Facial Haired Protaganists

[S.T. Ockenner]

Does anyone here have protagonists with facial hair? I don't see it much in fantasy, unfortunately, and I want to see if any of you have representation of people with hair on their face (not counting eyebrows, definitely counting sideburns)
I have some. Comic Man, my central character in many of my comics in the Koona Komics universe, started out clean shaven but recently grew out a full beard. In my scrapped novel Priest And A Claw, every character has facial hair. Many of my other characters are in possession of some size-able mustaches and beards. If your protagonist has facial hair, please share below.

 

[CupofJoe]

Well I was going back and forth on this but you've made me make a decisions [not often done]. My MC is going to growing a beard. A full but well groomed and well kept beard. None of your dwarven or viking ribbons and plaits and adornments. It is still growing and while it is substantial, it is going to be chest length and glossy, They are wealthy enough to be able to maintain this affectation, but they have only recently attained the rank and station that requires them to maintain the appearance. It is going to be an obvious statement of their rank and position top those around them and that it is new. And I think they are going to be a bit prissy about it...

 

[Ban]

Surprisingly not. Entire worlds full of all manner of facial hair, but the protagonists tend to be stuck with stubble at most. Guess I can throw in a handlebar or a fu manchu.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

I suppose stubble counts, depending on the amount.

 

[Mad Swede]

Yes, and in some of my stories the way people care for their beards (and their hair) is a part of their character. Showing signs of caring about appearance can sometimes tell you quite a lot about a person, including if they're in disguise (someone in rough clothing and looking like a beggar might not be all they appear to be if their beard looks as though it was recently trimmed, and vice versa...). Also, if you're portraying a romantic or close friendship then having someone comment on the state of their partner's hair or beard can be a way of establishing or showing other aspects of the relationship.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

Yes, and in some of my stories the way people care for their beards (and their hair) is a part of their character. Showing signs of caring about appearance can sometimes tell you quite a lot about a person, including if they're in disguise (someone in rough clothing and looking like a beggar might not be all they appear to be if their beard looks as though it was recently trimmed, and vice versa...). Also, if you're portraying a romantic or close friendship then having someone comment on the state of their partner's hair or beard can be a way of establishing or showing other aspects of the relationship.

Hooray for Mad Swede ! Really taking facial hair into account for extra plot depth!

 

[Mad Swede]

Hooray for Mad Swede ! Really taking facial hair into account for extra plot depth!

This may sound arrogant, but I don't think you can really develop a character properly without taking account of their appearance. It says so much about them, about what they consider to be important to them, about their lives. And that appearance will in turn will get reactions from those around them. Sir Ilyn Payne in A Song of Ice and Fire is an interesting example, where the only thing he seems to take care of is his sword. And when you read his back story in the books you realise why...

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

I completely agree!

 

[Insolent Lad]

Most of my fantasy protagonists have facial hair. The males ones, that is—no bearded women. Mainstream, not so much. This is at least partly due to the fact that they are frequently in primitive surroundings where shaving is inconvenient or even impossible.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

Aw man, no bearded women?
Otherwise, hooray for Insolent Lad ! How many of your characters would still have facial hair even if shaving was possible and "convenient" (like it is today)

 

[Chasejxyz]

....huh, don't really have that with my characters. To be fair, the birds/dragons without a human-y form wouldn't have facial hair, but if they did they could choose to, if they wanted to. Now that I'm looking at it, out of the 24 characters that have any sort of influence, only 8 have a body that could support it. I think since I haven't had facial hair for the vast majority of my life I just...forget it's a thing. But it's definitely a thing I'll be thinking about now.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

....huh, don't really have that with my characters. To be fair, the birds/dragons without a human-y form wouldn't have facial hair, but if they did they could choose to, if they wanted to. Now that I'm looking at it, out of the 24 characters that have any sort of influence, only 8 have a body that could support it. I think since I haven't had facial hair for the vast majority of my life I just...forget it's a thing. But it's definitely a thing I'll be thinking about now.

Well...I mean it is possible to give a dragon or bird a beard:

 

[Insolent Lad]

Aw man, no bearded women?
Otherwise, hooray for Insolent Lad ! How many of your characters would still have facial hair even if shaving was possible and "convenient" (like it is today)

Well, the Main Protagonist of my Donzalo epic (Donzalo himself) goes back and forth on it. He's in a more 'civilized' setting and has to consider fashion, so he's been bearded some places, mustached others, and clean-shaven at home. A couple of MPs have been transported (so to speak) from our modern world (fairly modern, early 20th Cent) and shaved before they showed up in another world. Chances are they'd go back to it if they found themselves 'here' again—not that they'd like it. My protagonists have tended to be practical about the whole thing and gone with low-maintenance short beards and hair.

BTW, I don't consider shaving particularly convenient today. It seems like a great waste of time!

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

I agree, shaving can be a bit of a waste of time since beards are awesome. Did any of them keep mustaches in the modern world?

 

[Insolent Lad]

I agree, shaving can be a bit of a waste of time since beards are awesome. Did any of them keep mustaches in the modern world?

No, though one of my non-fantasy characters wears a mustache (Wilk, an adventurer/spy). I forgot that my protagonist Saj, who stars in a couple fantasies, does shave the beard and retain the mustache at the close of the second book, at the behest of his wife (the beard was kind of scroungy).

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

Why did they go clean-shaven in the modern world? Was there a taboo against it there?

 

[Insolent Lad]

Why did they go clean-shaven in the modern world? Was there a taboo against it there?

The modern world is our world. The characters I mentioned did the portal thing to another world and they ain't comin' back.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

That doesn't explain why they shaved of completely clean, but okay.

 

[LAG]

I believe the humble mustache is under-represented in fiction in general.

Shaven folk and bearded folk, but not many with those lustrous Gallic soup-tentacles as seen in Asterix and Obelix.

Mustaches are either: "Ooh I'm a sneaky man who cheats at cards and sells your secrets(twirl, twirl twirl)", or "Aaah, I am the wise old man up on in the mountain temple who will teach the hero the secret art of the boomerang(with a montage)"

 

[Insolent Lad]

That doesn't explain why they shaved of completely clean, but okay.

Because it was the convention in our world at the time. The MP of my Malvern Trilogy came from 1914 USA and that of 'Tsar of the Empty Lands' originated in 1935 USSR.