"The blackness of my hair tells you what I feel about your opinion."
"[Kirsten] is a stunningly beautiful woman with dark hair and a fierceness that's both scary and inspiring."
— Harper, Set It Up
The Aloof Dark-Haired Girl is a fairly common character type combining both appearance and personality. She will generally be taller than her peers, more physically developed, and her hair will be very long and dark. Frequently, her skin will in contrast be very pale. She looks older and more beautiful and meets a certain classic ideal of feminine beauty combining maturity, a quiet attitude, and a combination of long hair and very pale skin.
The Aloof Dark-Haired Girl will not merely look older than her peers, however. Frequently, she will also act more reserved and aloof and thus seem more mature, which may earn her some younger female admirers. It is not uncommon for her to be fond of teasing her peers or acting as their big sister, though in all cases she will still maintain her dignity. Occasionally, she will even look cold and distant, but in this case, she is still probably a nice person deep down. Finally, it is essential to remember that despite the usual popularity of the girl in question, she does not seek it out. Instead, people simply gravitate towards her with admiration.
See Tall, Dark, and Handsome for the Spear Counterpart. Compare Onee-sama and Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette. May lead to Even the Girls Want Her in the right sort of series.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- Kei, the actress heroine of act-age, fits this to a tee, with her long black hair, piercing gaze, and distant demeanor. While her classmates call her "emotionless", she is a nice girl deep down, and actually gets overwhelmed by her emotions when she acts.
- Futaba from Amanchu! is rather withdrawn, but as things look now, she may score cute Hikari as her girlfriend.
- Hizume of Anima Yell! has the darkest hair color of the main five, is taller than the rest by at least an inch, tends to have a flat demeanor (unless when she's cheering), and is generally The Ace.
- Hourai Touko from Aphorism. Tall, beautiful, and Hinata's Aloof Big Sister.
- Akira in ARIA. She has a number of admirers, mostly female, and behaves in a composed lady-like manner, in front of customers, anyway.
- Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan has shorter hair than usual but otherwise fits this trope. There's a lack of female characters younger than her, but if there were, you'd be sure they'd be looking up to her. It's also a kind of a plot point: her black hair comes from her being one of the very few people of Asian ancestry left in her Crapsack World...
- Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh is a subversion. She's greatly admired by the other students and teachers alike, for her beauty and her natural athletic ability. The girls consider her to be cooler than most of the guys at their school, and all of the sports clubs want her to join them. But she isn't into sports and is too shy to make friends, which gives them the impression that she's reticent and a loner. Which makes her seem even cooler in their eyes.
- BanG Dream!: Zig-zagged with Ran Mitake. Her social awkwardness is mistaken as being aloof by those who don't know her well, but her friends know her to have a passionate fire deep inside. Her catchphrase, "Same as always." is actually high praise for her band, because it means that they've done their best, as always.
- Nero/Secre from Black Clover. She has black hair in her human form that's given a bluer shade in the anime, is described as a cool beauty by Finral, and generally acts very calm and apathetic.
- Ran, the titular character of Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran, is a textbook example of this trope, particularly in that she attracts trouble like a magnet (or is attracted to it?) and has a Moe Anime Chinese Girl following her around most of the time. However, she dresses and acts in a masculine way, despite looking quite feminine; if she were ever taken for a boy (oddly, no one makes this mistake), she would be bounced right over into Bifauxnen territory. People are often in the dark about her gender until she starts talking, though.
- Princess Cornelia from Code Geass. Tall, good-looking, and a competent fighter, leader and strategist, with dark purple hair and eyes to match. She's reserved, arrogant, and proud, but harbors a deep soft spot for her younger sister Euphemia.
- Ai Shinozaki from Corrector Yui is tall, dark-haired, and very aloof. She begins defrosting little by little, thanks to the titular Corrector Yui.
- Erika from Daimos is tall, with waist-length black hair, and she is calm and rational.
- Dear Brother:
- "Mona Lisa" Komabayashi and "Vampanella" Hoshino, membresses of the infamous Sorority, are both tall and beautiful women with aloof personalities. In fact, Mona Lisa's nickname directly comes from her looks and aloofness.
- Regarding the Three Magnificent Ones, Fukiko Ichinomiya and Rei Asaka are both Aloof Blond-Haired Girls thanks to their good looks and apparently stoic personalities. The other one, Kaoru Orihara, has some traits despite being The Lad-ette most of the time.
- Chikane Himemiya in Destiny of the Shrine Maiden. She is tall, graceful, very popular among the girls of her school, and has very long dark blue hair.
- Isuzu 'Rin' Sohma from Fruits Basket fits this trope to a T. She's tall, has waist-length black hair, and severe trust issues courtesy of her emotionally Abusive Parents. Bonus points for being, according to Word of God, "the character in charge of sexiness."
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Lust is a tall and gorgeous Dark Action Girl with a cold attitude, a very cynical and pragmatic view of the world as a whole, and the capacity of being as deadly as she is beautiful. She fits more in the original manga and the Brotherhood series, however; her first anime self turns out to have quite the issues.
- Fasalina from GUN×SWORD is one. She's tall (especially compared to her love interest, Michael), has black hair, is very cool-headed and composed almost the entire show, and is very beautiful and seductive as well as respected by the people she's working with under The Claw to bring his plans to fruition.
- Reki from Haibane Renmei was this in the past but without the normal idolization. Reki has the signature long, black hair, height, and coolness. She was initially ostrasized after being born due to her charcoal-colored wings distinguishing her as "sin-bound". This caused her to grow into a sad, aloof teenager. Eventually, she decided to reinvent herself as a nicer Team Mom though. This was originally for selfish reasons however she later grew naturally into the role.
- Konoe Tsurugi in Hanaukyō Maid Team is the tall and stern head of the Security department for the main character's Maid Corps. She has long black hair and in the reboot her Adjutant, Yashima has a crush on her.
- The other Ai Shinozaki, from Hell Teacher Nube, has the looks and the admirers... and seems to have the attitude, but deep down she is more socially awkward than aloof. And desperately wants to have more friends, but since the other kids see her as a peerless beauty who shouldn't be approached lest she'll be tainted, she cannot fulfill this wish.
- Kikyo from Inuyasha. A woman who's very tall, very quiet (out of No Social Skills when alive, and out of deeply hurt feelings when she Came Back Wrong), referred to as incredibly beautiful, and a Broken Bird who after a brief yandere stint, keeps her constantly muddled emotions under control.
- Mari from Inside Mari is the aloof, dark-haired School Idol who is a Dude Magnet but has turned down every boy. Isao somehow ends up in her body. It's eventually revealed that Mari is not as perfect as she seems. She is implied to have mental issues, including a Split Personality which reveals that there wasn't even a bodyswap. Mari is also gay and that's why she rejects every boy.
- Lisa Lisa from Jojos Bizarre Adventure. She's elegant and beautiful, but can be a cold bastard of a teacher at times. Also, she's even older than she seems, being that she's actually Joseph Joestar's mother.
- In Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, the eponymous character's black hair and elegant posture emphasize her aristocratic heritage, especially compared to the more sociable, lighter-haired people she hangs out with.
- Mina Ashiro of Kaiju No. 8. She has long black hair, and she tends to act cold and aloof even toward her childhood friend Kafka Hibino. This is mostly from a need to display professional discipline as a JAKDF Commander, as she tends to act warmer and even a bit sillier when professionalism isn't needed.
- Satsuki Kiryuin from Kill la Kill ticks all the boxes. She has long black hair and pale skin and towers over all the other students, both in height as in presence. She is the Student Council President and she doesn't care about what other people think of her (or her body), but leaves her students in awe because of her beauty and massive charisma. She has a Sugar-and-Ice Personality, acting cool, distant and arrogant in public, staying in control of her emotions at all times (due to her Freudian Excuse). But allows herself to smile and relax a bit more among the select few she genuinely trusts and respects.
- Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke is both a subversion of this and of an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette. She has the looks and the aloof seeming personality; however, she comes off as creepy to her peers instead of cool. Sawako also only seems "aloof" because she is actually quite shy and socially awkward.
- This is how Shouko Komi of Komi Can't Communicate looks to the general populace. Of course, she's not aloof, just very nervous, timid, and gets easily frightened in social situations. The contrast is noted multiple times, to the point where she's drawn with alternating Tsurime and Tareme Eyes depending on the perspectiveexplanation .
- Mio Akiyama from K-On!, complete with an all-girl fan club and also being the tallest of the main characters. However, she's actually a subversion who's quite similar to Sakaki in that she appears to be cool and aloof on the surface, but she's actually painfully shy. She also has a lot of phobias, and despite trying to be calm and stoic most of the time she can easily become a cowering, nervous mess.
- Motoko Aoyama in Love Hina is tall, dark-haired, serious, and aloof, and Keitaro is rather impressed the first time he sees her. But she turns out to be a subversion, since she attempts to keep herself serious and aloof; she's actually got quite a Hair-Trigger Temper, as well as several deep insecurities that she struggles with.
- Micaiah Chevelle of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid has long, black hair and is one of the tallest females of the cast. As befitting her traditional Japanese Samurai motif, she is always calm, reserved, mature, and highly respected by other characters who often go to her for advice. Eventually, gets a Lampshade Hanging by Nove, who expresses surprise that Micaiah knows how to cry.
Nove: Micaiah-chan cries too? I just can't imagine that.
Micaiah: How rude! I may look like this, but I'm still a girl, you know? I cry when it's time to cry! - Maki Izumi from Martian Successor Nadesico is something of a subversion of this. Physically speaking, she's quite attractive; however, she's always cracking bad puns, has a habit of playing the ukulele (terribly), and nobody seems sexually interested in her while she never shows any sexual interest in anyone else. At least, not until the episode where everyone's repressed personalities come to the forefront and her sexual side tries to convince both Akito and Akatsuki to have sex with her. Of course, this is also the episode where it's explained that she's repressed said sexual side because both of her fiancees died young and she's convinced if she opens up to anyone, they'll inevitably die as well and she'll just be alone and heartbroken again.
- Invoked in Chapter 87 of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun when Hori helps to give Kashima a "feminine makeover" fitting her. The makeover ends up being her with a long blue wig and an overall mature and aloof look, something that winds up attracting both her male and female classmates. It's also implied that this is Hori's type as well.
- My Girlfriend Gives Me Goosebumps!: Kisaki has dark hair and is noted to be hard to approach. A classmate from middle school calls her “the smart, solitary beauty”.
- My-HiME: Natsuki Kuga starts out this way before a fair amount of Character Development and thawing out. Natski starts out with only one friend, and was just as likely to take shots at someone with her Element as she was to speak to them. Her sole concern is learning why her Mother was killed, and she's standoffish, cold, and distrusting of others at first. After she and Mai become Fire-Forged Friends, she ends up on a First-Name Basis with her by episode 9.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
- Mana Tatsumiya is a very tall, attractive girl with long black hair, plus a rather aloof attitude compared to the other girls in Negi's class. Said aloofness comes from her being a Child Soldier and half-demon, plus the death of her first Pactio Partner.
- Setsuna Sakurazaki tries to fit this trope, and manages it for a few chapters, but after a volume or two the facade cracks and she turns out to be Not So Above It All, plus quite more sensitive than she appears. That on top of the fact that she's born an albino, dyeing her hair for the purpose of fitting in.
- One Piece:
- Nico Robin is the third tallest member of the crew, has long flowing dark locks, is widely considered to be the most attractive member of the crew, and has an austere and sophisticated personality.
- Boa Hancock, who is even taller, has long black hair, is extremely aloof to anyone who isn't Luffy, and is considered the World's Most Beautiful Woman by both men and women.
- Suzuka in Outlaw Star is tall (almost six feet), has long black hair, the most attractive female in the main cast, and even after joining Gene's crew, she prefers to be left alone.
- Lt. Kanuka Clancy from Patlabor has long raven-black hair and acts cool and collected at all times. She's very much The Stoic (unless she's drunk).
- Pike Queen Lucy in Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire . She's quite tall, especially for the series standards, has long ebony hair, and doesn't speak much, though she seems a lot nicer than most examples. This is in stark contrast to her videogame counterpart, where she's rather loud, and a bit of a Sore Loser.
- Mari from Prison School has long black hair, is the Student Council President of her school, has admirers, and is usually calm and reserved (usually).
- Private Actress:
- Shiho Kobayakawa is a tall beauty with long dark hair and a polite yet aloof attitude at school. She does show a warmer side, but it's not easy to see since she's an actress and many of her works have her playing one or another role in people's lives.
- Subverted by Mariko Soriarno, who has the looks and seems to have the attitude at first, but as soon as she befriends Shiho she's revealed to be a Naïve Newcomer instead.
- The black-haired Rikako Oryo from Psycho-Pass is the aloof, beautiful daughter of a celebrated painter. Her female classmates admire her beauty, elegance, and talent in painting, but she happens to be a sociopathic Serial Killer implied to be VERY angry at the world after how the Sybil System ruined her father's life.
- Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica has long dark hair and acts so aloof and cold that she appears as an Emotionless Girl. Subverted in that we see how she was in the past... as a dorky Shrinking Violet who became an ADHG out of sheer trauma. Further subverted in Rebellion,where Homura undergoes a Face–Heel Turn that ends with her as a hammy, smirking Satanic Archetype.
- Sailor Moon:
- Rei "Sailor Mars" Hino is black-haired with pale skin, but her characterization seriously depends on what SM media features her. Whereas in the first anime, she is a loud, fiery tsundere who's generally very sociable, in the manga she's aloof, calculating, and serious plus deeply hurt by her father's abandonment. Sailor Moon Crystal gives her a much closer characterization to her original manga incarnation, but she still has some Not So Stoic moments.
- Setsuna "Sailor Pluto" Meiou has long, black hair with shades of dark green, and is one of the most imposing warriors as she's older than the rest. Personality-wise, she tends to be mysterious and detached—traits necessary as she's isolated guarding the gate of time. Still, when she does allow herself to show a kinder side, she's very sweet.
- The purple-haired Zakuro in Tokyo Mew Mew is tall, a famous model and actress, and has many admirers (particularly Minto). She's also a loner who's the last member of the team to be introduced.
- Tomo-chan Is a Girl!: Misuzu Gundou has long, dark hair and almost as many male admirers at school as Carol does, but she's also very aloof, haughty and sarcastic. Unlike most examples, however, she's not particularly tall or mature-looking, being the shortest of the three main girls and also rather flat-chested (much to her displeasure).
- Urusei Yatsura: Sakura is a gorgeous, tall, black-haired, and mature Miko, in addition to being the School Nurse who is so hot that all male students go to the infirmary just to drool over her.
- Kyouko from Wagnaria!! is noticeably tall, dark-haired, aloof, and pretty.
- Whenever Sunako Nakahara from The Wallflower gains enough confidence to break out of her Super-Deformed mode, she looks like a beautiful and tall dark-haired girl and is able to act very aloof and graceful.
- Saori from Wandering Son was this from the start but it became more noticeable as she aged. Saori is also a deconstruction of the trope. She had a Friendless Background due to disliking the other kids but decided to befriend Nitori when she fell in Love at First Sight with her in elementary school. She has long black hair that she usually wears down, except for in middle school where she wore Girlish Pigtails during school. Saori is a huge Dude Magnet to the point where she attracted the entire class's attention when she walked in during the first day of high school, though she has a Single-Target Sexuality for Nitori and eventually dates Fumiya. Saori is very aloof to a fault and only interacts well with her closest friends. She has a bad reputation due to her poor social skills.
- Kagari Ayaka from Witch Craft Works (pictured) has long black hair and is at least a head taller than the protagonist and most of the other students at her school. Despite having an aloof and reserved personality she's the most popular person in her school and even has her own fan club.
Comic Book
- Veronica Lodge in Archie Comics tends to act aloof to her friends due to her social class. Her dad, a self-made man, said he sent her to Riverdale High specifically so she wouldn't end up a snob. It...kinda worked?
- A large number of characters in the DC Comics:
- While depicted as a blonde in many media, Selina Kyle aka Catwoman is really raven-haired and is a Deadpan Snarker. Still, it doesn't stop Batman from usually having the hots for her despite her being a member of his Rogues Gallery at times.
- The Helena Bertinelli version of the Huntress is a tall, beautiful woman who also happens to be a cynical and forthright individual. Even the Helena Wayne version (daughter of the aforementioned Catwoman and Batman), while not as ruthless as Bertinelli, has an aura of this about her.
- Lady Shiva is a battle-hardened Lady of War whose martial arts skills are second only to her daughter's, and she knows it.
- If she's not a Fiery Redhead, Lois Lane is usually portrayed as a poised brunette.
- Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's al Ghul, has jet black hair, is confident, poised, and desired by a number of characters (Depending on the Writer). She usually has her sights only for Batman though.
- Wonder Woman is commonly depicted as a calm and dignified Lady of War. For added bonus, she's surrounded by other women, being an Amazon and all.
- Hero from Democracy. Being a Pythia in training means that a common characteristic about them is that they give mysterious and complicated answers. That doesn't mean, however, that she doesn't care for what going on around her or that she doesn't have feelings for Leander.
- Marjane from Persepolis tends to be depressive and distant most of the time once she grows up. Justified as she's fled a war-torn country and deals with xenophobia and sexism from all corners of the world for most of her life.
- X-23 is pretty, with long, dark hair. She's also very quiet and aloof with her friends and teammates, and when she does speak her words are generally short, precise, and to the point.
Fan Works
- Forum of Thrones:
- Harpy is this, at least initially. She has dark reddish-brown hair, is a quiet, calm, and reserved woman, but she eventually defrosts, especially towards Jaron.
- Jenna is another major example of this trope. Being so shy that she barely manages to speak to strangers, this is her natural state and she often comes across as brooding and aloof.
- Rhonda Upcliff has long black hair, and is aloof, mysterious, and only speaks when directly asked to.
- The Night Unfurls:
- Olga Discordia is six feet tall, with ankle-length black hair and a bountiful form. Her pride and aloofness are backed up by her status as the Queen of the Dark Elves, along with her exceptional talent in magic.
- Inverted for Luu-Luu, who is a tiny Genki Girl with short, curly ginger hair.
- Princess Luna Equestris of RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse. Taller than most anypony, long black hair, and revered by her subjects as their ruler, goddess, and protector against her mad sister.
Film — Animated
- Big Hero 6: Gogo's hair is shorter than most on this list but her stoic, serious nature plays this trope straight.
- Brave: Elinor is tall, beautiful, has very long dark hair, and possesses a composed and graceful attitude.
- Frozen (2013): Inverted with Queen Elsa who has Mystical White Hair and starts off emotionally distant. Played for Drama as this attitude was born out of fear of hurting people, especially her younger sister Anna. On a related note, it's heavily implied that if not for her ice magic, her hair would be brunette just like her mother's.
- The Incredibles: Violet Parr starts off like this before undergoing some Character Development later on in the film. She has long, glossy blue-black hair and is rather shy and withdrawn, and for much of her screentime is quite distant, cold, and emotionally unavailable towards the rest of her family. After she apologizes to Helen for not being able to use her forcefields to protect their plane from being shot down, Helen gives her a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech, and she slowly but surely begins to come out of her shell after that — she becomes more socially confident, particularly when around her crush Tony Rydinger, and opens up to her family a lot more.
- Pocahontas: Pocahontas herself is a downplayed example. She is very tall and beautiful, has long black hair that reaches down to her hips, and is extremely calm, composed, and serene most of the time, on top of her tendency to look dignified, graceful, and majestic whenever she stands against the wind. Alongside that, however, she is also quite friendly and open towards others and has a cheeky and free-spirited side to her.
- In Turning Red, Priya has dark hair, is the second tallest in her friend group, and is The Stoic. She has at least one admirer in the goth girl.
Film — Live-Action
- Alex Munday in Charlie's Angels (2000) is the quietest of the eponymous girls and coldly shuns attempts to hit on her from men during the first film (but to be fair, she isn't single).
- Lady Hideko in The Handmaiden fits. She holds extreme control over her emotions, which she uses as a defense in her situation.
- The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen has dark hair and is rather emotionally distant and closed off from others, due to her numerous trust issues.
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe has tons of these.
- Peggy Carter, originally blonde in the comics, is portrayed in Captain America: The First Avenger as a brunette with a strong no-nonsense attitude who later becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen. In her own TV series, she gets some strong Les Yay vibes with her best friend Angie and roommate Colleen O'Brien, and Foe Romance Subtext with "Dottie Underwood", a.k.a. the 1940s Black Widow.
- Lady Sif from the Thor series possesses a calm and distant demeanor, especially noticeable since most of her companions sans Hogun (who is also quite The Stoic) are Boisterous Bruisers.
- Agent Maria Hill is usually depicted as poised or a Deadpan Snarker.
- Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man starts the film very cold towards Scott Lang, and very detached towards her father Hank Pym. She eventually mellows.
- Pitch Perfect:
- The previous leader of the Bellas is a very blunt and rude raven-haired woman.
- In the first film, Becca started as distant and proud.
- Stacy fits the trope to a T physically - she's tall, raven-haired, always seems detached, and Even the Girls Want Her. However, she turns out to be friendly and her "aloofness" is because she's mostly just clueless about what's going on around her.
- Jyn Erso in Rogue One, is very distant and hardened due to the loss of her parents (well, her mother; her father is retaken by The Empire to be their head engineer once again) and later becoming a Child Soldier.
- Special Female Force: Tung has long dark hair, is one of the tallest girls, and has a very cold and aloof attitude, especially towards her teammates due to her being The Ace while her colleagues are a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits that she feels are bringing her down. She does become more friendly once they bond during a stressful training exercise.
- We Are the Night: Charlotte, who's a brunette and mostly appears cold to the other vampires, although she does show kindness sometimes. It turns out to be a result of severe depression, and she eventually kills herself.
- Kayla Silverfox in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Works particularly with Logan.
Literature
- Kuroyukihime from Accel World. She's tall, a School Idol, very calm and graceful and has very long black hair.
- Ellington Feint in All the Wrong Questions. She is tall, beautiful, has dark hair, and is a distant and mysterious Fille Fatale.
- Chane Laforet from Baccano! is dark-haired, pale-skinned, and acts as The Stoic most of the time.
- Namie Yagiri from Durarara!! is tall, has long dark hair, and displays an extremely aloof and cold attitude towards anyone who isn't her brother.
- Nikita of The Girl from the Miracles District is tall, has long, dark hair, and keeps an aloof attitude, distancing herself from others and reacting to everything with emotional coldness.
- In Girls Kingdom, Himeko Amonotsuka is already tall, dark-haired, and beautiful, but now is nice chipper, and friendly. However, during her first year at Amonotsuka Academynote , she kept to herself and despite being more than popular enough to get numerous offers from Domestic Arts students to be her maid (an official function of the school is to pair up domestic arts students, which are maids-in-training, with Societal Arts students, who are rich girls) which she always refused. Meeting Misaki and taking her on as her maid signaled the change in attitude.
- Yozora Mikazuki from Haganai is a deconstruction of this kind of character; she has long dark hair and many other students appreciate her looks, but the reason she's so aloof is because she's a misanthropic jerk who's incapable of making any real friends.
- Subverted by Emi L'Hime in Hands Held in the Snow. Emi comes across as cold, stoic, and princessly to strangers, but the moment you peel past that, it turns out that's all a cover for intense social awkwardness.
- The titular Haruhi Suzumiya is a subversion. She may have the dark hair, beauty, and intelligence, but her aloofness comes largely from being weird. While she does have admirers, most people are hesitant to approach her because of how eccentric she is. She almost entirely drops the "aloof" part of this trope after she befriends Kyon, as she cuts her long hair shorter and reveals her true Genki Girl personality.
- Dee Moreno from The Hearts We Sold has long, dark hair, and even though both Gremma and James adore her, James outright declaring love for her at one point, she's very emotionally closed-off from other people. Even Gremma, her best friend, knows very little about her personal life. She's never mean about it, however, and it's mostly a result of her upbringing. She slowly gets better.
- Utaha Kasumigaoka of How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend has long black hair, is admired by many at her school, and acts cold and distant to most people.
- Chifuyu Orimura from Infinite Stratos is the main character's tall, raven-haired sister. She's a stern and strict teacher who's also admired by most of her students in the academy.
- Ogasawara Sachiko in Maria Watches Over Us is tall, has long purple hair, and is described as cold and aloof despite being universally admired throughout her school.
- Isabelle Lightwood from The Mortal Instruments is described as a Statuesque Stunner with waist-length dark hair. She's also very proud and distant, as well as an accomplished Shadowhunter.
- Yukino Yukinoshita from My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected is The Stoic with long black hair, has been described as a beauty multiple times, and has a cold and distant personality.
- Shimoneta subverts the trope with Oboro, to set up a surprise gender reveal. As head of Tokioka Academy's "Deceny" Prefects, he garners much respect from the student body, who refer to him as "Ms. Tsukimigusa". They're unaware that he's actually a male, because, by all outward appearances, he looks and sounds like an emotionless dark-haired girl. And had it not been for Tanukichi's accidental discovery in chapter 10, no one would suspect otherwise.
- China Sorrows from Skulduggery Pleasant is very much this trope: she's tall, beautiful, dark-haired, aloof, and can make men and women fall head-over-heels in love with her.
- Yuusha De Aru:
- Washio Sumi Is a Hero: Washio is a serious 11-year old Ojou with long black hair. She's respected by her classmates but doesn't have any friends. This changes when she becomes a Hero and she's forced to become friends with her two teammates. Washio's a bit shy behind her aloof-seeming facade.
- Chikage Koori from the spinoff Nogi Wakaba Is A Hero is dark-haired and aloof, but aside from the other Heroes she's unpopular due to her mother. Chikage is so aloof and broody because she has trust issues due to prior bullying.
Live-Action TV
- The Book of Boba Fett: Drash is a composed, beautiful cyborg gang member with dark brown hair who is the leader of her gang and seems popular among them.
- Detective Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The only emotion she frequently displays aside from her aloof exterior is a Hair-Trigger Temper, although, after Season 1, she begins to openly show signs of other emotions, such as nervousness and a genuinely big smile.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith, though this may be a subversion as she does desperately wish to make friends; a combination of trust issues, a Darkand Troubled Past, and bad choices are what keeps her aloof. Still, dark hair, charming though a loner, tries consistently to give advice to the titular character, plays Cool Big Sis with the Potential Slayers, and generally comes off more world-weary than the Scooby Gang.
- Sabrina Duncan in Charlie's Angels is tall, beautiful, and the most no-nonsense and straightforward of the Angels. These traits often result in Bri being made the de facto leader in missions.
- Control Z: Sofia is a very pale-skinned brunette who's also reserved and shows little emotion at first. However, she's of average height and doesn't really care about her appearance.
- Fiona Coyne of Degrassi: The Next Generation carried all the pinnings of this trope, just in a western setting. This includes the crossover with Ojou and some Tall, Dark, and Snarky for good measure. She's spent her whole run fighting boys off, even after she came out, and trouble is not in short supply. Her girlfriend even fits the Shrinking Violet (when it comes to their relationship) trope.
- Lady Mary Crawley of Downton Abbey is a textbook example: a tall, dark-haired beauty, persistently frosty, haughty, and detached, with several suitors that we've seen, to say nothing of her sister Edith's persistent but almost entirely one-sided rivalry.
- EZ Streets: Theresa Conners is and stand-offish, particularly towards Cameron Quinn and Jimmy Murtha.
- Farscape gives us Aeryn Sun, "hair as dark as a Fellip berry"; in the greenish lighting of space she is often ghostly pale and, given her background as a soldier born on a command carrier, she is very, very aloof, especially in the early seasons.
- Game of Thrones:
- Talisa is dark-haired and is not impressed the first time she meets Robb.
- Osha is dark-haired and is generally pretty sarcastic and doesn't care much for formalities.
- Lyanna Mormont is dark-haired and is very blunt and full of sass at her young age.
- Irri is dark-haired and is aloof to anyone but Dany, but especially to Rakharo. She mellows in Season 2.
- Robin Scherbatsky in How I Met Your Mother is a tall and cynical raven-haired woman who has a Happily Married Ambiguously Bi friend who occasionally makes a pass on her.
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues the trend in TV.
- Melinda May in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may not be tall, but she is dark-haired, aloof to the point of hostility, and every agent who attended the Academy is in awe of her.
- The titular Agent Carter (see Films above), though now mellowed, has gained the typical Les Yay vibes associated with this trope with her best friend Angie (who ironically is played by Lyndsy Fonseca who usually play these type of characters) and Foe Romance Subtext with her Evil Counterpart Dottie Underwood.
- Jessica Jones: Jessica is tall, beautiful, pale-skinned, raven-haired woman who is very bitter, detached, and foul-mouthed due to her traumatic Mind Rape at the hands of Kilgrave during her stint as a superhero.
- Jeri Hogarth also counts as well, being just as much aloof and also very amoral.
- Daredevil (2015): Elektra sports this as a result of her upbringing by Stick at the hands of the Chaste. On the villains' side, Fisk's fiancee Vanessa has some of this going, best shown when she orders Ray Nadeem's murder.
- Ziva David from NCIS is a tall, beautiful woman who is a definite Ice Queen to her teammates. She mellowed down considerably to the rest of the team by season 7, however. Her predecessor Caitlin Todd was not only also an Ice Queen but was more of a Deadpan Snarker than Ziva ever was.
- The clone protagonists from Orphan Black are naturally brunettes and all but Cosima Niehaus and Charlotte Bowles are this; Sarah Manning is snarky, Beth Childs was always Serious Business, and M.K. is detached.
- The Outpost: Talon fits this perfectly, with long dark brown hair, pale skin, a large bust, and a somewhat cynical, taciturn attitude which helps make her look older. At first she's quite reserved and distant to others, although she loosens up over time, making very good friends with people who stand with her facing great dangers. She still is cold and hard at times though, which isn't too surprising given her very harsh life.
- Elizabeth in Poldark. She is highly desired by men in upper-class society (including all three major male characters: Ross, George, and Francis). She has a reserved Proper Lady personality and is a tall gorgeous pale-skinned brunette.
- Faran Bryant in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. She's a ballerina with long black hair and is a poised, closed-off young woman, not wanting to trust the Liars at first.
- Romper Stomper: Petra, a pale-skinned brunette who's a leader of Antifasc, is more reserved than most of them and also cool-headed in contrast.
- Schitt's Creek has Stevie Budd, who works at the motel because it's quiet and she can do what she likes. She has few friends and rarely talks until she meets her kindred spirit, David Rose.
- Wednesday Addams in Wednesday has hair as dark as her closed-off heart.
Music
- Cliff Richard's hit song "Devil Woman"
is about this kind of woman.
Mythology
- In The Tale of the Heike, an account of the Genpei War, Tomoe Gozen, a female samurai of the Minamoto clan, is described as "especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features". She was also recorded as being "a remarkably strong archer, and as a swordswoman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot." She was one of the last warriors standing at the Battle of Awazu, even outliving her master who was struck down by an arrow during the fight.
(An excerpt from the Encyclopedia in Total War: Shogun 2)
Professional Wrestling
- One of Tessa Blanchard's most notable physical traits is her jet black hair. Another huge part of her appeal is her intriguing demeanor.
- Sonya Deville, is a dark-haired Amazonian Beauty who is generally distant. Once she splits up with her Tag Team partner Mandy Rose, Sonya becomes increasingly unpleasant.
- Allysin Kay is a Statuesque Stunner at 5'11", an Amazonian Beauty, known for attracting friends and foes alike, and is generally dignified.
- As a Heel, Billie Kay is known as a Femme Fatale and is statuesque at 5'8".
- Paige, known as "The Mysterious Raven-Haired Lady", lives up to the monicker and is generally a loner. She's also a sex symbol, unsurprisingly.
- Hikaru Shida, whether as a Heel or Face, presents herself as a beautiful and always composed Lady of War.
- Io Shirai is beautiful, dark-haired, and following her 2019 Face–Heel Turn, blunt and kind of a loner.
- Lisa Marie Varon is the most notable example in recent memory. She's tall, beautiful, dark-haired, respected, and feared by her peers, and is known for her mysteriously crazy persona.
Video Games
- Advanced V.G. II: Kyoko Kirishima is a rare bifauxnen example. As a member of one of the Masuda Clan's branch families, she's a woman of distinction and maintains her dignified manner even in the heat of battle.
- Kanae from Akatsuki Blitzkampf is a beautiful, dark-haired Action Girl with a height that's nothing to sneeze at (especially thanks to her gorgeous legs) and a serious, professional attitude. Many people comment in-story about how beautiful and classy she is.
- Shanoa from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is tall, shows little emotion, and even has some of the women she rescues flirting with her.
- Lulu from Final Fantasy X. She is cynical, stoic, and snarky to boot. She initially appears detached from everyone other than Yuna and acts dismissive even towards her childhood friend Wakka.
- Fire Emblem:
- Fire Emblem Fates:
- Kagero is a perfect fit for this, though her hair is more a very dark brown than solid black. She and Orochi even lampshade this in their supports, regarding her having something of a "doom and gloom" personality that makes her come across as unflappable to all. This is even true if the male Avatar walks in on her in the hot springs, her first reaction being to ask if there's an emergency he needs her for rather than get mad or kick him out.
- Subverted by Rhajat: she has dark hair in her original portrait, but will only fit in (in a No Social Skills way) if she has a dark-haired mother (like Mozu, Nyx, Oboro, Kagero, or a black-haired/brunette/dark-blue-haired Female Avatar).
- Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War has perhaps the franchise's trope-defining example in Ayra, a serious, cool, and unapproachable swordswoman with very long black hair. (Though if her talks with Lex are anything to go by, she certainly has her fair share who try to approach her.) Her nephew Shannan, though starting out as a Cheerful Child, also ends up fulfilling the trope with his similarly distant attitude and gloriously long black hair.
- Fire Emblem Fates:
- Laura S. Arseid from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has the looks, aura, and stature to pull this off but she's a subversion as she's more outgoing and is a Spirited Competitor to almost anything, especially fighting stronger opponents.
- Love Nikki - Dress Up Queen:
- Nikki's friend Lunar is a quiet beauty with dark-blue hair. She's taller than both Nikki and Bobo (and of course the diminutive Kimi), with the typical Raven Hair, Ivory Skin combo. In fact, at first, she refuses to let Bobo and Nikki help her recover her stolen designs, only allowing herself to do so once Nikki defeats her in a fashion duel; from then on, she's discreetly but undyingly devoted to them.
- Royce's Beleaguered Assistant Neva is a bit shorter than the standard but otherwise, she fits perfectly thanks to her pale skin, her dark hair, her Icy Blue Eyes, and her extremely serious, no-nonsense behavior.
- Chika Itou in the interactive romance novel Moonrise plays with this trope. Her skin is brown, but her tall height, midnight-black hair, and cold demeanor fit the trope. Her medical internship colleagues find her eerie and avoid her as much as they can.
- Primrose Azelheart from Octopath Traveler fits this trope like a glove, being a dark-haired odalisque that was viewed as snobbish by her fellow dancers due to her tendency to keep to herself and being favored by their master, though it's clear that she does care for her friends and serves as a Cool Big Sis to the female party members. While she is insanely gorgeous and attracts several admirers, they also include the wrong sort of attention like her master Helgenish and her Stalker with a Crush Simeon, who is madly obsessed with her and is responsible for all tragedies in her life.
- Yukiko Amagi from Persona 4 is a subversion. She has long, black hair in a traditional Hime Cut and is very popular at school for her beautiful appearance. Her classmates admire her but find her impossible to approach romantically since she rejects everyone. However, Yukiko is revealed to be an utter goofball who bursts into laughing fits when hearing silly jokes, instead of the seemingly perfect Yamato Nadeshiko she's thought to be. Not only that but when she's comfortable with the people around her, she gets very excited about telling scary stories.
- Ikaruga from Senran Kagura. Physically she is the closest to the ideal of Yamato Nadeshiko beauty, she is the most mature of the Hanzo girls, and some family issues have made her some kind of a loner, or at least someone who has difficulties opening up to the others (she's already recovering by the beginning of the game, but remains somewhat aloof). Subverted in the anime, where the staff loved to make fun of her personality.
- Velvet Crowe from Tales of Berseria can give off this vibe at times. Being a revenge-driven Broken Bird out to kill Artorius for what he did to her brother, if something doesn't involve getting her closer to this goal, she's generally not interested. She doesn't like it when people get close to her and has told her party members several times that they could leave her alone.
Visual Novels
- Maki Harukawa from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony has dark brown hair styled in twin-tails, and is quite pretty. However, she's very grumpy, not afraid to be blunt towards the other students, and prefers not to get involved with things.
- Tsugumi from Ever17 is tall, has long dark hair, and takes quite a while to warm up to the other characters.
- Rin Tohsaka from Fate/stay night has long raven hair, is beautiful, elegant, intelligent, and admired amongst her peers but uses this to cover her otherwise infamously temperamental standoffish personality.
- The Fruit of Grisaia: Sakaki Yumiko is a textbook example, and while she does not excludes herself from her classmates' social gatherings, she usually sticks to her books, or locks herself up in her room.
- Orihime Tsukishima in Kara no Shoujo who is the tall, elegant, aloof, and refined Student Council President. She's also highly repressed and ends up starting a prostitution ring involving herself and girls that she knows who feel the same way.
- Little Busters! has Kurugaya, who styles herself as a sexy, competent Cool Big Sis who loves teasing her cute classmates.
- Kotonoha Katsura from School Days is a subversion; she looks the part (is tall, dark-haired, and buxom) and has a number of male admirers. People assume she's aloof and uncaring because she keeps to herself a lot, but the true reason she does so is due to a lack of self-confidence. It's also deconstructed: her beauty, apparent aloofness, and popularity with her male admirers mean that most of her female classmates mistake her as some sort of seductress out to steal "their" men, which spurs some of them to bully her using almost every trick in the book. And depending on the approach the player takes, Kotonoha can either stay quiet and gentle... or she can become a Manipulative Bitch who uses her beauty to her advantage... or can snap in the most horrible ways... or even end up dead.
- Ava Crescentia from Sunrider is tall, has waist-length brown hair, and maintains a professional distance from the rest of the ship’s crew in her role as its executive officer. She’s also quite attractive, as the crew is surprised at how well she fills out a swimsuit.
- Karen Nikaido in Tokyo Chronos deconstructs the archetype; while initially introduced as a cool-headed, dark-haired beauty who rarely reacts to anything and treats the protagonist coldly, it's slowly revealed that this aloof nature has actually isolated her from a lot of her peers, and later even her friends, who feel like she must not like them since she acts so disinterested. It's also revealed that she isn't aloof at all, but a victim of an abusive upbringing that taught her that she was just a bother to people, hence never reaching out to them or showing her emotions too strongly.
- Azuma Hazuki in Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, for whom the term was created, with Yuri Fans checking to see if anyone else fits the pattern.
Web Animation
- RWBY: Blake Belladonna starts out as one, having the most Mysterious Past compared to the other members of Team RWBY, a standoffish demeanor, and being a Deadpan Snarker. She has since, however, dropped the "Aloof" part thanks to her teammates and friends (most notably Yang and Sun) helping her out of her shell.
Webcomics
- Eerie Cuties: Layla Delacroix is the most popular girl at Charybdis Heights, but is the Defrosting Ice Queen variety. She initially comes across as aloof and snarky, but her interactions with her best friend, Tiffany, reveals her softer side.
- Susan of El Goonish Shive is the tallest girl in the main cast, has dark blue hair (previously dyed, now permanent), and is generally aloof and composed.
- The Free Willies: Naomi is the tallest of the protagonists, has long dark hair, and is more aloof than her excitable peers. However, she is also rather sarcastic and close to her friends.
- Magick Chicks: Tandy is an expy of Rin Tohsaka, from her dark hair, to her long, flowing twin-tails] As both a member of the Artemis student council and captain of their Ninja Club, she's well-known and respected around campus. But she rarely says a word more than she has to unless she's with her best friend, "Gabby".
- When Javert got gender flipped for a short time in Roommates he became this archetype. Tall (the tallest cast member), graceful, with long dark hair and aloof (at times snarky) personality, who was the voice of reason and maturity in the madness. Also many, many fangirls thought it was a shame when the magic ended.
- Sandra on the Rocks: Zoé actually fits this trope very well, in both appearance (she's tall, fairly pale, and supermodel-grade beautiful) and manner (being aloof and controlled); she also has a few admirers, although she earns them by being very good at what she does. She comes at the trope from a slightly unusual direction, though, being Tall, Dark, and Snarky and not treating many other members of the cast as friends. The only problem is that her aloofness is prone to being compromised when she loses her temper with other, less sensible characters.
- Junko from Stalker x Stalker. Not on purpose, she's just so preoccupied with pining after Yukio that she often doesn't even notice when other boys are trying to flirt with her.
- Sun from Unfamiliar has dark hair, and is generally a Deadpan Snarker.
- Levana from Vampire Girl displayed this characteristic throughout the comic's first season, with two very specific examples being that she basically brushed off a little girl she was baby sitting because she was depressed over her favorite webcomic being discontinued, and by snapping at a random stranger who asked if she was okay as she walked down the street on a warm sunny day while wearing a beach hat, ski mask, sunglasses, scarf, and overcoat.
- Julia Chae from Weak Hero has long dark hair, dark eyes to match, and pale skin accentuated by makeup. She also has an aloof and disinterested personality. When Rowan first meets her, he's quickly smitten.
Web Video
- Adult Wednesday Addams: Wednesday rarely shows much in the way of emotion. Nothing seems to faze her, apart from a My Little Pony toy.
- Carmilla the Series: Carmilla, the dark-haired, broody, and pale useless Lesbian Vampire, adapted from a novella older than Dracula. Also something of a Defrosting Ice Queen towards Laura, her eventual girlfriend, who hosts the titular Vlog Series.
- The Katering Show: Kate McCartney is brunette and significantly more stone-faced and dry than her blond and bubbly co-host, Kate McLellan.
- Last Life: The incredibly attractive dark witch Sloane has shades of this. She can be pretty callous towards other people who stand in the way of her one goal: to reunite with and resume her relationship with Taylor, her soulmate through many lifetimes.
- Youth & Consequences: The main character Farrah (Anna Akana) is a popular and attractive brunette who often acts composed and aloof with her peers.
Western Animation
- Avatar franchise:
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Princess Azula, the imposing dark-haired princess of the Fire Nation.
- Azula's childhood friend Mai, who is tall, dark-haired, and emotionless most of the time.
- Asami Sato from The Legend of Korra. She's beautiful, raven-haired, and much calmer and more mature than the other members of the New Team Avatar. Also, she's bisexual, and ends up in a relationship with Korra.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Daria is dark-haired, aloof, and bases her personality on the dignity of being snarky and superior. According to her own self-image at least, she is much more mature than her peers (an easy claim to make at Lawndale High School) and that's why she has relatively few friends.
- Shego from Kim Possible. She's tall, has long black hair, and has a very imposing and aloof attitude.
- Miraculous Ladybug has two slightly downplayed cases as the girls in question have short hair.
- Kagami Tsurugi has been called an Ice Queen by both fans and canon characters. She firmly believes Second Place Is for Losers and has been shown to be cold and stoic to Marinette and others. The only one she’s really warmed up to is Adrien, and that’s only because he’s her love interest who is in the same social circles as her. However, in later seasons, it’s revealed that this attitude and lack of social intelligence is thanks to the immense pressure put on her by her cold, distant mother, and deep down, she is lonely and just wants to make friends.
- Marinette Dupain-Cheng's In-Universe Alternate Character Interpretation is this trope. As Ladybug, she's a very professional, serious, graceful, strategic, and goal-oriented heroine. By contrast, her partner is much more relaxed, flirtatious, and goofy. This is part of why she doesn't want anyone while still being a heroine. Justified since Ladybug is the only one able to purify the Akumas, hit the Reset Button afterward, and as of season four, the guardian of the Miracle Box. However, her civilian identity is the total opposite of this trope (clumsy, overly emotional, anxious, friendly). Also, Ladybug is still empathetic, sweet, and an All-Loving Hero.
- Ava aka White Tiger in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) tends to act a bit more professional than the rest of the team. This is because she needs to keep herself in control to prevent the Tiger amulet from taking her over and turning her feral.
