Wide-Eyed Idealist: Difference between revisions

* In the manga version of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' Scar's brother and the Rockbell family are wide-eyed idealists who believe in the basic good nature of man. The Rockbells leave their practice so they can heal the Ishvalans being massacred by the Amestris army, and Scar's brother wants to learn alchemy so that he can better understand the bonds of humanity. During an attack Scar's family is killed, and Scar's brother tries to shield Scar, {{spoiler|but is unsuccessful, and Scar loses his arm, Scar's brother sacrifices an arm and his life to save Scar, and Scar wakes up in the Rockbell's hospital. Finding out that his brother's arm is now attached to him causes Scar to go temporarily insane, and he kills the Rockbells in a [[Freak-Out]].}}

** Roy Mustang is the other side of the coin. His sometimes [[Good Is Dumb|borderline dumb]] faith in human nature helps him sometimes (when he took for granted {{spoiler|Dr Knox would cover his scheme to save Maria Ross, ''because they were war buddies''}}) and other times dooms him (when he believed {{spoiler|overthrowing the Fuhrer would be a piece of cake when people found out he was a Homunculus. It turned out the brass [[Government Conspiracy|knew and couldn't care less]]}}). Still, his idealism is precisely what makes his subordinates so loyal to him.

'''Hawkeye''': I think it's good that there are idiots like that, once in a while. }}

** The first anime, on the other hand, makes a point of contrasting Al's childlike optimism and naivete with Ed's growing cynicism and the horrible truths of the world aroung them.

* Dorden, [[The Medic]] of ''[[Warhammer 40000]]: [[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' has aspects of this, in trying to adhere to [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] and preventing Gaunt from carrying out necessary [[Shoot the Dog]] despite their [[World Half Empty]].

* Voltaire's ''[[Candide]]''. Among many, ''many'' other examples in the book is Dr. Pangloss's thoughts on having caught syphilis, and having had an eye and an ear removed as part of the treatment:

"Not at all," replied the great man, "it was a thing unavoidable, a necessary ingredient in the best of worlds; for if Columbus had not caught in an island in America this disease, which contaminates the source of generation, and frequently impedes propagation itself, and is evidently opposed to the great end of nature, we should have had neither chocolate nor cochineal." }}

* The main character of ''[[Invisible Man (novel)|Invisible Man]]'' is both this and a [[Love Freak]], albeit with (absolutely desperate) followers. Since he's also a [[Horrible Judge of Character]], he runs into a few problems . . .

** Hermione also has her moments, with her working for House Elf rights even though they have [[Happiness in Slavery]], much to the amusement of others who know better.

* In ''[[Outbound Flight]]'', the smuggler Maris Ferasi fit this trope pretty well. She had the utmost trust in and adoration for the Chiss commander Thrawn. Unusually, she wasn't disillusioned within the book - Thrawn lied about what he had done to resolve an extraordinarily prickly conflict, letting her leave without knowing just how much of a [[Downer Ending]] the whole issue became. Why?

'''Thrawn:''' All beings appreciate such admiration. }}

* Drizzt Do'Urden in ''[[The Dark Elf Trilogy|Homeland]]''; he gets mildly [[Jade-Colored Glasses|bitter]] during the later portion of the novel when he finds out that his favorite mentor Zak [[Technical Pacifist|kills clerics by the dozens]], {{spoiler|not that he always enjoys it...}}.

* Cosima from [[Comrade Death]]. She flat out refuses to see Sarek for what he really is. {{spoiler|He confesses to [[Murder the Hypotenuse|abandoning her husband to die]], and later refuses to save her grandson from going to war, and both times she dismisses his spite as being concealed guilt and claims he would have helped if it had been in his power to do so.}}

* Rinaldo in [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[The Phoenix on the Sword]]," one of the conspirators of Ascalante's plot to overthrow Conan.

"Poets always hate those in power. To them perfection is always just behind the last corner, or beyond the next. They escape the present in dreams of the past and future. Rinaldo is a flaming torch of idealism, rising, as he thinks, to overthrow a tyrant and liberate the people."'' }}

* Zoe in ''[[Saving Zoe]]'', and this trait is why her sister Echo believes she was killed {{spoiler|by a serial killer who pretended to be a modeling agent.}}