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'''Sanaa''': [[Oh Crap|Uh oh.]]|''[[Girl Genius]]'', "Othar!"}}
A [[Dead Horse Trope]] which used to be common in adventure, mystery, and espionage fiction where the hero was an independently wealthy (or at least doesn't do much work for a living) "gentleman of leisure" whose adventures were initially motivated by a [[In Harm's Way|lust for adventure]] and [[Rich Boredom|hatred of idleness]], even if the character ultimately acted for heroic/patriotic motives. It seems probable that the [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] is an outgrowth of this character type. Has some overlap with the [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] and [[Great White Hunter]]. Often ends up a [[Cool Old Guy]] and insists on wearing an overblown [[Adventurer Outfit]]. His [[Distaff Counterpart]] is the [[Lady of Adventure]], and if he ''marries'' one you can expect a [[Battle Couple]].
{{examples}}
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* [[DC Comics|Green Arrow]] started out this way. When he then lost his fortune, he suffered an identity crisis over whether he'd been superheroing out of a legitimate desire to do good, or just for fun. He thereafter became a much more passionate and socially-conscious do-gooder.
* Polly of ''[[Polly and The Pirates]]'' has a father who definitely falls under this category. He even makes his entrance being lowered on the ladder of a hot-air balloon.
* [[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]'s butler Cadbury loves to reminisce about his escapades with his former employer Sir [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Ruddy Blighter]], "adventurist and time-waster extraordinaire."
* Charles Fort and [[H.P. Lovecraft]] in ''[[Atomic Robo]]''
{{quote|'''Fort:''' We were adventurers!
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** By the second film, he's acquired a briefcase full of cash from different eras. Considering his objection to Marty using future knowledge to bet on sports, how he acquired this money is unexplained.
*** I think Doc's smart enough to use the [[Compound Interest Time Travel Gambit]].
*** I had always assumed that the changes Marty had caused kept Doc from squandering his fortune trying to figure out what the flux capacitor did and how to get the time machine to work.
*** He could simply sell some patents. While the time machine is his greatest invention, it's hardly the only one, and there has to be something marketable among his many gadgets.
* George (Jane's boss) in ''[[27 Dresses]]'' is actually a very well-done modern version of this character.
* At one point, [[O Brother, Where Art Thou?|Emmet]] describes himself and Delmar as adventurers. They are not, however, gentlemen. Just gentle men.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* Allan Quatermain [[Lost in Imitation|in adaptations]], although in the original [[H. Rider Haggard]] novels, his pals Sir Henry Curtis and Capn. John Good fit the trope much better than him.
* Rudolph Rassendyl in ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]''
* [[Richard Hannay]] in John Buchan's novels.
** ''Some'' of the novels. In others, he's a hard-working officer in the war and Intelligence doesn't have an easy time getting him away from active service. Which may be a subversion of this trope. Hannay's so annoyed about it.
* The unnamed protagonist of ''Rogue Male'' appears to be one of these. Apparently just for the fun of it, he tries to see if he could get into a position to assassinate a dictator (implied to be Hitler), but is captured and brutally tortured. His experiences afterward resemble a much darker version of Buchan's ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'', until it turns out that he is an [[Unreliable Narrator]] with motives very different from any thirst for adventure. {{spoiler|The dictator's regime murdered the hero's probably Jewish girlfriend, and he really ''was'' trying to kill him. The book ends with the hero preparing for another attempt.}}
* The [[Gentleman Thief]] Raffles from the short stories by Ernest William Hornung affects the ''style'' of an adventurer, but really relies on crime to support himself financially.
* The Jackal in ''[[Day of the Jackal]]'' is supposed to be the [[Evil Counterpart]] of this kind of character.
* The Time Traveler in ''[[The Time Machine]]''.
* Mr. Toad from ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]''.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The TV series of ''[[The Saint]]'' and ''[[The Persuaders]]'' (both starring Roger Moore).
* The Doctor from ''[[Doctor Who]]''. At least at first. He doesn't worry about money, worked as UNIT's scientific advisor for several years without pay, and the Eleventh Doctor implied that taking over Craig Owens' job while he lay ill was one of, if not his first job in his 900 years.
* Dixon Bainbridge of ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]''.
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* [[wikipedia:Edmund Hillary|Sir Edmund Hillary]].
* The late [[wikipedia:Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld|Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld]], Prince of the Netherlands, was part this and part [[Lovable Rogue]]. Though the "Gentleman" part is [[Your Cheating Heart|disputed]].
* George Gordon, Lord Byron: Poet, Aristocrat, [[Byronic Hero|Infamous]] [[Jerkass]] womanizer, and by virtue of this trope... a national hero in a country that absolutely had nothing to do with his own.
** Albania?
** Greece.
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[[Category:An Index of Ladies and Gentlemen]]
[[Category:Steampunk Index]]
[[Category:In Harm's Way]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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