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{{trope}}
[[File:afghan-girl 4073.jpg|frame|Mysterious [[National Geographic|from June 1985]] [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2002/04/afghan-girl-revealed/ until April 2002].]]
{{quote|''"I've [[Genre Savvy|seen enough movies to know]] I'm safer siding with the mystery girl with the crazy powers than the army of dudes trying to kill her."''|'''Jacob Freeman''', ''[[Shadownova]]''}}
Usually a
Most often she's of royal birth, or a goddess in disguise. Sometimes unknowingly. But occasionally you'll just have a common birth waif.
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There are two key parts.
First, she's a "[
To quote the other wiki: "The word waif (from the Old French guaif, stray beast) refers to a living creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from his or her original surroundings. The most common usage is to designate a homeless, forsaken or orphaned child, or someone whose appearance is evocative of same."
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So she's somehow been removed from her normal routine and can't go home for some reason. (This is where [[The Woobie]] bit comes in).
The second is that she's mysterious. We (and the hero) usually don't know much about her past, at least until [[The Reveal]] at the end. But for some reason we are drawn to her. She's mysteriously [[Moe Moe|alluring]]- [[Captain Obvious|partly because of the mystery around her]]. Where did she come from? Why can't she go home? Why won't she tell us about these things? (She's usually scared and doesn't want to talk about her past). A
Before you know what is happening the hero is getting caught up in trying to help her without really knowing what is happening or what he's getting into. (Expect him to have a serious moment of doubt once he discovers he's gotten into something big and dangerous.) Often involves a [[Big Brother Instinct]] aspect.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn from ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. She is mysterious, ready for a self-sacrifice, and wears unusually dark clothes; she also has several mysterious powers even outside of her Sailor Senshi identity (although many of the other girls did too). Her situation is somewhat different, as there are [[Eviler Than Thou|three sides]] involved: Sailor Moon, who wants to save her; the Guardians of the Outer Solar System, who want to get rid of her as she poses a threat to the world; and the evil Death Busters, who want to destroy the world with her help. A couple seasons later, she joins the main cast, and her powers overlap somewhat with those of the [[White Magician Girl]] [[Cool Big Sis]], Sailor Pluto.
* Lala-Ru from "[[Now and Then, Here
* Kari Kamiya/Yagami Hikari from ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' and ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', the human lightbulb. Also an [[Ill Girl]] at times (really, she gets sick twice during the series and twice offscreen as backstory - a lot compared to the ''zero'' of most of the rest of the cast, but that adds up to a minuscule portion of her screentime - [[Never Live It Down|far from the invalid she's remembered as by fans]].), she is the only one to have a Crest (Light) that ''doesn't'' refer to an innate virtue or trait. The powers of this Crest usually manifest themselves in weird ways, and she has been shown as both 1) unusually self-sacrificing and 2) drawn to the Dark Ocean, because of her powers and walled-in emotional problems. She's also empathetic to the point of being borderline psychic, which sends her into two [[Heroic BSOD
** She can also be possessed by the mysterious whatevers that are running the digital world (apparently, in rank, they're the one step that exists between [[The Obi-Wan]] Gennai and ''[[The Four Gods]].'') And once talked like her possessed self while apparently ''not'' possessed, and could grant healing and a recharge ''by glowiness alone.'' She's got some serious clout, and we never get any kind of explanation for it, not even something like "Light is just that awesome a Crest trait."
* Kisara of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', the [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|white-haired]] and blue-eyed Egyptian and homeless, quiet, vaguely psychic, mysterious keeper of the spirit of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon who [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificed herself]] to protect the only person who ever showed her kindness, High Priest Seto... even [[Reincarnation|3,000 years later]].
** Only present day example would be against losing to Isis during Battle City. Otherwise, Kaiba typically sees Blue-Eyes White Dragon as his personal [[
* Clare from ''[[Claymore]]'' starts out like this, until it becomes obvious that she is seriously [[The Stoic]] mixed with [[Badass Abnormal]], a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], [[Kuudere]], and a bit of [[Deadpan Snarker]].
** Ophelia at first appears like this, but she is just liberal amounts of [[Ax Crazy]].
* Vivio of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', the main character's adopted 6-year old daughter who has [[Mismatched Eyes]] and was found trudging through the sewers while chained to a pair of cases containing [[MacGuffin|Relics]].
* C.C. from ''[[Code Geass]]''. Personality-wise she's more of a [[Deadpan Snarker]], though, and can't be considered exactly naive.
** {{spoiler|Except when she loses her memory, then she fits the trope perfectly.}}
* Rei from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.
* Lucy/Nyuu from ''[[Elfen Lied]]''.
* Alvis from ''[[Last Exile]]'' is a mini-version.
* ''[[Noir]]'' has Yumura Kirika, a melancholy and very cute protagonist who has no memory of her past. She also happens to be a deadly assassin.
* Tiffa Adil, the Mysterious Waif of ''[[After War Gundam X
* Ennis from [[Baccano
* Nia from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.
* Clear from ''[[Final Fantasy Unlimited]]''.
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* Leeloo, the female lead of ''[[The Fifth Element]]''
* A male example would be the titular Oliver from ''[[Oliver Twist]]''.
* The kid in ''Road Warrior'' who never talks, but somehow grows up into the film's articulate narrator.
* An early example is the servant girl from ''[[The Seventh Seal]]''. She is a mute that follows the knight and his squire after they save her from a rapist.
* ''[[Waterworld]]'' has Enola, an orphan with a map to dry land tattooed on her back.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Kes from ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' though her past is well-explained ({{spoiler|if not her subsequent [[Face Heel Turn]]}}) given that she's only lived a couple of years when the crew encounters her.
* River from ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', who was tricked into leaving home for [[Playing
** After Serenity, it seems she's getting better. Not 100% better (she still reads minds) but better than before.
* Natsuki in ''[[Go Go Sentai Boukenger]]'' has a couple of [[Spider Sense]] moments, so far a part you wonder if [[The Powers That Be]] ''forgot'' about the skull thingy way back in episode one, but when her powers are used against the Boukengers by bad guys, you get mass destruction. It's... really more trouble than it's worth.
* Freya from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', a Druid runaway who is under a [[Curse]].
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
* We might as well include a description for our [[Real Life]] [[Mysterious Waif]] who's pictured up there. She's the Afghan Girl, real name Sharbat Gula. She was photographed in an Afghan refugee camp. At the time the picture was taken, the photographer didn't know her name, and in 2002, she was successfully located and formally identified. Her photograph is the most recognized in [[National Geographic]] history.<ref>And in case you're wondering how being moderately famous improved her life...it didn't. At the time the picture was taken, Gula had just been driven from her home, so she was understandably pissed off. And when she was found in 2002 and asked how she felt about being famous, she found that it was hard to care when your husband was working for a dollar a day and your asthma made it hard to breathe within your own polluted city.</ref>▼
* More than one young female Catholic saint is represented like this in media. A good example would be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solange Saint Solange]; she's depicted as a beautiful young shepherdess blessed by God to the point of having [[Healing Hands]] and exorcising demons with a sole touch. Too bad the poor kid ended up [[Off With His Head|decapitated]] [[Attempted Rape|by a would be rapist]]... but then Solange performed her last miracle: [[Losing Your Head|calmly picking up her own severed head and walking back home]].▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Fina from ''[[
* Luna from ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete]]'' and Lucia from ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete]]''.
* Machi Tobaye in ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]''. Blind, can't speak English, and falsely accused of cold-blooded murder. {{spoiler|Only the last's true, although his English is pretty awkward.}}
* Isabella/Catleia from ''[[Advance Wars]]: Days of Ruin''. [[Moe]], [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]], found in wreckage and rescued by the main character, instinctively knows mysterious knowledge she shouldn't without explanation, and the [[Big Bad]] seems to know who she is and is unusually interested in her.
* Aerith Gainsborough from ''[[
* Dyshana of ''[[Record of Agarest War]]'' is so this.
* Rydia from [[Final Fantasy IV]] qualifies.
* Nine out of ten Fire Emblem games have a mysterious waif.
* Princess Yorda of [[
* ''[[Ar
* Iris from ''[[Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny]]'' is this to the degree.
* Fiona from [[Nostalgia]] is this trope to a T.
* Elh of ''[[Solatorobo]]'' fits as well, having a [[Kuudere|quiet, distant personality]], [[MacGuffin]] amulet, and {{spoiler|[[Doomed Hometown]]}}, though in this case the waif is a young male {{spoiler|- or rather, is confused for one. Elh is really a girl, much to everyone's surprise. [[You Never Asked|They just never asked]].}}
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* Our very own [[Mysterious Waif-tan]].
▲== [[Real Life]] ==
▲* We might as well include a description for our [[Real Life]]
▲* More than one young female Catholic saint is represented like this in media. A good example would be [
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Always Female]]
[[Category:Herald]]
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