View source for The Ingenue

{{trope|wppage=Ingénue (stock_character)}}
[[File:Renoir Ingenue.jpg|thumb|400px|''The Ingenue'', by [[wikipedia:Renoir|Renoir]] (1877)]]

{{quote|"''What are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM.''"|'''Mary Lane'''|''[[Reefer Madness]]'' (2005)}}

'''The Ingenue''' is a young [[My Girl Is Not a Slut|virginal]] woman with the [[Purity Personified|purity]] [[Adult Child|of a]] [[Children Are Innocent|child]].

She is [[Horrible Judge of Character|woefully naive]], making her a prime target for a villain seeking to take advantage of her, often in an [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]] fashion. As a result, the ingenue is one of the most common [[Damsel in Distress|Distressed Damsels]]. She is also [[Entendre Failure|immune to sexual innuendo]]. In a worst-case scenario, the character will be given no real personality beyond her [[Purity Sue|purity and innocence.]]

The ingenue is a [[Stock Character]] found throughout all media, although the character type, almost always voiced by a lyric soprano, is popular in [[Opera]]. The [[Princess Classic]] is one of the most common examples of this, with the more innocent versions of the [[Farmer's Daughter]] a close second. Nowadays, the ingenue is parodied or subverted more often than not, because in this day and age it isn't plausible for an unsheltered girl to be completely innocent. If this character is played straight and not in a traditionally romantic setting, she may be [[Wrong Genre Savvy]], and will usually [[Break the Cutie|end up getting screwed over]].

A young actress in a theatre troupe is often called an ingenue, as she is frequently cast in this role.

[[Silk Hiding Steel]] is what an ingenue may grow up to be.

There is no direct male version [[Distaff Counterpart]] to The Ingenue which shares the same characeristics and possibitive{{context|reason=Is that even a word?}} connotations. The closest equivalent for male characters, [[Man Child]], has rather negative connotations with immaturity and being weak, with the emphasis being more on the lack of adult characteristics in the manchild versus their childlike purity.

Compare [[Man Child]], [[The Pollyanna]], [[Princess Classic]], [[The Cutie]], [[Purity Sue]], [[Parasol of Prettiness]], [[Proper Lady]]. Contrast [[The Vamp]], [[Femme Fatale]], [[Innocent Bigot]], [[Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl]], [[Stepford Smiler]], [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]], [[Covert Pervert]], [[Coy Girlish Flirt Pose]], [[Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date]].

{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Subverted by Lacus Clyne, of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]''. When she's introduced, she comes off as being innocent to the point of being impossibly naive, even stupid. She's actually highly political savvy, heavily implied to be [[Obfuscating Stupidity|pretending to be dim to be overlooked]], and ends up a major world-leader by the end of the series.
* Tohru in ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' fits this completely.
* Shizuka/Serenity from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''.
* Himeko from ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' matches this categorization incredibly well.
* Eve Genoard from ''[[Baccano!]]'', who is probably the ''only'' character in the entire series who isn't a [[Lovable Rogue|crook]], [[Psycho for Hire|psycho]], or [[The Mafia|dabbling in organized crime]] in some way - [[Mafia Princess|at least as far as she knows]]. {{spoiler|She then goes on to subvert it in ''Drugs & the Dominoes'': turns out that even the [[Moe]]blobs of the [[World of Badass|Baccano! universe]] are prepared to [[You Killed My Father|remorselessly blow your head off in revenge]].}}
* Arguably Usagi from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' when her more obnoxious traits are toned down (which happens most noticeably when she takes the form of Princess Serenity).
* Albert from ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' is a rare male example, though the show is partly about him growing out of it by the way of a particularly cruel [[Break the Cutie]] process.
* ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' has Belldandy. Oh, is she ''ever'' one of these. Her pastimes include [[Yamato Nadeshiko|cleaning]], talking about how much she loves cleaning, and coddling various inanimate objects because [[Power of Love|love makes machines work better]]. She'll give [[Love You and Everybody|any and every stranger on the street a hug]], but [[Asexuality|hasn't gotten past second base with the boyfriend she's lived with for years]]. There are occasions where she is shown as being aware of the situation, but these are typically the exceptions rather than the rule.
** For example, her knowledge of sexual innuendo is woefully limited, allowing her to misunderstand comments such as how Keiichi must not get a lot of sleep when he's with her. And she also misses Keiichi's hints about moving their relationship forward sexually, such as when they were standing in front of the love motel during an Urd-created rainstorm. On the other hand, she is at least somewhat aware that Keiichi has sexual desires, but admits she is not ready to fulfill them.
** Another example, is when they were at the hot Springs and Keiichi was trying to cover up his nakedness, Belldandy was totally unaware of Keiichi's embarrassment at being nude in front of a group of girls, and thought that Marller had in fact hurt him. Both Marller and Urd considered her complete obliviousness to be scary [http://i38.mangareader.net/ah-my-goddess/60/ah-my-goddess-241333.jpg\]{{Dead link}}
* Nunnally Lamperouge from ''[[Code Geass]]'' seems to be one of these... until [[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|R2]] rolls around, and we see that despite being blind and wheelchair-bound, [[A Child Shall Lead Them|she's still her father's daughter...]]
** Euphemia is a much straighter example, the  {{spoiler|[[Fan Nickname|Euphinator incident]]}} notwithstanding.
** [[Spoiled Sweet|Shirley]] may also count.
*** Well, yeah, both Euphemia and Shirley are much straighter examples (in the end) than Nunnally, who really just subverts the trope—or else learns to grow out of it in time to get in on the main plot action.
* Sawako Kuronuma of ''[[Kimi ni Todoke]]'' fits this as a sort of modern-day reinterpretation. Academically, she's very bright, but has almost no social skills. She falls for a guy who became incredibly popular at school due to his penchant for being nice to people. And while she does get into "distress" from time to time, it's usually high school issues that pose the threat, and her friends encourage her to solve the problems herself.
* In ''[[Lucky Star]]'', Tsukasa and Yutaka lean toward this trope.
** Tsukasa, not much so; she isn't really THAT naive. Yutaka, ooohhh yeah. She is so naive, [[Moe|cute]], sweet, and innocent to the point that brought her curiosity of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGEiRpO4bm4 asking what yaoi means] (probably quite oblivious to sexual themes)?
* The title character of ''[[Kobato.]]''. Nuff' said.
* Yuno of ''[[Hidamari Sketch]]''. She certainly has [[Character Development]], but still is childish and naive compared to her co-tenants.
* Nanako Yamamoto from ''[[Hanamaru Kindergarten]]'' qualifies.
** Her obliviousness to romantic overtures appears to be genetic. She and her sister are both completely aware the other has men interested in them, but fails to notice when someone makes romantic overtures to them.
* Chii from ''[[Chobits]]''.
* Light's little sister Sayu in ''[[Death Note]]''.
* Kanzaki Nao in ''[[Liar Game]]''.
* In ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', Matsuri. She's way more easily fooled by Miu's antics than the others.
* Kohaku from ''[[Wish]]''. So, so much.
* An extremely rare male version of this is Ryo from ''[[FAKE]]''. He is not a [[Man Child]] and a very mature [[Straight Man]] to contrast his partner [[Lovable Sex Maniac]] Dee. However, he is extremely naive when it comes to intimate matters and often nearly taken advantage of as a result. Sexual innuendo tends to fly over his head, has little experience in relationships and is hardly able to keep his partner's (or boss') sexual advances at bay. So much so that in the English version, other characters call him 'Sandra Dee', an actress known for playing the Ingenue in many roles.
* Hane Sakura and several other members of the Motorcycle Club in ''[[Bakuon!!]]'' are almost too innocent to be believable 16-year-olds.

== Comic Books ==
* [[Cross Gen]] Comics had a conscious, self-aware example: Persha of ''The First'', a centuries-old goddess of secrets who [[Invoked Trope|deliberately]] affects the behavior of a nosy, naiive teenager, and even [[Lampshade Hanging|remarks aloud]] that she is keeping secrets from herself in order to remain innocent.
* ''[[Little Annie Fanny]]'', the protagonist of a recurring comic in ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine. She was depicted as an eterally innocent - and incredibly attractive - young woman (both a parody of [[Little Orphan Annie]] and a caricature of [[Marilyn Monroe]] and [[Jayne Mansfield]]) and was completely oblivious to the attempts by lecherous men to get in her pants.

== Film ==
* [[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]], to a T. That's the point of her name. 
** [[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Aurora]], to an even better T.
*** Heck, throw in [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]] as well, who maintains her optimism and purity even while living a crapsack life.
*** [[Tangled|Rapunzel]] has some elements of this as well.
* To some extent Ben in the beginning of ''[[The Graduate]]'', although he does smoke and drink (most every adult did in the sixties).{{verify|reason=Isn't this trope Always Female?}}
* Parodied in ''[[A Very Brady Movie]]'', with Marcia Brady being the most blatant.
* Mary Lane from ''[[Reefer Madness]]''. This is played for laughs in the musical, giving us the page quote.
* Janet ('''[[Audience Participation|SLUT!]]''') in ''[[Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'', although she's less naive than Brad ('''[[Audience Participation|ASSHOLE!]]''').
* Sandy Olsson in ''[[Grease]]'' affects this until she realizes it doesn't work for her.
* Sophie from ''[[Mamma Mia!]]'' (and to a more realistic extent [[Amanda Seyfried]] herself if her interviews are any indication).
* Maria from ''[[Metropolis]]''. Also, she wholeheartedly believes that a violent worker's uprising can be averted by a single person's intervention - {{spoiler|even after the uprising takes place.}}
* Giselle from ''[[Enchanted]]'' is a textbook example.
* Silent film actresses [[Mary Pickford]] and [[Lillian Gish]] were famous for such roles; the National Women's History Museum credits Mary Pickford as the [[Trope Codifier]] for the archetype in [[film]].
* Probably subverted (it's [[David Lynch]], so who knows for sure) with Betty in ''[[Mulholland Drive]]''.
* In the ''[[Dragnet]]'' movie, the virgin Connie Swail.

== Literature ==
* Jane Bennet of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', which drives the [[Grumpy Bear]] heroine—who is also her sister—Elizabeth crazy.
** Not "crazy", really. Elizabeth may be occasionally mildly frustrated by Jane, but she clearly cherishes Jane's good nature and would not sacrifice it for anything.
* Almost every Dickens novel has one, including Lucie Manette (''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]''), Agnes Wickfield (''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]''), Rose Maylie (''[[Oliver Twist]]''), Amy Dorrit (''[[Little Dorrit]]'') and Ada Clare (''[[Bleak House]]'').
* Cosette from ''[[Les Misérables (novel)|Les Misérables]]''.
* In the [[Victor Hugo]] vein, Esmeralda in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (novel)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''. Though how she managed to remain completely pure and naive when hanging around with a bunch of thieves and prostitutes, and doing sexy dances in public is a little confusing. Most adaptations deal with this by making her a much more worldly woman.
* Millicent Hattersley (née Hargrave) of ''[[The Tenant of Wildfell Hall]]''.
* In ''New Grub Street'' Marian Yule is an ingenue who grows up by becoming less naïve, more independent and self-assured; but still dutiful and nice.
* Sybil in ''[[Invisible Man (novel)|Invisible Man]]'' is a deconstruction of this. Not just in the sense of being a [[Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl]] (which she technically is), but in the sense of having herself more than a few issues relating to how she's been sexually stifled. She feels she will be liberated if she's raped by a black man, and when the main character gets her drunk enough to convince her he did the deed (without actually having done it), he remarks that she was "raped by Santa Claus," as he was to her just as much of a fantasy gift-giver.
* Charlene from ''The Little Drummer Girl'' by [[John Le Carre]] plays these roles in her theatre troupe, but is anything but.
* Iliana from the ''[[Night World]]'' novel ''Witchlight'''s behavior is explained this way by another character. "She's too pure to deal with this kind of stuff." Considering that her life has been that of a normal teenagers' in our world, but she is in fact in a world with vampires, witches, werewolves, and shapeshifters, and that she is well-liked enough that people really try to be good people around her, this is understandable. {{spoiler|And she toughens up some later.}}
* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|Sansa]] [[Horrible Judge of Character|Stark]] from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''... Until [[It Got Worse]]. She's a perfect [[Deconstruction]] of how this trope [[Damsel in Distress|would actually play out]] in a [[World Half Empty]] and has definitely acquired some [[Jade-Colored Glasses]] since series' beginning.
{{quote|'''Littlefinger:''' "[[Wrong Genre Savvy|Life is not a song]], sweetling. You may learn that one day, [[Break the Cutie|to your sorrow]]."}}
* Pippa from the ''[[Gemma Doyle]]'' trilogy. {{spoiler|At first.}}
* Ramandu's daughter, Liliandil from ''[[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]''.
* From ''[[The Night Angel Trilogy]]'', we have Doll Girl {{spoiler|in spite of being horribly scarred.}} When Azoth {{spoiler|as Kylar Stern}} meets her {{spoiler|as Elene Cromwyll}}, she is a {{spoiler|highly religious ingenue.}} This continues to be true {{spoiler|until [[Break the Cutie|the events at the end of book 2, involving her stabbing a Khalidorian]]}} but that hardly stops her.
* Mercilessly and cruelly deconstructed in ''[[And Then There Were None]]''. Vera Elizabeth Claythorne is a gentle, sweet, naive girl who genuinely loves her boyfriend Hugo, but he can't marry her since he's got no money to do so. And she loves him so much that  {{spoiler|she [[Moral Event Horizon|kills Hugo's nephew Cyril]], who was her charge, by letting him drown in the sea [[Love Makes You Evil|so Hugo could inherit the family state and marry her]].}} [[Yandere|Holy...]]
* Leonie in Kate Mosse's ''[[Sepulchre]]'' is naive and idealistic, something the villain uses to his advantage. It is also used as a reason why other characters keep secrets from her. Unfortunately, this is just playing into the villain's hands.
* Ellony Leckery in ''[[Chronicles of Magravandias]]'', down to disliking sex when her husband finally deflowers her. Her best friend turned (unknowingly to Ellony) [[Light Feminine and Dark Feminine|rival]] Pharinet wonders at certain points if Ellony represses memories to remain as innocent as she is. This ultimately goes [[Break the Cutie|very badly for her]].
* The young Countess Elizabeth Bathory in ''[[Count and Countess]]''. Sadly, [[Break the Cutie|this does not last long]].
* Antonia, who is only fifteen when ''[[The Monk]]'' opens, and extremely sheltered from having grown up in an isolated castle with her mother. She even read an edited version of the Bible because her mother believed the text to be too violent.

== Live-Action TV ==
* Trance Gemini of ''[[Andromeda]]'' likes to give this impression, but it's not true.
* ''[[Foyle's War]]''. 'Sam' Stewart is always cheerful, loyal, kind, well behaved and seldom has a bad word to say about anyone. However she does engage in activities her vicar father would not approve of, such as helping with murder investigations.
** However she also shows great strength of character, bravery, and generally sees through anyone who tries to fool her.
* Pandora of ''[[Skins]]'' series 3 (and occasionally series 2) is sheltered and naive, self-confessed to be useless, and often is the unwitting source of innuendo. Part way through the third series she {{spoiler|falls in love with Thomas, an African immigrant, and a true gentleman.}} But later {{spoiler|in Thomas' absence, she is seduced by Cook, and quickly loses her blissful ignorant disposition as this complication comes to light}}.
* Kenneth the pageboy from ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' is a male version of this trope- differing only in that his youthful appearance hides the fact that he's at least 40 or [[Older Than They Look|800]].
** Parodied in one episode when Liz is growing cynical about New York. An innocent-looking young woman steps off a bus, and enthusiastically asks: "say, where does a young prostitute go to get a start in this city?"
* Rachel Berry of ''[[Glee]]'' [[Blatant Lies|calls herself this]] in the very first episode.
** Ironically, the character closest to The Ingenue would be ''Brittney''. Despite not being a virgin, she is [[The Ditz|rather naive]] to extreme levels and yet is pure-hearted and idealistic enough to still believe in [[Santa Claus]] and [[Magic Feather|magic combs]].
*** Though that's only counting the students. Outside of the Glee club, Emma is something of a modern-day Deconstruction of The Ingenue.
* Drusilla from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was originally this, before [[Complete Monster|Angelus]] [[Break the Cutie|broke her]]. Her innocence, purity and innate goodness and belief in God are what drew Angelus to her.
* Rose Nylund from ''[[The Golden Girls]]''.
* Played with and subverted in ''[[Carnivale]]''. Even though she has been working as a prostitute and stripper since her early teens, Libby from fits surprisingly well into this trope. Her characterization relies heavily on her attempting to reconcile the realities of her life with her identity as a normal 1930s-style ingenue. She is extremely trusting and innocent (at least, with regards to human nature and life), has few social ties outside and information sources outside of 30s popular media and her immediate and extended Carnival family (who, despite farming her out at an early age out of necessity, obviously love and protect her). She dresses and behaves like the traditional ingenue, has unrealistic dreams and is genuinely very vulnerable and sweet. She also seems to be somewhat misinformed about sex (for example, telling Sophie that you can't get pregnant your first time). When she becomes romantically involved with {{spoiler|Sophie and Jonesy}}, she is no more equipped or experienced than your average ingenue would be (despite knowing a lot more about sex): her shyness and vulnerability is presented as genuine.
** Sophie, on the other hand, plays with and subverts this trope. Despite being in her early to mid twenties, she knows almost nothing about sex. Her mother Appollionia actively prevented her from interacting with the strippers and other performers, and her few social contacts (Appollionia, Jonesy, Samson and Libby) are very protective of her and actively discourage attempts to explore her sexuality . Although she dated Jonesy prior to the start of the series, their relationship was not sexual and she remains a virgin until the incident during the dirtstorm with a man she knew was probably married. It is subverted particularly brilliantly when [[Manipulative Bastard|Sophie]]  {{spoiler|seduces and sexually humiliates Libby for the sake of revenge }}. Consequently, her [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|occasional nastiness]], as well as her active attempts to explore and express her own sexuality might prevent her from being a completely straight example of this trope, but it certainly doesn't stop everybody around her seeing her as the classic Ingenue.
* Annie in ''[[Community]]'' gives this impression; and, despite her efforts to subvert it (and her personal history), it's mostly true.
* Captain Kirk and his many female conquests in ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'': "What is this, 'love?'" Andrea Android from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", Shahna from "The Gamesters of Triskellion", and Kelinda from "By Any Other Name" comes to mind.

== [[Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends]] ==
* [[The Bible]] has The Virgin Mary. Eve from Genesis may have also qualified as she was innocent of all evil before she ate the forbidden fruit.

== Professional Wrestling ==
* In ''[[G.L.O.W.]]'' Tammy Jones had this as her "gimmick", projecting the image of a sweet little girl dressed in pink lace with pigtails and rarely without a lollypop at hand. Downplayed, though, [[Cute Bruiser|being a wrestler diva like the rest of the cast.]]

== Theatre ==
* Rose Maybud in ''[[Gilbert and Sullivan|Ruddigore]]'', although it turns out she's not so much "innocent" as obsessed with etiquette (and gold-digging).
* Johanna in all versions of ''[[Sweeney Todd]]'' that include her, but especially the original penny-dreadful.
** This is subverted in the stage musical, where Johanna {{spoiler|shoots the asylum keeper when Anthony can't do it in order to get away.}} This was rather sadly cut from [[The Movie]]. The stage musical also has her going [[The Ophelia|a little mad]] after being [[Go Among Mad People|penned up with lunatics]] in [[Bedlam House|Fogg's Asylum]].
* Anne from ''[[A Little Night Music]]'' is young, virginal and extremely shallow.
* Peggy Sawyer from ''[[42nd Street (film)||42nd Street]]''.
* Subversion: Lois Lane, a character in ''[[Kiss Me Kate]]'', plays the ingenue in the [[Show Within a Show]], but is decidedly less virginal off that stage.
* [[Lampshaded]] in the Flying Karamazov Brothers' adaptation of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]'' - a letter to one of the characters is changed to a telegram, addressed to "The Ingenue".
* In spite of her manner of dress, Audrey from ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]''.
* Nikki Harris in ''[[Curtains]]'' fits this trope to a T.
* Cosette in ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'', mainly because she does little other than wonder why she almost never leaves the house, and then fall in love with a boy who followed her home and hopped her fence in order to tell her that he loved her after saying less than 10 words to her.
* The White Singer in ''[[Alegria]]''—according to the [[All There in the Manual]] material, she represents the goodness that existed and endured in the otherwise corrupt old order. She also has a touch of mischievousness about her, as seen during the Act Two opening sequence in which she brings a man from the audience onstage to dance with her.
* This is the image [[A Streetcar Named Desire|Blanche Dubois]] tries to project around others. It turns out {{spoiler|not to be the case}}.
* Maria in ''[[The Sound of Music]]''.
* Sarah in ''[[Tanz der Vampire]]'' subverts this trope. She's a pretty, sheltered, pure girl on the cusp of womanhood who longs for romance and excitement. She's ''also'' a shameless flirt who lies to get what she wants and spends hours at a time quite possibly pleasuring herself in the tub, vocalizing orgasmically about it.
** Alfred is quite honestly a better fit for this trope, despite being, you know. Male.
* Christine Daaé in every incarnation of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' '''except''' [Gaston Leroux's original novel where she may be a daydreamer (and [[Genre Savvy]] victim of [[Stockholm Syndrome]]) but also a [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!]] whose pluck and stubbornness unnerve Raoul several times before he realizes how wrongly he's misjudged her just because she ''isn't'' a meek little ingenue-type.
** The ingenue version of Christine is parodied in ''[[Maskerade]]'', where she's so woefully oblivious to her complete lack of operatic talent that she completely misses the fact that a dowdier but sonically gifted woman is actually doing all the singing!! She's self-centred as a gyroscope and finishes every sentence with two exclamation marks!!
** In Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Christine is actually called "your precious little ingenue" (by her rival).
* Miranda from ''[[The Tempest]]''. Of course, this is mostly to do with the fact that she was raised on a desert island and was apparently unaware of the existence of humans other than her father until well into her teens. When Ferdinand turns up, she immediately falls in love with him.
* Amelia Wildenhaim of ''Lovers' Vows''.
* Jemima from ''[[Cats]]'' is this in cat form.
* [[Cyrano De Bergerac]]: Deconstructed by Roxane, who is highly intelligent and practical, but is completely convinced her (and Christian) lives are like the Romance Novels she had read. Notice that no one of his suitors tries to force her to accept reality until Christian wants her to choose between Cyrano and him at Act IV, and that her [[Hidden Depths]] and [[Character Development]] demonstrate that she could handle reality very well.

== Video Games ==
* Kairi and Namine from the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. Every single Disney Princess appearing in this series seems to be watered down to fit this trope quite nicely too (save for Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, who always were Ingenues.)
** [[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Ventus]] is a very good male example, though the only reason that he is so pure and innocent is because  {{spoiler|[[Badass Grandpa|Master Xehanort]] forcibly extracted all the darkness from his heart.}}
* Dawn Star in ''[[Jade Empire]]'' seems like an example.
* Merrill in ''[[Dragon Age 2]]'' crosses this with [[Cloudcuckoolander]]. Bethany is this as well.
* Yuna in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''. Not as much in the sequel.
** Mostly because of the character development toward the end of ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'', in which her innocence and faith in Yevon gets broken. And because she's shooting people in Stripperific skirts in ''X-2''.
* Colette from ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' fits this to a T. She's sweet-natured, caring, likes animals (particularly dogs and turtles), and self-sacrificing. Colette believes everyone has some good inside them (even assassins who have repeatedly stated their intention to kill her), and she worries about others more than herself (to the point of not telling the rest of the party things they ''really wouldn't mind knowing about'' because she doesn't want them to worry), and any sexual innuendo flies over her head.
** Her [[Expy]], [[Rose-Haired Girl|Este]][[Plucky Girl|lle]] from ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' is every bit as naive and [[The Messiah|sweet]] as her predecessor.
* Deirdre from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Geneaology of the Holy War''.
* Amy Rose in the older games from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]] (The 16-bit games and both Adventures)'' until Cream came and took her place.
* Amiti in ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'' is a rare male example. He is [[Spoiled Sweet]], he has [[Black and White Morality]] (which is rare in his world), and considering that he genuinely believed that he was a virgin birth until his guardian revealed [[Heroic Bastard|the truth]], it's possible that he is clueless about sex, despite canonly being [[Mr. Fanservice|the fancy of "all the girls in Ayuthay"]]. It is ironic because he is the oldest person in your party for a good half of the game and yet he seems to be the most naive.
** He can't be ''that'' clueless about sex; he sure knew where Eoleo was going with that "[[Walking Shirtless Scene|real clothes]]" comment.
* Aerie in ''[[Baldurs Gate 2]]''.
* Ashara Zavros from ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic]]''
* Azusa Miura from ''[[The Idolmaster]]'' is a rather uncommon example of this. She's supposedly the oldest of the Idols, making her the local [[Cool Big Sis]]. The problem is she's [[The Ditz]] who has [[No Sense of Direction]], as well has having an innocence to match even her younger co-workers.
* Shinmyoumaru Sukuna in ''[[Touhou]]'' was easily manipulated by Seija Kijin into causing a major incident because of her impossible naivety and baffling lack of knowledge of her own people's history despite her royal descent. Even after she had to suffer a very humiliating punishment for the both of them and Seija's lies were exposed, Shinmyoumaru still considers her a friend.

== Web Comics ==
* Oasis from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' alternates between being The Ingenue and being an [[Ax Crazy]] assassin, sometimes within the span of a single sentence. What do you expect when you take a supernatural killing machine and [[Brainwashed|brainwash]] her to be "as giddy as a schoolgirl"?
* Tempest from ''[[Domain Tnemrot]]''.

== [[Web Original]] ==
* Penny from ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]'' plays this straight, helping out at homeless shelters and ends up being caught up in the conflicts of [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] Dr. Horrible and [[Jerkass]] [[Designated Hero]] Captain Hammer as an [[Innocent Bystander]]. It is suggested however that she has had a crappy life so far and her acts of volunteering are merely so that she can have her mind on something else.
* Generator (Jade Sinclair) is definitely The Ingenue of Team Kimba in the [[Whateley Universe]]. She even looks several years younger than she really is.
** Well, she [[Character Development|was]], but [[Crazy Awesome|not]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|anymore]].
* Miss Cooter from ''[[Me and My Dick]]'' is sweet, naive, optimistic, beautiful and caring. There's just little thing: she's the heroine's vagina. It [[Makes Sense in Context]].
* Played with and possibly subverted by Alessa Hart, later Baroness Hart, from the [[Reincarnation Fantasy|Isekai]] web novel ''[[Tori Transmigrated]]'' by "Aila Aurie".  Ostensibly the pure and innocent heroine of the Japanese dating sim into which the title character has found herself inserted (as the villainess), there are moments that show she's actually a [[Gold Digger]], and far more scheming than the game let on, while still maintaining the façade of a sweet girl dependent upon her admirers for any help they can offer.

== Western Animation ==
* [[Classic Disney Shorts|Minnie Mouse]], in some/most versions. Sauciness/down-to-earth qualities may vary.
* Princess Yue of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''
* ''[[Thumbelina]]'', to the point that she cannot defend herself in any way until the end of the movie.
* One-time character Judy Panawitz from ''[[American Dad]]''.
* For some, Jeannette Miller from ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]''. Not only is she never once seen to get angry about anything and is the most calm of the girls, but in the episode when the six kids had to work out which of them was at fault for a broken statue in their school, she wasn't even a suspect.
* Lola Bunny's incarnation in ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'' seems to be a comically hilarious variation of this, despite being a [[Stalker with a Crush]].
* In the ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' parody episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', Isabella is an Ingenue ''and'' a [[Femme Fatale]], having business cards for both. "A girl has to earn a living!" (She's also a certified [[Damsel in Distress]]. {{spoiler|And [[The Commies Made Me Do It|a Dirty Double-Crosser]]}}.)

== Real Life ==
* Appears occasionally at [[Overheard]]. [http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/000635.html "I was a call girl for a while..."]
* [[Taylor Swift]] is the epitome of this trope.{{context}}

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[[Category:All the Tropes Superhero Team]]
[[Category:Always Female]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:Feminine Ideals]]
[[Category:Purity Personified]]
[[Category:Romance Novel Tropes]]
[[Category:Virginity Tropes]]
[[Category:Women Are Delicate]]
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