History Main / Heartwarmingorphan

* [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]]. Both [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce]] and Alfred have commented that he brought [[CheerfulChild joy]] and [[IncrediblyLamePun color]] back into their lives after he moved into Wayne Manor. Even as an adult, he's still [[TheHeart universally]] [[TheCharmer loved]] by everyone who meets him, and still the best at [[MoralityPet softening Batman's heart]].

* Irena in ''Film/TheWayBack'' becomes something of a MoralityPet for the others in the group (seven escapees from a Siberian [[TheGulag gulag]]). They all wind up [[PapaWolf papa wolves]] to her, but especially Mister Smith, [[spoiler:whose teenage son had been shot]] before he himself was sent to the gulag. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:she doesn't get a happy ending: she dies of heat stroke and dehydration while trying to cross the Gobi desert.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', we have the three girls Margo, Edith and Agnes being adopted by Gru.

* Creator/ShirleyTemple's parents often had a short life expectancy, allowing Shirley to play the Heartwarming Orphan and, usually, get adopted by new, ideal parents. Among the films in which Shirley played orphans are ''Film/BrightEyes'', ''Film/LittleMissMarker'', ''Film/Stowaway1936'', and ''[[Literature/ALittlePrincess The Little Princess]]'' (although in this one her presumed-dead father turns up alive).

* ''Fanfic/TheCaptainOfTheVirtualConsole'' has Ash the Pikachu. This allows her to join Gancena.

* Anne-Marie from ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'' though most of the main gangster dogs are too cold-hearted to be touched and actually find her irritating (including [[spoiler: Charlie and Itcy, at first)]] especially Carface.

* Anne-Marie from ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven''.

* Little Robin Starling is ''such'' a heartwarming orphan that ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'' abandons its lead characters and gives the movie over to her.

* Hasbro tried to invoke this trope in 1965 with [[https://toytales.ca/little-miss-no-name-hasbro-1965/ the Little Miss No-Name doll]], dressed in a burlap sack with a SingleTear on her cheek and waiting for a loving owner to take her home and give her the love she needed. Unfortunately, she looked more unintentionally terrifying than cute, and didn't sell well.

* Anne Shirley from ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' improves the lives of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert by being a vivacious handful.

* Creator/ShirleyTemple's parents often had a short life expectancy, allowing Shirley to play the Heartwarming Orphan and, usually, get adopted by new, ideal parents. Among the films in which Shirley played orphans are ''Film/BrightEyes'', ''Film/LittleMissMarker'', ''Film/{{Stowaway}}'', and ''[[Literature/ALittlePrincess The Little Princess]]'' (although in this one her presumed-dead father turns up alive).

** Leela is an adult woman but she is an orphan for all practical purposes; sadly, she doesn't seem to get much sympathy from it, and bringing it up may cause groans. She must have some of that mystique, though - she is the most beautiful and most accepted of her kind...

* 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.

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

* ''Manga/CandyCandy''

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''FanFic/TheCaptainOfTheVirtualConsole'' has Ash the Pikachu. This allows her to join Gancena.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' starts out as an orphan living in a closet under the stairs and ends up not only making Hermione's, Ron's and Hagrid's lives a little brighter, but also saving the world from [[BigBad You-Know-Who]], [[spoiler:who is himself a total inversion of this trope, as told in his backstory in ''Half-Blood Prince''. Though ironically, Tom Riddle is more classically this, being raised in his orphanage and going in a quest to discover his parents and all, his charm at Hogwarts even plays of this appeal of sympathy. It's just that a HeartwarmingOrphan can easily be TheSociopath]].

* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/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!

* Harry Hill's sketch show has the Poor Little Orphan Boy, who starts off cute, but ends up screaming demands for games consoles and the like.

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

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E04AbsoluteCandor Absolute Candor]]", Elnor is a Romulan orphan with a sunny disposition that's warm enough to [[DefrostingIceKing melt Jean-Luc Picard's heart]], who is normally awkward around children and dislikes displays of emotions (traits which Zani mentions aloud). Not only is the Admiral fond of the boy, but they even form an emotional connection like a father and son.

* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': Albert, James and Cassandra Ingalls, Jenny Wilder ... and (to an extent) Nancy Olesen.
* Series/PunkyBrewster makes cranky old Henry's life much more interesting.
* Little Timmy from ''Series/{{Lassie}}'' is an orphan who ends up adopted with the best dog in the world. [[spoiler: Subverted in ''The New Lassie'' TV series, which revealed that when his adoptive parents moved to Australia, they hadn't properly adopted him after all and ''left him behind''.)]]
* In ''Series/{{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.

* HarryHill's sketch show has the Poor Little Orphan Boy, who starts off cute but ends up screaming demands for games consoles and the like.
* Jang Geum of ''Series/DaeJangGeum'' does something ingenious and heartwarming to save the day every second episode.
* As with the Japanese drama version of ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'', ''Series/ShokojoSeira'' has Seira who lost her mother at a young age and her father to a mining incident. Yet, her [[{{Determinator}} determination]] to not let things get to her, even when she is mercilessly bullied and treated horribly by her previous classmates and the director of the school, is what shines the most.

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

* Dr. Lance Sweets from ''Series/{{Bones}}'', though older than most examples (22 in his first appearance), definitely counts.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Elnor is a Romulan orphan with a sunny disposition that's warm enough to [[DefrostingIceKing melt Jean-Luc Picard's heart]], who is normally awkward around children and dislikes displays of emotions (traits which Zani mentions aloud). Not only is the Admiral fond of the boy, but they even form an emotional connection like a father and son.

* [[Webcomic/TowerOfGod 25th Baam]] has never met his parents, the closest thing to a mother figure to him would be his only friend/surrogate-sister/frenemy/love-interest Rachel (it's complicated).

* Lewis from ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons'' manages to win the hearts of the titular family, and gets invited to join them, over the course of the adventure and the invention fair.

* Flynn's BackStory in ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', all the more effectively hinted at by his refusal to whine over it.

* Koda from ''Disney/BrotherBear''...especially after [[spoiler:Kenai kills Koda's mother.]]
* Lilo from ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' befriends a psychotic alien life form. And we're with her.

* Penny in ''Disney/TheRescuers'': a sweet little kidnapped orphan who needs the mice of the title to rescue her.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E20InnocentsOfRyloth , "Innocents of Ryloth"]]: Numa is a skittish little Twi'lek girl who is the only survivor from the Separatist attack on her town not to have been rounded up by the Separatists for use as a HumanSheild. She also tries to help the clone troopers and Obi-Wan at her own expense. ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' shows that she grew up to join the Rebellion against the Empire.

* Cat of the Canals, aka [[spoiler:Arya Stark]], from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is an aversion, or maybe a subversion. She ends up joining [[spoiler:an assassin's guild/death cult]] at the age of nine.
* Both subverted and played straight in Conn Iggulden's ''Literature/{{Emperor}}'' series. Marcus is effectively an orphan; his mother is alive, but she abandoned him in order to focus on her career as a prostitute. (Nice lady.) Marcus, however, is not the usual "heartwarming orphan"; his past affects his personality and gets in the way. Octavian also has a living mother but is an unruly street urchin until he is sent off to be raised by family. In his case, things turn out good, to say the least, seeing as he is adopted by [[spoiler:Julius Caesar, and later in life becomes the first emperor of Rome.]]

* Also by Louisa May Alcott are ''Literature/EightCousins'' and its sequel ''Rose in Bloom.'' Protagonist Rose Campbell, in the first, is orphaned and comes to brighten the life of her adoring guardian, lifelong bachelor Uncle Alec, as well as her seven male cousins and various other relations. In the second, adult Rose opens an orphanage called the Rose Garden, and personally adopts an orphaned toddler whom she names Dulcinea (after Literature/DonQuixote's lady).

* ''Series/TeenWolf'' has an adult example in the form of Derek Hale. Even ignoring his status as [[TallDarkAndSnarky Tall, Dark and Snarky]] [[MrFanservice Mr. Fanservice]], he gets ''a lot'' of sympathy from fans because his ex-girlfriend set his house on fire and his whole family, including his parents, died.

* Leela from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is an orphan for all practical purposes; sadly, she doesn't seem to get much sympathy from it, and bringing it up may cause groans. She must have some of that mystique, though - she is the most beautiful and most accepted of her kind...
** Also Tinny Tim, the small robot orphan who is seen now and then in Bender-related episodes.
* How about twelve Heartwarming Foster Girls? From ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'', the Starlight Girls.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]