Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fiery Redhead / Literature

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carrotsaogg.png
Examples of Fiery Redhead in literature.
  • 'Red' Blaze from the Civil War and Floating Outfit novels of J.T. Edson. Blaze is the most hotheaded and impetuous of Edson's heroes.
  • Abominable. Stephanie mentions the redhead Finn's hot temper right off the bat, right before we get to see his response to Timothy trying to pick a fight with him. He flash steps right up to Timothy, delivers a quick Badass Boast that doubles as a death threat, calls the grown man an insolent child, and then tells the guy to get out of his sight.
    Jeremy: Bit of a temper, huh?
  • Felicity of the American Girls Collection is a spunky, spritely redhead colonial girl, full of energy and independence.
  • Angel Child, Dragon Child: Ut's first impression of Raymond is "a boy with fire-colored hair," and he is the first student to start bullying her on her first day of school.
  • Anne of Green Gables: Justified with Anne Shirley, whose temper was at its fieriest when she was teased about her red hair (being one of the few characters whose fire is connected to their coloring). She chewed out the neighborhood busybody and also responded to being called "Carrots" by breaking her slate over a schoolmate's head. Nobody ever teased her about her red hair again, after the social snubbing Gilbert got for five or so years. Ironically, they end up marrying. note  Anne never quite gets over her dislike of her red hair. She didn't even like it when her children inherited it. When Jem is born and the nurse tells her his hair will be red, Gilbert reports to Marilla that "Anne is furious with her, and I'm tickled to death!"
  • The Art of Starving has the protagonist Matt, as a result of being bullied for being gay, having to live in a close-minded town, his mother being in danger of losing her job and most recently, his sister suddenly running away and not telling him the reason why. Besides his snarky attitude, he has a serious vengeful/obsessive streak that serves as the main drive of the novel.
  • The Ashtown Burials series by N.D. Wilson has the reddish-brown-haired Diana Boone. She doesn't have a particularly quick temper, but she is a skilled warrior and ace pilot, and you don't want to be on the wrong side of her when she does get angry.
  • Ce'Nedra from David Eddings's Belgariad. Not just her husband Belgarion, not just their royal court, the entire kingdom of Riva is focused on keeping the flame-tressed Queen Ce'Nedra happy. Because the alternative is just too grisly to contemplate.
  • Ben and Me: Red, a mouse who accompanies Thomas Jefferson in the same way Amos does Benjamin Franklin, has reddish fur and a passionate temperament that can erupt in rhetoric or in physical confrontation.
  • The redhead Bronwyn in Bronwyn's Bane. Living with a serious curse increases her anger management issues.
  • The princesses of A Brother's Price are all noted for having red hair, referred to as "the royal red" at a few points. Each princess has a different personality and none are exactly mercurial, but strength and passion are part of all of them.
  • Referenced and inverted in The Catcher in the Rye. The protagonist mentions that redheaded people are supposed to get mad easily, however he notes that his brother Allie was very calm and nice.
  • Margot Maynard in Elinor M Brent-Dyer's Chalet School series. Her hair is constantly described as 'reddish-gold' and she has an absolutely rotten temper, which she blames on her 'demon'. She tries to control it, but it often gets the better of her, culminating in her nearly killing a girl with a bookend in The Chalet School Triplets. Her cousin Sybil Russell also qualifies, at least as a child, until an accident with a kettle and her younger sister has a drastic effect on her personality.
  • Ditto with Tris, a redhead in Tammy's Circle of Magic series. She's very prickly from years of verbal abuse and abandonment. She does eventually warm up to her new friends, but she's still quick to sarcasm and doesn't tolerate fools gladly.
  • The Crimson Shadow: Though she hides it most of the time, red-haired Katerin is quick-tempered and does not take disrespect toward her well. It tends to be tranquil fury.
  • The main protagonist of the Cronus Chronicles, the redhead Charlotte is the grumpy variety.
  • Kotori from Date A Live fits, being both highly energetic and passionate as Shidou's sister, and having a temper as the Commmander. We find out she has fire powers later also.
  • The main character of the Dear America book A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska complains about everything about her looks except her red hair. At one point, she suddenly remembered that she was her mother's fiery redhead and started yelling at her ungrateful husband with a list of the things she does for him.
  • Dirty Pair has Kei, who makes up the tomboy half of the Lovely Angels and is known for her hair-trigger temper and her itchier trigger finger.
  • The redheaded Fire-witches in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles deserve special mention: when they get angry enough (which is often), their hair explodes.
  • Played with in the Fortunes of War books in regards to Sarda, the principal Vulcan character. His hair has a coppery color and luster, and due to his lack of training in the mental disciplines needed for fine emotional control, he is much more emotional than a Vulcan would normally be, although in comparison to the non-Vulcan characters he's fairly subdued.
  • Nami from Full Metal Panic!, who encompasses most of the cliches that go with it. Hot tempered, passionate about what she does, outgoing, and fiery...the only thing is that, she's not nearly as violent as Tsundere Kaname and, more often than not, actually tries to be gentle and nice around Sousuke, the guy she likes. This might have something to do with the fact that, in the novels' description of her appearance, she doesn't have red hair — her hair is described as "brown and unkempt". Despite this, the novels' illustrations depict her with red hair anyway.
  • Red in Aaron Allston's Galatea in 2-D; not only does Penny play Women Are Wiser in their Battle Couple, when Penny is dying and only their boss can save her, Red clearly has to fight to keep begging him to do so instead of attacking him.
  • Pepper from Good Omens is a hot-headed, outspoken, tomboyish young girl who is said to be the most formidable fighter out of the gang of children known as "The Them". War, the red Biker of the Apocalypse and Pepper's Evil Counterpart, might also count. She is usually more low-key and seductive, but pumps up her hamminess levels as the end of the world approaches.
  • Go to Sleep (A Jeff the Killer Rewrite): Randy's hair is dyed red, and he's infamous for having a violent temper.
  • Inverted with Mikuru Asahina from Haruhi Suzumiya; she has red hair, but she's a Shrinking Violet who has problems standing up for herself. Her future self is much more competent and self-confident, but she's still not very fiery.
  • Harry Potter: The Weasley family all have red hair and are passionate about standing up for their beliefs and protective of their loved ones.
  • Hetty in Hetty Feather frequently defies her matrons at the Hospital and famously manages to get locked away in the Punishment Room after allegedly assaulting her teacher.
  • High School D×D: Subverted with Rias Gremory. Normally, she's overall rather level-headed and seldom raises her voice even when she's serious. She does, however, bring this out when it comes with Issei, but even then she does grow out of it to an extent later in the series.
  • Jessie in High Society by Ben Elton. Her hair colour (dark auburn/reddish-brown) is referred to only once but combined with her strong personality, she is an obvious example of this trope.
  • I, Robot has engineer Mike Donovan, described as possessed of perpetually unkempt red hair, a short temper, and a generally Hot-Blooded personality, in contrast to his calmer dark-haired work partner Gregory Powell.
  • In Death series: Feeney has ginger hair. He may seem rather calm, but he can be explosive when he's angry.
  • Light a Penny Candle: Aisling's hair is described as "carroty", and she has a ferociously hot temper, lashing out at Johnny when he refuses to commit to her
  • Herrenna the Henna-Haired Harridan, a side character in The Light Fantastic has red hair (per her title) and absolutely no patience or pity for either Rincewind or Twoflower. Oh, and she has a very big sword.
  • Love Letters to the Dead: Hannah has bright red locks, and is the most fervent of the bunch.
  • Scarlet from The Lunar Chronicles is an ever-angry gunslinger who gets quite annoyed whenever anyone makes the genius connection to her name and her hair. She was raised in France by her badass grandma, who taught her to shoot, after all.
  • A Mage's Power: The Bladi Clan is Playing with a Trope. They all have red hair as a dominant trait but their temperaments vary.
    • Basilard is only fierce in battle. Otherwise he's mellow.
    • Mia is closer to Rose-Haired Sweetie with her kind nature
    • Raki is a rude and aggressive dual wielder.
  • Malediction Trilogy: Cecile de Troyes has just turned seventeen. Her hair is very red, she is outspoken and passionate, she cannot tolerate injustice - and has a tendency towards bouts of temper.
  • Kristen Börstrom from MARZENA is a Swedish redhead ex-cop turned into super killer assassin. Although red is not her natural color, it does seem to match her temper.
  • The redheaded Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments is easily upset and often lashes out at people.
  • Murder for the Modern Girl: Ruby has stark red hair and is a highly outspoken, snarky, independent girl who actively seeks justice against those who harm women alongside being very determined to take down the criminal organization run by Dennis Ferry.
  • Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation gives us Eris Grayrat, a very violent and despicable redhaired Ojou. She ends up being called Mad Dog because her violent episodes are famous among people. She slowly improves her attitude over the story but remains with a fiery personality.
  • Mythic Misadventures: Alcie is depicted with red hair and is by far the brashest, loudest, and most hot-tempered of her friend group. A Magical Profanity Filter had to be put in place to keep the series PG when she goes off on one of her rants!
  • In the short story "Nobody Here But—", protagonist Cliff Anderson is deeply in love with his red-haired girlfriend Mary Ann but does not quite have the courage to ask her to marry him. Throughout the story, Cliff talks about how wonderful Mary Ann is, but always amends his statement with "but she does have red hair;" she acts feisty and aggressive because that is how girls with red hair act.
  • Of Fire and Stars: Mare is a stubborn, hot-tempered and rebellious redhead.
  • Randle Patrick McMurphy, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is a hot-tempered redhead with a history of assault convictions.
  • Our Australian Girl: Nellie will call her employer's children spalpeens, argue with a priest and yell at Cook. She, of course, has red hair.
  • Simona Ahrnstedt gives us the redhead Beatrice Löwenström in her debut novel Överenskommelser. She's intelligent, competent, and assertive. But alas, many people in this era (the 1880s) prefer quiet and subservient women. And being at the mercy of her abusive uncle, who bullies her into a marriage with a man, who treats women like dirt under his shoes, she finds that out the hard way. But she's not afraid to call her oppressors out on what creeps they are, even if that only makes them even angrier with her...
  • Redhead Cate Hendrickson of Paradise Rot fits the bill. Sarcastic and Irish as it is possible to be.
  • Discussed in Patience and Sarah. When trying to give Sarah Lessons in Sophistication, Patience pretends to be a man talking to Sarah. One of the comments this hypothetical man says is that he doesn't like Patience because she's too plump for him, he doesn't like her brown eyes, and her red hair is a turn-off because redheads have a "mean disposition every time". Patience herself isn't an example because she's mild-mannered.
  • Rachel Elizabeth Dare from Percy Jackson and the Olympians has red hair. She is also very opinionated and once threw a hairbrush at Kronos. Although it's never lampshaded, even her initials spell R.E.D.
  • Phineas Finn and other novels by Anthony Trollope include the character of Lord Chiltern (aka Oswald Standish) who has a fiery temper and is described as having a close-clipped red beard, short red hair, and a reddish complexion. In dialogue tags, etc. Trollope sometimes calls him "the fiery lord." At some point, he challenges Finn to a duel (after Finn shoots into the air, Chiltern's second and the other men involved manage to talk him down and convince him he can't continue with the duel). Later Chiltern becomes Master of the Hunt and gets angry at landlords who set out traps or don't maintain habitat for foxes to breed in.
  • Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's daughter Longstocking, from the Pippi Longstocking series (and subsequent adaptations). Don't mess with this redhead tank of a little girl.
  • Quest for Fire: Aghoo and his brothers, the nastiest of the Oulhamr horde are covered in red hair.
  • Both Aleksander and Lydia of Carol Berg's Rai Kirah series, though unlike Aleksander Lydia seems to generally limit herself to words and (carefully aimed) thrown furniture, rather than physical torture and death threats (and not only threats).
  • Princess Elizabeth of The Royal Diaries' Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor is a redhead who can swear up a storm when she wants to.
  • Run: Bo Dickinson can have quite the temper, though part of it is her having to deal with her family's reputation in Mursey. It's said that the red hair and attitude run in the family.
  • The Shadow Campaigns: Jane Verity fits this trope to a tee, with her first actual scene being a fight. And then she transitions to an Evil Redhead.
  • Red Sonya of Rogatino in The Shadow of the Vulture is a very feisty adventurer whose first lines out of her mouth is declaring her intent to kill her sister, who turns out to be the Sultana Hurrem and bickers with The Hero a lot (specially when he is drunk). It shouldn't come as a surprise she served as inspiration for the comic book character Red Sonja.
  • Shana, the Flame-Haired, Fire-Eyed demon huntress from Shakugan no Shana, though she's actually a brunette when she's not using her powers.
  • In Shaman of the Undead, Zofia, aptly nicknamed Redhead, has Hair-Trigger Temper, especially when around Brittle or Ida, and is annoyed when others aren't as professional about their jobs as she is.
  • Shōnen Onmyōji has this in the shikigami Guren/Toada as well as Takeshi.
  • The Silerian Trilogy: Mirabar is a redhead with a hot temper, though she mellows over time.
  • Maedhros, Amrod, and Amras from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion are the only elves to be described as redheads who fit the personality type. They're fierce, rash, more violent than is really healthy, and not particularly wise or patient... but then so are all their darker-haired siblings. A lot of fans assume their mother Nerdanel's also redheaded, though the author only ever said her father Mahtan is, and both of their personalities are the complete opposite: calm, soft-spoken, patient, and wise. They also had the sense not to join the rebellion of the Noldor, which is why they're still alive.
  • Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels: just ask Kathryn Lucas and Maggie Spritzer. They have red hair and the attitude to match!
  • Invoked in The Ship Who.... While Theoda is trying to relieve a red-haired child's paralysis she and Helva discuss his personality, with Theoda saying that by his face he must be sweet, and Helva seeing the boy's eyelids twitch in response and suspecting that he's a young hellion. At a crucial moment, when they have to prove that Theoda's therapy is having an effect and the child is regaining control of his body, Theoda's encouragement doesn't get more than slight motion in response. Helva then insultingly says "Come on, momma's sweet little freckled-face boy" and the child jerks an arm and leg visibly and croaks.
  • Lina Inverse from Slayers. Bonus points because she has a tendency to make everything go into flames when she's really pissed off. She once lets off a fireball in restaraunt because a fight broke out and her food got spilled. She has to be physically stopped from using one of the most powerful spells out there, called the Dragon Slave, on one of her friends because she wouldn't go back to her employer pretending Lina beat her.
  • So, I Can't Play H!: Lisara Restall is a shinigami, whose hair color is indicative of both her temperament and her ability to wield fire spells; making her another literal example.
  • Ygritte, a wildling, from A Song of Ice and Fire. All redheads are believed to be "kissed by fire" in the wildling culture and have a reputation for spirit. Zig-Zagged in Westeros proper, where red hair is associated with the more genteel Tullys; however, of the Tullys we meet most of them turn out to be quite Hot-Blooded - particularly Catelyn Tully/Stark, whose Proper Lady demeanour conceals a raging temper that tends to flare up at moments of crisis. Rickon Stark, however, inherited the Tully red hair and is the most aggressive of his siblings, although this may be due to his youth. Robb Stark also has the red hair and quite a temper. This trope is however firmly averted in the case of their sister Sansa.
  • Alanna of Trebond of Song of the Lioness (the first book in the Tortall Universe) has bright red hair and a temper to match. Her squire later remarks how she's known for her sharp edges—sword, knife, and tongue.
  • Spellster: Tracker has russet hair. Authril's is an orangy-red. Marin is described as being a dark red auburn. All of them are Hot-Blooded and have their separate outbursts throughout In Pain and Blood.
  • The Spirit Thief: Miranda is very passionate about spirits, very easy to anger, and very red-haired.
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke's redheaded ex-Imperial wife and Deadpan Snarker extraordinaire. She can get very nasty if you hit her Berserk Button.
    • As is her redhead son, Ben Skywalker. The striking similarities between the two (particularly their personalities) are brought up fairly often, especially in Sacrifice, and a LOT in fanfic. To be honest, probably the only notable physical feature he inherited from Luke are his blue eyes.
  • The Boisterous Bruiser Warrior Prince Fencewalker of Tailchaser's Song has shaggy red fur. He's very spirited and energetic.
  • Sarah in Tales of an Mazing Girl has long red hair down to her waist and is pretty firey in the right circumstances, if she often keeps her sass to herself.
  • In the Tales of the Branion Realm series by Fiona Patton, the royal family of an alternate Britain is literally this. The sovereigns are the Jesus-style avatars of a fire god, and they commonly have red hair. They also have tempers, which is not surprising given that effectively having a fire god inside you is not good for your mental stability. Justified by the presence in their family tree of Danes, Welsh, and Irish.
  • Karen in The Three Worlds Cycle. Specifically in the first quartet, where she appears as a main character. She takes on Rulke, for Io's sake, and harasses every main character through the whole quartet. And she just happens to be described as having "extremely fiery red hair"...
  • Trinity Blood: Astaroth Aslan used to be a redhead when she was young (a traumatic event turned it gray/white, all but a streak). Esther Blanchett also fits, especially in the manga. She has more a grounded personality in the original novels.
  • Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy is a brunette with some tinges of red in her hair, described to be extremely strong-willed, stubborn, passionate, feisty, fiery, proud, and impulsive.
  • Villains by Necessity: Kaylana, the redhead druid, mostly averts the stereotype, but when greatly offended (usually by men crossing the line with her), she'll lash out in anger.
  • Terry Brooks' The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara introduces Rue Meridian, a redhead who steals airships single-handedly and kills lizard-men, and you had better not tell her she can't.
  • Warrior Cats:
    • Squirrelflight is the most notable example. She's been explicitly compared to fire on multiple occasions and has the feisty, stubborn personality to show for it. However, she eventually developed into a calmer and more mature adult.
    • There's also Red, who defies her father's wishes to pursue a romance with her Star-Crossed Lover.
    • Squirrelflight's mother, Sandstorm, was one as well, especially in her youth. She has a light, almost cream-colored, orange pelt and can be quite snappy and stubborn.
  • Aviendha (and, to a lesser extent, all redheaded Aiel women) from The Wheel of Time series behave like this. They are quite proficient with the spears and knives they threaten men who make unwanted advances with.
  • When Women Were Dragons: Beatrice has bright red hair and a big personality. She is rarely angry, but she is loud, energetic, and very independent. Her willfulness and refusal to observe social rules gets her in trouble at school and worries her family.

Top