History Main / PeopleOfHairColor

* Long-after-the-fact depictions of the Saxons and the Normans after the conquest make the Saxons blond and the Normans dark-haired. RobinHood is typically blond, and when Maid Marian is a Norman, as in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'', she is dark-haired.

* ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'': The protagonist Yumiella is a girl who died and reincarnated in a game world that is a mix of RPG and Otome game as a villainess who becomes its {{Superboss}}. The kingdom where Yumiella was reincarnated discriminates against black-haired people, such as Yumiela herself, because the Demon Lord that once threatened it had black hair.

* In the ''Literature/{{Barsoom}}'' novels of Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs, there are three types of white-skinned Martians, blond haired, bald, and red haired. Justified in that each of them comes from obscure, introverted, and somewhat inbred city states on remote areas of Mars.

* Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's ''Literature/{{Earthsea}}'' series has the races contrast by skin color as well as by hair, but the white race is [[FantasyCounterpartCulture also chiefly blond]].
* Creator/DavidEddings's ''Literature/{{The Belgariad}}'' and ''Literature/TheElenium'' have descriptions of people from specific lands who, though of the same race as their neighbors, tend to have characteristics specific to their own nationality. This is justified in the ''Belgariad''; the gods each picked out the people they liked and (effectively) inbred them. The places where the races mixed (Sendar, Mallorea) have the most sensible people.

** Among the Elves, the Vanyar, who mostly remained in Valinor and had little contact with Middle-Earth, had golden hair. The Noldor instead have primarily black and dark brown hair, except for the famously blond-haired House of Finarfin.

* The Migurdians of ''Literature/MushokuTensei'' all have blue hair and blue eyes as a MarkOfTheSupernatural.

** In the classic series, the two races on Skaro seem to be defined by hair colour -- the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior-race]] Thals are uniformly blond (mostly straight), and the scientific Kaleds have brown hair (mostly curly). The new series seems to have abandoned this; [[spoiler:In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice]]", several Kaleds appear, one of whom is played by a black actor, and the other is a boy with straight, light brown or dark blond hair.]]

-->--'''Creator/OrsonWelles'''

** This is averted more in the 2003 ''Anime/{{Fullmetal Alchemist|2003}}'', where Xingese people do not exist (though a passing mention is made to Eastern countries and both Izumi and Roy seem at least part Asian) and Xerxes is nonexistent. The Ishvalans keep their dark skin and red eyes, however black and brown hair are the default hair colors. Lior, where Rose is from, is a desert town (instead of a mountain one as in the manga) and there are a large amount of dark skinned, dark haired inhabitants. There are implications the people of Lior are distantly related to the Ishvalans [[spoiler:which makes the Lior massacres even more comparable to the Ishvalan genocide.]]

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': Some of the playable races in ''Alfheim Online'' have the same hair color. For example, the Spriggans have black hair, the Undines have cyan hair, and the Salamanders have red hair.

* In ''{{Series/Angel}}'', Lorne's species (technically known as Deathwoks) all have long red hair to go along with their green scaly skin. Lorne's hairstyle is comparatively shorter than his kinsmen, giving the impression of highlighting his brown roots; it's all-natural, though.

** In the classic series, the two races on Skaro seem to be defined by hair colour -- the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior-race]] Thals are uniformly blond (mostly straight), and the scientific Kaleds have brown hair (mostly curly). The new series seems to have abandoned this; [[spoiler:In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice "The Magician's Apprentice"]], several Kaleds appear, one of whom is played by a black actor, and the other is a boy with straight, light brown or dark blond hair.]]
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E1TheDominators "The Dominators"]], the dark-haired Dominators from Drahb conquer many worlds and try to enslave the pacifist blond Dulcians from Dulkis.
** "The Keys of Marinus" features a variation on this trope. Hair colour on the planet Marinus appears to be determined by gender, with males being dark-haired and females being blonde. No-one comments on Barbara and Susan being dark-haired females, though.

** This becomes a major plot point in Season 1 when the Baratheons' dominant tendency to black hair is enough to raise (perfectly correct) doubts about the parentage of King Robert Baratheon's three ''blond'' children with Cersei Lannister, as the Lannisters are jerkass blonds.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Loial recognizes Rand as being an Aielman instantly by his red hair, as it's a distinct trait they have, despite Rand's denying being Aiel.

* The Germanic tribes in ''Literature/{{Atilla}}'' are described as predominantly blonde, in contrast to the dark-haired Romans.

* The Germanic tribes in ''Atilla'' are described as predominantly blonde, in contrast to the dark-haired Romans.

* ''The Isles of Glory'' by Glenda Larke has this. Justified, because the people live on an archipelago with very strict citizenship rules and laws against interbreeding between islands. The main character is discriminated against because, not only does she not have a citizenship tattoo, her colouring makes it very obvious she's mixed. Green eyes are found exclusively on one island, and they don't go with dark hair and skin.

* In Joy Chant's ''Red Moon Black Mountain'', the races are divided by appearance, including an [[PlanetOfHats entire race]] of {{Dumb Blonde}}s.

* In Creator/OscarWilde's ''The Star Child'', the eponymous child stands out among his adopted family and village because he is blond while they all have dark hair and eyes. Naturally, he turns out to be royalty.

* In Anne Bishop's ''Literature/BlackJewels Trilogy'', the races are often very distinct. For example, all people from Glacia have blond hair and blue eyes. All of the long lived races have brown skin, gold eyes, and black hair, with all Eyrien's having straight hair (it's mentioned when an Eyrien child is noticed to have a slight curl to her hair.) Children of half short-lived and half long-lived descent are easy to pick out; ie, Surreal, being half Hayllian half Dea al Mon, has lighter skin than a Hayllian, green-gold eyes, and pointed ears. The Dea al Mon are considered "short lived" with a lifespan of a hundred years or so, and they all have silver hair, light skin, forest blue eyes, and pointed ears (so they're basically elves) and so Surreal's coloring is believable; her hair is black while her skin is a bit of a mix, which is usually how genetics work, and eye colors do sometimes combine. Lucivar, being half Hayllian and half Eyrien, looks pure Eyrien because the only difference between the races is that Eyriens have wings. In fact, until he was born, no one knew his mother was Eyrien, as she was born with no wings (because her bloodline wasn't pure Eyrien in the first place) and passed as either Hayllian or as a Dehmlan witch.
* Creator/ShannonHale's ''Literature/BooksOfBayern'': In ''The Goose Girl'', Princess Anidori is recognised as from the country of Kildenree because of her yellow hair, and is called "the Yellow Lady" by her friends. The country of Bayern, where she was hiding, apparently has no blonde people.
* In Margo Lanagan's ''The Brides of Rollrock Island'' all of the wives on Rollrock Island are [[SelkiesAndWereseals selkies]], or seal women, who have black hair and dark eyes. Meanwhile, the natives of the island and the mainlanders have red hair. Generations of breeding only with selkies has led to everyone on the island having black hair, thus making it easy to tell who is not from the island.

* ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'': The protagonist Yumiella is a girl who died and reincarnated in a game world that is a mix of RPG and Otome game as a villainess who becomes its {{Superboss}}. The kingdom where Yumiella was reincarnated discriminates against black-haired people, such as Yumiela herself, because the Demon Lord that once threatened it had black hair.

* ''Literature/AkuyakuReijouLevel99WatashiWaUraBossDesuGaMaouDeWaArimasen'': The protagonist Yumiela is a girl who died and reincarnated in a game world that is a mix of RPG and Otome game as a villainess who becomes its final boss. The kingdom where Yumiela was reincarnated discriminates against black-haired people, such a Yumiela herself, because the Demon Lord that once threatened it had black hair.

* ''LightNovel/AkuyakuReijouLevel99WatashiWaUraBossDesuGaMaouDeWaArimasen'': The protagonist Yumiela is a girl who died and reincarnated in a game world that is a mix of RPG and Otome game as a villainess who becomes its final boss. The kingdom where Yumiela was reincarnated discriminates against black-haired people, such a Yumiela herself, because the Demon Lord that once threatened it had black hair.

** Tolkien's Orcs are black, twisted, corrupted versions of Elves, according to the Silmarillion -- though considering Tolkien's linguistic style, it's hard to tell whether he meant physically black, or more figuratively black, as in 'a black day' being used to refer to a bad day.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's Middle-earth, this is downplayed; various peoples have common phenotypes, but they are not uniform.
** Hobbits divide themselves into three main breeds or tribes, one of which is named for their fair skin and hair: the Fallohides. Most hobbits have brown hair.
** Of both Men and Elves, there are tribes who are mostly dark-haired and those who are mostly blond.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the Riders of Rohan from the North tend to be blond, while the people of Gondor are chiefly dark-haired. Tolkien reverses the typical associations, with the blond-haired Rohirrim being "lesser men" compared to the dark-haired Númenóreans.[[note]]This may have something to do with analogies to real-life antiquity, with the darker-haired Romans having a superior civilization to the blond-haired Germanics.[[/note]]
** Many Easterlings or "Swarthy Men" have dark or sallow skin and dark hair, are allied with Sauron, and are long-time enemies of Gondor. They're joined by the dark-skinned and dark-haired Southron or Haradrim as enemies of the Free Peoples who oppose Sauron.

** This is averted more in the 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', where Xingese people do not exist (though a passing mention is made to Eastern countries and both Izumi and Roy seem at least part Asian) and Xerxes is nonexistent. The Ishvalans keep their dark skin and red eyes, however black and brown hair are the default hair colors. Lior, where Rose is from, is a desert town (instead of a mountain one as in the manga) and there are a large amount of dark skinned, dark haired inhabitants. There are implications the people of Lior are distantly related to the Ishvalans [[spoiler:which makes the Lior massacres even more comparable to the Ishvalan genocide.]]

* In ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic''; members of the Fanalis tribe are immediately recognizable by their reddish pink hair and eyes, the Imuchakk with their blue hair and gold eyes, whilst the people of Heliohapt are a race of {{Dark Skinned Blond}}s.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' features Hylians as the equivalent of normal humans, and they have the variety of hair, eye, and skin colors you would expect. The Sheikah and the Gerudo are also humanlike, but they are distinguished from Hylians by having [[MysticalWhiteHair white hair]] and {{red eyes|TakeWarning}} for the Sheikah and [[DarkSkinnedRedhead red hair]] and [[YellowEyesOfSneakiness yellow eyes]] for the Gerudo (though ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' introduced a bit more variety for both).

** Those ancient Alphatians who immigrated from another world included both pale-skinned and copper-skinned ethnic stock, with intolerant subgoups within each of these choosing to remain "pure" and not marry the other; the majority of Alphatians, however, consider ethnic bigotry secondary to anti-Muggle FantasticRacism.

** In the Hollow World, the Spell of Preservation tends to maintain populations' distinct physical traits across the generations. Even though intermarriage goes on, it's implied that descendents of such mixed pairings eventually breed their way back into one or the other parent ethnicity, eventually causing all "foreign" traits to vanish over time.

* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword]]'' has redheaded Pheraeans, blonde Etrurians, and green-haired nomadic Sacaens. The former is notable since the the Heroine, Lyndis has bluish-green hair due to her Caelin mother and Sacaen father. May also count as PhenotypeStereotype

* In the Darkover series created by ''Creator/MarionZimmerBradley'', individuals with the special abilities called laran are overwhelmingly red-haired, with light eyes, although exceptions do exist.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': There are two factions of dwarfs: red and black, distinguished by their hair and beard color. The red dwarfs are generally on the side of good (Aslan the Lion), while the black dwarfs have aligned themselves with the forces of evil (the White Witch). At the beginning of ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', the two factions are on the same side, represented by the red dwarf Trumpkin and the black dwarf Nikabrik. [[spoiler:In the end, Nikabrik just can't help himself, and turns to evil]].

* Literature/TheBrightestShadow: A softer and more realistic version of this applies, as most groups are ethnically separate. Rhen all have dark hair, Corans have brown to blond, Estronese have very light hair, etc.
* In C.S. Lewis's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', there are two factions of dwarfs: red and black, distinguished by their hair and beard color. The red dwarfs are generally on the side of good (Aslan the Lion), while the black dwarfs have aligned themselves with the forces of evil (the White Witch). At the beginning of *Prince Caspian*, the two factions are on the same side, represented by the red dwarf Trumpkin and the black dwarf Nikabrik. [[spoiler: In the end, Nikabrik just can't help himself, and turns to evil]].
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' universe, the barbarians of the north are divided into the Aesir, who are blond, the Vanir, who have red hair, and the Cimmerians, who have dark hair. Howard had a whole essay on the various human races of Hyboria and how they got to be where they are in the story in question, "[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Hyborian_Age The Hyborian Age]]". The racial descriptions given there are characterized by the very best racial science of his day.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/CountToATrillion'', Blondies. Indeed, when Menelaus is viewing an old SF series and realizing it depicts the future (which didn't happen) as racism-free, a white man kissing a black woman is described as a Blondie kissing a Swarthy -- the hair color trumps the skin color for the man.
* In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', the Sartan and Patryns are MageSpecies who are also HumanSubspecies, and are distinguishable from baseline humans primarily by their hair color -- Sartan have MysticalWhiteHair with dark tips[[note]]though interestingly, the two main Sartan characters don't fit; Alfred is mostly bald, and what little hair he has is grey (the Patryn Haplo speculates it might be a halfhearted attempt at disguising his race) while Zifnab is a very old man even by the standards of the long-lived Sartan whose hair and beard are pure white, with no dark at all[[/note]], while Patryns are the opposite, with dark hair that turns white near the tips.

Not to be confused with YouGottaHaveBlueHair. Compare to FacialProfiling. Sub-trope of GroupIdentifyingFeature.

* Plays into the history of the Kymeran MageSpecies in Creator/NancyACollins's UrbanFantasy trilogy ''Golgotham'': Before [[{{Atlantis}} Kymera]] sank into the ocean, their hair was exclusively in [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair primary colors]] and rigidly coded to [[FantasticCasteSystem caste]]: blue for aristocrats, yellow for artisans, and red for peons. While the RacialRemnant who survived the crisis intermarried out of necessity (adding secondary colors to the range of possibilities), traditionalists still tend to hold [[FantasticRacism some degree of bias]] against anyone with warm-toned hair[[spoiler:, (although even most of ''them'' only consider it all that important that the heir to the throne have SupernaturalGoldEyes)]]. The only mentions made of Kymeran skin tones are in reference to specific individuals; therefore, it's probably safe to say that the same variations (or lack thereof) exist among all three castes and their descendants.

* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'': The people of Tumblr all have [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unnatural]] hair colors.

* ''VideoGame/OgreBattle64'': The two people, Indigans and Aurics, are differentiated by hair colors. Aurics are primarily blond, while Indigans have [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue, purple]] and black hair.

* In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', the Sartan and Patryns are WitchSpecies who are also HumanSubspecies, and are distinguishable from baseline humans primarily by their hair color -- Sartan have MysticalWhiteHair with dark tips[[note]]though interestingly, the two main Sartan characters don't fit; Alfred is mostly bald, and what little hair he has is grey (the Patryn Haplo speculates it might be a halfhearted attempt at disguising his race) while Zifnab is a very old man even by the standards of the long-lived Sartan whose hair and beard are pure white, with no dark at all[[/note]], while Patryns are the opposite, with dark hair that turns white near the tips.

* Plays into the history of the Kymeran WitchSpecies in Creator/NancyACollins's UrbanFantasy trilogy ''Golgotham'': Before [[{{Atlantis}} Kymera]] sank into the ocean, their hair was exclusively in [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair primary colors]] and rigidly coded to [[FantasticCasteSystem caste]]: blue for aristocrats, yellow for artisans, and red for peons. While the RacialRemnant who survived the crisis intermarried out of necessity (adding secondary colors to the range of possibilities), traditionalists still tend to hold [[FantasticRacism some degree of bias]] against anyone with warm-toned hair[[spoiler:, (although even most of ''them'' only consider it all that important that the heir to the throne have SupernaturalGoldEyes)]]. The only mentions made of Kymeran skin tones are in reference to specific individuals; therefore, it's probably safe to say that the same variations (or lack thereof) exist among all three castes and their descendants.