The Right Hair for the Right Character

As you can probably tell by the title, I'm big on characters looking their personality. When it comes to people like Jacen, Ben, and any Yuuzhan Vong you can name, that isn't much of a problem. But for one of my fics that I haven't posted, there's this extremely evil 16-year-old girl. So what is the right attire for a young, evil princess beyond the red veil? Dark, long bangs and yellow eyes? Black coat? I don'tlike having a big character without knowing what she should look like.

 

Hmm... ::thinks about this one:: How about long, very dark brown hair and really, really bright blue eyes? And dresses in black.

 

When I think of evil females, I generally think in the direction of The Ring movies. Samara scares the heck out of me. In my opinion, dark eyes, hair obscuring the face, white complexion, etc. The clothes depend on her background, I guess. Where she could get them, what was available to her, what she likes and what her culture leans toward. If her culture has a particular style of dress, you could just exaggerate it. Is she a diva-type person or more of a scary, sullen, moody type?

 

Personally, I like deception. Black hair and blue eyes is sooooo over done, almost like having a boyfriend for Jaina wiht black hair and green eyes. Do someone that looks completely innocent. THat's what creeped me out about Palpy.

 

I don't think it matters. Black, brown, red, blonde? they can all denote evil. If you're interested in making the hair a part of the character, it will be more in the way you describe it than which color you happen to pick.

 

Personally for me hair colors that really work on evil people are black and red, but all hair colors really work. Like YodaKenobi said, it's not the color, but how you describe it.

(my reasons for saying black and red.

black to me = darkness/mystery

red to me = fire/boldness

blonde would also really work though, because it reallys makes you think the person is more innocent)

 

I almost like some sterotypes with hair, especially with baddies. The style , too, can be indicative of personality as much (if not more so) than color.

 

Yeah, style counts too. Though it can be as decieving as blonde hair. *points at ANH Princess Leia* Need I say more?

 

Hair is important. For an evil 16 year old I would say long (waist length) dark brown or black hair. But what I think is really more important, is how a character dresses. If this character is of upper/middle clss up bringing I'd say a flowing black and red dress.

 

I'd say it depends on how the character wants to present herself. Is she the type to flaunt her evil ways? Are you going for obvious signs of evil, like Vader in black armor and a scary helmet? Or something more subtle and deceptive, like Palpatine? How she presents herself physically will give hints as to how she thinks.

Is she more concerned about looking cool, or looking intimidating? Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" was hardly the poster boy for How To Dress Like An Evil Guy during his early days as a vampire, but in modern times, he had platinum blond hair and dark clothes. He looked cool as hell. And thus, when he kept the look after becoming a good guy, I didn't think, "That radioactive hair is so intimidating!"

Or look at Imhotep from "The Mummy" - that guy didn't even have hair!

Also, a lot of people automatically associate "evil" with dark/dangerous colors - black, brown, red. So again, if your character is more the deceptive type, she might be more like Palpatine - he had white hair, no one suspected a thing.

 

Sometimes I don't know what a character looks like until I "see" him or her. Just now I went to the Google images option and typed in "evil princess," just to see what I'd get. Lots of strange things, but lots of pictures of evil princesses, too. If I wanted a look for an evil princess character and none of those pictures caught my eye, I'd start playing with the search terms: try "princess" without the evil, "evil" without the "princess," try "evil girl," etc. Sometimes I can think of an actor or actress who vaguely resembles the character, and then I look up pictures of him/her until I find one I can work with. I like this method because there will usually be some images that will get you to think about possibilities you never considered.

 

I agree with the posters who say it depends on what type of villainy she plans on wreaking. Does she plan on charging in, weapons drawn? Dress her more flamboyantly. Inversely, does she rely on intrigue or deception? Make her less showy and more normal. Also, instead of focsuing on a particular look or style, maybe think of what sort of presence she gives when she's in a room. Is she more commanding or more reserved?

Here's an example I have for a future fic. My OC Sabyne Amberle has an older sister, Tierslae, who is an up-and-coming diplomat. She doesn't appear evil, yet she radiates an aura of dominance, a "don't mess with me" vibe. Yet she engages in secretive talks to further strengthen her power and risks the security of the Republic for her ambition. On the surface, she's a good, decent individual,doesn't dress or otherwise appear to be working for anything but the good of the Republic. Beneath, she's as cold as they come, only concerned with her own power and influence.

Hope that helped some.

 

I always thought that black hair with pure white skin looked the evilist

 

Okay, I'm more concerned with the hairstyle/shape than the hair color because I know even one haircut (without changing teh style) can change a character from a good one to a bad one, or at least that is teh case with The Getbackers. This villain is a 16-year-old queen, she's plotting to take over the galaxy at teh advice of the Sith ghosts. Does that clarify it a bit? As for the black hair and blue eyes, I don't think she'll have that since I don't like the that particular combo (prefer black hair with brown and green eyes).

I guess you can say that this person is kinda like a 16-year-old, exaggerated version of Lyla from Angel.

 

If she's taking advice from Sith ghosts, I'd think she'd be a bit creepy. Try hair hanging in the eyes, or have it held up with the bangs in her eyes. Or, you could just pull a Tim Zahn, and say she has 'dark hair in an elaborate style' and leave the rest to the readers' imaginations.

 

White dress, long platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, very pale skin... seems like it'd be creepy.

 

If she's blatantly evil, go for extremes-
Very long or very short hair, either black/dark brown or white-blond.

Eyes that are very light and icy, or very dark and glinting maliciously. If you want to be really obvious, red/yellow eyes.

Black, dramatic clothing with a few red accents.

Very pale skin.

If she's more subtle-
Medium length hair, light brown or dirty blonde.

Normal blue eyes or light brown ones.

Black clothing mixed with other colors, like silver, blue, green.

Light tan skin, maybe a few freckles.