Line #112 Main/StreetUrchin


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sm_14tokai.jpg]]
2
3	->''Riff-raff, street rat\
4	I don't buy that\
5	If only they'd look closer\
6	Would they see a poor boy? No, siree\
7	They'd find out they're so much more to me''
8	-->-- '''Aladdin''', "One Jump Ahead" (reprise), ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}''
9
10	A kid, usually an orphan, who has lived on the streets for most of their short life. Survival is a matter of stealing whatever they need, doing odd jobs, and/or stuff you'd probably rather not think about. They may actually have a home or family, but the situation there may be so bad that living on the streets is preferable, or they're out stealing for their family's sake.
11
12	The vast majority of them usually grow up into street gangs or worse, but the ones we usually deal with have a run-in with the hero of the story. Older characters usually end up becoming an older brother or father to them, or at least friends. In this case, they might end up RecruitedFromTheGutter.
13
14	Street Urchins are usually boys, but having the character suddenly revealed to be a {{tomboy}} is just as common. Not quite a WholesomeCrossdresser, she just really doesn't have the money for any feminine clothes. Not to mention that, [[NoWomansLand in many places like this]], it's probably for the best that some people ''not'' [[SweetPollyOliver know you're a girl]]. Though there are a few examples of openly and obviously female urchins.
15
16	Expect them to have a Cockney accent, even if they're American. They also tend to wear flat caps.
17
18	If the character seems perfectly happy with their lot in life and practically seems to thrive on the streets, then you have yourself TheArtfulDodger. If this character grows up into a hardened survivor and is proud of his hungry years, you've got a SatisfiedStreetRat. If your character isn't human, expect an EarNotch or two. They may end up regularly assisting the heroes as a BakerStreetRegular.
19
20	A very sad case of TruthInTelevision, but far, ''far'' worse out here.
21	----
22	!!Examples:
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26	* In the first volume of ''Manga/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'', Angelo tries to help one, and it doesn't go well. Later, he finds the same kid again and is able to actually help him into a better situation.
27	* Duo Maxwell in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' is shown to have run in a gang of urchins in the prequel manga, ''Episode Zero.'' He ends up getting set on the path to being a HumongousMecha pilot when terrorists hold his friends, and the Nun and Priest caring for them, and offers to steal a mobile suit to get them freed. He actually pulls it off, too, but true to his later persona as a BrokenHero, it doesn't end well.
28	** The novelization of TheMovie takes it a step further by showing his life before the church: he was the second-in-command of a group of street urchins led by a young man named Solo. When Solo caught a nasty disease whose vaccine was reserved for the rich, the boy stole some but didn't make it back in time. He never got sick himself, which he attributed to Solo watching over him and took on the name "Duo" to symbolize that they'd always be a team. Duo becomes the gang's new leader, which is where he is when his chapter of ''Episode Zero'' starts.
29	* Hakuron in ''Manga/HaouAiren'' spent a while like this, until taken in by TheTriadsAndTheTongs.
30	* Kotaro Inugami in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' is a [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Demon]] who, thanks to his nature, was able to survive by performing work as a mercenary. He ends up becoming a rival to Negi, follows him to Mahora, and ends up getting unofficially adopted by one of his students.
31	** Also, [[spoiler: Tohsaka]] used to be one as a kid.
32	* Yahiko Myoujin in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', after his ill mother's death.
33	* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Renji and Rukia were like this when they were kids. Kenpachi Zaraki and his lieutenant were a DarkerAndEdgier version of this.
34	** Also, Gin and Rangiku.
35	* Neneko in ''Anime/{{Yumeria}}'' seems to live on the streets most of the time.
36	* In the ''Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' manga, a young Ryouji Kaji grows up among a gang of war orphans; of course, since this is Evangelion, it all eventually ends in terrible tragedy.
37	* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'''s Firo Prochainezo used to be one, being orphaned at age nine (and fatherless before that) and forced to make it on his own in one of New York's seedier neighborhoods. He stumbled into [[TheMafia the Camorra]] after attempting to pick-pocket one of their higher-ranking executives.
38	** Jacuzzi's delinquent gang is also composed of these.
39	* Revy of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' had a terribly abusive father, and spent much of her life on the mean streets of New York's Chinatown.
40	* This is part of [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Chibodee Crockett's]] history before he was scouted by an agent and made it big in boxing.
41	** Same goes to his FourGirlEnsemble, whom he specifically took in as he saw his past situation reflected in theirs.
42	* Garrod Ran from ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX''. He tells Tiffa in the second episode that he was at first raised by his widowed father, but then his dad died and found himself completely alone.
43	* [[spoiler: Meg]] from ''Anime/BurstAngel''.
44	* Brian Hawk from ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' has this past. In ''no way'' is this a FreudianExcuse for his behaviour, however.
45	* In ''Manga/TheSecretAgreement'', Yuuichi, having been orphaned in the war ([[ParentalAbandonment or so he thought]]), grows up on the streets but is able to turn himself into a SelfMadeMan. He's not rich and he's still lower class, but he can comfortably support himself which is pretty good considering how he started off.
46	* This is part of [[CuteAndPsycho Alois']] backstory in ''Manga/BlackButler''.
47	* Kei in the animated ''Anime/IriaZeiramTheAnimation''.
48	* Luffy, his brother Ace, and [[spoiler:their other brother Sabo]] from ''Manga/OnePiece'' spent their childhood together as a little gang of street urchins. They were particularly infamous amongst the local cooks for their skill at playing 'dine and ditch'.
49	** Well, they ''played'' at being street urchins. Luffy and Ace were placed under the care of Makino (and later Dadan) by Garp, and [[spoiler:Sabo was the son of nobles.]]
50	* In ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', this was Chantez's lot in life until Sister Schach [[DefeatMeansFriendship befriended her when the former tried to mug the latter]], then [[HappilyAdopted raised her as a knight in training]] in the [[SaintlyChurch Saint Church]].
51	* ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive'' establishes the current tone/mood of the Zufu nation with a scene of an open-stall market, where people are arguing over the price of apples. When two boys hiding in a TotemPoleTrench are caught stealing apples, they run away from the proprietor, bringing the apples they stole back to their gang of a half-dozen group of similarly poorly clothed kids.
52	* ''Manga/EmmaAVictorianRomance'' provides a rare female example in the title character, Emma. As a child, she was kidnapped from her (desperately poor) home and barely escaped being sold into prostitution. She lived on the streets of Victorian London for the next few years selling flowers and begging for food until Kelly Stownar took her in to test the hypothesis that ''anyone'' can succeed if given a good education.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Comic Book]]
56	* ''Creator/DCComics'':
57	** ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': The ComicBook/PostCrisis incarnation of Jason Todd (Robin II[=/=]ComicBook/RedHood).
58	** This trope is a common element in backstories for ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}. Usually, it goes that she ran away from an abusive, destitute home to live on the streets of Gotham as a young girl, and developed the thieving and parkour skills she would become infamous for to survive.
59	** Another DC comics example is [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueofAmerica Gypsy (Cindy Reynolds)]].
60	** The second [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Batgirl]], Cassandra Cain, is a runaway who lived on her own for almost ten years, somehow making it from Macau to Gotham in the process, with no communication skills or idea how to survive in society, due to having been raised up to that point in a secluded bunker.
61	** Billy Batson, the original [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], started out as the most wholesome but self-reliant street kid imaginable before being taken in by the same foster family that was already caring for his sister.
62	** The Golden Age ComicBook/{{Guardian}} was a police officer in his non-costumed identity and ended up taking in a whole cadre of streetwise orphans known as the Newsboy Legion who had gotten into trouble with the law but were mostly good kids just fighting to survive and used to relying on each other rather than any adults.
63	* After his reincarnation by [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], Loki spent some time as one of these in France, not having his godly memories or powers. He worked as a con artist with another unnamed child until Thor restored his memories (up to the age he was at, anyway)...
64	* Sherri from ''ComicBook/TheCrow''. Renamed Sarah for [[Film/TheCrow the film]].
65	* In ''ComicBook/PeterPan'', Peter is friends with a group of them. They end up going with him to Neverland and becoming the Lost Boys.
66	* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
67	** ComicBook/{{Storm\|MarvelComics}} started out as one of these after an [[ParentalAbandonment airplane crashed atop the Cairo home of her Black American father and Kenyan mother]]. She had a solid claim to being the best pickpocket and escape artist in the city by the time she hit puberty only to wander south along the Nile on impulse, have her powers kick in, and spend the bulk of her adolescence as a Weather Deity made manifest on the Serengeti. To this day, her street urchin skills come in handy in combat. She hasn't met a lock she couldn't pick. In fact, when wearing a costume that features it, ''her tiara contains a number of lock picks.''
68	** ComicBook/{{Jubilee\|MarvelComics}}, after the murder of her parents. She spent a few years living on the streets of L.A., doing fireworks shows with her abilities, before being picked up by the X-Men when the X-women at the time (Dazzler, Rogue, Storm and Psylocke) went for a shopping spree in a L.A. mall.
69	** ComicBook/{{Gambit\|MarvelComics}} spent most of his young life being raised to be a thief by thieves in the streets and swamps of [[TheBigEasy Louisiana]]. When he met Storm for the first time, she suffered from LaserGuidedAmnesia and briefly returned to her thieving ways. The two quickly became partners in crime.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Fan Works]]
73	* Dee from ''Fanfic/DJINNWayToHome'' [[TheRunaway left her foster parents]] after [[spoiler: her foster father tried to molest her]] and lived on the streets for a year before the story begins, getting some help and advice from an experienced older homeless woman and passing herself off as a boy. She's actually {{Bifauxnen}} enough to fool Will when they first meet. Her experiences in the foster system and on the streets have given her the determination and skills to become a good [[ChosenOne Keeper of the Heart]], but also ladens her with several [[BrokenBird severe]] [[DoesNotLikeMen personal]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight issues]].
74	* Fan Works based on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' commonly characterise Scootaloo as such, due to the show's failure to provide any canon information on her family in over four seasons, and only once showing her living ''anywhere''. ''Fanfic/ATasteOfTheGoodLife'' has her living in an abandoned restaurant, which is bought by the Main character.
75	* In ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', Sanakan and Hugh [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype deconstruct]] this by showing how unlikely for orphaned pickpockets like them to [[TheArtfulDodger thrive]] in the streets and [[SatisfiedStreetRat be satisfied]] with their life. They manage to reside in a village as shelter, only for it to be attacked by [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores the Black Dogs]]. Hugh ends up getting [[EyeScream stabbed in the eye]] by an orc, [[LeftForDead left to bleed out]]; Sanakan gets taken by a group of those mercenaries to a church, rounded up along with the village women for an orgy. Were it not for Kyril [[BigDamnHeroes cleaning up the entire village of the Black Dogs]] and finding the two by chance, the two would be doomed. They won't even survive one chapter in a CrapsackWorld that's HarmfulToMinors.
76	* ''Fanfic/SingToMe'' depicts [[Manga/DeathNote L's]] childhood. Having no other relatives who will take him in, L becomes one of these after his mother dies.
77	* In the ''Fairy Tail'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12908239/1/The-Spirit-Doll The Spirit Doll,]]'' when [[spoiler:Lucy]] goes missing her daughter becomes this but only for a little over a week. [[ContrivedCoincidence Luckily]], she has a run-in with Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Happy. They take her in and decide to help find her mother, especially when they find out who she is.
78	* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndSevenYearsOfChaos'', Harry was evicted by his relatives and spent three years living on the streets of London before receiving his Hogwarts letter.
79	* In ''{{Fanfic/Everqueen}}'', Horus grows up as one on Chtonia and is leading a gang of such kids.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
83	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' is one of many children who grew up on the streets of Agrabah. Jafar was all too keen to sacrifice Aladdin for his scheme because in his mind, who would notice one more vanished street rat?
84	* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' has a few of these, and Fievel, a child in search of his family, nearly becomes one himself.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
88	%%* The Kid in ''Film/DickTracy''.
89	* ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'': Jamal and his brother Salim grew up like this after the slum they lived in was attacked during a religious riot.
90	* The Dead End Kids, who starred in many gangster movies from the 1930s and '40s including ''Film/{{Dead End\|1937}}'' and ''Film/AngelsWithDirtyFaces''. They always played the same characters, a gang of orphan kids living in the street and always up to no good.
91	%%* ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940'': Abu.
92	* The scary-ass kids from the movie Film/{{Hostel}}.
93	* The movie ''Film/MoulinRouge'' actually has a Can-Can girl dressed as a street urchin.
94	* ''Film/SalaamBombay'': 12-year-old Krishna isn't an orphan but he might as well be, as his mother has thrown him out of the house. That's why he's fighting to survive on the streets of Bombay, sleeping in alleyways and working odd jobs, and hanging out with heroin addicts.
95	* ''Film/{{Shoeshine}}'' is about two street urchins trying to survive as shoeshine boys in 1944 Rome right after the Allied liberation. They have a DownerEnding.
96	* Norwegian feature film ''Film/StreetUrchins'' has several. Only one of the boys fits the trope completely though.
97	* ''Film/{{Anino}}'': There are a lot on the slums of Manila. The photographer protagonist stupidly gives a shirtless street urchin his camera to look at, only to turn around and find that the urchin has disappeared with the camera.
98	* ''Film/HoaBinh'' is about a 10-year-old boy, orphaned with his toddler sister on the streets of 1969 Saigon, struggling to stay alive in a country suffering through the Vietnam War.
99	* ''Film/{{Solo}}: A Franchise/StarWars Story'' serves as an origin story for everyone's favorite smuggler/scoundrel, revealing that Han grew up a "scrum rat" on the streets of Corellia; he didn't even have the last name Solo until he applied to the Imperial Academy.
100	* ''Film/{{Ana}}'': Ana is a street-smart urchin who uses theft, persuasion, and charm to get what she needs.
101	* ''Film/Zorro1975'': Chico, a streetsmart urchin lad who befriends Miguel early on; the urchin recounting the "legend of a black spirit to save the people" is what inspired Miguel to become the legend himself, tie titular crusader known as Zorro.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Literature]]
105	* ''Literature/TheAfterward'': Olsa is seventeen and has lived on the street for many years, surviving through theft.
106	* Stevie in the Caleb Carr novels ''Literature/TheAlienist'' and ''Angel of Death'' is a street urchin.
107	* In ''Literature/TheBorribleTrilogy'', street urchins are sort of the embryonic form of the immortal, elfin Borribles -- particularly successful and cunning urchins "evolve" into Borribles.
108	* Nisha from ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'' came to Kolkata with her family when she was a young child. She was separated from them in the marketplace and never saw them again. She no longer remembers what her name was - instead, she was known for most of her childhood as Sweeper Girl because she swept in front of a soda stall in exchange for being allowed to sleep under it.
109	* Creator/TamoraPierce started with one in her ''Literature/{{Circleverse}}'' series.
110	** Until Niko found him Briar was an orphaned street kid who survived through theft with other urchins in a thieves' gang. Later in the books he always interacts with the street urchins from whatever town they're currently in. ''[[Literature/CircleOfMagic Briar's Book]]'' also had street kids in the opening, before it became a magical-epidemiology-procedural drama.
111	** Briar picks up Evvy during ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Street Magic]]'', the only "unganged" urchin he seems to ever meet. Evvy later got her [[Literature/MeltingStones own book]].
112	* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's "Literature/CitizenOfTheGalaxy" the protagonist Thorby is first shown identifying as an Artful Dodger character, but adopting the public persona of a street urchin begging for alms. He adopts other tropic personae as the novel progresses.
113	* ''Literature/DarkShores'': Finn from ''Dark Skies''. He's about ten, wears shabby clothes, and lives with other abandoned children in the sewers of Mudaire. His mother is dead and when his father was conscripted, the distant family he was living with, threw him out. Fortunately for him, he does not really have to steal, as Killian brings them leftover food from the palace. In return, Finn and other kids serve as Killian's eyes and ears in the city.
114	* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Night Watch\|Discworld}}'', the young Nobby Nobbs is described as a street urchin, on the grounds that he's small, prickly, and smells like fish. As the book was a pastiche of ''Les Miserables'', he served as the stand-in for Gavroche.
115	* Terry Pratchett's non-Discworld novel ''Literature/{{Dodger}}'' is set in a Victorian London almost identical to our own and has characters suspiciously reminiscent of those in ''Literature/OliverTwist''. Indeed, Charles Dickens himself is a major character who interacts with the streetwise Dodger.
116	* In the ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'', Sunandi used to live on the streets in Kisua before being adopted by master Kinja.
117	* ''Literature/EndersShadow'' includes Bean's backstory, which reveals how he grew up in a street urchin gang, amongst other, rival gangs. The leader who picked him up was named Poke, the cross-dressing kind of street urchin. Revealing this information was part of how Achilles had taken over control of her gang. Card got pretty graphic with his depections of street urchin life. The swollen bellies of hunger and just how much a meal counts, and the long-term emotional abnormality you get from trying to be self-sufficient so young. As badly as his heroes {{Angst}} about their selfish natures, his antagonists seem to revel in those same flaws.
118	* In Ben Kane's ''Literature/TheForgottenLegion'', Romulus befriends a street urchin named Mattius.
119	* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': Han's earliest memories were being on the street as a child by himself, with no clear memory of his past, begging to survive. Garris Shrike then "rescued" Han, though it turns out he has former street kids [[TheFagin beg, con or pickpocket for him]]. Many more children who used to be homeless lived there with Han on Shrike's ship, the ''Trader's Luck''. Later, when he's left all of that behind, Han meets one Jarik Solo, a supposed LongLostRelative who it turns out also had been a street kid. Han learns he isn't his relative, but feels very sympathetic with poor Jarik as a result of his own past, letting it slide and keep the name as he knows much he's got to desire a family. Jarik becomes [[FamilyOfChoice as good as family]] to him after this.
120	* Senka Skorik from Boris Akunin's ''Literature/HeLoverOfDeath'', living on the streets as a child, working for a crime gang.
121	* Lyra from ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' is a rare voluntary example: she was born and raised among the posh, wealthy nobility of Oxford and knows every single licentiate in the Jordan College, but she spends her days fighting against the kids from the other neighborhoods, stealing stuff from the docks, and climbing and sneaking around Jordan College during the night.
122	* Berry Zilwicki from ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' spent the first fifteen years of her life in the [[UnderCity underground slums of Old Chicago]], and much of that without her mother. While not portrayed in detail, her life is often stated to have been hellish, including [[RapeAsBackstory having been raped]]. The fact that she doesn't have much in the way of trauma is viewed as very remarkable.
123	** Berry's younger brother, Lars, also fits this trope.
124	* Flinx from Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series. Not only is Flinx an orphan who lived on the streets, as an adult after being adopted he takes some under his wing that fit the definition perfectly.
125	* ''Literature/{{Inkmistress}}'': Hal spent much of his childhood living on the street and had to survive by theft.
126	* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Zettai lived on the streets of Ceiha after the death of her parents and survived by smuggling contraband magical tomes and items. She's eventually caught and sentenced to death by hanging and that's where Eric comes in. [[spoiler: She's eventually adopted by Eric's mentor, Basilard.]]
127	* ''Literature/KindlingAshes'': Giselle is an orphan who lies in an alley. Her introduction is a gold smuggling job in a sewer.
128	* Creator/MercedesLackey's works:
129	** Nan from ''Literature/TheWizardOfLondon''.
130	** ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': Skif, at least to start out with.
131	** There was also another young Herald-Trainee in ''Arrows of the Queen'' who gets a mention on one of the ''Mage Winds'' books. He was one used for unsavory purposes.
132	* Kim in Creator/PatriciaCWrede's ''Literature/MairelonTheMagician''. A girl disguised as a boy, and for good reason.
133	* Fin of ''Literature/TheMapToEverywhere'', as his particular brand of BlessedWithSuck means that any potential caretakers simply forget about him as soon as he's out of sight (though this does make him an excellent thief).
134	* Mara from ''Literature/MaraDaughterOfTheNile'' combines this with being a [[BeautifulSlaveGirl slave]]. Her EstablishingCharacterMoment ''in-universe'' is stealing a number of honey cakes from a baker--but even though she enjoys stealing and deception, she only does it out of necessity and dreams of a better life.
135	* Mickey in Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/MichaelOHalloran'', of the odd jobs variety. He still lives in the apartment where he had lived with his mother; she had been at pains to teach him how, so he could escape the OrphanageOfFear.
136	* Most of the characters in ''Literature/LesMiserables'' had this kind of childhood, but Gavroche in particular embodies the trope.
137	* Vin from ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' by Brandon Sanderson was a street urchin who survived in relative physical and psychical health only because of her yet undeveloped but useful awesome magical talent.
138	* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' there are teenagers who "roam the corridors". Boys do so because their families couldn't find another family to marry them into, and girls do so because once they hit "husband high" no one, not even their own mothers, can tell them what to do. They are called "Stilyagi," after the counterculture of 50s Russia.
139	* ''Literature/OliverTwist'' features a boy who becomes a street urchin as the titular character, as well as many others in various conditions as supporting characters.
140	* In the ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'' series, Fergus grew up this way, living in a whorehouse, unsure which of the ladies was his mother, until adopted by Jamie. In places it's a ''very'' dark take on this trope -- for example, the fact that Fergus had also prostituted himself for money.
141	%%* Leisl in the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' novel ''Vampire of the Mists''.
142	* Zael Efferneti of the ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' books has been out on the streets since he was eleven, doing odd jobs for criminals to feed his crippling [[FantasticDrug flect]] addiction. A chance encounter with Nayl brings Zael to Ravenor’s attention and gives him a new lease on life.
143	* When the titular character of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' needed info from the street, he could always count on the Baker Street Irregulars, a gang of street urchins who have eyes and ears ''everywhere'' on the streets of London.
144	* In ''Literature/TheShipWho'' series, [[GeniusLoci Simeon, the protagonist]] of ''The City Who Fought'' found and managed to befriend a stowaway named Joat who'd been hiding out in his passageways and performing maintenance. At the urging of [[HandyHelper his new brawn]], Simeon offers to adopt Joat and is [[SamusIsAGirl surprised]] to hear that Joat is actually a girl. While there's some friction and the DepartmentOfChildDisservices interferes, ultimately Joat is HappilyAdopted, and a major help during the events of the novel, defending her home and "Pops" against invaders.
145	* Skate, Twitch, and other children in ''Literature/SkateTheThief'' either sleep on the street or else in hideouts of [[ThievesGuild the Ink]] in between bouts of larceny, dressed in tattered old clothes even in the middle of a snowy winter.
146	* Arya in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' spends some time playing the street urchin, both genuinely and as part of [[spoiler: learning to be a magical assassin]]. In the Dunk and Egg stories, Dunk recalls his earliest memories as an urchin in the slums of King's Landing. The streetfighting skills he learned there have saved him on more than one occasion.
147	* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/StormOverWarlock'', Shann's {{Backstory}} -- by the time of the story he has a job with the Survey, though somewhat precarious.
148	* In Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/TimePatrol'' story "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks", Pummairam.
149	* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': Jin Sato from ''Literature/{{Cryoburn}}'' is a street urchin. Somewhat unusually for this trope, he hasn't been on the streets his whole life, and he left his aunt and uncle not because they were horribly abusive, but because his aunt threatened to get rid of some of his pets, which include a falcon, rats, three hens, and a three-legged cat. [[spoiler:The real reason he couldn't stand living with his aunt and uncle is the way they've tried to obliterate the memory of his mother, out of fear of the MegaCorp who had her [[HumanPopsicle frozen]]]]. Miles thinks that he's TheArtfulDodger or a single BakerStreetRegular. This is a mistake.
150	** This is also part of Sergeant Bothari's backstory: after running away from home at the age of twelve to escape from being forced to work as a child prostitute, he lived on the streets as a member of one of the slum gangs of street children, until he was tall enough to pass for eighteen and join the army - by which time, of course, he would already have had plenty of experience of having to fight to survive. In some ways, Bothari's experience parallels Aral Vorkosigan's experience of having been a ChildSoldier from the age of eleven, long before he officially began his military service - although they had come from opposite ends of the social spectrum, neither of them had had the opportunity to have a normal childhood that people from other planets (like Cordelia) or from a later, more peaceful generation (like Miles) would take for granted.
151	* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', a runt named Tiny took to the streets after being told that humans throw unwanted kits in the river. His street life began pitiful and begging for scraps, but thanks to telling some tall tales and gradually BecomingTheMask, he ends up as Scourge, the feared leader of [=BloodClan=] (the city strays).
152	* Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/{{Westmark}}'' trilogy has the girl Mickle and the sister-and-brother duo Sparrow and Weasel.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
156	%%* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho''
157	* Detective Erin Lindsay on ''Series/{{Chicago PD}}'', prior to Sergeant Voight and his wife taking her in at age 16.
158	* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'': In "Sam's Missing" (the episode where Sam is kidnapped), how Donald Brown, the patriarch of a grieving family (they had lost their son weeks earlier in a tragic accident), tries to pass Sam off to his friends and even his own family ... a little kid who was lost, orphaned, living on the street and needed the love of a family. Problem was, both Sam and Mr. Brown knew this wasn't true.
159	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]] has Nancy and the group of younger kids she looks after.
160	* Chiana in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' before she joined the crew.
161	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': This is how Arya lives in King's Landing following her escape from the Red Keep.
162	* ''Series/GothamKnights2023'': Harper and Cullen are teenagers who'd lived on the street [[{{Delinquents}} surviving by theft]] after they fled their [[AbusiveParents abusive father]].
163	* Ariel the "Street Waif" from ''Series/KungFuTheLegendContinues'', and yes, the guy who came up with that term was made fun of.
164	* Gleb Zheglov from ''Series/TheMeetingPlaceCannotBeChanged'' was one in his childhood.
165	* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'': Vince Noir sometimes claims to have been one of these in his youth:
166	-->'''Vince:''' I'm a cockney bitch! I'm a ragamuffin from the streets.\
167	'''Howard:''' You're a French Duke. You lie around in hammocks all day eating soft cheese.
168	* ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': Jack and Z were street rats at the beginning, and stole food and clothing for the other homeless people.
169	* Lujan Linares was one (a "cartonerita") on ''Series/RebeldeWay''.
170	* This is implied to be part of Marguerite's backstory in ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld'': she had to evade gendarmes on the streets of Paris multiple times.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
174	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} Society'' organized play has a trait (a kind of {{perk}} only selectable at level 1) called "Child of the Streets", which is pretty much what it sounds like. It gives you a +1 bonus to Sleight of Hand skill checks and makes it your class skill if it wasn't already.
175	* The fifth edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has an Urchin option for a character background. It gives a proficiency bonus to Sleight of Hand and Stealth checks, as well as using Disguise Kits and Thieves' Tools. Furthermore, it allows you to cut travel time when wandering around a city, implied to by taking multiple shortcuts the urchin would have discovered as a kid.
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Video Games]]
179	* ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' reveals that Drake was this when he was a child.
180	* ''VideoGame/{{Discworld}}'' has a stereotypical Street Urchin.
181	** "Starfish, sir!"
182	* In ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'', there's the "Filthy street urchin". Being a {{roguelike}}, you can kill them, though they tend to show up in large gangs.
183	* Marco from ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia.''
184	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': Vaan and Penelo.
185	* Annah from ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' grew up as the "stealing for her family" variant.
186	* Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect'', if one chooses the [[MultipleChoicePast Earthborn Pre-Service History.]]
187	* Shows up in many a {{Fanfiction}} involving [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Reno]], but this seems to be WordOfDante more than anything else; his backstory really isn't mentioned.
188	* ''VideoGame/HectorBadgeOfCarnage'' episode 2 has Lambert meet one who is living in an abandoned fridge, lost his hand in a shoe shining accident and had it replaced by a hook. After he helps Lambert, Lambert [[spoiler: ends up adopting him.]]
189	* Garret, protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', used to be one. He got recruited into the order of the Keepers when he tried to pickpocket one of them (an impressive feat, considering they are masters of stealth).
190	* Kian Alvane from ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' reveals in ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'' to have been one before signing up as a ChurchMilitant.
191	* Spyke from the first ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'' is known to hang out in a back alley, offering services like slot expansions for equipment and ability rerolls at a premium cost. Being a humanoid sea urchin, he's as literal as this trope can possibly get. Murch, another sea urchin, takes his role in following games after seeing how Spyke managed to make enough cash to retire in his twenties.
192	* [[spoiler:Emma]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' is a sixteen year old girl who has apparently been living on the streets for years She is eventually taken in by Looker and [[spoiler:becomes the successor to his detective ageny]].
193	* ''VideoGame/CarteBlanche'' has the [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] example of Kid Butterfly, the newspaper boy. He grew up on the streets (protagonist Edgar comments on his privileged upbringing compared to the kid), and so learned to peddle info and effectively scam people, pulling tricks on Edgar as well.
194	-->'''Kid Butterfly:''' And please consider that I have s syphilitic mother to take care of. As well as five illegitimate brothers and sisters!
195	[[/folder]]
196
197	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
198	* Several characters are this in ''VisualNovel/RoseGunsDays'', starting with Wayne, who fled from his abusive foster family and survived alone before being picked up by Rose, after which he swears UndyingLoyalty to her. Season 2 also introduces Charles, Nina and Oliver, who are among the many orphans created by the Great Disaster. They were picked up by an old man who offered them shelter in exchange for… taking music lessons. Because they were used to life in the streets though, [[TrashOfTheTitans their apartment is a little bit messy.]]
199	* In ''VisualNovel/{{Sampaguita}}'', the 3rd game of the ''VisualNovel/{{Yarudora}}'' series:
200	** Main heroine Maria and her adopted older brother Boy were this in their early life in the Philippines. They were doing little jobs such as selling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasminum_sambac sampaguita flowers]] in the street crossroads, doing their best to survive. The game treats the player with a {{Flashback}} of these moments when Maria tells her past to the protagonist, after [[QuestForIdentity she has recovered her memories]] and fallen in love with him.
201	** A secondary character, Randy Santiago, also tells he was a Filipino street urchin in his younger days, while talking to the protagonist and giving him info about the Philippines.
202	* Gina Lestrade from ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'', who virtually has no faith in adults that she has no qualms in stealing from them. [[spoiler:By the second game, she somewhat drops her days as a diver after being offered a position as a rookie inspector under Inspector Gregson's wing thanks to Sholmes suggesting the idea.]]
203	[[/folder]]
204
205	[[folder:Webcomics]]
206	* ''Webcomic/DreamCatcher'' has Daemon, though for how long he's been one is a mystery.
207	* In ''Webcomic/LeastICouldDo'', Rayne employs a young orphan boy, appropriately called [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Urchin]], for various zany, self-serving errands and odd jobs. Eventually we learn that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Rayne also keeps Urchin fed, sheltered and educated]] until he can be adopted. Somewhat of a subversion in that Urchin is no longer on the streets.
208	%%* Webcomic/{{Guttersnipe}} is all about this trope.
209	* ''Webcomic/TheDreamlandChronicles'': [[http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-05/page-284/ Felicity lightly mentions that she grew up on the streets.]]
210	* Mia from ''Webcomic/TrueVillains'' had this sort of life, as revealed in the musical version. It holds true in the comic.
211	* Jose from ''Webcomic/{{Waterworks}}'' was a urchin in his youth, until he met a thug named Tubs and subsequently had a pretty good life serving as his lackey.
212	* Fotis and his friends from ''Webcomic/WithoutMoonlight'' live on the streets of Nazi-Occupied Athens and leap on Nazi trucks carrying food to steal it and survive.
213	[[/folder]]
214
215	[[folder:Web Original]]
216	* Cathalie Meguro and Mitch Gunther of ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', though they lived in an orphanage instead of on the streets.
217	* Sahar, in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. You do not want to be a girl who's an orphan on the streets of Beirut. Her powers kick in when she's being dragged off by a pimp who plans to make some money using her body.
218	* Eva in ''Literature/VoidDomain''. Not an orphan and technically has a home though she never visits. Prior to the story starting, she lives out in an abandoned hospital. After she gets a dorm room at the local WizardingSchool, she finds another abandoned building to hide some of her more questionable magical equipment.
219	* Street orphans in the city of Nebulosis in ''Podcast/TrialsAndTrebuchets'' turn to pickpocketing and other forms of petty thievery to find treasures to pay to the Djinn Zanak, who in turn allows them to stay in his party palace in the underground City of Ghosts under Nebulosis.
220	* While the main characters in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' are a team of mixed {{Child Soldier}}s and {{Human Weapon}}s, they get on well with the local street children of Radham, who they affectionately refer to as "the Mice," and are extremely protective of them, going out of their way to target those that would prey upon them. When Sy and Mary need to infiltrate another town, they reach out to the Mice, who get them in contact with a man from the city who used to be one but ended up in prison.
221	* ''Literature/CanYouSpareAQuarter'': 12-year old Jamie has run away from home several times and has been on the street for at least nine months after the last instance before Graham finds him. Over this time he has fed himself though theft, begging and selling himself for sex.
222	* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY this animated adaptation]] of a stand-up routine by Creator/PattonOswalt, the child from the ''Christmas Shoes'' song is depicted this way.
223	-->'''Patton:''' "His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe." So he's like a Dickensian street urchin! In a world full of hand sanitisers, he's, [fake Cockney accent] "Have you got a ha'penny, sir?... Then how about a smile?"
224	[[/folder]]
225
226	[[folder:Western Animation]]
227	* Tim Drake is portrayed like this in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', an amalgam of his comic origins and those of second Robin Jason Todd. His father was a criminal who ended up on the bad side of Two-Face, and he quickly found himself an orphan, just in time to get far too deep in the middle of one of Batman's cases.
228	* Julian from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cybersix}}''.
229	* Roxy from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' ran away from home at age thirteen and lived on herself until joining The Misfits. She apparently joined a non-violent gang. Roxy is secretly illiterate but in a VerySpecialEpisode learns to read.
230	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
231	** [[PromotedToParent Mako]] and his little brother [[TheCharmer Bolin]] grew up on the streets, and are explicitly referred to as Street Urchins by Butakha, the pro-bending organizer. They ran numbers "and stuff" for the [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triple Threat Triad]], before being taken in by Toza, who mentored them in [[FictionalSport pro-bending]] and arranged to let them live in the arena's attic apartment. There's also young Skoochy, a boy who likes to serve as an informant.
232	** Wan, who would become the very first Avatar, was one of these as well.
233	** The last Earthbender Avatar, Kyoshi, was one of these for a few years as revealed in ''Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi''. Her best friend Yun was also one until he was fourteen.
234	* [[MeaningfulName Urchin]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'' series.
235	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceAndThePauper1995'': Tom Canty and (briefly) Prince Edward.
236	* Homnibus' adopted son Justin in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "To Smurf A Thief" was one when he used to go by the name of Dipper.
237	* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'': WordOfGod (or specifically of Jymn Magon) says that before he took up with Don Karnage's air pirates, Kit Cloudkicker lived on his own, hitching rides or stowing away from one port to another.
238	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': KidHero Ezra Bridger is this at the start of the show until Kanan takes him as his Jedi apprentice.
239	[[/folder]]
240

Context Main / StreetUrchin