Trope!
For every "trope" I get, I will post a TV Trope for my muse.
Wide-Eyed Idealist
A character far too idealistic for their own good.It may be the Naïve Newcomer who Jumped at the Call — he or she has a huge stack of comic books/movies/bards’ tales, and thinks they’re pretty Genre Savvy. Unfortunately, their universe is more toward the cynical endof the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism than the stories they know. Alternatively, they might just be generally nice people whose idealistic attempts at solving the problems of their world turn out to go horribly horribly awry as no one else plays by their rules. Usually used as nothing more than a device to highlight the realism/grittiness/cynicism of the setting.
This character either becomes a victim of Trauma Conga Line or Break the Cutie, dies horribly or acquires a coat of jade post-haste. In settings that are still somewhat idealistic, they might get off with just becoming a Knight in Sour Armor, or the Morality Pet to one. In particularly anvilicious cases, expect deployment of Diabolus ex Machina to deal with them.
If the character remains triumphant and idealistic throughout, then it may be a case of Good Is Not Dumb, The Pollyanna, or even Stupid Good. If their idealism drives them to turn evil or ruthless, they become a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
While All Loving Heroes are frequent victims of wide-eyed idealism, their suffering or sacrifice can encourage them to become full-blown Messianic Archetypes and inspire others in the setting to lighten up and thereby change the setting, unless they’re a different kind of messiah, in which case the setting is only cemented.
When The Hero appeals to a group of people, often Least Is First falls under this. Someone will likely tell them Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids! and they are just as likely to retort with Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!.
