In real life, the widow's peak (a distinct point in the hairline in the center of the forehead) is a result of a lower-than-usual position of the intersection of the bilateral periorbital fields of hair-growth suppression on the forehead and is a dominant inherited trait. The term widow's peak is from an old wives' tale saying that hair growing to a point on the forehead is an omen of early widowhood.
For some reason, in fiction, it seems like it's also an omen of becoming the villain (or, at least, becoming one big badass). Maybe because it makes one's hairline look like Angry Eyebrows or Horns of Villainy.
Actually, in some villains this may be because of weird pattern balding, where the hairline recedes on either side of the center just a bit, as a sign of the stress of their job.
Often seen on a Classical Movie Vampire. Can overlap with Forehead of Doom. See also Bald of Evil, where there's no hair left up top.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- Higuchi in Death Note has this kind of hairstyle. He's also a Corrupt Corporate Executive using the Death Note to kill business rivals.
- Ryuk has it too. Hilariously, his English voice actor is also Brian Drummond, the original voice actor of the aforementioned Vegeta. At least one YouTube channel has referred to him as "Vegeta on Meth".
- Dragon Ball:
- Dracula Man, or Fangs, Baba's Classical Movie Vampire henchman. He may or may not really be evil, but he is an antagonist and far from pleasant.
- Raditz, Goku's evil brother whose arrival kicks off the Z era.
- Vegeta, the Big Bad of the Saiyan saga. Notably, he still has it after his Heel–Face Turn.
- Sorbet, from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.
- Baron Ashura from Mazinger Z is The Dragon of the Big Bad and he/she has this hairstyle. It is not obvious from first because he/she always wears a cowl, but if you pay attention, you can notice indeed he has one.
- Monkey D Dragon from One Piece. Subverted in that, while the World Government certainly considers him villainous, the story itself portrays him as an Anti-Hero.
- Giovanni, the infamous leader of Team Rocket, in Pokémon: The Series.
Comic Books
- Doctor Strange
- Doctor Strange had one when first introduced (as a good-but-unnerving "master of black magic" who was meant to seem vaguely demonic). He still has it, but it's milder now that he's an unambiguous hero.
- His foe Nightmare sports the classic type.
- Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon may or may not have had one, but the metal skullcaps he wore were clearly evocative of that shape.
- Shazam!'s Black Adam, though he's often more of an Anti-Hero.
- Spider-Man
- Norman Osborn has one. His son Harry used to have an identical hairstyle, but these days he's shaved bald and has a beard, in order to remain as distant from Norman as possible after the American Son debacle during Dark Reign.
- The Punisher had a very pronounced widow's peak when he debuted as an antagonist towards Spider-Man. He gradually lost it as he changed from an anti-villain to the more familiar and ruthless anti-hero he's known as these days.
- The Sub-Mariner sports a beautiful one. Whether Namor is villainous or not depends on the continuity.
- Raven actually grew one over the course of the New Teen Titans, eventually inspiring a plot concerning her father Trigon.
- The Tomb of Dracula: Dracula, of course.
- In Alan Moore's Top 10 story "Deadfellas", in which Hungarian vampires are analogous to Sicilian mobsters, the younger vampires laugh at the older "vidow's peak Vlads" for their horror-movie behavior and dress style, much as the Real Life "Mustache Petes" were derided and ousted by younger and less honor-bound mobsters.
- There are several characters from The Trigan Empire who have this, mostly villains.
- Wonder Woman:
- Volume 1: Dr. Poison has a rather prominent, if not as pointed as many fictional examples, widows peak on her forehead. She keeps a part down the center of it.
- Volume 2: The White Magician, a power obsessed magic user who killed Artemis, has a widow's peak as a human, after going demonic One-Winged Angel not so much.
- Marvel Universe villain and Satan-expy Mephisto has one.
Films — Animation
- Hercules: Hades' flaming hairdo manages to be shaped with a distinctively pointy hairline.
- The Lion King (1994): Although all male lions have the appearance of a widow's peak, Scar has one that complements his dark, evil character.
- The Little Mermaid: Ursula's hairstyle gives this off.
Films — Live-Action
- Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin has one. Though that's hardly the first warning sign you'll get from looking at her...
- Dracula is usually portrayed in films and other adaptations as having one. It's since a requisite part of the Classical Movie Vampire's appearance. Especially so since the Hammer Horror versions in which Dracula is played by Christopher Lee.
- Godzilla vs. Kong: Walter Simmons, the egotistical Corrupt Corporate Executive who creates Mechagodzilla and engineers Godzilla's entire rampage for Engineered Heroics, sports one of these courtesy of being played by Demián Bichir, and the fact he keeps his hair groomed helps.
- A New Hope: Grand Moff Tarkin. Well he is played by Peter Cushing....
- Sleazy con-man and thief Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects.
- Slugworth in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory has one, although we eventually find out that the guy we thought was Slugworth was really an actor hired by Wonka.
Literature
- Dracula does have one in the book, though its given less attention than his other, more strange features.
- Dune: Baron Harkonnen is described as having a prominent widow's peak, though it's outshone by his prominent girth.
- Discworld:
- Otto von Chriek is not a villain, but he tries to evoke the Classical Movie Vampire look and therefore has one.
- The text of the books doesn't mention it, but many illustrations of Lord Vetinari have this.
- Dr. Hix, of the Department of Post-Mortem Communications, has one as part of his (slightly) evil image.
- In Alexander Kazantsev's Destruction of Faena, the eponymous planet is inhabited by the two "races": the "longfaces" (humans who have the widow's peak) and "roundheads" (the rest), with the former generally being major assholes who believe themselves to be the master race. Kazantsev was probably satirizing the racism based on the skin color with this one.
- This is a racial trait in the Dragaera series, in which it is called a "noble's point" and all "Dragaerans" (read elves) have them except for the Teckla, who are still elves, but are the peasant class. Not evil per se, but they have a tendency to be pretty ruthless, especially if you are a Teckla or human.
- Mrs. Jeepers in the Bailey School Kids series is described as having one, and her students suspect that she is a vampire.
- Oddly enough, Johnny Tremain's widow's peak is described in-story as a sign of wisdom. Presumably the trope has changed over time.
- Oberyn Martel of A Song of Ice and Fire has one, and while not totally unsympathetic is a jerk who will go for anything that moves and is known for fighting with poisoned weapons.
- Dr. Fu Manchu "with a face like Satan" is sometimes represented as having one.
- In The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin, Dr. Mordeau the Thaumaturgy teacher has one, along with a tendency to wear black and not go out in the sunlight.
Live-Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Evil Willow, although she also wears one naturally while a good character.
- Dracula, of course, bears one as well during his apparition.
- Doctor Who:
- The oppressive Moroks from "The Space Museum" have this as their Rubber Forehead. So do the Dominators in "The Dominators".
- Philip Madoc's War Lord, who sits atop a hierarchy of villains as the Big Bad in "The War Games", sports one.
- The Master has one of these in some of their incarnations, most noticeably on Roger Delgado. They gave Delgado that widow's peak for the role — they thought it looked more sinister than a receding hairline. (They also widened the white streaks in his beard.)
- Antiheroic example: The Fourth Doctor actually has a very prominent widow's peak in the classic, Dracula shape, though there's an enormous volume of curly hair that covers it up, so it's only visible when he scrapes his hair backwards (see "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Seeds of Doom" for a couple of examples). This fits his Creepy Cute personality very well — he likes to appear silly and innocent to cover up a seriously dark side.
- "Daleks in Manhattan": Diagoras, the Daleks' human helper, sports one.
- Game of Thrones:
- Tywin Lannister has a sharp blond one. Justified because it is actor Charles Dance's real hair, while the character's counterpart from the A Song of Ice and Fire books sports a Bald of Evil after completely shaving his head.
- The first and third Mountain are slightly balding at the front of their heads, with a slight notch of hair just above the forehead.
- Qyburn's receding hairline sports one of these, which only becomes more obvious during Seasons 4 and 5. It, combined with his slicked-back hairstyle in the fifth season, occasionally makes him look unsettlingly like Hannibal Lecter.
- In Jekyll Hyde has a minor widow's peak, as opposed to Jackman who has straight hairline.
- In the Star Trek: Enterprise two-parter "In a Mirror Darkly", Mayweather's Mirror Universe counterpart has a widow's peak.
- Dr. Chaotica from the Star Trek: Voyager holodeck program "The Adventures of Captain Proton". As an expy of Ming the Merciless, it's required.
Music
- Gene Simmons of KISS has a very prominent one while in make-up.
- Frank Zappa's "Titties & Beer" features the devil as a little guy with a red suit and widow's peak.
Tabletop Games
- In BattleTech’s Blood of Kerensky novels, Phelan’s captor and later rival among the Clans, Vlad, is described as having one, and is a frequent antagonist to not only Phelan, but the Inner Sphere in general as time goes on.
Video Games
- Batman: Arkham Asylum: This design of the Joker has an almost-impossible one.
- The heart-shaped white portion of Bendy's face (at least on the posters and cut-outs) give his impression in Bendy and the Ink Machine. Although he was the star of a cartoon in this design of his, the 3D version of him is the game's Big Bad.
- Double Dragon: Machine Gun Willy in the first two arcade games.
- G-Man of the Half-Life series has one, though the character so enigmatic that it's hard to even know whether or not he's really evil or not.
- Bass from the Mega Man (Classic) is never seen without his helmet, but the way the helmet covers his face gives the impression of a widow's peak.
- Maxie of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire fame has this, though he's more a Well-Intentioned Extremist than anything else. There's also Lawrence III, from the second movie.
- Hikawa of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne has a very impressive one.
- Revan in Star Wars: The Old Republic has a widow's peak underneath his mask.
- Kazuya Mishima of the Tekken series sports one, as well as the appropriately malevolent demeanor. As does his son Jin Kazama.
- Mordack, the primary villain of King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!, has one.
Webcomics
- Snowflame has this in the front, and a party in the back. Depending on who you ask, he's also a Mystical White Hair.
Web Original
- Stolas from Helluva Boss is a high-ranking Demon Prince whose design is heavily inspired by Barn-Owls, complete with a Heart-Shaped facial disc that causes his darker plumage to plunge into a prominent widow's peak. His daughter, Octavia, also has one, though it's downplayed due to her being less of a villain and more of a justifiably-sour teenager, in addition to her bangs and beanie cap obscuring her widow's peak most of the time.
- A short Creepypasta titled Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv, is the story a strange video that is of a mysterious man staring at the camera with a red filter. At one point he smiles deviously while sporting a widow's peak. The video was haunted and whoever viewed it ripped their eyes out.
Western Animation
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender, all three members of the Fire Nation royal family have widow's peaks, though none of them very pronounced. Zuko becomes a subversion in Season 3.
- A young Dr. Wily had one in the Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) cartoon.
- Though not as pronounced as other examples, Vlad Masters of Danny Phantom clearly has one, furthering his vampire-like appearance.
- Averted with Aqualad from Young Justice (2010), who has a regular-sized widow's peak, but is a hero. Subverted in season 2 when Aqualad undergoes a Face–Heel Turn and works for Black Manta, but it turns out he was a Fake Defector infiltrating the Light.
- Opaline’s mane is like this in My Little Pony: Make Your Mark
- Thomas & Friends: Averted by Terence the Tractor, who while he has a widow's peak or at least the appearance of one, is nothing but level-headed and helpful.
- On Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Black Adam seems to have nothing BUT a widow's peak
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Real Life
- Notably employed in the Real Life deliberately shaven sakayaki tonsure of historical Samurai, supposedly developed along with the topknot (chonmage) to allow a better fit when wearing a helmet. Younger Samurai were obliged only to shave and shape their immediate hairline into a highly defined widow's-peak, but older Samurai would extend the tonsure well past the crown, while retaining the widow's peak for as long as age-induced baldness would allow, sometimes growing their topknots into shapes that could be folded back over the tonsure, improbably making this style overlap a bald look and a comb-over. This fashion was gradually adopted by the wider Japanese culture in latter periods, but is now only seen, like topknots themselves, on sumo wrestlers.
