Never Bareheaded

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
It's a matter of life and death. Literally.
"Oh yeah, my helmet. What the hell was THAT all about?"
—B.D., Doonesbury

A character always appears wearing a headdress of some kind, and never, ever takes it off. It doesn't have to be a hat, any kind of headgear is fine. Furthermore, it doesn't always have to be the same headgear, the point is that this character is never seen bare-headed. This gives him a certain mystique, since while it might just be that he wears the hat because he feels like it, the fact remains that we never learn what his hatless head looks like.

Please note that this is not about characters who usually wear a hat. It's for characters who always and without exceptions wear one, even though they don't need to. Maybe exceptions can be made if the character is seen hatless just once, but no more than that, or if it happens very rarely and is made a big deal of. A good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't seem weird, when you think about it, that the character in question always wears headgear, then s/he doesn't qualify. So obviously a character that appears briefly in two episodes of a threehundred-episode series doesn't qualify, even if his fedora was on all the time.

Please Keep Your Hat On is related. Mostly overlaps with Nice Hat. Sometimes overlaps with The Faceless.

Examples of Never Bareheaded include:

Anime and Manga

  • In Bleach, Urahara Kisuke wears his green-and-white-striped hat constantly. The brim usually keeps his eyes in shadow, and Urahara frequently uses it to help obscure the rest of his face. When someone knocks his hat off, Urahara is quick to put it back on, even if it has been damaged.
  • Jigen, from the Lupin series, is never seen without his fedora.
  • In Black Cat, the protagonist's partner, Sven Vollfied, never stops doing three things; wearing a hat, flirting and smoking.
  • From Keroro Gunsou, all Keronians have hats, usually a long-eared one with their personal symbol on it. One episode involved a notorious Unreveal when Keroro switches to a baseball cap after his hat is picked up by a toddler.
  • In One Piece we have several examples:
    • Chopper, who always wears his pink hat.
    • Usopp, who always has some kind of headgear on.
    • Brook and his hat.
    • Surprisingly averted with the main character, Luffy, the only character (aside from Chopper) whose hat is actually important. His straw hat is his symbol, going so far that when he achieves fame, the World Government calls him "Straw Hat" Luffy, and his crew the "Straw Hat Pirates". It's Luffy's most precious treasure, given to him by his idol. And, as it turns out, it was once the hat of Gold Roger, the pirate king. And yet, he's constantly seen without it, typically taking it off at the start of major fights and either setting it on the ground or giving it to a crewmate.
  • The title character of Squid Girl (seen above), who would die if she removed her hat.
    • It's hinted that her "hat" is actually her scalp (which explains why removing it is lethal); in one issue where she was suffering from amnesia, she tried to remove it only to find it fused to her head.
  • Karasawa from Daily Lives of High School Boys, who is always wearing a baseball cap.

Comic Books

  • Jughead Jones from Archie Comics is seldom seen without his signature crown-shaped hat.
  • The titular character of obscure Swedish comic book Bobo always wore a Tyrolean hat.
  • In Swedish comic Herman Hedning, Herman always wears a helmet.
  • Judge Dredd almost never takes his helmet off. When he does, his head is always obscured by something else. The one exception to this was one time when he'd had his face changed into a completely different one.
  • Cougar from The Losers keeps his hat on.
  • Every single smurf wears a white hat, except for Papa Smurf, who has a red one.
  • The titular main character from the British comic Buster was never seen hatless except for the final issue. Apparently, he looks just like Dennis the Menace UK under it.

Fan Works

Film

  • In Fat Albert, Dumb Donald explains that he always wears his hat because the animators didn't give him a face. He is forced to remove his hat and discovers that he indeed has a face. When Albert's friends return from the real world, Donald had to put his hat back on because, in their fictional world, he indeed has no face.
  • People in Fiddler on the Roof do this, because they are Orthodox Jewish.
  • In Star Wars, Darth Vader always wears his helmet, since it's part of his life support system. Seen only twice without it: the first time in a special pressure chamber, the second time dying. Though he is able go without it near the end in The Force Unleashed.
  • The movie adaption of Carrie has the character Norma perpetually wearing a red hat. When she gets her hair done, the device she's using wears it instead.

Literature

  • In The Vampire Files, gangster Whitey Kroun got his nickname because he always wore a white hat, even as a teenager.
  • Referenced in a poem by Spike Milligan:

American detectives
Never remove their hats
While investigating murders
In other people's flats.


PS Chinese 'tecs
Are much more dreaded
And they always appear
Bare-headed!

Live Action TV

  • In The Secret World of Alex Mack, Alex kept her hat on.
  • Nisu Uuno from Wremja always wears a ski cap and refuses to take it off.
  • Unless he has a very good practical reason not to wear it, you're not very likely to see Jamie Hyneman without his beret. To the point that when a particularly fierce wind actually does blow it off, Adam is left slightly stupefied because something like that had never happened before.

Newspaper Comics

  • Andy Capp keeps his on.
  • Beetle Bailey always wears either a hat or a helmet.
  • For many years in Doonesbury, B.D. was never seen without his football helmet. When he was called up from the Army reserves for the Gulf War in 1991 he wore a military helmet instead. For a while he was a cop, wearing a motorcycle-police helmet. For decades he wore a helmet until it finally came off on April 21, 2004, when B.D. lost a leg while serving in Iraq. His only reflection on losing the helmet was on July 31, 2004, when he thought the page quote to himself.
  • Swedish comic strip Elvis used to feature a character called Totte, who always wore a beret.
  • Harry Dinkle of Funky Winkerbean never took off his band cap, except when wearing a helmet when helping with the school's construction. It wasn't until he retired from being the band conductor that he took it off... and his face was seen.
  • Hagar the Horrible is almost never seen without his helmet, even sleeping with it on.

Theatre

For instance, we always keep our heads covered, and always wear little prayer shawls. This shows our constant devotion to God.

Video Games

  • Captain Falcon is only depicted without his face-obscuring helmet once, at the end of F-Zero GX's story mode. Even then, he faces away from the camera so you only see the back of his head.
  • Professor Layton. Though he does actually take it off briefly in the ending cutscene of Professor Layton and The Lost Future. Even in flashbacks before getting his famous top hat, he wears a cap.
  • Five of the nine classes in Team Fortress 2 wear hats by default. Four of them can be made hatless by obtaining hat-free items equippable in the headwear slot. However:
    • The Soldier can only have his hat replaced by other hats.
    • The Spy and Pyro classes can't have their balaclavas and gas masks removed, either.
  • Marumaro in Blue Dragon always wears a hat, which almost results in an Accidental Marriage in Kelaso Village.
  • In Wizard 101, even your default clothes include a hat.
  • According to Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, bad things would happen to Mario in the event he ever removed his hat.
  • It would be a lot shorter to list the Touhou characters to which this doesn't apply, although in many cases the hair accessory is just a ribbon or a headband. Fanon has taken this concept and run with it—a yukkuri without an accessory is at best shunned by other yukkuris but is more commonly outright attacked by them.

Web Comics

  • Black Hat Guy from Xkcd. The only time he was bareheaded was when his hat was stolen (for about 2 strips).
  • Dina of Its Walky is never seen without her trademark safari hat, even when sleeping or suspended upside down. In the entire series, she takes it off exactly once: when she is about to die.
  • Black Mage in Eight Bit Theater actually does remove his hat once, though it's not shown on screen and the only person who sees it is driven mad from the sight.
  • Rudy in Kevin and Kell wore his cap even when hired by a theme park to live as a wild animal; i.e., naked.
    • Likewise, Coney kept her bonnet on. In fact, the first time we ever saw her without it (after which she never wore it again) was many years into the comic. Rudy and Lindesfarne must not have seen her without it before either, because they were surprised by her Cousin Itt hair underneath.
  • Jameson from Girls with Slingshots is always wearing a bandana. He even has a spare for laundry day. In one arc the girls try to get it off of him, and when Jamie finally grabs it off she finds another bandana. But under that they discover his big secret--he's almost completely bald.

Web Original

  • In his show that shares his name, The Nostalgia Critic never takes off his hat. A bit of Real Life Writes the Plot, too: Doug Walker is prematurely balding. Most of his "modern movie reviews" usually have him wearing the Critic hat, too, as some people find his lack of hair distracting.
  • The llamas in Llamas with Hats, appropriately enough.

Western Animation

  • Codename: Kids Next Door: Lenny of The Delightful Children From Down The Lane pretty much always wears a football helmet. He only takes it off in one episode where it turns out he's a double agent. He puts it back on after revealing he's a triple agent.
  • Edd from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy. He actually gets very concerned about being seen without it, and when it actually comes off (which is never seen by the audience), the others seem shocked by what's underneath.
  • A couple of examples from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe:
    • Orko never removes his hat, as part of the Trollan custom that they never show their faces to anyone except their one true love. When he and Dree Elle showed each other their faces, they were kept offscreen; only shadows were shown. In one comic book story, Skeletor magically disguised himself as Orko and blew his cover by taking off his hat. Even that was kept in shadow!
    • Evil-Lynn has been seen without her helmet in only three episodes (one of the original series, two in the relaunch) and one of those times was because she lost it in a brutal fight. Seeing as she uses magic to recover it later, she seems to be rather attached to it.
    • In the original version, Ram-Man was never seen without his helmet (or without his armor, for that matter) and Man-At-Arms was seen without it only once (when he was asleep in his quarters) but in the relaunch both characters were seen bareheaded far more often. In both versions, the Sorceress is only seen without her headdress in flashbacks.
  • The CGI kid racers in The BBC's pre-school show Kerwhizz always wear armoured tracksuits with helmets.
  • Kick Buttowski never takes off his helmet. He loses it in one episode (his head is covered with mud) and tries to find a replacement.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has Applejack, who always seems to wear a cowboy hat - even when in a formal dress. Though to be fair, the hat itself is "dressed up", and probably isn't the plain brown Stetson she usually wears. It's also a common meme among bronies to ask where her hat is (since this is My Little Pony, many characters come with their own toys, and Applejack's often comes without her hat.) Still, she does take it off when sleeping, like in "Look Before You Sleep" and "The Cutie Pox," and in one episode she actually took it off in the daytime.
  • The four main kids of South Park almost never take off their hats. In Kyle's case, it's to hide a really embarrasing Jewfro. Kenny never took off his hood, so no one knew what he looked like until he finally took it off in the movie.
  • Meg and Chris are almost never seen hatless on Family Guy. Meg is especially notable - going hatless appears to be akin to nudity for her (she quickly covers up when discovered brushing her hair, and a makeout fantasy has her inexplicably hatless). Lampshaded in the Fourth Wall Mail Slot episode when a genie offers wishes:

Chris: I want a new hat!
Meg: I want a new hat!
Stewie: I want them to have new hats!

Real Life

  • Truth in Television: Some religions and cultures require their adherents to wear certain headgear in some situations.
    • A kippah (yarmulke) is a slightly rounded brimless skullcap worn by many Jews while praying, eating, reciting blessings, or studying Jewish religious texts, and at all times by some Jewish men. In Orthodox communities, only men wear kippot; in non-Orthodox communities, some women also wear kippot. Kippot range in size from a small round beanie that covers only the back of the head to a large, snug cap that covers the whole crown.
    • Hasidic male Jews tend to always wear black hats in public.
    • The keffiyeh/kufiya, also known as a ghutrah, mashadah, shemagh or (in Persian) chafiye, (in Kurdish) cemedani and (in Hebrew) kaffiyah, is a traditional Arab headdress fashioned from a square, usually cotton, scarf. It is typically worn by Arab men, as well as some Kurds.
    • Sikh men wear their turbans whenever they're in public.
  • Subverted by Terry Pratchett. He is well known for his penchant for wearing large, black fedora hats, as seen on the inside back covers of most of his books, but he actually takes them off now and then. It's just that when he does, people assume that it's not Pratchett. Perhaps it's a reference to his Discworld series? A wizard without his hat is naked. A wizard with his hat is not naked, even when he is.
  • Actor Mike O'Malley, from Yes, Dear and Glee. Just try to find a picture of him without a hat.
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