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Refia: I am thankful to Father for taking care of an orphan like me for all these years, but...this is something I have to do. Luneth: Wait...you're an orphan, too? Refia: "Too"? You mean— Arc: I'm one, too! Ingus: Wait a minute...I, too, have no parents...
All people come with a past, a family, friends, a heritage, in other words: Every person has roots!
This past is often a big chain on the character. The character needs an excuse to leave their family behind, or the character needs to constantly visit their parent and other family members in between adventures. Otherwise the hero can't believably be a social, or likable good guy.
Orphaned heroes on the other hand, never have to deal with all that. They are heroes with no roots, that doesn't need an excuse to go on wild adventures. Heroes who can afford to suddenly decide to stay away for days, they don't have anyone waiting for them at home!
Conveniently, these heroes can answer the Call To Adventure because they don't have other responsibilities. This lack of older responsibilities is also exactly what allows the heroes to take on the new responsibilities that come from being hero.
Often used as character backgrounds in tabletop adventures: Such a character's background often consists of "My parents were killed by (insert Always Chaotic Evil race here), so he's out for revenge". Aside from conveniently leaving no 'annoying' ties to the past to keep the character away from the Call To Adventure, it can also result in a You Killed My Father moment should the villain race (or the Big Bad if he's responsible) appear.
Handily prevents the sadistic Game Master from exploiting 'weak links' that can get kidnapped or killed off. If the fates of the missing parents are left nebulous, it also opens the door for that infamous twist where one of them turns out to be a villain. You know the one.
Oddly enough, family outside of parents is never mentioned. Apparently no one ever has grandparents or cousins, although having an uncle (and sometimes aunt) as surrogate parents is a common mythological motif. Siblings seem to only show up for plot-based reasons — and not Promotion To Parent, which would give them responsibilities. One wonders how the world manages to get populated when every couple only has one child. Surrogate parents show up more regularly in the form of Raised By Natives, they tend to die a lot too.
The hero's orphaning is also a nice triggering point for the hero's journey. This part of the Hero's backstory is often covered in a Flash Back. If the orphaning happens at the very beginning of the story, instead of in the background, it's usually covered by Doomed Hometown.
If the character does have parents, but they have so little influence on his life that he behaves as if he has no family responsibilities anyway, or it just isn't talked about period, it's Parental Abandonment.
May lead to Tell Me About My Father
Contrast with Orphan's Ordeal, where the loss of parents is the plot, rather than simply enabling the plot.
Examples:
Anime
- Naruto.
- Orphen.
- Pretty much applies to most of the main characters in Chrono Crusade:
- Rosette and Joshua's parents died in a ship wreck when they were young children, and after that they spent most of their life in an orphanage—until Joshua is taken by Aion (and the orphanage is destroyed in the process), which causes Rosette to join the Order to try to find her brother again.
- Azmaria's parents either abandoned her because of her powers, or were killed during the war, depending on which version you're following.
- Satella's parents were killed by demon when she was a child. Her sister was also kidnapped by the demon—leading her on a journey similar to Rosette's.
- 80% of all characters in G Gundam are orphans, major and minor characters, and a few of them have only one parent. The rest are undetermined. For many of them, this plays a role in why they became Gundam Fighters.
- Hayate of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, which allowed her to raise a family of sentient alien programs on her own since the age of nine and, as mentioned in the supplementary comics, move to Mid-childa before she even graduated from high school. Like most orphans, she does have an "uncle" who was a friend of her father's taking care of her, although it's only financially and it turns out that he never knew her father.
- Most of the Strawhat crew in One Piece are victims of this trope, often more than once. Both Nami and Franky, for example, were orphaned at a young age, but taken in and raised by a kind foster parent...only for them to die as well. But they've still got it better than Robin, who didn't just lose her parents, but HER ENTIRE HOME ISLAND, of which she is the only survivor. Most of the others seem to have absentee parents of one form or another; the only member whose mother and father are both seen is Usopp, a victim of both this trope AND parental abandonment (his dad left to become a pirate, and his mom died shortly after. You think he'd had his dad, but he actually idolizes him.)
- For a while, it seemed that Luffy was a victim of this trope as well, his lack of parentage explained with a throwaway remark that "that kid has no parents" in the first chapter. Years later, we learned that Luffy was actually raised by his grandfather, and that his dad, at least, is alive (he's just the most wanted man in the world, which can make it tough to raise a kid.)
- Simon of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann lost his parents in an earthquake before the start of the series, so when his blood brother Kamina decides they're going to the surface, he doesn't have anything holding him back. In a twist, Gimmy and Darry are chosen to go to the surface explicitly because they don't have family who will mourn their departure.
- Nearly all of the members of the Gatchaman team are orphans, except for Ryu and Ken prior to his father's Heroic Sacrifice. This is the main reason Ryu is usually left tending the Phoenix while the others get all of the action; he still has a family that would miss him if anything happened to him.
- Pretty much all of the main cast in Full Metal Panic, minus Mao (who is apparently very estranged with her family, especially her father). Slightly justified, in that all the main cast are very messed up, Child Soldier Teen Geniuses that could hardly have a semblance of normal background. This is actually lampshaded in the novels, during the Behemoth Arc, where Takuma wallows in self-pity due to his being an orphan. Kaname proceeds to ridicule him, pretty much asking him "So what?" and continuing to point out that pretty much everyone in the room is an orphan: Sousuke, Tessa, and even herself.
- Sousuke is more of a textbook example, as his being rendered an orphan helps justify why he can keep risking his life with no regard for consequences. Although his mother dying for his sake and her dramatic Last Words telling him he must "live," "never give up," and "fight!" does have the other purpose of making him the Crazy Survivalist he is today, it mainly seems to serve as a plot device to allow the readers to realize he simply has no one waiting for him.
Comic Books
Film
- James Bond is an orphan.
- Used as a (possible) plot point; he/
they are chosen because he's an orphan, so family is not a factor upon training/travelling, nor will it be leverage should he be captured.
- A great many of the main characters in Star Wars are orphans. Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker are both orphans. Both Luke and Leia are orphaned - twice. Furthermore, it is implied that Obi-Wan Kenobi (and most of the Jedi) are taken from their parents at an early age and raised communally with the Jedi.
Literature
- Frodo Baggins was orphaned at twelve, but was raised in his family's home by said extended family; when he turned 21 (adult-ish but not yet legally adult for hobbits) he was adopted by and went to live with his 'uncle' Bilbo.
- Oliver Twist is an orphan.
- Kinsey Millhone loves being an orphan (was raised by her aunt).
- Harry Potter is an orphan, raised by his aunt and uncle. J.K. Rowling has admitted to using this trope in interviews, and that the original drafts of the first book killed off Harry's parents rather anticlimactically—it wasn't until she lost her own mother that Harry's parents' sacrifices became an important plot point.
- Warhammer 40000 features many of them.
- Commissiars are required to be orphans. As a consequence
- Ragnor Blackmane, of William King's Space Wolf novels, is orphaned in the opening of the first. A major motivation for him is desire for Revenge on a fellow Space Marine who had been part of the opposing force.
- You would not believe how many characters in the Star Wars Expanded Universe are orphaned. Wedge Antilles lost both his parents when he was around twelve, Tycho Celchu was a pilot for the Empire whose entire family was on Alderaan, Corran Horn lost his mother to a speeder accident and his father to a criminal. Most of these characters are adults, and the loss of their parents spurred them to join the Rebellion. While her parents aren't dead, Mara Jade was taken from them at an early age and never looked back.
- The Essential Guide to Characters (first edition) says that Palpatine had her parents killed. There you go, Ben's never going to meet his grandparents now...
- The two assassin protagonists in Brotherhood of the Rose, by David Morrell, initially meet in an orphanage from which they're recruited by CIA chief Elliot, who presents himself as a surrogate father figure. They later discover that Elliot (and other members of his worldwide conspiracy) have done the same thing with other orphans, in order to create a team of Elite Mooks who'll obey their orders without question.
- In the CHERUB books, every character as part of CHERUB is an orphan. Means they can be trained up as spies without parents wondering whats going on.
- A Series Of Unfortunate Events has many orphans, including the three main characters and Count Olaf, whose parents were killed by the Baudelaire parents.
Live Action TV
- Bones - Dr. Brennan's emotional interface may be glitchy, but any one she deals with who comments on her inability to sympathize gets slammed when they find out she lost her parents at a young age, conveniently explaining why she might come off disturbed but assuring everyone that she understands.
- Which has always struck This Troper as strange, because it's mentioned her parents vanished (and nothing that would induce a BSOD) when she was 15, an age most would consider past acceptable for the social disorders Brennan developed.
- Well, if I remember correctly, most personal disorders don't start to appear until the late teens. The timing seems rather appropriate in that light.
- Doctor Who companions in the classic series are often orphans - sometimes with Death By Origin Story, or else have Parental Abandonment. Companions in the new series have parents. Oh man, do they have parents.
- Now The Doctor himself is basically orphaned after the Time War, providing buckets of angst.
Video Games
- Cloud from Final Fantasy VII (covered in a flashback halfway through Disc 1).
- And Aerith (though she was raised by Elmyra for fifteen years), Tifa, Marlene (raised by Barret), Red XIII...
- In Final Fantasy III, all the main characters are orphans, although three had been adopted and one was working for the king by the time the game begins.
- Most of the main characters are orphans in Final Fantasy VIII as well, with the exception of Rinoa who was a Rebellious Princess. Most side characters were as well as SeeD specifically recruit from orphanages, because that is what Gardens started off as. Tyke Bomb gone into a full blown army.
- Final Fantasy IV: Cecil and Kain were orphaned and taken in by King Baron, and Rydia becomes an orphan in-game.
- Final Fantasy V has the Idiot Hero being an orphan at the game's beginning, the rebellion princesses losing their father halfway through the game and the Fifth Ranger being a replacement for her dead grandpa, who was also her last relative. To sum up, in the end of the game, nobody in your party has elder family members left.
- Zidane in Final Fantasy IX. Truth be told, he's revealed never to have had parents at all.
- Both Vaan and Penelo from Final Fantasy XII
- Rafa and Malak in Final Fantasy Tactics.
- Similarly, Dart from Legend Of Dragoon, in addition to the Doomed Hometown at the beginning of the game.
- Samus Aran was orphaned and raised by Chozo.
- Disgaea: Larharl and Etna are orphans. At least, Laharl thinks he's one.
- La Pucelle: Prier, Aloutte and Coulette are orphans.
- Phantom Brave: Marona and Ash become orphans in the introduction.
- Soul Nomad And The World Eaters: Revya and Danette are orphans.
- Link is often an orphan. Zelda might also count in some of the games.
- She defiantly counts in The Wind Waker, where her figurine clearly spells it out and an NPC early in the game mentions that her mother died.
- Fire Emblem viciously delights in killing off family. It's gotten to the point that if a character has a parent/sibling/uncle that loves them, nine out of ten times they're dead before the game is up, if not killed before it. Lyn's parents were both killed by bandits, Hector's parents and brother die of disease, Eliwood's dad is killed by Nergal, Raven's parents committed suicide when their house was attacked, Lucius's father was killed and his mother died of sickness, Serra's parents abandoned her, Erk's are absent, both Jaffar and Nino have dead parents, Lowen probably takes the cake though, having lost first his parents, then his grandparents in fairly quick succession.
- You missed the worst part of Nino's family situation: Her adopted family are all bosses late in the game. The worst part of it is, they're not bad guys at all, and some of the conversations if you force Nino to attack them are pretty heart wrenching. Worse still, their dead bodies are reanimated in the last level, which means she has to kill them TWICE.
- In Tales Of Vesperia, just about everyone in your entire party is an orphan. With most of them, all we get is either the parent left or the parent died, or both, no further explanation. We only find out how one parent died, although it's implied (very very subtly) that several of the mothers died in childbirth. In all honesty, it feels a little ridiculous at times.
- Skies Of Arcadia: surprisingly, not the hero, but both other core members of your party. Aika is established early on to be an orphan, and Fina... well, there's no other Silvites left but some Elders, and Ramirez.
- In Baten Kaitos, Kalas has no parents, although he makes mention to being raised by his grandfather, and to having a brother. He's an Artificial Human, and his grandfather actually created him.
- The prequel, surprisingly, averts this: Sagi's implied to be the only biological child of the woman who runs his town's orphanage, and Milly's dad is one of the villains. Also played with: One of the boss fights culminates in YOU orphaning one of the original game's party members.
- In Golden Sun, Isaac's father and Jenna's entire family (parents and a brother) are killed off right in the intro. Though, they're not really dead, and Jenna's brother reappears not much farther in the game. Poor Isaac's mother continually grows sicker as the game progresses. There are some bonuses to returning home, however. On top of that, Ivan has no biological family, and his adopted father is kidnapped for the majority of the game. Sheba is the same, except she is the one who gets kidnapped. Piers' mother dies not long after he leaves. The only character who averts this trope is Garet, who has both parents unharmed, as well as two (plot-irrelevant) sisters.
Web Comics
- Characters from Shape Quest
 , such as Lance and Theo.
- "Onion Kid" alias "Rex" alias "Sarda" from Eight Bit Theater was orphaned so often, that he's stopped looking for foster parents or even an orphanage who'd still take him in. This trauma is actually the cause for pretty much everything that happened in the comic to begin with, thanks to a Stable Time Loop.
Western Animation
- Ronaldo from the Brazil episode of The Simpsons. Conveniently as an orphan, he doesn't have parents hogging his money he gets from perfoming on Teleboobies, and he assists the Simpsons in paying Homer's ransom.
- The Disney version of Aladdin. The original folklore version had a dead father but a living mother; the Disney version has neither parent until we find out in the third movie that his father only disappeared.
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