History Main / RagsToRiches

* ToyotomiHideyoshi. He's born as a sandal-bearer named 'Tokichiro Kinoshita'. Then he joins OdaNobunaga, work his ass up to the point that he became Nobunaga's right hand man, avenges his death and finished what Nobunaga couldn't accomplish: actually ''unifying Japan'' and becoming the most powerful man in the nation.
** Although the immediate downfall of his clan immediately after his death can partly be contributed of his status; he couldn't even forge a Minamoto[=/=]Taira lineage as everyone knows his background, which makes his family ineligible for the top posts in the country. He ruled as [[RegentForLife kampaku]]-- not a shogun-- because he was adopted by a Fujihara just before the fact, and his legitimacy was only sustained through his own power. (On the other hand, TokugawaIeyasu has been able to forge himself a Minamoto lineage and make himself eligible for shogun.)

* You can't mention this trope without talking about Bill Gates! He started out small tinkering with computers during his adolescent years as well as during his school days. Nowadays, Bill is best known for the founding of computer software giant Microsoft and is making a ridiculous amount of money every year because of it! He earns so much that if he dropped a $100 note, it ''wouldn't be worth his time'' to pick it up.
** "Rags" is really pushing it there. Gates' father was a prominent Seattle lawyer who sent his son to a private school that had it's own computer terminal ''in 1968''!. Certainly, Bill built a far bigger fortune than his father ever had, but he certainly didn't start out poor.

The classic "Horatio Alger" version of the trope is that the protagonist [[SelfMadeMan lifts himself (or rarely herself) up to economic success]] by a combination of hard work and virtuous behavior. And a walloping dose of {{luck}}, which comes to the protagonist [[LaserGuidedKarma because of their work and virtue]]. It fell out of favor around the Great Depression and has never quite recovered.

* You can't mention this trope without talking about Bill Gates! He started out small tinkering with computers during his adolescent years as well as during his school days. Nowadays, Bill is best known for the founding of computer software giant Microsoft and is making a ridiculous amount of money every year because of it!

* Zig-zagged in at least one RichieRich story which has a RichesToRags at the beginning and uses the rest of the story to describe the Rags To Riches result.

* Young Dave Thomas was born to a poor, single woman, who gave him up for adoption. His adoptive mother passed away when he was six and his father was then left to move around (with Dave in tow) while he sought work. Thomas began working at the age of 12 (to help support the family), dropped out of high school, served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, learned how to cook, came back home, worked at a diner, married the daughter of the diner's owner, and got his big break by meeting Colonel Sanders and setting up a few Kentucky Fried Chickens to own and operate. When Thomas sold his [=KFCs=], which became very successful because of his hard work, he earned enough money to settle down, but invested it instead in his own fast food chain. Its name? Wendy's. (And he did go back to get his G.E.D.)

** A much darker example is [[spoiler: King Gangrel]] from FireEmblemAwakening, as [[spoiler: a former StreetUrchin who rose to the top of Plegian aristocracy, and finally got the crown. And became TheCaligula. [[BreakTheHaughty And lost everything]]. And if you recruit him via Spot-Pass, he turns into TheAtoner.]]
* The cutscenes in ''RockBand 3'' give off this vibe (something that wasn't present before, by the way): your band starts off playing for enough money to share a single pizza, and along the way they become festival headliners, make a tour to Japan, and then one day [[spoiler:they get sick of all the fame and {{Loony Fan}}s harassing them, and so they vanish from the scene in a fake plane crash.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': David Xanatos once received an ancient coin from an AnonymousBenefactor (twenty years later revealed to be a [[TemporalParadox future version]] of [[SelfMadeMan Xanatos himself]]), sold the coin and used the money to start his empire, eventually making himself a billionaire.

** A much darker example is [[spoiler: King Gangrel]] from FireEmblemAwakening, as [[spoiler: a former StreetUrchin who rose to the top of Plegian aristocracy, and finally got the crown. And became TheCaligula. [[BreakTheHaughty And lost everything]]. And if you recruit him via SpotPass, he turns into TheAtoner.]]

* ''HarryPotter:'' goes from wearing his cousin's ill fitting hand-me-downs, to learning that he has a vault full of gold that he has inherited from his well-off parents, and then he inherits Sirius Black's estate. We never really find out just how much he inherited from either, but the Potters and Blacks were both old, well heeled, Wizarding families.

* Due to the phenomenal success of ''HarryPotter'', JKRowling went from living on state benefits to being one of the richest women in the world.

->''"They call me new money, say I have no class. I'm from the bottom, I came up too fast..."''

* Ghenghis Khan was raised by a single mother as he was orphaned when his father was murdered, his family was outcast and left to die alone in the empty Steeps and at this low point during which was about 13 years old, somehow managed to end up conquering China and having all its riches.

** For that matter, Swiss himself may count. Liechtenstein mentions that his own economic situation was ''not'' the best when he took her in due to the war and the GD, but some decades later he's living in a BigFancyHouse with her an is a quite more wealthy nation. (Not that he spends a lot, though.)

* [[spoiler: Mariko's family]] in ''OniisamaE''. According to their child, [[spoiler: Hikawa and Hisako Shinobu were very poor when they got married, then got progressively richer as Hikawa's novelist career flourished. (Though at the very high cost of [[YourCheatingHeart them growing apart]], as well as Hikawa [[TragicDream having to stick to his succesful erotica rather than the more meaningful (and genuinely good) literature he was fond of.]] GrowingUpSucks, indeed.)]]

* Candace White aka CandyCandy is a HeartwarmingOrphan brought into the Legan family to work as a maid and a companion to SpoiledBrat Eliza, but at some point she catches the eye of the Andree family (a very highclass family that the Legans are a branch family from). She first befriends the three boys of the Andree clan (Anthony, Stear and Archie), and later she's adopted into the Andrees per the orders of one of the leaders, Great-Uncle William [[spoiler: (Actually the identity of the ''fourth'' young man of the clan, Albert, the uncle of the three mentioned boys)]]. However, Candy becomes the RebelliousPrincess of the clan, refusing to bend over to the aristocrats and then deciding to become a nurse without their support.
** A more straightforward case would be Annie, Candy's "adopted sister". She was adopted by the rivh Brighton family several years before, and the Brightons keep this as a secret since they're afraid that the [[FragileFlower already pathologically shy and insecure]] Annie will be ostracized and bullied. (This turns out to be true, unfortunately). It takes Annie years to fully develop into a stronger, more self-assured person.

* You Houki from ''FushigiYuugi'' comes from a very poor family, and she is taken by the court due to her absolute beauty. She is then made into one of Hotohori's harem, [[spoiler:and she eventually becomes his wife.]]

* Chris Gardner, whose rise from homelessness to top stockbroker was chronicled in ''ThePursuitOfHappyness''.