History Main / IWillWaitForYou

* Mana's song ''El Muelle de San Blas'' is about a woman who waited for her sailor boyfriend in the titular dock, still with the same dress, presumably until her death. [[http://www.letrascanciones.org/mana/luna/en-el-muelle-de-san-blas.php?l=en The Lyrics]].

* Invoked in one of the ''Manga/CaseClosed'' OVA's. [[spoiler:If Conan doesn't return to his Shinichi identity, Ran will wait for him to return... ''even if more than ten years pass.'' (The OAV itself was AllJustADream, but it's not too far-fetched to believe that it ''would'' be within Ran's character to do this.]]

People often assume this character will have to be a female ([[Literature/TheOdyssey or]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Hachiko}} a loyal]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} dog]]), but this is not true: one of the most famous in cinema history is [[Creator/HumphreyBogart a man]] who is [[Film/TheMalteseFalcon1941 willing to wait decades]]. See also MyGirlIsNotASlut, TheSlowPath. When the waiting is forced (either by an individual or a social custom), it may overlap with PropertyOfLove. Compare IWillFindYou for when the speaker plans to take a more proactive stance. Contrast AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder and TakingTheVeil, a common historical alternative.

* In ''Manga/WorldsEndHarem'', Erisa ignores resident protagonist Reito’s plea for her to find someone else, for he being cured of multiple sclerosis is only supported by the possibility of the super AI’s of their time finding a cure during the period he is preserved in cryostasis, Erisa says she will wait for him and that a cure will be found for sure.

* ''ComicBook/TheGirlFromTheSea'': At the climax of the story Morgan promises to wait for Keltie and meet her again in seven years that must pass before Keltie can [[SelkiesAndWereseals shed her seal skin again]]. {{Defied}} in that Keltie tells her firmly that she ‘’doesn’t’’ want that for her that she wants Morgan to live her life the entire time Keltie’s gone.

* Ginny tells Harry this at the beginning of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows '', not knowing how long he’ll be gone or what he’s even doing. They only end up being apart for about nine months but when he sees her again for the first time, he muses that he never quite realized how beautiful she really is.

* The song ''Naturaleza Muerta'' (“Still Life”), originally recorded by the Spanish band Music/{{Mecano}} and later covered by Music/SarahBrightman ([[http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb409.html lyrics and translation]]). Per the song, the ocean is obsessed with a woman named Ana. Miguel, her lover, goes off on a fishing trip and asks her to wait for him by the sea side. The ocean takes him captive and refuses to let him go. The locals claim that a rock by the ocean is Ana, [[TakenForGranite turned into stone]] and still waiting for Miguel, and storm waves are caused by Miguel fighting with the ocean so he can return to Ana.

** Even without that clause he's still asking a lot. Since he was born on [[LeapDay the 29th of February]], he won't ''[[ReadTheFinePrint technically]]'' be of age until he's 84. As Mabel notes " It seems so long".

* A variation of this is used in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. [[spoiler:Shiki (having been allowed to come back to life) promises to wait every day for Neku by Hachiko until he comes back, and holding Mr. Mew so that he'll recognise her. Shiki never gets to do this though, because she's then (unknowingly to her) made Neku's entry fee for the next week.]]

* The song ''Naturaleza Muerta'' by the Spanish band Music/{{Mecano}} later covered by Sarah Brightman (lyrics can be found [[http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb409.html here]]). Per the song, the ocean is obsessed with a woman named Ana. When Miguel, her lover, goes off on a fishing trip

* The song ''Naturaleza Muerta'' by the Spanish band Mecano, later covered by Sarah Brightman (lyrics can be found [[http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb409.html here]]).

* ''Music/RebootMe'' is an ArtificialIntelligence version of this trope. It's about Ele.OS,[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a sentient Operating System]], waiting for her owner to use her computer again.

* Invoked in one of the ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' OVA's. [[spoiler:If Conan doesn't return to his Shinichi identity, Ran will wait for him to return... ''even if more than ten years pass.'' (The OAV itself was AllJustADream, but it's not too far-fetched to believe that it ''would'' be within Ran's character to do this.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Older!Ran:''']] I've already waited ten years... so another ten will be just fine.

* In ''Manga/XxxHolic'' when [[spoiler:Watanuki takes on ownership of the shop and vows to wait for Yuuko there until the day he sees her again. Never mind the fact she's [[MindScrew dead right now]]. It's okay, after all, if "wishes can come true if someone wishes hard enough" she'll definitely come back, even though he'll probably never see her again [[{{Reincarnation}} as the person he knew her as]]. Watanuki won't be aging until she returns anyway, because he made a deal for prolonged life in return for being unable to leave the shop.]]

* In ''Manga/WorldsEndHarem'' Erisa ignores resident protagonist Reito’s plea for her to find someone else, for he being cured of multiple sclerosis is only supported by the possibility of the super AI’s of their time finding a cure during the period he is preserved in cryostasis, Erisa says she will wait for him and that a cure will be found for sure.

* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', a MentalTimeTravel -ing Desmond asks [[MeaningfulName Penny]], who he has broken up with in 1996, to wait for a phone call on Christmas Day, 2004, and not change her phone number or move apartments in that timespan so he can still reach her.

* In ''Manga/XxxHolic'' when [[spoiler:Watanuki takes on ownership of the shop and vows to wait for Yuuko there until the day he sees her again. Nevermind the fact she's [[MindScrew dead right now]]. It's okay, after all, if "wishes can come true if someone wishes hard enough" she'll definitely come back, even though he'll probably never see her again [[{{Reincarnation}} as the person he knew her as]]. Watanuki won't be aging until she returns anyway, because he made a deal for prolonged life in return for being unable to leave the shop.]]

* In the finale of ''Anime/GunXSword'', Wendy parts from the man she loves. [[spoiler:(It's unclear whether Van returns her romantic feelings).]] The series ends with a few minutes of DistantFinale in which Wendy reveals that she's learned to cook food he would like, so that she can give him a good meal when he shows up. Though she never explicitly promised to wait for him, it seems to be what she's doing, and she insists that she will see him again someday. [[spoiler:Cue Van walking in the door not five seconds later.]]
* Present in the manga version of ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' of all the things: [[spoiler:Alucard disappears and Integra kills the Major, telling him he's a monster and Alucard will return. She then waits for him for ''thirty years'' (naturally she never married). In the DistantFinale, Romancia, Integra has begun to worry that he's never come back, and that she's getting old. He returns to her that night, after deliberately losing millions of his own lives to get back, and reassures her that her age is fine with him.]]

* Role reversal in ''Literature/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit''. Tanda has been waiting for years for Balsa to fulfill her vow to save the lives of eight people so they can settle down and get married. Then in the end, she decides to return to her hometown for a while, and he ends up waiting again. Tanda is a very patient guy.
** He does express some frustration with Balsa's wandering ways, noting that she seems to thrive on life-or-death situations. When Balsa admits that this is true and jokingly asks him if he has a cure for it, he painedly replies that if he himself isn't enough of a cure, then there's no point in going on waiting. But he goes on waiting all the same.

* In ''Film/BabyDriver'', [[spoiler: Baby surrenders himself to the police, but his good deeds and cooperation grant him a chance for parole in five years. His girlfriend, Deborah, promises to wait for him. Whether she does or not is somewhat unclear, [[AmbiguousEnding as there are hints that the final scene of them them reuniting is a dream sequence]].]]

* In ''Chico & Rita'' the main feature is a flashback of Chico as an old man thinking on his relationship with Rita. They were separated when [[spoiler:he was deported to Cuba while Rita was waiting for him in a hotel room. When Chico restarts his music career and gets to go back to America, he manages to track her down. She was waiting in that hotel room for ''forty-eight'' years]].

* Near the end of ''Film/QueenAndCountry'' Bill's friend Percy [[spoiler: is court martialed and sentenced to prison for an on-base prank]]. By that time Bill's older sister Dawn has fallen in love with him and promises to wait until he gets out.

* In part of the backstory to ''Literature/TheFionavarTapestry'', a wood nymph marries a human mage. He then sets off across the sea to seek out a fable. She goes into a high tower on the shore to wait for him to return. And wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually she sees a ghost ship passing carrying his spirit, realizes he is dead and throws herself off the tower to drown in despair.

* In ''[[Literature/ForestKingdom The God Killer]]'', Sister Anna is the only follower of the Sundered Man - a street miracle-worker who had become frozen in time 22 years before - who remains to care for his holy place and watch over his remains after he's murdered. This is because, unlike others who'd awaited his revival for so long, she wasn't hoping for revelations or blessings or reward: she'd simply fallen in love with the man, and longed for him to come back to her.

* One of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer's "Legends", "The Promise", has both a heartbreaking and creepy version of this. A count seduces a farm girl named Margarita right before going to war, hiding his social standing to her and giving her a ring as a proof of love and future marriage... [[spoiler:When he returns, he's confronted by a local singer who sings a song about a girl who was first seduced by a powerful man and then killed by her irate older brother, and whose ringed hand simply can't be buried under Earth since he promised to marry her before leaving. That woman is, of course, poor Margarita, who is still waiting for him ''even after dying''. The Count accepts to "marry" Margarita's hand to fulfill the promise, and once this is done her hand quietly slides under Earth so she can rest in peace.]]

* ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'' by Creator/JaneAusten. Mildly subverted in that Anne was persuaded to break up the engagement. Nevertheless she waits for him, and gives an impassioned speech pointing out that women will love longer than men when all hope is gone. The hero overhears and does come back.

* ''Series/NirvanaInFire'': Xia Dong has never forgotten her dead husband even after 13 years. Happily she is rewarded for her faithfulness when Nie Feng returns alive against all hope.

* The old folk song "John Riley" is the very embodiment of this trope. In it, a young woman is questioned by a prospective suitor. She refuses him, because she's betrothed to the titular man, who sailed away some years previously. He persists, asking what she'll do if her fiancee has died in battle, drowned, etc. She answers that she'll mourn him and remain true to his memory. She persists in this line of reasoning, even when he suggests that her fiancee may have married someone else. After this, he reveals himself to be John Riley, having been satisfied with her fidelity. [[spoiler:Jerk.]]

* The Harry Chapin song "Corey's Coming" is very much about this. Of course, there's a bit question about whether or not Corey even exists. Naturally, due to the singer, it's an extreme TearJerker.

* Subverted in the Music/GreatBigSea song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63fwojdvwn8 Dream to Live]]''. First, its told from the guy's perspective, who tried to make his fortune in Boston. Second, he hopes desperately that she is still waiting for him... until she lets him down in the letter. He ends up moving on and starting a family of his own, but is left wondering "what if".

*** Also in ''Oracle of Ages'', the Maku Tree is saved by Link when she is only a small shrub of a tree and she falls madly in love with him. She declares to Link that one day she will marry him. Thanks to time travel Link arrives 400 years later to when she is a full-grown tree and she tells Link that she had waited all these centuries for him to return. Throughout the story she still gushes over him but realizes there isn't time for a relationship given his quest to save Queen Ambi and stop Veran, though she expresses hope that one day the two of them can get together. The statue that Ambi dedicates to Link even gets built right next to the Maku Tree.

** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', Klarth's assistant Mirald promises to wait as long as necessary for his return. Up until that point it had been implied that he wasn't fully aware she loved him (or even that he loved her, depending on how you interpret the character). Made all the more poignant because [[spoiler:he learns this in a vision after the party has traveled to the future to confront the BigBad. Meaning that in this timeline, she is long dead, having presumably waited her whole life for him.]] If you beat the game, he does indeed return. In a different variant, Arche makes this promise [[spoiler:to Chester, when she returns to the past. Particularly unfair, as she has to wait a hundred years to see him again, but since time travel is involved, he only has to wait until she shows up looking for him, or until he finds her.]]

** Shion Sonozaki, of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', does this with Satoshi. At the end of ''Matsuribayashi-hen'', she finds that [[spoiler:Satoshi has been kept in the research facilities underneath the Irie Clinic for a year. His Hinamizawa Syndrome has reached such a level that he feels immense paranoia to anything he sees, and will claw out his throat if unbound. Thus, he's been kept asleep until Irie could find a cure for the disease. She then promises to continue doing this until he gets better, and to help him through his recovery any way she could.]]
** Done significantly darker in Ryuukishi's other work, ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', as it is one of the many causes of the tragedy. [[spoiler:Sayo Yasuda, also known as Shannon, a young servant in the Rokkenjima island's mansion, falls in love with Battler. He promises to come and take Shannon out of the island the next year, so that she can start a new life, but due to problems in his family, he seems like he won't come back. After three years of vainly waiting, Shannon tries to find love with George, Battler's cousin. Then, through Kanon, a male persona Sayo Yasuda created as one of her coping mechanisms, she starts to fall in love with her childhood friend Jessica, Battler's other cousin, who lives on the island. So after six years, Sayo Yasuda is engaged in three separate relationships: the "Shannon" persona is with George, the "Kanon" persona loves Jessica, and deep down a part of her (represented by the "Beatrice" persona) is ''still'' waiting for Battler. And just as George is about to propose to Shannon, she learns of Battler's return; by that time she is already broken and suicidal, but his return is the final nail in the coffin that leads her to decide to blow up the island so that she can create her ideal imaginary world.]] The complex set of reasons that led to this is [[http://pastebin.com/631gzV4H better explained here.]]

* ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'': In a way, Lala's confession to Kimihito is this. She states she has no interest in chasing him like the other girls do because she knows that he will die one day. And since she is part of the underworld, they can be together then.

* In an early episode of ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}} Revolution'', when Lina is almost arrested for "the crime of being Lina Inverse", Gourry tearfully promises to wait for her until she gets out of prison, no matter how many years it takes. Lina, of course, responds with violence.

* ''FanFic/LikeFatherLikeDaughter'': In the sixteen years Marco was chasing after Hekapoo, he entered into a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with her. While he had a girlfriend when he left, he assumed she gave up on him years ago. In fact [[YearInsideHourOutside it was only eight minutes from her perspective]], and she didn't even notice he was gone. When she finds out he (sort of) cheated on her, she insists she ''would'' have waited for him. Marco gently says that it's unlikely she would have kept pining over some kid from high school she went on one date with.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has Koromaru, who went for walks at Naginaki Shrine after his master died. Eventually, he moves into the dorm with S.E.E.S. but the player can still take him on walks there.

* In ''Manga/KannazukiNoMiko'', when Chikane is being, in essence, erased from existence she declares that she will reincarnate. At that point Himeko promises to wait for her.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has [[spoiler:Ayaka]] as a platonic version of this with her BestFriend [[spoiler:[[RipVanWinkle Asuna]]]], waiting and clinging to life until she was 115- the year when the person in question was scheduled to come back. [[spoiler:But she didn't, and by the time she finally got there thirty years after, it was too late. Naturally, once the poor girl ''did'' wake up and learn that Ayaka had waited ''that'' long for her, [[TearJerker she broke down in tears]].]] Fortunately, [[spoiler:resident time traveler [[TheBusCameBack Chao]] was able to return her to the point she originally left.]]

* Role reversal in ''Anime/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit''. Tanda has been waiting for years for Balsa to fulfill her vow to save the lives of eight people so they can settle down and get married. Then in the end, she decides to return to her hometown for a while, and he ends up waiting again. Tanda is a very patient guy.

* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' ends with [[spoiler:Gilbert declaring that he will wait 100 years for Oz and Alice to reincarnate back into the world, saying that [[DevotedToYou he's already waited 10 years for Oz, he can't see why 100 more would be a problem.]] ]]

* ''FanFic/SonOfTheDesert'':

* A non-romantic and non-animal invocation of this was a cartoon by Herblock that ran when the Pathfinder and Sojourner robot probes stopped reporting from Mars. The cartoon shows Sojourner holding up a sign toward Earth, reading, "I'll wait for you."

* Bowser The Foodstealer trilogy ends this way with [[spoiler:Link and Gwonam waiting for Dr. Rabbit to come, he never comes.]]

*** Of course, since the TimeyWimeyBall is pretty heavily involved in Bender's Big Score, both versions could have happened.

** To make matters even worse, the original plan for the episode wasn't to focus on Seymour waiting the rest of his life to come home, but Fry's mother instead. The writers realized this would push the TearJerker factor a bit ''too'' far and opted to tell Seymour's story.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has [[spoiler:Ayaka]] as a platonic version of this with her best friend [[spoiler:[[RipVanWinkle Asuna]]]], waiting and clinging to life until she was 115- the year when the person in question was scheduled to come back. [[spoiler:But she didn't, and by the time she finally got there thirty years after, it was too late. Naturally, once the poor girl ''did'' wake up and learn that Ayaka had waited ''that'' long for her, [[TearJerker she broke down in tears]].]][[spoiler:Fortunately, resident time traveler [[TheBusCameBack Chao]] was able to return her to the point she originally left.]]

* ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, Stargirl basically promises this publically (to a reporter questioning her) about Atom Smasher when he goes to prison for war crimes. "I'll be there for him, no matter how long it takes".

* In ''FanFic/SonOfTheDesert'' Trisha gives her blessing when Hohenheim decides to go on a journey [[spoiler:to revoke his immortality.]] Trisha promises to wait for him no matter what.
** [[spoiler:Despite reciprocating Roy's feelings, Edward refuses his marriage proposal until he restores Alphonse's body. Roy promises to wait for him until then.]]

* Downplayed in another ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fic, ''Fanfic/SomethingInTheNight''. Adrien waited at the park for Ladybug for weeks after their scheduled meeting fell through (Marinette was stuck in traffic on the other side of Paris, and she had to catch a flight that afternoon), and he comes back a number of times over the next few years around the anniversary of Hawkmoth's defeat. Marinette herself hangs around the park a few times when she's back in Paris, but they never see each other. It's not until seven years later, two years after Adrien had stopped waiting, that they run into each other again.
* In ''Fanfic/HeroTheGuardianSmurf'', Smurfette was Hero's first love and she was planning on possibly marrying him someday before his SecondLove and OppositeSexClone Wonder Smurfette appeared, resulting in a relationship that culminated in a marriage. Despite feeling jilted, Smurfette decided to wait and keep herself a virgin until Wonder died of old age, which was when Hero, feeling heartbroken and suicidal, fell in love with and married Smurfette. And through a MysticalPregnancy fertility blessing, Smurfette bore Hero's second child, his daughter Miracle.

* In Film/BabyDriver, [[spoiler: Baby surrenders himself to the police, but his good deeds and cooperation grant him a chance for parole in five years. His girlfriend, Deborah, promises to wait for him. Whether she does or not is somewhat unclear, [[AmbiguousEnding as there are hints that the final scene of them them reuniting is a dream sequence]].]]

* The classic French musical ''Les Parapluies de Cherbourg'' (''Film/TheUmbrellasOfCherbourg'') centers around this when the man goes off to war for two years, and she promises to wait for him, even if it takes forever -- until the woman (played by Catherine Deneuve) discovers that she's pregnant with his child and marries someone else in act III just four months later. Unlike in American films of this type, they never get back together, not even briefly. Though it's pretty heavily implied that they still both carry the old flame. This film is sort of indirectly the TropeNamer -- the main musical theme was also adapted into an English song with this title.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] apparently decides to wait for [[spoiler:Will... and he ''does'' comes back. This is helped by the fact that he expressly told her when he would return, so all she had to do was stay loyal and show up at the appointed time. WordOfGod says that her remaining faithful also allows Will to be free from the duty of the Flying Dutchman ship (his reason for leaving) so they can now properly be together.]]

* ''Film/AVeryLongEngagement'' has the heroine convinced that her lover is alive despite everyone else insisting that his chances of surviving a bombing during the war are nil. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that he ''is'' alive, one of the rare instances of this trope where the woman's fidelity is fully rewarded. True, the man is said to suffer from memory loss of the war and his relationship with the heroine, but it's implied that they will be happy together once again.]]

* Subverted in ''Film/ThePerezFamily''. Carmela spends 20 years (and most of the movie) waiting for her husband, who was imprisoned by the Castro regime in Cuba. Then she just gives up and hooks up with another man.

* In ''Chico & Rita'' the main feature is a flashback of Chico as an old man thinking on his relationship with Rita. They were separated when [[spoiler:he was deported to Cuba while Rita was waiting for him in a hotel room. When Chico restarts his music career and gets to go back to America, he manages to track her down. She was waiting in that hotel room for ''forty-eight'' years]].
* In ''Film/TheGreatGatsby2013'', Daisy is Gatsby's lover before he left to prove himself and the world as an accomplished man. He promised to come back and asked her to wait, but as the trope goes, this takes longer than expected. He comes back only to find Daisy married to another man, to both their despair.
* Not exactly played straight in ''Film/TheNotebook''. Noah remains smitten with Allie all through the war he was sent to, doesn't engage with anyone, and goes back to the United States still having her in mind, only to find her engaged to another man.
* In ''Film/Aquaman2018'', when she is forced to return home, Atlanna promises to reunite with Thomas Curry and to meet him at the docks at sunrise. Thomas does just that, going to the docks every sunrise, expecting Atlanna. [[TheDeterminator She had been gone for more than twenty years.]] [[spoiler: His patience finally pays off in the ending.]]

* In the Mexican short story ''La piedra y el rio'', a woman waits for her husband (who went off to try to start a life in America) in one place for so long that her body turns to stones and water.
* At the end of the Charlotte Bronte novel ''Villette'', the protagonist Lucy Snowe is waiting for the man she loves to come back to her. He has set up a school for her and a place for her to live all so she can continue to wait for him to come back. The book abruptly ends as [[spoiler:the first-person narration makes it fairly clear that his ship sank when he was on his way back]].
* In part of the backstory to ''Literature/TheFionavarTapestry'', a wood nymph marries a human mage. He then sets off across the sea to seek out a fable. She goes into a high tower on the shore to wait for him to return. And wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually she sees a ghost ship passing carrying his spirit, realizes he is dead and throws herself off the tower to drown in despair.

* Herman Melville apparently once wrote a manuscript that told the story of a woman who waited years for the return of her sailor husband after he disappeared at sea. Meanwhile, he'd gone off and started another family elsewhere. The manuscript was never published and is now lost, but records of it exist in Melville's letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne.
* This is a major plot point in ''Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife''. Clare spends most of her childhood and teens waiting for her next meeting with Henry. Even [[spoiler:after Henry dies, Clare keeps waiting for nearly 50 years to meet him one last time]].
* In ''[[Creator/DouglasCoupland Girlfriend In A Coma]]'', Richard continues to visit Karen for ''seventeen years'' after she goes into a coma, never once even considering breaking off the relationship.
* Ginny tells Harry this at the beginning of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows '', not knowing how long he’ll be gone or what he’s even doing. They only end up being apart for about nine months but when he sees her again for the first time, he muses that he never quite realized how beautiful she really is.
* In Joe Haldeman's ''Literature/TheForeverWar'', William and Marygay, who have stuck with each other through firefights, injuries, and the loss of everyone and everything they've ever known, are separated by being given different military assignments. The death toll in the war is horribly high, and TimeDilation caused by near-lightspeed travel means they can never expect to see each other again. William mourns for her as if she's dead, but doesn't take up with anyone else because in the future that he's been thrust into by the time dilation, everyone else is gay. Marygay, on the other hand, leaves a note for him to find if he survives, assuring him that she will wait forever, tells him where she's going, and [[spoiler:buys a ship which spends the next two hundred years going backwards and forwards at near-lightspeed, stopping every five years, during which time she has aged about a month... leaving her still in her late twenties when William, aged thirtysomething, catches up with her. Now that's an optimistic lady!]]
* In the ChivalricRomance ''Floris And Blanchefleur'', the lovers are forcibly separated to prevent a mesalliance. Neither of them is shaken by that -- even when Floris believes that she is dead.

* ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'' by Creator/JaneAusten. Mildly subverted in that Anne was persuaded to break up the engagement. Nevertheless she waits for him, and gives an impassioned speech pointing out that women will love longer than men when all hope is gone. The hero overhears and does come back.

* In Jan Guillou's ''Knight Templar'' series Cecilia patiently waits for Arn for more than twenty years while he's off making penance as a knight templar. Slightly subverted since she too has been sentenced to make penance and spends twenty years at a convent, but it kicks in for real once she's done her time and has to wait to see if he will ever return home.
* Worked out pretty easily and straightforwardly in ''Literature/TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar'' (also combined with JailBaitWait, at least presumably).

* Played heartbreakingly straight in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' short story "Love and Ale" with the in-universe poem "The Song of Elen Waiting" in which the eponymous singer laments that her love went off to war, but she still waits for him as her friends grow up and fall in love and have children and grow old while she waits for her love until she dies old and alone.

* One of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer's "Legends", "The Promise", has both a heartbreaking and creepy version of this. A count seduces a farm girl named Margarita right before going to war, hiding his social standing to her and giving her a ring as a proof of love and future marriage... [[spoiler:When he returns, he's confronted by a local singer who sings a song about a girl who was first seduced by a powerful man and then killed by her irate older brother, and whose ringed hand simply can't be buried under Earth since he promised to marry her before leaving. That woman is, of course, poor Margarita, who is still waiting for him ''even after dying''. The Count accepts to "marry" Margarita's hand to fulfill the promise, and once this is done her hand quietly slides under Earth so she can rest in peace.]]

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', though it's just best friends and not a romantic example, Firestar and Graystripe do this. In the [[ExpandedUniverse Super Edition]] ''Firestar's Quest'', Firestar goes away on a quest that leads him far out of the forest, leaving the Clan in Graystripe's care. Graystripe promises "I'll wait for you as long as it takes." Firestar, of course, makes it back safely. In the second series, when [[spoiler:Graystripe is captured by Twolegs]] and the Clans leave the forest for good to find a new home, Firestar refuses to give up hope that Graystripe will return, leaving the deputy position open, even though most of the cats believe that Graystripe is dead. He even cites Graystripe's waiting for him as a reason why he should continue to wait. [[spoiler:Eventually, several moons later, pressure from many other cats and the need for a deputy forces him to accept that Graystripe probably won't come back, and he appoints Brambleclaw as a deputy. Over half a year later, Graystripe finally finds his way to the Clan.]]
** This is the very line Half-Moon says as the last sentence in ''Sign Of The Moon'' to [[spoiler:Jayfeather.]]
** [[spoiler:Silverstream's]] spirit says this word from word to [[spoiler:Graystripe]]in[[spoiler:The Last Hope.]]
** [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Firestar and Spottedleaf. After Spottedleaf dies, she promises that she will wait for Firestar in [=StarClan=], but she is [[CessationOfExistence killed again]] just a while before Firestar dies.]]
* In ''Literature/CountAndCountess'', Vlad Dracula and Elizabeth Bathory are able to send letters to one another despite living more than a century apart in time. They fall in love via this correspondence (though by no means a wholesome love) and Vlad becomes determined to circumvent mortality, no matter how many years he has to wait before he can finally see Elizabeth face to face. Elizabeth is more realistic about the matter and advises him not to hold his breath.
* ''Literature/HerFathersDaughter'': Donald's mother bluntly informs him not to ask Linda to marry him because he would require this trope, which isn't fair.
-->''That is the reason I am suggesting that you think about these things seriously and question yourself as to whether you would be doing the fair thing by Linda if you tried to tie her up in an arrangement that would ask her to wait six or eight years yet before you would be ready.''

* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/TheHermeticMillennia'', this is Menelaus's motivation to sleep through the millennia until Rania returns. He hates being woken because every time ages him.
* In Creator/StephanieBurgis's ''[[Literature/KatIncorrigible A Tangle of Magicks ]]'', Angeline promises this, thus annoying the mother who had insisted on the ParentalMarriageVeto.
* In the Creator/GabrielGarciaMarquez novel ''Literature/LoveInTheTimeOfCholera'', Florentino is rejected by Fermina Daza, who instead marries wealthy Doctor Juvenal. He waits for her. For fifty years.
* In ''Faithful Jenny Dove'' The titular Jenny promises to wait for her lover, naturally he dies and she wastes away herself but keeps on waiting as a ghost. Things get complicated when Jenny falls for another local ghost, a young gentleman who is doomed to walk until he meets a faithful woman. Eek. Then her true love comes home alive and blows Jenny's cover. To keep her dead love she has to somehow make her grieving living lover betray her...

* The Lord's SecondComing in ''Literature/TheBible'' is likened to this trope, particularly in the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew chapter 25, who all waited at night for the Bridegroom to come to take them to the wedding feast, but only five of them were wise enough to bring oil with their lamps while the other five had to go and buy oil for themselves, thus costing them their opportunity to be part of the wedding feast.

* Julia in ''Theatre/TwoGentlemenOfVerona'', to Proteus. Until she gets sick of waiting, [[SweetPollyOliver disguises herself as a boy]], and goes after him.

* Bizarre version in Arthur Miller's ''Theatre/AllMySons'': son went missing in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and is probably dead. His mother assumes that the fact that his fiancee Ann hasn't married somebody else means she's waiting for him and uses this to validate her belief that he's alive. In fact, the fiancee is waiting for his brother to own up to his affection for her. The mother is furious that she's not waiting for her (probably dead) son, until Ann shows her a letter showing that [[spoiler:he committed suicide]].

** In 2006, the ride was revamped to give the Bride back her focus, although now she's a "Black Widow" who married several men and murdered them all for money.
** The Disneyland Paris version, Phantom Manor, pretty much makes the Bride's story the entire focus. When her father finds out that her groom plans to take her away from the town, he is instantly against it. An earthquake occurs and in the chaos, the father dies, though he murders the groom from beyond the grave and continues to haunt his daughter until her death.

* In ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'', You encounter a wedding procession of infected in ''The Passing''. The groom is missing (most likely he never made it due to the pandemic), but the bride (now a Witch) and the rest of the people attending the ceremony still patiently wait for him to arrive.

* In ''[[VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia Legaia II: Duel Saga]]'', Maya and Sharon are shown [[spoiler:at the end]] to be waiting for Lang, as he goes off on more adventures.
* Ciel, at the end of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 4'', still believes that Zero is out there somewhere and that she needs to help the world for him. ''Freesia'', the slow "I miss you" vocal version of the game's theme, plays over the ending credits, presumably expressing the thoughts of Ciel herself (especially as Creator/RieTanaka [[DoItYourselfThemeTune is the singer]]). After the credits, [[spoiler:we see [[DeadHatShot Zero's shattered helmet lying in the ruins of Ragnarok.]]]]
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', Klarth's assistant Mirald promises to wait as long as necessary for his return. Up until that point it had been implied that he wasn't fully aware she loved him (or even that he loved her, depending on how you interpret the character). Made all the more poignant because [[spoiler:he learns this in a vision after the party has traveled to the future to confront the BigBad. Meaning that in this timeline, she is long dead, having presumably waited her whole life for him.]] If you beat the game, he does indeed return. In a different variant, Arche makes this promise [[spoiler:to Chester, when she returns to the past. Particularly unfair, as she has to wait a hundred years to see him again, but since time travel is involved, he only has to wait until she shows up looking for him, or until he finds her.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss:'' "Come home! You have to come home... you have to! I'll be waiting... always..." [[spoiler:Tear to Luke at the end just before he DisappearsIntoLight.]] The GainaxEnding leaves in question whether or not [[spoiler:it is Luke who returned.]]
* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces''. After seven years of waiting for Asbel after the prologue, Cheria is... rather bitter by the time the main game starts. Asbel being ObliviousToLove doesn't help [[spoiler:though once they get around to talking it works out.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' has Mikleo waiting for Sorey after the final battle for a very long time. [[spoiler:After several hundred years of waiting, Sorey does end up returning back to Mikleo.]]
* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', this is given a bit of a twist. Deionarra's CatchPhrase for The Nameless One is "I shall wait for you in death's halls, my love." Since he is immortal and she is already dead, what she is waiting for [[TogetherInDeath is for him to finally find a way to die]]. [[spoiler:Sadly, even if The Nameless One ''were'' to recover all his memories of Deionarra upon death, all he would realize is that he never loved her in the first place.]]
** The GoldenEnding of the game [[spoiler:produces more or less platonic variants of this from Morte and Nordom. Both are ageless, and could potentially live long enough to see The Nameless One again. Fall-From-Grace goes so far as to proclaim [[IWillFindYou she will hunt down The Nameless One in the Lower Planes]], despite the potential danger and the fact that his punishment will probably have imprisoned him there.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has Koromaru, who went for walks at Naginaki Shrine after his master died. Eventually, he moves into the dorm with S.E.E.S. but the player can still take him on walks there.
* In ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'', this happens at the end of one hero's scenario: [[spoiler:Farah is shown arguing with [[YouHaveWaitedLongEnough her mother]] over her decision to wait for Jamil to return from the final battle. Thankfully, it's implied that she didn't have to wait ''too'' long.]]

* A variation of this is used in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. [[spoiler:Shiki (having been allowed to come back to life) promises to wait every day for Neku by Hachiko until he comes back, and holding Mr. Mew so that he'll recognise her. Shiki never gets to do this though, because she's then (unknowingly to her) made Neku's entry fee for the next week.]]

* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'':
** [[spoiler:In the new timeline, when Yomiel isn't killed by the Temsik meteorite, Sissel (the fiancee, not the cat) waits ten years for him to get out of jail.]]
** And then there's the amazing [[spoiler:[[UsefulNotes/{{Hachiko}} Missile/Ray]] pulls, waiting ''ten years'' just for a chance at convincing Sissel (the cat, not the fiancee) to rescue his mistress.]]
* Aribeth's dialogue near the end of VideoGame/NeverwinterNights if you saved her when you talk to her before going down to face Morag.

* In ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'', part of Oshare Bones' backstory is this. Before he died, he had a significant other who suddenly disappeared one day. He continues to wait for his lover even in undeath, and in ''Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary'', he makes a wish that they will someday be reunited. The wish is technically granted, but due to a slip-up with how Oshare words his wish, he has no idea when that day will come.

* ''VideoGame/ArTonelico2'' has an interesting variant. Croix makes what amounts to a ChildhoodMarriagePromise with Luca who agrees to wait until he's a full-fledged knight and he comes to take her to Pastalia. However [[spoiler:if the player chooses the default ending, Croix says ''he'' will wait for Coccona to return from her journey to the third tower.]]
* In the Sacred Weapons (Kyo, Chizuru, Iori) Team in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters 97'', [[spoiler:as the three work together to re-seal Orochi, Kyo has a vision of his girlfriend Yuki promising to wait for his return. And she does.]]
** Played differently in the KOF:KYO game. [[spoiler:Yuki ''does'' actually make the promise in canon, but more exactly as a part of her train of thoughts when she's held hostage by the New Face Team and they openly tell everyone present that Yuki is the game's BarrierMaiden. When Kyo and his group defeat the NFT, she's released and runs to him in joy.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', [[spoiler:if you choose the "Sacrifice" ending, the Avatar [[DyingmomentOfAwesome sacrifices him/herself]] to defeat [[BigBad Grima]] and make sure he won't be revived. Every single member of the party is sure that somehow s/he survived, and they all vow to wait for his/her return. [[EarnYourHappyEnding And s/he comes back to them]].]]
* Averted in ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown 2'', where [[spoiler:after her HeroicSacrifice, Nakoruru's spirit appears before her DoggedNiceGuy Galford and tells him ''not'' wait for her return. He complies and decides to live his life at the fullest to honor Nakoruru's wish.]]
* There is a variation of this in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY''. [[AntiVillain AZ's]] beloved Floette left him 3,000 years ago after he created the [[DoomsdayDevice Ultimate Weapon]] to restore it to life, ending a war but killing thousands of humans and Pokémon in the process. He didn't even ''know'' the Floette was waiting for him, thinking it had left him forever. However, when the main storyline ends and he finally finds redemption, it flies to him out of the sky.

* Kazuaki's ending in ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'' has him promise to do this for the heroine. He wants to wait until she's no longer [[TeacherStudentRomance his student]], and would like to see if she's still interested when she grows up.

** Done significantly darker in Ryuukishi's other work, ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', as it is one of the many causes of the tragedy. [[spoiler:Sayo Yasuda, also known as Shannon, a young servant in the Rokkenjima island's mansion, falls in love with Battler. He promises to come and take Shannon out of the island the next year, so that she can start a new life, but due to problems in his family, he seems like he won't come back. After three years of vainly waiting, Shannon tries to find love with George, Battler's cousin. Then, through Kanon, a male persona Sayo Yasuda created as one of [[AmbiguousGender his/her]] coping mechanisms, s/he starts to fall in love with her childhood friend Jessica, Battler's other cousin, who lives on the island. So after six years, Sayo Yasuda is engaged in three separate relationships: the "Shannon" persona is with George, the "Kanon" persona loves Jessica, and deep down a part of him/her (represented by the "Beatrice" persona) is ''still'' waiting for Battler. And just as George is about to propose to Shannon, s/he learns of Battler's return; by that time s/he is already broken and suicidal, but his return is the final nail in the coffin that leads him/her to decide to blow up the island so that s/he can create his/her ideal imaginary world.]] The complex set of reasons that led to this is [[http://pastebin.com/631gzV4H better explained here.]]
* Riki Naoe, the protagonist of ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'', becomes a RareMaleExample during the bad end of Sasami's route. [[spoiler:Sasami stayed behind in the artificial world created by Kuro, while Riki was kicked out and sent back to the real world. He is the only one who remembers Sasami, while [[RetGone everyone else has forgotten who she is]]. Riki realizes afterwards that he had feelings for Sasami, only to lament that he was LateToTheRealization, and resolves to wait for her return and tell her then]].

* Played for laughs in the "Moon Over Minerva" skit from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. Minerva is at first turned off by the stereotypically nerdy wolf Wilford, but when she finds out that he is actually a [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent werewolf who turns into a gorgeous hunk when the moon is full]], she tells him she's willing to wait thirty days until it's full again.
* A non-romantic and non-animal invocation of this was a cartoon by Herblock that ran when the Pathfinder and Sojourner robot probes stopped reporting from Mars. The cartoon shows Sojourner holding up a sign toward Earth, reading, "I'll wait for you."
* Bowser The Foodstealer trilogy ends this way with [[spoiler:Link and Gwonam waiting for Dr. Rabbit to come, he never comes.]]

* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', the Nameless One has this effect on his love interests.
** "Time is not your enemy. Forever is."
** "I shall wait for you in death's halls, my love."