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Fiery Redhead

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Asuka Langley Soryu: Hot-Blooded, hot tempered, and all-around hot (at least to Shinji).

"With my long, red hair flying as I beat them half to death, I got a new nickname: The Bloody Habanero."
Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto

A Fiery Redhead is a red-haired character who is strong, Hot-Blooded, outgoing, usually outspoken, and (if a love interest) often female. She has a big personality and she's not afraid to use it. Whatever you do, don't get on her bad side, or there will be hell to pay. (Especially if powers of personality and/or elements are present: she likes Playing with Fire. Thus, in a Four-Temperament Ensemble, expect her to be Choleric.) She will be unladylike unless it's the case of a redheaded Spirited Young Lady. She might be One of the Boys, a tomboy or a lad-ette. Heroes do like redheads after all.

This hair-color stereotype probably developed since red hair was associated with the Irish and Scottish (and before this, Horny Vikings) for a long time, and they ended up being stereotyped as loud, strong, and passionate (see the Fighting Irish and Violent Glaswegian tropes for more info on that). On the other hand, it's even found in Eastern Europe where any association would have been with Russians or Swedes, and these are nationalities not generally stereotyped as hotheaded.

In addition to this, it extends even into ancient texts from Babylonian and Scandinavian Oral Historian. In the Prose Edda, Odin is depicted as blond, green-eyed, cool, and calculating — while his son, Thor, is a redheaded, blue-eyed (something of an omen of war/perfection in Scandinavian culture) fire-breathing stereotypical Viking (the raiding kind) who treats Earth as a giant freshman mixer. Gilgamesh is also a Fiery Redhead with blue eyes whose duties include being a good precursor to Thor, for the most part — though with more reservation and a cooling trend near the end of his life (this makes both an eerie paradigm of Fiery Redheads at the creation of their respective people's writings). The whole "red-haired, blue-eyed" thing is usually split in Japan between two people.

Although real redheads can have tempers like about anyone else, this trait is exaggerated in fiction, so no real life examples are listed here. Also, they can have green eyes and this association is also exaggerated in fiction.

Compare Redheads Are Ravishing, Evil Redhead, Rose-Haired Sweetie, Red-Headed Stepchild, Redheads Are Uncool, Red Is Heroic. In anime, could be a Tsundere. If you have a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead in close proximity (i.e. in the main cast), it's Blonde, Brunette, Redhead. Contrast Shy Blue-Haired Girl for Red Oni, Blue Oni and Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette for the realistic opposite hair color and personality. Compare and contrast Beware the Nice Ones; if the two overlap, you get a redheaded character who is super nice and calm all the time but briefly becomes this trope once pushed too far.

Please do not confuse this with a redhead being literally fiery, or having literal fiery head, although these tropes may overlap. And a red who's literally fiery does have their hair color fit their elemental powers. See also Red Is Violent (in this case, the hair color). noreallife


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    Asian Animation 
  • Starshadow from Happy Heroes has red hair (at least in his earlier appearances) and is more energetic, louder, and more Affably Evil compared to the likes of the cold Moondance, whom he works with.

    Comic Strips 
  • Wallace the Brave: Amelia has bright red hair and the most explosive personality of the main characters.

    Films — Animated 
  • Winnie from The Boxtrolls, is quite outspoken.
    Winnie: You're the worst pick-pocket I’ve ever seen! Here! (tosses him a coin) Buy a book on how to be a better thief!
  • Despicable Me 2 features the orange-haired Lucy Wilde, the very excitable agent assigned to work with Gru.
  • Disney movies have several of these redheads:
    • Peter Pan has red hair in the Disney film (the book never specified his hair color) and is excitable, Hot-Blooded and rash.
    • The Little Mermaid: Ariel is a redheaded Rebellious Princess a thirst for adventure and tendency toward recklessness. The creators of Enchanted say (strawberry) Giselle owes her spunkiness to her.
    • Despite being a scarlet parrot, Iago from Aladdin counts, thanks to his fiery red feathers.
    • Justified in The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
      • The red-headed Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, showed anger and violence when he met Phoebus for the first time because the former dislikes soldiers entering sanctuary. He also literally used fiery torch to send Phoebus away.
      • In the climax, Quasimodo can't resists his master Judge Claude Frollo burning Esmeralda to the point that he powerfully broke the large chains that hold him back. He also literally used fiery molten lead to defeat his enemies.
    • Anna from Frozen has strawberry blonde hair; she doesn't exactly seem to have a Hair-Trigger Temper, but she is still very much Hot-Blooded. Still, you don't want to get on her bad side, because she can get quite fiery if provoked properly.
    • Wreck-It Ralph: Invoked. In the game Fix-It Felix Jr., Ralph's sprite has red hair to further represent his Hair-Trigger Temper as the game's antagonist. In his actual appearance, it's more brown, which emphasizes how there's more to him than his game lets on.
    • Pixar seems to love this trope.
      • Merida from Brave, plus her father and triplet brothers. In addition, they are Violent Glaswegian.
      • Cars: Lightning McQueen has a red paintjob to match his personality. Frank is also colored red to match his irritable personality of a bull.
      • Syndrome from The Incredibles is a male example. His hair is even shaped like a flame, and his personality is suitably over-the-top. Elastigirl as well, though it darkens to auburn during the Time Skip. Jack-Jack too, as seen when his powers are activated.
      • Giulia from Luca; she's an outspoken tomboy with bright red hair, and she's also the only kid in Portorosso who's willing to stand up to the local bully.
      • Jessie from Toy Story 2 and 3.
      • Ellie from Up.
      • Hank in Finding Dory is a red octopus or "septopus" with Hair-Trigger Temper, despite the fact that he (like real octopuses) has three hearts as Dory stated. But the octopus is also fittingly good-hearted.
        Dory: You know something, for a guy with three hearts you're not very nice.
      • In Turning Red, this appears as a plot point. The women in the Lee family gain bright vermillion hair when their red panda is awakened. The pandas are triggered by wild emotions, so it's the quality of being "fiery" that turns Mei into a redhead.
  • Tigress, the leader of the Furious Five from Kung Fu Panda, who just happens to be an anthropomorphic wild cat with mostly orange fur.
  • Sunset Shimmer from the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls films. Though she makes a Heel–Face Turn at the end of the first movie, she still slips into this on occasion, notably when Trixie accused her of sabotaging Rainbow Dash's guitar solo.
  • Shrek:
  • Treasure, the wannabe leader of the Female Furies, from Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Too bad the four Female Furies killed her, left her as a bloody mess on the ground, and decided to "let the dogs clean up the mess".
  • Wolfwalkers:
    • Mebh has red hair, and she's a boisterous, outspoken Wild Child who's quick to anger. She also has auburn fur in her wolf form.
    • Mebh's mother Moll is an inversion. She's also a redhead, but she's calmer and more rational than her daughter, preferring to find a safer place for she, Mebh and the wolves to live rather than escalate the conflict with the people of Kilkenny. The only time she truly gets angry is when she sees Mebh being threatened.
  • The Heat Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus is a literal case. He has vibrant red hair and is known for, well, his heat powers. That and he has quite a temper.

    Music 
  • "Black Jack's Lady" by Heather Alexander is "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" if done realistically, Black Jack Davy left, and the unnamed woman was a redhead. The woman grabs a horse and sword and goes to get his head. The entire song came about from a joke about "What if the unnamed woman was a rowdy redhead?":
    So I thought about it and I thought, you know, given the reality of it, I mean, what are the chances really be of this girl waking up the next morning and having Black Jack Davy still there?
    I mean, first off, she's probably still sleeping in. He's gonna be gone just because he has to get up and run because he's got the whole world looking after him. Second off, I mean, he's got two more waiting for him in the next town. You know, I mean, he could get these ladies any time he wishes.
    So I thought, well, okay that's more or less the hard reality of it, and I thought, well, that's kind of sad. And I thought, well, what if he did it... to a redhead?
  • Caylee Hammack's "Redhead" (featuring famous ginger Reba McEntire) is essentially this trope in musical form, describing a redheaded girl (inspired by Hammack's cousin) who drives her parents up the wall with the chaos she brings:
    They got their hands full, trying to tame a pistol
    Spitfire, freckles that could a mother dead
    Clothes line, tightropes, daredevil, high hopes
    They raised a little hell when they raised a little redhead

    Mythology 

    Pinball 

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Brutal Bob Evans, although it is not immediately noticeable, his red hair anyway, as he's bald so you have to wait until you can see his eyebrows. Otherwise no, he's not just named after the cigarette but has enough figurative passion to light one. He once wrestled a week's worth of iron man matches taking on all who would come, to prove to Ring of Honor he could handle their style and schedule.
  • Sheamus O'Shaunessy, the ginger brawler of the Global Pro Wrestling Alliance...but don't let him hear you call him ginger, unless you want to brawl.
  • Minnesota based wrestler Big Red Thoruf Marius, perhaps best known for a stint in Pro Wrestling NOAH, at least before being repackaged as Eric Rowan. He wasn't Minnesota Nice, with his big red beard he reminded people of a certain bullheaded thunder god...
  • Sweet Nancy in International Wrestling Association Puerto Rico, though her violent temper was on a short fuse before she decided to dye her hair red. The same applied to Demonique before her and Ivelisse VĂ©lez, later.
  • El Generico in ROH, as the result of Colt Cabana trying to Teach Him Anger so Generico could get revenge on Steve Corino and Kevin Steen.
  • Kiera Hogan, with less emphasis on the redhead and more on the fire. Her hair, nails and tights are all colored to look like they're burning. But she does have that baby face fire.

    Tabletop Games 
  • BattleTech's most famous redhead is Natasha Kerensky, a woman whose outspoken and bombastic nature made her an icon both in the Inner Sphere as the unquestioned leader of the unruly Black Widow Company of Wolf's Dragoons and in the Clans as eventual Khan of Clan Wolf. Notably she's actually one of the oldest warriors in the setting up until the time of her death, but her reputation, bravado, and ace piloting skills still made her one of the most dangerous and charismatic people in the galaxy.
  • Call of Cthulhu supplement Cthulhu Companion, adventure "The Rescue". The NPC Dr. Dare has red hair and "...his temper gets the best of him sometimes."
  • Dungeons & Dragons
    • The redhead Helena Daphnotarthius, a cleric of the Immortal Valerias in the BECMI D&D Dawn of the Emperors boxed set. She is "fiery in anger, in romance, in the pursuit of things she wants." She wants to live "life to its fullest and promote the questionable virtues of reckless abandon and thoughtless enjoyment".
    • Polyhedron magazine #141 article "Elminster's Eye". Aedra Dornshoon is a mage who acts as a Nictar (minor official) for the Mage-King of Ondeeme. She has "flame-orange hair and a temper to match".
  • Enforced in Exalted : Fire-Aspected Dragon-Blooded Exalts' hair and skin slowly become reddish as they age, though particulary well-bred young ones will also display it. They also, of course, have fire powers, and the Great Curse ensures they will be passionate enough to destroy in pursuit of their goals.
  • Magic: The Gathering gives us Chandra Nalaar, a young and impulsive pyromancer who is as short-tempered as she is dangerous. This makes her, both figuratively and literally, a fiery redhead on two levels—both in that her powers involve fire, and that her hair flares every time she activates her powers.
  • Leona the pyrokinetic in Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution is this, both literally and figuratively. The Firestarter archetype is even paired with a picture of her.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation Tabletop RPG (Last Unicorn Games) supplement "Planetary Adventures". The adventure "The Enemy You Know" has a redheaded female engineer, who "can be hot-tempered and impulsive" and has a "tendency to charge into situations". She overhears a Vulcan woman speak a phrase in Romulan and confronts her, calling her a "dirty Romulan spy".
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters. After he becomes a Daemon Prince, he's a literal redhead.
    • The Space Wolf marines go gray-haired as they age, but since they come from a planet of Vikings red hair is not uncommon among the Blood Claws, their youngest and rowdiest members whose tactics boil down to "throw ourselves at the enemy and see who wins".
  • Warhammer Fantasy: Pyromancers tend to become Hot-Blooded and gain bright red hair over time from their use of the Red Wind of Magic, which represents both fire and passionate emotion.

    Visual Novels 
  • Mahiru Koizumi in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has red Boyish Short Hair and a forceful personality, getting pushy and argumentative when people don't meet her expectations, but a kind heart beneath it that leads to her becoming the Team Mom.
  • Downplayed with Heidi from Daughter for Dessert. She’s assertive, but her temper is always controlled.
  • While normally a typical black haired Tsundere, Kei Sakurai from Dies Irae will turn into both a literal and figurative version of this trope when invoking her Creation Figment, something that is born from her belief of her own burning passion. It transforms her body into a living flame with her hair changing to a burning reddish color. And due to the way Creation Figments work, her personality follows suit and she becomes a lot more hot-tempered and aggressive.
  • Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club! has pinkish-orangeish hair and is a mixture of this and Rose-Haired Sweetie: while she's not the angry archetype, she's still an exciteable girl whose communicative enthusiasm helps the contrasting personalities of the club fitting together. It also helps her coping with her depression.
  • In Every Day's Different Katsuki has a short temper, particularly with the main character. This is mostly due to pent up frustration from Parental Neglect and a distrust of strangers.
  • Kevan, the Earl of Io from Long Live the Queen. His character portrait has a perpetual scowl and he's out for blood in both of his in-game appearances.
  • Melody:
    • Melody is stubborn and strong-willed, and doesn’t take crap from anyone.
    • Averted with Becca, who is as pleasant and polite as can be.
  • Amira/Red in Monster Prom is a fiery redhead in both the figurative and literal sense- she's a very passionate and feisty, and as an efreet she has a plume of fire instead of hair.
  • Asaga Oakrun from Sunrider is red-haired, outspoken, tomboyish, and a self-proclaimed Hero of Justice as well as an ace mecha pilot. For bonus points, her best friend Chigara Ashada is a Shy Blue-Haired Girl.
  • Tsukihime:
    • Aoko's red hair is probably dyed, as it was brown when she was younger. She's one of the strongest mages in the world who enjoys messing with people and blowing stuff up.
    • Akiha's hair is normally a severe black, as befitting an ojou, but it turns red when she consciously or unconsciously calls upon her demonic blood to power up. She fits this trope well, since she gets more fiery the redder her hair gets. She's still in control until the point that her eyes turn red too, which is the sign that she's gone insane.
  • Chase from War: 13th Day both plays into this trope and subverts it. The game uses unreliable narrators, who see him portrayed this way. However, in the Valentine and April Fools' special, he's more dorky than anything else. But, of course, that's only assuming his depiction is even accurate there...
  • When They Cry:
    • Rena Ryuuguu from Higurashi: When They Cry keeps her fire well-concealed for the most part, but it's there.
      Rena: When Keiichi-san is angry, he's twice [as scary as Oryou].
      Keiichi: However, when Rena is angry she's twice as scary again.
    • Battler Ushiromiya, the Hot-Blooded redhead protagonist of Umineko: When They Cry.

    Webcomics 
  • The Adventurous Scarlet Carolus and the Machine of Eternal Summer: Scarlet is a hot-headed redhead who yells at a robber and then tries to run after him.
  • Anna Galactic: Foxglove is both red-haired and passionate for any actions.
  • Aurora (2019): The fire god Caliban is very emotional and easily exasperated, and has orange hair that turns literally fiery when they're in a mood.
  • Break: Breaker is a gal with lovely crimson locks...who will not hesitate to pound you into the ground with Ki-Powered martial arts if you get on her nerves
  • Commander Kitty: Nin Wah the red panda, who sports a fiery Furry Female Mane and will destroy you if you press her Berserk Button.
  • El Goonish Shive: Catalina. Her catchphrase is "JACKASSES!", and when angered, she's loud enough to make aliens in outer space pause and ask "What was that noise?"
  • Elf Blood: SKO and TKO are normally generally quite calm and reserved, even kindly. Get them in the same room together and watch their tempers flare.
  • Electric Wonderland: Trawn, the red-headed editor-in-chief of the Nettropolis Free Press, expresses strong passions for news reporting and keeping her friends/employees safe, although she also has a bit of a temper sometimes.
  • Girl Genius has most of the members of the extended Valois clan that have been seen so far, all with the same shade of red hair. Although some are more level-headed than others, they've all had their moments of madness — Violetta directed against Tarvek, Tarvek directed against Zola, Seffie directed against a teacup (but actually against Agatha), and Martellus directed against a whole lot of people. Seffie and Tarvek downplay this trope as they tend to be calm, but Martellus and Violetta are both very often temperamental (especially Martellus).
  • Gunnerkrigg Court: Surma. Her daughter, Antimony, also has some of this personality, but it's almost completely tempered by her stoicism. Annie has an associated fire motif, since she has a talent for etherically manipulating fire with the blinker stone. And it's eventually revealed Surma and Annie are both descended from a fire elemental.
    Reynardine: (To Antimony) Haha! Well, you may have everyone fooled with your stoic facade, but not me! You have a fire in you, child, a fire that belonged to your mother!

  • Head Trip: Mal can be calm, rational, and logical, but she is definitely a Heroic Sociopath and a lot more fun when she's being violent to the stupid people.
  • Heroine Chic has the protagonist Zoe, redhead with a strong sense of justice and an outgoing personality.
  • Looking for Group: Benny is a hot, redheaded troll with a very short temper. She happily beats the living daylights out of anyone that irritates her...and she's a priestess.
  • morphE: Tyler Dawn has long red hair, a hot temper, and a pathological need to prove himself, despite being surrounded by people who are better than him in many respects.
  • NIMONA: Nimona is certainly more bloodthirsty and energetic than her superior. Being a shapeshifter, her red hair doubles as her Morphic Resonance, giving her forms an overall red tone.
  • The Order of the Stick: Haley Starshine is a bit of a subversion. Beneath her fiery exterior, she suffers from considerable self-loathing and feels it necessary to hide her true feelings much of the time, believing people wouldn't like her if they really knew her.
  • Pacificators: Cinna Grossul swears like a sailor, and always flips off her arch-nemesis/teammate Muneca Powell. To top it off, she has Playing with Fire powers... and if she's not careful, she'll become a literal fiery redhead.
  • Poison Ivy Gulch: Lotta Doler, the protagonist, downplays this trope. While she can fly off the handle sometimes, especially when her Kid Sidekick Ace does something stupid, she normally isn't short-tempered.
  • Precocious: Autumn Pingo often displays herself as innocent and sweet towards strangers and adults, but she has been shown to have a short fuse and can lose control of her impulses when she is upset, but also seems to be very passionate about succeeding in competitions.
  • The Princesss Jewels: Princess Ariana's second acquisition for her jewelry box is Efrit Karsia, the second prince of the Kindom of Xek. The prince is shown to be a very hot-blooded individual (he leads the kingdom's army) with red hair.
  • Rain has Fara Bryer, the titular character's supportive aunt. She is quite kind but is fierce and very protective of her niece.
  • Realmwalker has Loki, the literal deity of fire. Thor and Blodughadda are fairly fiery, and Gunhild has her moments.
  • Regular Guy: Anja Baker mostly keeps it on a low simmer, but is also the character least likely to put up with BS.
  • Sarah Zero: Sarah is headstrong, loud, and the guitarist in a rock band.
  • Sleepless Domain: Sally is a quite literal (if downplayed) case of this, as while she has a temper and was described in the character sheet as the most excitable and emotional member of Team Alchemical, the reason she's a very vibrant redhead is that she literally has fire powers-before awakening as Alchemical Fire, she was a ginger who dyed her hair black. It's also deconstructed a bit: her fractious temper ends up being an Unwitting Instigator of Doom when she starts to complain about Tessa being leader. Tessa sits out one night to teach them a lesson, and the resulting tragedy leaves Undine the only member of the team left to fight, with Tessa giving up her powers and Sally, Gwen, and Sylvia dead.
  • Slightly Damned: Azurai kills completely on a whim or whenever he's bored, and he swears so much, it would make sailors blush. His commanding officer Iratu is just barely able to keep him in line. Bonus points for him being a fire-based demon.
  • Sluggy Freelance: Oasis tends to alternate between extreme giddiness (usually when Torg acts nice to her) and extreme jealousy and rage (usually when something comes between her and Torg). Justified since these emotions were programmed into her by Dr. Steve. In addition, she's frequently accompanied by fire-related motifs such as The Phoenix. It turns out that "fiery" is literal; she's pyrokinetic.
  • Stand Still, Stay Silent: Sigrun, a Blood Knight with No Indoor Voice who comes from a country that returned to viking ways After the End.
  • Sunbird: Salva has reddish hair, an affinity for fire, and a temper.
  • Sword Princess Amaltea: Amaltea is temperamental, easily enraged and outspoken, and has red hair to match her personality.
  • Til Debt Do Us Part: Subin is introduced as a redhead with a flaring temper.
  • Two Guys and Guy: Guy once said only considers Wayne her friend because she only dislikes him mildly. She had to take happy pills for her anger issues. And she said she hoped Wayne was dead for using the word "literally" wrong among other things.
  • Voodoo Walrus: Marron's introduction involves threatening a coworker with an iron maiden and then smashing a phone book into the skull of one of the main characters when he gets a little too blatant with his flirtations.
  • Monica Villareal from Wapsi Square, although in comparison to her friend Shelly or the golem girls, she doesn't particularly stick out in terms of fieriness.

    Web Original 

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The Shapeshifting Detective

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