History Main / TheMourningAfter

As a DeathTrope, '''this page contains unmarked spoilers!'''

** Ser Loras Tyrell, following King Renly Baratheon's death. "When the sun has set, no candle can replace it." [[CrapsackWorld Tough all over, innit]]?

* Van of ''Anime/GunXSword'' is still "head over heels in love" with his murdered fiancee, Elena, three years after her death, and isn't interested in other women. However, the final episode hints that he may be moving on to SecondLove.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Harold still is Grace's fiance, his "death" in 2010 notwithstanding, and she has trouble referring to him in the past tense.

* Eliza Emily Donnithorne, the possible inspiration for [[Literature/GreatExpectations Ms. Havisham]], was [[RunawayGroom dumped by her fiance]] on their wedding day, and [[{{Hikikomori}} shut herself]] in her home for the rest of her life, drawing the curtains and leaving everything in its place to rot.

* Nicolas Spark's ''A Walk to Remember'' IS this trope. Landon and Jamie fall in love and get married at age 17 because Jamie's dying of incurable leukemia. Decades and decades later, Landon has not considered anybody else, once, and has not taken off his wedding ring.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Volturi leader Marcus once attempted to escape the coven alongside his wife, Didyme, only to be caught by Aro, who killed Didyme as punishment. Marcus never moved on from her death even after centuries, and became apathetic to anything, aside from his surprise at learning that Bella is willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of Edward, as it reminds him of his love for Didyme. While the films leave this backstory out, it does get a nod in the final film, where Marcus' final words ("At last") during Alice's vision of the Cullen vs. Volturi battle indicates that Marcus is a DeathSeeker.

--->[[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask "There is no one to call me Victoria now."]]

* In ''Anime/Danganronpa3'', [[TheLostLenore Chiaki Nanami]]'s death is what finally motivates Izuru Kamukura into abandoning his BystanderSyndrome. [[TragicKeepsake Kamukura picks up her hairpin before he leaves]] and leaves flowers on her classroom desk, despite [[DeathOfPersonality Izuru]] having no idea who Chiaki is and having had no interaction with her prior to speaking with her just before she finally bleeds out, indicating that [[AmnesiaMissedASpot Izuru isn't really the one mourning, Hajime is]]. Years later, though, he's still carrying the hairpin and replacing the flowers with fresh ones.

* ''LightNovel/StrawberryPanic'': How [[OneeSama Shizuma]] lives after Kaori dies.

* In ''Literature/EndoAndKobayashiLive The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte'', after all the 16 years [[spoiler:Elizabeth Marschner]] still considered herself married to [[spoiler:August Riefenstahl]], despite the two technically didn't marry (they were in a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage but her parents issued a ParentalMarriage owing to him dying). The time she appeared in the series she's still wearing a wedding ring, and when Leon attempts to suggest a romantic relationship between him and [[spoiler:Elizabeth]], she declined out of still being loyal to [[spoiler:August]].

* A probably platonic variation appears in the ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/FortuneLoverTGSBetaSaruRipTPlusEng0Point75SincereDotZip''. It is strongly implied (but not explicitly stated) that the titular mod played by [[CharacterNarrator Parasite_Ib]] was created by [[spoiler:Atsuko]] long after the "Monkey Girl"'s death, indicating she still couldn't get over it--the "Monkey Girl" died when she was 17, and this GameMod was probably created when she's working as a [[AscendedFangirl game developer]]. Parasite_Ib even postulates the titular GameMod was {{creat|orbreakdown}}ed under a HeroicBSOD caused by extreme grief.

* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': Sesshomaru does this for Kagura. While he does not ''cry'', he becomes so infuriated when Moryoumaru insults Kagura that he attacks him viciously and breaks his sword [[EvilWeapon Tokijin]] with the force of the blow, putting his own life in danger in the process. More notably, afterwards [[HealingShiv Tenseiga]] transforms into a fighting weapon because of Sesshomaru's feelings for Kagura. When he receives the finished sword, he thinks of her again and accepts it because "whether her death was in vain or not is for ''me'' to decide".
* ''Manga/WeWereThere'': Part of the primary concept, although the relationship between Yano and his dead girlfriend Nana was more complex than it first appears.
* In ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', a major problem preventing Godai (and the other suitors) from pursuing Kyoko is that Kyoko feels this way about her first husband.
* A darker version in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Gendo Ikari is quite willing to commit planetary genocide in order to reunite himself with his dead wife. In fact, in ''Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelionCampusApocalypse'', ''all alternate universes'' are in peril thanks to original flavor Gendo.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'':
** Simon vows to never forget his late wife, Nia, and in Lagann-hen he spends the rest of his life WalkingTheEarth in order to fulfil her last wish to make the world bloom with flowers.
** Yoko also goes through this with Kamina. With the possible exception of forgiving Kittan for stealing a LastKiss from her and tenderly hugging him goodbye just before his HeroicSacrifice, she neither loved another man after Kamina's death nor stopped loving him.
* In one ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' manga arc Soun Tendo is revealed to be deeply devoted to his dead wife.
* In ''VisualNovel/RumblingHearts'' when a character goes into a coma. They don't show the mourning until after they showed him fully recover, though...
* Neviril from ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'' is a victim of this after her lover Amuria dies, which plays a big role in her refusal to pilot a Simoun with Aeru (aside from the fact that Aeru is also quite pushy). In the DistantFinale, it's revealed that this also happened to Rodoreamon, with regards to Mamiina.
* In ''Manga/TwinSpica'', Asumi's teacher Yuuko, after her boyfriend Takano dies aboard the exploding rocket which also caused the death of Asumi's mother. After several years of mourning, she decides to go on and then finds someone else to marry pretty quickly. Sadly she never realized that all this time Takano had been roaming the town as a ghost named "Lion-san".
* ''Anime/FiveCentimetersPerSecond'' combines this with UnluckyChildhoodFriend, [[TearJerker to heartbreaking effect]].
* Van of ''Anime/GunXSword'' is still "head over heels in love" with his murdered fiancee, Elena, three years after her death, and isn't interested in other women. However, the final episode hints that he may be moving on to SecondLove.

* ''LightNovel/StrawberryPanic'': How [[OneeSama Shizuma]] lives after Kaori dies.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': This mixed with LoveMakesYouEvil is the driving force behind Kaname Tousen's motives.
* After Rei Asaka's death in ''Manga/DearBrother'', everyone grieves her intensely. In regards to her {{Love Interest}}s, Nanako spends at least two episodes in an HeroicBSOD, and her POV is constantly tinted with sadness afterwards, whereas Fukiko decides to never ever fall in love again, half due to this and half due to her crush Takehiko getting back together with his girlfriend, Rei's best friend Kaoru.
* A mild example from ''Anime/TigerAndBunny''. Even years after his beloved wife Tomoe's death, Kotetsu still wears his wedding ring and is [[ObliviousToLove completely unaware that one of his female teammates has an enormous crush on him]]. He also keeps a portrait of Tomoe, which he occasionally confides in, and visits her grave whenever he can.

* In ''Manga/ShiroiHeyaNoFutari'', after Simone perishes at the hand of her CrazyJealousGuy, Resine makes the decision to not fall in love ever again for as long as she lives.
* Watanuki of ''Manga/XxxHolic'' does ''not'' react well to Yuuko's death. It hits him so hard that his personality drastically changes, with him going so far as to incorporate some of her quirks and habits into his own character, and basically just clinging onto whatever he can of her. The last chapter released indicates he's still not willing to let go, even after 100 years have passed.
* King Neptune in ''Manga/OnePiece'' is apparently this to his late wife Otohime. In a scene, he believes that Robin is hitting on him and refuses her (non-existing) approaches by saying that he will still be loyal to his wife. The scene is mostly played for comedy, but the point still stands.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Obito's love for [[TheLostLenore his childhood crush Rin]] led him to become [[spoiler: ''[[BigBad Tobi]]'' and participate in an AssimilationPlot that would put the entire world under an illusion and essentially allow him to see her again, despite the fact that she has already passed on to the afterlife. [[IRejectYourReality He's literally rejecting reality and substituting it with his own just so he can see his dead crush.]]]]
* Platonic, non-death version in ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters''. We find out in ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'' that in the intervening seven years since the events of GBF, Reiji has not yet been able to return to Earth from his homeworld of Arian, and thus has been unable to keep his promise to Sei. Sei had prepared a special Gunpla for him upon his return, the Build Burning Gundam, but as each successive year passed with no sign of Reiji, an increasingly saddened Sei finally went and sealed the Build Burning Gundam away in his World Championship trophy and, according to China, 'his good memories of his precious best friend with it.' Though Sei and China got together and Sei continues to build and battle Gunpla, it's heavily implied that he never again took on or built for another partner the way he did with Reiji.
* In the finale of ''Manga/FutureDiary'', Yuki is so devastated by the death of his beloved Yuno that he spends ''10,000 years'' [[AndIMustScream floating amongst the ruined remains of the world]], [[TearJerker staring mournfully at the final entry of his cell phone diary stating that she died]]. [[spoiler:Thankfully the GainaxEnding turns this around into a happy ending.]]
* This happens to Suzaku Kururugi in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' when Euphemia died in the hands of Zero. After he learned that Zero is his childhood friend Lelouch and put him into custody under the Emperor's command, he never moved on and tried to do Euphy's wishes and to help his fellow Japanese. He's still angry at Lelouch for killing her but realizes he lied about doing it on purpose and later, after accidentally nuking Tokyo, agreed with him to do the Zero Requiem.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', Lyle Dylandy [[spoiler:the second Lockon]] is saddened with Anew Returner's betrayal and death that he left Kataron and officially joined Celestial Being at the end of the series. He also has a picture of her in TheMovie.

* This is the crux of Shikako's arc in ''Manga/SingYesterdayForMe''. Her beloved childhood friend was a sickly boy, and despite them being intimate he never gets to live past high school. His death swore her off from dating for a long time, and she was afraid to get any closer to people she cared about, in part, due to the fear that they may one day change and leave her. The boy's death also marks trouble for his younger brother Rou, who wants Shikako to acknowledge him as a man but can't see him as anything other than a little brother figure--and his growth only serves as a painful reminder of the deceased since he looks more like him every year.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': The circumstances of Stephanie Brown's death permanently damaged Tim Drake's ability to trust the other Bats, he started closing himself off from his allies, is never seen cooking or skateboarding again, his next two relationships with women he liked and considered pretty were attempts at appearing to have attained some level of normalcy rather than being caused by his attraction to the women in question and he broke them off due to still loving Steph.
* ComicBook/ThePunisher never gets over the murder of his wife and children (no matter how many criminals he kills).

* ''Franchise/XMen'': While [[ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} Scott Summers]] isn't quite [[ComicBook/JeanGrey Jean]][[SingleTargetSexuality sexual]], he's come close at times. Although some writers have tried to give him different {{Love Interest}}s, it's been established over and again he will never, ever, get over Jean.
* In the last issue/book of ''ComicBook/{{Circles}}'', as Paulie dies of AIDS and Douglas is left alone, falling into a detached "going through the motions" state. Thankfully, the rest of Kinsey 6 is successful in making his life meaningful again, though Douglas makes it clear that "there will never be another Paulie".

* ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives'' has Sara, who never plays the piano again after Dianna passes.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Chase has yet to get over the death of his first girlfriend, Gert, and it's questionable whether he ever will. Even [[ComicBook/RunawaysRainbowRowell bringing her back from the dead]] brings him no comfort, because he's now grown too old to resume their relationship (as the method of her resurrection involved bringing her past self forward in time), and she's moved on to dating Victor.
** Speaking of Victor, he had a thing with a girl from the 1900s named Lillie, back when the Runaways were sent back in time, but when he offered to bring her back to the future with him, she declined. Over a century later, she hasn't gotten over losing him.

* Karen Hayes, Emily’s and Navin’s mother, in ''{{ComicBook/Amulet}}'' stays single, even years after the car accident in which her husband David (Emily’s and Navin’s DisappearedDad) died.
* Zoe seems to fit this in ''ComicBook/FireflyBrandNewVerse'' as 20 years have passed since Wash died and she never seems to have been with anyone else.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Snowmaiden}}'', the elvish lover of the titular human maiden mourns her after she dies of old age, as is standard for Tolkien's elves, but refuses to return to his people, instead roaming the places where he was happy with her. He eventually meets someone else, who may, or may not, be his true love reborn
* Unlike most superhero-based stories, ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' actually averts this. Thor, once he regains his memories, does grieve for Lily, does miss her and quite clearly a large part of him still loves her. That said, he's still in love with Jane and has made peace with the fact that Lily's dead and gone. This is rather complicated by the persistent hints that [[NotQuiteDead she's neither dead nor gone.]] However, when she ''does'' turn up, she gently quotes the marriage vows: specifically, "'til death do us part", and encourages him and Jane to be happy.
* ''Fanfic/AManOfIron'': In Tywin's first POV chapter, it's shown this is the case regarding his late wife. The first thing he does when he wakes up each morning is look to her side of the bed, [[TearJerker in the hope she might be there this time.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WalkingInCircles'', a non-fatal version of this trope happens to Solas after [[spoiler: Evelyn becomes Tranquil]].
* In ''Fanfic/SecondChancesTheNovelArtist'', Marinette is still suffering from the trauma of Nathaniel's death even a year later and finds herself conflicted over her growing attraction to Adrien because she hates how the idea of a "second husband" seems to imply that husbands are replaceable or interchangeable.

* Subverted in ''Fanfic/{{Moving}}''. After Martha's suicide, Karen falls into a near-suicidal depression that leaves her aimlessly drifting from city to city. Eventually, she picks herself up.
* ''Our Own League'' fan novels: As part of his AdaptationalBackstoryChange, the unjust execution of his lover Sha'laina changed David Hyde from a pirate undergoing LoveRedeems to Black Manta, a Supervillain with a vendetta. In ''Teen Titans: Witch-Hunt'', it is first assumed Manta is working for [[LadyOfBlackMagic Circe]] because she cast a love spell. Turns out, he's getting paid a crapload of treasure, but only because the sorceress found Manta's loyalty to Sha'laina makes him immune to such magic.
--> '''Black Manta:''' ''(To his son, Aqualad)'' There ain't enough Copperfield crap in the world to make me forget your mom.

* A probably platonic variation appears in the ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/FortuneLoverTGSBetaSaruRipTPlusEng0Point75SincereDotZip''. It is strongly implied (but not explicitly stated) that the titular mod played by [[CharacterNarrator Parasite_Ib]] was created by [[spoiler:Atsuko]] long after the "Monkey Girl"'s death, indicating she still couldn't get over it--the "Monkey Girl" died when she was 17, and this GameMod was probably created when she's working as a [[AscendedFangirl game developer]]. Parasite_Ib even postulates the titular GameMod was {{creat|orbreakdown}}ed under a HeroicBSOD caused by extreme grief.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'': [[spoiler: Sherlock vows that he will never love again after Elizabeth's death.]]
* In the UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} movie ''Film/{{Mohabbatein}}'' the hero's girlfriend killed herself because they couldn't be together. A decade later, the hero is still in love with her and can "see" her whenever he closes his eyes...
* Creator/RobinWilliams' character Sean from ''Film/GoodWillHunting''.
-->'''Sean:''' Maybe ''you're'' perfect right now. Maybe you don't wanna ruin that. I think that's a super philosophy, Will; that way you can go through your entire life without ever having to really know anybody...\\
'''Will:''' ...you ever think about gettin' remarried?\\
'''Sean:''' My wife's dead.\\
'''Will:''' Hence the word: remarried.\\
'''Sean:''' She's dead.\\
'''Will:''' Yeah; well, I think that's a super philosophy, Sean. I mean, that way you could actually go through the rest of your life without ever really knowing anybody.\\
'''Sean:''' Time's up.

* Malcolm's wife in ''Film/TheSixthSense'', though this is MistakenForCheating for much of the movie until we learn that Malcolm was DeadAllAlong.
* A major character point for Rocky in ''Film/RockyBalboa''. With characteristic eloquence, Sylvester Stallone says of Adrian:
--> "Yeah my wife's gone. But she ain't, you know, gone."
* In ''Film/WhatAGirlWants'', Daphne tells her father that her mother never dated anyone else after they broke up. Daphne is eighteen years old, and her parents broke up before she was born.
* Alexandre is like this in ''Film/TellNoOne''; eight years after his wife Margot was murdered, he still hasn't moved on. Except she's still alive.
* Noriko in ''Film/TokyoStory'' is doing this for her husband, who was killed in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII eight years previously. Although, as she confesses to her father-in-law Shūkichi when he urges her to remarry, it isn't quite that simple. In fact, she feels terrible loneliness but is racked with guilt about her desires to move on after her husband's death.
* Mercedes in ''Film/{{The Count of Monte Cristo|2002}}'' still has her string engagement ring when she confronts Edmund Dantes, who was thought to have died but was really sent to a HellholePrison, later in the story.
%%* Martin Riggs cranks this trope up in the original ''Film/LethalWeapon''. He gets better in the sequels, though.

* In ''Film/{{Highlander}}'', immortals (AlwaysMale as far as the films are concerned) invariably have the dilemma of [[MayflyDecemberRomance outliving any significant other by several centuries]]. Creator/{{Sean Connery}}'s [[TheMentor character]], [[OverlyLongName Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez]], ends up marrying [[RuleOfThree three times]]. After his third wife died, he played this trope straight, encouraging his protege, Connor [=MacLeod=], to [[CelibateHero avoid romantic attachments in the first place]], hoping to spare him this pain. Connor, naturally, [[IgnoredExpert doesn't listen]], and per Ramirez's warning, Connor's wife, Heather, dies of old age while Connor... [[WhoWantsToLiveForever doesn't]]. After this, Connor avoids getting romantically involved with other women and lights a candle on Heather's birthday each year, repeating this pattern until a SecondLove does show up... ''five centuries'' later.
-->'''Rachel:''' You never let anyone love you.
-->'''Connor:''' Love is for poets.
* At the start of ''[[Film/AMIArticifialMachineIntelligence A.M.I.: Artificial Machine Intelligence]]'', Cassie is still miserable over having lost her mother in a car accident that they were both in. She tries to mitigate this by customizing the titular A.I. on her phone into [[ReplacementGoldfish sounding just like her]]. Things go downhill from that point.
* Anakin Skywalker never got over his wife Padmé's death in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' and it's implied he mourned her for the rest of his life. It's made worse by the fact he [[LoveMakesYouEvil turned to the Dark Side in an attempt to save her life]], only to end up being the one who caused her death.

* ''Film/CocaineBear'': Former drug dealer Eddie is mourning his late wife, and his depression drives him to drink and leave his son with his dad and former boss, Syd.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Tywin Lannister is hardened by his wife Joanna's death to the extent that he never smiles again and [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild treats Tyrion]] (whose birth caused Joanna's death) like absolute shit.
** King Robert Baratheon never stopped loving Lyanna. Even when he married Tywin's daughter Cersei (which he had to do for political reasons), he called her "Lyanna" in bed on their wedding night. Unsurprisingly this caused a lot of tension between them.
** Ser Loras Tyrell, following King Renly Baratheon's death. "When the sun has set, no candle can replace it." [[CrapsackWorld Tough all over, innit]]?
** All of them are trumped by Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish whose [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend years-long, unrequited love for Catelyn Stark]] has caused him to take the {{Yandere}} trope up a notch.
** Ellaria Sand tried to move on after her lover Prince Oberyn Martell brutally died in a MutualKill against Ser Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane. She even refused to participate in Doran Martell and the Sand Snakes' revenge plot, knowing that it would cause another CycleOfRevenge which got Oberyn killed in the first place. This is in sharp contrast in the TV show where she wants revenge on the Lannisters via RevengeByProxy on Myrcella, who had nothing to do with Oberyn's death.
** Catelyn Stark as well by the time Ned's head got chopped. It gets worse when [[CameBackWrong she was resurrected]] as Lady Stoneheart who [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge seeks vengeance against those who killed her family]].

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'': Invoked by the villain of the "A Case of Identity" story. He disguises himself and dates his stepdaughter so that she would fall in love with him. On their wedding day, the villain has his fake persona disappear so that she would be devastated and never be able to love another man again. Without the chance of her marrying anyone and moving out, he can continue leeching off the stepdaughter's income and inheritance.
* Pretty much Dante Alighieri's whole body of work but especially ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' is built around one of these. Not {{Truth in Television}} only because he seems to have confined it to his literary side.
* Clive Cussler's ''[[Literature/DirkPittAdventures The Mediterranean Caper]]''. Teri von Till feels this way about her long-dead husband, to the point of depression. Dirk Pitt tries to convince her to move on with her life.
* Creator/MercedesLackey's works:
** In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series (and other series set in the same universe), lifebonds are like this.
** Richard Whitestone in ''Literature/UnnaturalIssue'' does not take his wife's DeathByChildbirth well, refuses to set eyes on his daughter, and turns to necromancy.

* In the Literature/{{Deryni}} novels, Kelson puts off the thought of remarrying for a couple of years or so after Sidana is slaughtered at the altar by her brother, and procrastinates a further two or three years after Rothana refuses him after Conall's execution. In this interim, Kelson is [[IWantGrandkids pressured by his mother]] and his courtiers to provide for the succession. Rothana finally picks out another woman to marry him (his cousin Araxie Haldane) and persuades each of them that their marriage would be for the best.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'':
** There was the Medstar Duology by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry, a pair of books taking place during the Clone Wars and featuring several just-off-the-battlefield surgeons and a Jedi healer, among others. The Jedi healer made friends with several other mains and died not more than a few years after those books. Twenty in-universe years later on the Death Star (in a novel called ''Literature/DeathStar''), it turns out that one of those surgeons, having been [[ResignationsNotAccepted coerced into continuous service]] is still around and was very attached to that Jedi. He does state that he doesn't know if it was love or not, but he thinks of her often, particularly when trying to navigate ethical dilemmas.
** This is also how General Grievous gets his name; his [[BattleCouple co-general]] was killed during a battle.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', it turns out Severus Snape was Lily Evans's UnluckyChildhoodFriend, and the guilt and grief he felt over her death (which he partially ''caused'', during his time as a Death Eater) motivated him for the rest of his life.
* Lemony and the first Beatrice in ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''.
* Nicolas Spark's ''A Walk to Remember'' IS this trope. Landon and Jamie fall in love and get married at age 17 because Jamie's dying of incurable leukemia. Decades and decades later, Landon has not considered anybody else, once, and has not taken off his wedding ring.
* ''Literature/VanityFair'': Amelia mourns her dead husband George for years, ignoring the feelings of another suitor and eventually driving him away. It isn't until Becky tells her that George had been planning to run away with her (Becky, that is) just before he died that Amelia finally gets over him.

* Anthony Trollope's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfBarsetshire'': Lily Dale falls in love with a cad who abandons her so he can marry a rich girl. She decides to remain perpetually single, and Eames, who loves her, ''also'' remains single for her sake.
* In the novel ''Literature/BackToTheMoon'', Jack is hesitant in his budding relationship with Penny because he is still mourning his dead wife Kate. In fact, his entire reason for doing ''anything'' in the story is out of loyalty/guilt over what happened to Kate.
* In Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', Miss Havisham became a hermit in her own home after being [[RunawayBride betrayed and jilted by]] Compeyson, remaining dressed in her wedding dress with the clocks stopped at the time she was betrayed, and the rotten wedding feast in place.
* Heathcliff for Cathy in ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', to the point where he even digs up her body ''YEARS after the fact''.
* In ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt'', Tisamon. Even though he thought she betrayed all of them. Sometime after he learns they had a child -- once he calmed down -- he gives her a sword he had intended for her mother and had been carrying around for seventeen years.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''Literature/ProsperosDaughter'', Eramus is still in mourning for his first wife. So much that when she [[ReincarnationRomance came back, he kept rejecting her. Cruelly.]]
* In the novels, part of the reason why Literature/JamesBond's GirlOfTheWeek relationships last so briefly is that one woman he truly loved (in ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'') - Vesper Lynd - was a traitor, who proceeded to kill herself. When he opened up to Tracy Vincenzo in ''Literature/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', the CartwrightCurse struck, turning him into a total wreck.

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Katniss's mother goes into a near-catatonic depression after the death of Katniss's father, leaving Katniss to support the family. Even when the mother becomes functional again, she never really gets over his death.
* In ''Literature/CloudAtlas'', it's implied that Sixsmith lived forty-five more years, but never loved again after Frobisher. Ouch.
* In the ''Literature/{{Honorverse}}'', President Eloise Pritchart essentially goes into emotional shutdown after losing the love of her life, Admiral Javier Giscard, in battle. Though she continues to function both as a President and as a human being, she never really recovers; she clings to her NotLoveInterest Thomas Theisman in the wake of losing him, and the narration makes it painfully clear that she will never be the same and that Javier was the great love of her life.

* In Creator/LJagiLamplighter's ''[[Literature/RachelGriffin The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel]]'', Rachel's (somewhat melodramatic) vision of her future when she fears a ForcedTransformation can't be reversed.

* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath''
** Ganth Gray Lord for his [[spoiler:the Dream-weaver]]. It was LoveAtFirstSight, and he spent years haunted by her before she became his consort. They were only together for a short time, a two or three years at most, and he never got over her mysteriously leaving.
** Lady Brenwyr on Brandan, for her LostLenore Aerulan. We first meet Brenwyr 34 years after Aerulan's death, and she's still heartbroken.
* According to the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', it takes a year after Beatrice's death for [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]] to even think about other women. Even then, one dream about his lost Lenore is enough to make him repent of writing poetry for any other woman and dedicate his life to [[Literature/TheDivineComedy offer her praise never written before]].
* According to ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', Delia's unnamed husband ran off years ago and she ''has'' mostly gotten over him, but hasn't formally divorced him. Delia routinely gets flirted with but she isn't interested in another relationship.
* ''Literature/SurvivorDogs'': After her mate Fiery dies of radiation poisoning caused by AnimalExperimentation, Moon swears to never take another mate.
* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': In one of the novels, Martin the Warrior falls in love with a mousemaid named Rose, who dies in battle towards the end. He never gets over her and never becomes romantically involved with any other character, though he does eventually find happiness.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/LightVerse": The story implies Mrs Lardner's first husband died at least a decade ago, but she never remarried. Instead, she would throw lavish parties, showing off her [[ConspicuousConsumption collection of jeweled objects]] and [[FictionalPainting light-sculptures]] for free.
* In the eponymous poem of Creator/LouiseGluck's poetry collection ''Literature/TheTriumphOfAchilles'', she suggests that although he may be about to deal Troy a crushing blow and go down in history for it, Achilles will never recover from Patroclus's death.
-->"In his tent, Achilles\\
grieved with his whole being\\
and the gods saw\\
he was a man already dead, a victim\\
of the part that loved,\\
the part that was mortal."
* In ''Literature/ADrownedMaidensHair'', one of the {{phony psychic}}s' easiest and most reliable marks is a man named Horace Burckhardt who lost his wife Agnes to DeathByChildbirth thirty years ago, and pays the Hawthornes to give "séances" so he can talk to her. He never remarried because he believes in being "true unto death," but now he's fallen in love again, and wants Agnes's permission to remarry. Hyacinth, pretending to be in a trance, tells him, "My darling Horace, you have been true too long! The time has come for you to love again!"
* ''Literature/TheHalfLifeOfPlanets'': Hank's dad has been dead for five years, and his mom is still grieving. She falls asleep drunk while looking at his wedding album.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfBembibre'': After [[spoiler:his wife's death]], Don Álvaro goes briefly crazy. After his squire helps him regain his sanity, he relinquishes his title and his lands, divides his remainder properties among his servants and vassals, and enters a remote monastery as a monk.

* ''Series/LostLoveInTimes'': Yuan Ming never remarried after his wife Xian Wu died.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Robert Baratheon has never gotten over the loss of his betrothed, Lyanna Stark, to the point of drunkenly calling Cersei "Lyanna" on their wedding night, igniting her spite against him.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': Hercules felt this way about his wife, Deianeira, who had been murdered by Hera. In one episode he politely turned down the [[AllAmazonsWantHercules proposition of a band of Amazons]], saying he was still in love with his wife. He does eventually get a SecondLove in the form of a Ceryneian Hind named Serena [[note]]after he receives Deianeira's blessing to find love again[[/note]], but Ares kills her, [[CartwrightCurse putting a different trope into play]].
* In ''Series/NewTricks'', Jack is still very much in love with his wife who died 9 years ago, and when asked about [[GirlOfTheWeek a woman]] who was showing an interest in him, simply replied: "I'm married."
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' is still married. His wife is dead, but he's still married. Absolutely.
* So is Patrick Jane of ''Series/TheMentalist''. Though in Jane's case, there ''have'' been other women whom he's met after his wife that he's shown to have feelings for. Sadly, none of these have gone well so far.
* This is implied for William Adama after Laura Roslin died in the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' finale.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]", River Song says that her worst fear is having to do this after the Doctor no longer knows her (because of the TimeyWimeyBall their relationship is happening roughly in reverse for each of them, she knows the Doctor more after each visit, but he knows her less because she's meeting him earlier in his timeline). This makes her first (last?) appearance and HeroicSacrifice in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest of the Dead]]" all the more poignant.
* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' manages to invert the premise of ''Literature/{{Rebecca}}'' with Mister [=DeWinter=] constantly brooding on what his second wife is going to be like, much to Rebecca distress and confusion.
** Another has a 'life insurance' policy that offers to replace your dead spouse with a beautiful young immigrant who will behave impeccably sweetly out of gratitude for their nice new life
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Harold still is Grace's fiance, his "death" in 2010 notwithstanding, and she has trouble referring to him in the past tense.

* In ''Series/BlessMeFather'', Mrs. Pring married her husband whom she had two weeks together with. He then went off to fight in World War I in which he was killed. The two weeks were enough to father a daughter with her. Mrs. Pring has remained loyal to her husband in the forty years since, never remarrying.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' & ''Series/{{Angel}}''
** Buffy has shades of this. While she does try to move on in season 4 with Riley, it's clear that she's still pinning for Angel. And if the ''Angel'' episode "I Will Remember You" is any indication, she's willing to dump Riley at the drop of a hat if it looks like Angel's willing to be with her again. Whether you like these two together or not (or believe they're "soulmates", or whatever) you have to admit that Buffy's actions are pretty unhealthy. One of the many reasons she turns Spike down is because he loves her without his soul, which in turn questions why Angel didn't love her without his (hinting that maybe he didn't love her as much as she believed). The fact that she unintentionally compares all her other love interests to him doesn't help. "End of Days/Chosen" reinforces just how ridiculous she's being, even though she does turn him away and she does tell Spike that she loves him. The continuation comics though seem to show that she is still divided over the two of them.
** Angel isn't much better. He's clearly pinning for Buffy for the first two seasons. By the end of season 2, it looks like he's finally moving on with Cordelia, but even afterwards it's implied that he's still holding a torch for Buffy. By season 5, he's having Buffy followed by Wolfram & Hart spies - and has a fling with a werewolf while this is happening. A short, blonde werewolf...hmm...
* John Winchester in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' is a classic example of this trope. His inability to save his wife Mary and his devotion to hunting down the thing that killed her has made him an obsessive (and occasionally abusive) Hunter. It's been implied more than once that their marriage wasn't all that happy while she was alive, although he glorified it in retrospect.
* ''Series/TeenWolf'': Sheriff Stilinski - Stiles's father - has never recovered from his wife Claudia's death and still struggles to talk about her. Although Claudia died at least six years before the show, he continues to wear his wedding ring and shows no interest in dating again, despite having a lot of chemistry with Scott's mother Melissa.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Sort of played with]] in [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E9Inheritance the backstory]] for Dr. Noonien Soong in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration.'' When his wife, Juliana, died, he created an android replica of her. Although the android Juliana had the memories of (and believed herself to be) the original, Noonien ultimately realized it was not the same as actually having his wife back and retreated into his research out of guilt. [[TomatoInTheMirror Unaware]] of her ReplacementGoldfish status and thinking Noonien was simply becoming MarriedToTheJob, the android Juliana left Noonien, and he spent the rest of his life playing this trope straight.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Dream Me a Life", Roger Simpson Leeds is still devastated by the death of his beloved wife Rachel three years earlier. He makes little to no effort to interact with his close friend Frank, their fellow retirement home residents, or even his children and grandchildren. Frank takes every opportunity to try and bring him out of his shell, inviting him to play poker every night, but Roger always turns him down. The experience of helping Laurel Kincaid overcome her grief at her husband's death in her dream allows him to do the same thing. As a result, Roger gains a new lease on life.

* Creator/{{Euripides}}' ''Theatre/{{Alcestis}}''.
* A case where the love interest doesn't die but leaves and [[BreakTheCutie irreparably damages]] the character: Kathy in the ''Vanities'' musical, as told in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq4PxWB3OfA Cute Boys with Short Haircuts]]", loses her BF after he knocks up another girl and [[ShotgunWedding ends up marrying that one]], thus derailing all her future plans. By the third act, she is a BrokenBird [[{{Hikikomori}} holed up]] in an unknown friend's Manhattan apartment.

* In ''Theatre/TheRoseTattoo'', Serafina treasures the memory of her late husband of twelve years as "the ''first'' best, the ''only'' best." She jealously keeps watch over his ashes (which she keeps in defiance of Catholic doctrine) and is proud to say that he was "never touched by the hand of ''nobody''" except her, which is unfortunately untrue.

* If you pursue the RomanceSidequest in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' and [[PlotlineDeath die in the end game]], the epilogue reveals that all your potential LoveInterests have an extremely hard time getting over you, but [[LadykillerInLove Zevran]] in particular is said to have never loved anyone again in his life.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' Heaven's Feel Normal End has a depressing example that flashes through the rest of Sakura's life in Shirou's home after he dies at the end of the Grail War, constantly waiting for him to come home.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}'' there are multiple cases of this depending on the route but the most famous is when Tomoya's wife, Nagisa, dies in childbirth.

* At the very heart of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''; all the Crystal Gems minus Steven are still grieving and recovering from the loss of their beloved Rose, though for Garnet and Amethyst, it's in a platonic variant. Both [[InterspeciesRomance Greg]] and [[CourtlyLove Pearl]] were in romantic relationships with her, and are still doing their best to move on while raising the child she left behind.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Luz's [[DisappearedDad father, Manny]], is explicitly confirmed in "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E14ReachingOut Reaching Out]]" to have passed away when Luz was a little girl, many years before the events of the series when she’s a teenager, and his wife, Luz's mother Camila, never married anyone else, still being a single mother even in the present day.

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14878527/chapters/34453056 Second Chances]]'', Marinette is still suffering from the trauma of Nathaniel's death even a year later and finds herself conflicted over her growing attraction to Adrien because she hates how the idea of a "second husband" seems to imply that husbands are replaceable or interchangeable.

* According to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation'', Delia's unnamed husband ran off years ago and she ''has'' mostly gotten over him, but hasn't formally divorced him. Delia routinely gets flirted with but she isn't interested in another relationship.

* Aribeth in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' is driven insane by this trope and becomes extremely susceptible to mind control.
** [[MoreThanMindControl More 'influenced'.]]

* If you romanced Kaidan in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', then when Shepard dies at the start of the second game he goes into a two-year depression where he refuses to date anyone else because he loved Shepard too much. It gets better when Shepard is brought back to life and can rekindle their relationship in the third game, but it's implied that the same thing happens to him again if Shepard dies again at the end of the third game. Although a rather extreme and bizarre example is when he is romanced by a male Shepard given the fact that you can only romance him in this game but still share the same prologue with a female Shepard that romanced him from the first game.
** This could happen to Shepard if she romanced Thane in the second game who will be killed by Kai Leng in the third game. As long as she didn't pursue another love interest, the game will treat it as if she never moved on with his death and the ''Citadel'' DLC gave her the chance to properly mourn for him.

* James Sunderland of ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' never got over the death of his wife, Mary. When 3 years after her death he receives a letter from her, claiming that she's waiting for him in their special place in Silent Hill, he immediately sets out to find her. He even realizes he must sound crazy, looking for a dead person, but still says he'd do anything to be with her again. [[spoiler: It is revealed near the end of the game that Mary had been sick for 3 years and only died hours before the start of the game, at the hand of James. James' extreme guilt and need for punishment over mercy killing her terminally ill wife was strong enough that when he drove with her body to Silent Hill to commit suicide, the supernatural forces of the town created a nightmarish purgatory based on his feelings and memories... memories he also repressed to escape his guilt, thus leading to him believing she's been dead for 3 years.]]
* Booker Dewitt from ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite''. He became a widower almost twenty years earlier and there's no indication given that he's ever been with anyone else since -- when Elizabeth asks what happened to his wife, he curtly responds that she died in childbirth, his grief audible in his voice.
* In ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'', Flint never really gets over his wife's death.
* In ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'', Empress Jessamine Kaldwin's assassination [[VideoGame/{{Dishonored}} fifteen years prior]] still have left deep emotional wounds in her [[BodyGuardCrush royal protector/paramour]] Corvo Attano and their now-adult daughter and heir Empress Emily Kaldwin.

* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' it's revealed near the end that [[spoiler:the Detective was once in love with a woman named Dora who left him due to his unstable nature. The experience has since caused him to become even more unstable as he succumbed further to his addictions and became a burnout, ultimately culminating in him inducing amnesia in himself in a desperate attempt to escape his memories]].

* ''Film/CloudAtlas'': It's implied Sixsmith lived forty-five more years, but never loved again after Frobisher.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Luz’s [[DisappearedDad father, Manny]], is explicitly confirmed in [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E14ReachingOut “Reaching Out”]] to have passed away when Luz was a little girl, many years before the events of the series when she’s a teenager, and his wife, Luz’s mother Camila, never married anyone else, still being a single mother even in the present day.

* ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'': [[spoiler: Sherlock takes Elizabeth's death hard.]]

* ''Film/CloudAtlas'': It's implied Sixsmith lived forty-five more years, but never loved again after Frobisher. Ouch.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Luz’s [[DisappearedDad father]] is explicitly confirmed in [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E14ReachingOut “Reaching Out”]] to have passed away when Luz was a little girl, many years before the events of the series when she’s a teenager, and her mother Camila never married anyone else, still being a single mother even in the present day.

* Booker Dewitt from ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite''. He became a widower almost twenty years earlier and there's no indication given that he's ever been with anyone else since -- when Elizabeth asks what happened to her, he curtly responds that she died in childbirth, his grief audible in his voice.

* In Creator/LJagiLamplighter's ''[[Literature/RachelGriffin The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel]]'', Rachel's (somewhat melodramatic) vision of her future when she fears a BalefulPolymorph can't be reversed.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, there was the Medstar Duology by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry, a pair of books taking place during the Clone Wars and featuring several just-off-the-battlefield surgeons and a Jedi healer, among others. The Jedi healer made friends with several other mains and died not more than a few years after those books. Twenty in-universe years later on the Death Star (in a novel called ''Literature/DeathStar''), it turns out that one of those surgeons, having been [[ResignationsNotAccepted coerced into continuous service]] is still around and was very attached to that Jedi. He does state that he doesn't know if it was love or not, but he thinks of her often, particularly when trying to navigate ethical dilemmas.

* [[''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'']] Luz’s [[DisappearedDad father]] is explicitly confirmed in [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E14ReachingOut “Reaching Out”]] to have passed away when Luz was a little girl, many years before the events of the series when she’s a teenager, and her mother Camila never married anyone else, still being a single mother even in the present day.