History StalkerWithACrush / Literature

* Erik, the titular phantom of ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.
** Also Raoul de Chagny, to a lesser extent; he fixates on Christine Daae after having being apart from her for years, constantly tries to gain her attention, and even goes so far as to listen at her door and hide in her dressing room. Christine is ''not'' impressed.

* In ''The Hellfire Club'' by Peter Straub, the villain SerialKiller Dick Dart acts like one towards Nora. He latches on to her due to a misunderstanding that she had kidnapped and tortured a woman, which caused him to believe that he [[BirdsOfAFeather finally found his worthy match and someone who was just like him]]. As a result, he kidnaps her and repeatedly rapes her, taking her along as he commits crimes all the while thinking of her as his accomplice. When she escapes from him, he stalks her and kidnaps her again, actually ''admiring her even more'' for managing to trick him.

** Merope Gaunt has been stalking the handsome Muggle Tom Riddle for days before her family found out. They didn't take it well. [[spoiler: Later, she bewitched and married Tom and the two of them became Voldemort's parents]]

* [[AxCrazy Zane]] from ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' has an unhealthy fixation on the heroine, Vin, [[spoiler: because she's the only person the voices in his head never told him to kill]]. Vin, for her part, treats Zane more as a NotSoDifferent WorthyOpponent, but isn't romantically interested in him at all, preferring his less {{Badass}} but far more stable half-brother Elend. [[spoiler:When she finally says "no" to him, Zane tries to kill her, being a psychopath and all. It doesn't work out so well for him...]]

* Edward Cullen from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' falls under this trope quite well, except that Bella returns his affection. Some examples of Edward's stalker behavior are sneaking into Bella's house at night to watch her sleep without her permission, taking the battery out of her car so it can't run, and stalking (and then saving, [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop so it's okay for him to stalk]]) Bella. No matter how much StephenieMeyer [[WordOfGod denies it]], he's most definitely a stalker.

%% * ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'':
%% ** Heath. Also Kalona in regards to Zoey.

* ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' amplifies what Edward did for Bella greatly. He buys Anastasia's workplace in order to monitor her more closely, he follows her by tracing her cell phone, which is illegal on multiple levels, and even excessively texts/emails her every day. This type of behavior should terrify Anastasia, but, like her inspiration, she finds this to be flattering and romantic.

* Geder Palliako in ''Literature/TheDaggerAndTheCoin'' series orders the invasion of the country that Cithrin bel Sarcour was living in, with the army's orders being to take the city she was living in and bring her back to him. His fantasy was that, once she had been brought to him as a prisoner, he would explain everything to her and she would love him.

* In ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'', [[spoiler: After William Hamleigh seizes the Shiring Earldom, he is aware that Aliena, Richard and their servant Matthew are still living in the castle. He stalks and watches over Aliena with freakish fascination, still obsessed with her even after she disgustedly rejected him twice. As soon as he gets the chance, [[MoralEventHorizon he rapes her.]] He remains obsessed with her for the rest of his life, repeatedly trying to kill her and destroy her life's work, and winds up marrying a girl who looks like she did as a teenager, subjecting the girl to a life of violent rape.]]

* In ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'', [[spoiler: After William Hamleigh seizes the Shiring Earldom, he is aware that Aliena, Richard and their servant Matthew are still living in the castle. He stalks and watches over Aliena with freakish fascination, still obsessed with her even after she disgustedly rejected him twice. As soon as he gets the chance, [[MoralEventHorizon he rapes her.]]]]

* ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'': Heath. Also Kalona in regards to Zoey.
** Rephaim to Stevie Rae, though it's only a mild case and with a father like his, it would be easy to come to the conclusion of StalkingIsLove. Especially with High Priestesses of Nyx.

* Erik, the titular phantom of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.

** Also Raoul de Chagny, to a lesser extent; he fixates on Christine Daae after having being apart from her for years, constantly tries to gain her attention, and even goes so far as to listen at her door and hide in her dressing room.

* ''Literature/AdrianMole'': Adrian is almost this to Pandora in the early books, after they break up as teenagers (and Pandora eventually marries another man.) In ''The Cappuccino Years'' he acquires his own StalkerWithACrush, Eleanor Flood.

* Grí­ma Wormtongue from ''TheLordOfTheRings'' definitely qualifies as this in regards to Éowyn, albeit combined with LoveMakesYouEvil.

** [[spoiler:Severus Snape was a StalkerWithACrush for Lily Potter (nee Evans) even when they were children, although she liked him once she noticed him. They remained friends until he started hanging out with Voldemort sympathizers, she tried to warn him against them to no avail, and he called her a FantasticSlur. Add to that her choosing to marry Snape's school rival James and Snape unintentionally setting Voldemort on her tail, which got her killed]]...

* Mr. Darcy spends a few early chapters of ''PrideAndPrejudice'' following Elizabeth around in public, staring at her, and eavesdropping on her to the point where Elizabeth is slightly creeped out. When they're both staying in Kent, he stalks her favorite place to walk in the park and spends entire evenings at Rosings staring at her but never speaking to her. This doesn't stem from any malicious intent, however; it's just that Darcy is so [[LonersAreFreaks socially inept]], he has no idea how to act when falling in love.
* A more malicious JaneAusten example is Henry Crawford of ''MansfieldPark'', who persists in tormenting the object of his desire (Fanny) no matter how much it distresses her.
* Ricky Lozada from Sandra Brown's ''TheCrush''. In fact, the book's title is referring to Lozada's stalker crush on Rennie Newton. He constantly watches her, breaks into her house multiple times (leaving roses and later trying to "seduce" her), and has his geeky subordinate check up all the information he can on her.

* [[AxCrazy Zane]] from ''{{Mistborn}}'' has an unhealthy fixation on the heroine, Vin, [[spoiler: because she's the only person the voices in his head never told him to kill]]. Vin, for her part, treats Zane more as a NotSoDifferent WorthyOpponent, but isn't romantically interested in him at all, preferring his less {{Badass}} but far more stable half-brother Elend. [[spoiler:When she finally says "no" to him, Zane tries to kill her, being a psychopath and all. It doesn't work out so well for him...]]

* ''ZForZachariah'' has a stalker with a ''something''; Loomis is a little too intent on hunting down Ann, for multiple reasons, only one of which is the fact that he wants to rape her. His {{sanity|Slippage}} is a little questionable as well.
* In the NeroWolfe story "Murder is Corny", model Susan [=MacLeod=] asks her farmer father to hire a man she's casually dating. After she dumps him she finds out that he'd lied about needing a second job - he only wanted to force her to spend time with him. He eventually tells the other men she's dating that he's made her pregnant in an attempt to force her into marrying him to [[TheFifties save her reputation]]. [[spoiler:The story, which is false, seals his doom.]]

* ''TheHouseOfNight'': Heath. Also Kalona in regards to Zoey.

* In ''ThePillarsOfTheEarth'', [[spoiler: After William Hamleigh seizes the Shiring Earldom, he is aware that Aliena, Richard and their servant Matthew are still living in the castle. He stalks and watches over Aliena with freakish fascination, still obsessed with her even after she disgustedly rejected him twice. As soon as he gets the chance, [[MoralEventHorizon he rapes her.]]]]
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/BlackColossus", an EldritchAbomination that WasOnceAMan toward Princess Yasmela. He visits her in the night with promises to make her his queen.

* [[BigBad Dr. Ahriman]] of DeanKoontz's ''FalseMemory'' has a brief bit of this. He [[MindRape mind rapes]] most of his patients and uses them for all kinds of things, be it murder, revenge, or just... entertainment. He winds up (kind of) legitimately smitten with one, fortunately not realizing this until she and her husband have skipped town. By the time they get back, they've broken his mental hold and he winds up [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard murdered by another patient]]]].

* The protagonist of the short story [[http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/20080211/deena-f.shtml "We Love Deena"]] by Alice Sola Kim is this trope incarnate.

* Norman who watches Lily's public-access show and persistently begs her to [[FootFocus show her feet on-camera]], in ''Literature/ThePrincessDiaries''.