History Main / TheXenophile

* Being a loving homage to ''StarTrek'', the crew of ''Series/TheOrville'' is this trope in spades. In one episode the entire crew is almost delirious with joy when they realize they've scored a FirstContact mission.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** Jadzia Dax gets along with Ferengi, humans, and not least klingons.
** Sisko meanwhile seems to love Bajoran culture to the point that he decides to build a house there. Despite being born on Earth, as the Prophets put it he is, like them, "OF Bajor".

[[folder:Film]]
* Ellie Arroway from ''Film/{{Contact}}'', both the book and the movie - at least when it comes to the ''idea'' of aliens and how to make contact with them.
* Several main characters in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' are this to some degree.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': this is something the Imperial Inquisition's ''Ordo Xenos'' works very hard to avert. It doesn't always work, however, due to the monumental size of the task, the subtlety of some of the aliens or the humans involved, and the simple fact that you typically [[AFateWorseThanDeath don't want to attract the attention of the Inquisition]].

[[folder: Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Spacetrawler}}'' Dmitri is known for sleeping with any species that is at least 50% sexually compatible with humans.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* WesternAnimation/DexHamiltonAlienEntomologist is absolutely fascinated by all types of alien insects, be they tiny or [[BigCreepyCrawlies ginormous]].
* In WesternAnimation/Ben10, the titular character's grandfather Max Tennyson has had two official love interests in the past, and several implied love interests. They are all various types of alien [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe women]].

Aliens can be IntriguedByHumanity or a FantasticAnthropologist, but what about the inverse -- when a ''human'' character is obsessed with everything alien? This is often an evolved NaiveNewcomer character in SpeculativeFiction, and serves the same function in being a go-between and (sometimes literal) translator between a strange alien culture and the reader/viewer. Unlike a NaiveNewcomer, however, the Xenophile doesn't need another character to tell him or her about the alien culture we meet -- they can provide all (or at least, most) of the exposition themselves, cheerfully and enthusiastically! In fact, they're so enthusiastic they probably have neglected their relationships with their fellow humans. In addition to appearing in ScienceFiction, this trope can also appear in Fantasy literature where a human character is enthusiastic about non-human races and cultures.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

--> The Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans, on the road to ruin in their turn. And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn't even bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude.

->"''There exists, in all of us, a deep-seated fascination for the unknown. An adventurous spirit that rejects the familiar and glories in the unfamiliar, whatever - or whomever - it may be.''"

* "Xenophilia" is one of the possible disadvantages in ''{{GURPS}}'' (applying to anyone exotic, not just nonhumans). It's a disadvantage because it makes you trust potentially nasty creatures more than you should.

-->--Xenophile Ethos blurb, ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}''

-->--''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', Xenophile Ethos blurb

-->''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', Xenophile Ethos blurb

* Christopher Holm in [[Literature/TechnicHistory People of the Wind]] by PoulAnderson spends time hanging out with Ythrians, is adopted into a Ythrian clan, and translates Ythrian poetry.

* Christopher Holm in [[TechnicHistory People of the Wind]] by PoulAnderson spends time hanging out with Ythrians, is adopted into a Ythrian clan, and translates Ythrian poetry.

* Several human, alien-wannabes in ''EarthFinalConflict'' and ''Series/AlienNation''.

** Some members of the [[MachineWorship Adeptus Mechanicus]] are obsessed with the [[SkeleBot9000 Necrons]] and their mind-bogglingly advanced technology. And extreme fringe group of the Mechanicus consider the Necrons to be holy warriors. It doesn't help that the Machine God is possibly one of the Necron's own omnicidal deities [[SealedEvilInACan chained down and sealed away]].
** There's even a form of radical group in the inquisition known as the Xeno Hybris; who believe that humanity has more to gain from cooperating with ([[BlackAndGrayMorality certain carefully selected]]) Xenos than through exterminating them.

* Many of ''Series/DoctorWho's companions seem to end up like this, so caught up with time travel they don't want to go back to their own time.

* Willis E. Davidge, from Barry Longyear's ''Literature/TheEnemyPapers'' turns out this way, getting a thorough education in Drac culture after being stranded on a ice planet with a Drac for quite a while. Note that he and the Drac were fighter pilots ''trying to kill each other in a war between the two species''. [[spoiler: in a subsequent story set in the same 'verse, ''The Last Enemy'', we learn he's devoted his ''life'' to teaching little dracs the way of Talman, the Drac equivalent of a holy book/history of science/scientific literature rolled into one.]]

Aliens can be IntriguedByHumanity or a FantasticAnthropologist, but what about the inverse - when a ''human'' character is obsessed with everything alien? This is often an evolved NaiveNewcomer character in SpeculativeFiction, and serves the same function in being a go-between and (sometimes literal) translator between a strange alien culture and the reader/viewer. Unlike a NaiveNewcomer, however, the Xenophile doesn't need another character to tell him or her about the alien culture we meet - they can provide all (or at least, most) of the exposition themselves, cheerfully and enthusiastically! In fact, they're so enthusiastic they probably have neglected their relationships with their fellow humans. In addition to appearing in ScienceFiction, this trope can also appear in Fantasy literature where a human character is enthusiastic about non-human races and cultures.

Note, This is not about a character who is attracted to aliens in another way... there's [[BoldlyComing a different trope]] for that, although the two can easily be combined. Contrast AliensAreBastards. Also contrast AbsoluteXenophobe. Again, aliens-liking-human-culture examples are a different trope and belong in IntriguedByHumanity or FantasticAnthropologist. Compare NightmareFetishist; if the aliens are [[StarfishAliens weird]] [[EldritchAbomination enough]], both can apply to the same character. Compare AdmiringTheAbomination, where a character (often TheSmartGuy) reacts to an alien threat with both excitement and fear.

** Paragon Shepard definitely comes across as this. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the respect and admiration that Shepard has fostered throughout the galaxy is a key factor in bringing them together in the war effort.

** There's even a form of radical group in the inquisition known as the Xeno Hybris; who believe that humanity has more to gain from cooperating with Xenos than through exterminating them.

* Arguably, the Pevensie siblings from ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' become this.
** Considering they number MANY nonhumans as friends, it's definite.
** Seems to me that a good example of the trope is obsessed w nonhumans, whereas Narnia simply doesn't have a lot of humans to be friends with. You might argue the author is a bit xenophilic - notice how yucky the Telmarines and Calormenes are ... and the uncle in Magician's Nephew, compared to Narnians.

** Seems to me to be a good example of the trope you have to be *obsessed* w nonhumans, the Pevensies live in a place that doesn't have a lot of humans, there's no particular reason to think of them as obsessed - their nonhuman friends are the friends available to them. Remember how yucky the Telmarines were? And the Calormenes? I can't remember if they have Archenlanders as friends....

* Christopher Holm in [[TechnicHistory PeopleOfTheWind]] by PoulAnderson spends time hanging out with Ythrians, is adopted into a Ythrian clan, and translates Ythrian poetry.