11 Literary beards to inspire you this Movember
It's no-shave November again and who better to inspire you to grow some serious facial hair than some of your favourite literary characters! From Albus Dumbledore to Wolverine, which style would you like to emulate this month? Here's a list of 11 famous literary beards to help you decide:
The wizards, Albus Dumbledore and Gandalf from the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series respectively, have long flowy beards. Dumbledore’s is silver while Gandalf’s is grey initially and then pure white. The presence of the beards give both these characters a wise, grandfatherly aura. Long beards seem like a serious must-have for wizards -whether they reside in Middle Earth, Hogwarts or elsewhere. Being among the first few characters described in both the books, they look like the typical image of how a child would imagine a wizard. Tolkien and Rowling draw the reader’s attention to these special characteristics quite early in the stories.
In the Harry Potter books Hagrid is described as having wild, long tangles of bushy black hair and a beard that hides most of his face. Hagrid’s beard would probably be the biggest (not necessarily the longest) in the list and considering that he’s half giant, that’s not really surprising. Despite its wild look it still adds to Hagrid’s character of being a warm and fuzzy human being.
Thomson and Thompson from the Tintin comics both have a shoebrush style of moustache. If you look closely though, you’ll see that both these moustaches are slightly different. Thomson has one the curls up slightly at the edge while Thompson’s goes straight down. The moustaches are perfect additions to go along with their ‘bungling-fool’ personalities.
This strange little creature with the gigantic moustache was Dr. Seuss’s angry answer to environmental and economic issues. He was the “voice of the trees,” but it’s a wonder any sound got past his prodigious lip curtain.
Another famous beard from the Tintin comics is the one sported by Captain Haddock. Captain Haddock’s neatly trimmed beard perfectly complements his personality of being a ferocious navy man who remains perpetually angry and irritated most of the time.
Dr Fu Manchu is a fictional character featured in a series of novels by English author Sax Rohmer in the early part of the 20th century. The Fu Manchu style of moustache was inspired by this very character and has been the inspiration for the facial hair of countless villains that came after him.
Gimli from The Lord of the Rings is usually depicted as having a thick reddish-orange beard which is as fierce as his character. Since he is a dwarf by nature, his beard is a must have in Tolkien’s fictional world. In fact in the movie Gimli points out that dwarvish women are often mistaken for men, to which Aragorn jokingly says that it’s because of their beards.
Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot sports a moustache style that is almost as famous as his intelligence. In one of his books he says, ““It is an art,” he murmured, “the growing of the moustache! I have sympathy for all who attempt it”. The attention he pays to his neatly waxed moustache is in line with his character which is meticulous and precise.
Seneca Crane from the Hunger Games series probably tops this list with the most fashionable beard. As we’ve seen in the books and movies, the futuristic nation of Panem has fashion styles that we haven’t quite caught up with yet. This masterpiece of facial hair is one that we would not recommend attempting simply because of the complexity of the style. This would definitely count as a work of art.
The lovable characters, Asterix and Obelix both have moustaches that fit in perfectly with the time that they are living in. Asterix has a yellow-blond moustache while Obelix has a red moustache that seems to blend into his hair.
This list would not be complete with one of the most iconic beards on in history. Wolverine’s trademark beard is one that was made famous by Hugh Jackman in the X-Men series. His “mane” is one that adds to his fierce nature and makes his enemies fear just the look of him.