History Main / KnightErrant

* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': Alana starts out in ''The Woman Who Rides Like a Man'' to escape court and find adventure.

* Myth/KingArthur: The Knights of the Round Table were a squadron of Knights Errant. Even though they were a team, they typically adventured alone. The TropeNamer is ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'', in which Gawain is referred to as a "knygt erraunt".

** In ''ComicBook/StarWarsRepublic 53: Blast Radius'', Obi-Wan meets up with a group of Jedi who, rather than being part of the central, Coruscant-based Order, wander through the lawless areas of the galaxy helping strangers and righting wrongs, following their instincts and the guidance of the Force -- Knol Ven'nari, a Bothan bandit-hunter; Jon Antilles, who infiltrated the bounty hunters' guild to bring murderers to justice; Nico Diath, who plagued the Hutts' slaver cartels and freed hundreds of slaves over his lifetime; and Fay, a profoundly pacifist wanderer whose diplomacy had ended entire wars.

** Elspeth Tirel, who actually bears the title of Knight-Errant. Elspeth's defining trait is that she doesn't want to planeswalk; she just wants to find paradise and stay there. Of course, [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed this is]] ''[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Magic]]''. Her first home was destroyed by [[TheCorruption Phyrexia]], and her adopted home of [[LawfulGood Bant]] became culturally contaminated when the shards of Alara merged. After that, she joined the rebellion against New Phyrexia on Mirrodin, only to watch that slowly crumble. She was then chosen by the sun god Heliod to be his champion, which she ''suceeded'' at... only for him to immediately murder her because he considers Planeswalker a threat. As of ''Theros: Beyond Death'' she is now BackFromTheDead, and has seemingly resumed this status.

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%%* ''Anime/PorcoRosso'''s lead character does this for a living in his crimson seaplane.
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* ''Literature/SirNigel'' very much wants to be one, and even refuses to ask for his beloved's hand in marriage until he's accomplished three heroic feats. Unfortunately, as they're in the middle of a war with France, his commanders have to tell him to knock of the knight-errantry (which also involves things like picking a fight with ''every'' knight you encounter, righting every wrong you see, and allying with a Frenchman to take out a ChaoticEvil FeudalOverlord). Of course, he still ends up winning the day thanks to his romanticism, by [[beating an armed man in single combat]], [[spoiler:taking a castle with barely a dozen men]], and [[spoiler:capturing the King of France in battle.]]

* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'': Vash the Stampede does this, too, with his ObfuscatingStupidity turned UpToEleven. He's a little less formal about it than Kenshin, because he hasn't got a vow, this is just his lifestyle, and he only learned to fight out of necessity, so he doesn't have quite the same type of warrior ethos as a proper knight or samurai.

%%* ''Series/KungFu'': Caine.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': The [[ProtagonistTitle titular hero]] is an homage to this trope, as throughout his journey to [[SettingRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevent]] the BadFuture from happening again, he [[WeHelpTheHelpless helps the weak and the innocent]], [[LaserGuidedKarma brings justice]] against evil-doers, and battles the nefarious [[BigBad Aku]]. It helps that TheHero is also (technically) a {{Ronin}}, having no master while still following the samurai's honorable code.

** [[https://scryfall.com/card/7ed/24/knight-errant Knight Errant]], as such, appears as a vanilla card from ''Magic'''s early days.

* ''Film/{{Shane}}'' may be the UrExample of cowboys as Knights Errant.

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' is a {{deconstruction}} of, among other things, Knights Errant.

** Hawke in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', part of the reason why they came to be ''[[TheChampion Champion of Kirkwall]]''. Though unlike most examples, Hawke has a (very nice) home.

* They are loners. They do not have any TrueCompanions and are not part of a FiveManBand. They may travel with a squire or two, but not with peers; they leave allies behind when they leave town. Their love interests, if any, are [[TemporaryLoveInterest left behind or bumped off by the bad guys.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': This is sometimes (ostensibly) the Jedi ideal, although they often act more or less as a branch of the Republic. In the Literature/NewJediOrder in particular, a few Jedi are known for avoiding the sometimes highly political Jedi Order and making their own way, such as Master Eelysa (and the Wild Knights, a band of Jedi she trained more or less on her own), Tyria Sarkin and her children, and, for a time, Corran Horn. Jolee Bindo from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' did much the same thousands of years before. In the earlier period, "Gray Jedi" were those who voluntarily separated from the Order, often over philosophical issues, yet were acknowledged not to have fallen to the DarkSide.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The Knights of the Cross fit this archetype; even Michael, who has a home, a wife, and a small army of children spends much of his time traveling the globe, righting wrongs and fighting evil. Their main job, as it turns out, is somewhat different -- they're actually supposed to get the Denarians' hosts to repent and give up the [[FallenAngels Denarians]]. The doing random good seems to only be their secondary function.

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'': ''Shin Madou Monogatari Gaiden'', a connected light novel series , depicts Ragnus Bisashi as one. He has the knightly, heroic disposition, but because of his monster slaying reputation, the people he saves end up fearing his might, causing a disconnect between him and the town folk he helps out. As a result, he comes in, does his heroics, then books it as quietly as possible.

* Like many Jedi Knights throughout the ages, Jolee Bindo in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' acts this way, having left the Jedi Order following the Exar Kun War and spent the last 20 years on Kashyyyk helping the Wookiees before joining up with the PlayerCharacter.
** A Light Side PlayerCharacter in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' can be this, as they visit various planets righting wrongs after [[TheExile being exiled from the Order]] following the Mandalorian Wars.

* In the interactive romance novel ''VideoGame/{{Moonrise}}'', Ishara fulfills this trope to indulge her ChronicHeroSyndrome and her enjoyment of WalkingTheEarth.

The medieval Knight Errant stems from the ChivalricRomance, where individual [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights in Shining Armor]] would wander the land, searching for [[OurDragonsAreDifferent evil to slay]] and [[DamselInDistress ladies to rescue]], guided by the DamselErrant. Since then, knights have declined in popularity, but the Knight Errant is still around in full force -- instead of knights, they are now often {{Samurai}}, {{Cowboy}}s, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs or]] {{Samurai Cowboy}}s.

* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': Roland Deschain is a Gunslinger from another dimension who is descended from [[KingArthur Arthur Eld]] and wields guns that were forged from Excalibur. He's on an epic quest to reach the Dark Tower and fight the forces of evil. The story is very loosely based on the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," which is itself based on ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland''.

-->'''Hogan:''' KingArthur, God rest his soul, would have loved you. He'd have had you rescuing every maiden in the land.

%%* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', this seems to be the job description of a Magister Magi.

%%* ''Comicbook/GhostRider'': Ghost Rider has shades of this, depending on which version of him you're dealing with, as well as [[DependingOnTheWriter who's writing the books at the time.]]

There are many variations on the Knight Errant outside of [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights In Shining Armor]]. TheWestern very often stars a Knight Errant in the form of a wandering [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]] or cowboy. {{Samurai}} are often, and {{Ronin}} are almost always, Knights Errant. {{Wuxia}} heroes are Knights Errant. Because of the shared archetype, stories about one type of Knight Errant can easily be {{Recycled IN SPACE}} -- NewOldWest and SpaceWestern are examples of this.

** "The Knights Errant" is also the official name for the eight founding members of the Grey Knights.

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the Legion of the Damned fit this trope to a T. Trapped in hyperspace for about a hundred years and cursed with some MaybeMagicMaybeMundane warp disease/curse, the last one hundred survivors wander the galaxy searching for other marines, coming to their aid in their hour of need, vanishing as mysteriously and silently as they came, never straying from their dedication to the Emperor even as their bodies and minds slowly break down. "The Knights Errant" is also the official name for the eight founding members of the Grey Knights.

** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Aragorn starts out as one of the Rangers, the ragged survivors of the fallen Kingdom of Eriador, who now live as solitary wanderers in the northern wilderness, hunting monsters and keeping the roads safe.

%%* ''Manga/DragonBall'': Goku and his TrueCompanions during the early parts.

%%* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Ash Ketchum.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor often fits this trope, even if he's not actively seeking wrongs to right, he seldom hesitates to get involved when he runs into one. He's had many companions, but they act more like "squires" than true partners and none of them stay with him forever.[[labelnote:*]]Three of these "squires" have been officially knighted, each by a different sovreign of England: Ian by King Richard Lionheart, Rose by Queen Victoria, and the Brigadier by Queen Elizabeth II.[[/labelnote]] His [[TheNthDoctor sixth incarnation]] outright calls himself a Knight Errant at least once.