Farm Boy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

To make things safer, any such heritage will be spoiler marked, [[It Was His Sled|no matter how obvious]].

This is [[The Oldest Ones in the Book|such an old trope]] it's [[Dead Horse Trope|died]] and [[Undead Horse Trope|been reborn]] several times already,<ref>(well, who better to keep a horse in good condition than a farmer?)</ref> and there are a few traditional ways for the story to pan out. Generally, the kid will either go from [[Rags to Riches]] (or even all the way [[Rags to Royalty|to Royalty]]), or he'll reject the strange new world he's saved and [[But Now I Must Go|return home]] to accept the [[Call to Agriculture]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* Slightly off course is Sheeta from ''Laputa [[Laputa: Castle in the Sky]]''. She's a farmgirl {{spoiler|who is descended from the Laputian royal family,}} but she already knows this when we meet her (neither we nor Pazu does, though).

* Jack from ''[[MAR]]''. Really a sidekick, but still a farmboy.

 

* Don't forget [[Superman]], who was raised as naive farmboy Clark Kent. Last son of Krypton.

** Inverted with [[Superboy]], his younger clone, who went to go live with the Kents for a "proper upbringing". Superboy has quite a bit more hubris than his progenitor, though...

 

* Tobias Talltree of ''[[Clouded Sky]]'' is a farmboy before being chosen to become a Pokémon guide.

 

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' (of course) has Luke—a "moisture farmer", raised by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. He got a reputation for being whiny, but if you look at him he longed to be someone but was very dutiful. Owen and Beru were killed when their home was blown up by Imperial Stormtroopers looking for a couple of droids. Son of [[The Dragon|Darth Vader]]. His wife sometimes teased him for his idealism by calling him "Farmboy".

** Anakin Skywalker is also a farm boy, of sorts, though replace "farm" with "He's a slave" and "[[I Am Who?|Son of someone important]]" to [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|"Virgin birth".]]

* ''[[The Matrix]]'' has Thomas A. Anderson starting off as a regular office worker - essentially the modern, urban version of the Farmboy - until fate said "Knock knock, Neo". The only things missing here are his hometown and parents getting destroyed - understandable as his "hometown" and "parents" are ''what he'll end up fighting against''.

 

* The ''[[Belgariad]]'' has (Bel)Garion the farmer's nephew. His home town was not blown up and his "aunt" Polgara turned out to be a powerful and ancient sorceress. {{spoiler|Son of the Rivan Kings.}}

** Durnik, the humble farm blacksmith of low birth, who insists that he's nobody important, {{spoiler|turns out to be a signifigant part of the Prophecy and comes [[Back From the Dead]] to fulfill it, becoming an immortal sorcerer in the process and marrying Polgara}}. Too old to be a farm ''boy'', but he otherwise seems to fit.

* In [[Lloyd Alexander]]'s ''[[Prydain Chronicles]]'' (and Disney's [[The Film of the Book|film adaptation of the second book]], ''[[The Black Cauldron]]''), a young boy, profession '''assistant''' pig-keeper, [[Jumped At the Call|ran headlong into adventures]] (and a thornbush) when Hen Wen, his oracular charge, ran away from [[Big Bad|Arawn's]] new lieutenant [[The Dragon|the Horned King]]. Special bonus points must be awarded as he is often called Farm Boy (or, more often, pig-boy) in a derogatory way.

** Son of {{spoiler|nobody. He was found as a baby nearby a violent battle where nobody survived, so he was without rank or heritage, something which his foster-father took as a sign that he was the chosen child.}}

** Subverted with Tomjon, {{spoiler|apparent}} heir to Lancre and {{spoiler|supposed}} son of King Verence I. Given to a troupe of actors to raise (mostly because that's how these stories are supposed to go, but also so that, if this whole king thing doesn't work out, he'll at least learn a useful trade) he was raised to be his father's son. Turns out that if you raise a king as an actor, he'll mostly turn out to be an actor.

** Mort wasn't even much good at being a Farm Boy, yet a stint as the [[Grim Reaper]]-In-Training left him in a position to become a Duke. {{spoiler|Not for very long, unfortunately.}}

* Bria in ''[[The Last Dove]]''. She is raised in a rural village where she is mocked for not being able to Change. {{spoiler|Then she finds out that she's Queen Vasi's daughter}}

 

{{quote|'''Gillian:''' Don't tell me; you're from outer space

'''Kirk:''' No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space. }}

{{quote|'''Cooper''': She was born in 1898 in a barn. She died on the 37th floor of a skyscraper. [[Mad Men/Heartwarming|She's an astronaut]].}}

* Played with in ''[[Skins]]''. Alo lives on a farm, and Mini's "pet name" for him is "Farm Boy."

 

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'', Link was a goatherd before he was pulled into a world of Triforces, shadow demons, and the neverending battle of good vs. evil. {{spoiler|Link is possibly descended (or at least reincarnated) from the previous Links.}}

** Other game's Links come close. Though not farmers, they often live a fairly simple life before something draws them into the adventure. Only the cartoon and direct sequels start out with a seasoned adventurer.

* The Colonist [[Multiple Choice Past|origin]] for Commander Shepard of [[Mass Effect]] is more or less this, in comparison to [[Military Brat|Spacer]] and [[Street Urchin|Earthborn]]. It implies that Shepard grew up in a backwater human colony which conveniently got the [[Doomed Hometown]] treatment.

 

* Juinn of ''[[Juathuur]]'' {{spoiler|(son of the Salamander King.)}}

* In ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/not-going/ Bud disclaims responsibility for her culture on the ground she was the equivalent of a Mid-West farm girl with common sense.]

* Subverted with Lars from ''[[Girl Genius]]''. According to [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050316 his backstory], he was a cheesemaker's apprentice until he ran away with a circus. Later, he fell in love with Agata, but ultimately {{spoiler|1=he died as an [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061215 ordinary guy]}}.

 

* Hilde Becker from ''[[Lambda|Opening Move]]'' is a naive [[Meaningful Name|baker girl]] from a rural seaside town. She gets smooth-talked into joining the army by a [[Mentor Mascot|weird rabbit-thing with wings and five ears]]. Whether or not she's related to anyone important is still unknown.

* Arnie Harvey from Wisconsin, ordinary chubby kid whose family owns a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Until he gets superpowers in the [[Whateley Universe]]. He gets superstrength ''and'' superspeed. At the time of his story "Triple Threat" he is considered a campus ''supervillain''.

* Oscar Pine from ''[[RWBY]]'', at least until {{spoiler|the late Professor Ozpin reincarnates into him}}.

 

* Megan from the original ''[[My Little Pony]]'' cartoon. Not the daughter of anyone important (her parents don't ever come up, actually), but she ''definitely'' fits.

** Speaking of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|ponies]], two of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony grew up on farms. Applejack tried to leave as a kid but ultimately returned, feeling the family farm was her destiny. Nowadays she seems to run it, and while she has helped save the world twice shows no intention of ever giving up being a farmer. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, happily turned away from the farm when she realised her destiny lay elsewhere, a destiny that as mentioned included saving the world twice, but mostly [[Serious Business|bringing parties and laughter to other ponies]]. Of course, Pinkie claims the farm was so boring that they ''grew rocks'' and that her parents were the pony equivalent of Amish... so [[Unreliable Narrator|we don't know how much of this is true]].

 

* Zhu Yuanzhang: youngest son of a peasant, whose home town was [[Doomed Hometown|wiped out by a flood]] when he was [[Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday|sixteen]] and who went on to found the Ming dynasty by way of the [[Going Native|Red Turban]] secret society (and [[The Starscream|murdering their previous leader]]).

* Mao Zedong was born a peasant's son, rising to become dictator of [[Red China]] aged 56.

* Richard Bong, the top US [[Ace Pilot]] of all time (he got to 40 kills before being pulled from combat) was raised on a farm.

** He died while testing a P-80 Shooting Star on 6 August 1945. In some cases, his death shared the next day's front page with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

* [[wikipedia:Audie Murphy|Audie Murphy]] was a poor farm boy from Texas. At one point he even lived in a place called Farmersville.

 

{{reflist}}