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"How about the next question... Why do so many of the characters in most anime have red or reddish hair? ...Is it fashionable? Sexy? Stylish? Et cetera?" — Anime Nano Podcast
I wanna live
with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy
the rest of my life
With a cinnamon girl. — Neil Young, Cinnamon Girl
Love Interests have always been Colour Coded For Your Convenience. Traditionally, the hero's significant other would usually be a blonde, to contrast with the brunette Vamp or Femme Fatale. But today, the passive Distressed Damsel and Shallow Love Interest have been replaced by the sassy, bold, brash, sharp-tongued Action Girl and Well Excuse Me Princess — easily compatible with the "spunky Fiery Redhead" stereotype.
Considering that less than 1% of the world's population have red hair (largely confined to the Anglo-Irish sphere, and even there only tops at Scotland's 13% of the population), there is a disproportionate number of red-haired female characters out there, and an inordinate number of them are The Hero's winning Love Interest. (On top of that, she is also inordinately likely to have green eyes to go with it.)
Naturally, it's quite common for the Veronica in a Betty And Veronica Love Triangle to be a redhead; the Betty will be a blonde.
One possible source is Robert A Heinlein's fondness for hypercapable redhaired heroines (he had a red-haired wife).
In European comics, the high proportion of redheads among the main protagonists has been explained by some authors by the simple fact that, since redheads are rare, they're easier to spot in the panels — especially true for crowd scenes.
Look out for the large number of Dark Skinned Redheads in Anime.
Perhaps surpisingly, given the (relatively) high proportion of Irish redheads, this trope does not seem to exist in Ireland. Redheaded female leads do appear of course, but they are heavily outnumbered by blondes and brunettes. This may be that unlike almost everywhere else red hair is not really seen as especially 'exotic' in Ireland.
It's entirely possible that sometimes the red hair is symbolic of love and romantic desire, making the identification of the hero's love interest at least sub-conscious.
There are some cases where the redhead actually is the hero. This is the result of an Evolving Trope. (Maybe. Red-headed male heroes are as old as Thor.) Contrast the Evil Redhead.
Compare and contrast Red Headed Hero and Red Headed Stepchild.
Please do not add examples of anti-heroic or Villain Protagonist characters (e.g. Deadpool) having a redheaded love interest, as per the trope title. Most of the time, a character's anti-heroicness is pointed out by the author, so consider statements such as these.
Examples
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Anime
- Asuka Langley Soryuu of Neon Genesis Evangelion, though it is extremely debatable whether or not Shinji acually loved Asuka as much as he needed her by the end.
- Tsukimiya Ayu of Kanon.
- Apricot Sakuraba of the Galaxy Angel II series.
- Princess Sakura in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, who has red-tinted hair in the manga, but is something between a brunette and a bleached blonde in the anime.
- In the Tsubasa OVA entitled The Magician's Message, Princess Sakura is a pure redhead. However, the OVA animators were not the same animators who did the previously mentioned Tsubasa anime.
- Kaito Doumoto from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is a male example.
- Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother and, to a slightly lesser extent, Naruto's pink-haired friend and potential love interest Sakura.
- Lucy/Nyu/Kaede from Elfen Lied, though her hair is technically hot pink...
- Magic Knight Rayearth Both Lantis and Eagle want Red Headed Heroine Hikaru.
- Originally, Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma 1/2 calls female Ranma "The Pigtailed Girl." In the Latin American dub, however, he calls her "Flame-Haired Girl," in consideration of that much, much more noticeable trait.
- To be fair, 'Pig-tailed Girl' was originally used in the manga, where Ranma had black hair in both forms.
- Ai Tanabe from Planetes is a redhead.
- Lina Inverse of the Slayers universe. Gourry chose her over his black-haired Unlucky Childhood Friend Sylphiel, after all.
- Chiharu Shinonome from Eiken is male protagonist Densuke Mifune's crush the entire series. Everone else in her family is a redhead too.
- Male subversion in Fushigi Yuugi: When given the chance, the heroine Miaka chose the blue-haired Tamahome over the redheaded Tasuki in the OAV. Though to be honest, Tasuki had it lost from the start...
- Not to mention the straighter subversion of this trope. Miaka is a brunette, but some people think she's a redhead.
- Yoko of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann garnered interest from at least three heroic men. Though the true protagonist, Simon, ends up seeing her as more of an older sister/good friend character and pairs up with Nia, whose hair is...well, Anime Hair.
- It was played straight between her and Kamina, who seemed to be the protagonist right up until the moment he died and apparent sidekick Simon was elevated to the role of hero.
- Karen Stadtfeld from Code Geass. Even Anti Heroes want her. And she's a Tsundere, to boot.
- There's also Shirley, whose hair's a more realistic orange color, and Euphemia, whose hair's a less realistic pink. For a Celibate Hero, Lelouch certainly wants a lot of girls.
- Maruko from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is arguably a subversion of this trope, as she's somewhat off-putting towards some of the characters (including the main character) and it may be partially the author's intention to convey that to the audience. Quite a bit of the audience isn't listening though, and as far as they're concerned she's a straight-up trope example.
- Mobile Suit Gundam has a few examples. Amuro's Unlucky Childhood Friend Frau Bow has reddish-brown hair and Lt. Matilda is a full-on redhead who is lusted after by every male member of the White Base crew. Then there's Margaret Blair, Char's love interest in the 3rd volume of the novelization. The fact that she's a chubby, Girl Next Door type secretary who manages to bed an Ace Pilot whose other love interests have all been mysterious, waifish girls with tragic pasts is a testament to the awesome power of the trope.
- Let's not forget Lady Of War Haman Khan, who also was one of Char's love interests as well as a redhead... and later becomes one of Judau's love interests in Gundam ZZ.
- Flay Allster of Gundam SEED may have been the Scrappy, but Kira had a crush on her at the beginning of the series.
- It goes deeper than just a crush, one would assume. They DO have sex, even if she was manipulating him, and it's clear he still cares greatly for her at the end of the series. Also, she did come to care for him after her Character Development but ends up dead.
- And to a greater extent, Lacus Clyne (although she has pink hair rather than red).
- Mikuru Asahina, the Moe-blob in Suzumiya Haruhi has reddish brown hair (or brownish red hair? orange? we may never know) and might be Haruhi's closest competition for Kyon's heart. Not 100% love interest, but Kyon is still very fond of her and she triggered Haruhi's second unconscious universe warping when she thought Mikuru and Kyon were too close.
- Not to forget,Haruhi definatly a thing for Mikuru.
- The main Official Couple in Brain Powerd is Yuu and Hime... and Hime is a red-haired Tsundere!
- Les Yay example in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS with Teana, who Subaru isn't shy about expressing her affection for, much to Teana's embarassment.
- Lead character Izumi Noa of Patlabor becomes a redhead about three seconds into the OVA opening animation. Apparently they'd already started animating, then decided that she needed to be more visually distinctive.
- Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin is also a redhead- despite his Japanese origins. He's pursued by both Kaoru and Megumi. The first wins
- Keitaro Urashima of Love Hina has the red-headed Naru Narusegawa (among others), although he's not much of a hero. Initially.
- Of course this is subverted in the anime, where Naru's hair is less red/orange and straight brown.
- In Bleach, Orihime Inoue has a thang for reddish-orange-haired Ichigo. Ichigo might also be a male version if you look at it right.
- Asuna of Mahou Sensei Negima certainly seemed to be the main love interest for Negi at the start of the manga. She was the first girl he met, after all. However, there's a very good chance that this trope may end up being averted especially after all the hints that Asuna might be Negi's aunt. The next two candidates now that she's been shot down both have purple hair, averting the trope.
- Anya is also a subversion as she's a Clingy Jealous Girl who's Tsundere towards Negi, but he's entirely oblivious to this fact.
- But then again, she and every other heroic member of Negi's Unwanted Harem fall prey to this, as Negi is also a redhead.
- Kenshiro's fiancee, Yuria in the Fist Of The North Star anime, was the unrequited love interests of other characters as well (namely Shin, Toki, Raoh, and even her half-brother Juza), while her look-alike Mamiya attracted the attention of Rei and Yuda. It should be noted that both women were originally dark-haired brunettes in the manga.
- Sosuke's little love, Ponyo.
- Could be said about Kyo Sohma from Fruits Basket, as he gets the heroine, beating White Haired Pretty Boy (well, kinda) rival Yuki.
- How has Misty not been mentioned yet? Sure she's not our hero's only option, but the UST was stupefying.
- Ayashi No Ceres heroine Aya Mikage had the choice between the sandy brown-haired Yuuhi Aogiri or maroon-haired (honestly. Just live with it, okay?) Tooya. Not only does she get the redhead, they also fall into Babies Ever After.
Comic Books
- Mary Jane Parker (still married to Peter in the Stan Lee approved newspaper strip. Better Than Canon), love interest of Spider-Man. She beat even the writers' choice of the blonde Gwen Stacy (though the fact that the latter, ah, stopped walking among the living, probably helped).
- Marvel seems particularly fond of redheads. Notably, Cyclops' One True Love is (redhead) Jean Grey; the first time he thought she was dead his new girlfriend was (redhead) Colleen Wing, and when Jean died again he went and married her (obviously redhead) clone Madelyne Pryor. Meanwhile, Wolverine's fixation on Jean Grey is apparently the latest in a long line of redheads going back to his childhood, where his first love Rose was a dead-ringer for Jean.
- And note that Jean Grey is also the unrequited love interest of Angel, Wolverine, and basically half the male mutant population in the Marvel Universe
- Don't forget, Jean's nickname is "Red."
- That is until Joe Quesada came along and broke up Scott's marriage with Jean via Cosmic Bridge Dropping and Peter's marriage with Mary Jane via poorly-thought-out-ret-con. Maybe he's not out to break up every marriage in the Marvel Universe, perhaps he is just anti-red head.
- Indeed, his prejudice against redheads suggests a redhead treated him badly in the past, and this is his method of catharsis. Git.
- King Mob of The Invisibles ends up in a relationship with the red-haired Ragged Robin.
- Becky Burdock, Vampire Reporter, is the potential love interest for Jack Staff. She's clearly stated to be a redhead, even though the comic is in black and white.
- In addition to the characters named above, there's Batgirl/Oracle, the new Batwoman, Black Widow, Caitlin Fairchild, Dawn, Hawkwoman/Hawkgirl, Hellcat, Lana Lang, Julie Power/Lightspeed, Maxima, Lady Medusa, Mystique (in her blue-skinned form), Red Sonja, Siryn, the second Spider-Woman, Tigra, Jim Balent's Tarot Witch Of The Black Rose, Firestar, et cetera and so on.
- When Yvonne Craig portrayed Batgirl on the old Adam West live-action series, Barbara Gordon had short-cropped brunette hair. Batgirl's long red tresses were part of her cowl, part of her identity-concealing costume, and the same technique is currently used for the new Batwoman, whose extraordinarily long flaming red hair (So long that Batman actually advised her to cut it, since any mook could grab it in a fight) is actually a wig over her much shorter, darker, real hair.
- Cheryl Blossom, who steals Archie's heart from Betty And Veronica.
- Aquaman's on-again, off-again wife, Mera. (Note that white-haired Dolphin didn't last too long as his beau, and was eventually paired off with Tempest, formerly Aqualad.)
- Looker of the '80s and '90s Outsiders was portrayed as highly attractive and desirable, even when she didn't literally hypnotize bad guys into doing her bidding.
- Another male example, Green Arrow's sidekick, Roy Harper (formerly known as "Speedy" and "Arsenal", now called "Red Arrow"), has always been a ladies' man.
- Parodied in Powers; when a philandering superhero is found dead in bed as a result of bedroom-related complications, the police find a little black book with all of the women he tried it on with, and have to go and interview all of them. Every single one of them is a redhead.
- Well, he dyes it, but I like to think Midnighter counts.
- The marvellous, much sought after Mina in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a redhead, though her character in the original Dracula novel is blonde.
- Despite having a great many "sweethearts", Conan The Barbarian seemed to always hold a special place in his heart for Red Sonja, to the point of being ready to abandon his wife, children and throne to go adventuring with her in Conan The King #28.
- Nightwing's two major canon love interests are both red-heads; Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and Koriand'r (Starfire).
- And if that counts, Girl Of The Week Cheyenne was a red-head.Nightwing has even stated himself that he has a thing for red-heads when first meeting the new Batwomen.
- Poison Ivy from Batman. Sure, her level of 'want' by the hero is more to do with her being a sultry, sexy seductress and her having pheromones that effect people's minds, but if she has her hooks in them, they'll do ANYTHING for her. Ah hell, just LOOK at this image (the dude is Bruce Wayne just to be clear).
- Madman's love interest Joe (Josephine).
Film
- Princess Sorsha (Val Kilmer's required love interest) in Willow was auburn haired. Rather too scary to be generally desirable, but very pretty and obviously Madmartigan wants her.
- James Bond has slept with four redheads, and only killed one of them! Connery's Bond stated in Diamonds Are Forever that he did really like redheads. Other Bonds' opinions on the matter are unknown.
- In Spiderman, Kirsten Dunst dyed her blonde hair to play the redheaded love interest Mary Jane in Spider-Man. Ironically, in Spiderman 3, Bryce Dallas Howard dyed her red hair to play the blonde rival love interest Gwen Stacy.
- Gwyneth Paltrow dyed her hair red to play Pepper in the film Iron Man.
- Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
- The Quiet Man: John Wayne's love interest? The quintessential redhead, Maureen O'Hara.
- Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
- Giselle from Enchanted. The actress dyed her hair from blonde to red for the role, and later stated in interviews that she had decided to keep it red because she got "more respect" (and presumably more positive male attention, making this Truth In Television.)
- The 2009 Star Trek movie has Jim Kirk rolling around with a Green Space Babe with red hair (instead of black).
- Jay in Sky Blue
- The redheaded Lucy in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula is pursued by three suitors who all turn heroic by the end of the film. In the original novel, the character is a brunette.
- Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
- Andrea Beaumont in Batman: Mask of The Phantasm.
- And then there's the revelation that he eventually became involved with Barbara Gordon at some point in the future.
- It's redhead April who ends up with Will in Definitely Maybe.
- Both of Benjamin's romantic relationships in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button involve redheads.
Literature
- Fiona of The Giver.
- Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley of Harry Potter. Harry, of course, follows in the footsteps of his father James, who loved Lily Evans - as did Severus Snape, with the difference that James, of course, got the girl. Dumbledore also had red hair when younger. J.K. Rowling has stated she likes redheads.
- Funnily, the other two main characters end up together; brunette Hermione ends up with redhead Ron, brother of Ginny. The whole Weasley clan gets married to people who like redheads except for Fred, who dies, and Charlie, who never marries.
- Clarissa MacDougal Kinnison, of E.E. Smith's Lensman saga, is not merely a redhead — she's the Penultimate Human Woman, the unknowing culmination of millennia of a secret alien breeding program, and being a redhead is a distinguishing feature of that line going back to the Fall of Atlantis. She's destined to be the hero's One True Love — since he's the male Penultimate.
- Shira Brie and Mara Jade from Star Wars were both Luke Skywalker's love interests, and the latter became his wife. And remained with him until her death in Sacrifice...thought to have been at the hands of the other, interestingly, until it was revealed to have been Jacen who killed her.
- Don't forget Dani! The Bantam era preferred brown hair, but he ultimately got a redhead. As well, as a Zeltron, she had red skin...
- Another Star Wars example: Jacen Solo and Tenel Ka (latter is a QUEEN, to boot).
- Apparently, Skywalkers have a thing for redheads (this next comment applies to the Legacy comic series); Cade (one of the two remaining descendants of Luke and Mara) has a new love interest in the form of a former childhood friend, Azlyn Rae. It's far too early for confirmation, but it does seem to be going somewhere...
- Why limit the "red things growing out of the girl's head" to hair? Cade also hooks up with a Darth Talon.
- Ygritte, a wildling woman who becomes Jon Snow's Temporary Love Interest in A Song Of Ice And Fire. Wildling society as a whole favors redheads, believing them to be "kissed by fire."
- Dave from John Dies at the End ends up with a girl with copper-colored hair.
- Garion, of the Belgariad, has Ce'Nedra...and their partnership is an exciting one, given her temper.
- Many many characters in the Darkover series, not surprisingly; although toward the end of the timeline we do get a Spunky Blonde.
- It may be worth noting that in the Darkover series, red hair is very specifically linked with psychic ability.
- Also, the original colonists of Darkover were from the Scottish highlands, Ireland and the Basque country, so this is really just an attention to detail.
- Many, many heroes (and many, though fewer, heroines) from the Scottish-set breed of historical romance novel. Getting distinct vibes of Outlander and Diana Gabaldon here...
- The complete works of Robert Anson Heinlein. This is to be laid at the feet of Virginia Gerstenfeld Heinlein (and, some have said, at those of Leslyn MacDonald Heinlein).
- In Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins both the "hero" and his love interest have red hair.
- Clare in The Time Traveler's Wife.
- Renn, the female lead of The Chronicles Of Ancient Darkness is red-haired.
- Anne from Anne Of Green Gables is an example, though it may not be immediately obvious because she complains so much about having red hair.
- Eilonwy in Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles.
- Her hair is actually described as "reddish gold", but yeah, it's the same idea.
- Inverted in the Falco series by Lindsey Davis set in Ancient Rome. Informer (private eye) Marcus Falco has a strong dislike of redheads, either stemming from his much-loathed military service in Britain or the fact that his father ran off with one.
- Almost all members of the ruling class of the planet Darkover have red hair because all characters with red hair in Marion Zimmer Bradley's series have psychic powers. Since every single offworlder hero or heroin who arrives on Darkover ends up hooking up with a member of the ruling class...
- The War Against The Chtorr. Colonel 'Lizard' Tirelli, the protagonist's love interest — may be one of several deliberate Robert A Heinlein references in this sci-fi series.
- Starting with The Titan's Curse, the titular character of the series Percy Jackson And The Olympians has two main love interests: blonde Annabeth and redhead Rachel. Eventually subverted in the final book, as Rachel dumps him (when they weren't going out in the first place, no less) in favor of becoming the new Oracle of Delphi. He gets Annabeth in the end.
- April Rose, Mack Bolan's Love Interest throughout the 1980's when he worked for Stony Man.
- Nearly every hero in Terry Brooks' Shannara series fits this trope. Menion Leah and Shirl Ravenlock in The Sword of Shannara; Wil Ohmsford and Amberle Elessedil in The Elfstones of Shannara (but this is subverted when following Amberle's transformation into the Ellcrys tree, Wil marries the black-haired Eretria); Par Ohmsford and Damson Rhee in the Heritage of Shannara quartet; Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian in the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy.
- Male example: Edward Cullen from Twilight has reddish-brown hair, as does his infamous daughter.
- Another male example: Marcus Flutie from Sloppy Firsts.
- In Kristin Cashore's Fire, there are certain beings called "monsters" with brightly colored hair in unusual shades, who are extraordinarily attractive and entrance people with their appearance. The titular heroine is one of these monsters, and has shimmering hair in multiple shades of red, with occasional strands of pink and orange that make it look like a sunset. Like all other monsters, she is seen by everyone around her as incredibly beautiful. Her father, also a monster, had gleaming silver hair with hints of blue, making him a White Haired Pretty Boy the evil kind
- In the The Lies Of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies, the main character, Locke, is hopelessly in love with a woman named Sabetha. One of the only traits revealed about her is that she is a redhead.
Live Action TV
- All four of Gibbs' ex-wives from NCIS are redheads. Then again, they are ex-wives (except for the one who was killed while they were married). He's also had an affair with his current (redheaded) boss and is dating a redheaded Army investigator. Jethro is da man.
- And everyone else recognizes it. When he first met said investigator, the other team members noted the growing attraction and pointed out the red hair as proof it was inevitable.
- Not hereditary- his father had Betty Grable painted on the nose of his P-51.
- Fans of Lost are counting down the episodes until the redheaded Hot Scientist Charlotte hooks up with Daniel. Come on, you know it's going to happen!
- Unfortunately, after her Defrosting Ice Queen moment...
- Only if she can return from the dead. On the other hand with this show that's not out of the question.
- Then again, as of the season five finale, it turns out dead really is dead. Unless that variable business pans out.
- In Doctor Who, many fans posit that the Fourth Doctor "danced" with Romana. Romana II was somewhere between a redhead and a blonde. Then again, she was a Time Lord. In The Movie, Grace Holloway is also a redhead, and human.
- Averted in the most recent season with Donna's repeated refusal to have anything to do sexually with the Doctor. "You're not mating with me, sunshine!"
- The Tenth Doctor wanted to be a redhead. ...Oh, wait.
- Looks like the new assistant is a redhead...
- Lucy of I Love Lucy.
- In a subversion, Lucy freely admitted that she was not a natural red head on the show and in real life.
- Scully of The X-Files. Scully's redhair became a tradmark for the show, as did the UST between Mulder and Scully.
- A flashback episode of Angel had a character bringing this up, mentioning the trope.
- The American version of The Office has Pam Beasley, Jim Halpert's One True Love.
- Inverted with Charlie on Ugly Betty.
- On Smallville, Lionel Luthor has shown an attraction to redheads— his wife, mistress and Martha Kent all have or had red hair.
- Swingtown: everyone and I do mean everyone wants Susan.
- Notably avoided in Mad Men; the hero dates brunettes, married a blonde, and is the only (straight) man on Earth who's apparently oblivious to Joan Holloway (played by the...voluptuous Christina Hendricks), one of the greater redheads of this or any time.
- In an episode of The Bill, DC Banks and DC Webb have a tough interview with a suspect, who is aided by a red-haired solicitor. Webb comments he'd like to sleep with her. It's established that Banks does sleep with her- she's his wife, using her maiden name for work.
- Red of Fraggle Rock would be a case of "red heads want heroes."
- President Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galactica is a redhead and has no shortage of male admirers in spite of her age, health, and position. She is also a change for partner Bill Adama, whose previous interests in flashbacks have been blondes.
- Robin of Sherwood seems to have firmly established Maid Marian (or Marion, if you will) in the collective unconscious as a feisty redhead.
- This trope, combined with their Slap Slap Kiss dynamic, seems to point to having something happen between Jack Bauer and Agent Renee Walker.
- He's not exactly a hero, but That 70's Show had main character Eric Foreman's love interest be the red haired Donna. Forget the last few seasons where she was blonde. We all try to.
- After winning over Donna, Eric Foreman became my hero.
- Would Willow Rosenberg be a case of Werewolves and Lesbian Witches want Redheads?
- Also, annoying potential slayers and occasionally Xander. And a demon/robot.
- Star Trek The Next Generation had the gorgeous Dr. Beverly Crusher, who Picard has been in love with for years; DS9 had Major Kira Nerys, who Odo had been after for six years before finally getting her in "His Way"; and then, of course, there's Chakotay's blatantly obvious feelings for Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek Voyager.
- Dr. Crusher certainly had red hair, until she became blonde for the films, but didn't Kira and Janeway both have brown hair? Seven of Nine, on the other hand, was more of a strawberry blonde.
- Almost every important woman in Richard Castle's life is a redhead, from the 'one who got away' to his first ex-wife, even his mother and his daughter. Seemingly averted by Kate Beckett, his Love Interest in the show — until you realize that her brown hair is a curiously red shade of brown.
- Beautiful redhead Jayma Mays has all kinds of this about her parts. She was wanted by the Hiro on Heroes, Will on Glee, and an episode of Pushing Daisies. Even Paul Blart: Mall Cop wanted her. Inverted on Ugly Betty where she was an Evil Redhead.
Newspaper Comics
- Princess Aura from Flash Gordon.
- The Little Red-haired Girl from Peanuts.
- Brenda Starr, who's older the The Little red-Haired Girl but younger than Princess Aura.
Theater
- While brunette Sarah is the one desire of vampire lord Count von Krolock in the Austrian musical Tanz der Vampire, it's the redheaded serving wench Magda who has all of the village wanting her.
Video Games
- Leliana, from Dragon Age.
- Adventure Quest Worlds has interesting inversion. Many players have decide to join evil side because they like Gravelynsdesing. Try to guess color her hair is.
- The redheaded Princess Daisy is sometimes hinted to be Luigi's answer to Peach.
- Well, she's actually a brunette.
- Looks like a redhead◊ to me.
- I don't◊ think so◊.
- Actually, you're both right AND wrong here. Originally she was portrayed as a redhead, but eventually they started making her a brunette. Nowadays, her hair is light brown to dark orange at it's lightest shade. It varies a bit.
- Aika from Skies Of Arcadia, who's also in a Love Triangle.
- It's not exactly a love triangle in the game, as the three of them canonically seem to just be friends. The fans just like to make it a love triangle.
- Or just as commonly, an OT 3.
- Leena from Chrono Cross is a seeming subversion as she had the misfortune of being Serge's Unlucky Childhood Friend, and thus loses out to the blond girl. However, the Good Ending pushes a reset button that erases Serge's memories of the blonde, and puts her back to the top of the list, until the credits roll and we learn that Serge ended up with the blond anyways.
- Metal Gear Solid did it, naturally - Snake had the lovely redheaded Meryl.
- And Johnny Sasaki, who after a massive amount of level grinding, swept her off her feet and married her in the 4th game.
- One of the romance options for Shepard in Mass Effect 2 is Yeoman Kelly Chambers, your green-eyed redheaded personal assistant.
- Marin from The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and possibly Malon from Ocarina of Time and Cremia from Majora's Mask as well.
- Not surprising because they're all pretty much the same person. It's a well-known fact that the cast of Majora's Mask is almost completely comprised of Ocarina of Time Expies, and the creators acknowledged that Talon and Malon were Expies of Tarin and Marin from Link's Awakening.
- As well as Midna from Twilight Princess.
- Also, though frequently forgotten thanks to her gradual blondification, Princess Zelda herself was red-haired in the original NES games. (Or should we say both Princess Zeldas, since the one in the second game was a Sleeping Beauty relative of the one from the first.)
- This might be more be because of the limited palette of the NES — Note that even Princess Peach was a redhead in the first Super Mario Bros. game.
- Kairi of the Kingdom Hearts series.
- In Fire Emblem 6: Sword of Seals: the redheaded male lord Roy can have six different possible brides (and one of them, the dancer Lalam, is a redhead as well). In the prequel, Fire Emblem 7: Blazing Swords, his also redheaded father Eliwood can have three possible girlfriends (but no redheads this time).
- in Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, one of Princess Eirika's four suitors is a redhead male, Seth the Silver Knight. This support/ending is also ridiculously easy and fast to get.
- In Fire Emblem 7, the redheaded Cavalier named Kent has three possible love interests, the Pegasus Knight Fiora, her Tsundere sister Farina, and Action Girl heroine Lyn.
- For a traditional female version, look no further than Staff Chick / Magic Warrior Priscilla, who has three official love interests (though she only gets to keep one of them, the others have to go) and arguably has chemistry with other two guys.
- Another male subversion: Natasha of Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones can support and have a happy ending with two redheads. Interestingly they form a Betty And Veronica dynamic, with Joshua being a gambling addict and Seth being Seth, though the triangle never comes up.
- Dahlia Hawthorne in Phoenix Wright, Phoenix's college love interest, is a redhead.
- Also subverted in that Dahlia's "twin" sister, Iris, who seems to have naturally black hair, is who he was actually dating.
- Not exactly a hero but the main character in the Harvest Moon games has almost always a redhead as one of the potential brides to choose from.
- To be precise : Ann from SNES, her descedant also named Ann from 64. Ann appears again in Back To Nature, Friends of Mineral Town, and DS (FOMT Ann's descendant). Katie in Save the Homeland (and Lyla who has pink hair). Nami from A Wonderful Life, A Wonderful Life Special Edition and DS (AWL Nami's desendant). SNES Ann appears in Magical Melody (though that may be her descendant), and Katie apparently moved to Flower-Bud. Melody, Lynette and Lara have pink hair (well, Lara's is almost violet), from Rune Factory 1. Chelsea, Julia and Natalie from Island Of Happiness, and Shining Sun and Friends. Cecilia from Rune Factory 2. Maya and Selena from Tree of Tranquility, and Wakuwaku Animal March.
- Don't forget the invert with "Claire", and "Jill"/"Pony". Both females have red headed love interests in Cute, Rick, Grey and Cliff(though, he's more of a brownish-red). Also, Basil and Blue in Magical Melody, for Tina.
- Elly from Xenogears is a redhead, and the love interest of the hero.
- Her hair is a slightly different color in each incarnation, but it still always is some shade of red.
- Though the main heroine is a blond, most of the heroines of Tsukihime, and a few non-heroines as well, are redheads. Since the hero can score with any of the heroines, their overwhelming majority would make that game fit this troupe.
- Akiha, Hisui, Kohaku, Aoko; that's half of them. More, if you don't count Sion.
- Planescape Torment has two "romance" options (in quotation marks because the game doesn't really consummate the relationships). The one you can get farthest with, giving a deep and passionate kiss to, is the redhead Annah.
- Both the heroine and her love interest are redheads in Laura Bow 2: The Dagger of Amon Ra.
- In Bully, Jimmy and Zoe end up together at the end of the game.
- Riza in Treasure Of The Rudra.
- The Witcher positively overflows with red haired "love" interests to the point where you can safely assume it's possible to sleep with a woman if she has red hair. The game even features a Betty And Veronica triangle where both women are red-heads.
- Coh Cott in The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble.
- Kyrie from Devil May Cry 4.
- Iria Animi from Tales Of Innocence
- Inverted, Ritz, the literal red head (who actually has white hair) from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, has some feelings for Marche. So it's the red head who wanted the hero.
Webcomics
- Haley from Order Of The Stick.
- Jade, and later Miranda, from PVP.
- And Marcy. ALL of the regular female cast members are redheads.
- Kate, from CtrlAltDelete.
- Tycho's wife from Penny Arcade.
- Given that the wives are just their real-life wives in comic form, this is more of a Real Life example than a webcomic example.
- Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire: The minor characters' love interests have red hair (Pam for Gregory, Jayden for Milov/Siegfried), while the main character's girlfriend, Luna, is the traditional blonde. However, it's interesting to note the shifts in the artist's coloring from the early days, when color strips were rarer; Early pictures of Luna had redder hair (and Gregory, now a solid redhead, was fairer-haired).
- Nanase, from El Goonish Shive, is an odd example. She briefly dated the hero, before dumping him. He's dating a blonde now... And Nanase? Well, she's in a relationship with the hero's Opposite Sex Clone.
- Surma Carver from Gunnerkrigg Court: her love life prior to Antimony's birth is one of many unresolved (so far) mysteries. Annie's a Redheaded Hero herself, with too many other problems on her plate to think about romance for now.
- Anne Onymous, protagonist of The Wotch is a red head, as are a few side characters. The (blond) Jason has a huge red head fetish... so much so that he has a "Red Head Sense", also whenever he is turned into a girl (which is fairly often) he's red haired (and calls himself Sonja). Ironically, his one true love is a brunette.
- Guinevere in Arthur King Of Time And Space.
- White Mage from 8-bit Theater. Black Mage comments on this when she first appears.
- Daisy Archanis and Damien Vaeo from Last Resort. Arguably Geisha too, although he's more a red body than anything...
- Tai and Ellen from Questionable Content, the latter a supporting character's ex-girlfriend, the former a college librarian in an all-girl Love Dodecahedron.
- Torg's unwanted Magical Girlfriend Oasis from Sluggy Freelance.
- Wouldn't that, by definition, be a subversion? Torg's girl of choice is the black-haired Zoë, who seems to have been killed. Played straight when he was together with an alt-world Zoë, though.
- Irregular Webcomic has Ginny Smith, but nothing has come of it yet.
- Though not apparent, both Erika Hayasaka and Largo of Mega Tokyo have red hair.
- Princess Voluptua in The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob. Granted that her human form is an illusion and she is actually a giant alien butterfly -which Bob knows, and which prevents any possible relationship between them- but even her butterfly form has those same long flowing locks of (presumably red) hair.
- Dr. McNinja's old girlfriend Hortense is a redhead.
- Chel, from Alien Dice is the heroine of the story, and Lexx's love interest. True to the trope, Chel is fiery and independent, and it's her stubborn nature which brings them together and prompts Lexx to fall in love with her. He finds her hair color strange (but pretty).
- Lexx is a Rishan and Rishan have skin and hair of bluish hues.
- In Day By Day, Sam, the engineer/podcast host is a Redheaded Republican Sex Kitten and married to Spec Ops sniper Zed.
Western Animation
- Starfire of Teen Titans
- Princess Fiona in Shrek
- Shayera aka Hawkgirl in Justice League
- Come to think if it, it's difficult to find a red head (or former redhead) that hasn't got some on that show. The Question (redhead! Surprise!) has something with Huntress; Lex (but how do you tell what color his hair...ahhh...) was doing Mercy and Tala, and as for the Flash...well, let's just say there's truth behind the "Wally's a pimp" meme.
- On Clone High, Abe spent most of his time in love with black-haired Cleopatra, but in the last episode realized he was in love with
red magenta-haired Joan of Arc.
- Elastigirl/Helen Parr of The Incredibles, at least when she was younger.
- Atomic Betty.
- Molotov Cocktease of The Venture Brothers, a semi-heroically sociopathic Commie redhead.
- In an episode of The Venture Brothers, Phantom Limb freezes a courtroom and gives Dr. Orpheus a hypnotic suggestion to testify against the Monarch, then he'll get an archvillain like he always wanted. When the room unfreezes, Dr. Orpheus is wistfully muttering "I hope they'll get me a girl villain. A redhead..."
- On Ben 10, the redhead Gwen is Ben's cousin. They are shipped together anyway, but the writers have no one to blame but themselves.
- In Daria, Daria's little sister Quinn Morgendorffer is the teen queen of this trope, as almost every guy who sees her is immediately hypnotized by her bouncy carrot-top (and tiny, cute pores!). In fact, the only guys who see her and AREN'T interested are those who see her as a Well Excuse Me Princess type (Trent Lane, David Sorenson), are part of an Official Couple (Kevin) or where First Girl Wins (Young Master Thomas Sloane aka Tom, who also beautifully subverts that trope by ending up with Daria, the star of the show, after coming aboard as part of a Beta Couple with Jane).
- Actually, Word Of God has Daria as auburn-haired (red-brown hair), so the trope isn't subverted with her. In fact, look at the guys interested in her - Tom, Ted Dewitt-Clinton and (of course) Trent Lane. Daria fits the trope, too.
- In the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon, redheaded intelligence officer Scarlett was vaguely presented as a love interest for the heroic male lead, Duke. In the comics, she was the main squeeze of primary character Snake-Eyes.
- April O'Neil, yellow-jumpsuited friend of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was an object of the boys' affection in both the cartoon and the movies (especially for Mikey) and for Casey Jones.
- Especially in the 2003 series. There she was far more of a redhead than she's ever been in any other media series up until then.
- Teela, from He Man and the Masters of the Universe would be another definite candidate, if He-Man was interested in women, If You Know What I Mean...
- Bollocks! There was stacks of sexual tension between Adam and Teela, by chaste '80s kids animation standards.
- Queen Castaspella,another redhead,definately wanted Prince Adam on the spin-off show,She-Ra. An inversion,I guess.
- Jessie Bannon, Race's tomboyish daughter who showed up for the Jonny Quest movie and late 90's animated series, is yet another example of American cartoons brainwashing children to think redheads are totally hot.
- Though Family Guy's Peter Griffin might not qualify as much of a hero, his wife, Lois, could be considered an example.
- In Futurama, when Bender becomes a woman, shkle calls shklerself Coilette and has red hair (or whatever robots have).
- Charlie Brown's Crush is a little redheaded girl.
- On the animated show Huntik (which I can best describe as a cross between the Da Vinci Code and Pokemon) there are two female heroines: the sultry, raven-haired Asian beauty Zhalia, and the fiery redhead British hottie Sophie. Guess which one is the main character's love interest?
- The main character's childhood crush, Scarlet, is also redheaded. Meanwhile, Sophie spends the first half of the series much more interested in the main character's mentor, Dante Vale, who also has red hair.
- Roxanne for Max in A Goofy Movie.
- Sylvia for Goofy in the sequel.
- Kim Possible is a redhead.
- And now she's Ron's!
- Wouldn't it be more apt to say that Ron is now Kim's?
- Not really.
- Firestar of ''Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends was at times the crush of both Spidey and Iceman.
- Princess Sally Acorn from Sonic The Hedgehog.
- Parodied in Megas XLR. The gang is picked up by a Captain Harlock Expy (but is really more of a Jerkass than a hero) who immediately starts hitting on Kiva. We don't know though that the guy has a thing for redheads until Kiva finds a portrait gallery filled with paintings of all his old, strictly redheaded girlfriends...and one redheaded dude.
- Undergrads: Kimmy, object of Nitz's affections, is a red head.
- One episode of Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends features Mac, Bloo, a Prince Charming friend, and a pizza boy all fall for the red-headed Frankie in addition to her own date. Another episode featured two nerdy guys falling for her as well. Mac continued to have a long time crush on her throughout the series.
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