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 Heroes Want Redheads, 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).
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Other examples:
- 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.
- Wallace The Brave: Amelia has bright red hair and the most explosive personality of the main characters.
- "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 pistolSpitfire, freckles that could a mother deadClothes line, tightropes, daredevil, high hopesThey raised a little hell when they raised a little redhead
- Thor is an Older Than Print example. In spite of the image you might have of him, Thor is explicitly described as having red hair and a beard.
- Red Hot from Banzai Run.
- Jean Grey/Phoenix from X-Men (Stern)
- 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 Vélez, 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Rena Ryuuguu from Higurashi: When They Cry keeps her fire well-concealed for the most part, but it's there.
