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White Haired Pretty Boy

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If he's lucky, he's an Anti Hero. He's much more likely to be the Lovable Traitor, a Trickster, or The Rival. But usually he's just a villain, sooner or later. He will be aloof, often speaking cryptically and ending every sentence with a flip of his hair and a smirk. If he wears Rapist Glasses, they'll glow often. Or he'll be quiet and shy, barely cracking a smile, yet he'll still be able to thoroughly kick your ass. Sometimes, in recent cases, he'll show bisexual tendencies, more likely if he's the bad guy. He'll have special powers, since white hair on a young person who isn't albino is rare. Which makes you wonder about the red eyes... If he's a good guy, then he'll be a kuudere.

Despite the wide range and use of Hair Colors for characters, there's an eerie specificity to the use of white (silver works too, but not blonde) hair when coupled with a handsome, vaguely effeminate face. The (usually long and rarely tied back) white hair is very frequently coupled with red eyes. This character will never be as morally set in his ways.

Within anime, this may have a cultural explanation. White skin is considered attractive in nobility and women, but glaring white is otherwise commonly associated with death.

For some reason this trope applies much more strongly in shows with predominantly male audiences than to something like shojo, where the character will still tend to be aloof, shy, or outright eerie.

White haired guys with dark skin (such as Turn A Gundam's Loran) are typically exempt, because it's often used as a simple contrasting color like blonde or red hair. Occasionally, perhaps to preserve the white=death rule, foreigners are exempt from this too.

Commonly prone to Minor Injury Overreaction. Compare with Blond Guys Are Evil and Evil Albino, which are more western alternatives of this trope. Compare and contrast with the Distaff Counterpart, the White Haired Pretty Girl, who is less likely to be evil and more likely to be magical.

Expect a White-Haired Pretty Boy to have a good share of fangirls, or even be subjected to Misaimed Fandom. A white-haired pretty boy is also often a Man In White.


Contents

Examples Edit

Anime & Manga Edit

  • Siegfried from Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple has long white hair. He's both played straight and an inversion - when we first meet him, he's an antagonist (more crazy than actually evil), but later joins up with Kenichi and his friends.
  • Ayanami in 07-Ghost.
  • Kilik in Air Gear.
  • Touma from Aquarion. Bonus evil points for being an angel.
  • It could be argued that the title character of Akagi fits this trope. He's quite the unconventional hero, goes by his own morals, and (depending on who you ask, of course, since this is a Fukumoto series) is relatively attractive. And then there's his body double/rival for a moment Hirayama Yukio. (Ichikawa and Washizu, while they have the hair and the antagonist angle down, do not count because they're old and (again, depending on who you ask) ugly.)
  • Zatoh in Armed Librarians: the Book of Bantorra dabbles in this trope, mostly depending on whether the real Zatoh or Enlike is in control of Zatoh's body at the time.
  • Ypsilon from Armored Trooper VOTOMS.
  • Fukuda Shinta of Bakuman.
  • Griffith, the mercenary Captain from Berserk, fits the physical description to a T, a nice contrast to the Conan-like main character Guts. While officially a "hero", he starts out as a manipulative Magnificent Bastard out for his own purposes, very much like the historical 30 Years War mercenary Wallenstein, who was rumored to have made a Faustian bargain. In this case, though, instead of selling his soul, he sells those of his men.
  • Creed Diskenth from Black Cat. Creed is not only white-haired but insane, bloodthirsty and wants to conquer the world; dude even compares himself to Lucifer. He also has a really creepy yaoi crush on Train.
  • While his pasty-white skin and inverted eye colours make him disturbing to look at, Hollow Ichigo from Bleach fits the idea.
    • Although the fast-growing, ever-larger fanbase proves that possibly he isn't so disturbing after all...
    • Don't forget Gin Ichimaru! He has many fangirls because of his looks, and some find him vaguely effeminate.
      • Not to mention creepy.
    • And Toshiro who ranks pretty high in the poll, though he's a good guy.
    • Not to mention Ukitake-taichou, although he, like Toshiro, subverts the trope by being a good guy.
    • And also Ryuuken Ishida, Uryuu Ishida's father. In the anime, he's only got white hair in the current time frame (in flashbacks to Uryuu's earliest memories, the anime depicts his hair as brown). In the manga, however, his hair has always been white, even in Uryuu's flashbacks. He's definitely got the aloof persona to go with it.
  • Yue in Card Captor Sakura; Though not technically a villain or even evil, his bitterness, pride and stoicism highlight his cold and resentful demeanor. In his first appearance, he is an antagonist, and following his defeat becomes a reluctant ally of the main character, and eventually a friend.
  • In Chrono Crusade, Aion is not only a white haired pretty boy, but also the Big Bad in that particular series. His hair is also dramatically long -- always good for villains.
  • Mao from Code Geass is white-haired and strike:drop-dead gorgeous pretty decent-looking. He's also a frighteningly sadistic, dangerously insane, creepy stalker type.
    • According to some early character designs, Lelouch was going to have white hair as well, but in the end they went with black.
  • Vicious from Cowboy Bebop (kind of a Nietzsche Wannabe and lives up to his name).
  • Descendents of Darkness: Dr Katzutaka Muraki is a perfect example of this trope.
  • ~D.Gray-Man~ has both a straight example in the Noah Wisely and an aversion in the main character, Allen Walker. This makes the Fourteenth a Double Subversion.
  • Heine from DOGSBulletsAndCarnage. Also has red eyes.
  • Hakuoh of Duel Masters, The Rival before Defeat Means Friendship took effect. Also one of the bishiest bishies out there.
  • Il Palazzo from Excel Saga is the leader of ACROSS, an organization dedicated to conquering the world. He's also a Visual Kei-wannabe.
    • His hair is purple in the anime, and vaguely greenish in the manga...
    • Shiny purple is often confused with white or silver.
  • Kaitani Riku from Eyeshield 21, is pretty much a nice boy, who taught Sena how to run in the first places. He aims to defeat him, though.
    • Taka Honjou, Monta's catching rival, on the Teikoku Alexanders is one too.
  • Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist was a major antagonist for much of the series, even though he had dark skin (the dark skin was actually a pretty major plot point, really.) In the manga, he looks much more muscular, having been trained as a Warrior Priest.
  • Leonard Testarossa from Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. His younger sister, Tessa, also has white hair, but she's one of the heroes.
    • Ironic, as well, that two "Testarossa"s would be white-haired, as "testa rossa" literally means "red head".
  • Makubex from Get Backers. Silver hair, creepy reality-bending powers, actually a created being. His presumable creator, Makube-hakase, is a White Haired Pretty Girl with actual white hair.
  • Kuze in the second season of Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex has a cyborg body with white hair and extremly pale skin. He had the face sculpted by a highly reknown artist and its only capable of very limited facial impressions, because they would distort this piece of art. He even rarely moves his mouth when speaking with his synthetic voice. And to complete the look, he always wears white and a white long coat and often uses a silver katana with an ivory hilt.
  • Godchild has Jizabel Disraeli, Earl Cain's illegitimate brother and one of Cain's longest surviving enemies. As a child he was so pretty that his mother hid him from his father by dressing him as a girl. In order to keep him alive Jizabel's father killed Jizabel's sisters and transplanted their organs into Jizabel. After suffering from his father's abuse for years Jizabel decided that he suffered from an intheblood predestination to being evil and becomes a doctor who specializes in all manners of unsavory medicine, including deadly crash diets and brain transplants.
  • Gundam SEED had Yzak Joule, part of Athrun Zala's squad of mobile suit pilots, who quite literally was a white haired pretty boy. He also suffered from Minor Injury Overreaction (though given it was the result of shrapnel from his cockpit punching through his helmet and he repeatedly cries out that it burns when it happens, perhaps not so minor at the time), which branched into The Only One Allowed To Defeat You, though it's subverted in that he's humiliated every time he tries and eventually his target is defeated by Athrun instead.
  • Luke Valentine from Hellsing.
    • Also Father Enrico Maxwell starts out as this in the anime (though a volume cover image makes him pretty solidly blond in the manga). Given the art style and the fact that he's one of the more batshit members of the cast, though, he quickly starts gaining some facial expressions that ain't so pretty.
  • Rome Ro, the Big Bad in Heroic Age. He's the very last of the Silver Tribe to make a Heel Face Turn, and he tortures Yuti into attempting to destroy the planet Elysium, and with it the power of the Golden Tribe.
  • Killua Zoldyck in Hunter X Hunter. He's kind of the reverse of a Kuudere, though.
  • Jin from Innocent Venus, with a corresponding white mecha. He turns out to be the Big Bad Friend.
  • Sesshoumaru from Inu Yasha. He's a calm, cold, aloof, and enormously powerful yokai who starts out as a villain and gradually develops to Anti Villain and then Anti Hero, remaining inscrutable the entire time.
    • And, of course, subverted with Inu Yasha himself, as he exhibits the exact opposite of the typical mysterious and aloof type.
    • Also Hakudoshi. Basically, he's a child version of Naraku, except he won't hesitate to get his hands dirty.
  • Leon Oswald, brilliant yet embittered acrobat from Kaleido Star. He humiliates Sora verbally and on-stage, wants revenge against Yuri, seriously injures May Wong to punish her bad attitude, and has a heartbreaking backstory thanks to his Dead Little Sister, White Haired Pretty Girl Sophie. So yeah, he gets better.
  • Karoku from Karneval is one, and although the reader is currently unsure of his intentions, he certainly isn't being kind to the boy who basically sees him as a surrogate older brother figure and is currently seeking him out. He's also either uncaring or hateful toward those who surround the boy.
  • Katekyo Hitman Reborn has Superbia Squalo, a member of the elite assassination squad known as the Varia. He has long, well-conditioned (sort of explained by the fact that the Varia are supposed to be good at everything they do) silver-white hair, even though he's ethnically Italian. It could be another reference to his "shark" aspect (squalo meaning "shark" in Italian), or a contrast to his opponent (a black-haired, all-Japanese boy). And he could be good-looking if he'd stop making deranged killer faces.
  • Subverted by Gunter from Kyou Kara Maou; his hair and behavior suggests the trope, but he sides with Good.
  • Dio from Last Exile seems like this at first -- especially since he works for the Guild (the main antagonists) -- but is soon revealed to be hyper, enthusiastic, and prone to glomping. Oh, and he's terrified of his sister Delphine, who has him brainwashed into a soulless killing machine, thus fulfilling this trope.
  • The silver-haired Hegemon Klaus Ingvalt, who was introduced in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid. He served as The Rival, and likely something more, to Sankt Kaiser Olivie during the warring era of Ancient Belka.
  • Eagle Vision from Magic Knight Rayearth; he isn't technically evil, but still a villain -- he is the head of one of the three groups invading Cephiro.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima! has Fate Averuncus currently acting as the Big Bad.
    • Then even he gets in on the whole "magic-age-up" game, and becomes this. I can hear the fangirls already...
    • In a subversion, there was also one among the old heroes.
    • There was also one who the old heroes fought, who may or may not be the same person as the current Big Bad.
      • According to Jack Rakan, it's the same person (although in a different body).
      • I thought he said "You're more human than the other two were," meaning that he was basically a copy of them, but that they were basically golems.
      • The most common interpretation is that it's the same Fate, but he's been "upgraded". He did say that he never actually trained.
    • If the new anime is correct, he's got aquamarine hair. Aquamarine.
    • Also Negi, when using Magia Erebea.
  • Nagi from Mai- Hi M E and Mai- Otome. His creepy speech and mannerisms (and even creepier appearance in the Mai-HiME manga) should be a dead giveaway that he's not here to shower you with compliments.
  • Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro has Sai, who arguably fits the trope, despite the fact that he can change shape. His real form seems to be that of a white haired Bishounen and there is no doubts that he can be very cruel.
  • Vaith from Magical × Miracle was one, until he dyed it black for some reasons.
  • Eugene Ijuin Enzan from Megaman NT Warrior/Rockman.EXE. He becomes less of an antagonist as the series goes on.
    • I don't know if this counts but, while we are on the subject: Grey from Mega Man ZX and Protoman.EXE (Chaud's netnavi) also from Mega Man Battle Network have white hair.
  • Shirogane from Monochrome Factor.
  • Aizawa Kouichi in Nabari No Ou. While he's not an antagonist (so far) and is usually a laid-back, helpful guy, he's also a ruthless killer, can be very assertive, and he knows suspiciously much about what's going on. Oh, and he's an immortal hybrid of snowy owl and human, which would explain the hair.
  • Kabuto from Naruto, Enigmatic Minion to Orochimaru. Kimimaro, with long white hair, also an enigmatic minion to Orochimaru.
    • And now also Hidan, and Suigetsu deserves a mention, because, despite the shark teeth, he is pretty.
  • Kaworu Nagisa from Neon Genesis Evangelion embodies most of shounen's "creepy guy" traits: an existentialist angel albino who whistles classical music and is probably gay. As typical, he is a "victim" of Draco In Leather Pants fandom reaction.
    • The fact that he's an exceptionally nice guy and even dies to save or at least buy some time in life for Shinji, it's not surprisingly he gets Leather Pants. Though this only applies to afew interpretations of said character. Some is more monstrous and twisted, and others are just ambigously gay.
  • Tsukishiro in Nightmare Inspector, a Baku who makes people's nightmares worse in order to make them tastier.
  • In Origin Spirits Of The Past, Shunack, the main villain, fits this trope. Strangely, the main hero also has stark white hair, both from the same source.
  • Suzu from Peacemaker Kurogane. Especially after he goes Ax Crazy and turns into a Depraved Homosexual, wearing makeup and revealing clothes -- that's when people in the series really start commenting how pretty he is.
  • Arguably, Darkrai from ~Pokémon~. At the very least, it has bishie-hair. In The Rise of Darkrai, it was something of an Anti Hero, or was just simply misunderstood when it was trying to protect the town from the battle between Dialga and Palkia.
  • Steven Stone, anyone? Well...maybe it's more of a steel blue-whitish color, but it looks white enough.
  • Sasame in Pretear. In the manga, he's blond and a supportive (if flirty) older-brother type. In the anime, he's silver-haired and betrays his friends for the Princess of Disaster, gets an Evil Costume Switch and tries to kill Hayate.
  • Masaharu Niou, the Rikkaidai trickster and illusionist from The Prince Of Tennis.
  • Mytho in Princess Tutu, especially during the second season as he becomes increasingly creepy since his heart has been bathed in Raven's blood.
    • In the first season he's pretty much a subversion, since he's fairly sweet and harmless. In a way, the second season is almost a subversion of the subversion.
  • Yukishiro Enishi from Rurouni Kenshin, the title character's last and arguably most dangerous enemy. (In the manga. His role in the anime amounts to little more than a cameo.) His hair was originally black, though -- it turned white when he was a boy, from the shock of seeing his sister killed.
  • Kunzite from Sailor Moon. In fact, the dub actually has the Sailor Senshi calling him "pretty boy".
    • Sailor Moon also has Prince Demand and Professor Tomoe, as well as a slew of good guys with white hair. Takeuchi has a thing for white-haired boys.
  • Because white hair is apparently a genetic trait in the Shi clan, the royal family in Saiunkoku Monogatari, it is very likely that a few, if not most or even all, of Ryuuki and Seien/Seiran's older family members were this, though those two certainly are not. Considering that they all killed each other off in a civil war for the throne and were fond of abusing Ryuuki when he was a child...
    • Hyou Riou also fits the trope, although the younger Riou does not.
  • Subverted by Seirei No Moribito, Shuga is one of the few decent members of the Yogo Empire.
  • Ralph of Soukou No Strain actually seems to get a bleach job specifically for the purpose of being evil. In flashbacks to when he was sane, his hair was blond, shorter and more professional-looking.
  • Soul from Soul Eater subverts this trope somewhat (not being quite Bishonen at all), but his female fanbase is quite formidable. However, All Girls Want Bad Boys is really the main contributor, it seems, and he's a musical genius at the piano.
  • Buguese from Spider Riders. Initially a villain, but becomes more of an anti-hero once his motives are revealed.
  • Eyes Rutherford in Spiral was "upgraded" to a White Haired Pretty Boy for the anime version. In the manga, his hair is light purple -- think Trunks from Dragonball Z.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has the silver-haired and evil Cytomander.
    • As shown in the Parallel Works 8 Lord Genome was one of these as a child, much akin to daughter Nia.
    • The Rival Viral is something of an aversion, being a Hot Blooded Bruiser much like Kamina.
  • Kamina Expy Adam Blade in Needless is another aversion, a Hot Blooded Idiot Hero. Big Bad Adam Arclight, though another native in a World Of Ham, is a straighter example.
  • Sohaku Kago from Tenjho Tenge. Though only in the manga, Sohaku, with his immortal bishounen looks and grand evil scheme is the qunitessential White Haired Pretty Boy Big Bad.
  • The Tyrant Falls In Love main protagonist Souichi Tatsumi, who is a bad-tempered homophobe with Scary Shiny Glasses.
  • Accelerator in To Aru Majutsu No Index. He suspects that it's because his power reflects light away from his skin and hair.
  • Trinity Blood averts it with, Abel Nightroad, the main protagonist. His brother Cain, on the other hand, is also a WHPB and thoroughly twisted and evil.
  • Dii from Utawarerumono.
  • Canute from Vinland Saga starts out as a subversion: he's meek, timid and his favourite hobbies are cooking and reading the bible. After going through some pretty screwed up shit his meek persona starts to crumble, until he transforms into a bit of a Badass.
  • Dilandau in Vision Of Escaflowne (totally nuts, though for good reason).
  • Prince Bokar of Sennec from Voltron appeared to be nice at first saving Princess Allura but only later does his true self show as a Robeast that attacks the Voltron Force and kidnaps Princess Allura for Zarkon. Also Prince Lotor, with a white mane that goes past his waist and a Villainous Crush on the Princess.
  • Numerous characters from ~Yu-Gi-Oh!~; Bakura Ryou, Pegasus, and Marik, just to start. Even cards get this treatment; the Dark Magician owned by minor antagonist Pandora (Arcana in the dub) in Season 2 has white hair.
  • Youko Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho is a legendary demon bandit, and was pretty nasty until recently, and even hired a hit man to kill his own thieving partner.
  • Zeno, Zatch's Evil Twin in Zatch Bell.
  • In Akumetsu, Shou has spiky white hair.
  • Argent from Apothecarius Argentum is a heroic yet tragic case, as his white hair is a result of his acquiredpoisonimmunity. Though he is an apothecary and healer, he was fed poisons from birth to make him into an assassin. As a result, he himself is highly toxic.
  • Angel Sanctuary has a few:
  • Zero Kiryuu from Vampire Knight: His twin brother Ichiru also has this.
  • Dio from Casshern Sins.
  • Henri Claytor from Future GPX Cyber Formula, with a red streak on a strand of his bangs. Although he does mellow out at the end of ZERO, somewhat.
  • Shougo Midorikawa from Holyland, according to the coloured cover.
  • Even though Mikael from Tenshi Ni Narumon does not really have white hair (more like [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|bluish]], though it is pretty light) or red eyes, he fits the overall description to a T.
  • In the anime Highlander: The Search for Vengeance Marcus Octavius the Big Bad is a pretty, white-haired, arrogant elitist whose aim is to recreate Rome's lost past glories.


Card Games Edit


Comics Edit

  • X- Men's got Magneto and Quicksilver, though some artists draw Magneto to look his age. (He's not supposed to, having been reduced to infancy at one point and later returned to his prime.)
  • A Very Special issue of Spider- Man featured Skip, a white-haired pretty boy who baby-sat a young Peter Parker. And molested him.
  • The Sandman: The Corinthian is white-haired, gay, and good-looking when he keeps his sunglasses on. He's also a Serial Killer who likes to eat eyeballs with his own eyeballs. (Also like Lyta Hall, he might just be a very pale blond.)
    • Also, Lyta's husband, Hector. Though he's arguably got it even worse than she does, since the artists can't even keep his age straight.
  • Hua Yingxiong, the title character of the Epic Martial Arts Manhua (Hong Kong equivalent of Manga) Chinese Hero.
  • Mekt Ranzz, the villain known as Lightning Lord, from The Legion Of Super Heroes, when he's not an Evil Redhead.
  • Tommy Shepherd, aka Speed of the Young Avengers, mostly as a callback to the fact that he's the reincarnation of one of Scarlet Witch's kids-who-were-part-of-Mephisto/never-existed-except-for-her-wishing-them-to. In an existential screwup that could only happen in comics, he and "twin" Billy Kaplan are mirrors of their former mother and uncle, with him having Quicksilver's powers and looks.
  • Snowflame from New Guardians; although the "pretty" part is arguable, he appears to be too young to have his hair white due to old age.


Films -- Animation Edit

  • Cade in Sky Blue strenuously resists Shua's attempt to bring down Ecoban to help the Diggers, and tries to keep Jay away from him. It's later revealed that he was originally responsible for Shua's exile. He does get redeemed eventually.


Films -- Live Action Edit

  • Silas in The Da Vinci Code, played by Paul Bettany (who seems to be making this trope a big part of his repertoire, and doing it well).
  • In Harry Potter movies, Lucius and Draco Malfoy both fit this trope to a T.
  • Angel Face in Fight Club.
    • He's actually bleached blonde.
  • Hellboy II's Prince Nuada. Sure, the white hair and skin runs in his family, but he's still the villain.
  • Captain Love in The Mask Of Zorro. He's actually very light blond, but it's as close as you can get to white hair, given the scenario.
  • Roy Batty in Blade Runner, played by Rutger Hauer.


Religion Edit

  • Jesus is often portrayed with white hair in his divine state. Of course, he is not evil or a jerk, but his divine form represents his just (i.e. merciless) side.
  • The Bible says that Satan can 'transform himself into an angel of light'; usually when he in this mode, he's depicted with silvery hair.


Literature Edit

  • Though Silas in The Da Vinci Code is in no way pretty, he otherwise fills the trope (and Evil Albino) to a T.
  • While not pretty, Raistlin Majere of the Dragonlance books fits the other characteristics, including becoming a villain.
    • Considering that his twin brother Caramon is considered very good-looking, Raistlin probably would be too if he didn't always look like he was dying.
      • When Raistlin is restored to his pre-Testing appearance during his jaunt to the past in Dragonlance Legends, he does in fact turn out to be fairly handsome. The fact that he almost never got laid as a young man probably had less to do with his appearance and more to do with his charming personality.
      • In the prequel novels it's actually mentioned that though ugly as a child, he became actually more handsome than his brother as a young man; it was Caramon's open, honest personality that won him friends and female attention, whereas Raistlin was a brooding Deadpan Snarker with a little interest in relationships. Except that one time when Caramon got there first, which probably did nothing good to Raistlin's antipathy towards romance...
  • White Mike, the drug-dealing antihero in the book Twelve.
  • Ariel from the Obernewtyn Chronicles book series by Isobelle Carmody is a classic example, being described as angelic in looks and satanic in temperament.
  • Valentine from The Mortal Instruments series fits this profile.
  • Joren in Protector of the Small has white-blond hair, rather effeminate looks, and is Keladry's main enemy in the first book. She hates him but acknowledges that he's the most beautiful man she's ever seen, which unfortunately leads to Draco In Leather Pants in part of the fandom.
  • Modern Tales Of Faerie has Roiben, a gorgeous elf who is damaged and bitter after being forced to serve as an errand boy for queen of the unseelie court and perform horrific acts for her amusement. He falls into antihero territory however, since those acts were magically compelled and he remains a good man at heart.
    • Roiben is a Faerie, and he still acts like a capricious cold faerie even when the queen isn';t there, although He Gets Better though
  • Harry Potter's Draco Malfoy -- really made noticeable in the movie adaptations, which is how he got most of his fans. In the book one gets the impression that he's unpleasant-looking. Actually he is described as having a pale, pointed face.
    • Also, Lucius Malfoy is quite handsome to look at in the movies. Not any worse than his son. And Lucius has even more fittingly long white hair.
  • The Name Of The Wind: Cinder of the Chandrian.
  • House Tagaryen from A Song Of Ice And Fire are a whole family of these. How? Brother Sister Incest.
  • Mordred in T.H. White's The Once And Future King, "so fair haired that he was almost an albino," is at first merely self-pitying and creepy in the give-the-poor-kid-a-break way, but ultimately evil.
  • Sort of subverted in The Grey King in Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series of books, where Bran Davies's odd white hair is used to give him an quality of 'otherness, even though he doesn't turn out to be bad.
  • Pollution from Good Omens is white-haired, looks to be in his early twenties, and has a creepily chirpy, somewhat seductive personality. The fact that he's one of the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse should be another warning.
  • The whole trend (at least in Western literature) be traced more or less directly to Elric Of Melnibone as written by Michael Moorcock. Elric is a weakling albino, often described in terms of effeminate beauty, who comes from a ancient line of powerful, cruel, Chaos-allied people. He is granted superhuman prowess in combat by a cursed sentient sword which eats the souls of opponents, and he tends (often through the interference of said sword) to kill his allies or lovers with alarming regularity.
  • C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy has Gerald Tarrant, a dark-sword wielding WHPB vampire, who, despite being evil, is still the novel's anti-hero.
  • R.L. Stine evokes this with the character Bill Jeffers, a.k.a. Snowman, in the book of the same name. Bill is described as being tall and white haired with black eyes, and is extremely attractive to most women he meets. He's also a murderer who doesn't have much regret for what he did. His father, however, DID bring it onto himself by beating his son and physically abusing him until the kid snapped. Whether he's evil or not depends greatly on who you ask in fandom and how much sympathy you have for abuse victims.
  • Julian from LJ Smith's Forbidden Game trilogy meets the personality and prettiness standards of this trope, although his eyes are (piercing, beautiful) blue.
  • Although definitely NOT EVIL, Tonda in Otfried Preussler's novel Krabat has white hair ever since half a year before the book starts as his girlfriend Worschula was killed by the Master then. The grief turned his hair white, so it's rather White=Death than White=Evil.
    • In the movie, his hair is not white from the beginning, as Worschula dies when Krabat already is in the mill, not 6 months ago as the book states...
    • He's not that pretty in the movie, but as it takes place in Thirty Years' War...
  • Isaac Newton is described as this in Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle. The trope description fits his personality pretty well: he's an aloof, arrogant, Ambiguously Gay Anti Hero who has a vested interest in Alchemy and fancies himself a sorceror.
  • Bones in the Night Huntress books has brown hair naturally, but likes to go around with it dyed platinum blonde. And he is one of the heroes.
  • The Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair in Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell. Gorgeous, Really Seven Hundred Years Old, nearly-all powerful andutterly bonkers by human standards.
  • Toot-toot the fairy of The Dresden Files is white-haired, and described as just as unhumanly attractive as all the fae folk. He is, however, a fairy, and his height varies between six and twelve inches. While not evil per sé, he is a Chaotic Neutral with a very mercenary conscience, who serves the heroes for regular payments of pizza.
  • The Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol, although it is of Ambiguous Gender in the book. In certain film and theatre adaptations, it is portrayed as a woman.


Live Action TV Edit

  • Amir Aboulela as Gar on The Pretender. He's (perhaps unintentionally) kind of effeminate, and in his short time on the show, he even has a sort of Minor Injury Overreaction.
  • The live-action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series gave Zoisite white hair. Though, while he is still one of the four generals of the Dark Kingdom, he is also the one to remember his past life and his loyality to Endymion, and the past tragedy; he even goes so far as to briefly team up with Minako to try and keep Usagi and Mamoru separated.
  • Kamen Rider OOO has the Greeed Kazari take on a human form which is that of a White Haired Pretty Boy. He's the most cunning of the four villainous Greeed, and arguably the most dangerous since his plots resulted in the destruction of two of the others.


Pro Wrestling Edit

  • Former AWA commentator and WCW on- and off-screen authority figure Eric Bishoff. Averted in kayfabe where his hair is dyed black, but in reality, Eric's natural hair color has been white for almost his entire adult life.


Tabletop Games Edit

  • The Primarch of the Emperor's Children chapter, Fulgrim had white hair and was said to be one of the best looking primarchs. Just look at his chapter now...
    • This is actually quite endemic in Warhammer. Rogal Dorn also was whitehaired (but not effeminately pretty) and Lion El'Jonson tends to get depicted this way, even though he's blond.
    • Also, quite a number of Space Marines also have white hair (Dante of the Blood Angels, Leodegarius of the Grey Knights,...), but there it is not clear if it is natural or a result of their geneseed.
    • Lucius the Eternal, like his Primarch Fulgrim, is often depicted with white hair and is canonically stated to have been "truly handsome". That is, until a sparring match left him with a poorly set broken nose; his reaction to this disfigurement started a chain of obsession that ended in sadomasochistic ritualistic scarring all over his body. And that was mostly before he became a champion for the God of Squick. 40K turns yet another trope Up To Eleven ladies and gents.
  • The Drow in Dungeons & Dragons games are an entire race of sly, scheming, Always Chaotic Evil White-Haired (albeit Black Skinned) Pretty Boys and Girls. The males in particular tend to be underhanded effeminate blackguards. One issue of the late Dragon Magazine gave us the drow demideity Keptolo, who is actually the God of White Haired Pretty Boys.
  • In Ravenloft, the darklord of Nova Vassa, Reasonable Authority Figure Tristen Hiregaard's Superpowered Evil Side-cum-DiabolicalMastermind serial killer Malken, is a lot like this (Tristen's normally raven-haired appearance changes when Malken takes control).
  • Seltyiel, the iconic eldritch knight from Pathfinder, who seems to be something of a Captain Ersatz of Elric of Melniboné. It should be noted that he's the only canonically evil iconic.


Theater Edit


Video Games Edit

  • Yuuri from Silver Chaos 2 Artificial Mermaid, subvert that he is the hero.
  • Arthas from the Warcraft III and World Of Warcraft. In Warcraft III, he was initially blond, at which point he was morally clueless, and also pretty clueless in general, but largely seemed to mean well. His hair immediately and abruptly went white when he took up Frostmourne and became a Death Knight, which is also the exact moment at which he progressed from "well-meaning extremist" status to being clearly and unambiguously capital-E Evil.
    Arthas:Yes, I've damned everyone and everything I've ever loved in his name, and I still feel no remorse. No shame. No pity.
Tichondrius: The runeblade that you carry was forged by the Lich King and empowered to steal souls. Yours was the first one it claimed.
Arthas: Then I'll make do without one. What is the Lich King's will?
  • Reivier from Quintessence -- The Blighted Venom.
  • Setzer, of Final Fantasy VI is a rebellious elitist whitehaired gambler who kidnaps Celes but inevitably joins the party.
  • Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII is the best video game example of White Haired Pretty Boy.
    • Yazoo, Loz, and most notably Kadaj from the sequel film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, who are brothers from the same "mother" as Sephiroth. Official materials even name them collectively as "The Silver-Haired Men".
  • Weiss from Final Fantasy VII: Dirge Of Cerberus.
    • ... whose name, appropriately enough, is German for "white".
  • Final Fantasy IX brings us Kuja who is ten times prettier than Sephiroth.
    • He's even referred to several times in-game as a "narcissist", which is a rather mild description for someone who dresses like this.
  • Magus from Chrono Trigger. Well, the pretty part is debatable.
  • From the Kingdom Hearts series we have Xehanort, his Heartless, Ansem and his Nobody, Xemnas, both of which are the final bosses in their respective games. Notably, they avert the corrolary of "Being Ambiguously Brown negates the evil of the white hair," though fans do not always agree on whether this is a good thing.
    • In Chain Of Memories, the Riku Replica fits this trope to a tee. In fact, Riku himself fits this trope pretty darn well in the first (and even second) games.
    • Interestingly enough Birth By Sleep shows that the body that Xehanort is inhabiting used to have brown hair.
  • Archer, from [[Fate Stay Night|stay night]], who may not be considered a pretty boy, though he is nevertheless handsome in a more rugged manner, but his white hair and cynical anti-hero nature qualify him for this trope... as does his penchant for a red Badass Longcoat. Further, his actions and intent in the Unlimited Blade Works arc of killing the hero -- his past self -- to end the eternity of fighting and slaughter he lives out arguably grant him Anti Villain status.
    • He counts as this trope, as the term "Gar" was literally made for him (at 4chan, of course). And accounting for his cumulative motives, he probably fits under the greater majority of the hero and villain tropes here.
  • Wilhelm in Xenosaga is an example of this trope, and chaos (no capitalization) is an example of how dark skinned white haired pretty boys are exempt. Albedo is another example from the same game.
  • Orochi from The King Of Fighters '97, although he takes this form just for the purpose of manifesting in the real world (his true form is considerably fuglier).
    • Magaki, endboss of XI would also fit the trope when he first appears to the player, but he subverts it as his true form is a lanky, bug-eyed, pink... thing who shambles about, and his body is racked with muscle spasms. Not actually pretty at all. He still keeps the white hair though.
    • And then there's K'.
  • Prince Yumil in Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, and he has silver hair.
  • Ayatane in Ar Tonelico, whose evil status is complicated, but does definitely spend at least a portion of the plot being on the opposing side.
  • The original Tohno SHIKI in Tsukihime has white, shoulder-length hair. He is also possessed by the Big Bad, inverted (meaning, given up completely to a Superpowered Evil Side), and completely insane.
  • Hyo Imawano from Rival Schools, who goes from main villain, to willing ally, to possessed villain to dead all in the span of two games.
  • Wild Arms 2 manages to include a White Haired Pretty Boy who, amazingly enough, isn't evil. He acts as Mission Control for the Heroes R Us organization that the Player Character is a part of. Oh wait, he's the boss of the villains too, and it turns out this was all a Xanatos Gambit to mobilize the world against a Cosmic Horror threat. A good goal, but he was ruthless in pursuing it.
  • Lunar: The Silver Star has Ghaleon, who is a walking example of a lot of villain tropes.
  • In the girl version of Harvest Moon DS, there is a white-haired phantom thief named Skye that you can marry.
    • You heard right, my friend. In fact Steiner is pretty much the straightest example of this trope I've ever seen, with particular emphasis on the "effeminate pretty-boy" bit.
    • Let's not forget Vaughn from Island of Happiness.
  • Dist strike:the Runny strike:the Reaper "the Rose" from Tales Of The Abyss. Evil, effeminate Mad Scientist. Alright, maybe not that pretty, what with that loony perma-grin, but otherwise fits the trope to a tee.
  • Ramirez from Skies Of Arcadia, who is also The Dragon for Galcian.
    • Galcian is also white-haired, but is not quite as pretty as his subordinate.
    • Also, funny enough, Ramirez is the True Final Boss and not Galcian.
  • Solus, The Dragon from Breakdown.
  • Tales Of Vesperia has Duke. Oddly enough, he also gains dark skin during his True Final Boss form, but here, it's just an indication that he's become a demigod.
    • Alexei is one too. In fact, if he grew his hair longer, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
  • Psaro the Manslayer from Dragon Quest IV.
  • Fou-Lu from Breath Of Fire IV.
    • Cranked up to 11 in the manga, and overtly embraced when Ryu confronts Fou-lu in the throneroom for the first time. Not since Hotohori in Fushigi Yuugi has any man looked that pretty in formal imperial court dress. And yes, the more Fou-lu gets overtly shoved to being a Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds, the prettier he gets.
  • Vergil of Devil May Cry is a classic example, while his twin brother Dante doesn't fit the mold so well. See the subversion section.
  • Joshua from The World Ends With You is not only pretty and has white hair, but he's also the one who almost UNDOES Neku's Character-development from week one with his prissy and mysterious behaviour and finally turns out to be Neku's killer (twice), the Composer, and the one who wanted to destory Shibuya in the first place. However, he endes up showing "mercy" . All this while spouting cryptic "deep" sayings, being mysterious, and ostensibly metrosexual (he can wear girls' clothes).
  • Suikoden V invokes this trope for a woman. After her Face Heel Turn, Lady Sialeeds stops dyeing her hair, revealing the fact that it was white all along just in time for you to fight her for the first time. Given that she doesn't pick up any of the connotations of the White Haired Pretty Girl, while picking up the White Haired Pretty Boy's penchant for antagonism, she probably fits here more than there.
    • Also,the protagonist himself.
  • Nascour, the Dragon from ~Pokémon~ Colosseum.
  • Karsh from Chrono Cross looks like one of these at first glance, being the first humanoid boss you fight (not counting Solt and Peppor, who fight alongside him), along with having the standard silver hair. However, he's not evil, just efficient at his job (and ashamed of having to kill his Brainwashed And Crazy best friend), and later he joins the party.
  • Specter from Ape Escape. All right, he has white fur, but still.
  • Lloyd from Legend Of Dragoon. He spends most of the game being a huge thorn in the party's side, from beating the pants off of the protagonist in an arena fight to plotting to destroy the world. Only to do a Heel Face Turn at the last second, making way for the REAL Big Bad.
    • Then again, like the Drow example above, Lloyd belongs to an entire race of White-Haired Pretty People, who, given their history, are not exactly known for being the nicest folks around.
  • Sengoku Basara has three of these. First there's Ax Crazy Akechi Mitsuhide, then The Strategist Takenaka Hanbei, and now Badass Angster Ishida Mitsunari.
  • Derby Harrington, leader of the Preps in Bully. While short-haired, he is decidedly handsome, evil and a rich bastard.
  • Jusqua, if not for the SD style of Hikari no 4 Senshi, can be one. Silver hair? Check. Rival to the hero? Check.
  • Godot from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney has white hair though it was originally black but changed when he was poisoned.
  • The fiend Alexei from Ninja Gaiden 2.
  • White Spirits (or Angels) from Tears To Tiara are a bunch of Ax Crazy perfectionists. Only 2 of 13 of them were exceptions.
  • Naoya from Devil Survivor is an example of this trope, combined with Red Eyes Take Warning. He's also one of the few characters in the game who does not invoke Curtains Match The Window.
  • Wylfred from Valkyrie Profile Covenant Of The Plume. Whether he becomes a villain depends, though.
  • Reve from Phantasy Star 0. He doesn't have red eyes, but has a red visor over them until his Heel Face Turn. He's pretty much a jerk and a real pain.
  • Schezo Wedgey form the Puyo Puyo series.
  • ~Yo-Jin-Bo~ has Mon-Mon, though he insists it's silver and isn't nearly as "pretty" in the usual way. The enemy ninja Kasumimaru's pale blue could also count, and he is more of the traditional variety of pretty.
  • Taichi in Cross Channel in a somewhat androgynous white haired teen and The Hero! of the story. Unless he has one of his psychotic episodes and kills everyone. And snapping and killing everyone isn't just confined to bad ends, either. Nope, the journal logs reference them and one of the very last endings involves Taichi killing Youko to defend everyone in what is probably a very brutal manner, causing everyone to freak, and then he kills them. His hair is often commented upon. Oddly enough, he actually has something of a complex where he is convinced that he is incredibly ugly.
  • Gregorio III from Gitaroo Man, complete with Mismatched Eyes and creepy intro. Also considered to be That One Boss sometimes.
  • Orochi X from Warriors Orochi.
  • Anton from Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box has very pale blond hair and is a bishonen to boot.
  • Cleru from Summon Night: Swordcraft Story.
  • Fenris from Dragon Age 2.


Web Comics Edit

  • Loratio from Emergency Exit. He's not really evil (he did save the world from a demon), just extremely disagreeable with violent tendencies.
  • Chess Piece, Chess Piece, oh my God Chess Piece. We've got Danny the Anti Hero / Villain Protagonist, who despite being evil does have quite a large fanbase (AllGirlsWantBadBoys); Vlad, who was a wild man back in the day and has killed at least once (Phantom); and Phantom, the Ax Crazy psychopath who has gone on many a murderous rampage and is one of the main villains of the story.
    • Vlad could arguably be subverted (see subversions below).
  • Drake (and Silvester) from Gold Coin Comics, where Drake is a protagonist. Their last name is Lighthair.


Web Original Edit


Western Animation Edit

  • Word Paynn and his son, Moordryd, in Dragon Booster.
  • It's probably a matter of opinion, but Ben 10's Albedo isn't particularly bishonen, though he was morally dubious enough to build a second Omnitrix against his master's wishes and beat up hordes of Forever Knights looking for Ben, complain directly to a cook how much he loathes the Earth food he finds himself compelled to eat, make a laughably dumb attempt to convince Gwen he was Ben (complete with several instances of "I, Ben Tennyson..."), and try to take Ben's Omnitrix by force. Then again, he doesn't get the white hair until the end of the episode (probably just to look like Ben's opposite), which may indicate an intended reappearance.
  • Prince Phobos from W.I.T.C.H.
  • Nekron in Fire and Ice.
  • Valmont in Jackie Chan Adventures (although he gets rather scruffy after the second season).
  • Gregor/Elliot in Danny Phantom.
  • An example of a Trickster: Puck, from Gargoyles.
  • Teen Titans have one of these boys in the episode "Spellbound". Of course it turns out that the dragon Melchior had borrowed the looks from Rorek in the end.
  • German sorcerer Sigmund from Fanboy And Chum Chum, The Rival for Kyle.
  • Baron from Sym-bionic Titan.


Real Life Edit

  • Wikileaks cofounder Julian Assange has white hair at the age of 39.


Subversions/Exceptions

Anime & Manga Edit

  • Rakuto from Wild Ones is white-haired, but also handsome, charming, and one of the most popular students in school, if not a bit of a Stepford Smiler.
  • Toki from Fist Of The North Star. White-haired, yes, but due to a spot of aging and radiation sickness that is slowly killing him, he dosen't exactly look pretty. Furthermore, he is the most morally pure of the entire cast, vowing to use Hokuto Shinken only to heal people of their diseases. In battle, he is more of a Technical Pacifist. When he fights and has to eliminate his foe, he uses special versions of established Hokuto Shinken techniques to ensure that his enemies die feeling immense pleasure. But this IS FOTNS, where Anyone Can Die. Take a wild guess what fate awaits poor Toki.
    • It was radiation sickness that gave him his white hair anyway. Originally, it was brown (or black, since FOTNS has... issues with its cast's hair colour).
    • Rei from Fist Of The North Star. He actually was mistaken for a woman in his introduction, but he doesn't get the requisite white hair until he's dying from Raoh's attack.
  • Doctor Clive more commonly known as the School Doctor from Haré+Guu. He's not evil though just a lech and kind of a jerk. Also his hair is actually dyed and his natural hair color is brown.
  • Prussia and Iceland from Axis Powers Hetalia, though Prussia's Hot Blooded personality keeps him from fully fitting into this trope. Iceland is described as being something of a Defrosting Ice King. Germany might arguably fit the bill, but he's a bit too much of a sympathetic main character (and his hair's a bit too yellow anyway).
    • I'm pretty sure Russia fits in with the trope. He's infamously psychotic and he doesn't even realize it when he hurts his friends.
  • Tsukasa in .hack//SIGN. Not only is he a good guy (arguably), he's a main character.
    • Also, he's not really a boy, so there's that too.
  • The same goes for Tōshirō Hitsugaya in Bleach, who is clever and capable. Little doubt that the trope is probably one of the main reasons behind his popularity (essentially swapping places with Ichigo, who consistently held the #1 spot in Shonen Jump polls).
    • Jūshirō Ukitake, from the same show, is another exception, as he is a big innocent lovable sweetie-pie. He feels a kinship towards Hitsugaya because he's a fellow White Haired Pretty Boy, and frequently gives him comically large amounts of candy and other presents.
  • Near in Death Note. It's not as much subversion as one would think; Since Light, the protagonist, is a Villain Protagonist, Near, despite being one of the good guys, is still the antagonist of the show.
    • Just to make things even more confusing, although Near is technically a "good guy", he's only really heroic up next to the likes of Light or Mello; he's not meant to be likable or good, according to Death Note's creators.
  • Black Jack manages to subvert this with Dr. Kiriko: he has white hair, his skin's fairly pale, but his gaunt face and sickly, hunched-over frame keep him from being too "pretty".
  • Ren from Karin, in something of an inversion.
  • Allen Walker from ~D.Gray-Man~ is white-haired and prettier than much of the bishoujo female cast, but is not only the protagonist but probably the nicest character in the series. Though there is that little Noah issue...
    • He was also originally a brunette, but his hair turned white during a particularly traumatic event in his childhood.
  • Keiki from The Twelve Kingdoms; as a Kirin, he is literally the physical embodiment of benevolence and kindness. (This might not be a true example, as he may merely be light blonde. All of the other kirin -- with one notable exception -- are darker shades of blonde.)
    • It's a really light platinum blonde, but it can be easily confounded with white. This tone is a bit rare to occur on Kirins, but not as rare as black, red, or pink (yes, pink unicorns).
  • Kantarou from Tactics is as much a pretty white-haired boy as it gets but he is the hero. Although his lazy and materialistic nature occasionally make him the object of censure, Kantarou never comes close to being a villain and is more of a Genius Ditz (as far as his bonding with spirits power is concerned) than anything else.
  • In Fruits Basket, Ayame is a white-haired guy who turns into a snake. However, he's certainly not a villain, just a very silly Lovable Sex Maniac. Haru, who has a mix of black and white hair, is a bit closer considering that he has a Jekyll And Hyde kind of personality, but his bad side is referred to as "Black Haru" while his good side is "White Haru". Yuki has silver hair too, although nobody (except Kyo) would classify him as evil.
  • Inu-Yasha from, well, Inu Yasha. Foul-mouthed jerk? Yes, but not evil. It's interesting to note that when he is in his human form, his default hair color is black.
    • Also, his father.
  • Gintoki Sakata from Gintama occasionally does questionable things, but none of them can really be considered evil, and he is easily the hero of the series.
  • Jamie Jay Adams aka J.J from FAKE. In the first series he was the Clingy Jealous Guy, but gets a love interest of his own in the epilogue and second series.
  • Sasagawa Ryohei of Katekyo Hitman Reborn has white hair (once colored light brown in an early color spread, interestingly enough), but is firmly entrenched in the realm of heroes. He's the Hot Blooded one. EXTREMELY hot-blooded.
    • On that note, Gokudera Hayato, when he originally came in, seemed to be a villain but quickly turned into the most fiercely loyal subordinate Tsuna could ever want. ("JUUDAIME;!")
  • Shinrei of Samurai Deeper Kyo starts out as the White Haired Pretty Boy, but is revealed to have a bad temper (especially when dealing with his brother, and eventually goes over to the main character's side.
    • Also the morally ambiguous Migeira in the anime, who has short white hair, heterochromic eyes, and a Kakashi-like facemask. Subverted by preteen ninja Sasuke, who also has white hair.
  • Chouji Suitengu from Speed Grapher. Ginza Hibari is a morally ambigous White Haired Pretty Girl.
  • Ginko from Mushishi, although white-haired, is both a nice guy and not especially pretty, although his white hair and green eye do indicate the touch of the supernatural.
  • Silver-haired Shi Seiran in Saiunkoku Monogatari is a principled and heroic young man.
  • Superintendent Kengo Akechi from The Kindaichi Case Files. While not technically "evil," he is a bit of a douchebag sometimes.
  • Xerxes Break in Pandora Hearts, although it's probably part of his Your Days Are Numbered situation. It's a little ambiguous if he's totally on the protagonists' side or not, though.
    • Actually, he's always had white hair and red eyes. Flashbacks prove this.
  • Don't forget Naruto's Kakashi Hatake. Even men were smitten when they saw him without his mask.
  • Rotton the Wizard of Black Lagoon places more emphasis on the "pretty boy" part of the equation, being a chivalrous guy who really wants to be badass but isn't very good at it. Where he not The Fool, you'd expect that his code of honor and mannerisms would have gotten him killed a long time ago in the kind of series he's in.
  • In Yu Gi Oh, Bakura and his Superpowered Evil Side both fit the physical description, but normal Bakura is harmless and an adorkable woobie.
  • Haruka of Yosuga No Sora fits this this subversion so straight to the point the Love Interests treat him like a walking Estrogen Brigade Bait.
  • From Fairy Tail, there's the character Elfman, who's quite a big Boisterous Bruiser with short hair. The only reason his hair is this color is probably so he matches with his White Haired Pretty Girl sisters, Mirajane and Lisanna.


Comics Edit

  • Apollo of The Authority is a gorgeous Superman expy with long, white-blonde hair and the sweetest disposition of anyone on the team. It's nigh-on impossible to even make him angry.
  • Daniel Hall of The Sandman, after his transformation into the second Dream. Definitely a good guy; he's noticeably more forgiving than his predecessor, although that admittedly isn't hard to achieve. Also a Man In White.
  • Elijah Snow of Planetary is very pale and with solid white hair, but is not so much a pretty boy (he looks at least in his 40s, though he's actually about 100 years old) and is quite thoroughly heroic -- though often very cranky and grumpy about it. Also another Man In White.


Films -- Live Action Edit

  • Though not exactly effeminate (he's played by Rutger Hauer), Roy Batty from Blade Runner is an Anti Villain example.


Live Action TV Edit

  • Simon Pegg on Spaced reminds us that bleaching your hair will in fact destroy it.


Literature Edit

  • Ian Stott from Cherie Priest's Bloodshot is a dapper, handsome vampire with long silver hair. He's got the moral ambiguity of being a vampire, but he seems like a decent, pleasant person.
  • Alcuin from Kushiel's Legacy is a sort of rival to Phedre, but also definitely a good guy.
  • Michael Moorcock's Elric, who ironically might be the root of the trope due to his Anti Hero status. (The novels were published in Japan, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano of Vampire Hunter D fame).
  • Rhaegar Targaryen from A Song Of Ice And Fire. He's a Posthumous Character, and it's made pretty clear he was a larger-than-life Knight In Shining Armor. Fanart pictures him as a Bishonen.
  • Wraith from the Hex book series by Rhiannon Lassiter is the main sidekick of the protagonist and is revered as a hero. He is also described in the first book as "strikingly attractive" and later on his ex-gang-member status makes people see him as a "romantic figure"(direct quote from the 3rd book).
  • Roshaun from Young Wizards. He's described as looking like a living anime character.He's also very definitely one of the good guys.
  • Roiben from Holly Black's Tithe trilogy is a faerie knight with long "salt-white" hair and silver eyes. Though he has his sinister side, he's a good guy and the main love interest.
  • Averted in Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine, in which the white-haired boy, a beautiful dancer named Aster, is a romantic ideal.
  • Thoroughly subverted in the form of Drizzt Do'Urden, a dual wielding drow elf WHPB (albeit dark-skinned), that is the epitome of good and emo of most Forgotten Realms heroes.
  • Most of the moon elves in the Forgotten Realms novel series are a subversion of the trope, wherein they are royals, and often described as the most human among their brethren. They are often described as pale in skin, and often having silver or black hair, and a pretty face.
    • Elaith Craulnobur from the songs and swords series, is a semi-subversion, as he began as a thoroughly evil WHPB, but in the course of the novels rediscovered his honor and partially redeemed himself.
  • J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a subversions on these, particularly the Teleri (grey elves) and their leader Thingol Greycloak, one of the first elves, described to be of great power and unearthly beauty.
    • Celeborn, specifically, has silver hair, and he's a wise and kind leader who sticks around until the bitter end of the elves' days on Middle Earth.
  • Eric Northman from Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire mysteries. (Much more obvious on the TV adaptation Trueblood.) Semi subversion, as he's not exactly the most pure intentioned vampire on the planet, but loyal and generous to his people.
    • Eric Northman may not embody this trope. He's blond, not white- or silver-haired. He's a big old viking dude, not a prettyboy (yes, many women find him attractive, but he's not a bishonen).
  • Subverted somewhat in The Malazan Book of the Fallen -- Rake and the rest of the Tiste Andii are good guys (sort of).
  • In the Codex Alera all Marat have white hair, male or female. However, there is only one major Marat villain (and he's just a Starter Villain and Unwitting Pawn]] while most of the Marat are solid good guys. On top of that, the other main male Marat, Doroga, is not only a good guy but described as being physically ugly despite his white hair.
  • We don't know exactly what his facial features are, but Otto from The HIVESeries has white hair, and two of the three girls who help make up the main cast are attracted to him, so he could fit this.
  • Bracken from the Fablehaven series. Justified because he's a unicorn. Also Warren, when he was stuck as an albino.
  • Some elves from the Inheritance Cycle are like this--Oromis is the best example. His hair isn't due to his great age--elves stay eternally young, and Eragon can only tell he's so old by the sad expression on his face.


Video Games Edit

  • Final Fantasy
    • The Dark Knight Cecil in Final Fantasy IV is a White Haired Pretty Boy, but we only learn this after he turns into a good guy and takes his helmet off.
      • The odd thing is, his battle sprite and world sprite both have purple hair in the SNES original game, so it wasn't obvious Cecil was white haired! Even his save menu portrait had some purple in his hair.
      • He looks almost pale blond in the DS version (in-game sprite only, it's white in the FMV and menu portrait).
      • Edge is also a subversion in more than one way. Despite having white hair and being very very pretty (though not quite as pretty as Cecil), he's a Hot Blooded hero who likes to hit on Rydia.
    • Dissidia includes the Warrior of Light, a Knight In Shining Armor whose prettiness rivals Cecil, and the lovely (but slightly Hot Blooded) Firion.
    • Luneth from Final Fantasy III DS version is just a really sweet (and androgynous) kid.
    • Baralai from Final Fantasy X-2, who is technically a Dark Skinned Blond due to his dark skin as well as having white hair and Bishonen looks. While his leadership of New Yevon, a conservative organization spawned from the remnants of the Corrupt Church from the first game, and also fights against the protagonists on at least one occasion, he turns out to be a subversion because his motives are fundamentally good, and when he does turn evil, it's more because he's possessed by Shuyin, the true Big Bad. And at the end he pledges to work together with the other factions to rebuild and restore Spira.
  • The Anti Hero Dante from Devil May Cry is a slightly more realistic take on the bishonen; he has white hair and you could call him a pretty boy, but he's also a hunky and hot-blooded Badass Longcoat. So are his twin brother Vergil (though being a villain with an icy personality, he definitely fits the trope), the human form of their father Sparda and Nero who is also a descendant of Sparda.
  • Alucard from Castlevania is a noble soul, always playing for the good guy's side if not being the hero and, somewhat humorously to fans, seems to have spawned the notion that every CV hero since must be a White Haired Prettyboy. Interestingly enough, for his first appearance in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, he sported dark hair.
    • Soma Cruz from the recent Castlevanias definitely qualifies. He may not be evil, put the potential was certainly there considering he inherited Dracula's "office." He is definitely white-haired and pretty, though you'd never know he was a boy if they didn't tell you.
    • Juste Belmont in Harmony of Dissonance, the only known white-haired member of his clan. Let me rephrase: he's a white-haired Belmont.
  • Raiden from the Metal Gear Solid series. He does turn out to be working for the Big Bad, but he doesn't have a clue about it. He's not an anti-hero, not a trickster, and certainly not evil, although he does do some pretty morally dubious things. Most of the time he's basically the universe's butt monkey. The creator claims that his pallor was a reference to him being a 'virginal' character -- he'd never been in a game in the series before, and was yet to be 'coloured' by audience expectation. (Alternatively, he was also meant as a blank slate for the player to project himself into.) It's also probably a tip-of-the-hat to the eerily pale Peter Stillman in Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy, who was an inspiration for Raiden's character.
    • Morally dubious? If the player kills a guard, he laments it to Rose, expressing guilt.
      • Later in the second game he admits to her that, really, he "doesn't feel a thing", and he was faking concern for her sake.
        • And he gets worse in the Fourth Game.
    • As an interesting note, Peter Stillman also shows up in Metal Gear Solid 2.
      • He's a black guy, though.
    • Gray Frank Jaeger from the same series (at least when he isn't covered in metal), although he's more of a biseinen than a bishonen. He does wind up fighting the protagonist on more than one occasion, but calling him an enemy would be inaccurate.
  • Riku, from the Kingdom Hearts series, is a complicated example. While in the first game he's a Rival Turned Evil, who is subject to More Than Mind Control and is possessed by the Big Bad, he spends the sequels dealing with the consequences, trying to make up for it. By the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 he's undoubtedly a good guy.
  • Trevor Spacey from the Metal Slug 4
  • Gig from Soul Nomad And The World Eaters. He is evil and silver-haired, but he's neither particularly effeminate or particularly eerie and gets his jollies from causing senseless carnage and suffering on a massive scale, while maintaining all the flair and panache of a pro-wrestling heel. He's also on the good side, if highly reluctantly.
  • Geralt from The Witcher game and series of novels: while not exactly being a bishonen he is lacking hair pigments due to the mutation, which renders his hair white. Anti-hero at worst he is, most probably, as real hero as it possible in his grim, harsh world.
    • The witcher mutations also robbed him of skin pigmentation, making him a Heroic Albino (or as much as someone can be heroic in that hellhole of a world).
  • Cyrus from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. White-haired (albino, in fact), extremely bishy and willing to risk his life to help the heroes.
    • It might be notable that he gets his white hair by being a clone of Big Bad Caulder. Caulder himself is too old to be a white haired pretty boy.
  • Oswald the Shadow Knight from Odin Sphere, a tragic but ultimately sympathetic Anti Hero whose soul has been claimed by the queen of the dead.
  • Akihiko Sanada from Persona 3, who is a determinator hero with streaks of The Atoner.
  • Parodied in Super Punch Out with Heike Kagero. His features are exaggerated to the point where he's actually rather grotesque.
    • There's also Super Macho Man, though the "pretty" part is debatable, due to the fact that he looks like a muscular, tanned George Washington.
  • We're not sure what the hell's going on with Joshua from The World Ends With You, but he's certainly got the "effeminate white-haired kid" style down pat. He's the "Composer" of Shibuya, who has gotten sick of his "divine" role and wants to destroy everything. With Jesus Beams.
    • Until Neku unintentionally changes Joshua's mind with the power of his magnificent ass.
    • Not to mention he's a completely insufferable smarmy jerkass most of the time.
  • Senel, the main character of Tales Of Legendia, has white hair and the looks, but fails at being effeminate or evil -- at worst he's a little grumpy. However, he also has dark skin, which tends to avert White Haired Pretty Boy Syndrome.
  • Silver from the 2006 Sonic The Hedgehog game.
  • Sanger Zonvolt of Super Robot Wars is white haired. But he exudes manly qualities, not Bishonen. And pretty heroic at that.
    • Also Harken Browning, protagonist of the spinoff Mugen no Frontier.
  • Max in Albatross18/PangYa. Despite bearing a striking resemblence to Sephiroth and that some of his outfits allow him to run around topless with a cross necklace or a tattoo, he's not evil, or even magical to begin with; he's an ordinary tennis player who got into a plane accident--one that incidentally landed him on Pangya Island.
  • Altos Stratos of Eat Lead The Return Of Matt Hazard is a parody of the trope.
  • Also parodied by Helter Skelter from No More Heroes, although he's not really in the game.
  • Career Killer Jean Kujo from Virtua Fighter.
  • Genis Sage of Tales Of Symphonia is twelve year old boy who, like his sister, has white hair.
  • Xenogears has a few inversions. Billy, Sigurd, and Jessie all have silver hair and all are undeniably loyal to the heroes' side. Krelian has many of the other traits of a WHPB, but his hair is closer to gold-brown than silver.
    • Ramsus is the biggest subversion of all. When he appears, he seems to be all but guaranteed to be the Big Bad. Later on, it is revealed that his girlfriend, Miang is the real Big Bad, and Ramsus is shown to be not important at all.
  • Behind his scary skull-faced helmet and his intimidating reputation, Urick from Drakengard 2 is not only a good guy, he's also cheerful, friendly, and keeps the party's morale high with a steady supply of jokes. He's also considerably less effeminate than most other WHPBs (if you don't count his implied relationship with Yaha, but even if you do, Yaha's way more effeminate than he is) -- but he's still damn good-looking, all the same. Of course, his white hair is a pretty solid example of the "death" symbolism associated with the color, considering a) he's made a pact with a Reaper and b) his pact-price was his mortality.
  • Lee Chaolan in the Tekken series.
  • Purge from Space Channel 5 Part 2. He also has purple eyes.
  • Subverted for the most part in Mana Khemia Alchemists Of Al Revis, since Vayne is a white-haired pretty boy who is notably shy and clueless. Well, until his powers go crazy and turn the academy into a living hell on earth. It's a complicated example because his Jekyll And Hyde syndrome turns half of him into a Jerkass.
    • However, in the sequel, it's completely played straight by Reicher.
  • Zero of Mega Man X, when he's wearing his Black Armor, had silver hair. He acts like a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold, but he's a badass hero.
  • King Dynal from Fossil Fighters is a millenia-old reptillian alien king with flowing white locks and a really long coat, who wants nothing less than to Destroy All Humans so he can take back "his" planet. Of course, in the end, he decides that he likes humans after all and becomes one of your friends.
  • Touhou Project: Rinnosuke Morichika has escaped this list for a long time. But then, he's not a villain. He's The One Guy.
  • Loue the vampire in A Witchs Tale serves as Liddell's aide for most of the game.
  • Joss from Dawn's Light starts out as the trope played straight, but eventually joins the hero's party and performs aHeroic Sacrifice.
  • The eponymous Nier from NieR Replicant, who is the quintessential hero and nice guy just out to save his sister (and committing genocide along the way, but no matter). Nier in Nier Gestalt is also white-haired, but is instead a burly and middle-aged Papa Wolf.
  • A few of the young male characters in Infinite Space has white or silver hair, including the main character, Yuri. However, no matter which side they're in, all of them are actually decent, if not genuinely good people. Yes, even the seemingly Ax Crazy Teodoro.
  • Angelo from Dragon Quest VIII.
  • Ragna the Bloodedge from Blaz Blue, although it is stated he was blond before Rachel turned him half-vampire. He's not necessarily the nicest guy around, but he's not evil either.
  • Chipp Zanuff from Guilty Gear.
  • The protagonist of Suikoden V.
  • The protagonist Serph from Digital Devil Saga.
    • The man who he's effectively a reincarnation of, however, is a very straight example.
  • Taigong Wang from Warriors Orochi, who while arrogant is ultimately good. He's also very, very pretty.
  • Another Square Enix character, Escher from the Phone App Chaos Rings, is a white haired black guy, and is just about the most cruel hearted person in the entire tournament, and in a different storyline is an antagonist (mostly. He's selfish, an assassin, borderline evil for the majority of the game, even going so far as to threaten the two youngest competitors that even if they were kids, he'd still kill them which he does, to his regret, however.
    • The funny thing is, Escher is almost like a cross between Axel and Cloud, because he's a hired blade (Cloud), he has a sarcastic, sinister attitude (Axel), he has a very wierd stance (Axel), wields a very long sword with one hand (Cloud, though not original), and has only one person he cares for (Both, although Cloud ends up getting more friends, and Axel does likewise).
      • And here's his picture (on the right)
      • And here's [more] of him in his Jerk Ass Anti Hero glory
        • Another interesting version of this is Zhamo, arguable the nicest guy in the game. And he's black. There are no white people with white hair in a Sqaure Enix game. This world is coming to an end.


Web Comics Edit

  • Kayndar / Silvah from the webcomic Inverloch.
  • Lampshaded in [this ADVENTURERS! strip].
  • Both Zero and Skorn from Pink Black has white hair, and from what we've seen, are very pretty. The haven't had much screen time yet, but Zero shows signs of the The Rival.
  • Eikre from R P G World is initially implied to be the Big Bad in disguise, but he turns out to be a good guy. It's later revealed that he went to a school for evil Bi Shonen before doing a Heel Face Turn.
  • Lord Sykos from The Wotch. Let's just say the name fits perfectly.
  • Red Mage from ~8-Bit Theater~ is sometihng of an aversion. Yes, he has white hair (and also happens to like wearing women's clothing), but he's more of a Munchkin than anything.
  • Luka from My Life In Blue. He fits the stereotype perfectly, being white-haired (he says it's due to "psychic trauma"), effeminate, bisexual, and attractive, but he's a nice guy.
  • Artie from Concession is an albino rat with long hair (up until recently, and even now it's long again). Whether or not he's pretty, however, is up to you.
  • Girl Genius: Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer!, laughs at the white-hair-equals-villain dynamics of this thread... Even though he is trying to kill off all sparks in Europa.
  • Subverted in the nameless protagonist of HERO. White haired, check. Pretty, arguably. Boy, definitely. But he's about as far from villainous or badass as you can ever possibly get.
  • Jurinjo from Emergency Exit'. OK, OK, it's actually grey, and he's a "villain" who's not really evil.
  • Vlad from Chess Piece used to have white hair before he became all demon-looking and was a bit of a Jerk Ass. In the comic timeline, however, he's a good king, a(n) (over)protective father, and an overall nice guy. And the Hero of the story. And the author's main target for Fan Service.


Web Original Edit

  • Despite typical regard for standard hair colors shown by Broken Saints, there's still one: Oran's childhood friend Hassan.


Western Animation Edit

  • Ren, from The Pirates Of Dark Water: he's actually a dark-skinned platinum blond, and is a bit too short and stocky to be a bishie. But he's got the pale hair and pretty face; so he counts. And he's definitely a heroic example.
  • Danny Phantom. Not really bishonen, but that hasn't stopped the fangirls from drawing him as such.
  • Chris Moralès of Code Lyoko is certainly white-haired and pretty, but an entirely sympathetic character.
  • Although a little ambiguous at first, the Magus from Gargoyles is an ultimately heroic example.


Real Life Edit

For Troper Tales, use Troper Tales/White Haired Pretty Boy.
  • Anderson Cooper.


Notes Edit

[[Category:Hair Tropes ]]

This page uses content from TV Tropes.org. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.
The text of this article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.

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