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alt title(s): Lovable Rogue 
Oh, sure, he's a thief, but you'll always find yourself rooting for him.
A click below the Anti Hero.
A person who breaks the law, for their own personal profit, but is nice enough and charming enough to allow the audience to root for them. It helps that none of their victims are anyone we know or that they've made sure the audience knew they were jerks, which makes it "okay" to steal from them.
Note that while morally a click below even the Anti Hero, the Lovable Rogue is strongly associated with highly Idealistic series on the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism, as Cynical series tend not to understand the concept of a Code of Honor, which is usually what makes the Loveable Rogue, well, lovable.
A click above the Lovable Traitor, who is definitely not a nice person, but wins by lowering the audience's expectations so much, that he charms them with a few token Pet The Dog moments (which usually include helping the hero. It's amazing how much fans will overlook if they help the hero).
Anime sometimes overlaps this with the Phantom Thief, Jerk With A Heart Of Gold, and the Gentleman Thief.
And the g comes before the u ladies and gentlemen. That is, unless you're talking about Rouge the Bat.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Lupin III, from the anime of same name. A bit less so in the comics.
- Blue, from the Pokemon manga, Pokemon Special, fits this description at first. She consistently cheats and lies, and shows absolutely no signs of a conscience or caring for anyone but herself, yet she and the main character manage to remain on almost friendly terms. She gets nicer and gives up thievery by the end of the first arc, but still keeps some loveable and roguish qualities.
- Androids 17 and 18 of Dragon Ball Z (In the main timeline, at least. In Trunks timeline, they're sociopathic killers.)
- Ali al-Saachez from Gundam 00 is a subversion of the normal Loveable Rogue; his men love him for his fun nature, and he does take care of them, often fighting Gundams by himself because he knows only he can match them in direct combat. However, he's also a Blood Knight who cares only for chaos and slaughter, and has proved himself a Complete Monster many times; if it's not him causing a civil war, it's making children kill their parents to prove their devotion to the cause, or just random murder for the sake of it.
- Most of the principal cast of Baccano!, especially Isaac and Miria.(Pictured)
- In Fushigi Yuugi, the rough and brash thief Tasuki's first appearance consists of kidnapping the heroine Miaka, unleashing ghost wolves against the heroes who try to stop him, and later faking his own death to avoid joining the heroes. However, he later shows up to save the heroes from zombies and becomes completely dedicated to their cause, to the point of nearly making a Heroic Sacrifice on Miaka's behalf.
- Plus, the actual thieving of Tasuki's thief gang is easy to ignore, since they border on being The Pirates Who Dont Do Anything anyway (except when they briefly serve as The Cavalry later in the series, which makes their thieving even easier to ignore).
Comic Books
- John Constantine barely qualifies - if you're watching from a distance. If you're personally acquainted with him, you'd be more inclined to say that he was a prick.
- The snarky outcast drow rogue Downer, the protagonist of the comics Downer: Wandering Monster and Downer: Fool's Errand by Kyle Stanley Hunter (formerly published in DUNGEON Magazine). A down on his luck "proven loser" who survives by his wit, quick tongue, quick blade and quick reflexes (and mainly by running the hell away when outnumbered, unless he's sufficiently pissed off that he decides to indulge his inner Badass and take on a whole bunch of enemies by himself). Although he considers himself an "evil bastard" who puts his own survival first and claims he's "always prepared to be screwed over by his friends", Downer has demonstrated amazing loyalty to friends and guild mates on several occasions, and he always pays back his debts. Downer's brother Aristide claims Downer is a "jerk", but then, Aristide is more of a typical drow (read: selfish and cruel) and his viewpoint is questionable. By the end of Fool's Errand, Downer's status has been firmly updated to Anti Hero.
- Jack from Fables and its spin-off Jack Of Fables is literally the embodiment of this trope.
- From the same series is Reynard the Fox, who appears as a Loveable Rogue, who seems to have a self-serving agenda, but then genuinely appears to just want to help.
- Though he points out that being self-serving and helping others are goals that complement each other.
Film
- Phil Moscowitz, the hero of the Woody Allen comedy What's Up, Tiger Lily?, who identifies himself as a Loveable Rogue when giving his name and occupation and whose lecherous behavior certainly fits the type.
- Han Solo from Star Wars.
- The EU generally has him becoming less roguish.
- He was never really that roguish in the first place.
- Han Solo seems to be so lovable that all the pretty rotten things he has done seem so justifiable that they don't seem to sink in.
- Particularly in the Han Solo trilogy, but also in many other EU books, he has conned a number of people, smuggled what is basically the hardest spice (SW equivalent of drugs) available, stolen, forged government documents, entered Imperial services under a false ID, faked his own death, cheated at games of chance, betrayed several employers, led a picket ship on a chase that resulted in its complete destruction, bribed an Imperial officer, freed slaves (morally good, but technically illegal), led a raid on a former employer's base, resisted arrest a whole lot of times, kidnapped Leia, and killed numerous people (though all of them were at least directly or indirectly trying to kill him at the time). In some instances, these acts were justifiable by being morally good or because he didn't have any sort of choice, but in other cases they were purely selfish acts to get what he wanted.
- Essentially, the only two lines he consistently has shown is an unwillingness to kill anyone in cold blood and a refusal to take part a direct part in any type of slavery operation (he would work for slavers in other matters though).
- Talon Karrde has been said by his creator to be based off of what Han Solo might have become in the years since the films, if he hadn't fallen for Leia. Karrde developed from there - it's hard to imagine Solo running a large and well-organized smuggling/information brokering group - but the basic idea is the same. He's Not In This For Your Revolution, he has no love for the Empire but doesn't see the profit or point in open resistance, and he does have a sense of honor.
- Captain Jack Sparrow, from the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, is a mix of Loveable Rogue and Magnificent Bastard. He has his own peculiar code of honor and is generally a protagonist, but is highly pragmatic and values his own skin over everyone else's.
- Hell, if Lovable Rogue wasn't already such a good name for this trope, it would be titled the Jack Sparrow instead.
- The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.
- Who kills everyone without exception
 apart from the protagonist, which rather stretches the definition of "loveable".
- Well, it's not as if he can afford to make exceptions. Once word leaks out that a pirate has gone soft, people start to disobey you, and then it's work, work, work all the time.
- If you kill everybody though, what incentive is there to surrender? It would be constant life or death struggles against cornered people with nothing to lose.
- All of the above statements, including the paraphrased quote, are based on a moment when the Man in Black was being an Unreliable Narrator, so it's debatable what percentage of that was Blatant Lies. Especially given how much else regarding the Dread Pirate Roberts consists of pure Blatant Lies.
- He even tells Buttercup at one point in the film that he hardly has to kill anyone at all, The Dread Pirate Roberts' reputation is so famous that upon spotting his ship every vessel simply surrenders and sends their goods over in one to two boatloads.
- Cpt. Louis Renault of Casablanca, although he turns honest at the end.
- Loveable the whole time except the scene with the Bulgarian woman, quoted above.
- Repo! The Genetic Opera has Grave-Robber, who is, obviously, a graverobber. He's also a drug dealer who sleeps in a dumpster, but he is very, very loveable.
- Bob, the title character of The Good Thief. Even the cop who's after him has a soft spot for the guy.
- The Man With No Name, as played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, is a con-man, a thief and a murderer, but dammit, he's just so cool with that poncho of his.
Folk Lore
Literature
- Simon Templar, aka The Saint.
- Discworld's Moist von Lipwig is one of these turned Boxed Crook. There's a bit of Deconstruction on the idea that he's only conned big businesses and people who deserved it, and never hurt anyone. Mr Pump reckons that, if you add up the amount of harm he's done, it's equivalent to killing 2.338 people, and this really gets brought home when it turns out his girlfriend lost her job when he defrauded the bank she worked for.
- George Cooper, King of Thieves, from the Tortall books. His title is actually 'The Rogue,' and he basically runs the theives' organization throughout the kingdom.
- Also Rosto the Piper in the Bekah books; it looks like he might be an ancestor of George's so it all makes sense.
- The Nightrunner series is centered around spies and thieves.
- Bilbo Baggins was hired to be one of these, and manages to become one after obtaining the ring.
- Gonff, the Mousethief, from the Redwall novel "Mossflower" is decidedly one of these.
- The Stainless Steel Rat.
- The Marquis De Carabas, from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
- Zaphod Beeblebrox, from Douglas Adams' "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide".
- Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter books
- Adventurer, mercenary, pirate, counterfeiter and all-around adventurer "Half Cocked" (you don't want to know how he got that nickname) Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds and hero? of Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle
- Crowley from Good Omens.
- Colonel Blood from George Macdonald Fraser's wonderfully troperiffic The Pyrates.
Live Action TV
- Del Boy from Only Fools And Horses.
- Arthur Daley from Minder, from season 8 and onwards.
- The title character of Remington Steele.
- Newkirk from Hogans Heroes, pickpocket and card-cheater. Good thing he only uses his skills on the Nazis.
- Autolycus, the King of Thieves from Hercules The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess.
- Vila Restal from Blakes Seven. Not to mention being a card carrying coward.
- Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly and Serenity.
- No, this troper thinks Mal is definitely an Anti Hero. He fights when he should run and runs when he should fight.
- Make that "Runs when he ought to fight, and fights when he ought to deal."
- But his biggest haul ever was a shipload of Bobbly-headed dolls! That's adorable!
- People love those things!
- While this troper agrees that Mal is a Lovable Rogue, Jayne fits the type much better, even if it's only the audience that finds him lovable. He's like Mal, but without the (semi-)moral compass. Or the smarts ... though he does look cunning in that hat.
- The main characters from Hustle, a team of con artists who only con those who deserve it.
- Ezra, the gambler and con man from The Magnificent Seven.
- Shawn Spencer, from Psych, who likes coming up with scams and cons as part of his job. But he also scams people to keep his best friend from looking bad...
- Not to mention the fact that he scams the police department, regularly, by pretending to be a psychic. Oh, and the various crimes and misdemeanors he perpetrates in every single episode.
- But he only does those things to solve worse crimes (and the first time, to keep from being wrongfully arrested)! ... And also sometimes for fun.
- And wrongfully arrested for essentially doing the police department's job for them. Constantly. If anyone is justified for irreverent behavior towards law enforcement, it's Shawn.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation tried to pull one of these off in a second season episode, "The Outrageous Okona". It didn't work too well.
- On the other hand the Original Series did it very well with the immortal and immoral Harry Mudd.
- Not to mention the somewhat more benevolent Cyrano Jones.
- Hellooo, he's Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood fame, pleased to make your acquaintance.
- Stop that.
- Someone hasn't seen Children of Earth yet. He's not so lovable anymore.
- Fits the trope even better in Doctor Who.
- Sawyer from Lost, a highly popular character despite being a conman and murderer.
- In season 5, he develops from Loveable Rogue into a snarky but otherwise perfectly heroic character. The actor has said that Juliet's death will push him into Loveable Rogue territory again in season 6...except drop the "loveable".
- Claude Greengrass in the British period police soap Heartbeat. Lampshaded when a character calls Greengrass a rogue and he responds "Yes, but I'm loveable".
- Jack and Stan from On The Buses. Not criminals, just terminally lazy.
- Pretty much the entire cast of Leverage.
- Dean and Sam Winchester of Supernatural, who commit credit card fraud and hustle pool to fund their world-saving activities.
- Claude Rains, the invisible, pigeon-keeping thief in the first season of Heroes is utterly cynical, lives invisibly (thus isolating himself from the rest of society), hates everyone, and steals everything he needs,but everyone loves him because we've seen glimpses of something more underneath all that.
- Former French President Jacques Chirac is portrayed this way in the satirical fake news show with puppets Les Guignols de l'Info, being shown to be a shameless liar (he even had another identity as Super Menteur, ie Super Liar) while still remaining highly likable. It's thought this may have actually helped (the real) Jacques Chirac get re-elected.
- Jack (Bruce Campbell) from Jack Of All Trades.
- Neil, the main character of White Collar personifies this trope.
Radio
- Harry Lime as he was portrayed in the radio show The Lives Of Harry Lime. He was considerably less loveable in The Third Man.
Real Life
Tabletop Games
- There's a good chance that any given Thief/Rogue, Bard, or Swashbuckler you meet in a game of Dungeons And Dragons is this kind of character.
- There's an even better chance they won't be, but will pretend they are.
Video Games
- Locke the
thief treasure hunter, from Final Fantasy VI is pretty much the definition of this trope, though he drifts into being less of a rogue and more of a hero as the game progresses.
- Practically 25% of the world's population in Skies Of Arcadia is made up of these. Naturally, this includes all the playable characters.
- Balthier from Final Fantasy XII. Considering how much Final Fantasy XII seems to be inspired by Star Wars, he's almost certainly inspired by Han Solo.
- Wait, so Fran is Chewbacca? No wonder she's so awesome!
- If Robin Hood is a Loveable Rogue, then definitely we have to include Yoshimitsu of Soul Calibur and Tekken. In both games, he steals from rich people and gives to the poor, much like Robin Hood. Most people love him, even if he's not really important to either storyline, but everyone loves him only because he's just so damn awesome. It helps that he can use his sword as a pogo stick.
- Jansen Friedh from Lost Odyssey plays this one almost perfectly, with a healthy dose of Comic Relief. Obfuscating Stupidity too. And a little bit of Butt Monkey. He's one of the best characters in the game.
- Hawkeye from Seiken Densetsu 3, who seems to be modeled off of Robin Hood.
- Heather, from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a thief who steals more for her sick mother than herself. She also steals money by charming men, however, despite
being Ambiguously Gay flirting with every female she engages in conversation with.
- She wouldn't even be the first Ambiguously Gay Loveable Rogue in the series - that would be Legault, of the seventh game.
- Although Heather was truly gay while Legault wasn't and was more or less messing with people. I'd also like to add almost every single Fire Emeblem character of the thief class fits this troop in their own way.
- Zidane Tribal from Final Fantasy IX.
- The rest of Tantalus probably qualifies too.
- The new Prince in Prince Of Persia seems to be this, considering how the developers have stated that he's inspired by Harrison Ford's characters. Although the ending also has a VERY serious moment that might theoretically be crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
- Milanor the Silver Wolf from Yggdra Union is the leader of a loosely-knit group of vagabonds, but he also helps the eponymous princess form a counter-imperial rebellion.
- Nathan Drake's interactions with his crew in the Uncharted series makes him an lovable and entertaining rogue.
Webcomics
- Mordekai from the Fantasy theme of Irregular Webcomic actually insists on being referred to as a Loveable Rogue.
- Julio Scoundrel in Order Of The Stick, who briefly becomes Elan's mentor.
- And back in the main party, Haley Starshine probably qualifies, even though we almost never see her actually break any laws (at least, in the strip itself).
- We see her doing a sneaky burglary and theft in the prequel On the Origin of PCs, and likewise in this online comic strip. Suffice to say, in Dungeons And Dragons the thief or rogue has been a character class from the beginning, and a life of crime does not mean a thief character is automatically considered evil in alignment, he just cannot be lawful.
- At least in the 3.5 and 4th editions, even that was dropped when rogues were generalized towards "sneaky and talented one", including characters like spies or assassins with codes of honour.
- This comic probably shows it best, although there are plenty of others.
- I stand corrected. This is the best example.
- You missed the greatest heist of all. This.
- In Freefall Captain Sam Starfall is not only a Loveable Rogue, he apparently comes from an entire race of them
- Of course we only have his word on that.
- Gertrude & Brunhilda as explained in this strip.
Western Animation
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