I'm loving this series about character types! But today I'm a little bit puzzled: what could essentially differentiate a rookie character from an innocent character? I get that not every rookie is an innocent, but I can't think about an innocent that isn't also a rookie of sorts...

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Fair point, Illimani. In my mind, it's a matter of degrees of awareness and understanding. A rookie can have at least some training in their field whereas an innocent is pretty much guileless. But yes, similar arcs typically in terms of their journey.

imho, a Rookie almost always undergoes a rite of passage that takes him/her closer to the mentor figure's level. For example, in Phantom Menace, when Obi Wan faces and defeats Darth Maul, he becomes a full Jedi: one step closer to being a Jedi Master like Qui Gon.