An Index of tropes about orphans or that often involve orphans.
Tropes that have been left all alone in the world include:
Related:
- Abandon the Disabled: A character is abandoned by their parents, because they are born disabled.
- Alone Among Families: A character with no family is surrounded by happy families.
- Anachronistic Orphanage: A traditional orphanage in a setting where there logically shouldn't be one.
- The Artful Dodger: Crafty, street-wise homeless child.
- Burn the Orphanage: A villain burns down an orphanage.
- Conveniently an Orphan: A character is an orphan so the plot can move along more easily.
- Don't Split Us Up: Siblings don't want to be adopted by separate families.
- Doorstop Baby: A baby is left on someone's doorstep and adopted by whoever lives in the house.
- Escaped from the Lab: The character is a refugee from a laboratory that experimented on them.
- Evil Orphan: An orphan (normally a young girl but sometimes a young boy) who turns out to be evil.
- Evil Orphanage Lady: An female orphanage owner who's cruel to the orphans.
- Fostering for Profit: Someone fosters a child purely for business.
- Heartwarming Orphan: An orphan child who normally ends up being adopted and is a good character who makes the audience emotional.
- Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: A character looks after the child of someone they killed.
- Lost Orphaned Royalty: An orphan turns out to be descended from royalty.
- Nephewism: A kid is raised by his aunt/uncle rather than by his parents.
- Notorious Parent: The mother and/or father leaves the kid because they’re criminals on the run.
- Orphanage of Fear: An orphanage where the orphans are abused and tormented by the people running it.
- Orphanage of Love: An orphanage that treats its orphans well.
- Orphan's Ordeal: When being an orphan sucks.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Plot critical object of sentimental value to an orphan.
- Parental Abandonment: Neither of the character's parents are seen or mentioned.
- Disappeared Dad: A character's father is never seen while their mother is accounted for.
- Missing Mom: A character's mother is never seen while their father is accounted for.
- Parental Substitute: A character who acts as a parental figure to someone whose parents are absent or out of focus.
- Pauper Patches: A character living in poverty is wearing clothes that are patched up.
- Promotion to Parent: An older sibling takes responsibility to take care of their younger sibling or siblings.
- Raised by Grandparents: A character with missing parents is instead raised by their grandparents.
- Raised by the Community: An entire community of people not related to a child raise the child.
- Rules of Orphan Economics: Orphans will either be totally provided for or will have to scrape by on their own
- Satisfied Street Rat: An orphaned kid who has turned living on the street to their advantage.
- Saving the Orphanage: The hero has to stop a heartless business exec who wants to destroy a local Orphanage of Love.
- Self-Made Orphan: A person who has killed their own parents.
- Street Urchin: An orphan who spends most of their time on the streets doing what they can to get by.
- Teenage Wasteland: Kids now have adult power and responsibility and rule over society.
- Unknown Relative: The identity of a character's close relative is unknown to them, the audience or both.
