Beard of Barbarism/Playing With

Basic Trope: Uncivilized men have massive, awe-inspiring beards.
 * Straight: Wurg has a beard that is a hand long.
 * Exaggerated: Wurg's beard goes halfway down his chest. It is decorated with the fangs and claws of beasts he has slain.
 * Justified: Wurg lives at a time before blades sharp enough to shave with had been developed.
 * Inverted: Civilized men grow large, fanciful beards for fun while the barbarians are clean shaven.
 * Subverted:
 * Wurg has a massive, tangled beard, and is believed to be the Barbarian Hero that the court was looking for. But then, he turns out to be a Non-Action Guy.
 * The massive, tangled beard is some sort of wig. Wurg himself has no facial hair.
 * Double Subverted: While being a Non-Action Guy makes Wurg inept for the quest the King needs to be done, his barbaric mindset finds a way to reach the goal that the sophisticated nobles missed.
 * Parodied: Wurg decorates his epic waist length beard with the heads of his enemies, and uses it to store all his possessions.
 * Deconstructed: Wurg's beard is constantly pulled on by his enemies, and he looses several fights because of this disadvantage. And between tradition demanding he have a beard and the lack of decent razor blades and a mirror, it's not he could go clean shaven. Unable to slaughter hordes of enemies, the Sorcerous Overlord treats him as a joke.
 * Reconstructed:
 * But it still protects his face from the bitter cold. Wurg finds that if he puts the fangs and claws of beasts he has slain in his beard, anyone trying to grab it will get their hand torn up, and his beard is no longer a disadvantage. He goes on to slay his way to the top of a mountain of corpses with a hot naked chick clinging to his legs, and the Sorcerous Overlord develops an intense fear of bearded men.
 * An enemy grabs Wurg's beard to try to slow him down. Wurg grins, says "A lot of men have tried that before you," and instagibs him.
 * Zig Zagged: Wurg's beard is the stuff of legends, and people are struck with awe and fear of his barbarian strength. And the smell, causing enemies to gag and lose fight due the stench. The night before a chief's duel, Wurgs beard is shaved, removing his most formidable weapon! During the duel, Wurg kicks his rivals ass handily anyway, enjoying the new freedom of movement. Later he grows a new beard, heavier than the first, because he needs it to wipe his armpits.
 * Averted:
 * The cast is entirely female. Beard of Barbarism could be a tasteless joke, anyway.
 * Maybe on the dwarf, at least.
 * Enforced: "We need to make it clear to the audience that this man is extremely uncivilized. Let's give him a huge beard!"
 * Lampshaded:
 * "You never had a beard before taking that level as Barbarian, did you?"
 * "Thy puny beard shall not avail you, Southerner, for mine is thicker, fuller, and more Badass."
 * "Many of your ways are still strange to me... What is this 'shave' of which you speak? Is It Something You Eat?"
 * Invoked: The barbarians of the series are expies of real world barbarians known to have big beards.
 * Defied: The only barbarians about are Amazon Warriors.
 * Discussed: ???
 * Conversed: "That guy's got to be a barbarian. Just look at that beard!"

Back to Beard of Barbarism