History Main / TheDrifter

* Naturally, it happens in ''{{Preacher}}''. Jesse Custer indulges in this trope when he drifts into the town of Salvation. Though to be fair, by the time he ends up in Salvation, he had ''a lot'' on his mind, [[LaserGuidedAmnesia not all of which he can recall]].

* The unnamed hero of ''TheLittlestHobo'' is essentially a drifter version of ''Series/{{Lassie}}'' whose lack of visible problems that would realistically be associated with WalkingTheEarth may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as well, since it's a dog. It can find a river to dunk in, and scraps lying around, and [[KickTheDog only the pure evil would hurt him.]]

* Many ClintEastwood characters, most notably ''[[TheNameless The Man With No Name]]''.

** In ''Literature/TheStand'', Randall "The Walkin' Dude" Flagg was the embodiment of this trope's EvilCounterpart for a long while, until he decides to settle down and [[AfterTheEnd rebuild America]] in his own image using newfound [[SorcerousOverlord magical powers]]. He takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[Franchise/TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlathotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.

[[/folder]][[folder: Webcomics ]]
* In ''Webcomic/MagISA'', [[http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119505 Claudita]] seems to be just drifting around trying to figure out Eman Cruz and drift wherever he goes.
* In the CattlePunk world of ''Webcomic/CwynhildsLoom'', Cwynhild drifts around UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, performing odd jobs and helping people who seek her out.

[[folder: Webcomics ]]
* In ''Webcomic/MagISA'', [[http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119505 Claudita]] seems to be just drifting around trying to figure out Eman Cruz and drift wherever he goes.
* In the CattlePunk world of ''Webcomic/CwynhildsLoom'', Cwynhild drifts around UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, performing odd jobs and helping people who seek her out.
[[/folder]]

* Medoute in ''BlazeUnion''. She winds up settling down with the rest of the party for a while after realizing she needs to take responsibility for influencing some of their important decisions, but towards the end of the game she remembers that the whole point of her journeying was because she didn't want to have to deal with responsibility and starts chafing. In most of the endings of the game, she leaves and goes back to WalkingTheEarth.

* Kenshiro of ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' fits this trope to a tee, especially at the beginning of the series. He wanders the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] landscape from town to town looking for his kidnapped lover, has his sidekick in Bat, is theoretically not looking for trouble, and yet somehow always leaves behind body counts that range from dozens to hundreds.

* Vash The Stampede of ''{{Trigun}}'' has this as his whole thing, except he's also a wanted outlaw and an [[spoiler: immortal superhuman]].

* Creator/StevenKing:
* In ''Literature/TheStand'', Randall "The Walkin' Dude" Flagg was the embodiment of this trope's EvilCounterpart for a long while, until he decides to settle down and [[AfterTheEnd rebuild America]] in his own image using newfound [[SorcerousOverlord magical powers]]. He takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[Franchise/TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlathotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.
* Roland, the [[Literature/TheGunslinger Gunslinger]] from ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, especially in ''Literature/TheWolvesOfTheCalla''.

[[quoteright:322:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shrunkdrifter.jpg]]

* {{Jack Reacher}}. Full stop.

* 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.

* [[TheStand Randall "The Walkin' Dude" Flagg]] was the embodiment of this trope's EvilCounterpart for a long while, until he decides to settle down and [[AfterTheEnd rebuild America]] in his own image using newfound [[SorcerousOverlord magical powers]].
** And he takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[Franchise/TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlathotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.

* Roland, Creator/StephenKing's [[Literature/TheGunslinger Gunslinger]] from ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, especially in ''Literature/TheWolvesOfTheCalla''.

* Ex-MP Major Jack Reacher, lead character of LeeChild's JackReacher novels.

* ''Series/TheFugitive''

** The title character of ''Here's Boomer'' is another drifter dog.
* Sam Beckett from ''QuantumLeap.''

* The Winchesters (and other hunters) in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''.
** The Winchesters more than most, because they have less of a home base than the majority of hunters, and are unusually kind and personable...even if they are violent maniacs with no respect for the law who lie like they breathe.

* Played straight in an episode of WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}.

* Eiji Hino is only said to be a drifter before ''KamenRiderOOO'' starts, since he stays in the same general area for most of the series, but he goes back to that lifestyle in the end - only now he has a group of friends to stay in touch with.
** If Eiji counts, the passing-through Kamen Rider [[KamenRiderDecade Tsukasa Kadoya]] does too, though he [[MagneticHero quickly acquires companions]] and could probably not be called low-key.
** Before either of them, we had [[KamenRiderKuuga Yuusuke Godai]], who like his partial {{Expy}} Eiji only stays in the same general area over the course of the series because of the circumstances regarding the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Gurongi]] and his own sense of responsibility as the one bearing the power of Kuuga.

* Nearly every ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game has you playing some variant on this character type.

Also known as the Stranger archetype, from Joseph Campbell's "Hero With A Thousand Faces" [[hottip:*:well, quotes from "Hero With A Thousand Faces" from the StarWars exhibition catalogue anyway.]]

* Ran from ''KazemakaseTsukikageRan''.

* Naturally, it happens in ''{{Preacher}}''. Jesse Custer indulges in this trope when he drifts into the town of Salvation.

* Bill Door, aka

* Death, in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/ReaperMan''.

** And he takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[Literature/EyesOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[Franchise/TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlathotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.

** And he takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[EyesOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[Franchise/TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlathotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.

** And he takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[EyeOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[Franchise/TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlethotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.

* ''{{Shane}}'', of course.

* The heroes in ''SinCity'' have the demeanor of the driufter (quiet loners with troubled pasts), even if they tend to stick to the city limits of Basin. Wallace might be an aversion since his story seems to indicate that he is relatively new in town. He doesn't seem to grasp how corrupt the city is and despite his deadliness, he is a relative unknown.

** And he takes on shades of this trope ''again'' when he goes traveling through [[TheVerse time and the multiverse]], and keeps "becoming", amongst other things, a marine, a member of the KKK, a headsman, a Viet Cong, a supporter of a radical blacks' rights group, a [[EyeOfTheDragon court magician]] ([[TheDarkTower several times]]), and other roles that helps his subversive schemes. Really, the only thing that makes him into Nyarlethotep, and separates him from being an evil [[DrWho Time Lord]] is magic and a lack of a Tardis.