History Main / TheIngenue

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* Angelina Tyler in ''Film/Scream3'' has been cast as the FinalGirl Sidney in the [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe slasher movie]] ''Stab 3'', and in public, she very much looks and plays the part. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope It's all an act]], though. She's actually a BitchInSheepsClothing who used the CastingCouch to get the part -- and this being a series that revels in satirizing SlasherMovie tropes, the revelation of this leads to one of the fastest-acting cases of DeathBySex ever seen in a horror movie. What's more, in [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original script]] she was supposed to be one of the killers.]]

* Cosette in ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', mainly because she does little other than wonder why she almost never leaves the house, and then fall in love with a boy who followed her home and hopped her fence in order to tell her that he loved her after saying less than 10 words to her. She's more or less what Johanna (see above) initially appears to be.

* Similarly, Christine in ''Theatre/{{Phantom}}''. She's a pure, innocent, wide-eyed soprano who starts out selling songs about GayParee outside of the Opera. Both Erik and Philippe fall in love with her because of her purity and innocence. She accepts whatever the plot gives her without question and is happy to merely be in the Opera at all, whether onstage or backstage. She also falls prey to Carlotta's sabotage plot by taking a drink that allegedly would help with the nerves before her big production, [[spoiler:but actually causes her to lose her voice.]] She naïvely believes that if Belladova could stand the sight of Erik's face then so could she, because both women regard him with affection. [[spoiler:She runs off screaming or faints at the sight, depending on the production.]]
* Christine Daaé in ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. Christine is actually called "your precious little ingenue" (by her rival).

* Sarah in ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'' subverts this trope. She's a pretty, sheltered, pure girl on the cusp of womanhood who longs for romance and excitement. She's ''also'' a shameless flirt who lies to get what she wants and spends hours at a time quite possibly pleasuring herself in the tub, vocalizing orgasmically about it.

* In the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' parody episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Isabella is an Ingenue ''and'' a FemmeFatale, having business cards for both. "A girl has to earn a living!" (She's also a certified [[DistressedDamsel Damsel in Distress]]. [[spoiler:And [[TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt a Dirty Double-Crosser]]]].)

* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'': Belldandy. Her pastimes include cleaning, talking about how much she loves cleaning, and coddling various inanimate objects because [[PowerOfLove love makes machines work better]]. She'll give [[LoveYouAndEverybody any and every stranger on the street a hug]], but [[ChasteHero hasn't gotten past second base with the boyfriend she's lived with for years]]. There are occasions where she is shown as being aware of the situation, but these are typically the exceptions rather than the rule.

** Another example, is when they were at the hot Springs and Keiichi was trying to cover up his nakedness. Belldandy was totally unaware of Keiichi's embarrassment at being nude in front of a group of girls and thought that Marller had hurt him. Both Marller and Urd considered her complete obliviousness to be scary.

* Eve Genoard from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', who is the ''only'' character in the entire series who isn't a [[LovableRogue crook]], [[PsychoForHire psycho]], or [[TheMafia dabbling in organized crime]] in some way - [[MafiaPrincess as far as she knows]]. [[spoiler: In ''Drugs & the Dominoes'' she demonstrates that even {{Moe}}blobs of the [[WorldOfBadass Baccano! universe]] are prepared to [[YouKilledMyFather remorselessly blow your head off in revenge]].]]

* Lucy Devlin from ''VideoGame/BladeRunner'' is a good example of this; she's fourteen (despite having the appearance of an eighteen-year-old at the least), naive, and highly impressionable.

* Madavi, the protagonist of ''Fanfic/FreedomsLimits'', qualifies as this. Though she's not a virgin for most of the story (and in fact is quite sexually active later on), she's young, beautiful, kind-hearted and rather innocent and naïve. Some of this is justified to due being BornIntoSlavery and never setting foot outside of Barad-dûr before she was fourteen, but even Pratima says she can be too trusting at times. Given the story's ForegoneConclusion, this ultimately leads to [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEath tragedy]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{Nijisanji}}'' is a [[VirtualYoutuber VTuber]] group whose streamers were never expected to follow idol culture like ''WebAnimation/hololive'' was, and its English branch will freely talk about pornography and sex toys. But Rosemi Lovelock stands out for [[EntendreFailure not understanding any sexual innuendo thrown at her]]. Over time her colleagues have become protective of her innocence.

* Princess Peach from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' is very kind, overly courteous, laid back, and relentlessly cheery and optimistic. Nothing appears to faze her at all to the point where some mistakenly assume she's an airhead (an image certainly not helped by her portrayal in games like Super Mario Sunshine). Of course, this tends to get her into [[DamselInDistress obvious trouble]], but is also not to be underestimated whenever she [[LetsGetDangerous decides to fight]] on occasion.

* Nagisa Furukawa from ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' is very sweet, compassionate, easygoing, and supportive, but she is also rather naive, clueless, vulnerable, and insecure. [[CharacterDevelopment She does get better, though]].

* ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Jane Bennet. Her sheer, blinding goodness, which includes never thinking or speaking ill of someone who is clearly mistreating her, sometimes frustrates her otherwise adoring sister, GrumpyBear heroine Lizzie.

* Yuki from ''Manga/SchoolLive'' is extremely friendly, bubbly, and innocent. [[OlderThanTheyLook She looks and acts much younger than she is]]. Yuki is also TheOphelia, as spends much of the series blissfully ignorant of the ZombieApocalypse surrounding her. That trait also helps emphasise her naivety to TooDumbToLive levels.

* In ''[[Fanfic/FluttershysNightOut Fluttershy's Night Out]],'' the teenage Fluttershy has obviously never even gone out on a friendly date with a stallion before.
* ''Fanfic/PokemonShadowOfTime'' makes Sabrina a mix of this and {{Manchild}}; due to her having been possessed by a psychic parasite since she was twelve years old, once the parasite becomes trapped in Ash's subconscious, Sabrina regresses back to her twelve-year-old persona, which leads to her 'imprinting' on Ash and Misty to the extent that she explicitly calls Ash 'Daddy', even though she's almost a decade older than him and has very obvious cleavage.

* Elizabeth from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTheTitanic'' is this to a ridiculous extent.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Thumbelina|1994}}'', to the point that she cannot defend herself in any way until the end of the movie.

* The film versions of ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons'' naturally include versions of the naive Cecile from the book (see below).

* Angelina Tyler in ''Film/Scream3'' has been cast as the FinalGirl Sidney in the [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe slasher movie]] ''Stab 3'', and in public, she very much looks and plays the part. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope It's all an act]], though. She's actually a BitchInSheepsClothing who used the CastingCouch to get the part -- and this being a series that revels in satirizing SlasherMovie tropes, the revelation of this leads to one of the fastest-acting cases of DeathBySex ever seen in a horror movie. What's more, in [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original script]] she was supposed to be one of the killers.]]

* ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Jane Bennet. Her sheer, blinding goodness, which includes never thinking or speaking ill of someone who is clearly mistreating her, sometimes frustrates her otherwise adoring sister, GrumpyBear heroine Lizzie.
%%* Almost every Dickens novel has one, including Lucie Manette (''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities''), Agnes Wickfield (''Literature/DavidCopperfield''), Rose Maylie (''Literature/OliverTwist''), Amy Dorrit (''Literature/LittleDorrit'') and Ada Clare (''Literature/BleakHouse'').
* Cosette from ''Literature/LesMiserables'' spent her school days in a convent before moving into a very secluded house with her [[ProperlyParanoid secretive]] father.

%%* Millicent Hattersley (née Hargrave) of ''Literature/TheTenantOfWildfellHall''.
* In ''New Grub Street'' Marian Yule is an ingenue who grows up by becoming less naïve, more independent and self-assured; but still dutiful and nice.

%%* Pippa from the ''Literature/GemmaDoyle'' trilogy.

* From ''Literature/TheNightAngelTrilogy'', we have Doll Girl [[spoiler:in spite of being horribly scarred.]] When Azoth [[spoiler:as Kylar Stern]] meets her [[spoiler:as Elene Cromwyll]], she is a [[spoiler:highly religious ingenue.]] This continues to be true [[spoiler:until [[BreakTheCutie the events at the end of book 2, involving her stabbing a Khalidorian]]]] but that hardly stops her.
* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''. Vera Elizabeth Claythorne is a gentle, sweet, naive girl who genuinely loves her boyfriend Hugo, but he can't marry her since he's got no money to do so. She loves him so much that [[spoiler: she [[MoralEventHorizon murders Hugo's nephew Cyril]], who was her charge, by letting him drown in the sea [[LoveMakesYouEvil so Hugo could inherit the family estate and marry her]].]]
* ''Literature/{{Sepulchre}}'': Leonie is naive and idealistic, something the villain uses to his advantage. It is also used as a reason why other characters keep secrets from her. Unfortunately, this is just playing into the villain's hands.
* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagravandias'': Ellony Leckery down to disliking sex when her husband finally deflowers her. Her best friend turned (unknowingly to Ellony) [[LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine rival]] Pharinet wonders at certain points if Ellony represses memories to remain as innocent as she is.
%%* ''Literature/CountAndCountess'': The young Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Sadly, [[BreakTheCutie this does not last long]].
* ''Literature/TheMonk'': Antonia is extremely sheltered from having grown up in an isolated castle with her mother. She read an edited version of the Bible because her mother believed the text to be too violent. Things do ''not'' go well for her when she meets the VillainProtagonist and title character of the book.
* ''Literature/TheSharingKnife'' plays with this trope in the form of Fawn, who still manages to be innocent and vulnerable as a child while fighting {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and eagerly enjoying mind-blowing sex with Dag.
* Invoked in ''Literature/{{Replica|Series}}'': the protagonist, Nadia, and all other women in the Executive class are expected to behave like demure, innocent ingenues.
* Pansy Osmond in ''Literature/ThePortraitOfALady'', who retains a childlike innocence and devotion to her father despite being fifteen when she is introduced. Her naiveté is a cause of some annoyance to Henrietta Stackpole, who finds her "incomplete".
* ''Literature/HardToBeAGod'': Kira is one of the very few natives on the planet that Anton identifies as a good person. That is more or less her only trait, but in a CrapsackWorld, it counts for a lot.
* Shallan Davar falls under this trope near the beginning of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. By ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', however, she is beginning to settle into her true nature as a [[GuileHero Lightweaver]] [[KnightInShiningArmor Radiant]], and mostly only uses TheIngenue as a mask.
* Danusia, a LadyInWaiting to Princess Anna and the protagonist's ([[CourtlyLove courtly]]) LoveInterest in ''Literature/TheKnightsOfTheCross,'' is unbelievably sweet and cute.
* Anastasia Steele from ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey''. Twenty-one, naïve, and so virginal she never even masturbated before meeting Christian Grey.
* Alec is a rare male example in the first 2 books of the ''Literature/{{Nightrunner}}'' series - kind, honest, unworldly, amazingly polite for someone who grew up a peasant, blushes often, especially when faced with nakedness (even that of other men), inspires goodness in random strangers, hardly ever gets angry and forgives easily. Also, he's a virgin until the second book and apparently hadn't even had any sexual thoughts or urges until that point in his life (age 16). [[ColdBloodedTorture Trauma]] just slides off him [[AngstWhatAngst like water off a duck.]] And of course, he's blond, blue-eyed, and unconsciously pretty. He inspires the protective feelings of LovableRogue Seregil (to the point that he wants to protect Alec from his own "corrupting" influence and occasionally kind of regrets teaching him to lie and steal), as well as playing the DamselInDistress in the narrative, at least in the beginning.[[note]]Though after a year of training, he does eventually free himself when captured again, before Seregil can reach him.[[/note]] That he's a rare male example is perhaps explained by the fact that he was written by a first-time author trying to write gay romance in the 1980s/1990s. So she used a lot of classic hetero romance tropes and just gender-flipped the heroine.
* A rare male example in the Angela Carter short story ''The Lady In The House of Love''. It concerns a female vampire that seduces and preys on young men. A virgin soldier comes to her mansion and, as she takes him into her bedroom, she cuts her finger. When he kisses the cut, she finds herself unable to feed on him.
* Invoked in ''Literature/TheLittleSister'': The title character, Orfamay Quest, presents herself as an innocent small-town girl. However, it's not long before Marlowe starts noticing signs that she's not as ingenuous as she'd have him believe, [[spoiler:and by the end of the novel she's been revealed as a hypocritical schemer who would sell out her own family for her own profit]].
* Averted with Christine Daaé in ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', where she may be a daydreamer (and GenreSavvy victim of StockholmSyndrome) but also a WellExcuseMePrincess whose pluck and stubbornness unnerve Raoul several times before he realizes how wrongly he's misjudged her just because she ''isn't'' a meek little ingenue-type. Played straighter in many of the adaptations.
* The ingenue version of Christine is parodied in ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', where she's so woefully oblivious to her complete lack of operatic talent that she entirely misses the fact that a dowdier but incredibly gifted woman is actually doing all the singing!! She's as self-centred as a gyroscope and finishes every sentence with two exclamation marks!!
* In ''Literature/NightmareAlley'', the character of Molly is young, beautiful, and almost painfully naive and trusting, something which the main character Stan preys on and manipulates relentlessly. Growing up she was very [[DaddysGirl close to her father]] after the [[MissingMom death of her mother]] when she was very young. Since her father's sudden death she has been forced to work at a travelling carnival for money and lodging. Compared to the rest of the carnival folk, she is very sheltered and innocent of the ways of the world.
* In ''[[Literature/AmaranthineSaga Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox]]'', Tsumiko is so kind, accepting, and generous that others assume she must be naive and easily manipulated. Tsumiko herself disputes this, pointing out that she was ignorant, not naive, when she was first introduced to TheMasquerade, and she has taken pains to educate herself, and that she has only given her trust to people who are actually worthy of it. Later, she proves herself to actually be a bit of a GuileHero by putting on a show total childlike innocence and naivety while completely shutting down her "relatives" who are hoping to pin her down into marriage to one of their sons.
* ''Literature/TellMeHowYouReallyFeel'': Rachel describes Sana as one, and it fits her in a lot of ways. While probably not a virgin, she is caring, friendly and upbeat most of the time.
* ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons'' has Cecile, who has been deliberately educated to be an ingenue. Valmont, TheCasanova, casually deconstructs the trope in his first mention of her after being challenged to CorruptTheCutie, implying that her sheltered education will lead to something closer to the CatholicSchoolGirlsRule:
-->What do you propose to me? To seduce a young girl, who has seen nothing, knows nothing, and would in a manner give herself up without making the least defence, intoxicated with the first homage paid to her charms, and perhaps incited rather by curiosity than love; there twenty others may be as successful as I.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Harriet Conklin is kind, sweet and optimistic, suprisingly given her father Mr. Conklin is a MrViceGuy. While Miss Brooks is a nice person, she's somewhat too much a DeadpanSnarker to meet this trope.

* Carla and Jessie from ''Series/DancingOnTheEdge'' are both young singers who join the jazz band and are completely overwhelmed by the attention and success that follows. It's deconstructed a bit in Jessie's case, as she lets the fame go to her head and gets into deep trouble over it.
* Minnie in "Lark Rise to Candleford" fits this trope. She had a drink with a man and thinks she's pregnant.
* Daisy in ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' is a kitchen maid who has no idea of the ways of the world.
* Lucy of ''Series/TheBletchleyCircle'' is younger than the other women, and much more innocent.
* In the opening episodes, at least, MiaKirshner plays this part very straight ([[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant well...]]) as Jenny in ''Series/TheLWord''.
* Sister Mary Eunice in ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum''... briefly. Then she becomes possessed by a demon and quickly transforms into TheVamp.
* Rebecca in ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' sometimes attempts to present herself this way (it's even in the theme song for the second season: "I can't be held responsible for my actions!" "She's an ingenue!"). But while frequently naive, Rebecca is actually very sexually experienced. The whole show is a deconstruction of female stereotypes and relationship tropes, as well as a pastiche of musical theater, so it's no surprise that the series plays with the concept of the ingenue.
* Dr. Jemma Simmons from ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''. She is one of the younger members of Team Coulson and is the kindest and gentlest by far, as she's a scientist rather than a soldier or spy, and she is the one whom everybody takes it upon themselves to protect. Even when she and Agent Fitz are captured by former member-turned-villain Ward, he can't bring himself to renege on his promise to never harm her and uses LoopholeAbuse to get ''someone else'' to torture her instead. While Simmons does pick up some combat ability over the course of the series, she never fully loses her Ingenue qualities.

* Hestia from Myth/ClassicalMythology.

* Mimi from Puccini's ''La Bohème'' falls under this category. Listen to her aria "Si, mi chiamano Mimi" for further details.
* Cio-Cio-san from Puccini's ''Theatre/{{Madame Butterfly}}''. She's sweet, innocent, and slightly childlike with a strong sense of hope.
* Lakmé from Delibes' ''Lakmé'' definitely counts: She's a sweet, virginal Hindu priestess who falls passionately in love with Gérald, a British officer. Listen to her aria "Les fleurs me paraissent plus belles" in Act I, which she sings after falling in love with Gérald.

* Tatiana from Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'' is this to a T. A young girl who loves romance novels and dreams of finding love with the titular character, she writes a letter with mad hope of him reciprocating her feelings.
* Zerlina from Mozart's ''Theatre/{{Don Giovanni}}''. She's a young bride who's almost seduced into sleeping with Don Giovanni and she doesn't realize it until Donna Elvira shows up and puts a stop, declaring that she would protect her.
* Lucia from Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' has traits of this.

* Rusalka from Dvorak's ''Rusalka'' is this, as she sings a sweet song about wishing to fall in love and be human, and gives up her voice and immortality to fall in love with the Prince.
* Pamina from Mozart's ''Theatre/{{The Magic Flute}}''.
* Princess Elisabeth from Wagner's ''Tannhäuser'', who pines after the titular hero who never acknowledges her feelings.
* Elsa of Brabant from Wagner's ''Lohengrin'', who naively asks the titular hero for his name, despite her not supposed to do so.
* Elvira from Bellini's ''I puritani'', who is almost similar to Lucia.

* Subverted by Rose Maybud in ''Theatre/{{Ruddigore}}'', who appears innocent at first until it turns out she's not so much innocent as obsessed with etiquette and gold-digging.
* Johanna in ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' initially seems like a classic example of this, but it's gradually subverted as it becomes clear that she's a brittle, anxious, cynical mess with no real faith in happy endings or the kindness of the world thanks to her [[WifeHusbandry perverted]] [[AbusiveParents adoptive father]], and that's ''before'' she's [[GoAmongMadPeople locked up in an insane asylum]] where she [[spoiler:ends up shooting and killing the owner]]. Her love interest, Anthony, [[GenderFlip ironically fits the type better]], despite being a strapping young baritone sailor who's been all over the world.
* Anne from ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic'' is young, vivacious, virginal ([[SexlessMarriage despite being married]]) and extremely shallow.
%%* Peggy Sawyer from ''Theatre/FortySecondStreet''.
* Lois Lane, a character in ''Theatre/KissMeKate'', plays the ingenue in the ShowWithinAShow, but is decidedly less virginal off that stage.
* {{Lampshaded}} in the Flying Karamazov Brothers' adaptation of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/TheComedyOfErrors'' - a letter to one of the characters is changed to a telegram, addressed to "The Ingenue".
* In spite of her manner of dress, Audrey from ''Theatre/LittleShopofHorrors''.
* Nikki Harris in ''Theatre/{{Curtains}}'' fits this trope to a T.
* Cosette in ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', mainly because she does little other than wonder why she almost never leaves the house, and then fall in love with a boy who followed her home and hopped her fence in order to tell her that he loved her after saying less than 10 words to her. She's more or less what Johanna (see above) initially appears to be.

* ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'': This is the image Blanche Dubois tries to project around others. It turns out [[spoiler:not to be the case]].
* Maria in ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic''. And, even more, Liesl.
* Margot in ''Theatre/TheDesertSong.'' Her IWantSong is even called "Romance."
** ''Romance, a playboy who is born in spring, to teach the nightingale to sing a very pretty song: "I love you." ''
* Sarah in ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'' subverts this trope. She's a pretty, sheltered, pure girl on the cusp of womanhood who longs for romance and excitement. She's ''also'' a shameless flirt who lies to get what she wants and spends hours at a time quite possibly pleasuring herself in the tub, vocalizing orgasmically about it.
** Much like the ''Sweeney Todd'' example above, Alfred, the young male lead, fits the archetype far better.
* Christine Daaé in ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. Christine is actually called "your precious little ingenue" (by her rival).
* Similarly, Christine in ''Theatre/{{Phantom}}''. She's a pure, innocent, wide-eyed soprano who starts out selling songs about GayParee outside of the Opera. Both Erik and Philippe fall in love with her because of her purity and innocence. She accepts whatever the plot gives her without question and is happy to merely be in the Opera at all, whether onstage or backstage. She also falls prey to Carlotta's sabotage plot by taking a drink that allegedly would help with the nerves before her big production, [[spoiler:but actually causes her to lose her voice.]] She naïvely believes that if Belladova could stand the sight of Erik's face then so could she, because both women regard him with affection. [[spoiler:She runs off screaming or faints at the sight, depending on the production.]]
* Miranda from ''Theatre/TheTempest''. Of course, this is mostly to do with the fact that she was raised on a desert island and was apparently unaware of the existence of humans other than her father until well into her teens. When Ferdinand turns up, she immediately falls in love with him.
** Likewise for Miranda from ''Amaluna'', Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's loose adaptation of this play.
* Amelia Wildenhaim of ''Lovers' Vows''.
* Jemima from ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' is this in cat form.
* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Deconstructed by Roxane, who is highly intelligent and practical, but is completely convinced her (and Christian) lives are like the Romance Novels she had read. Notice that no one of his suitors tries to force her to accept reality until Christian wants her to choose between Cyrano and him at Act IV and that her HiddenDepths and CharacterDevelopment demonstrate that she could handle reality very well.

* Phoebe D'Ysquith from ''Theatre/AGentlemansGuideToLoveAndMurder'' [[spoiler: up until the end where it's revealed she might be more of a GoodBadGirl than we all thought.]]
* Wendla Bergmann from ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'', to tragic effect. Her mother refuses to give her TheTalk, so she doesn't understand how [[spoiler: having sex with Melchior caused her to become pregnant. To make matters worse, her mother never explains, and she dies of a botched abortion without ever having learned the truth]].
* Eliza Schuyler Hamilton from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' starts off as this trope; she's wealthy, lovestruck, and naive. This changes after Hamilton slights her and [[spoiler: she loses her eldest son]].
* Natasha Rostova from ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'' is a prime example of this: young, in love, and very naive. Deconstructed a bit as her naivete lands her in trouble when she is manipulated by and almost runs off with a man other than her fiance. (Funnily enough, both Natasha and the above Eliza from ''Hamilton'' were originally played by the same actress, Phillipa Soo.)
* Cordelia from ''Theatre/KingLear'' is the sweet younger sister in contrast to her two wicked sisters Goneril and Regan. She's one of the most moral characters in the play but ends up TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth. She does at least get to be the one who pulls BigDamnHeroes by leading the French army against her sisters.

* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'':
** When Dontos offers to rescue Sansa from her predicament in King's Landing, Sansa admits to be trusting him just because she's still just barely naïve enough to do so.
** Margaery claims to be an ingenue at some point in her debut song but is shown to be more of a case of SilkHidingSteel.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Kairi and Namine. Every single Disney Princess appearing in this series seems to be watered down to fit this trope quite nicely too (save for Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, who always were Ingenues).
** [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Ventus]] is a very good male example, though the reason that he is so pure and innocent is that [[spoiler: [[OldMaster Master]] [[EvilOldFolks Xehanort]] forcibly extracted all the darkness from his heart.]] Still played straight though, as [[spoiler:the Ven in the flashback is shown to be largely [[TheCutie the same as his present self]].]]

* Lucy Devlin from ''VideoGame/BladeRunner'' is a good example of this; she's fourteen (despite having the appearance of an eighteen-year-old at the least), naive, and highly impressionable.
* Colette from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' fits this to a T. She's sweet-natured, caring, likes animals (particularly dogs and turtles), and self-sacrificing. Colette believes everyone has some good inside them (even assassins who have repeatedly stated their intention to kill her), and she worries about others more than herself (to the point of not telling the rest of the party things they ''really wouldn't mind knowing about'' because she doesn't want them to worry), and any sexual innuendo flies over her head.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'': Deirdre.
* Amy Rose in the older games from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog (The 16-bit games and both Adventures)'' until Cream came and took her place.

* Aerie in ''Videogame/BaldursGate2''.
* Ashara Zavros from ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''

* Samantha of ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'' is an example of the trope played utterly straight; she's [[InformedAbility a commander]] of the VKP, but she's dressed as a schoolgirl, spends the entire game attached to her lover Guildenstern at the hip, and most of her dialogue centers either on being in love or marveling at her surroundings. In general, she's just a sweet, relatively normal young woman with a good heart. [[spoiler: And it's intentional: Guildenstern promoted her to be his right-hand lady so he could sacrifice her to the Dark as a pure soul.]]

* Recette from ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale''. She's cheerful and friendly to a fault, and seemingly incapable of thinking anything bad about anyone else. Her innocent friendliness ends up winning over a large number of people in-game, including (to his endless consternation) [[spoiler:a demon who hates humanity as a whole]]. Fortunately, she has Tear, a rather more down-to-earth and cynical fairy as a companion who is able to keep others from taking advantage of her.
* Paya from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' spends most of her day doing both her own and her grandmother Impa's duties around Kakariko Village. She doesn't seem to have had any interaction with people of her own generation (who seem absent from the village) and is a major ShrinkingViolet. She's so ignorant of romance that when she develops a crush on Link, she thinks she has fallen ill at first.

* Chihiro Shindou from ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo'' tried to isolate herself due to her amnesia, until she met Renji. Though she is actually one year older than him, her mental age will always be 13 years old, which is the time when the amnesia-inducing accident hit her.

* Tempest from ''Webcomic/DomainTnemrot''.
* Daisy of ''[[Webcomic/{{Bobbinsverse}} Giant Days]]''; home-schooled in a tony community and sweetly naive, if occasionally a little annoyingly so.

* ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'' is a CampaignComic covering ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}''. Mary plays Anna with exaggerations of this trope, including being scandalized at hearing TheTalk from Elsa, and insisting that Hans was too much of a gentleman to "do such ''filthy things'' to me!".
* ''Webcomic/{{MYth}}'' has spring goddess and underworld queen, Persephone. She may be the most naive of the goddesses, not even second thinking and saying straight out that Zeus is her daddy ''while in the mortal world'' and not knowing how the "bees and the birds" work in the ''Irresponsable'' omake, driving Zeus and Aphrodite insane. Also, thanks to her godly beauty and naiveness, Zeus had to put undercover gods to bodyguard her way to the place Hades can find her, so nobody does something to her.

* Penny from ''[[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'' plays this straight, helping out at homeless shelters and ends up being caught up in the conflicts of IneffectualSympatheticVillain Dr. Horrible and {{Jerkass}} DesignatedHero Captain Hammer as an InnocentBystander. It is suggested that she has had a crappy life so far and her acts of volunteering are merely so that she can have her mind on something else.
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Generator (Jade Sinclair) is definitely The Ingenue of Team Kimba. She even looks several years younger than she really is. [[CharacterDevelopment This changes over time.]]
* Miss Cooter from ''Theatre/MeAndMyDick'' is sweet, naive, optimistic, beautiful, and caring. There's just little thing: she's the heroine's vagina. It MakesSenseInContext.
* The heroine of ''[[http://hollywoodserial.wordpress.com Holly(Woods)]]'', follows this trope to the point where another character calls her an ingenue to her face.

* Morning Glory in WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends, especially in "The End of Flutter Valley."

* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', DependingOnTheWriter, is either one of these, or a BitchInSheepsClothing who tries too hard to appear as one.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' has this PlayedForDrama in the episode "Alone", which shows that Nurse Bendy - who has been shown having an affair with Principal Flakey - is actually this, to the point of regressing to a child-like state and having a teddy-bear family to cope with the sexual abuse she suffers.

She is kind, sweet-natured, polite, and optimistic, and on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, she falls very much on the idealistic side. Her innocence will often inspire protective feelings in heroic characters, and she is frequently one of the more beautiful characters because of the convention that BeautyEqualsGoodness. Unfortunately, her innocence also often makes her [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter woefully naive]], making her a prime target for a villain seeking to take advantage of her, often in an IHaveYouNowMyPretty fashion. As a result, the ingenue is one of the most common [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]]. She is also [[EntendreFailure immune to sexual innuendo]]. In a worst-case scenario, the character will be given [[FlatCharacter no personality]] beyond her [[PuritySue purity and innocence.]]

* Eve from Literature/{{Genesis}} may have qualified as she was innocent of all evil before she ate the forbidden fruit.

Partially because AllMenArePerverts is alive and well in our culture, there are few modern {{Spear Counterpart}}s to the Ingenue [[NerdsAreVirgins that share the same characteristics and positive connotations]]. The closest equivalents for male characters would be TenorBoy, which is specific to theater, or {{Manchild}}, which is often viewed as [[DoubleStandard immature and emotionally weak]], with the emphasis being more on the lack of adult traits in the manchild versus their childlike purity. (During the ''sturm und drang'' period of {{Romanticism}} a couple of centuries ago, the SpearCounterpart would have been the various TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth Romantic heroes based upon the [[MisaimedFandom popular reinterpretation]] of ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther''. It is, however, reasonably common for subverted ingenues to have male love interests who ironically fit the part far better, especially in theatre (Johanna and Anthony in ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'', Eurydice and Orpheus in ''{{Theatre/Hadestown}}'', Sarah and Alfred in ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', etc).

Partially because AllMenArePerverts is alive and well in our culture, there are few modern {{Spear Counterpart}}s to the Ingenue [[NerdsAreVirgins that share the same characteristics and positive connotations]]. The closest equivalents for male characters would be TenorBoy, which is specific to theater, or {{Manchild}}, which is often viewed as [[DoubleStandard immature and emotionally weak]], with the emphasis being more on the lack of adult traits in the manchild versus their childlike purity. (During the ''sturm und drang'' period of {{Romanticism}} a couple of centuries ago, the SpearCounterpart would have been the various TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth Romantic heroes based upon the [[MisaimedFandom popular reinterpretation]] of ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther''. It is, however, reasonably common for subverted ingenues to have male love interests who ironically fit the part far better, especially in theatre (Johanna and Anthony in ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'', Eurydice and Orpheus in ''Theatre/Hadestown'', Sarah and Alfred in ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', etc).

Partially because AllMenArePerverts is alive and well in our culture, there are few modern {{Spear Counterpart}}s to the Ingenue [[NerdsAreVirgins that share the same characteristics and positive connotations]]. The closest equivalents for male characters would be TenorBoy, which is specific to theater, or {{Manchild}}, which is often viewed as [[DoubleStandard immature and emotionally weak]], with the emphasis being more on the lack of adult traits in the manchild versus their childlike purity. (During the ''sturm und drang'' period of {{Romanticism}} a couple of centuries ago, the SpearCounterpart would have been the various TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth Romantic heroes based upon the [[MisaimedFandom popular reinterpretation]] of ''Literature/TheSorrowsOfYoungWerther''.

* Johanna in all versions of ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd'' that include her, but especially the original penny-dreadful.
** This is subverted in the stage musical, where Johanna [[spoiler:shoots the asylum keeper when Anthony can't do it in order to get away.]] This was rather sadly cut from TheMovie. The stage musical also has her going [[TheOphelia a little mad]] after being [[GoAmongMadPeople penned up with lunatics]] in [[BedlamHouse Fogg's Asylum]].

* Cosette in ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', mainly because she does little other than wonder why she almost never leaves the house, and then fall in love with a boy who followed her home and hopped her fence in order to tell her that he loved her after saying less than 10 words to her.

** Alfred is quite honestly a better fit for this trope, despite being, you know. Male.