History Main / NoSocialSkills

* In ''{{Misfile}}'' Ash tends to blame her failure to grasp even basic social dynamics on having been [[GenderBender turned into a girl]], but really that doesn't even begin to cover it. And of course there is Rumisiel and Vashiel, but of course [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels are different]].

An extreme form of FishOutOfWater, milder cases may result in StrangeGirl, CloudCuckooLander or InnocentFanserviceGirl.

* Most of the humour in TheBigBangTheory is about how utterly inept the four main characters are at functioning outside their own nerdy society. Leonard is probably most well adjusted but still has serial foot-in-mouth tendencies, Sheldon shows some autistic tendencies and is also a {{Jerkass}}, Raj cannot speak around attractive women while drunk, and [[TheLeisureSuitLarry Woolowitz is best left unsaid]].

Someone with no social skills is not necessarily ''stupid'' -- just unfamiliar with how human beings act around each other. Consequently, they will tend to be blunt, straightforward and [[BrutalHonesty Brutally Honest]]. They will expect everyone else to be totally honest, too. From a writing point of view a character with no socials skills is a great asset: they can say things that everybody else is thinking but would not dare say out loud.

For some reason, the character is mostly ignorant of and often confused by common social conventions and behaviors. He usually grasps enough to minimally function around other people most of the time, but any circumstances outside of his limited experience fluster, puzzle or (at worst) upset or enrage them. Someone with no social skills is not necessarily ''stupid'' -- just unfamiliar with how human beings act around each other. Consequently, they will tend to be blunt, straightforward and [[BrutalHonesty Brutally Honest]]. They will expect everyone else to be totally honest, too.

One background that can lead to this trope is to be RaisedByWolves -- growing up with animal parents. Alternatively, they may have had an isolated or abused childhood or SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining. Or both. They may be bamboozled by the opposite sex and ask WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove?

%% Note, while a bad childhood often leads to having No Social Skills later on,
%% this trope is not just for bad childhoods.

* ''GGundam'''s Domon Kasshu spent the latter half of his twenty-year life being raised in the woods by ludicrously {{Badass}} but eccentric [[OldMaster Master Asia]]. As such he's good at being passionately HotBlooded, ''really'' good at beating things up and...well, [[IdiotHero not much else]].

* ''{{Gundam 00}}'' - Setsuna F. Seiei might've been better off being RaisedByWolves. Raised in a poor Kurdish household when he was a child, he was then mentally conditioned to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill his parents]] by his new [[CompleteMonster "mentor"]] to prove his loyalty to God, right before leading him to become a child soldier before he is saved [[spoiler:by the man who would eventually become his greatest enemy, and the largest threat to humanity]].

* In ''{{Tales of the Abyss}}'', the God General Arietta, a.k.a. "Arietta the Wild," was raised by ligers. Her grudge against Luke and party begins after they kill her mother, the Liger Queen, in the Cheagle Woods.
* Arcueid Brunestad, the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] princess in ''{{Tsukihime}}'', was created as a living weapon. Despite living for centuries, adding the times she's been awake together only goes about a year or so; and she tended to erase her memories when going back to sleep. While she does get some cultural information via psychic osmosis, her social interaction is....different.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Homsar of ''HomestarRunner'' claims that he's "the son of a chipwich" and "raised by a cup of coffee". He's also the resident CloudcuckooLander. So either those claims are just more examples of him spouting nonsense, or they're completely true, which would explain a ''lot''.
[[/folder]]

* In ''{{Pandect}}'', almost all the Ace characters from wild animal species are like this at first. Humorously, an Ace of Huskies was literally raised by wolves in the person of his Wolf Ace foster father.

* Karcharoth of ''CryHavoc'' was [[ChildSoldier conscripted at the age of six]], and raised by soldiers, making him one of the best mercenaries in the world.

* The eponymous ''DawnOfTime'' is a possible example, since (as it turns out) her behavior is far more primitive than other humans in her time period. One strip implies that she was raised by a Neanderthal.

->''"You guys are apparently very proper people. [[ThisLoserIsYou Except you. You]] were apparently raised by mechanical wolves at Disneyland."''
--> Dingoes Ate My Plotline, ''All Friends and Kingdom Come''.

* Naruto, from ''{{Naruto}}''. He initially didn't understand sex: he thought a pregnant woman just suddenly got fat. He likes to shout and insult people who can blast him away without him as much as feeling it. He can't get obvious behaviour signals such as, Sakura punching him; to Naruto, this means she's worth trying to romance. He didn't understand why Hinata was stalking him and [[spoiler: recently declaring her love and willingness to die for him when fighting against Pein]]. For him it means "she's just weird". Which is odd, as he lived two years with a Porn Writer and [[spoiler: wrote one of said porns]].
** When attempting to be sociable, Sai usually winds up insulting someone. He eventually learns his lesson; people seem to like it when you tell them the ''opposite'' of what you think of them.

* Luke Smith from ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' is at a loss about basic social life. Thankfully he becomes less so as time goes on, rather than remaining in a Status Quo. After all, he's being raised in a "normal" high school environment and is a quick learner due to both his age and his genes.\\

* Walter Bishop in ''{{Fringe}}'' who's been in a mental institution completely isolated from the world for the past seventeen years.

* ''{{Persona}} series.

** In ''{{Tales of the Abyss}}'', the God General Arietta, a.k.a. "Arietta the Wild," was raised by ligers. Her grudge against Luke and party begins after they kill her mother, the Liger Queen, in the Cheagle Woods.

* Morrigan of ''DragonAge: Origins'' was raised alone in a swamp by her mother Flemeth the Witch of the Wilds. Flemeth taught her two things: 1) Shapeshifting, and 2) that she could trust nobody except herself [[spoiler:in order to make it easier for Flemeth to [[GrandTheftMe steal Morrigan's body]]]]. Small wonder Morrigan isn't very good with people (to put it lightly).
** She's not the only one though. Alistair jokes that he was raised by the Mabari Hounds in the kennels of Redcliffe castle. Considering he actually spent a good portion of his early years in the repressive Chantry while enduring Templar training (which he deeply resented for various reasons), maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.
** Finally, Zevran was the SonOfAWhore, raised in a whorehouse, and sold into slavery to an Assassin syndicate. Again, he would have been better off with wolves.
* Chauncey, the protagonist of the obscure sim game ''The Horde'', was raised by cows.
* [[spoiler:[[PokemonBlackAndWhite N]], the leader of Team Plasma]] was raised by Pokemon because [[spoiler:his father, Geetis, deliberately neglected him to condition N into a man that would hate humans.]]

* [[spoiler:[[PokemonBlackAndWhite N]], the leader of Team Plasma]] was raised by pokemon because [[spoiler:his father, Geetis, deliberately neglected him to condition N into a man that would hate humans.]]

* Sai, from ''{{Naruto}}''. He initially didn't understand sex: he thought a pregnant woman just suddenly got fat. He likes to shout and insult people who can blast him away without him as much as feeling it. He can't get obvious behaviour signals such as, Sakura punching him; to Naruto, this means she's worth trying to romance. He didn't understand why Hinata was stalking him and [[spoiler: recently declaring her love and willingness to die for him when fighting against Pein]]. For him it means "she's just weird". Which is odd, as he lived two years with a Porn Writer and [[spoiler: wrote one of said porns]].\\
\\
When attempting to be sociable, Sai usually winds up insulting someone. He eventually learns his lesson; people seem to like it when you tell them the ''opposite'' of what you think of them.

* Ike from ''FireEmblem: Path of Radiance'' fits this trope. He's a common mercenary raised by his father Greil to be honest and treat others equally, which is all very good until he arrives at Begnion with its divided classes and strict customs. He ultimately ends up yelling at their beloved apostle before the entire senate without even knowing the gravity of his actions. Fortunately his RaisedByWolves nature makes him one of the few beorc to gain the laguz's trust.
** To a degree, also Lyndis aka Lyn from the ''Blazing Sword'' games. Being the daughter of a Lorca chieftain and a Lycian princess, she found herself at quite the loss after meeting her Lycian grandfather and staying with him in court. more information is in her supports with Eliwood.
her, and knocking out whoever appears to be a "bad guy", with no regard for legality.

* ''{{Persona 3}}'': It's never exactly clear ''how'' Elizabeth was raised, but she has no idea how the world outside the Velvet Room functions when you take her out on dates in ''FES''. Among other things, she thinks you're supposed to ''kill'' the people on a WantedPoster, believes a manhole is a pitfall trap, and gets trapped inside a jungle gym when she tries to play on it.

* [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/182926 Claticus Claveman]] was raised by cauliflower.

* Antimony from ''GunnerkriggCourt'' spent her childhood, up to about age 11, wandering Good Hope Hospital while her mother was bedridden. Her only company was her parents [[spoiler:and [[TheGrimReaper various incarnations of Death]]]]. As a result, upon beginning school at the Court, Annie has more difficulty engaging in normal small-talk with students her own age than she does dealing with mythological beasts and other weirdness.
** Likewise, Red is ignorant of haircuts and words like "chair" and "room", due to being a [[FairyTaleMotifs fairy]] for most of her life. However, it's implied that she would be able to fit in had she paid better attention during her "So You're a Human Now" orientation classes.
** And then there's Zimmy, who was forced to raise herself in the back alleys of Birmingham, due to the immense psychological trauma her uncontrolled powers can inflict on the people around her.

* Mentioned by a charm school teacher in ''{{Kevin and Kell}}''. Kell naturally asked 'What's WRONG with being raised by wolves?'

* Sai, from ''{{Naruto}}''. He initially didn't understand sex: he thought a pregnant woman just suddenly got fat. He likes to shout and insult people who can blast him away without him as much as feeling it. He can't get obvious behaviour signals such as, Sakura punching him; to Naruto, this means she's worth trying to romance. He didn't understand why Hinata was stalking him and [[spoiler: recently declaring her love and willingness to die for him when fighting against Pein]]. For him it means "she's just weird". Which is odd, as he lived two years with a Porn Writer and [[spoiler: wrote one of said porns]].

* ''VinlandSaga'' Thorfinn, having spent most of his formative years in a Viking band, has grown up to be a violent, apathetic, antisocial JerkAss who can't even have a civil conversation with the man who knew him from before his time growing up amongst the 'wolves'.

* The original version of the [[MarvelComics Jessica Drew Spider-Woman]] had her raised among the [[MadScientist High Evolutionary's]] menagerie of PettingZooPeople and [[BeastMan Beast Men]] -- meaning that she had no idea how to interact with normal humans when she finally entered the outside world, and tended to creep out everyone she met. The recent RetCon version of her origin [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks eliminates this, though.]]

* A lighter toned example would be Buzz Lightyear from ''ToyStory'', who had no concept of the reality he was introduced to. This was so popular that a new Buzz Lightyear doll was introduced in the sequel to highlight the growth of the original while still keeping the NoSocialSkills humor.

* ''{{Tarzan}}'', who was actually raised by apes. He got over it and became quite successfully socialized (in EdgarRiceBurroughs's books, if not in the movies). It helps that the "apes" in question were a fictional missing-link species that had a spoken language, and that he found his human parents' house at the age of ten and ''taught himself to read'' over a few years.
* Poledra from DavidEddings' ''{{Belgariad}}'' and prequels was raised by wolves too, since she really ''is'' a wolf who [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifted]] into a human out of love for Belgarath.
* The titular character of RobertAHeinlein's ''{{Stranger in a Strange Land}}'': Valentine Michael Smith, who as a baby was the only survivor of the first crewed mission to Mars, and was subsequently [[NoSocialSkills raised by Martians]] (who are StarfishAliens).

* Big Alice from Staanley Kiesel's young adult novel ''The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids'' was raised by hyenas. Her parents were psychologists, and when they found her again, [[ParentalAbandonment they abandoned her]] to the hyenas again after an aborted attempt at rehabilitating her.
* Mowgli from RudyardKipling's ''{{The Jungle Book}}s''. After trying out human civilization for a while, Mowgli returned to the pack that raised him (only to go back to humanity eventually).
* In Jane Lindskold's ''{{Firekeeper}}'' novels, the titular character was literally raised by wolves, albeit intelligent ones. A rather unusual example in that she isn't naive at all in many matters; her adjustment problems are mostly shown by the facts that she never manages to fully master elementary grammar, writing, or table manners. Or hierarchies based on blood.
* Daine Sarrasri, from TamoraPierce's ''[[TortallUniverse The Immortals]]'', wasn't ''quite'' raised by wolves, but after her mother and grandfather died, she went crazy and spent several weeks running with a pack of wolves that lived near her village, eventually killing the raiders that killed her mother and grandfather. She returns to her senses later and re-adopts her human identity.
** It is perhaps important to note that she talks to animals and, though she was technically raised by her human mother and grandfather, considers her pony Cloud and the aforementioned wolf pack to be family, just as much as her mother (though with a much different view on their mortality, what with having shorter lifespans and all).
* Dondi Snayheever from TimPowers' ''Last Call'' was walled up inside a giant Skinner box by his father for virtually his entire childhood, surrounded by oversized paintings of playing cards and books about poker. His father was trying to condition his child to be the ultimate poker player, but lack of human contact left Dondi unable to judge other players' intentions, not to mention socially incompetent.

* In ''Morality For Beautiful Girls'', by Alexander [=McCall=] Smith, a boy is found in the desert who cannot talk. He is sent to the orphan farm run by a friend of the protagonist, who asks her to investigate. Based on the fact that the boy acts more like an animal and hasn't grasped the concept of language, plus the fact that he smelt of lion when he was found, they conclude that he was raised by lions, but they decide to keep him at the farm because he has shown progress in learning how to talk.
* 'Cita, a character in the second {{Petaybee}} book, was raised by members of a cult and, for months after being freed, refers to herself as "Goat-dung".

* Inverted in ''WatershipDown'', where those rabbits who were Raised By Humans tend to behave abnormally. The hutch rabbits, who'd never had any choices to make, are virtually incapable of reaching a decision, while Woundwort (orphaned and hand-reared by a schoolteacher) grew up to be a hyperaggressive tyrant who never knew when to be afraid.

* Reverend Tom Hauptmann from Spider Robinson's ''[[{{ptitlebga5e439}} Callahan's Bar]]'' series. Introduced in the short story "The Time Traveler" (published circa 1972), Hauptmann had spent more than a decade in a Central American prison; the decade in question was the 1960s, and upon his rescue/release, he was completely unprepared for the complete and bewildering sea-change the United States had undergone in that time.

** Dwight's cousin Mose is even worse.
** On the U.K. Office, David Brent isn't quite as bad as Michael Scott. Gareth Keenan is almost as bad as Dwight, though more militant than rural.

[[folder:Mythology and Legend]]
* There is an American legend about Pecos Bill, a cowboy who was raised by coyotes after he fell off a covered wagon as a baby.
* then there's that little village in Italy founded by a pair of chaps raised by a she-wolf. Romulus and Remus were there names. Sorry, I can't recall the little hamlet they founded.
[[/folder]]

* In ''[[WerewolfTheApocalypse Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'', one breed of [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Garou werewolves]], the lupus-born, were actually wolves who could take human form, with all the foreseeable consequences when they tried to blend into human society. Oddly enough, it was usually assumed that after their first transformation most of them could automatically speak whatever language was prevalent in the country were born in, just as human-born [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] instinctively knew wolf language, but they couldn't necessarily speak it well.
** It's a lot of fun to tell a ''Werewolf'' NPC that the Lupus was raised by wolves when he shows a distinct indifference to conventional standards of politeness. Or hygiene.
** The degrees to which Lupus Garou assimilated human customs and language varied with the individual. Red Talons, a human-hating all-Lupus tribe, were generally the least knowledgeable about humans and preferred to stay that way. The other tribes all include both Lupus and Homid Garou.
* In a certain ''{{Paranoia}}'' adventure, the characters have to stand in as actors for a reality show, but since most Alpha Complex citizens have as much of an interesting personality as a dry toast (and less than a Happy Fun Meal), they get additional backgrounds they have to roleplay. One of the available ones is the wolfboy, who was raised by a vicious radioactive wolf until he was rescued by Alpha Complex forces. This role is somewhat difficult because with everyone living underground, noone has any idea what a wolf might be...
** Wolve. A vicious radioactive wolve. And no, that is not a misprint.
** Actually, you can consider ''each and every citizen of Alpha Complex'' to be figuratively Raised By Wolves, at least in comparison to what we'd consider normal, sane society. For a start, sexual reproduction has been abolished, each citizen is part of a six clone "family" of identical members, bred in clone tanks, assigned at birth to one of the color-coded Security Clearance castes, and raised by robots and their [[strike:malevolent and insane]] benevolent and omniscient Friend Computer. While there was some indication that at least clone #1 grows up from childhood and receives [[strike:indoctrination]] schooling, all the following clones are "born" as adults and imprinted with the previous clone's memories up to the point of his (usually violent, unfortunate and hilarious) demise. Not to mention that Alpha Complex is underground, a nuclear holocaust wiped out most of humanity and their records centuries ago, history (such as there is) is constantly being rewritten by The Computer, just as the rules governing life in the Alpha Complex may chance suddenly and without warning, and a common punishment for failure to act accordingly, perform your duties and be happy is execution. Or being made to volunteer for pharma research, or military target practice. Have a nice daycycle, citizen.
* Several of the Primarchs in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Leman Russ was ''literally'' raised by wolves (of the [[BigBadassWolf tank-sized variety]]), Lion El'Jonson grew up alone on a DeathWorld, Angron was raised in slave fighting pits, Mortarion's "father" figure was an alien necromancer warlord...

* Victor von Gerdenheim, of the ''{{Darkstalkers}}'' series of fighting games, is a FrankensteinsMonster who was barely raised ''at all'' before the Doctor's untimely death. Victor is so unacquainted with the very concept of death that he takes his "father"'s unmoving silence to be disappointment, and is extremely perplexed at his "sister" Emily's refusal to wake up.
** In the comics, Victor and Emily both mistake the Professor's lack of movement and silence as sleeping, then after a few months feel it must be sickness.

* Gau of ''FinalFantasyVI'' wasn't so much raised by wolves as he was forced to raise himself in the wilderness. Later in the game, you meet who you suspect to be his birth father: he's rather insane.
** The irony is, of course, that while Gau's father is insane, dumb, and rude, Sir Gau himself is very friendly, polite (if excitable), extremely clever, and loyal to a fault.

* In ''{{Legend of Legaia}}'', one of the three player characters was Noa, a girl who was literally raised by a wolf -- albeit an intelligent, talking one. This leads to some occasional embarrassments, such as her inviting a man to take a bath with her, and knocking out whoever appears to be a "bad guy", with no regard for legality.
* Ashei, a secondary character in ''{{The Legend of Zelda}}: TwilightPrincess'' was raised by her soldier father as a son in the high, mountainous outskirts of Hyrule, and so, when Link meets her, her manner of speaking is blunt and almost rude (and she only ''approaches'' being apologetic for it.) Interestingly, she tends to end her sentences with "Yeah?" much like the Yeti themselves of Snowpeak - although she owns a Yeti pelt and wears it when appropriate. (Maybe the Yeti shed their skins, or have no taboo about skinning those who die of natural causes?)
** Not quite Raised By Wolves, as she actually has social skills (not a lot, barely social, but they are there), she's just cold and blunt.
* In ''MassEffect'', the rachni are a sentient and relatively civilized (civilizable, at least) race. But if kept away from their mother during the development, they grow into nothing but murderous beasts.
* At one point in ''NeverwinterNights2'', Duncan comments to the PC that the latter's foster father Daeghun is so inept at dealing with such things as "people" and "emotions" that the PC might have been better off if he/she had been raised by wolves. In this case the trope may or may not apply to the PC, who adhere to it depending on background choices such as "WildChild" or subvert it with other, more socially adept ones that the player can choose during character creation, but without a doubt applies to Daeghun.

* Possibly the ultimate example is MrBean who lacks a knowledge of social conventions, never demonstrates normal human thought processes, and even occasionally shows a lack of natural fear (shushing people whilst he's on a roller-coaster). Sure, it's not shown who raised him, but how do you want to explain it?
* The eponymous protagonist of ''KyleXY''. He wasn't actually raised by animals, but in the first episode, he awakes naked in the middle of the woods, with no memories or social skills.
* Anya from ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' was very much one of these characters, for good reason: she was a 1,000-year-old demon trying to learn how to be a passable human. At least, at first it was that simple; later on it was revealed that she was born human (1,000 years ago in Sjornjost), and still later it was shown that she'd ''always'' talked and acted like an eccentric even in her original human life. Making her a combination of Raised By Wolves and PDDNotOvertlySo.

* Temperance Brennan in ''{{Bones}}''. A loner and a workaholic, she's completely ignorant of pop culture and responds to most movie and television references with "I don't know what that means." Her grasp on social niceties is also tenuous, but she sets herself apart from most TV characters by being willing and able to learn how to deal with people. Her coworker Zack Addy is another one with NoSocialSkills, a textbook loner nerd who understands that social politics are ''occurring'', but can't figure out what to do with this information.
** Although, in the {{Pilot}} episode, Zack acted more like a very smart but slightly awkward young guy, and even made sarcastic jokes and used slang.
** In Zack's case, he exhibits pretty much textbook Asperger's Syndrome; which made [[spoiler:the revelation that he was Gormagon's apprentice an even bigger {{Wallbanger}}, since it was completely and totally out of character]]. In Brennan's case, she seems to be a combination of a milder degree of Asperger's, combined with an IvoryTower detachment from reality.
* Similarly, Ziva David in ''{{NCIS}}'' was born in Israel and raised by Mossad. On the one hand she's easily the most lethal member of the team -- Gibbs once had to ensure that she knew to slash someone's tires and not their ''throats'' -- on the other she's often ridiculed (mainly by the moviephile [=DiNozzo=]) for her unfamiliarity with pop culture references and idioms: she once wanted to take a quick "bat nap" and referred to a rare mistake as "once in a blue lagoon".
** It's hinted in one of the later seasons that she actually is learning these idioms, but keeps it up anyway so people underestimate her.
** Director David, her father, certainly qualifies as a wolf.
* In ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Data's android "daughter" Lal. She was well-versed in "book learning", but not in social interaction. When she saw a couple kissing in Ten Forward, she exclaimed "That man is biting that female!" Data had NoSocialSkills himself, during the early series.
** Another episode ("Suddenly Human") featured a human boy raised by aliens with a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy violent culture]] who couldn't fit in with human society.
** Inverted by Worf, who struggled to fit into Klingon culture after being raised by humans.
*** Similarly, the changelings of ''DeepSpaceNine'' would consider Odo "raised by wolves." He's a member of a liquid race who was raised by solids (Bajorans, specifically) with no contact with his native culture.
* Along those lines, Seven of Nine from ''StarTrekVoyager'' ''definitely'' had NoSocialSkills, as she was assimilated by the Borg when she was eight. Many a situation of HilarityEnsues (and sometimes actually hilarious -- remember her telling Ensign Kim to take off his clothes, because she was going to have sex with him... and for him not to be afraid, because she wouldn't hurt him?) occurred due to this.
* Luke Smith from ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' is not raised by wolves as much as he is grown by aliens. He's human but he was created to be a "Human Archetype" by aliens so that they could do tests on him, he is freed and later adopted by Sarah Jane. He has the absorbed intelligence of the thousands of people who were sampled to create him, and has a ''PhotographicMemory''... but is at a loss about basic social life. Thankfully he becomes less so as time goes on, rather than remaining in a Status Quo. After all, he's being raised in a "normal" high school environment and is a quick learner due to both his age and his genes.
* ''{{Lucan}}'' of the TV series of the same name, was literally raised by wolves. His name is a double entendre referring to his wolf family and to the difficulty he had learning English despite being a fast learner. "Lucan" is a mispronunciation of the words "You can."
* Charlie Crews in ''{{Life}}'', having spent the last 12 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. The most common is his unfamiliarity with the things like cell phones and instant messaging.
** A similar, but much earlier, example would be the Reverend Tom Hauptmann from Spider Robinson's ''[[{{ptitlebga5e439}} Callahan's Bar]]'' series. Introduced in the short story "The Time Traveler" (published circa 1972), Hauptmann had spent more than a decade in a Central American prison; the decade in question was the 1960s, and upon his rescue/release, he was completely unprepared for the complete and bewildering sea-change the United States had undergone in that time.
* Also applies to Walter Bishop in ''{{Fringe}}'' who's been in a mental institution completely isolated from the world for the past 17 years. (Though it is often suggested that he's been unstable long before that.)
* Cameron from ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'', since she's a robot.

* Castiel from ''{{Supernatural}}'' is an angel who hasn't spent a lot of time down on earth, so he tends to lack basic knowledge of human etiquette, as well as failing to grasp the concept of sarcasm, rhetorical questions, and metaphor when he's first starting out.
** He also doesn't quite get the point of goodbyes or even of ending conversations in a conclusive manner. Once he's done saying what he wants to say, he goes poof, even if the other person isn't done yet.
* Parker from ''{{Leverage}}''. Quite possibly the world's greatest cat burglar; requires cheat sheets and extensive coaching to carry on a passing-for-normal conversation, and doesn't see ''why'' her male teammates freak out whenever she whips her shirt off in front of them to execute a quick-change.
** For example, as a child, she thought that being buried alive was an appropriate way to get over her fear of the dark. As an adult, she compared it to Eliot locking himself in a shed for a few nights to get over his claustrophobia.
*** [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "That's NOT the same thing. What's wrong with you?"]]

* [[DoctorWho The Doctor]] has moments of acting like this, more so in some [[TheNthDoctor incarnations]] than others. It's partly ObfuscatingStupidity, partly the fact that a time-traveling alien can hardly be expected to understand the social mores of every time and place he visits, and sometimes just the way he is.
** This was the defining trait of the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker).
** Epitomised by the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) in the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]], in which the whole story revolves around the Doctor trying to fit inconspicuously into human society, with varying degrees of success.

* ''MyFamily'': According to Ben Harper, Susan's grandmother was reared by wolves. (It's only mentioned once, so it's not clear whether she was ''actually'' raised by wolves, or if he just didn't ''like'' Susan's grandmother. Considering Ben is something of a jerk, either is possible).

* TheOuterLimits episode ''The Human Operators'' features a sentient spaceship that keeps a lone human man as a slave to repair and maintain it when needed. One day, a female slave is brought on board and the ship orders them to mate and beget the next generation of slaves. The man, having lived on the ship his whole life, has no idea what to do and has to be [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean coached]] by the female. There's a [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious]][=/=][[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming cute]] scene where, after the woman guides his hand over her breasts, the man double takes and looks down at his first RagingStiffie.
* PowerRangersRPM has Doctor K, who was raised in a top-secret government think tank where her entire life consisted of research ever since she was a toddler. It shows.
* [[CriminalMinds Dr. Spencer. Reid.]] Do we really need to explain?

* In a week long ''{{Garfield}}'' storyline Jon fell in love with a woman in a rec center who had been raised by wolves, as it turns out she had only been in civilization for a week and she had tendencies like scratching her head with her foot, messily devouring her food, trying to bite off her foot when her shoe was too tight, and howling at the moon.
* Reversed in ''PricklyCity where Winslow has become so humanized that an attempt by him to live with wild coyotes failed miserably.

** L: He's socially awkward, dresses like a bum, and is the three greatest detectives on the planet. [[hottip:*:Yes, all three: as himself, and in second and thrid place under psuedonyms.]]

** L: He's socially awkward, dresses like a bum, and is one of the three greatest detectives on the planet.

** L: He's socially awkward, dresses like a bum, and is the three greatest detectives on the planet.

For some reason, the character is mostly ignorant of and often confused by common social conventions and behaviors. He usually grasps enough to minimally function around other people most of the time, but any circumstances outside of his limited experience fluster, puzzle or (at worst) upset or enrage him. Someone with no social skills is not necessarily ''stupid'' -- just unfamiliar with how human beings act around each other. Consequently, he will tend to be [[BrutalHonesty blunt, straightforward and utterly honest]] -- and will expect everyone else to be, too.

In RealLife those with Asperger's Syndrome usually fit this trope, but relatively few works are interested in portaying this with strict accuracy. A milder form is common among those who have spent their lives in academia, leaving them a bit detached from the outside world.

An extreme form of FishOutOfWater, milder cases may result in StrangeGirl, CloudCuckooLander or InnocentFanserviceGirl. Expect to see some CultureClash, especially when the character has NoNudityTaboo. Compare with RaisedByOrcs, where the child is taken in by evil folk.

%% Note, while a bad childhood often leads to having No Social Skills later on, this trope is not
%% just for bad childhoods.

* Yamato from ''Battle B-Daman'' was raised by cats: not tigers or anything, normal stray cats. Later he is adopted by a relative -- possibly his birth mother.

* In ''SluggyFreelance'' Aylee is a {{Justified|Trope}} case since she ''is'' an alien from another dimension. Her social blunders range from the awkward (thinking that women check out guys' butts because they want an efficient pooper) to the highly dangerous (forgetting that humans need to breathe, or thinking that driving a car works like the video game ''Carmageddon'').
* Inverted in ''FreeFall'', Florence is a wolf raised by humans and as a result is extremely polite and knowledgeable of social conventions (though she is still a little naive in situations where society's rules should be broken). Granted she was designed with several safeguards so she couldn't pose a threat to humanity. (safeguards with loopholes a mile wide, mind you)

* Clara's kids in ''TheGuild'' come pretty damn close, if I do say so myself...

* Pud'n from ''{{The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy}}'' plays with this trope:
--> '''Billy''': Hey Pud'n, what're you doing outside?\\
'''Pud'n''': Oh, we live outside outside. I was raised by wolves. * gestures towards a pair of wolves sitting in front of a randomly placed TV* \\
'''Father Wolf''': Hey. * waves to Billy*
** Another Grim Adventures example: according to Mandy's father, when Mandy was born, a pack of wolves came by to try and raise her as their own. He sometimes regrets turning them down.
* Marion, the cute blue fluffy lead of ''BountyHamster'', was ''literally'' raised by wolves. His foster mother's first reaction on seeing baby Marion in a basket at their lair entrance was to ask, "Did you order take-out, dear?"
* ''[=~Rocko's Modern Life~=]'' features Heffer the steer, literally raised by wolves -- the Wolfe family, to be exact. They're suburbanite yuppies, which would avert this trope except for the fact that Heffer ''still'' has trouble with social conventions (why? Because [[RuleOfFunny it's funny]]).
* ''TheVentureBros'' parodies this in one episode where The Monarch asks fellow supervillain and prison inmate, Tigeriffic, if he was "raised by tigers, like Mogli." Tigeriffic corrects his reference to ''The Jungle Book'' and denies the assertion.
** And of course the Monarch himself was raised by butterflies, however briefly.
* An episode of ''Brandy & Mr. Whiskers'' featured a wild dog named Wolfie who [[HulkSpeak shared the same speech problem as]] [[{{Transformers}} Grimlock]]. It turns out, he was raised by a monkey who had the same speech problem who was raised by a black jaguar who had the same problem... Which is explained when it turns out the jaguar was, erm, "raised" by a coconut tree (IE: Coconuts fell onto the jaguar's head).
* In ''AceVentura: Pet detective'', one of the recurring villains The Griffen claims to have been raised by many different animals.
* Doctor Doofenshmirtz, the MadScientist from ''{{Phineas and Ferb}}'', has had a HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood. According to him, at one point, his parents disowned him, so there was a phase in his life were he was raised by ocelots.
* On ''TheTick'' Feral Boy of the Civic Minded Five is a snarling, barking, subverbal young man who runs around on all fours. His teammate Jungle Janet, however, seems perfectly civilized despite having a Tarzan-like motif.
* Creepila Creecher herself from ''GrowingUpCreepie'', was of course ''[[RaisedByWolves raised by insects]]''.
* In {{Hero 108}}, Wu Song, a dentist, found out that his long lost twin brother was raised by dogs and became the Dog King. The Dog King usually runs around on all fours and wears a dog pelt.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* There are many examples of allegedly "feral" children recovered from the wild in real life. However, it is virtually impossible to definitively say how long they have actually been living in the woods. Children raised in isolation demonstrate a lack of socialization that has symptoms identical to autism or Asperger's syndrome, leading some critics to suspect that the feral children might actually be autistic children who were abandoned or lost. Take all examples with a grain of salt.
* The (literally) textbook example was a wild French kid found in the late 1700s (see WildChild). He survived in the wilderness without people for 12 years! Bad news though, you need to learn the basics of language sometime before age three. The man who tried to teach him as an example of his ability realized it wouldn't work and left him with a former servant. The boy died in poverty in his forties.
* The 18th century medical literature discussed several such feral children, most of whom never learned to speak, wear clothes or adapt to society and ended up in mental asylums. There are a few such "wolf children" in existence even today, ranging in age from a man in his 40s to a teenage girl. Most of them were orphaned children in Eastern European states which were part of the ''Union of Soviet Socialist Republics'' prior to its collapse in the 1990s. Some claim to have actually been raised by wild dogs or wolves in the woods. The good news is, the modern-day wolf children have learned language and adapted to life among people, even though the girl still refers to herself as a wolf not a human.
* Kaspar Hauser (1812-1833, Germany), who was kept in a unlit basement from probably around 3/4-ish to about sixteen (he picked up German okay). With only a toy horse for mental stimulation.
** Most of it was probably made up, a habit which Hauser kept throughout his recorded life.
* In early years of the 20th century, two girls, named Amala and Kamala were supposedly found asleep in a wolf's nest and acted like wolf-cubs. Serious controversy over the truthfulness of the story has later been born, however.
** The general consensus is that Amala and Kamala were probably just autistic. Most likely, their parents weren't willing to deal with them, so they dumped them in an orphanage. The orphanage made up the "raised by wolves" stories to drum up sympathy (and donations).
* In 27 May 2009 , A 5-year-old Russian girl found in a filthy apartment imitating the cats and dogs. Officials said the girl had feral characteristics and barked like a dog, lapped food off a plate and seemed to have been "raised" by the animals. Following [[http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/1220058.html This news]]
* Inverted when baby wild animals are Raised By Humans, as non-domesticated species that haven't been bred to tolerate captivity often suffer behavioral problems and stereotypies, and they don't learn necessary social or survival skills to live free with their own kind. The successful reintroduction of endangered species to the wild often hinges on whether captive-born animals can be re-educated sufficiently to subvert this trope.
* [[AcceptableLifestyleTargets Homeschoolers]] are frequently assumed to be like this by people who [[DidNotDoTheResearch don't know any better]].
[[/folder]]

One background that can lead to this trope is to be RaisedByWolves -- growing up with animal parents. Or other nonhumans. Alternatively, they may have had an ''isolated'' childhood: physical or social isolation. This can be part of an abusive background depending on how serious the work is. Extra points to the social disconnect for an ''exotic'' isolated background like being raised by the KGB! These character may be hot on combat or whatnot, but totally at sea at a party. They may be bamboozled by boys, or girls, and ask WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove?

* Yamato from ''[[BattleBDaman Battle B-Daman]]'' was raised by cats (not tigers or anything, normal stray cats) until adopted by a woman who may or may not be his birth mother or some other relative.

* L of ''DeathNote'', He's socially awkward, dresses like a bum, and... is [[strike:the greatest detective on the planet]] the ''three'' greatest detectives on the planet.
** This also applies to his successor Near, which is odd considering how street-savvy his rival Mello is. The fact that he constantly plays with toys and dolls is easily viewed as a cute quirk until you realize that Near is 13 years old when [[spoiler:L's DeadManSwitch goes off]], that a span of five years passes between the first and second arcs, and he's still obsessed with toys not only until the end of the series, but in a post-series epilogue that takes place 3 years later.
** Having eccentricities or mildly asocial tendencies doesn't indicate NoSocialSkills. Their sharp powers of observation and understanding of human nature most definitely mark them as not NoSocialSkills.
*** Hey, we don't know anything about ''how'' they raise the Wammy's House kids. So maybe this very process makes them socially awkward, with Mello having run away at 14 having escaped from this fate.
** Also, Near at least ''isn't'' merely eccentric - How To Read ranks his ability to live everyday life at almost zero, implying that if he was left on his own, he genuinely wouldn't be able to get by. General {{Fanon}} is that he's somewhere on the autistic spectrum.
* Goku in ''DragonBall'' was raised by his grandfather in the wilderness until he was 12 and said grandfather died. He had been so sheltered that he never truly assimilated into society, and the division was very evident until he was an adult. The worst symptom, however, would have to be his complete inability to assess gender from sight, which led to some [[AccidentalPervert Accidental Perversion]].
** Largely dropped by the time of ''Dragon Ball Z'', where Goku seems to be less the sheltered but fairly clever person he was as a child, and more just [[GeniusDitz a complete idiot when it comes to anything except beating up the bad guys]].
*** Maybe that was just all the blows he took to the head, Saiyan skull density or not. The brain damage is ''canon'', even lampshaded during the first episodes. And if not for it, the Earth would've been as good as dead ''from the beginning of the DB series'', since the blow to the head that toddler Goku accidentally took when in the care of the eldest Gohan suppressed the Saiyan's natural violent tendencies.

* Sagara Sousuke from ''FullMetalPanic!'' is a light form of this. He's been in the military since birth. Someone once described Sousuke as that character in a {{Tabletop RPG}} who [[MinMaxing traded in all those "worthless" character points in social skills]] and instead [[SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining put them into combat abilities.]] He's a nice guy, he just has no concept at all of what's expected of someone in a high school environment. Naturally, the writers put him in a high school environment often. (This turned out to be so popular that an entire season with this as the main premise -- ''FullMetalPanic? Fumoffu'' -- was produced.)
** Well, it was more a matter of them splitting off 80% of the funny stuff from the original novels and putting it all in there.
* Tasuki of ''FushigiYuugi'', the resident JerkWithAHeartOfGold, who was raised by an [[AbusiveParents abusive family]], then ran away from home as a teenager and continued to be raised by a gang of thieves. In pretty much any given situation, if there's an insensitive remark, indelicate observation or obnoxious joke to be made, it WILL come out of his mouth. Such blunt force honesty also makes him surprisingly credulous for someone [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything who ostensibly rose to the leadership of a gang of thieves]].

* Mikoto in ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' actually appears to have been raised by feral cats, given her occasionally feline behavior and her habit of running on all fours when she's in a hurry. [[spoiler:Turns out she was actually raised to be a {{Tykebomb}} for her [[BigBad brother]]]]
* Lucia in ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', despite being a [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaid]] in the human world, has a NoSocialSkills mentality towards ''[[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaid]]'' customs. At least in the manga, she was actually raised on the surface, but in the anime, she was just as clueless about the society that she had been {{retcon}}ned to ''grow up'' in. What's more, she's the princess.

* Sai, from ''{{Naruto}}'', is a minor version of this trope, growing up in the ROOT division of ANBU, which trained its members from a young age to have no emotions whatsoever. When attempting to be sociable, Sai usually winds up insulting someone. He eventually learns his lesson; people seem to like it when you tell them the ''opposite'' of what you think of them.
** How Naruto himself was raised is never addressed; he lives by himself by age 12 and functions well enough socially, apart from being everything a {{Ninja}} ''isn't'' supposed to be.
*** The only noticeable effect is that he recently demonstrated that by the age of 15 he still doesn't know anything about reproduction and thought a pregnant woman just suddenly got fat.
*** He has gone to school, so he wasn't totally apart, but [[FridgeBrilliance that explains a lot]], especially his [[IdiotHero idiocy]].
**** Heck, the boy is pretty dimwitted! It's even a miracle he's alive, considered he's already been seen drinking spoiled milk! And the fact he likes to shout and insult people who can blast him away without him as much as feeling it is proof of this. Should I also mention he can't get obvious behavior sginals such as, for example, Sakura punching him; to Naruto, equals she's worth trying romance with. Hinata stalking him and [[spoiler: recently declaring her love and willingness to die for him when fighting against Pein]] equals "she's just weird". Which bring FridgeLogic into play, as he lived 2 years with a Porn Writer and [[spoiler: also WROTE one of said porns]]. Shouldn't a guy who writes porn at least know some things about girls, like the pregnancy issue stated above? Of course, this puts Jiraya's knowledge on females to severe doubt.
* Rei Ayanami from ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' was raised by Gendo Ikari instead of literal wolves, but that was close enough to leave her with no idea how humans interact. She would've been better off with the wolves.
** Rei would have been better off with werewolves, fighting vampires. Appearing in a Twilight tale would be preferable to being made into the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
*** [[CrazyAwesome Good lord,]] someone, make THIS happen.
** Rei's character design includes notes for her to have wolf like hair. What do you mean it's not symbolic?

* San from ''PrincessMononoke'' was literally raised by wolves after her birth parents encountered a huge wolf in the forest when she was very young and [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned her]] in an attempt to get away safely.
** Indeed, it's implied that her parents literally [[HumansAreBastards threw her at the wolves to get away]]. The wolves were offended enough by this behavior to take care of her, instead.
* Ranma from ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' seems to suffer from this. Given his HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood, Genma using [[SinkOrSwimMentor forbidden]] (and [[HarmfulToMinors stupid]]) techniques, who wouldn't?

** Ryu Kumon and Ryoga Hibiki could fit here as well. Ryu, already motherless, lost his father when he was six years old in an accident at once tragic and stupid beyond belief (his father tried out a spine-snapping bearhug on the only pillar supporting their tumbledown dojo, crushing himself in the ruins). Ryoga's [[NoSenseOfDirection issues with direction]] are [[ItRunsInTheFamily hereditary]] on ''both'' sides of the family, so any two members of the family only meet in extremely rare circumstance.

* Horo from ''{{Spice and Wolf}}'' matches this trope to a glimmering 'T'.
** Might be because she is a wolf spirit/god of the harvest.
** She's a lot savvier about the way humans live than the typical example, though. She has lived with humans several times in the past, and spent centuries watching the people of a single village. Indeed, she often understands people better than they understand themselves, and isn't above emotional manipulation when it suits her. She is carefree about certain human conventions, but not because she doesn't understand them - she just doesn't care.
** She also goes centuries without interacting with humans, so her social awkwardness often stems from being so out of touch with the times.

* Tres Iqus of ''TrinityBlood'' displays this trope every now and then in his interactions with Abel. Especially in the manga, he is often heard uttering the phrases like, "Does not compute." Of course, it's questionable if this is because Abel has an extensive vocabulary or simply because he's crazy. However, Tres also fits into the "brutal honesty" classification quite snugly.
** Actually, considering Tres is a ROBOT, it is more like he is one of the wolves.

* One episode of the ''{{Pokemon}}'' anime was about a kid who was raised by Kangaskhan. And in a [[PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure loose manga adaptation of the Diamond and Pearl (but mostly Diamond) versions]], the main character was raised by wild Pokemon. In the former's case, he was [[ParentalAbandonment lost by his parents]] when they were on vacation. In the latter case, the kid was being watched by Professor Rowan, and the good professor decided that the boy should go live with Pokemon because he could sort of communicate with them. Let me rephrase that: ''Rowan sent a small child to live in the wild with Pokemon because he thinks the kid can talk to animals.''
** In Rowan's defense, it worked.
* [[VinlandSaga Thorfinn]], having spent most of his formative years in a Viking band, has grown up to be a violent, apathetic, antisocial JerkAss who can't even have a civil conversation with the man who knew him from before his time growing up amongst the 'wolves'.
* Princess Arika of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' spent her whole life confined in the royal palace of Ostia, the result being that her social development was somewhat stunted, turning her into TheStoic. She didn't even know what ice cream was until Nagi showed her.
** Then there is Kotaro who is literally half wolf and was abandoned as a child who has [[BrutalHonesty little sense of being polite]] nor has he ever spent time doing anything normal besides training to fight but is not quite a {{Wild Child}} since he grew up in a city and looks and acts normal for the most part, Ayaka even calls something quite similar to the trope name.

* The Beatrice who lived in Kuwadorian in 1967 from ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' is a mild-ish version of this. She was raised in a hidden mansion by a few servants and Kinzo, who would come down every few days or so, but was forbidden from leaving the Kuwadorian and so knows absolutely nothing about life outside of it. [[spoiler:Just before she died from falling off a cliff, Rosa actually speculated that part of the reason she didn't seem to be afraid of climbing down the cliff was because she didn't understand that if she fell from it, she would die]].
* {{InuYasha}} has this as a defining character trait. He was orphaned at a young age, his only remaining family is a full demon half-brother who hates his guts and because of his [[HalfHumanHybrid half-breed status]] is ostracized by both human and demonic society. Small surprise that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold his personality is coarse]] and is known for [[BrutalHonesty speaking his mind no matter what the situation]]; not to mention a [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption willingness to respond to any perceived slight with his fists.]]

* Setsuna F. Seiei of ''{{Gundam 00}}'' is another one of those people that might've been better off with the literal wolves. Raised in a poor Kurdish household when he was a child, he was then mentally conditioned to [[SelfMadeOrphan off his parents]] by his new [[CompleteMonster "mentor"]] to prove his loyalty to God, right before leading him to become a child soldier before he is saved [[spoiler:by the man who would eventually become his greatest enemy, and the largest threat to humanity]]. I wouldn't even blink before running to the safety of dangerous wild animals if given the choice.
* Shizuo Heiwajima from ''{{Durarara}}'' [[FriendlessBackground grew up with very little in the way of positive social contact]] due to his [[HairTriggerTemper anger and impulse control issues]]. As a result, he doesn't have much in the way of social graces.

* Cassandra Cain, AKA Batgirl III, is arguably even more dysfunctional. The first eight years of her life was spent in a bunker [[TrainingFromHell learning the killing arts]] in isolation from spoken language. The next nine were spent on the streets, unable to comprehend spoken language and fleeing the man who raised her. It shows, even after telepathic intervention enabled her to speak and she got over [[DeathSeeker her death wish]].

* [[{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]] is an extreme case. He never bathes, he thinks it's socially acceptable to break into people's houses and steal their stuff and has the nerve to tell Laurie that her mother almost getting raped by the Comedian could have been a moral lapse. Even Dan has problems dealing with him to the point where he finally lashes out at Rorschach. This leads to a handshake that Rorschach finds very awkward. The only time Rorschach feels at ease with anyone is when he's breaking people's fingers.
** Does it really count if it results from a crappy, but still human, mother followed by a [[FreakOut major psychotic break]]?
* The Wolfriders of ''{{ElfQuest}}'' have operated under the leadership of chiefs and chieftesses directly descended from Timmorn Yellow-Eyes (who was himself the result of a mating between a shape-changed High One and a wolf). Because their bloodline has been "tainted" by wolf blood you could argue that anyone born to the tribe is raised by wolves. Add to this the fact that they bond with actual wolves (the animals serve as companions, mounts and hunting buddies) and it becomes even more true.
** To add another level, Little Patch in [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/HY/HY03/DisplayHY03.html this single-issue story]] is a human raised by Wolfriders ''and'' their wolves, who later attempts to return to human society. Any similarities to ''TheJungleBook'' are probably not coincidental.

* Most of the SecretSix had unusual/horrendous upbringings, and as such have no gauge for what is "normal".

* Subverted in ''FanFic/AeonEntelechyEvangelion'', where Gendo didn't dare to neglect Rei (since unlike in [[NeonGenesisEvangelion NGE]], in this setting he wouldn't get away with it). But since Rei is a Sidoci, the unnormal version of the Xenomix (human and nazzadi hybrid) where being stoic and emotionless is a default personality, his efforts were wasted.

* ''EdwardScissorhands'' is an odd example: despite being taught by his inventor about manners and politeness, the title character has no idea whatsoever how to live outside his castle. On top of that, while he is very kind and gentle, his understanding of ethics is a bit... sketchy.
** Edward's "father," for lack of a better word, actually intended to fully educate him and would have left him with a workable, if outdated, method of interaction with people. Sadly he died before Edwards education was finished.
* In ''{{Hoodwinked}}'', a 2005, animated, feature-length film retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf parodies this trope. (Of course he was raised by wolves. He's a wolf.)
-->'''Chief Grizzly:''' Pretty thin Wolf! You say the old lady was already tied up. How did that happen?\\
'''The Wolf:''' I don't know, maybe to make herself look innocent. I just write the news, Chief, I don't make it.\\
'''Red:''' For a reporter, you sure have a strange way of doing your job.\\
'''The Wolf:''' What can I say? I was raised by wolves.
* Spoofed in ''KungPow" when TheChosenOne (that's his actual name) was raised by "various rodents".
** And when he wasn't [[WalkingTheEarth Walking Or Driving Across The Earth]], he frequently partied with forest animals.

* The title character in ''{{Film/Starman}}'' is an alien who [[HumansThroughAlienEyes doesn't know very much about Earth and its inhabitants]].

* Played straight-ish in ''HumanNature'', where one of the main characters was raised by a human who ''thought'' he was an ape. It's a weird movie.

* The narrator of KarenHesse's ''{{The Music of Dolphins}}'' was the only survivor of an airplane crash in the Caribbean as a very young child, and was taken in by a pod of dolphins. She's reasonably healthy when she's found by (aside from minor considerations, such as having ''barnacles'' all over her) and, unlike other {{Wild Child}}ren in the center that's taking care of her, she can connect with people and understand language, because [[DolphinsDolphinsEverywhere dolphins are that awesome.]] However, the [[HumansAreBastards betrayals and confused feelings from the scientists studying her]] turn her away from them, and eventually she is allowed to return to the sea and her dolphin family.
* Big Alice from Staanley Kiesel's [[ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability obscure]] young adult novel ''The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids'' was raised by hyenas. Her parents were psychologists, and when they found her again, [[ParentalAbandonment they abandoned her]] to the hyenas again after an aborted attempt at rehabilitating her.

* Stanley from the ''{{Discworld}}'' series was raised by ''peas''. Yes, you read that right, 'by', and not 'on'. He is a good civil servant and very good at doing things by the book, perhaps to a fault (peas are apparently good at teaching patience and conscientiousness), but also has a few... Issues.
** In the same series, Captain Carrot was raised by dwarves who, while a sapient species who communicate well enough with humans, have a lot of cultural differences. At one point it's {{lampshade}}d, as his adopted dwarf father muses that he'd heard of children being RaisedByWolves, and wondered if the alpha male ever had to take the child aside and start a talk like, "Now, son, you may have noticed that you're not as hairy as the others..."
*** An interesting side effect is that dwarf culture declares that, since he was raised by dwarves and understands dwarf ways, Captain Carrot ''really is'' a dwarf. He's also six foot six.
** Also, same series, Nutt. He once, when asked by his friends if he was ill, said that he wasn't and had indeed had a normal bowel movement that morning. Prior to the age of seven, he wasn't raised by anyone at all, and after that spent most of his time reading, so you can probably understand why he's got problems understanding what constitutes {{too much information}}. He also has a tendency to [[SpockSpeak speak in formal paragraphs]] when he's not [[ExtremeDoormat terrified someone's going to object to his very existence]], and has a tendency to get SidetrackedByTheAnalogy ("There appears to be so much I might inadvertently pull!").
** Non-humanoid example: William, one of the birds kept by Hodgesarrgh in ''Carpe Jugulum'', was Raised By Chickens, having imprinted on the hen that'd been keeping its egg warm.
** Averted with Lupine from ''Reaper Man'', an actual wolf who turns into a man at full moon. Presumably by the time we meet him, he's learned enough about passing for normal from his Fresh Start Club friends to pull it off.
* The novel ''{{Knowledge of Angels}}'' by Jill Paton Walsh is about a child literally raised by wolves, among other things.

* In ''ElGoonishShive'', Grace spent most of her life in a laboratory, where she was treated as a something between an experimental animal and a [[{{Tykebomb}} weapon project]] by most of the scientists (as were her brothers). After Damien 'freed' them, she spent several more years more or less imprisoned in an underground base. She is [[ThereAreNoTherapists implausibly well-adjusted]] despite this, but is unfamiliar with many aspects of mainstream culture, and is often quite naïve.

One background that can lead to this trope is to be RaisedByWolves -- growing up with animal parents. Or other nonhumans. Alternatively, they may have had an ''isolated'' childhood: physical or social isolation. This can be part of an abusive background depending on how serious the work is. Extra points to the social disconnect for an ''exotic'' isolated background like being raised by the KGB! These character may be hot on combat or whatnot, but totally at sea at a party. The most socially backward might be bamboozled by their feelings for the opposite sex and ask WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove?

In RealLife those with Asperger's Syndrome usually have real problems with social skills but relatively few works are interested in portaying this with strict accuracy. A milder form is common among those who have spent their lives in academia, leaving them a bit detached from the world outside the university system.

One background that can lead to this trope is to be RaisedByWolves -- growing up with animal parents, or with other nonhumans. Alternatively they had an isolated childhood: physical or social isolation. This can be part of an abusive background depending on how serious the setting is. Extra points to the social disconnect for an ''exotic'' isolated background like being raised by the KGB! These character may be hot on combat or whatnot, but totally at sea at a party. The most socially backward might be bamboozled by their feelings for the opposite sex and ask WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove?

An extreme form of FishOutOfWater, milder cases may result in StrangeGirl, CloudCuckooLander or InnocentFanserviceGirl. Expect to see some CultureClash, especially when the character has NoNudityTaboo. May be the result of NoSocialSkills who live far, ''far'' away from his parents' homeland. Compare RaisedByOrcs, where the child is taken in by evil folk.

A character with NoSocialSkills may not have been ''literally'' [[WildChild reared by animals]], but for all he knows about human social customs he may as well have been. More often it is the result of [[FriendlessBackground growing up in an isolated location]], or because of passive and/or active abuse by the parent or guardian. In RealLife, this is a fundamental trait of Asperger's Syndrome, but accurate examples of this in fiction are rare barring AlternateCharacterInterpretation. A milder form is common among those who have spent their lives in academia, leaving them a bit detached from the world outside the university system (the fact that many lifelong academics are that way because of Asperger's doesn't help).

Quite often a point is made of stating that this character is very intelligent or "learns fast" to make sure the audience doesn't just write them off as dense and to justify characters trying to help them adjust, or as an excuse for why they've adjusted as well as they did. Whether this intelligence is actually demonstrated [[InformedAbility or not]] varies.

An extreme form of FishOutOfWater, milder cases may result in StrangeGirl, CloudCuckooLander or InnocentFanserviceGirl. Expect to see some CultureClash, especially when the character has NoNudityTaboo. May be the result of NoSocialSkills who live far, ''far'' away from his parents' homeland. Compare RaisedByOrcs, where the child is taken in by evil.

* Rebecca from ''[[JungleWaItsumoHaleNochiGuu Haré+ Guu]]'' was raised by pokute (small, egg-shaped things that people eat or crush for kicks,) but turned out just fine.

* Golden Age superhero Black Condor was raised by Condors who taught him to fly, speak English, build a death ray and enough about United States Law and Politics that he could easily impersonate the dead senator who he happened to be physically identical to. Black Condor first appeared in Crack Comics #1, which is appropriate, [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs since that is apparently what his creators were on when they thought up his origin.]]

* In ''{{Legend of Legaia}}'', one of the 3 player characters was Noa, a girl who was literally raised by a wolf -- albeit an intelligent, talking one. This leads to some occasional embarrassments, such as her inviting a man to take a bath with her, and knocking out whoever appears to be a "bad guy", with no regard for legality.

*** [[WildMassGuessing Maybe these are the same wolves that raised Pud'n?]]