History Main / Heartwarmingorphan

* Flora from the ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games.

* The Eskimo boy Kunac in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero''.

* Kit Cloudkicker from ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' is not only an excellent little buddy, but also a great surrogate brother to Molly.

* Max from ''WesternAnimation/CapitolCritters'' who watched his family get gassed to death.

* Sunny, in the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series, who lives up to her name so much that even perennial grouch Solid Snake loves her.

Heartwarming orphans don't have to ''do'' anything to be heartwarming. It seems inherent to their orphaned state. They don't even have to appear on stage. Announce that an orphanage has been destroyed, and AMillionIsAStatistic does not come into play; obviously only a monster would do such a thing.

* Flora from the ''ProfessorLayton'' games.

* Lewis from ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons'' manages to win the hearts of the titular family, and gets invited to join them, within a few scant hours of meeting them by...having low self-esteem and wearing funny hats?

* Cheryl, of the original ''VideoGame/SilentHill'', is the HappilyAdopted and much-beloved daughter of DotingParent Harry Mason, who loves her more than anything... [[spoiler: ''both'' of the times she's his daughter.]]

* Broadway Example/[[SubvertedTrope subversion]]: Little Sally, from ''{{Urinetown}}: TheMusical'', is apparently an orphan. She appears with Officer Lockstock during the narration scenes as well. However, she never really makes anyone's lives more cheerful. She does [[spoiler:witness Bobby's death, and she exposes Cladwell as a murderer]], but she suffers the same fate as the rest of the cast.

* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]], along with many common RomanceNovelTropes, in Creator/PGWodehouse's GenreSavvy short story "Honeysuckle Cottage".

* PunkyBrewster makes cranky old Henry's life much more interesting.

* Subverted in the MechWarrior Dark Age novels where the resident Omnicidal Maniac "adopts" (read: found while strolling through a city that was recently razed by her instructions) a young girl. And she's changed! Now instead of wanting to just burn the known universe to the ground, she's going to burn the universe down for her!

* How about twelve Heartwarming Foster Girls? From ''{{Jem}}'', the Starlight Girls.

* In ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest', '[[spoiler: Michelle the badger becomes this after her parents are killed by the poison gas.]] And she's also a RidiculouslyCuteCritter to boot.

* Michelle, the badger from ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest''. And she's also a RidiculouslyCuteCritter to boot.

* Hayate Yagami of ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', who turned four cold-blooded warriors into four kind-hearted [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman people]] by being her cheerfully optimistic self. Though in a slight twist, they don't adopt her -- instead, [[WiseBeyondTheirYears she adopts them]].

* In ''{{Friends}}'', Phoebe is effectively an orphan after her mother kills herself; her father is still alive (as is her real mother - it's a long story), but he walked out on her before her mother's death. She'll use this to get whatever she wants, be it the last muffin or a date; her friends know she does this and will question her if she does it more than once a day.

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' has one of these, a cute little boy whose father is killed on-screen, who is taken in by Morgana and Merlin, has large blue eyes and a timid expression, and who is eventually smuggled out of Camelot by Arthur. Then it's {{subverted}} when it turns out the cute little orphan that they've been risking their lives to protect is [[spoiler:[[HeroKiller Mordred]]]]. Oops.

* Flute, in the Creator/DavidEddings' ''{{Elenium}}'' trilogy, is not ''really'' an example of this trope, but the band of knights who informally 'adopt' her think she is. [[spoiler:Bit of a shock when they find out she's actually the Child-Goddess Aphrael.]]

The exact opposite of the EvilOrphan. Contrast ConvenientlyAnOrphan. If they look and act like characters from a Dickens novel, that's a StreetUrchin.

* HeartwarmingOrphan protagonists have been a staple of the WorldMasterpieceTheater series, which adapted most of the classic examples listed under Literature into anime series.

* Jang Geum of Series/DaeJangGeum does something ingenious and heartwarming to save the day every second episode.

* ''BoyMeetsWorld'' had Tommy, a kid Eric befriends, though he eventually gets adopted by another family.

* Tohru Honda from ''FruitsBasket'': a bit different from the others as she was orphaned while in high school, but it doesn't change the fact that her warmth helped heal the hearts of [[BigScrewedUpFamily a]] [[DysfunctionJunction dysfunctional]] [[BigScrewedUpFamily family]].
* Hayate Yagami of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', who turned four cold-blooded warriors into four kind-hearted [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman people]] by being her cheerfully optimistic self. Though in a slight twist, they don't adopt her -- instead, [[WiseBeyondTheirYears she adopts them]].
* Lietchenstein from Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia is a bit like this, according to the published manga. Nothing is said about her original "family" and she's shown alone for quite a while, passing through lots of difficulties until Switzerland found her and took her in as his adoptive sister.

* Played with (with rather [[TearJerker tragic]] results) in ''PandoraHearts''. Phillip is a very sweet little orphan kid whom everyone from the viewers to Oz seems to adore. [[spoiler: Too bad he's contracted to Humpty Dumpty...]]
* Suigintou before her StartOfDarkness (in ''RozenMaiden'': Ouverture).

* ''CandyCandy''

* ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'': Rin was orphaned when bandits killed her family in front of her, leaving her mute and suffering nightmares. She lived as outcast in the village, being beaten whenever she was caught stealing food to survive. Then [[KarmaHoudini Kouga]] and his [[{{youkai}} demon-wolves]] kill the entire village, including her. Then she's [[DeathIsCheap saved]] by [[BigBrotherBully Sesshoumaru]] who was testing his HealingShiv to see if it worked. And then she follows him everywhere, regaining her zest for life, her ability to talk, while becoming his MoralityPet and melting hearts along the way: [[CharacterDevelopment starting with his]].