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It's no secret: romance readers love a scarred hero. Just type the phrase into Google and you're presented with dozens of recommended reading lists, all featured physically scarred heroes.
But why do readers love this trope? What has them searching these books out? And is there anything beyond "has a scar" that they expect from a scarred hero? Read on to find out.
The appeal of the scarred romance hero
In most romance novels, "scarred" is a stand-in for "mysterious." Main characters, and readers, can't help but be curious about the reasons behind a physical scar, and often, the reasons are painful, traumatic, and only shared with the hero-with-a-scar's love interest/s when he truly feels safe and comfortable with them—when he's fallen in love, or at least, he's starting to.
This build-up makes for delicious, page-turning tension, and often that's what readers are looking for from a scarred hero romance novel. A story that motivates them to keep turning the pages, even past lunch hours and bedtimes and all reasonable reading hours (if you subscribe to such an outdated concept)
The scarred hero's difficult past also creates a more emotional story, because to get his HEA, he has to battle serious, deep-seated internal conflicts and, often, trauma, along the way.
The requirements for a scarred romance hero
Beyond "has a physical scar," readers expect scarred heroes to be aloof and closed off, until, as I mentioned above, they feel comfortable enough opening up to their love interest/s. And even that, the process of opening up might take multiple chapters and scenes, because these heroes usually haven't shared their trauma with anyone else. Their pasts have made them feel separate from friends and peer groups, leading to isolation.
An isolation they're often breaking for the first time for their love interest, and even then, they're often reluctant to do so.
Other tropes to combine with the scarred hero romance trope
Scarred heroes also make for good grumpy heroes. The world hasn't treated them well, after all, so it makes sense that they've long ago stopped looking at things as glass-half-full. And their penchant for isolation means that scarred heroes are probably more likely than most to flock to the hills and become mountain men. And all that isolation and trauma usually means scarred heroes are reluctant or afraid to commit to the emotional requirements of a relationship.
This fear of commitment might also lead scarred heroes to exorcise their attraction to love interests through banging it out, hoping all those pesky feelings will somehow disappear after a few orgasms (which they never do, which is what makes this trope so satisfying. It seems like an easy solution, but it just ends up making things way more complicated–and interesting).
Forcing a scarred hero to confront his trauma and talk about his feelings is also a classic way to write the trope; it's sometimes one of the only ways to get the character to open up, even if he does trust his love interest. And there are few better ways to force an emotional outpouring than sticking a hero and his love interest in a snowstorm, a tavern, a single bed, or deserted island, where neither of them can escape their feelings or each other.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest pairing the scarred romance hero trope with the wounded warrior trope; both focus on characters struggling with trauma, though the wounded warrior trope can feature not only mental and physical scars, but limb differences and disabilities, too.
Sub-genres where scarred romance heroes most often appear Scarred heroes appear in every sub-genre of romance, though you're especially likely to find them in historical romance and romantic suspense (especially if one of the main characters is a bodyguard with a military background).
Looking for inspiration for your next scarred hero romance novel? Two of my favorites are Judith Duncan's The Renegade and the Heiress and The Off Guard series by Katie Allen.
Until next blog post, happy reading and writing!