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White-Haired Pretty Girl: Difference between revisions

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White-Haired Pretty Girl (view source)

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[[File:MicaiahResize 7893.jpg|link=Fire Emblem Tellius|frame]]
 
{{quote|"Sophie! Your hair! It looks just like starlight. It's beautiful!"|'''Howl''', ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (anime)|Howl's Moving Castle]]''}}
|'''Howl'''|''[[Howl's Moving Castle (anime)|Howl's Moving Castle]]''}}
 
In [[Real Life]], white hair indicates either age, bleach, or albinism. Not so in fiction, where white hair can occur naturally on women of any age. For a given value of "natural", that is: white locks tend to mark their owner as special in some way. Maybe her hair is indicative of some spiritual (or outright magical) qualities, or maybe it's a hint of a nonhuman background. At the most mundane, it suggests [[Wise Beyond Their Years|wisdom beyond her years]]. It is a common mark of a [[Mysterious Waif]].
 
Often, this is treated like a variation on [[Hair of Gold|blond hair]] -- —"platinum blond"—with the character having blue eyes to match. Unless she has [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyes]], which would suggest she's an albino. Or she's a [[Dark-Skinned Blond]]e, in which case, it's probably a good idea to book it, fast.
 
The popularity of this trope probably stems from its status as a borderline-natural [[Hair Colors|hair color]]: white hair on a young person strikes that delicate balance of being unusual but not [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|blatantly unrealistic]]. The color also lends itself well towards symbolism (purity or death, take your pick).
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{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''Very'' common in anime and manga, in general.:
* In ''[[X 1999]]'', Princess Hinoto has white hair and is one of the most powerful magical beings in that world.
* Also by CLAMP, in ''[[Clover]]'', Suu has white hair and ''is'' the most powerful magical being in that world.
* The first Reinforce from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's]]'', the physical incarnation of a powerful [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]]. Ditto for Reinforce Zwei, her successor/daughter.
** The series also has Cinque, a [[Hollywood Cyborg|Combat Cyborg]] who serves as the older sister to most of her fellow [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Numbers]], which is kind of funny, considering that she's also the [[Token Mini-MoeLoli]] of the group, with an [[Eyepatch of Power|eyepatch]] and [[Badass Longcoat|trenchcoat]], no less.
* Shizuma from ''[[Strawberry Panic!|Strawberry Panic]]''.
* Momo from ''[[Ballad of a Shinigami]]''.
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** Vilui, part of the [[Smug Snake]] [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] from the third season.
* Eas from [[Fresh Pretty Cure]].
* In the [[The Film of the Book|anime adaptation]] of ''[[Film/HowlsHowl's Moving Castle (anime)|HowlsHowl's Moving Castle]]'', Sophie ends up as this once her curse is broken and she has {{spoiler|come into her latent magical abilities.}}
* Urd, and her mother Hild, of ''[[Ah! My Goddess|Ah! My Goddess!]]'' fame.
* Chii from ''[[Chobits]]''.
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* Sylvie Lumiere from ''[[Baccano!]]'', although it doesn't seem to be held as any indication of unusual abilities apart from [[Immortality|the most common one in the series]].
* Sanya and Eila from ''[[Strike Witches]]''.
* Jo from ''[[BakuretsuBurst TenshiAngel]]''.
* Hanekawa Tsubasa from ''[[Bakemonogatari]]'' {{spoiler|becomes one when possessed by a white-haired bakeneko.}}
* Nico Robin's mother in ''[[One Piece]]'', Nico Olivia, had pure white hair. It's unknown how old she was when she died, but she didn't appear too old, and Robin herself was only 8.
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* Princess Romina from ''[[Ninja Senshi Tobikage]]''
* Matsuri from [[Strawberry Marshmallow]] is a rare non-magical, realistic example, where her hair has started graying early. It's entirely mundane, but is also a subject of some debate early on in the manga. Not quite white, but give her a few years...
* The eponymous Index from ''[[ToA AruCertain Majutsu noMagical Index]]''.
* Mikuni Oriko from ''[[Puella Magi Oriko Magica]]''.
* Shijima and the avatar of the Shinrabansho from ''[[Nabari no Ou]]''.
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* Sakurako Saiki from [[Sakura Gari]]. {{spoiler|But in a subversion, we later learn that Sakurako is... Youya, a ''[[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]''.}}
* Tenshi from ''[[Angel Beats!]]''.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
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* ''Rima The Jungle Girl''
* All of the [[The Metabarons|Metabarons]] have long white hair, if they have any. For some reason, even the women they bring into the family from other clans have long white hair.
 
 
== Film ==
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* Ni Chan from ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]''.
* Mirana, the White Queen from [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''.
* The eponymous character (Anne Schuyler) in ''[[Platinum Blonde]]''. In fact, [[Jean Harlow]] in most of her film roles.
* Mirage from ''[[The Incredibles]]''.
* Aisling from ''[[The Secret of Kells]]''.
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* Lady Amalthea, the human form of the titular unicorn in ''[[The Last Unicorn (animation)|The Last Unicorn]]''.
** Pale enough to qualify for [[Heroic Albino]].
* Taarna from ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]''. Also, {{spoiler|the girl atthreatened by the Loc-Nar throughout the endfilm}} develops white hair after she's revealed as Taarna's reincarnation.
* Susan/Ginormica from ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'', after she's hit by the meteorite.
* Storm from the ''[[X-Men (film)|X -Men]]'' films.
* Luna Lovegood from the ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'' films.
* Gem from ''[[Tron: Legacy]]''.
 
 
== Literature ==
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* [http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n53/n265312.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/v/elizabeth-vaughan/white-star.htm&usg=__viz6KvuyXcEB3lCxnwAan8Lh5mo=&h=500&w=313&sz=28&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=MXA04UhvBZVJaM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=81&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwhite%2Bstar%2Bnovel%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1 Lady High Priestess Evelyn] from ''White Star'' and the other novels in the series by Elizabeth Vaughan.
* Lucretia from ''[[Bystander (novel)||Bystander]]'' has silver hair
* Nyarko from ''[[NyarkoNyaruko: San|Haiyore!Crawling Nyarko-sanwith Love]]''.
* Miranda in L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter]]'' trilogy. In the [[Backstory]], her brother Eramus had turned it to an old woman's hair in anger; she had been able to restore its health, but not its color. {{spoiler|When Eramus restores its original black, she doesn't like it, even though she recognizes the intent of generosity.}}
* Kiki in the ''[[Kiki Strike]]'' series. It wasn't really much of a plot point, but it was used to show how unusual she was.
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* ''[[The Last Unicorn (novel)|The Last Unicorn]]'''s Lady Amalthea, which makes sense, given that she's actually a unicorn that was turned into a human.
* One of the Seven of Jehovah in [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm|The January Dancer]]''. It causes a man to think that white should be soft and gentle, not ceramic.
 
 
== Live-Action TV ==
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* Abby has white hair in ''[[Primeval]]'', but that's bleach and her only power is turning on fanboys.
** [[Even the Girls Want Her|There are some fan]]''[[Even the Girls Want Her|girls]]'' [[Even the Girls Want Her|who would like to debate that last statement you know]].
* Number Six from ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' (though there are brunette and sandy blonde versions as well).
* Chiana in ''[[Farscape]]''. A feature of her species, apparently -- the women have white hair and the men have black hair.
* Yuki from the live action version of ''[[Cutey Honey]]'' had white hair when she "flashed" into her battle form.
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* [[No Doubt|Gwen Stefani]] on occasion.
* In her more recent live shows, Japanese singer/cellist Kanon Wakeshima [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR_MM6SZMiI wears a white wig.]
 
 
== Newspaper Comics ==
* Raven Sherman from ''[[Terry and the Pirates]]''.
 
 
== Tabletop Games ==
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** Or even age - the elite of humanity often receive treatments to keep them fighting for hundreds of years. Old Space Marines usually seem to opt for [[Bald of Awesome]] instead.
* ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'': Some members of the Crane clan, both male and females, dye their hair white in honor of their ancestors.
* Dark elves, or drow, also count as [[DarkskinnedDark-Skinned BlondeBlond]] ([[Fridge Logic|despite living underground for thousands of years, which you'd think would have the opposite effect]]; though, at least in one gameworld, they're described as being cursed into that form so none would mistake them). And [[Our Elves Are Better|since they're elves]], they tend to be very good-looking (drow are even described as being more attractive on average than other elves, on top of looking exotic), hence most males are [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|white-haired pretty boys]] and most females are examples of this trope. They took this to massive race-wide [[Ms. Fanservice]] levels. The good ones took to dancing naked in the moonlight. The [[Exclusively Evil|evil ones]] considered wearing armor admission of [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|fear and weakness before rival houses]]. The females would often wander their cities nude or nearly so, flaying alive anyone who was [[Distracted by the Sexy]] with [[Whip It Good|whips made of snakes]], unless they decided the male would make a worthy addition to their harem and let him audition for the role of pleasure slave. Pretty is not nice at all.
* The Whites in ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'' are completely white (skin, eyes, and hair), on the average more attractive than either humans or Nazzadi, AND all natural para-psychics.
* ''[[Pathfinder]]'': Feiya the witch is a textbook example.
* Arianna from ''[[Exalted]]''. There are others, but Arianna is the only one on the cover of the primary rulebook.
 
== [[Theatre]] ==
 
== Theater ==
* In some theatrical adaptations of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'', such as the one by Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre, the Ghost of Christmas Past is depicted like this.
 
 
== Video Games ==
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* Shih-Na, Agent Lang's subordinate in ''Miles Edgeworth [[Ace Attorney]] Investigations''. She {{spoiler|turns out to be a recurring baddie in disguise.}}
* Ojou in [[Suika]]. People just assume she's a foreigner and overlook it, apparently.
* [[Artificial Human|Nu]]-[[:Category:Yandere|13]] from ''[[BlazBlue]]''.
* [[The Cape (trope)|Noble Rose]] from ''[[Rumble Roses]]''.
* [[Dance Battler|Barbara]], [[Pirate Girl|Captain Silver]], [[Playing with Fire|Lady Flammar]], and [[The Ojou|Constance]] from ''[[Romancing SaGa]]''.
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* Sindel from ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', who can use that very hair to [[Prehensile Hair|toss around her foes]]. Depending on who you ask, the "pretty" part is debatable, as she looks like a cross between Cruella De Vil and Elvira.
* [[Evil Albino|Commandant Steele]] from ''[[Borderlands]]''.
* Yonah and Kaine from ''[[Nie RNieR]]''. Well, [[Hermaphrodite|Kaine's case is debatable...]]
* Jeanne from ''[[Bayonetta]]''.
* Mystica, the [[Magical Girl Warrior]], from the ''[[Fading Hearts]]'' [[Visual Novel]]. While her hair is described as silver from game dialogue, it is actually a combination of white and silver.
* [[Token Mini-MoeLoli|Pu]][[Cute Bruiser|ff]] from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]''.
* Angel from ''[[King of Fighters]]''.
* Tomoki in [[Canvas 2]]. It looks more blue than white on occasion, though.
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* [[Okami]] has Amaterasu's human form, which is never seen, but fans agree that she is this.
 
=== Visual Novels ===▼
 
▲== Visual Novels ==
* The [[Nasuverse]] seems to love this trope:
** Illyasviel von Einzbern from ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. [[Fate/Zero|Her mother]]'s appearance suggests it's genetic. Her maids, Sella and Leysritt, also count.
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** [[Hot Mom|Kyrie,]] too.
 
== Web Comics ==
 
<!--I couldn't perceive an order like by character or work name, so I (Arlo) went with the latter.-->
== Webcomics ==
<!-- MOD: The order was "the order that examples were added". Now we've lost that historical record. -->
* Faye in [[Amya|Amya Chronicles]].▼
* Lily in ''[[Atland]]''.▼
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150428204017/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070113 A woman] who hires [[Buck Godot]]▼
* Kili Stormcrow, a shaman of ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'', has bleach-white hair due to an incident as a child—Kili developed spiritual vision so strong that Kili's perception was trapped in the spirit world. Kili's hair has become permanently white. Of course, she [[Gender Bender|wasn't always a girl]]...well, [[TranssexualismTransgender#Webcomics|at least on the outside]].▼
** Note that she was originally a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|White Haired Pretty ''Boy'']]. Though, since Kili was always more of the "magically-touched" rather than "connotations of villainy" type person, you could argue that male-Kili still fit the WHPG trope more.▼
* Tea is the secondary [[Narrator]] of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. Stranger still, she has brown eyes.
* Zenobia in ''[[Hazard's Wake]]'', possibly related to her (most likely) being a demon.▼
* Bell in ''[[Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi]]''.▼
▲* Lily in ''[[Atland]]''.
▲* Faye in [[Amya|Amya Chronicles]].
* [[Robot Girl|Ping]] from ''[[Megatokyo]]'' had white hair early on, before her body started changing in response to her character development.▼
* Lei'ella from ''[[Inverloch]]'', which marks her as one of the Severed, mortal elves with silver hair and golden eyes.
* Velma in ''[[I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space]]'' has white hair. Most likely does not mean anything magical, though.
▲* [[Robot Girl|Ping]] from ''[[Megatokyo]]'' had white hair early on, before her body started changing in response to her character development.
▲* [http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070113 A woman] who hires [[Buck Godot]]
* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' has Celia, an [[Actual Pacifist]] sylph and Roy's love interest.
* Shichimi of [[Pepper&Carrot]] is magical, but then so are many of her friends and acquaintances...so her predominant distinguishing personality trait is her initial shyness. But in her first appearance, her hair colour no doubt contributed [[doylist|for the audience]] to a sense of otherworldliness in contrast to her [[The Rival|contestmates]].
▲* Kili Stormcrow, a shaman of ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'', has bleach-white hair due to an incident as a child—Kili developed spiritual vision so strong that Kili's perception was trapped in the spirit world. Kili's hair has become permanently white. Of course, she [[Gender Bender|wasn't always a girl]]...well, [[Transsexualism|at least on the outside]].
▲** Note that she was originally a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|White Haired Pretty ''Boy'']]. Though, since Kili was always more of the "magically-touched" rather than "connotations of villainy" type person, you could argue that male-Kili still fit the WHPG trope more.
▲* Zenobia in [[Hazard's Wake]], possibly related to her (most likely) being a demon.
* Mariko from ''[[PHD]]'', a minor recurring character and a former Japanese exchange grad student who quit her [[PHD]] to start her own company.
▲* Bell in ''[[Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi]]''.
* [[Walkyverse|Joyce]] is prematurely grey, even though, [[Alien Abduction]] aside, there's nothing especially magical about her, although she does develop into [[The Messiah]] (our definition, not [[Messianic Archetype]], which is closer to Walkerton) over the course of ''It's Walky!''▼
* [[Ice Queen|North Pole]] in ''[[Scandinavia and The World]].'' Sister Iceland is the "very pale blonde" version.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', Lil' E's [http://sinfest.net/view.php?date=2012-04-08 mother].
▲* ''[[Walkyverse|Joyce]]'': Joyce is prematurely grey, even though, [[Alien Abduction]] aside, there's nothing especially magical about her, although she does develop into [[The Messiah]] (our definition, not [[Messianic Archetype]], which is closer to Walkerton) over the course of ''It's Walky!''
 
 
== Web Original ==
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* Nasha of ''[[SPAZ]]'' has white [[Rapunzel Hair]], and while she's not magical, she's definitely a little strange
* Iriana Estchell of ''[[Ilivais X]]'' has this, due to her alteration for piloting a Phonos Weapon, removing most normal bodily functions, including pigmentation.
* Lilette Einmell from ''[[Tales of Hetalia]]'' has white hair, signaling she is a demon. In fact, this series runs on this trope, considering ''all'' demons have white hair.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
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* Queen La from ''[[The Legend of Tarzan]]''. Serves as a [[Mythology Gag]] to the original Edgar Rice Burroughs stories describing the city of Opar as an Atlantean colony city, hence the design reference to ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Atlantis the Lost Empire]]''.
* [[Winter Royal Lady|The Ice Queen]] ([[An Ice Person|The Ice King's]] [[Distaff Counterpart]]) from ''[[Adventure Time]]''.
 
 
== Real Life ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130521044804/http://www.mademan.com/chickipedia/connie-chiu/ Connie Chiu], one of the first albino supermodels.
* So many Northern Europeans, in fact, that almost every last one of them has purely white hair between age 5 and 10. It tends to pick up color afterward, but not always.
** Many of those descended from the Northern European diaspora can have pure white hair as well, even into adulthood.
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[[Category:All the Tropes Superhero Team]]
[[Category:Always Female]]
[[Category:Hair Colors]]▼
[[Category:The Beautiful Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Hair Colors]]
[[Category:Tropes in White]]
[[Category:Useful Notes/Hair Color in Japan]]
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