History Main / TheDrifter

* The animated film ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' starts off with a dream sequence where Po fits this trope PERFECTLY. Of course, this is just his dream self, but it does show how caught up in stories he is. Po's actual experience with being a warrior involves trouble coming to find ''him''.

By this point, he's either got a personal stake in helping the [[MeekTownsman meek townsmen]] chase off the BigBad, like saving a hostage or other [[LoveInterests love interest]], or will do it just because it's [[GoodSamaritan the right thing to do.]] An interesting twist on the above is that TheDrifter is not just pretending he [[IAmNotLeftHanded is Not Left Handed]] in terms of martial skill, but is also concealing his true purpose -- to depose the BigBad and his goons -- [[HiddenInPlainSight hiding in plain sight]] as a mere {{Muggle}} to get information to bring him down.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Applies to Blaze, who lives as a street stray (the result of several failed adoption efforts), cajoles food from stores and restaurants, and has several girlfriends in various parts of UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. He refuses Bolt’s offer to adopt him into Penny’s family. Seen in both “The Seven” and “The Cameo.”

* ''Series/{{Branded}}'': In the 1880s, Jason [=McCord=] travels the country trying to prove he's no coward. He needs to do this because the military career of this West point graduate came to an end when he was thrown out of the army after being accused of cowardice.

* Sundown, from ''VideoGame/LiveALive''. Also an example of a [[TheGunslinger Gunslinger]], both Type A and B.

*
''ComicBook/TheChimpWithTheBrownHat'': The titular character travels from town to town, trying to solve the mystery of who he is.

* ''Manga/RavenTenguKabuto'': The titular character is a ninja who wanders around Feudal Japan fighting demons and evil overlords.

* Eliyahu Hanavi (Elijah the Prophet) according to Jewish myth. He wanders the earth witnessing or provoking acts of charity and kindness and blessing those who perform them.

* While he's mostly a [[TheWisePrince Wise Prince]], Ashitaka from ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' has shades of the Drifter, as he becomes entwined with and takes a stake in the outcome of the conflict between the various factions he encounters during his travels. As Eboshi says when asked if she saw him come around: "Came, and went."
* ''Raven Tengu Kabuto'', from the anime of the same name. The above description is almost a plot synopsis.

** The titular character purposefully became this after the war and settled down starting in the first episode. We see him comment that with the friends he makes, he may stop wandering. Also, "Rurouni" can be translated as wanderer. So Yeah.

** In the Jinchuu arc, Sanosuke decides to leave the main cast temporarily and relieve some stress, which he does by becoming one of these. He then takes this time to save a town, beat the shit out of two hundred men, and terrorize the local yakuza. His stress being relieved, he then leaves town and returns to Tokyo. And nobody even knew his name.
** Except ''his dad''. That was his ''hometown'', though he hadn't been there in over a decade.
*** Amusingly, the fallout from this adventure later causes him to need to flee Japan, so given his temperament, he probably goes around being this in countries where no one can understand a word he says. Everyone understands when you punch a wall and the house shatters, though.
* Kanbe in ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'' shows signs of being this, although the town actively recruits him and he puts up a lot of resistance.

* Vash The Stampede of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' has this as his whole thing, except he's also a wanted outlaw and an [[spoiler: immortal superhuman]]. Since his setting is Western-inspired and he has mad gun skills, ChronicHeroSyndrome, and multiple issues with settling down, he does a lot of this, especially in the anime which put off the CerebusSyndrome a lot longer, although most of the story is consumed by the plot happening. He only stops the drifting thing during his TenMinuteRetirement after he inadvertently shot the moon, when he grows a BeardOfSorrow, changes his name, and doesn't kick the asses of the creeps who come to his new hometown and start killing everybody who annoys them. Which is kind of extreme restraint, given the town ''couldn't build enough coffins to house all their dead.'' Interestingly, that situation gets resolved by Wolfwood drifting ''into'' town looking for him the same day Vash's adopted family member is kidnapped, and then both of them kick ass and walk off into the sunset. Vash's ButNowIMustGo costs him a ''lot'' more than usual this time.

* The Johnny Blaze version of ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' stands out from other bearers of the mantle due to his nomadic lifestyle, a preference gained from being raised in a traveling carnival. His adventures have taken him everywhere from famous big cities to lesser known small towns, and is one of the few superheroes in the Marvel universe to actively defend civilians living in some of the more undervalued corners of civilization.

* The titular character of ''ComicBook/TheChimpWithTheBrownHat'' travels from town to town, trying to solve the mystery of who he is.

* A wanted man, ComicBook/KidColt keeps drifting from town to town so the law doesn't catch up with him.
* The [[ComicBook/TheLegendOfZelda comic books]] spun off of the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' give this sort of backstory to Link, who happens to wander into Hyrule from his native Calatia just as Ganon is starting to wreak havoc.
* Naturally, it happens in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''. Jesse Custer indulges in this trope when he drifts into the town of Salvation.
* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': Tim himself is happily based out of Gotham but he befriends an odd retiree who can use {{Extra Dimensional Shortcut}}s who has no real set home and wanders quietly from place to place helping people where he can.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsLegends comic ''Nomad'', Darca Nyl ends up giving this impression. He's actually trying to track down the man who killed his son, but along the way, people keep thinking that he's a Jedi, and needing his help. [[BecomingTheMask And he gives it]], and [[GoodFeelsGood it's the only good thing he's felt in a long time]]. In the end, once he kills the man, he decides to take up this trope/become a KnightErrant.
* ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'': For a brief period when his secret identity was exposed, he'd lost most of his powers and he was a fugitive from the US government, Clark Kent was one, travelling from town to town on a CoolBike righting wrongs before moving on.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the Rangers of the North are very much this trope. They have few if any permanent settlements and most of the men's time is spent wandering the wilds of Eriador patrolling for servants of the Enemy and safeguarding the villages and roads, even though the people they are protecting regard them with suspicion and fear.

* The episode "Zuko Alone" of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' pegs Zuko squarely into this role, or at least when he's not busy interrupting the above-mentioned plot with [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashbacks]] about his DarkAndTroubledPast. In a subversion, the inevitable IAmNotLeftHanded moment reveals to the rescued townsfolk that said drifter is Fire Nation and they promptly shun him, leaving him to thanklessly drift on.
** In the SequelSeries to ''The Last Airbender'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the eponymous character has her own episode called "Korra Alone" where she drifts for about two years around the world, trying to psychologically recover from a near-death experience.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': The show follows "Jack," an unnamed Japanese samurai who, after nearly defeating the ultimate evil being known as Aku, using a magic katana capable of cutting through virtually anything, is sent forward in time by him to a dystopian future ruled by the tyrannical shape-shifting demon. Jack, who is brought to the future with only his robe, sandals, and sword, quests to travel back to his own time and defeat Aku before he can take over the world. Jack's search for a way back to his own time period transcends Aku's control, but Jack's efforts are largely in vain due to the ways back to his home being just out of his reach.

* The [[ComicBook/TheLegendOfZelda comic books]] spun off of the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' give this sort of backstory to Link, who happens to wander into Hyrule from his native Calatia just as Ganon is starting to wreak havoc.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Tim himself is happily based out of Gotham but he befriends an odd retiree who can use {{Extra Dimensional Shortcut}}s who has no real set home and wanders quietly from place to place helping people where he can.

%%zce* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'': Miyamoto Usagi. Also Inazuma and Chizu.

If he has a LoyalAnimalCompanion, pack animals like horses, camels, and llamas are the obvious choices, especially in WanderingCulture settings.

If he has a LoyalAnimalCompanion, llamas are the obvious choices, especially in WanderingCulture settings.

* Kyril Sutherland from ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' ticks off most, if not all of the attributes of this character archetype. He [[WalkingTheEarth wanders around]] a particular place (Eostia). He [[TheQuietOne doesn't talk]] and [[TheStoic emote]] much. He's seen as a [[MysteriousStranger mysterious stranger/foreigner]] by the populace. He [[ActionHero kicks a lot of ass]]. Most importantly, he eventually lends a hand to said place that, frankly, needs it, while resolving that the DarkSecret within him (his DarkAndTroubledPast in Yharnam) dies with him.

* Harvey from ''LightNovel/{{Kieli}}'', who has spent the last 70 to 80 years WanderingTheEarth and makes a living beating people in poker because he thinks getting a job is a waste of time.

* Pete and Joey, the main characters in the 1970 Canadian movie ''Goin' Down the Road'', who move from Nova Scotia to Toronto in search of work, leaving the city (and in Joey's case, his ex-girlfriend and unborn child) when things go south.

* Literature/JackReacher, in the novels by Creator/LeeChilds. Each book starts with him drifting onto an area and ends with him on his way to somewhere else.

* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'': Miyamoto Usagi. Also Inazuma and Chizu.
* Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} is often a Drifter when he's in a solo book.

* [[AntiHero Kyril Sutherland]] from ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' ticks off most, if not all of the attributes of this character archetype. [[WalkingTheEarth Wanders around]] a particular place (Eostia)? Check. [[TheQuietOne Doesn't talk]] and [[TheStoic emote]] much? Check. Is seen as a [[MysteriousStranger mysterious stranger/foreigner]] by the populace? Check. [[OneManArmy Kicks]] [[LightningBruiser ass]]? Check. [[GoodSamaritan Eventually lends a hand]] to said place that, frankly, needs it? Check. Has a DarkSecret, or multiple of them? Check and check.

* The titular Kino of ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'', travelling the world on her talking motorcycle, with a strict rule to never stay in one country for longer than three days.