Lovable Rogue

"Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we’d get along."

- Aladdin

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, especially if they don't kill anyone. 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 your average antihero in the sense that they might not be considered a hero at all, the Lovable Rogue is strongly associated with highly Idealistic series on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, as Cynical series tend not to place value on the concept of a Code of Honor, which is usually what makes the Lovable Rogue, well, lovable.

Their loyalties are often played with, particularly if they show up to rescue the hero. If they end up being the star of the show, expect a straight-arrow Supporting Protagonist to be the audience viewpoint character. Complicating matters further is the fact that this person is usually chased by a Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist.

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). Usually male, but female thieves tend to be considered Lovable Rogues by default.

And the g comes before the u ladies and gentlemen. That is, unless you're talking about Rouge the Bat. If the charming person is a villain instead of an Anti-Hero, then they are described as being Affably Evil. The audience will usually not root for a villain, even if he or she is Affably Evil. Usually.

See also Gentleman Thief, Karmic Thief, Justified Criminal, Sympathetic Criminal, and Just Like Robin Hood.

Advertising

 * For some odd reason, food companies seem to think the best way to get consumers to buy their product is to have a mascot who always tries to steal it. The Hamburglar (McDonalds) is probably the best example of this Trope in advertising; there was also the Frito Bandito (Fritos corn chips), the Cookie Crook (Cookie Crisp cereal), the Trix Rabbit (Trix cereal), and Chester Cheetah (Cheetos cheese-snacks).

Anime and Manga

 * Lupin III, from the anime of same name. A bit less so in the manga.
 * Blue, from Pokémon 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 lovable and roguish qualities.
 * Androids 17 and 18 of Dragonball Z—in the main timeline, at least. In Trunk's timeline, they're sociopathic killers.
 * Ali al-Saachez from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a subversion of the normal Lovable 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.
 * 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 Don't Do Anything anyway (except when they briefly serve as The Cavalry later in the series, which makes their thieving even easier to ignore).
 * Space Adventure Cobra: Cobra. That is all.
 * Dark in D.N.Angel most definitely fits this trope!
 * Miroku from Inuyasha has no qualms about lying, drinking, womanizing, conning and stealing, being determined to enjoy life to its fullest, but he later shows that he's also loyal, wise, and is ready to help and protect others even with his own life.
 * The womanising is more because he needs a son before his Wind Tunnel consumes him. His son would inherit the Wind Tunnel, but would also be able to fight Naraku to break the family curse.
 * Dorian Gloria, the thief from From Eroica with Love, who is essentially a gay Lupin III.
 * Kaito KID.
 * Nami from One Piece is this at the beginning of the series, and still has bits and pieces of this personality as the story progresses.

Comic Books

 * Hellblazer: John Constantine sometimes qualifies—if you're watching from a distance. If you're personally acquainted with him, you'd be more inclined to say that he is a prick, since sometimes his only goal is taking care of his own interests, and he can exploit others ruthlessly. But most of the time he's saving the world, which makes him an Anti-Hero. A type IV at that, with a bit of a Jerkass Facade.
 * 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 Lovable Rogue, who seems to have a self-serving agenda, but then genuinely appears to just want to help. He even points out that being self-serving and helping others are goals that complement each other.
 * The Black Fox, a Gentleman Thief foe of Spider-Man, has this vibe going for him. So much so that Spider-Man actually lets him escape from their first few encounters because he just can't bring himself to send the Fox to jail.
 * Gambit from X-Men is made of this trope. He's a very charming thief.

Fan Works

 * Lampshaded in the Death Note fic A Cure for Love when L indirectly calls Light one... to his face. Mello and Matt better qualify.

Film
"Cdre Norrington: "You are without a doubt, the worst pirate I've ever heard of." Cpt J. Sparrow: "But you have heard of me." Lieutenant: "That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen." Cdre Norrington: "So it would seem.""
 * Definitely Aladdin, at least the Disney version.
 * Timon, from The Lion King.
 * Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
 * Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas has Sinbad leading a troop of non-murderous pirates. They're just so awesome they don't need to kill. Except that one bit in the first scene where they did... but eh.
 * Flynn Rider from Tangled certainly counts; he's dashing, funny and experiences the most Character Development.
 * Phil Moscowitz, the hero of the Woody Allen comedy What's Up, Tiger Lily?, who identifies himself as a Lovable 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 (unless your name is Greedo) and a refusal to take part a direct part in any type of slavery operation (he would work for slavers in other matters though).
 * Is it really considered shooting someone in cold blood if that person has a gun trained on you and is talking about shooting you? It's simple self-defense. No court would accuse him.
 * 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.
 * The audiobook version of Heir to the Empire even felt the need to give him a Spanish accent.
 * Captain Jack Sparrow, from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, is a mix of Lovable 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.
 * after the Captain's escape*


 * The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.
 * Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. Pirates are prone to being Lovable Rogues, apparently.
 * Cpt. Louis Renault of Casablanca, although he turns honest at the end.
 * 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 lovable.
 * 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.
 * Rick O'Connell in The Mummy Trilogy. The fact that he started as a soldier in the French Foreign Legion, until his unit was wiped out, only adds to his rogue status.
 * Plunkett and Macleane's titular Macleane definitely fits the bill in spite of his thieving and gambling ways.
 * Frank Skeffington, the crooked big-city machine politician, is undoubtedly one of these in the movie version of The Last Hurrah; he is ferociously loyal and would never desert a friend, and if he sometimes uses money or offices to secure political favors, he only does it to help out his constituents. He is slightly more overtly sympathetic in the film than in the book (see "Literature" section below).
 * Abu in The Thief of Bagdad.
 * Eames in Inception.
 * Rodney Skinner, in the film adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. A cheerfully self-acknowledged Gentleman Thief, who stole the invisibility serum so that he could be the greatest thief in the world, he arguably emerges as the most lovable character in the whole movie. Bonus points for being and also for winning over fans of the graphic novel who were disgusted by his predecessor, original invisible man Hawley Griffin.
 * Danny Ocean & Friends of Ocean's Eleven. They're all charismatic in their own way, and everyone hates Asshole Victim Terry Benedict anyway.
 * "Professor" Harold Hill, of The Music Man, is this, with a heavy emphasis on the Lovable part (since he's also The Charmer).
 * Private Hook in Zulu. Note Did Not Do the Research here; the historical Private Hook was no malingerer, not in any way a disciplinary problem, and fought even more bravely in the battle than the film portrays him as doing. His surviving relatives walked out of the premiere when they saw how he'd been portrayed.
 * Hachi in Onibaba, though he's a pretty dark example, he's about as close as the movie gets to sympathetic.
 * Jay and Silent Bob from The View Askewniverse. Sure, Stoners Are Funny, but these two sell the stuff, and still manage to be funny. Most of the time.

Literature

 * Tom Sawyer commits petty misdemeanor after petty misdemeanor but generally gets a pass because he's such a charming little rascal.
 * Although some of the stuff he does in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn crosses the line from "petty" to "What the Hell, Hero?"
 * Simon Templar, aka The Saint.
 * Discworld:
 * 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.
 * The new miniseries subverts the expectations even more harshly; he apparently drove at least two people to suicide, and one innocent to prison, since he failed to realize that banks themselves would never admit mistakes on their part. It also multiplies the indirect deaths he's caused by a factor of (nearly) ten to 22.8.
 * Night Watch's Carcer Dun is a subversion; Vimes notes that he certainly looks and acts like one of your standard cheeky-yet-lovable-rascal types, but if you look closer you'll realise what an insane and unrepentant monster he is.
 * George Cooper, King of Thieves, from the Tortall books. His title is actually "The Rogue", and he basically runs the thieves' organization throughout the kingdom.
 * Also Rosto the Piper in the Beka books; it looks like, so it all makes sense.
 * Frank Skeffington in The Last Hurrah is a crooked big-city machine politician who is nonetheless beloved by his constituents (and not because he is fooling them- they know how he works, and they don't care). He may hand out offices and money as a way of buying political power, but he is ferociously loyal and would never desert a friend. Still, his portrayal is a little more overtly sympathetic in the film than in the novel, which is slightly more ambivalent about him and his legacy.
 * The Nightrunner series is centered around spies and thieves.
 * The Hobbit: Bilbo Baggins is 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 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
 * Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter books.
 * Those two never break any real laws though, just some school rules.
 * The Marauders would be a better example, at least when they were young, having actually broken the law by not registering to become animagi, and being a bit jerkier.
 * 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.
 * The entire Gentleman Bastard Sequence gang.
 * The Phouka in War for the Oaks qualifies; his idea of buying things is paying for them with soon-disappearing fairy gold. But being a member of The Fair Folk, he probably can't really help it.
 * Silk from The Belgariad; popular enough that he was the only non-sorcerer member of the party (aside from the Love Interest Ce'Nedra) to star in both The Belgariad and its sequel, The Mallorean.
 * Mulch Diggums from the Artemis Fowl series.
 * Packrat in the Shadowleague trilogy.
 * Jonathan Small, opponent of Sherlock Holmes in "Sign of the Four" has committed various acts of murder and robbery, which he tells of in detail - and still has much of the reader's sympathy. He has a strong loyalty to his three co-conspirators; also, much of his story takes place in a quite brutal penal colony - and of course, in this situation the reader tends to side with the prisoner against the guards.
 * Otto of Shlepswig in Harry Turtledove's Every Inch A King
 * Ostap Bender, Con Man in Soviet Russia in 1920s in dilogy of books by Ilf and Petrov and it's adaptations.
 * Like the Discworld example above, almost deconstructed in Chris Wooding's Ketty Jay series with Darian Frey, the main protagonist. He's a petty crook, and while he's certainly charming, has yet to cross the Moral Event Horizon, and learned loyalty to his crew, he is also deeply selfish and the author never lets us forget his flaws for long. In his first appearance he ; in the first scene of the second book, he and his crew are found robbing an orphanage. Yet, they remain sympathetic. That takes skill.
 * Fisk from the Knight and Rogue Series is this for the first two books, though by the third contsant close quarters with Michael seems to have gotten him to behave a little more within the law.
 * Dirk Slipstream in the Doctor Who novel Night of the Humans claims to be this. However, it turns out . He still talks like a British rogue (e.g. "sorry, ol' chap").
 * Ragnar Danneskjöld of Atlas Shrugged is a pirate who steals from relief ships bound for famine-struck countries. He, quite literally, steals food from starving children. (He keeps most of the profits, too.) Nevertheless, he is presented as a charming hero.
 * Count Vega from Wereworld A pirate an Exile and a Lady Killer who has a crush on Whitley
 * Ilmar the Slick in Sergey Lukyanenko's Seekers of the Sky duology is a thief, a grave robber, and a murderer (although in this world's mythology he hasn't yet commited the "mortal sin" of killing a dozen). He's also a devout follower of one of the two Churches of this world (the one more concerned with redemption and forgiveness than punishment) and will often donate sacred texts found in abandoned temples to the Church. Unlike a typical rogue, Ilmar isn't shown to be particularly charming. His fling with a female pilot (who's also a countess) happens after he kidnaps her and forces her to fly him to the mainland. They crash, and she ends up having "Glad to Be Alive" Sex with him, while he can't even move.
 * Jeff Raven of The Tower and The Hive series. A Prime-level "Wild Talent" (a psychic-powered human with no formal training), who swoops in and claims the heart of The Rowan (the strongest Prime around) with nothing more than confidence and mental rapport.
 * Hex from the Alpha Force series. A snarky serial hacker who's apparently broken into some highly classified websites, who admits he only does it for the challenge (Except when the person really deserves to have their bank accounts emptied) and is otherwise highly moral.
 * Tasslehoff from Dragonlance could count as this.
 * Han "Cuffs" Alister from The Seven Realms Series is this.

Live-Action TV

 * Bret Maverick, from the aptly named western Maverick. Most often Bret is forced to break the law by escaping jail for crimes he's framed of, or commits crimes as part of schemes and cons to outwit those they have wronged him, (stolen his winnings), or his loved ones.
 * Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses.
 * Boycie, originally a less lovable Sitcom Arch Nemesis for Del Boy, arguably developed into one following his own turn in the spotlight.
 * Monkey from Monkey.
 * Arthur Daley from Minder, from season 8 and onwards.
 * The title character of Remington Steele.
 * Newkirk from Hogan's Heroes, pickpocket and card-cheater. Good thing he only uses his skills on the Nazis.
 * Hogan might also qualify, given how much of a Manipulative Bastard he is.
 * Autolycus, the King of Thieves from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
 * Made more lovable by being played by Bruce Campbell himself.
 * Vila Restal from Blake's 7. Not to mention being a card-carrying coward.
 * Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly and Serenity.
 * Jayne fits the type, 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 tv series.
 * Hatter, from the Syfy version of Alice. Combine Han Solo and Captain Jack Sparrow (complete with Guyliner) but slightly less rogue and more lovable through the second part of the series.
 * 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.
 * Basically, the cops would rather arrest him for being involved in a crime than believe he's that good at spotting things.
 * 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.
 * ST:TNG also had a supporting character named Vash, a female version of this trope who romanced Picard for a short time. For bonus irony points, Q
 * Hellooo, he's Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood fame, pleased to make your acquaintance.
 * The Doctor from Doctor Who stole his TARDIS, fled his home planet, disrespects most forms of authority and is a very lovable guy. Especially Ten and Eleven in the new series.
 * River Song is a rare female example of this trope. She's a time-travelling archaeologist, and still saves the world every now and then with the Doctor.
 * Sawyer from Lost, a highly popular character despite being a conman and murderer.
 * In season 5, he develops from Lovable Rogue into a snarky but otherwise perfectly heroic character.
 * Claude Greengrass in the British period police soap Heartbeat. Lampshaded when a character calls Greengrass a rogue and he responds "Yes, but I'm lovable".
 * Also later Peggy Armstrong, who began as an Unlovable Rogue but was subsequently softened. In between there was Vernon Scripps, who is often considered this, but stayed on the right side of the law.
 * 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.
 * The Winchesters manage to have one metaphorical foot in this trope and the other in the Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes trope.
 * 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.
 * It also helps that he's played by the Ninth Doctor.
 * Jack (Bruce Campbell) from Jack of All Trades.
 * Neal, the main character of White Collar personifies this trope.
 * Omar, from the HBO series, The Wire definitely falls under this category. He makes his living ripping off drug dealers and is constantly killing people. But he has a moral code of "all in the game" and he is just too lovable for the audience not to, well, love.
 * Neil from The Librarians sees himself as a lovable rogue. No one else does.
 * All of the members of The A-Team are this since the bad guys are so one-dimensionally horrible, but Face probably fits here the most since he's the slick and charming ladies' man (and Con Man). The team also fits as a group of Type II Anti-Heroes.
 * NCIS: Anthony Dinozzo Sr.
 * Taja from Mortal Kombat: Conquest is still mostly this after joining the group.
 * Darien Fawkes in The Invisible Man. He's a notorious thief who only got caught last time because he tried to revive an old man he thought was having a heart attack (instead, he got convicted for attempted rape). His brother, an accomplished scientist, gets him out of prison to be the guinea pig for a top-secret project. After Darien gets the quicksilver gland, he can now become invisible at will. A dream come true for a thief. However, he needs regular injections of a counteragent that prevents him from going insane from quicksilver overdose, a deliberate flaw in the gland. Despite now working for a secret government agency, Darien still has plenty of roguish qualities, who loves to use his new ability to sneak into places he shouldn't (like spy on a guard and a nurse getting it on). However, in the series finale, the flaw in the gland is finally fixed, allowing him to be free from the Agency. The first thing he does is rob a place, only to leave the money on the sidewalk when he realizes he's not the same guy anymore.
 * Lutin, from The Legend of Dick and Dom, is introduced in the opening credit voiceover as the heroes' thieving servant. Saves the quest several times with heists, capers and jailbreaks, as well as routinely sabotaging opponents and lifting small items; she's a classic cheeky, sarcastic rogue.

Music

 * Michael Jackson is this in the video for "Smooth Criminal" where he fights a gang of not-so-lovable rogues.

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

 * Loki in Norse mythology.
 * Raven, the Trickster God of Native American Mythology.
 * Hermes in Classical Mythology, God of Thieves, and often portrayed as the most jovial of the Olympians.
 * Robin Hood, of course. Many Lovable Rogues strive to be just like him.
 * Slovakia has Juraj Jánošík, who also became a national symbol of resistance to oppression.
 * Japan meanwhile has Goemon the charitable ninja.

Professional Wrestling

 * The late Eddie Guerrero was well known for his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" lifestyle. But he was so damn charming, he'd usually get away with it, all the while stealing the audience's hearts.

Puppet Shows

 * 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, i.e. "Super Liar") while still remaining highly likable. It's thought this may have actually helped (the real) Jacques Chirac get re-elected.

Radio

 * Harry Lime as he was portrayed in the radio show The Lives of Harry Lime. He was considerably less lovable in The Third Man.

Tabletop Games

 * There's a good chance that any given Thief/Rogue, Bard, or Swashbuckler you meet in a game of Dungeons & Dragons is this kind of character.
 * An old maxim of roleplaying states that "A thief or rogue character will never be morally centrist. He will either be a good-natured chap who steals from people who deserve it and is the subject of much affection, or he will be a complete sociopath".
 * There's an even better chance they won't be, but will pretend they are.
 * The hat of the Sarista.

Theatre

 * The rogue Autolycus in Shakespeare's The Winters Tale.
 * The Engineer from Miss Saigon.
 * Falstaff in Shakespeare's Henry IV.
 * Bertolt Brecht deconstructs this trope in The Threepenny Opera.

Video Games

 * Locke the 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.
 * If Robin Hood is a Lovable 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.
 * And as a helicopter.
 * 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.
 * The two characters in Ace Attorney who get a Karma Houdini fall under this category. For  and for
 * And Kay Faraday, even though she doesn't technically steal anything.
 * Except the truth!
 * Rei and Teepo from Breath of Fire III, respectively an Deadpan Snarker Classy Cat Burglar and a Hot-Blooded Badass Adorable mugger.
 * 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 Lovable 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.
 * Matthew qualifies as well. Come to think of it, this is a recurring trend in the Fire Emblem series.
 * Colm from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones as well, with a hint of Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
 * Also Julian, from Shadow Dragon, though that's more brought on by the Incorruptible Pure Pureness of Lena.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Assassin's Creed: Ezio Auditore da Firenze, before he received some hefty Character Development.
 * Crimson Skies' Nathan Zachary.
 * Imoen,, from the Baldur's Gate series definitely qualifies, though she dual-classes into a Squishy Wizard in the sequel. Her merciless torture at the hands of Jon Irenicus is a vicious Player Punch and one of the main reason for you to hate Irenicus' guts.
 * Yoshimo also works hard to project this image, although there are moments where it's a little off. From all indications he was 100% this trope prior to.
 * Tomi Undergallows from Neverwinter Nights is probably the most entertaining henchman for his sense of humor and his questionably accurate tales of working for evil monstrous humanoids and stealing the hearts of women twice his size. Deekin from the expansion packs also counts because, well, he's a kobold bard. A nonevil kobold bard who speaks in the third person and sings about doom. How can you not love that? "AAAAHH! Deekin...heart..."
 * Neeshka from Neverwinter Nights 2. Though some people find her more annoying than lovable, she is a sort of a tiefling reincarnation of Imoen. Safiya's familiar in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask Of The Betrayer may count as well.
 * Chousokabe Motochika from Sengoku Basara is a kleptomaniac Pirate known as the "Demon of the Western Sea" who crushes peoples skulls in with a giant anchor. However once you get past this he's actually a fairly honest, charming and good-hearted guy who values things like friendship and keeping promises, and overall one of the most moral characters around.
 * Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. While the game would prefer you to see her as an Adventurer Archaeologist, in the real world she would be called an ordinary grave robber.
 * Speaking of Eidos, Gex was reportedly supposed to be this, as revealed in the interview with the creator at the end of the Enter The Gecko Strategy Guide.
 * And for that matter, don't forget Garrett from the Thief series.
 * Rikku from Final Fantasy X. Sure, she's a thief who comes from a group of people who are considered heathens, and even kidnaps Yuna at one point, but she's also a sweet, lovable Genki Girl who's always ready to brighten up the mood.
 * Most PC rogue characters in World of Warcraft for the same reason stated above for Dungeons and Dragons''.
 * Kasumi Goto from Mass Effect 2, primarily due to her upbeat, energetic nature but still sad backstory.
 * Sly Cooper from the Sly Cooper games definitely falls under this catagory, along with the rest of the Cooper Gang.
 * Isabela from Dragon Age II sits here with a drink and a few knives most of the time, if only because of her easygoing nature and the fact that the loss of her ship has forced her into a lack of pirating recently. There's also the fact that she lost her ship in the first place because she refused to carry a shipment of slaves.
 * Zevran and Varric also count. One of them is a charming assassin with some degree of conscience, the other is a witty information man.
 * Ozan, one of the Signature Heroes of RuneScape, seems to fit this category well. He happens to be a thief and a liar with an inflated ego... Yet his friendly, fun and charming personality makes him likable despite this. Oh, and he is a hero (if the term 'Signature Heroes' wasn't enough of a clue).
 * The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword introduced the Mogmas, a race of tunnel dwellers who are mostly seen plotting to steal ancient treasure from the local temples. Despite being thieves they always repay debts, and their kindness and inclination to help Link save Zelda make them very lovable.
 * Raven from Tales of Vesperia, who, despite being a bit of a pervert and working a selfish agenda, also happens to be a genuinely good guy and the comic relief character.
 * Sky from Jade Empire.
 * Yakuza. Despite the fact that the protagonists in the franchise are indeed Yakuza, they're usually decent folks, protecting and helping civilians, especially children, while the actual antagonists are complete scum.
 * In MapleStory, this applies to any member of the Pirate or Thief class, especially Phantom.
 * Rouge the Bat in Sonic the Hedgehog (fits the Trope even if you misspell it!) the Catwoman type in the franchise.

Web Comics
""Are you questioning my logic?""
 * Ciro from Project 0
 * Mordekai from the Fantasy theme of Irregular Webcomic actually insists on being referred to as a Lovable Rogue.
 * Julio Scoundrel in The 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 & 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.
 * In Freefall Captain Sam Starfall is not only a Lovable Rogue, he apparently comes from an entire race of them
 * Of course we only have his word on that.
 * The KAMics: Gertrude and Brunhilda as explained in this strip.
 * Varden, from Inverloch, is utterly lovable despite all his efforts to the contrary.
 * Hark! A Vagrant portrays Robin Hood as a Lovable Rogue. Dick Turpin, on the other hand...
 * Rocky from Lackadaisy Cats. Course, it helps that he's a little... well, crazy.

"UU: a rogUe is a passive class. yoU see, there are passive (+) and active (-) classes. some more strongly passive or active than others. UU: the +/- distinction can mean many things, bUt coUld be qUite roUghly sUmmed Up in this way: active classes exploit their aspect to benefit themselves, while passive classes allow their aspect to benefit others. ... UU: classes always come in +/- pairs, with significant disparity between them. UU: while a rogUe is passive, a thief woUld be its far more active coUnterpart. TG: so basically TG: a thief is like the asshole class TG: the player who says step off shits mine suckas TG: whereas TG: a rogue TG: is bascially robin hood"
 * Just to give a frame of reference, he asks this prior to.
 * The pirates from Dubious Company. Sure they steal ships, rum, and polyphase conductors, but overall they're terrible pirates. Of course their main adversaries, the Imperial Guard, are terrible officers. A major arc involved the pirates trying to stop the Imperial Guard from giving the Emperor superpowers, by murdering an otherwise innocent priestess.
 * Greg: Ted displays his rouge tendencies by sneaking onto a college campus disguised as a professor to score the digits of the female students and more.
 * This trope is invoked in Homestuck to describe the difference between the Rogue and Thief classes:


 * Pandora from Dangerously Chloe. When she dropped in, Chloe looked like suffering an intense headache - which immediately proved to be an entirely justified reaction - but they are friends. Hyperactive, constantly pranking, shameless, mooching succubus who flouts the rules of her school in Hell and repeatedly slips into Heaven on a lark... once wearing a mocking T-shirt at that. Also, exactly the sort of a demon our protagonists are lucky to have on their side - for the same reason: she is every bit as devious, sneaky and Crazy Prepared when helping her friends.

Western Animation
"Bender: It's me! Bender! The lovable rascal!"
 * Rattrap from Beast Wars. At one point Optimus Primal is presumed dead during the course of one night. During that time Rattrap takes it upon himself to take over his (much nicer) quarters and replace everything with his own stuff. When he is called out on it, his response is basically "Hey, come on. What do you expect?"
 * Bender from Futurama.


 * The Blue Spirit of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the "lovable" part established in Season 1, with the "rogueish" part not really coming out until he committed several thefts and at least one death threat.
 * Teen Titans has Red X, who is not only entertainingly witty during combat, but also manages to completely dominate all five Titans at once. He also remarks that he doesn't steal for any sort of incomprehensibly psychopathic reason; he's just doing it all for the fun.
 * Daffy Duck of Looney Tunes fame, under Robert McKimson's direction was evolved into a compromise of both his former and latter forms, often acting as a con artist or door to door salesman. In tradition with this trope, his luck was often karma based, when trying to swindle protagonists such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig he was usually foiled, when trying to make money out of antagonists such as Elmer Fudd and the Tazmanian Devil however, Daffy would often make a profit.
 * Puck from Gargoyles most definitely qualifies. "Sunny disposition and always kind to animals" indeed.
 * Jerry of Tom and Jerry was supposed to be this, but Your Mileage May Vary on the lovable part.
 * The Ant Hill Mob from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop may not be the most competent of rogues, but they still fit.
 * Stan from Gravity Falls is a charlatan, con artist, Snake Oil Salesman, and often a common thief, and gets away with a lot of it because most folks in Gravity Falls are too dumb to notice. Still, he remains a good-hearted person in the long run, valiantly opposing Bill Cipher's machinations.
 * Wendy, to a lesser extent. While regarded as a Nice Girl overall she's done a few shady things like abusing her authority as a lifeguard (eventually she was fired for filching from the snack bar, and managed to steal three more bags of chips on the way out), vandalism, and in one of the shorts, stealing a police car.
 * Eda from The Owl House is very similar to Stan, being a witch who hawks junk stolen from Earth as "human oddities", going so far as to literally sell a bottle labeled "snake oil" in the second episode. She is also an Eccentric Mentor to the protagonist and a Jerk With a Heart of Gold . Many fans have commented on how she and Stan could practically be soulmates, and given as the show is something of a Spiritual Successor to Gravity Falls, it does make some sense.