Heroes Want Redheads: Difference between revisions

With a cinnamon girl."''|'''[[Neil Young]]''', "Cinnamon Girl"}}

 

 

The hero's redhead is actually calm, [[Beware the Quiet Ones|at least most of the time]]. When she is fiery, she will probably be making him work to win her over for a long time or [[Romantic False Lead|he won't realize that she's the one for him until the end]].

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.

 

 

Perhaps surprisingly to outsiders, given the (''relatively'') higher proportion of [[Useful Notes/Ireland|Irish]] redheads, this trope does not seem to exist in Ireland. Redheaded female leads do appear, of course, but they are heavily outnumbered by the more common blondes and brunettes. This may be that, unlike almost everywhere else, red hair is not really seen as especially "exotic" in Ireland and Irish made media reflects this.

 

Contrast [[Redheaded Stepchild]].

 

== Anime ==

** Actually, her hair and eye color WERE her name until she met Yuji.

* Asuka Langley Soryuu, of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', has a very interesting [[Everyone Can See It]] [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] relationship with Shinji Ikari. The two share similar backgrounds and are clearly attracted to and want to get closer to one another, but their ''very'' different ways of handling their social shortcomings (Asuka in an aggressive and head-on manner pushes people away because she is afraid of getting hurt; Shinji in a passive and withdrawn fashion runs away people because he is also afraid of getting hurt) leads to numerous misunderstandings and resentment, especially on Asuka's part, between them. The very end of ''End of Evangelion'' implies that they have reached some kind of understanding, at least.

* Mayla from Mega Man NT Warrior develops a crush on Lan Hikari throughout the series (and they eventually get married in the Mega Man Battle Network games).

* Tsukimiya Ayu of ''[[Kanon]]''.

* Chiharu Shinonome from ''[[Eiken]]'' is male protagonist Densuke Mifune's crush the entire series. Everone else in her family are redheads too.

* [[Manipulative Bastard|Lelouch]] from [[Code Geass]] really cared about [[Wide Eyed Idealist|Shirley]], even after {{spoiler|Rolo killed her in R2.}}

** Cornelia and Euphie also have very good relationships with their respective knights (if pink counts for red).

* Male subversion in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'': when given the chance, the heroine Miaka chose the [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|blue-haired]] Tamahome over the redheaded Tasuki in the OAV. Though, to be honest, [[First Girl Wins|Tasuki had it lost from the start...]]

* 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''.

** Kyo has orange hair and he most likely has black hair naturally. His orange hair comes from the fact that he harbors the spirit of the orange cat. All of the Sohma family probably have black hair but it changes due to the animal spirits (Yuki = white mouse, Kisa = orange tiger, etc).

* Subverted in ''[[Pokémon Special (Manga)|Pokémon Special]]'', where Red is [[Oblivious to Love]], but played straight in ''[[Pokémon Zensho]]'' and the first 4koma.

* The marvelous, 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''.

** 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.

* ''[[Madman (Comic Book)|Madman]]'''s love interest Joe (Josephine).

** In the sequel, Scarlett Johannsson dyed her hair red to play Black Widow.

* Princess Fiona in ''[[Shrek]]''.

* The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (Film)|Star Trek]]'' movie has Kirk rolling around with a [[Green Space Babe]] with red hair (instead of black).

** That same Green Space Babe later plays Scarlett in the [[G.I. Joe (Film)|G.I. Joe]] movie, who is lusted after by Ripcord (who is black).

* [[Elvis Presley]] woos Ann-Margret in ''[[Viva Las Vegas]]''.

* [[Taylor Swift]]'s character, [http://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Audrey-voiced-by-Taylor-Swift-in-DR.-SEUSS-THE-LORAX.jpg Audrey], in ''[[The Lorax (Film)|The Lorax]]''. She's not in the book, she's an inserted love interest for [[Zac Efron]]'s character, who is presumably the guy who finds the Once-ler.

* Shannon of ''Far and Away''. Due to her being an Irish immigrant, it's unsurprising.

 

*** Except Anakin Skywalker, it seems.

*** 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". Jon also thinks of Melisandre (another woman with red hair <ref> along with red eyes and always red clothing</ref>) as very beautiful, if a little cold. And he's not the only POV character to take interest in redheads. At the beginning of the series, Ned Stark is happily married to auburn-haired Catelyn Tully and their daughter Sansa (who took after her mother) ends up being married to {{spoiler|Tyrion Lannister}} who admits that he is very attracted to her. Jaime Lannister, another POV character, found Catelyn's sister (that has the typical Tully coloring) rather pretty and Catelyn herself interesting as a teenager. There's also Rohanne Webber with whom Duncan, the protagonist of the [[Prequel|Dunk&Egg tales]], is infatuated.

** In poor Sansa's case though this is mostly averted to Villains (or Anti-Villains in Sandor's case) Want Redheads, as out of her two biggest admirers, one is a bitterly cynical [[Blood Knight]], the other a [[Yandere]] [[Magnificent Bastard]].

* ''[[The War Against the Chtorr]]''. [[Colonel Badass|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 {{spoiler|dumps him (when they weren't going out in the first place, no less) in favor of becoming the new Oracle of Delphi. [[First Girl Wins|He gets Annabeth in the end.]]}}

* 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, {{spoiler|following Amberle's transformation into the Ellcrys tree, Wil marries the black-haired Eretria}}), Par Ohmsford and Damson Rhee in the ''Heritage of Shannara'' quadrilogy, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian in the ''Voyage of the Jerle Shannara'' trilogy, and Panterra Qu with Prue Liss in the ''Legends of Shannara'' duology.

* Male example: Edward Cullen from ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'' has reddish-brown hair, as does his infamous {{spoiler|daughter.}}

* Male/male example: Ash Trine is the primary love interest of Kieran Trevarde in ''[[The God Eaters]]''.

* Another male example: Marcus Flutie from ''Sloppy Firsts''.

* 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.

* Somewhat subverted with Karen in the [[The Three Worlds Cycle|Three Worlds Cycle]]. Karen, a redhead, is technically a hero, but her love interest Llian is something of a bumbling klutz. He does turn out to be a bit of a hero in the end, though, so I guess it's alright eventually...

* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' [[Made for TV Movie]], the Doctor's love interest Grace Holloway is a redhead.

** Not to mention the Tenth Doctor's...relations with Queen Elizabeth I.

* Lucy of ''[[I Love Lucy (TV)|I Love Lucy]]''.

** In a subversion, Lucy freely admitted that she was not a natural red head on the show and in real life.

* Subverted in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'': in Act I, Hawke can attempt to initiate [[Romance Sidequest|romance]] with another Orlesian redhead, Aveline Vallen, but she ultimately rejects him/her for {{spoiler|Guardsman Donnic}} in Act II.

** In the ''Mark of the Assassin'' DLC, however, the red-haired Tallis can be romanced, although this is more of a short-term fling instead of a serious romantic engagement, and nothing happens if Hawke is already in a romance with another party member.

* The orange-haired redhead [[Super Mario Bros|Princess Daisy]] is said to be Luigi's answer to Mario's Peach, and various indications in sports games have been shown to support this.

* Aika from ''[[Skies of Arcadia (Video Game)|Skies of Arcadia]]''

* 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, an overwhelming majority would make this game fit this troupe.

** Akiha, Hisui, Kohaku, Aoko; that's half of them. More, if you don't count [[Melty Blood|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''.

* [[Punny Name|Anne Onymous]], protagonist of ''[[The Wotch (Webcomic)|The Wotch]]'', is a red head, as are a few side characters. The (blond) Jason has a ''huge'' redhead fetish...so much so that he has a "[[Spider Sense|Red-Head Sense]]". Also, whenever he is [[Gender Bender|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]]''.

* 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 [[Hot Librarian|librarian]] in an all-girl [[Love Dodecahedron]].

* ''[[Red Hot Riding Hood]]'' may be the [[Trope Codifier]] in the animation world.

* Starfire of ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]''.

* 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.

* Molotov Cocktease of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', a semi-heroically sociopathic [[Red Scare|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..."

** 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.

*** It can be argued that Tom is not a perfect hero...