History Main / WideEyedIdealist

--->You're right, it's my fault. I've been naïve. [...] See, I came here for friendship. Because I've been to war, David. I've seen what people do. But this Farouk, he... He's a monster.

* ''{{Series/Legion|2017}}'': Charles is idealistic compared to the more cynical Gabrielle, and he later admits to David that he's naïve.
-->'''Charles''': We can change.\\

* ''Series/Legion2017'': Charles is idealistic compared to the more cynical Gabrielle, and he later admits to David that he's naïve.

* ''Series/MediciMastersOfFlorence'': Piero de' Medici seems to genuinely not comprehend that the politics and justice of Florence are managed through an elaborate web of bribes, favors, threats, and blackmail, unlike the rest of his family. Never is this clearer than when he speaks in defense of his father, Cosimo, at his trial. Piero spends days researching to find some scrap of evidence to unravel the case against his father, only to have the document he finds dismissed as a forgery.

* ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'': Pretty much the entire world and even the framing of the story itself says that Legosi pursuing a relationship with Haru is a monumentally bad idea destined to end in Haru's tragic death at Legosi's hands. But Legosi is dead set on going through with it anyway because he just loves her too much to pursue a less dangerous relationship. It takes the entire manga for Legosi to develop a sufficient amount of self-control that Haru feels comfortable publicly calling him her boyfriend (literally. the last panel of the entire series is a shot of Haru openly calling Legosi her boyfriend for the first time) and even then it's kind of up in the air whether it will turn out well.

* ''Series/{{Oz}}'': Tim [=McManus=] is idealistic to an unrealistic degree, often expect the best in people [[HorribleJudgeInCharacter who are not to be trusted under any circumstances.]] However, his idealism also proves to be a good thing sometimes, leading to some prisoners genuinely reforming,nor at the very least coming close to it.

* Touta Matsuda from ''Manga/DeathNote'' has Light: it's pointed out that he is "quite the positive thinker" and ironically it's his idealism that drives him to commit his atrocities in order to "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make the world a better place]]."

* Mabel Pines from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is a cheery GenkiGirl who tends to believe the best of everyone and that any situation will have a happy outcome. One episode, "Boss Mabel", has her arranging a bet with her great-uncle involving her being the boss of his place of business for three days. In keeping with her [[AllLovingHero all-loving]], [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]] personality, prior to and at the beginning of the arrangement, she honestly believes that just being nice and letting the Shack's employees [[ExtremeDoormat do absolutely anything they want]] will yield positive results. [[{{Understatement}} It doesn't work out as planned]], and she eventually realizes that [[GoodIsNotSoft sometimes in life, you have to put your foot down]]. She spends the first half of the episode looking [[https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Mabel%27s_the_Boss_Now literally wide-eyed]].

* Danny, Hermione, and Ron in the ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'' series are at least as idealistic as canon despite the setting being DarkerAndEdgier. Notably, they're convinced that they can get Hagrid exonerated after he admits to kidnapping and smuggling a giant across international borders (both ''very'' serious crimes) to an auror. [[RealityEnsues Naturally, they fail]].

** Elder Kevin Price truly believes that spreading the word of Christ (specifically of Latter-Day Saints theology) is as simple as [[EasyEvangelism confidently proclaiming it to all around him]]. He eventually becomes entirely disillusioned by it when RealityEnsues and no one is receptive to stories that have no real relevance to their lives.

** In the manga and OVA, Ryoko has very idealistic ideas about love, and seems to think that she is in a [[WrongGenreSavvy romance story instead of a war story]]. In the manga, even abandonment and heartbreak at the hands of her absentee boyfriend does not dent her idealism.

** Rock also struggles with this in earlier arcs: His attempts to understand Revy makes her angry at him, trying to "save" Gretel failed utterly, and his attempt towards Yukio backfires completely. It isn't until "Le Baile de la Muerte" [[JadeColouredGlasses he starts to understand that]] if he wants to save people he'll have to become a cynical rotten power-player like Chang and Balalaika.

* Albert from ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'', along with having HorribleJudgeOfCharacter. He is undoubtedly the most naive and idealistic of all the characters in that series. He truly believed for a long time that his friends' (and his ''own'') families were perfectly rosy and that the Count is a wonderful person. (He was very wrong, by the way - they were all insanely messed up.) Not to mention how he manages to go on about [[LoveFreak "true love"]]. However, [[TraumaCongaLine despite all hardships he goes through]], Albert ends up taking the route A and becomes a better person who [[spoiler:not only saves the Count's soul from Gankutsuou but also fixes his father's wrongs by becoming an envoy of peace]].
* ''Manga/GetterRobo'': Musashi Tomoe in the original manga combined this trope with WrongGenreSavvy. After meeting Ryoma and co. for the first time, he insists on becoming a [[HumongousMecha Getter Robot]] pilot. When he is said he is not strong, sturdy and intelligent (or crazy) enough to pilot Getter (a task which is ''very'' taxing for both body and mind), he replies he has got the most important skill to become a mecha pilot: [[HotBlooded hot-bloodedness]]. Ryoma and Hayato wondered if he was serious. Apparently nobody told him that ''Manga/GetterRobo'' is a CosmicHorrorStory and Creator/GoNagai and Creator/KenIshikawa HumongousMecha mangas (''Anime/MazingerZ'', ''Manga/GetterRobo'', ''Anime/KotetsuJeeg'') [[UnbuiltTrope are way darker]] than [[LighterAndSofter the idealistic fare of later series]] that the genre would be stereotyped with.

* Arguably, Éclair from ''Anime/KiddyGrade'', who, despite having dealt with the dreadful realities of GOTT and galatic politics for many, many years, has somehow avoided becoming a cynic, and actually keeps up her spirit to fight for her ideals. Granted, this may be due to two things: (1) she does use autohypnotic suggestions to [[spoiler:block out some of her memories temporarily]], and (2) as a superhero, and with her partner, she does in fact have the ability to back up those ideals with force.

* Negi of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' starts out as one of these, but he eventually starts to realize that good and bad aren't quite as clear cut as he thought they were. [[CynicalMentor Evangeline]] actually deliberately discourages his idealism (despite the fact that she's a NobleDemon who's constantly sliding towards AntiVillain territory). Negi eventually admits that he can't always be the good guy, although he still tries to go with most "good" option available.

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Kenshin Himura is a good example. Some might consider him IncorruptiblePurePureness, but [[SuperpoweredEvilSide old]] [[DarkMessiah habits]] die hard... Except his intro speech at the end of the first chapter goes, "no, swordsmanship is an art of killing. Kaoru-dono believes a sweet, naive lie. But if this one had a wish... it would be that her sweet lie would become the truth of this world." Kenshin's WalkingTheEarth with ObfuscatingStupidity routine involves some serious ideals, but despite avoiding his battle expression most of the time he's not too wide-eyed. He's got the world-weary thing going, but values Kaoru as a Wide-Eyed Idealist.

** Vash The Stampede is determined to be one. No matter what he sees, what humans or Knives or anybody do, to him or anyone. His traumas are simultaneously cases of BreakTheCutie and BreakTheBadass and are usually horrific. Worse in the manga, where he is clearly fighting to maintain his idealism over his own common sense and has a lot more bleak moments. The setting is also much darker since the series went seinen after the Fifth Moon. But he always stands up again. Because he won't give up on humanity and by extension Rem. And on himself. After all, if he gives up on people then what does he have to resist Knives' {{Hannibal Lecture}}s with, and what have all these years meant? Therefore, TechnicalPacifist willing to TurnTheOtherCheek to a sometimes absurd degree. Vash is helped by his own awesomeness; when Knives and his subordinated aren't involved he can usually pull a casualty-free resolution out of the worst situations imaginable. Sure, this has meant horrific scars all over his body, but it gives him all kinds of warm fuzzies and hope. He wants Wolfwood to see this. Wolfwood wants him to see that most people are only human and you can't save everybody all the time.

** Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}: Pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El was an exceptionally innocent, trusting teenager. Her enemies often exploited her naivete and tried to earn her trust or seduce her so they could manipulate her and kill her or her cousin. Eventually she stopped being so gullible, but she kept believing that people are mostly naturally good-hearted. Post-Crisis Supergirl is less innocent (excepting some versions such like ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' Kara who was fooled by Comicbook/LexLuthor) but she still stands by his ideals and always tries to do the right thing and be a hero, no matter how dark her world is or what bad things happen to her.

** ComicBook/{{Robin}}. All of them, except Damian, which plays against Batman's seriousness and the griminess of Gotham. [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]] stayed happy and upbeat after his parents died in front of him and became the Boy Wonder, Jason too, until the world broke him in ''A Death In The Family'' and broke him again in ''Under The Hood'', [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]]'s entire reasoning for becoming Robin was that Batman needed one to keep him off the edge, and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie]]'s entire MO is to [[ThePollyanna stay upbeat about everything even in the worst situation]]. Barbara too, though that was decreasing when she retired as ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} and shattered after ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''.

** Ironically, Comicbook/{{X 23}} has become this despite all the hell she's lived through. In contrast to Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}'s pragmatic cynicism and willingness to compromise his beliefs, Laura has increasingly become an idealist seeking for something noble to aspire to, and is much much more uncompromising in her views of right and wrong (such as insisting on helping, rather than killing, Siphon once she discovered he was actually a ''victim'' of Paradise despite the extreme danger he presented when hungry [[spoiler: and it ''does'' eventually end up biting her on the ass]]). Laura notably went through a mini-FreakOut when she learned that, despite how bad things in her home reality are, the [[Comicbook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]] is ''[[CrapSackWorld even worse]]''.

* An interesting inversion of the DarkerAndEdgier creep described above is brought to us by ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain Exodus. A literal KnightTemplar who was turned into a SealedBadassInACan 800 years ago and revived in the modern day, Exodus still holds true to the noble values of the knighthood and has no greater ambition than to protect and defend his people, even [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140901032741/http://cdn.comicartfans.com/Images/Category_27305/subcat_115248/IMAG0859.JPG dressing like a classic Silver Age hero]]. Unfortunately, he also holds to the uncompromising black-and-white thinking of his era, turning him into an AntiVillain who clashes with the X-Men because he is unable to admit that not all mutants are good and not all humans are bad.

* ''ComicBook/GothamCityGarage'': [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Gordon]] is happy-go-lucky, innocent and optimistic in a post-apocalyptic world where the last city on Earth is ruled by a tyrant and the rest of the planet is a barren wasteland inhabited by bandits and scavengers. Big Barda thinks she'll have to break her cheerful idealism before it kills Kara... until they discover the "super-strong and invulnerable" thing.

* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'': Sombra and Twilight Sparkle discuss this trope in regards to Twilight Velvet. He says that she was this when she was a part of Xcution and, like Twilight, wanted peace between the Quincy and Soul Society. However, he also says that she became jaded due to Soul Society's actions, turning in to the woman she is today. He thinks that the same thing will happen to her. Twilight, naturally, doesn't believe him.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': {{Reconstructed}} with Anna. She's extremely idealistic by nature and naive. She thinks Hans is her One True Love after less than day, only to find out he's a murderous, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] GoldDigger. She also believes her sister Elsa is just [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]] when the latter freezes the whole kingdom, but turns out to be right. By the end of the movie, she's become more discerning and realistic, but still retains her idealism. The casting call for the Broadway version even outright says "her greatest flaw – and her greatest strength – is her faith in love".

* ''Film/JurassicPark1993'': Hammond's greatest flaw is his persistent naiveté. He wanted to create something special and unique to capture the imagination of the planet, but didn't account for human error and the unpredictability of wild animals.

*** In the aforementioned novelization, Dr. Whelan gets an AdaptationPersonalityChange which turn him into this.

* Cosima from ''Literature/ComradeDeath''. She flat out refuses to see Sarek for what he really is. [[spoiler:He confesses to [[MurderTheHypotenuse abandoning her husband to die]], and later refuses to save her grandson from going to war, and both times she dismisses his spite as being concealed guilt and claims he would have helped if it had been in his power to do so]].

* In ''Literature/OutboundFlight'', the smuggler Maris Ferasi fit this trope pretty well. She had the utmost trust in and adoration for the Chiss commander Thrawn. Unusually, she wasn't disillusioned within the book -- Thrawn lied about what he had done to resolve an extraordinarily prickly conflict, letting her leave without knowing just how much of a DownerEnding the whole issue became. Why?

** It's implied that, while he's naturally inclined that way anyway, retaining his idealism is also an intentional strategic choice on Coulson's part. Many of the entities he deals with are either terrified and confused by their new powers or savvy antagonists who have plans within plans to deal with swat teams and superspy tricks. The former find his cheerful "it's OK, your power is cool, think of all the good it could do" attitude comforting, and it puts the latter on the back foot. The simplistic morality involved also puts him in the good graces of the norse gods, which is a matter of great concern to SHIELD.

* A.W. Merrick and Reverend Smith of ''{{Series/Deadwood}}''. Since they both live in [[WretchedHive Deadwood]] this doesn't work out too well for either of them. Reverend Smith's religious faith is seriously undermined [[spoiler: when he develops a fatal brain tumor and must question the purpose of his suffering]]. Merrick gets off easier, he's able to hang on to his world view for most of the series but has to toughen up to deal with what life keeps throwing at him.

* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful:'' Princesses of Mirrors will often fall under this trope, in contrast to TheIdealist Radiant Princesses. While the Radiants ''are'' idealists, they do acknowledge that they live in a WorldHalfFull, and that they will need to EarnYourHappyEnding. Mirrors, on the other hand, teaches that there is no such thing as a no-win scenario, that hard choices only mean that you're not looking hard enough for the perfect answer, and that the Princess of Mirrors can fix everything by herself.

** Nabulungi is a Ugandan villager who, while aware of the strife in her village, nonetheless believes that life can be better and as such she is the only one of her town who is initially receptive to the Mormon missionaries. [[spoiler:She approaches a DespairEventHorizon when she learns that Elder Cunningham had completely bastardized the teachings of the Mormon church and thus the stories that he told were all fabrications, but her fellow villagers pull her back from the brink when they reveal that they ''knew all along'' that the stories were not real and had instead interpreted them as inspiring parables which had convinced ''them'' to become idealists.]]
* The Hunyak, the lone innocent inmate from ''{{Theatre/Chicago}}''. She insists Uncle Sam will not put her in jail because Uncle Sam is fair and just. This is in a play that satirises how the media transforms murder into a form of entertainment and makes celebrities out of criminals. The Hunyak, being an immigrant who can't speak english beyond 'Not guilty' doesn't get that treatment so cannot hope to get a decent lawyer to defend her. [[spoiler: As a result she's the only inmate who gets hanged.]]

** [[WrenchWench Tali]] and [[AdventurerArchaeologist Liara]] in ''VideoGame/{{Mass Effect|1}}'' (Liara, in fact, is the party member who always promotes the Paragon option in every situation, regardless of who she's teamed with), [[JadeColoredGlasses less]] [[BreakTheCutie so]] in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the sequel]]. Kaiden is a lesser example- he's very idealistic, but he's also a military officer who's seen some very bad things and knows first hand that the galaxy is not a nice place.

* This is occasionally implied to be the case with Batman in the [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries Arkham series]], such as one instance in ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Origins]]'' where he encounters a homeless person being harassed by the police and tells him to go to a shelter. The homeless man tells him that the police ''find'' them at the shelters, and goes on to say that the teenage villain Anarky, who has a very simplistic world view, still is able to understand some things about the poor's situation that Batman doesn't.
* Virginia Maxwell from ''VideoGame/WildArms3'' is idealistic to a fault as she heads out into the wasteland in search of justice. Her ideals get torn to shreds pretty early on with near constant betrayals by [[SmugSnake Janus Cascade]] and being constantly berated by [[TheRival Maya Shroedinger]]. Even her own allies believe she has more heart than sense. However, later in the game she matures her ideals rather than abandoning them so they become more practical but still optimistic.

* ''WebVideo/{{Vigilant}}'': Somewhat subverted in that Wayne realizes the city is evil and needs a hero. However, Wayne believes that the vigilantes are the good guys, and is shocked from his idealism when [[spoiler: V kills the man who killed her parents instead of turning him in to the police.]]

--> '''Gwen''': Have you ever had a bad thought about ''anyone''?

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' severely deconstructs this trope: In the first part, Don Quixote cares more for fulfilling his fantasies than for anyone else. He is confident that the farmer Haduldo will stop flogging the boy Andrés and that the Galley slaves he liberates will be grateful enough to do him a favor. (They're not.) His actions make him the original LordErrorProne. In the second part, it goes FromBadToWorse: Don Quixote really acts ForHappiness and after some MassiveMultiplayerScam adventures that convince him he is a real KnightErrant he must face the sad fact that he has not helped anyone and therefore, all those ChivalricRomance tropes were BlatantLies. This is so heartbreaking that he becomes BoredWithInsanity and dies. [[AnAesop Being called "Quixotic" is not always a good thing]].

** Garvin in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E15ThineOwnSelf Thine Own Self]]". Even while sickly and barely able to move, Garvin believes that Data isn't trying to hurt anyone. Of course, he'd done nothing to make her think he was doing them any harm, making it justified.

* In the early seasons of ''TheSimpsons'', Lisa started out as this but as the series progressed, she became a DeadpanSnarker who has as much compassion as a housecat towards her own brother and Homer from time to time.

** ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'': Sombra and Twilight Sparkle discuss this trope in regards to Twilight Velvet. He says that she was this when she was a part of Xcution and, like Twilight, wanted peace between the Quincy and Soul Society. However, he also says that she became jaded due to Soul Society's actions, turning in to the woman she is today. He thinks that the same thing will happen to her. Twilight, naturally, doesn't believe him.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': {{Reconstructed}} with Anna. She's extremely idealistic by nature and naive. She thinks Hans is her One True Love after less than day, only to find out he's a murderous Gold Digger. She also believes Elsa is just misunderstood when the latter freezes the whole kingdom, but turns out to be right. By the end of the movie, she's become more discerning and realistic, but still retains her idealism. The casting call for the Broadway version even outright says "her greatest flaw – and her greatest strength – is her faith in love".

* ''Fanfic/CodePrimeR1Rebellion'': As in canon, Suzaku is this. {{Deconstructed}} further than in canon, though, because his tendency to see only the best in people means that he fails to recognize just how monstrous Megatron is, which also blinds him to how evil the Decepticons are.