Eric Draven is the fictional protagonist in James O'Barr's The Crow, who was conceived as a vent for O'Barr to channel all his anger and pain after the tragic loss of his fiancée to a drunk driver. In the graphic novel, Eric loses his life to a gang of thugs and is forced to watch as his girlfriend Shelly is raped and beaten to death. Eric is resurrected from the dead and methodically stalks and kills the thugs one by one, aided by the Crow which acts as both a guide and a goad. The character was famously played by the late Brandon Lee in the 1994 film The Crow.