[[CandyCandy http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orphansplottrincket.jpg]]
[[caption-width:300:Gift from my prince...]]

Orphans get a disproportionate amount of attention from the plot of any given story, and is it any wonder why? [[ParentalAbandonment Orphanhood]] is a plot ''gold mine''.

Right up there with a propensity to stare wistfully out windows, orphans collect an alarming number of plot-relevant knick-knacks. They will usually be a [[MementoMacGuffin necklace or locket]], and generally be a clue to the orphan's family, though they may have some [[PlotCoupon other plot purpose]], but they will always be inherited from the [[ChangelingFantasy family in question]]. [[AncestralWeapon Mysterious swords and the like]] are very common. If the trinket saves the orphan's life by blocking an attack, it's also a PocketProtector.

Why living families are so lacking in portrait lockets and the like may forever remain a mystery.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Sheeta's pendant in the anime ''Laputa: The Castle in the Sky''.
** Pazu's photograph of Laputa, also.
*** That's part plot trinket, part metagag: the Joke is that Patzu's father is strongly implied to be Gulliver. Yes, that [[GulliversTravels Guliver.]]
* The similarly inspired Blue Water held by Nadia in ''[[NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]''
* Sara's musical necklace from ''SoukouNoStrain''.
* Arika's pendant in ''{{Mai-Otome}}''.
* Mikoto and [[spoiler:Reito's]] matching pendants in ''{{Mai-HiME}}''. Mikoto's even flares up when she goes into "[[UnstoppableRage beast mode]]".
* ''FullmetalAlchemist''(anime only). Two Ishbalan orphans carry a locket as a reminder of their dead mother, whom the older brother believes to have abandoned them during a raid. When he casts it to the ground out of bitterness, it pops open to reveal eye medicine, causing him to realize she was secretly blind. Not to mention the fact that it ''saves the younger brother's life'' in the very same episode.
* Pictured above: [[PluckyGirl Candace "Candy" White Andree]]'s locket in CandyCandy, given to her by "her Mountain Prince". [[spoiler: Who reappears several years later... and turns out to be Albert, her protector and the leader of the Andree clan.]]
* Suzaku Kururugi's old pocket watch (that belonged to his DisappearedDad) in CodeGeass, which was also a MementoMacGuffin '''and''' saved his life by shielding him from a bullet.
* Nadja Applefield's brooch in ''AshitaNoNadja''. The other mementos that either were sent to her in the beginning or she received later also fit to a degree, specially [[spoiler: the pink GorgeousPeriodDress and the NostalgicMusicBox]].
* Mireille's old watch in {{Noir}}.
* The titular Michiko Malandro and Hana "Hatchin" Morenos from, well, ''MichikoToHatchin'' share the same tattoos on their stomachs.
* ''BunnyDrop'' provides the somewhat mundane example of the plot trinket being a baby book with Rin's early medical information. It contains the first clue towards Rin's mother (the name "Masako") and is discovered to be where Daikichi's late grandfather hid his will.
* Eris' bracelet in ''NightWizard''.
* The reason why Cleao Everlasting tagged along with Orphen in SorcererStabberOrphen was because the sword he intends to use in the spell that will bring Azalie back is actually ''her'' OrphansPlotTrinket. More exactly, it belonged to her deceased father.
** Also, toyed with in regards to Lycoris Nielsen's headband. [[spoiler: She can't remember who gave it to her due to her FakeMemories, but it's later shwon that her older sister Esperanza did so. It still doesn't become a 100% Orphan's Plot Trinket, since Esperanza still lives ([[CameBackWrong sorta]], until she is killed and Lycoris's dad Marco Reika performs an HeroicSacrifice in the GrandFinale.]]
* In ''OnegaiTwins'' three orphans all have the same photograph of two toddlers in a swimming pool.
* In ''{{Blassreiter}}'' one of protagonists is an orphan. When he met his sister, she recognized him by [[spoiler:the cross]] he wore, the only thing left from his dead parents.
* GundamSeedDestiny - Shinn Asuka and his sister's handphone. It even parallels the music-playing-locket trope with his sister's last voice mail.
*KannazukiNoMiko - Himeko's pink clam shell necklace, although not until TheStinger.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''LittleOrphanAnnie'''s half-a-locket.
* One of the few things played mostly straight in ''{{Spaceballs}}'': Lone Starr's medallion.
* Will Turner's piece of treasure in ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean''.
* An odd variation appears in the film ''Waterworld''. The orphan character doesn't own any trinkets left her by her parents, although she does have that tattoo on her back. She does, however, hum a distinctive tune as she works on her drawings -- no one asks her about it, but presumably she doesn't remember where she got it from. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler: we come to a house on the only piece of dry land in the film, and the characters find a music box that plays the exact same song. The two skeletons lying on the nearby bed, then, are her parents.]]
* [[StarWars "Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight."]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In DanAbnett's GauntsGhosts novel ''First & Only'', Gaunt received his father's ring from his father's commanding officer, when he was orphaned. Later, he uses it for its security codes.
* PiersAnthony's ''IncarnationsOfImmortality'' has a few, most notable the living ring Sning, who's passed around quite a lot, down to Orlene (who gives it to her lover Norton, before he becomes the incarnation of Time). The catch is, [[spoiler: Orlene's not an orphan (though she thinks otherwise), both her parents are Immortal Incarnations. War and Nature respectively. And her grandmother is Fate.]]
* JimButcher's TheDresdenFiles: Harry's pentagram-shaped pendant, from his dead mother.
* Making this trope OlderThanRadio, ''OliverTwist'''s locket, which belonged to his mother Agnes and was the proof of his identity. [[spoiler: Sally the nurse stole it, then she gave it to Bumble's wife, and then she and Bumble gave it to Oliver's half-brother Edward Leeford aka Monks... who threw it into the Thames river to ruin Oliver's chance to inherit the fortune of their father. It didn't work, since Nancy and Mr. Brownlow still managed to help Oliver]].
* Esmeralda's necklace/baby slipper in ''{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}'' by Victor Hugo.
* Subverted in Esther Forbes' ''JohnnyTremain'' -- Johnny knows what the OrphansPlotTrinket does, but when he tries to use it to reconnect with his relatives, they refuse to see him. [[spoiler:They change their minds eventually.]]
* Tia's box in AlexanderKey's ''{{Escape to Witch Mountain}}''.
* Subverted in TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/{{Feet of Clay}}''. Nobby Nobbs, who comes from a poor family, has a shiny, golden ring, and could be a descendant of the throne to Ankh-Morpork. It later turns out that it is all a cunning plan, and the ring (and other valuable items he owns) were probably stolen by the countless generation of thieving Nobbs'.
**Well, except [[spoiler: that at the end of the book he mentions he has several ''other'' similar trinkets.]]
**Also, [[spoiler:Carrot Ironfoundersson]] is a) an orphan, b) has an old sword (beat up and completely nonmagical, but by Discworld logic this makes it an InfinityPlus1Weapon), and c) has an almost magical aura of leadership, but d) is not even ''slightly'' interested in being King.
* JKRowling uses this in the HarryPotter stories:
** ''{{Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone}}'': Harry himself has the InvisibilityCloak he inherited from his father, James.
** Considering all these necklaces, it's only fitting that the cruelest twist on the trope should come in locket form. It fits the letter of the trope exactly, but the spirit is a different matter altogether. Slytherin's Locket belonged to Voldemort's mother, Merope Gaunt, who sold it for a few galleons while pregnant, [[spoiler:and which her son later stole and turned into one of his [[SoulJar Horcruxes]].]] Voldemort also used to "collect" (that is, steal, after harming or killing their owners) "trophies", some of which were later [[spoiler:turned into [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] as well.]]
*In [[spoiler:Tombs of Atuan, the second]] {{Earthsea Trilogy}} [[spoiler:book, Ged finds the {{MacGuffin}} on an island inhabited only by an orphaned brother and sister who turn out to be of royal descent]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* "Professor Yana" in the ''DoctorWho'' episode ''Utopia'' [[spoiler:has a very significant pocket watch he was found with as an "orphan in the storm".]]
* Andros' [[spoiler:and Karone/ Astromena's]] matching lockets in ''PowerRangersInSpace''.
* ''{{Friends}}'': Chandler invokes this trope when he suggests that he and Monica give up one of their adopted children (which were unexpectedly twins):
-->'''Chandler:''' We'll give each of them half a medallion. Than, years from now, they'll find each other and put that medallion together, and be reunited. Now that's a fun day for everyone.
** Chandler clearly watches much too much television.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mythology ]]

* Theseus's father recognizes Theseus by the tokens he had left for him.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In the ''CallOfCthulhu'' board game ''Arkham Horror'', the Orphan starts with an Elder Sign.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theater ]]

* ''Oliver!'' is an adaptation of ''OliverTwist'', so naturally this trope occurs in the musical.
* Likewise ''Annie'''s.
* 'AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum'' has the gaggle-of-geese rings Erronius gave to his children before pirates kidnapped them as children.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Cless's pendant in ''{{Tales of Phantasia}}''.
* Luna's pendant in ''{{Lunar}}: The Silver Star''.
* Rena's pendant in ''Star Ocean: The Second Story''.
* Relm's Memento Ring in ''FinalFantasyVI''.
** Also Terra's Pendant. Though it's never really referred to in the plot, it is sitting there in your Key Items inventory.
* The Holy materia in ''FinalFantasyVII''.
* In ''FinalFantasyV'', Faris' pendant is not a PlotCoupon, but does serve as a ''really obvious'' foreshadowing to LukeIAmYourFather.
* The user-named girl's pendant in ''Mystic Quest'' (a.k.a. ''Final Fantasy Adventure'', the first game in the ''Seiken Densetsu''/''Mana'' series).
* [[spoiler:Apollo's bracelet]] in ''Apollo Justice: AceAttorney'', although it is never acknowledged as such by the character in question. [[spoiler:Also, he's not exactly an orphan.]]
* Ephraim and Eirika, the main characters of ''FireEmblem: The Sacred Stones'', honorary orphans as of the opening cutscene, have [[spoiler: the Lunar and Solar Bracelets, which are very handy for opening sacred shrines and giving the two of them their class promotion.]]
** Don't forget Neimi's handmirror. If not for it, you wouldn't have the recently orphaned [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Colm]] and [[StraightArrow Neimi]] in your party; also, several of Neimi's supports allude to how important it is for her. [[spoiler: It was owned by Neimi's [[MissingMom deceased mother]], a high-ranked cleric.]]
** In ''Path of Radiance'', while Ike and Mist do become orphans at the beginning of the game, their mother died before the game's events. As such they have two mementos from her: a medallion that she carried and left for Mist, and a lullaby.
* Tetra's charm in ''TheLegendOfZelda: The Wind Waker'', which turned out to actually be [[spoiler:a piece of the Triforce, passed down by the royal family, meaning she's really the current Quee, er… [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess Zelda]]]].
* Dante and Vergil's lockets in DevilMayCry. Also, their swords - Yamato, Rebellion, and Force Edge - to a lesser extent.
* Shing's Soma in ''TalesOfHearts'' is inherited from his grandfather. Kohak Hearts carries his memento of his mother, and TheAce Chalcedny carries the memento of ''her'' mother.
* Lloyd's Exsphere in ''TalesOfSymphonia'' [[spoiler:which was grown on his mother and refined perfectly, allowing him to have angel wings in the finale]].
* Played straight in ''CastleOfTheWinds'' with the Amulet of Kings.
* Dart from ''LegendOfDragoon'' retrieved a shiny red stone which belonged to his rather from the ashes of his DoomedHometown. It turns out that [[spoiler: the stone is one of several Dragoon stones which [[TransformationTrinket allow you to turn into a]] [[SuperMode dragoon]], his father was 600 years old (and fought in a war to save humanity) and, [[LukeIAmYourFather isn't really dead]]]].
* The Dragon's Tear from ''BreathOfFire II''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Agatha's locket in the webcomic ''GirlGenius'' has pictures of her missing parents, and also [[spoiler:suppresses her mad scientist abilities]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The animated feature ''{{Anastasia}}'' had the title character's "Together in Paris" necklace.
* Gosalyn's lullaby in the pilot for ''DarkwingDuck''.
* Esteban's medallion in ''TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold''.
* In ''TheLandBeforeTime'', Littlefoot is given a Treestar (star shaped leaf) by his mother before she dies. The significance is that there is almost no food in the area and the little there is is dying. This one leaf was still very green. However half way throught he movie, Littlefoot is forced to leave it behind when the BigBad attacks and it gets crushed.
* Robyn Starling from TheMovie of ''TomAndJerry'' had one. Or, she would if the film were actually real, and not just a [[DisContinuity a figment of our deranged imaginations]].
* Even ''WinnieThePooh'' gets in on this action in ''The Tigger Movie'', in which Tigger is suddenly revealed to own an ''empty'' locket that supposedly connects him to his long-lost family. [[spoiler: They turn out not to exist. We never find out where the locket came from.]]
* The writers [[AssPull pulled one out of their asses]] for [[{{Futurama}} Leela]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]


* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundling_Hospital Foundling Hospital]] in London has cabinets of these tokens, left by mothers surrendering their children in the 1700s. This troper finds those [[TearJerker particularly heartbreaking]], as the tokens were never returned to the children, thus none of the children could actually trace their heritage.

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