History Main / TookALevelInIdealism

The world can seem like [[CrapsackWorld a dark place]], where NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished, where [[KarmaHoudini the sinful prosper]] ([[PrideBeforeAFall for a]] [[BreakTheHaughty while]]) and [[DudeWheresMyRespect the brave are humiliated]] [[DudeWheresMyReward and impoverished]]. That is, so far, what the character has seen of the world. And yet, there can come a [[MeetCute meeting]], a [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments moment]], where the world proves to the character that things can be right, that the future is worth struggling for, that there ''is'' reason enough to bother rising in the morning, and facing life and all its hardships. When that happens, the character took a level in idealism, and can face the world with renewed faith in the character’s principles and righteousness... though not necessarily with renewed cheerfulness ([[TookALevelInCheerfulness that's a different trope]]); in fact, the character can remain quite dour and sour. But you can see that the character stands ''taller!'' %%The character becomes a WideEyedIdealist.

** Tony Tony Chopper is a very naive reindeer. He is initially very mistrustful of humans, due to a combination of being ostracized by both reindeers and humans for being different partly because of a scheme that trapped and ultimately killed his mentor. The Straw Hats' initial interaction with him included trying to ''eat him''. After getting over these issues and helping avenge his mentor, he becomes possibly the most cheerful and idealistic member of the crew.

*** As Rei gets closer to her fellow pilots her outlook changes radically. Before she wished for the peace of oblivion and thought Instrumentality was the only way to achieve it. Now she refuses to allow her friends' bond disappear and is determined to find another way.

** ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': After dying, going through Instrumentality, surviving for four years in a post-apocalyptic war-torn world, and being turned into the plaything of two warlords Asuka had become more broken, more bitter, and more cynical, seeing herself like a failure and a worthless whore nobody cared about. Then she met people who wanted to help her and told her she was not horrible or useless, she was not alone, she did not need to be scared, she deserved being loved and things would get better. After a while, she started to believe them and started healing.

** Lancel Lannister starts as a sleazy and spineless lackey to his smarter and more determined scheming relatives, and is disregarded by the WhiteSheep of the family, Tyrion, as an utterly despicable human being. In the later books, he discovers faith, turns from Cersei's spare lover into a celibate paladin, rejects all lands offered to him by Lannisters and Freys, and throws his lot with a KnightTemplar TurbulentPriest, turning against his kin in the name of Seven Gods and the poor people of Westeros. This is not exactly a HeelFaithTurn, because Westeros runs on GreyAndGrayMorality and the church may reveal itself to be quite misguided and extremist, but what's hard fact is that Lancel became altruistic and idealistic.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' this happens to [[JadeColoredGlasses Team Cynic]] [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSokka Sokka]] for a short while after the Gaang finally get Appa back because he feels like their life is finally looking up, and he actually agrees with [[WideEyedIdealist Aang's]] plan to talk to the earth king. Naturally this gets {{lampshaded}} by the [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness rest of the cast]] and the episode [[TemptingFate ends on an ominous note.]]

The [[OppositeTropes Counter Trope]] to TookALevelInCynic.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has Discord, who starts out as a [[RealityWarper ridiculously powerful]], [[ManipulativeBastard fiendishly deceptive]], but ultimately hollow MadGod only interested in sadistic "entertainment". After Fluttershy befriends him, he starts finding more meaning to his life than the simple spreading of chaos and seems to adopt a TricksterMentor attitude toward the ponies.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' this happens to [[JadeColoredGlasses Team Cynic]] [[DeadpanSnarker Sokka]] for a short while after the Gaang finally get Appa back because he feels like their life is finally looking up, and he actually agrees with [[WideEyedIdealist Aang's]] plan to talk to the earth king. Naturally this gets {{lampshaded}} by the [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness rest of the cast]] and the episode [[TemptingFate ends on an ominous note.]]

* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'': In the backstory, main protagonist Jason Todd went through this ''twice''. The first time, it was after the death of his adoptive father Bruce and through the efforts of his older brother Dick Grayson and, to a lesser extent, the rest of his family. Then, after Dick, Tim, ''and'' Damian died and his sister Cass left him, Jason was in the DarkestHour of his life...and then he met Carrie Kelley, the girl who would become his first Robin and would eventually be adopted as his daughter. Meeting her and then reuniting with Cass and saving her from her mother Lady Shiva ultimately restore Jason's desire to be a hero again.

Lots of LoveRedeems stories fall under this trope. ThePowerOfFriendship, ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfTrust may be involved, in that the character may feel the need to reciprocate those gifts.

** Nico Robin is a very cynical woman when introduced. As we learn her past we learn that from the age of eight she was forced by circumstances to be an EnfantTerrible in a world that was out to get her, experiencing betrayal at nearly every turn. By adulthood, she's become a {{Death Seek|er}}ing BrokenBird driven to go on only by her dream of learning the world's hidden history. Luckily, she's since met a crew of TrueCompanions who are willing to go so far as to [[spoiler:declare war on the whole world]] for her sake, and she has become a much mellower, happier person.

** Ryousuke starts the series as a melancholy JerkAss due to his older sisters recent death and his mothers problems in the wake of her death. He starts warming up when he befriends Tamura and Marika. After he [[spoiler:quit crossdressing due to his mom getting mental help]], Ryousuke began opening up and turned quite cheerful.

* ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' in the ''Comicbook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' story arc attracted a [[Franchise/GreenLantern Red Ring]] because she was mad, confused and hopeless, and she believed she didn't belong anywhere. At the end of the story she has outgrown her anger and confusion, is more confident and more mature, and thinks maybe Earth can become her new home after all.
* ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'': After spending a good chunk of the story ranting on about superpowered crimefighters and being cynical, paranoid and distrustful, Comicbook/{{Batgirl}} refuses [[spoiler: to let Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} kill Comicbook/LexLuthor]] because she is a hero who represents "Hope" and mustn't drop to his level. She has also come to consider Kara a friend.

*** As Rei gets closer to her fellow pilots her outlook changes radically. Before she wished for the peace of oblivion and thought Instrumentality was the only way to achieve it. Now she refuses allowing her friends' bond dissapear and is determined to find another way.

** ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'': The Children are more optimistic and somewhat happier than in canon thanks to several changes on her upbringing (as an example, Asuka got a good mother figure. Ergo, she still is hot-tempered and tries to stand out but she is not constantly angry and she does not try to push everybody away constantly because she no longer is frightened of bonding with other people).
** ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': After dying, going through Instrumentality, surviving for four years in a post-apocalyptic war-torn world and being turned into the plaything of two warlords Asuka had become more broken, more bitter and more cynical, seeing herself like a failure and a worthless whore nobody cared about. Then she met people wanted to help her and told her she was not horrible or useless, she was not alone, she did not need to be scared, she deserved being loved and things would get better. After a while she started to believe them and started healing.
** ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': After returning to the past, Shinji, Asuka and Rei are more sarcastic but also more idealistic: Shinji does not believe he can change things for better but he wants to try to anyway, Asuka try to be more carefree and a better friend since her former method to cope with her trauma did not work at all and Rei stops wishing for death and begins to learn how living.

** ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': Asuka managed surviving the Angel War but she became angrier and more bitter due to her terrible physical and emotional wounds and scars. However she managed opening up to Shinji after [[spoiler:his almost death.]] When the story stars out they have been married for five years and have a child, and Asuka is happy and feels loved, something she thought impossible back when she was a teenager.
** ''Fanfic/HigherLearning'': Shinji, Asuka and Rei learn to be more optimistic and more hopeful thanks to their new homeroom teacher's lessons. Shinji particularly realizes he can choose his own future.

** ''Fanfic/TheOneILoveIs'': Through the story Shinji, Asuka and Rei often get depressed, sad or even hopeless, but ultimately they try to overcome their troubles, open up to other people and gain a more positive mindset.
** ''Manga/ReTake'': Shinji goes from wanting everyone dying because he thought nobody cared about him to fight to save a world, even if he disappears, because the struggle itself is more important than the outcome. And Asuka goes from being utterly cynical, angry and jaded to realize someone truly loves her.

** ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': When she became ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Asuka realized everyone expected her being a beacon of integrity, morality and courage. As she tried to live up to that ideal, Asuka gradually became more optimistic and less negative and bitter.
** ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': Ironically, becoming the disciple of a ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} dark god of manipulation and trickery]]'' when he was a child turned Shinji into someone more optimistic than his canon self. He firmly believes in changing himself for better, never giving up and always hoping for a better future.
* ''Fanfic/WonderfulMazinja'': Due to be forced to interact daily with Taylor and a sane Emma, Sophia becomes (very grudgingly) somewhat saner and less cynical. She's still a jerkass, but she isn't a psychopath anymore.
* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'': In the backstory, main protagonist Jason Todd went through this ''twice''. The first time, it was after the death of his adoptive father Bruce and through the efforts his older brother Dick Grayson and, to a lesser extent, the rest of his family. Then, after Dick, Tim, ''and'' Damian died and his sister Cass left him, Jason was in the DarkestHour of his life...and then he met Carrie Kelley, the girl who would become his first Robin and would eventually be adopted as his daughter. Meeting her and then reuniting with Cass and saving her from her mother Lady Shiva ultimately restore Jason's desire to be a hero again.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': Both Diego and Manfred end the movie with a much-improved world view. The latter had been surly and asocial after losing his mate and his child, but after returning the human infant to his father, he discards his isolationism. Likewise, the former had known only self-serving SocialDarwinism under the ruthless Soto. After being rescued from certain doom by Manfred, Diego is told, "That's what you do in a herd: you look out for each other." This "got your back" principle inspires Diego to abandon his mission to betray the group to Soto's pack and actively ''defend'' Manfred and the sloth Sid.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': Nick Wilde starts off as believing that mammals can only be what they are stereotyped to be. After spending time with Judy however, he decides to follow her example [[spoiler: and becomes a cop himself.]]

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': Franchise/{{Superman}} being obliged by circumstances to [[spoiler:kill the last of his Kryptonian brethren]] only results in him adopting a ThouShallNotKill code and becoming ''more'' idealisitic and [[TheFettered fettered]].

* Cemented and [[TropeCodifier codifed]] with Ebenezer Scrooge from Creator/CharlesDickens's work ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''. Scrooge starts out a bitter, antisocial miser; he ends up a giddy, affable philathropist. Amazing what Christmas spirits can do in one night...

** Lancel Lannister starts as a sleazy and spineless lackey to his smarter and more determined scheming relatives, and is disregarded by the WhiteSheep of the family, Tyrion, as an utterly despicable human being. In the later books, he discovers faith, turns from Cersei's spare lover into a celibate paladin, rejects all lands offered to him by Lannisters and Freys and throws his lot with a KnightTemplar TurbulentPriest, turning against his kin in the name of Seven Gods and the poor people of Westeros. This is not exactly a HeelFaithTurn, because Westeros runs on GreyAndGrayMorality and the church may reveal itself to be quite misguided and extremist, but what's hard fact is that Lancel became altruistic and idealistic.

** Castiel's arc epitomizes this. When he first pulls Dean out of Hell, he's a typical angelic automaton and willing to smite entire towns if Heaven orders him to do so. The more time he spends with the Winchesters, however, the more he starts to question Heaven's orders and believe in humanity. It gets to the point where he's taken back to Heaven to be brainwashed/tortured into submission, but Dean is nevertheless able to convince him to side with humanity. He has his ups and downs through the various traumas of the later seasons, including a stint on the dark side, but he again lands on the side of idealism when faced with the prospect of [[spoiler: killing Kelly Kline and her baby Jack. She and Jack convince him that Jack is going to be a force of good in the world, and Jack chooses him as his adopted father. After that, Castiel never loses faith with his adopted son, who goes on to save the world.]]

* Public prosecutor Sae Nijima of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' became disillusioned with the ideal of justice due to both her father dying in line of duty, leaving her to raise her sister alone, and due to years of seeing the flaws in the legal system. Eventually, she can be convinced to once again pursue justice [[spoiler: and cooperate with the Phantom Thieves to take down the conspiracy that's been exploiting the Palaces to commit crimes.]]

* This trope forms a good part of WebComic/DominicDeegan's character arc. He start the comic believing himself to be perpetually SurroundedByIdiots and actually pities Luna when she admits she's still optimistic despite her previous problems. As he goes on his adventures, falls in love, saves the world and sees people who are willing to fight for the greater good and their beliefs, he gradually comes out of his thinking and becomes someone who does the right thing because it needs to be done.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has Discord, who starts out as a [[RealityWarper ridiculously powerful]], [[ManipulativeBastard fiendishly deceptive]], but ultimately hollow MadGod only interested in sadistic "entertainment". After Fluttershy befriends him, he starts finding more meaning to his life than the simple spreading of chaos, and seems to adopt a TricksterMentor attitude to the ponies.
** This gets deconstructed after getting tempted by Tirek to betray the ponies with the promise of regaining his former glory, but in the end gets ultimately betrayed himself. Played straight after Discord saw Twilight sacrifice her power to save her friends, including him. Considering that Twilight greatly dislikes Discord (if not downright hates him) at this point in the series, this act makes Discord realize there's no greater thing to have than friendship.

* Lancel Lannister of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' fame starts as a sleazy and spineless lackey to his smarter and more determined scheming relatives, and is disregarded by the WhiteSheep of the family, Tyrion, as an utterly despicable human being. In the later books, he discovers faith, turns from Cersei's spare lover into a celibate paladin, rejects all lands offered to him by Lannisters and Freys and throws his lot with a KnightTemplar TurbulentPriest, turning against his kin in the name of Seven Gods and the poor people of Westeros. This is not exactly a HeelFaithTurn, because Westeros runs on GreyAndGrayMorality and the church may reveal itself to be quite misguided and extremist, but what's hard fact is that Lancel became altruistic and idealistic.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'', when SpacePirate John Silver abandons a skiff full of gold and jewels to rescue young Jim Hawkins. Silver himself said it best: "Just a lifelong obsession, lad. I'll get over it."

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has Jesse [=McCree=], a BoxedCrook recruited by the titular organization who came to genuinely believe in their cause. He continues to support it years after the team's disbandment.