCodedForYourConvenience.

Often [[{{Foil}} contrasted with]] a dark-haired heroine -- as the Betty in a BettyAndVeronica, the GirlNextDoor compared to the FemmeFatale, the DamselInDistress rather than TheVamp, the CountryMouse instead of the CityMouse -- or just lacking the brunette's JadeColoredGlasses. A [[FieryRedhead redhead]] may also [[{{Foil}} contrast]], and [[HeroesWantRedHeads serve as a rival]], though she will likely be more [[ActionGirl action-oriented]] than the blonde. She tends to be the younger of the pair; this is even more likely to be true for the male version.

The blonde's youth may also make her more naive than her counterpart, which can, but does not have to, slide into the DumbBlonde. On the other hand, she may regard studying and doing well in school as part of her responsibilities, and so perform better than her dark-haired and irresponsible {{Foil}}.

Victorian literature would also use it to portray her as delicate and fragile, if not actually the IllGirl -- being, of course, TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth. This part would be a DiscreditedTrope if it were not a ForgottenTrope. An interesting point is that this usually isn't true everywhere: Most scandinavian stuff seems to connect the IllGirl stereotype with dark hair.

The trope generally presumes blond is the natural color, since the correlation with youth no longer holds once dye is used. Indeed, this may drive this trope's interchange with BlondesAreEvil, a deeply CyclicTrope.

When blondes are natural, blondness does correlate with youth and so is attractive. Women therefore dye their hair blond. But after a critical mass of blondes have dyed hair, it no longer correlates with youth. And it certainly doesn't correlate with innocence; the honest brunette who does not dye her hair, perhaps because she is not scheming to get a man, appears more innocent. Therefore blond hair dye falls out of fashion and then blondes are once again mostly natural blondes and so the correlation recurs -- restarting the cycle.

When the cycle is on Hair of Gold, lack of blond hair may convince a woman or girl that she is not beautiful -- leading to BeautifulAllAlong.

Women with Hair of Gold are also prone to BlueEyes, or GrayEyes (though this is less common in more recent times). This contains a certain amount of TruthInTelevision, but it is exaggerated in fiction. They also tend to have voices in the soprano range.

For even lighter hair, see WhiteHairedPrettyGirl.

All inversions belong in BlondesAreEvil.

Not all blondes belong in this list. Not even all good blondes. If the character does not match the personality type, she does not have Hair of Gold and should be listed only if she exploits the expectation.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* ''{{Naruto}}''.
* The titular Candy in ''CandyCandy''.
* SailorMoon and Sailor Venus
* Princess Fala / Allura in ''GoLion'' / ''{{Voltron}}''.
* Urara Kasugano, also known as Cure Lemonade, from ''YesPrecure5''.
* DigimonFrontier's Izumi/Zoe Orimoto.
* Janine from Animerica symbolizes this in every purest form imaginable, making her a direct contrast to not just her LoveInterest but to the black-haired [[ActionGirl Lita]] and the red-headed [[TheRival Malin]]. In fact, just about every blonde (except for Takuya and Shirogane) in the series symbolizes this.
* Vivio of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. The [[CheerfulChild young, cheerful]], MysteriousWaif adopted daughter of the main character.
** Fate too, who even during her tenure as a DarkMagicalGirl, was depicted to be kind and innocent to the point of {{Love Martyr}}dom.
* Kotori in ''{{X1999}}''.
* Nia from {{Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann}}
* Several girls from MahouSenseiNegima, most notably Evangeline, and [[spoiler: Arika, Negi's mother.]]
* All ''kirin'' in the series TheTwelveKingdoms, with one notable exception. Even the exception fits the trope's personality.
* {{Soul Eater}} has a very interesting version with its girls: Maka Albarn's blonde hair has hints of silver (and she is the wisest), Liz Thompson has a caramel blonde coloring (she is the most jaded, though remains optimistic), and Patti Thompson has cornsilk coloring and is the sweetest and most idealistic of the three. Justin Law at first seems to follow this, being a chaste [[spoiler: (or so we think)]], young deathscythe. [[BlondGuysAreEvil Unfortunately]]...
* Saber in ''FateStayNight''.
* [[ProjectAKo C-ko]] was described in one of the original Japanese promos as "innocence personified."
* Not even a demon can find much fault in [[{{Kuroshitsuji}} Elizabeth]]. Even if in a recent chapter [[spoiler: she probably lost any VirginPower she might have had]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ballads ]]

* Many {{Child Ballad}}s describe the hero or heroine as having "yellow hair", at least in some variants:
** ''[[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch010.htm The Twa Sisters]]'' -- it is, in fact, used to string the harp.
** ''[[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch076.htm The Lass of Roch Royal]]''
** ''[[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch296.htm Walter Lesley]]'' belies his yellow hair; the heroine knows he married her for her money and wishes he had not "for a’ his yellow hair;"
** Fair Janet in ''TamLin''
** In ''Sir Patrick Spens'', the ladies may wait "Kembing down their yellow hair,"
* In some variants of ''[[http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/f/famflowe.html Famous Flower of Serving Men]]'', both the heroine's loves: the murdered husband ("And don't you think that her heart was sore as she laid the mould on his yellow hair") and the king (" they tangled all in his yellow hair")

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Susan Storm Richards of the Comicbook/FantasticFour
* Both versions of {{Supergirl}} and her stand-in, Power Girl
* {{Flare}} and her younger sister, Sparkplug
* Blond hair is very common in MarvelComics due to inking -- the easiest colors were blond (just use yellow), black and red. Red hair tended to go to [[HeroesWantRedHeads female love interests]]; black hair was somewhat more likely to go to bystanders and villains; brown hair, as it involved mixed inks, was fairly rare. Naturally, by now this isn't an issue, but characters who've been around since the 1960s [[GrandfatherClause keep their old colors]].
** Consider Comicbook/TheAvengers: Out of the early roster, Hank Pym, Thor and Captain America were all blonds. In [[FanNickname Cap's]] case, this trope fully applies: He's wholesome, is a good man and [[http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4685748.html blushes]] at praise, but in others it really makes little difference.
*** Speaking of Avengers - The Sentry also has HairOfGold, and keeps his long, in order to stand out amongst the other Blonde heroes (except for Thor, but he was dead at the time...)
* Betty Cooper in ArchieComics

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Following the frequent book descriptions as 'fair-haired', in the two most recent film adaptations of ''PrideAndPrejudice'', the prettiest (and [[WideEyedIdealist most innocent]]) daughter, Jane, is a blonde. She isn't a blonde in the 1940s film, though.
* Dale Arden in some films of FlashGordon
* AlfredHitchcock tended to cast blond women as the heroines of his films, as he thought audiences would be more suspicious of brunettes.
**[[AuthorAppeal Of course, there are other theories.]]
* Buttercup in ''ThePrincessBride'' fills both this role and that of the DumbBlonde (but is even stupider in the book).
** Westley is this trope in male form.
* In the latest film adaptation of ''SweeneyTodd'', Johanna is ''definitely'' one of these, fitting the innocent, [[TheIngenue child-womanish]] category almost to a T.
** Both the movie and the stage play made a big deal of this. Johanna got this from her mother Lucy, who is described by Sweeney as "beautiful" and "virtuous" at the start of the whole thing, if something of a "silly little nit" according to Mrs. Lovett. Of course, in the stage play, [[spoiler:Johanna gets one of the two kills that Sweeney doesn't get when she guns down the asylum keeper Jonas Fogg]].
* Grace Kelly in ''HighNoon''. Initially portrayed as innocent and naive, she proves to be the only person willing to help her husband fight the villains.
* SonjaHenie is like this in her films.
* [[StarWars Luke Skywalker]], of course! Idealistic and able to see the goodness in most everyone; [[TheMessiah this personality trait]] is pointed out fairly often in the ExpandedUniverse, and a LOT in fanfic. His four known descendants, however ([[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ben_Skywalker two]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kol_Skywalker redheaded]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nat_Skywalker two]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cade_Skywalker blond]]), decidedly don't fit this trope, and instead wear JadeColoredGlasses.
** [[IncrediblyLamePun Just like the other half of Ben's parentage]]
*** I was trying to avoid that...

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Folklore ]]

* TheFairFolk found blond hair so attractive that both babies and women with this color of hair were much more likely to be taken.
* Occasional {{fairy tale}}s explicitly describe the heroines as blond in the text, such as ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/2myrtle1911.html The Myrtle]]'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/goosegirl/index.html The Goose Girl]]'' and ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/aulnoy/1892/fairgoldilocks.html Fair Goldilocks]]''. But Victorian illustrators would depict them as blond except when they were explicitly described as not blond in the text. Which is to say, SnowWhite didn't get drawn as blond (and sometimes even she does).
* Goldilocks combines both the innocence and the [[DumbBlonde folly]] associated with blond hair.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In George Eliot's ''Silas Marner'', Silas finds Eppie, a little blond girl, asleep on his hearth. At first he mistakes her blond hair for gold stolen from him, and this plays into his decision that he will raise her.
* In ''Gosick'', Victorica's hair is mentioned a lot. It's blond.
* In the ''HisDarkMaterials'' series, the mostly evil [[spoiler:Mrs Coulter]] has black hair, and the always good [[spoiler:witch Serafina Pekkala]] has blond hair. This was [[BlondesAreEvil reversed]] in the film.
* In CSLewis's ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', the innocent Lucy, who first finds Narnia and is closest to Aslan, is described (near the end of the first novel) as having blond hair. However, the illustrations by Pauline Baynes show her with black hair and pigtails. She is also dark-haired in the movie versions.
* ''LittleWomen'': Graceful and womanly Amy is the only March sister with blonde hair; [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry her opposite]], Jo, has [[HeroesWantRedheads auburn hair]] -- appropriate, since they become Laurie's BettyAndVeronica. In ''Little Men'' and ''Jo's Boys'', PuritySue Bess inherits her mother's dazzling, mesmerizing, shimmering blonde hair, reminding Dan of the blonde heroine of a heroic epic.
* ''AliceInWonderland'' and ''Through the Looking Glass'' illustrations show Alice as blond, over LewisCarroll's objections, as the original Alice actually was dark-haired.
* Frances Hodgson Burnett's ''ALittlePrincess'' invokes this. The heroine's convinced that she's unattractive ("I am one of the ugliest children I ever saw"), because she doesn't have dimples and golden curls, even though the narrator assures us that she is "a slim, supple little creature" and has "big, wonderful eyes with long black lashes".
** Which makes it pretty ironic that in one of the movie versions she was played by Shirley Temple.
** In ''TheSecretGarden'', Mary has "yellow" hair, but it's played as ugly, stringy and sickly-looking, often mentioned in conjunction with her sallow skin. Presumably this changes after she learns to play outdoors and gets healthier.
* TamoraPierce consciously averts this. She has stated that none of her heroines are blonde precisely because of this trope, and in ''Song of the Lioness'', the blond woman, Josiane, is the evil one.
** Many heroines later, she's finally relented with the ''Provost's Dog'' books -- Beka has dark blond hair.
* In The Clique novels, Claire Lyons has light blond hair, and is the nicest member of the Pretty Commitee.
* In DanAbnett's GauntsGhosts novel ''Ghostmaker'', the [[GoodIsNotNice benevolent if not nice]] [[OrWasItADream angel (or hallucination)]] that appears to Larkins has Hair Of Gold.
-->''her silver-gold tresses fell to waist length''
* "[[LesMiserables For her dowry, Fantine had gold and she had pearls]], [[HeroicBastard but the gold was on her head and the pearls were in her mouth.]]"
* Also LesMiserables: [[RebelLeader Enjolras]]. Just...Enjolras. "[[ImprobableHairstyle ...his fair hair waved backwards]] [[PurpleProse like that of the angel upon his sombre car of stars, it was the mane of a startled lion flaming with a halo...]]"
*Oh, Lucie Manette from ATaleofTwoCities. Just...Lucie. Heck, CharlesDickens makes it a symbol!
* Jane of ''Dick and Jane'', the baby sister Sally, and Mother all had blond hair.
* Queen Ehlana, ruler of Elenia in the DavidEddings ''Elenium'' novels, is described has having a "wealth" of golden hair. The trope is inverted in the same series by her aunt, Princess Arissa, who has equally blonde hair and is TheVamp.
* Elayne Trakand from the Wheel of Time series has a mass of 'sunburst' curls
* Lady Amalthea, in ''The Last Unicorn'', has white-blonde hair. Justified, however, in that she's the human form of the titular last unicorn, who is white.
* {{Dragaera}}'s Empress Zerika has golden hair.
-->'''Vlad Taltos''': "...and if I'd meant 'blond' I would have ''said'' 'blond.'"
** Speculation backed by [[http://www.speakeasy.org/~mamandel/Cracks-and-Shards/characteristics.html#gold substantial evidence]] suggests Zerika's House's official color is gold.
* ''Pelléas and Mélisande'': Mélisande has golden hair so long that from a tower window it reaches the earth.
* This is very common for the heroines of Roman-era Greek novels, including the female lead of ''Theagenes and Chariclea,'' despite the fact that she's [[ButNotTooBlack an Ethiopian princess]].
* In Jim Butcher's DresdenFiles novel ''Grave Peril'', two vampires' dangerousness is contrasted with their HairOfGold, their BlueEyes, and their [[WomanInWhite tennis whites]].
* Both Laurana and Goldmoon in the {{Dragonlance}} books are beautiful blonde princessess (elf and barbarian human respectively). The former was naive and self absorbed to the point of being an airhead while the latter was a haughty ice queen worshipped as a goddess by her tribe. They both grew out of it into an ActionGirl and TheMessiah respectively.
* In JamesSwallow's {{Warhammer 40000}} BloodAngels novel ''Deus Encarmine'', Arkio's blond hair makes him look like their primarch, along with his courage and his leadership. Which is part and parcel of why they accept him as the Reborn Angel. [[spoiler:A Chaos-inspired lie.]]
* In Sonnet 68, WilliamShakespeare speaks of the GoodOldWays, as it used to be:
-->''Before the golden tresses of the dead,\\
[[DueToTheDead The right of sepulchres]], were shorn away,\\
To live a second life on second head;''
* ''HarryPotter'' has Fleur's silvery-blond veela hair and Luna's long, tangled blond {{Cloudcuckoolander}} hair.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* The girls of ''TheBradyBunch'':
--->"All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls."
* ''{{Bewitched}}''
*Gabrielle in ''XenaWarriorPrincess'', even to the point where her hair got darker for a while as her character became less innocent.
* ''IDreamOfJeannie''
* ''{{Sabrina the Teenage Witch}}'' (also animation and comics, of course)
* Evie in ''{{Out of this World}}''.
* ''SamanthaWho?''
* Kes in ''[[StarTrekVoyager Star Trek: Voyager]]''.
** Seven of Nine, after she becomes a member of the ''Voyager'' crew, might also be considered an example due to her social inexperience.
* ''{{Lizzie McGuire}}''
* Inverted in DoctorWho with the Sixth Doctor, who had curly blonde hair, and yet was the most [[AntiHero anti-heroic]] incarnation.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mythology ]]

* Thor's wife, Sif, had golden hair. Indeed, after Loki mischievously cut it off, she had literal golden hair, made by the dwarfs. Of course, she was wasn't so much pure and innocent as [[HotChickWithASword badass]].
* Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. In the 2005 film ''{{Troy}}'', she is played by the blond and blue-eyed Diane Kruger, who is a former model.
** In some versions of the myth, Helen was described as blond (as was Achilles) because of the connotations of exoticism.
* Aphrodite/Venus is also frequently depicted with blond hair.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* In ''Non Sequitur'', the blond Kate is the more optimistic and less ambitious {{Foil}} to her black-haired sister, Danae.
* In ''{{Peanuts}}'', Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally, fits this trope. When accused of "evading responsibility" by her brother, she responded with, "I don't know what you're talking about...I'm too young and innocent."
* Cookie Bumstead, if not {{Blondie}} herself.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Puppetry ]]

* Prairie Dawn of ''SesameStreet''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* {{Warhammer 40000}}: the primarch Sanguinius, blond, {{Bishonen}}, good -- if [[UnstoppableRage fierce]]. (Remember GoodIsNotNice.)

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Toys ]]

* Polly Pocket
* {{Barbie}} and her sisters, teen Skipper, preteen Stacie, toddler Kelly, and baby Krissy, not to mention her [[CaptainErsatz Captain Ersatz]] Cindy.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Colette from ''TalesOfSymphonia'', [[BeyondTheImpossible hardcore]] [[TheFool foolish]] [[TheMessiah Messiah]] {{Pollyanna}} LoveFreak.
** ''Dawn of the New World'' had the male variety in Emil.
** Speaking of the male variety, don't forget about Flynn from ''TalesOfVesperia''.
* Princess Peach, as a playable character in the following games:
** ''SuperMarioBros. 2''
** ''MarioParty'' series
** Mario sports games
** ''SuperPrincessPeach''
* Many portrayals of [[TheLegendOfZelda Link and Zelda]] have blond hair.
* Thyra the Valkyrie in ''{{Gauntlet}}''
* Angel Trainee Flonne from {{Disgaea}}
* Guy Cecil from TalesOfTheAbyss--the [[IdiotHero (idiot) hero's]] best friend and confidant. He's also pretty skilled with a blade.
* From the MegaMan metaseries comes the following
** ''Game/MegaMan'': Roll and Kalinka (from MegaMan 4)
** ''MegaManX'': Zero
** ''MegaManLegends'': Roll Caskett
** ''MegaManBattleNetwork'': Roll.EXE and Yai Ayano
** ''MegaManZero'': Zero, Ciel and Alouette
** ''MegaManZX'': Prairie and Girouette
** ''MegaManStarForce'': Luna Platz and Harp Note
* Although several ''SoulCalibur'' characters have blonde hair, Siegfried, [[{{ActionMom}} Sophitia]] and, to a lesser extent, Cassandra (who is more of a DumbBlonde) fit this trope perfectly.
* EVA and the Boss from ''MetalGearSolid 3.''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Lily in ''AfterLily''
* TheBlondeMarvel
* {{Dasien}}
* Dawn Jacobson in ''[[http://www.dawnsdictionarydrama.com/ Dawn's Dictionary Drama]]'', though she is sometimes a DumbBlonde
* TroperWorks/TheEasyBreather
* [[http://www.drunkduck.com/NewGirl/ NewGirl]]
* [[http://picklegirl.comicgenesis.com/ Pickle Girl]]
* Princess Christi in ''ThePrincessPlanet''
* Penny in ''[[http://redshine.comicgenesis.com/ Starcommand]]''
* ''[[http://redstitchpress.comicgenesis.com/ Taña, Island Princess]]''
** Also Giada in the [[BSideComics B-Side Comic]], "Get Your Boyfriend Back"
* Agatha Clay, ''GirlGenius''. (Her hair does seem to be turning more strawberry blonde as time goes by, but the trope still holds.) Of course, she inherited the color from her mother, [[BlondesAreEvil who is a questionable sort, to say the least]]...
* Miranda in ''[[http://imaginaryfriends.sugaryserials.com/2008/04/11/2008-04-11_imaginaryfriends-01/ Imaginary Friends Forever]]''
* Julie Ann Carey in ''AptitudeTest''
* Invoked in ''Series/NoRestForTheWicked'' as proof that a prince has too high standards, [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04i-01.html here]].
* [[http://www.ladystar.net/ajanwarriors/ Jessica Hoshi]]
* Angela in ''[[PunchAnPie Punch an' Pie]]''
* Shanna in ''[[http://plasticgurl.com/ Plastic: The Webcomic]]''
* Cwen in ''[[http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest Cwen's Quest]]'' (subverted, since while she is not evil, she is also not very kind, innocent or feminine!)
* Jane Aurum (aka [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=124081 "Goldie"]]) in EverydayHeroes.
* Bob Smithson in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob''
* Lil in ''{{Liltoon}}''
* Stasia in ''MarryMe''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Averis Rystendale in ''[[http://www.schoolforadventurers.com/ School for Adventurers]]''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Disney is often accused of favoring blondes, even though the majority of Disney heroines are brunettes, and its animated films haven't had a blond female lead since 1985.
** Aurora from ''SleepingBeauty'' is a straight example, her golden hair being a gift from a fairy.
** {{Cinderella}} was actually titian haired in the original film, but merchandise usually makes her hair bright yellow. The [[RetCon re-mastered edition]] changed it to match the merchandise, as well as making her once silver dress light blue, to the annoyance of Disney purists.
** Tinker Bell, but ''only'' in the DisneyFairies franchise. In ''PeterPan'' she is definitely not innocent.
** Gadget from ''ChipAndDaleRescueRangers''.
* {{Hanna-Barbera}} gave us ''ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'', ''JanaOfTheJungle'', ''[[http://www.toonarific.com/show_pics.php?show_id=3936 Wildfire]]'', Callie Briggs from ''SwatKats'', and the animated feature ''HeidisSong''.
* ''SheRaPrincessOfPower''
* ''RainbowBrite''
* ''LadyLovelyLocks''
* Goldie Gold of ''GoldieGoldAndActionJack''
* Princess Melisande of ''The Flight of Dragons'' is a rather Disneyfied version of the trope.
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<<|AlwaysFemale|>>
<<|HairTropes|>>
<<|AmazingTechnicolorIndex|>>
<<|GoodnessTropes|>>