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Some Heroes Want Redheads. Some heroes are redheads.
Considering that of all hair color, red is the least common color, it isn't surprising that it is shown when writers want someone to stand out, at least in shows that don't give random extras blue and green hair.
One distinction between red-haired heroes and villainous redheads is that where heroes tend to have bright-colored hair (almost reddish-blond), villains have darker-colored, almost brownish hair.
Frequently, they'll have a fiery personality to go with their hair.
Male redheads are never the hero on film or television. It isn't racism though. Similarly, no film will ever be made on any of the historical persecutions of redheads.
Contrast Evil Redhead, Redheaded Stepchild.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- The Japanese definitely like using redheads and the color red in general. Take the Mobile Suit Gundam series, for example: Amuro Ray is a redhead, while Char pilots red mecha (that are three times faster).
- Kenshin Himura.
- Ichigo from Bleach, though it's actually orange. Arguably Orihime as well, considering Ichigo himself once stated her hair to be brown at the beginning, while official colour images have her hair pretty much the same colour as his.
- Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime only; in the manga, she has strawberry blond hair).
- Possibly Tres Iqus from Trinity Blood. His hair is actually towards the brown end of the red head spectrum, but most fans consider him to be a redhead and refer to him as such. He's also not the main character, although he is very awesome.
- Subverted with Hanamichi Sakuragi from Slam Dunk, who dyes his hair red.
- Gene Starwind from Outlaw Star.
- Yoko of The Twelve Kingdoms.
- Hikaru Shidou in Magic Knight Rayearth.
- Mai Tokiha from Mai-HiME has orange reddish hair. Her mischievous opposite, Nao Yuuki, has bright crimson hair.
- Half of the time, the hero is a redhead in Ranma 1/2. And everybody wants her, unless they want him.
- The Slayers neatly reverses this by having the protagonist Lina be a spunky redhead and her love interest be the dumb as a post and blonde to boot Gourry.
- While Kinomoto Sakura (Cardcaptor Sakura) is mostly considered a brunette in the anime, she is more of a redhead in the few colour pictures of her in the manga. Same goes for her princess alter ego in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, but she goes under Heroes Want Redheads.
- Momomiya Ichigo of Tokyo Mew Mew twists this: her human form has red hair, but post-Transformation Sequence, when she's actually doing heroic things instead of complaining, her hair is pink.
- Motomiya Daisuke from Digimon Adventure 02.
- Ruki from Digimon Tamers.
- Himeno Awayuki from Pretear, nicknamed "Tulip Head" by Hayate (though he stops calling her this after a while).
- Ahiru from Princess Tutu—which, incidentally, has the same director as Pretear.
- Negi Springfield and his partner Asuna from Mahou Sensei Negima. His father Nagi was one too.
- Subverted in Slam Dunk, where Sakuragi's physical trademark is his red hair... which he dyes red to look tougher and cooler.
- Hot Blooded Kallen Kouzuki, Lelouch Lamperouge's Lancer and bodyguard from Code Geass.
- Lavi and General Cross (although Allen might choke on 'hero" for that one) from D Gray Man.
- Tooya from Ayashi no Ceres, whom this troper calls "Tamahome with hair dye and contact lenses".
- Guy Shishioh from Gao Gai Gar has reddish-orange hair, its his cousin Renais Kerdif-Shishioh in FINAL who takes this trope all the way.
- Hell even Genesic has ORANGE HAIR!
- Its really a set of power batteries
Comic Books
- Red Sonja.
- Brenda Starr, from the film and comic book of the same name.
- Jean Grey, Rachel Summers, Wolfsbane, Banshee and Siryn of the X-Men.
- Wally West (the third Flash). When he was running around with an open-topped cowl as Kid Flash, he dyed his hair brown (at super-speed), because, for once, red hair was acknowledged as being Unusual And Distinctive.
- The Tornado Twins, children of the second Flash.
- Apparently DC's colorists have taken to turning Bart Allen's hair color into a reddish-brown color as of recent; it's a flat-out flame-red in his most recent appearances, where initially it was a chocolate-brown shade. Getting lighter with age, maybe?
- Rorschach, although he's more of an Anti Hero.
- Interestingly, Rorschach sports the classic 'ginger' look of pale skin, carrot-red hair, and freckles; usually not considered very attractive traits in Europe and North America.
- For Jackie Earle Haley, this European makes an exception.
- That was done on purpose, of course. He's supposed to be stereotypically ugly. As for the movie...
- Obelix from Asterix.
- Spirou from Spirou And Fantasio.
- Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil.
- Former Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary also has red hair. As per the trope, she's drawn with significantly brighter hair after making a Heel Face Turn.
- Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl a.k.a. Oracle
- Kate Kane, the new Batwoman
- Black Widow, Caitlin Fairchild, Dawn, Hawkwoman/Hawkgirl, Hellcat, Julie Power/Lightspeed, Maxima, Madame Medusa, Mystique (in her blue-skinned form), the second Spider Woman, Tigra, Mera, Speedy, Looker, et cetera and so on.
- Lightning Lad/Live Wire and Lightning Lass/Spark/Light Lass, twins from The Legion Of Super Heroes.
- Mariah from The Warlord.
- Tintin.
- David Solomon from SODA.
- If that Gen13 one-off counts, Midnighter - though you wouldn't know it, as (on the rare occasions he's seen without his mask), every artist gives him a different colour. Word Of God says he just likes to dye it.
- Vic Sage, the first Question, when he's out of costume.
- Jason Blood, human anchor for Etrigan the Demon, red with a white streak.
- Cyclone, one of the newest members of the Justice Society Of America, and granddaughter of the Golden Age Red Tornado.
Fan Fic
- Chloe in Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy has literal red hair in civillain form. Hanae is a more believable redhead (having orange hair), but gains literal red hair as well when turned into Cure Tangerine. However, both subvert this trope when it comes to personality, as Chloe is described as "sweet and well-groomed", while Hanae is just a Shrinking Orange. The fiery one of the team happens to be purple-haired Ayameko.
Film
Literature
- Pippi Longstocking.
- Several Robert A Heinlein protagonists, most notably Lazarus Long (ne Woodrow Wilson Smith) (biggest role was in Time Enough for Love, he did appear in later Heinlein works) and his mother Maureen Johnson Smith (most prominent in To Sail Beyond the Sunset, she plays a minor role in several earlier Heinlein novels).
- And many were redheaded twins; The Rolling Stones, Time For The Stars, Laz and Lor from Time Enough For Love. Other adventurous or heroic redheads include Podkayne of Mars, one of his more popular Juvenile characters, "Slipstick" Libby, Hazel Stone, and a long list of others.
- Sir Apropos of Nothing, though he'd be more of a Red-Headed Anti Hero...
- Several from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, four from the Skywalker family/bloodline alone: Mara Jade Skywalker (Luke's wife, and the reason there's redheads in the bloodline at all) (green-eyed), Ben Skywalker (her son, and the kid in the article image) (this is lampshaded at one point) (blue-eyed), Kol Skywalker (her...great-grandson, if my estimates are correct) (green-eyed, again), and Allana (Han & Leia's granddaughter) (gray-eyed).
- Tenel Ka, the current ruler of Hapes and a former Jedi Knight.
- Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson in Discworld.
- Anne of Green Gables
- Howard Roark from The Fountainhead
- Alanna of Trebond, from the Tamora Pierce universe, combines red hair with purple technicolour eyes. Arguably also a case of Heroes Want Redheads: despite the fact that the text repeatedly points out that she isn't particularly good looking, she does end up with proposals from the Crown Prince and the King of the Rogue.
- Cordelia Vorkosigan is a redhead. In fact, it's one of her character markers; whenever a woman with "roan-red" hair shows up, it's her. Justified, though, since no one else in the books has red hair.
- The entire Weasley family from the Harry Potter books! (See Real Life, below.)
- Dairine Callahan from Young Wizards.
- Kvothe, of The Name Of The Wind, is known for his bright, flame-red hair. Good for attracting both women and unwanted attention.
- Both major POV characters of the Doctrine Of Labyrinths series are redheads, this is actually a major plot point as in the city they grew up in, no one else is, thus providing easy proof that Felix and Mildmay are brothers.
- Rand Al'Thor from The Wheel Of Time has reddish-blonde hair. This is because he's half Aeil.
- In Robert Graves' King Jesus, Jesus has red hair, this being one of the eight "signs of royalty."
- In the Lensman series, red hair is specifically the genetic marker of ancestry from Atlantis. Many in the human Lensman breeding program are redheads including Clarissa MacDougal.
- Bill Denbrough and Beverly Marsh, two of the original seven Losers from Stephen King's It.
Live Action TV
Mythology
- This editor has heard it claimed that the Apostle Peter was a redhead.
- Even if not, Odysseus of The Odyssey was.
- Odysseus? Really? None of the versions of the story I read ever mentioned that.
- In the Middle East and Ancient Greece, respectively? Oh well, I guess if you can have Scylla and the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes...
- Peter? This troper heard Judas was often depicted as a redhead.
- Thor, before Marvel Comics turned him blond. So this is Older Than Dirt.
- This troper guesses that many heroes from Celtic Mythology will count, but is no expert.
- In some versions of The Iliad, Achilles has red hair to denote his fiery temper and Badassery (and matches his common epithet as "blazing Achilles"). Menelaus and Agamemnon may also have red hair as well.
Video Games
- Crono from Chrono Trigger.
- Joanna from Perfect Dark.
- Nariko from Heavenly Sword.
- Adell from Disgaea 2.
- Roy and Eliwood of Fire Emblem 6 and 7, respectively, which is a notable exception for the series, given that nearly every other main protagonist in the series traditionally had blue hair.
- To make up for it, Eliwood's best friend Hector from FE7 did have blue hair. And the same goes to his daughter and Roy's potential girlfriend, the mage Lilina.
- Adol Christin from Ys, also called "Adol the Red". They don't mean blood.
- Silly Axel Almer in Super Robot Wars Advance. If he's not silly, he's no hero (either a villain or... a neutral force).
- Other straightforward examples from Super Robot Wars include Fiona Gureden (Reversal) and Rand Travis (Z)
- Joe from Viewtiful Joe.
- Shirou Emiya of Fate Stay Night. His Future Badass is a Dark Skinned White Haired Pretty Boy whom *every* 4channer (guys included) lust after.
- Knuckles the Echidna from Sonic The Hedgehog is a red-furred hero.
- Though he gradually turned into more of a wheat blond, Link was depicted as having either brown or reddish-brown hair in the official artwork for the first three games in The Legend Of Zelda series, and was an outright redhead in the Valiant comic book series. (Interestingly, so was Zelda.)
- Sarah Kerrigan from Star Craft, until she gets infested.
- Possibly because of this trope, Ritz from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance dyes her hair red (it's white normally), and in the dream-Ivalice, it *is* red. However, she stops dyeing it after the events of the game, accepting her appearance.
- If the player chooses the standard look for a female Shepard in Mass Effect, she turns out to be a redhead.
- Agent J from Elite Beat Agents.
- Battler from Umineko No Naku Koro Ni.
- Kasumi from Dead Or Alive.
- Simon Belmont, arguably The Mario of the Castlevania series, constantly switched from brown to blond and back again between his countless incarnations. Possibly in frustration, Ayami Kojima went completely off-model and drew him with bright red hair, and his official depiction has been redheaded ever since.
- Spike, Jimmy and Yumi from Ape Escape. Kei averts this with his blue hair.
- Heart Aino of Arcana Heart.
- Kou from Azure Dreams. Bit of a troublemaker.
Webcomics
Web Original
- Ryana 'Ri' Taylor of Last Secret and other Kostemetsiverse arcs. Hasn't been updated in a while. Apparently Taylor also subverts all the other tropes about redheads, being an intelligence operative with no public personality and no romantic involvement.
- Above troper would also like to note that the Kostemetsiverse is pretty much absent from anything except the source material, which is very widely scattered indeed. The only Kostemetsiverse stuff of which this troper knows is being written over at Nation States.
Western Animation
Real Life
Conquerors
- Everybody loved Cyrus the Great. Can you dig it?
- Tamerlane was less adored...
- The Plantagenet and Tudor Dynasties put many redheads on the throne of England, including Richard the Lionheart and Elizabeth I.
- Boudicca.
- The Prophet Mohammed. Side note, his wife Aisha was blonde.
- Napoleon Bonaparte.
- Isabella I.
- Winston Churchill.
- Oliver Cromwell.
- Ulysses S Grant.
- Vladimir Lenin.
- Ramesses II, aka Ramesses the Great - a red-headed Egyptian Pharoah, believe it or not.
Writers
- William Blake.
- Lord Byron.
- James Joyce.
- George Bernard Shaw.
- Emily Dickinson.
- D.H. Lawrence.
- Mark Twain.
- J.K. Rowling.
Miscellaneous
- Christopher Columbus.
- Galileo.
- George Washington.
- Although when he wanted to impress people Washington would put white powder on his hair. Typical practice in the 18th century involved securing the powder flakes by first applying a liberal coating of oil to one's hair. Yuck!
- Thomas Jefferson.
- Malcolm X.
- Florence Nightingale.
- Jesse James.
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