Hair Colors

[mirahound]

I was stuck cleaning today, which means I had lots of time to think about the Stormlight Archive. I got to wondering, you know how Adolin has mixed hair because of his foreign blood, and because genetics are apparently different on Roshar? Well, what would happen if Adolin were to marry Shallan, who has red hair, and their children were to get all three hair colors? Would one hair color claim dominance then, or would they have mostly red hair, with streaks of black and blonde? Would enough intermarrying between cultures result in a child with rainbow colored hair?  How do these things even work?

[Arondell]

I believe that the hair would be a proportional mix of the parents.  Shallan does comment at one point that their children would have the strangest hair.

[natc]

You know, Adolin must look pretty fancy. Blonde and black.

I forget, is his hair just normal blonde, or Iriali gold?

[Unodus]

Wouldn't the hair just be a darker red? :V

[maxal]

Since Adolin has so little black, I think it likely none of his children would inherit it.... I have always thought their offspring would harbor hair color ranging from pure gold to pure red with a few kids in between: gold and red locks. Somehow, I do not think their kids would get the black or very little if they do... Dalinar has pure black hair, Shshshsh had presumably pure golden hair: Adolin has nearly pure golden hair with a few stray black hair. 

 

I do not see any of the Adolin/Shallan children having the pure Alethi look.

[Arondell]

Perhaps.  Shallan at least seemed to feel that there was a good chance that any possible future children they might have would have a mix of all three.  That and there were at least a couple statements in WoK that indicated that Alethi hair always breeds true in proportion so it seems a high probability that any children would have at least a noticeable number of black hairs mixed in with the red and blond.

 

 

That indicated foreign blood in her family’s past—Alethi hair always bred true, proportionate to how much Alethi blood you had. Foreign blood would mean stray hairs of another color.

Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive) (p. 752). Macmillan. Kindle Edition.

[maxal]

Perhaps.  Shallan at least seemed to feel that there was a good chance that any possible future children they might have would have a mix of all three.  That and there were at least a couple statements in WoK that indicated that Alethi hair always breeds true in proportion so it seems a high probability that any children would have at least a noticeable number of black hairs mixed in with the red and blond.

 

They breed true and yet both Adolin and Renarin have very difference amount of black into their hair... Adolin has very little black whereas Renarin has little gold. Brandon once commented on it and stated it was purely genetic: Adolin inherited more blond than Renarin.

 

I thus think it possible Adolin and Shallan to have non-black hair children as Adolin has so little... but I could be wrong. It would be a fun question to ask Brandon though.

[Numuhuku]

They breed true and yet both Adolin and Renarin have very difference amount of black into their hair... Adolin has very little black whereas Renarin has little gold. Brandon once commented on it and stated it was purely genetic: Adolin inherited more blond than Renarin.

 

I thus think it possible Adolin and Shallan to have non-black hair children as Adolin has so little... but I could be wrong. It would be a fun question to ask Brandon though.

Renarin having little black hair to me suggests there's just a smaller chance of him passing on black hair to any children he had. Not that it'd be impossible. It just means that it'd be very unlikely for there to be *much* black hair in any of his children.

[maxal]

Renarin having little black hair to me suggests there's just a smaller chance of him passing on black hair to any children he had. Not that it'd be impossible. It just means that it'd be very unlikely for there to be *much* black hair in any of his children.

 

Adolin. You meant Adolin, not Renarin. Renarin's hair are mostly black. I also doubt Adolin's children, unless he marries a pure blooded Alethi woman, would have much black into their hair. It seems likely they would have none.

[WindrunnerRadiant]

You could view this much like genetics; the kids could inherit (what seems to be) Adolin's recessive trait of black hair and end up with the same amount of black in otherwise red hair. For instance, Dalinar with all black hair would have Bb, and Shshshsh would have Gg. Adolin ended up with Gb and Renarin with Bg. (Not quite how gentics work our world, but this is Roshar, its different.) His kids (with Shallan, if that were to happen) could (possibly) then end up with Rb (Red with a little black) or Gr (Gold with a little red), as they would have to have on from each parent. Again, this is supposing a lot about the genetics, but its just a theory.

[Numuhuku]

Are any genes for hair recessive on Roshar? The impression I got was that if you inherited any hair genes from one of your parents, it showed up as a phenotype in some way.

[maxal]

Are any genes for hair recessive on Roshar? The impression I got was that if you inherited any hair genes from one of your parents, it showed up as a phenotype in some way.

 

Well blonde is most likely recessive... Do not forget it is stated in book the lighteyes are heavily mixed blood and the "pure Alethi look" is mostly found among the darkeyes. Lighteyes have been interbreeding with foreigners for generations in order to keep their light eyes. It could be there was some blond somewhere up the line in Dalinar's ancestry and he passed it down to his son without having any himself. It could be the combination of a buried recessive gene and a golden haired mother yielded Adolin.

 

Or not at all. The same way a black/white union may yield a totally white child or a totally black child, even if something in between is more often seen. I have read this story about twins: one was white with blond hair and blue eyes and the other one was black... Turns out on the parents was black, the other white, but nobody had light hair and light eyes... It came from faraway up the line...

 

In any advent, there is enough people commenting on Adolin for us to guess he is a rather rare case.

[DreamEternal]

Or not at all. The same way a black/white union may yield a totally white child or a totally black child

This... makes no sense. I think you mean light brown and dark brown.

[maxal]

This... makes no sense. I think you mean light brown and dark brown.

 

In most cases, yes, the resulting child is light brown, but it fluctuates greatly. For instance, I happen to know a few of such unions. In one case, the father is very dark and the mother is very white. Their three children have different skin tones: going from slightly tan to medium brown. None of the kids are as white as the mother nor as dark as the father. None of the children have dark brown hair as black people do: both have very curly hair, but of a lighter tone. Another one also has a very dark father and a blonde haired very white mother: some of the kids look nearly white in terms of skin hues, but it is not the same "white" as "British white". It's very pale but made with a different pallet as "British white" has a lot of red in it whereas this is kind of white with brown hue in. How you classify this in terms of skin tone is rather hard. However, the black heritage from the child is seen through his other features, mostly notably the hair.

 

But the resulting child can also be white. I am not kidding, though there was some weird genetic thing happening in that specific case, but the parents, a black mother and a white father, indeed had a purely white child with golden hair and blue eyes. Quite unexpected, quite unusual, but it did happen. However I would note that white child did not resemble any of the parent as the white father was not blond with blue eyes... so yeah quite unexpected.

 

Therefore, in the case of Adolin and Renarin, they have a foreign mother which means neither probably harbor the "pure Alethi" look. I have rarely seen mixed blood children solely embrace only one of their parents ethnicity: usually there is mix and the end result is not always clear. Adolin is certainly never described as physically resembling his father in any way and the lack of physical description for Renarin makes the exercise difficult. Though based on what we know, genetics spoke in the way Adolin resembles more his mother while Renarin probably resembles more Dalinar, but this is still to be confirmed, but both probably take traits from both of their parents.

[nightwatcher]

I'm more curious to know what would happen if Hoid had kids. With Jasnah.

 

By Telenel'elat... That's a terrifying thought. They'd be zebra-headed monstrosities wrapped in the skins of men. 

[mirahound]

I'm more curious to know what would happen if Hoid had kids. With Jasnah.

 

By Telenel'elat... That's a terrifying thought. They'd be zebra-headed monstrosities wrapped in the skins of men. 

Yay, I'm not the only one that (mildly) ships Wit and Jasnah!