Ambiguous Name: White Haired Pretty Boy

And then for the other trope, the eerie/magic/etc trope that is currently the "female" version, how about Power Is Bleach?

"Power" sounds like it's primarily Functional Magic to me.

Pfffft... I like that.

edited 26th Feb '13 1:25:57 PM by Willbyr

It is often Functional Magic, but it also covers super powers, and even just minor Psychic talents. It's hard to sum that all up in a word. They're all referred to as powers in fiction though so it's the most inclusive word.

I accept Power Is Bleach, then.

Is that distinct from Power Dyes Your Hair?

That is about power boosting giving you a colour change.

And it doesn't really need to be limited to hair either. Power can bleach other things. Like eyes. Or horses. It's also generally a bit more permanent than Power Dyes Your Hair which tends to wear off.

edited 26th Feb '13 2:07:16 PM by shimaspawn

Sounds good.

Ugh... I don't care for Power Is Bleach. I thought the idea behind the will-have-been White-Haired Pretty Girl was about mysticism / otherworldliness, not power in general.

It's mysticism and otherworldliness, but it doesn't tend to come without some sort of supernatural ability whether it's implied or explicit.

Maybe not, but putting the focus on the supernatural ability is a pretty significant change, and would probably end up underused or misused due to confusion with Power Dyes Your Hair.

edited 26th Feb '13 4:02:03 PM by Noaqiyeum

An old person having a black heart is already covered under Evil Old Folks. Villains age too. A young character with white hair is more likely to be attractive, shy, tough and overall calmly confident, while an old villain is more likely to be desperate to take over the world in what little time he has left.

Bleach, when applied to hair, gives me at best an off-white impression, but more like light blonde.

I suggest that White-Haired Pretty Girl get its own thread. We're not even sure it's a trope yet.

...we aren't?

I thought we were sure, although I would agree that it could use a parallel thread, as it's discussing a different topic (although a closely-related one which will probably absorb some of the misuse from here).

No, a lot of people have opined that it is already covered by the likes of Mystical Waif and whatnot. Or at least that the white hair really has no particular significance and isn't a particularly meaningful trait. As far as girls go, white hair doesn't hold as much meaning. It deserves its own discussion.

edited 26th Feb '13 6:11:51 PM by Arha

I'd think white hair as a sign of magic/mysticism/supernatural/wisdom beyond one's years/nonhuman background would be gender-neutral. I can think of deliberate fantasy uses that are species-neutral.

For White-Haired Pretty Boy, I like White Hair, Black Heart. This is also a trope I'd expect to work for both sexes.

edited 26th Feb '13 7:31:22 PM by ArcadesSabboth

But is White Hair, Black Heart age-neutral? It seems as if there is a difference between white-haired characters who are young and those who have gone white with age.

No, it's not age neutral, but we can mention the proper trope for the elderly in the description. Evil Old Folks covers them already.

Hey guys, I finished the sorting.

Okay, I got really lazy with the "subversions/exceptions" section and lumped most of the ones that had any description at all into one "Played With" subheading, but there were a few possibly-legit-sounding examples I was able to separate out.

Should this be No Real Life Examples Please, since it's a villain trope? There's a RL section right now, and unsurprisingly it's almost all zero-context examples other than one oddly gushy one.

Edit: Oh right, I like White Hair, Black Heart. It sounds good and it gets the villainy association across- not so much the pretty and not-due-to-age parts, but it might be better to leave the former to the description anyway to stave off some of the "he's a White-Haired Pretty Boy because he's a white-haired pretty boy" type examples. There don't seem to be many "white due to age" examples on the present page to begin with.

edited 26th Feb '13 9:56:34 PM by InsanityPrelude

Wow. Thanks for doing all that work. It looks pretty good to me.

Although I would dispute the Malfoys from Harry Potter being examples—their hair is platinum blond, not white.

I'll look over the rest of it in more depth later.

And I also like White Hair, Black Heart for a name.

edited 27th Feb '13 9:47:26 AM by Nocturna

Everyone seems to like White Hair, Black Heart for a rename. Do we still need a crowner? I agree that Harry Potter is not an example. This is white or silver hair, not blonde. Very few live-action examples would count.

I don't like White Hair, Black Heart, but everyone else does so why not. So long as the description is good enough it should be okay.

edited 27th Feb '13 10:34:21 AM by Arha