History DomesticAbuse / Literature

** TheChick from the Losers Club in ''Literature/{{IT}}'' has to get away from a husband who beats her so regularly that he has a belt reserved for it.

** The marriage of King Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister is a particularly hellish and complicated case. Robert overthrew the previous dynasty when its crown prince, Rhaegar, kidnapped (or perhaps secretly eloped with) his beloved fiancee Lyanna. Meanwhile, Cersei had her heart set on Rhaegar. Robert killed Rhaegar in battle and won the crown, but Lyanna died during the war. To ensure the loyalty of her powerful noble family, Robert married Cersei. As you might expect, the marriage of two strangers, one of whom is mourning his true love while the other is resentful of both the fact that her new husband killed her crush and that she had no say in the marriage doesn't go well. When the books start about 15 years into their marriage, they're both regularly cheating on the other, Cersei is a sociopath who verbally abuses Robert at every turn and threatens the lives of his bastard children, and BoisterousBruiser Robert doesn't know any way to respond to Cersei except by either drinking himself unconscious or hitting her. (Robert fully and regretfully admits afterward that being physically abusive isn't right, but honestly has no clue on other ways to deal with Cersei.) He also used to extort to his MaritalRapeLicense once in a while in the early days of their marriage when he was drunk and pretended that 'it was all wine and he doesn't remember it anyway' in the mornings after. (Cersei recalls, however, Robert acting somewhat smug the morning after and suspects he was satisfied he'd ensured his dominance over her and was aware of what he was doing.) The happy marriage ends with Robert dying in a HuntingAccident that Cersei and a co-conspirator helped along by [[AlcoholInducedStupidity getting Robert enormously drunk]] right before he tried [[FullBoarAction facing off with a wild boar]].
** And that is ''nothing'' compared to the abuse of his predecessor, King Aerys. Who would not only verbally abuse his wife on a regular basis, but would [[MaritalRapeLicense violently rape]] her whenever he was done burning people alive.

** Ramsay's father, Roose Bolton, could be one. He has been married twice already, and both women have died. Given the reputation of House Bolton's cruelty, and Roose Bolton being nowhere as open about it as Ramsay is, it is possible, and might not even have been completely physical. However, bizarrely, he is fond of his third wife, Fat Walda Frey. Apparently, he enjoys how she shudders and moans...
** Joffrey Baratheon had all the hallmarks of becoming one. His treatment of Sansa Stark, a girl he was betrothed to [[spoiler: starts getting bad when he kills her father right in front of her and forces her to look at his mounted head. He has his Kingsguard beat her whenever her brother scores a victory against his grandfather's forces in a war he started, going so far as to have her stripped naked and beaten before the entire court at one point. Fear of this is what drove Olenna Tyrell to help kill him on the day he marries Margery Tyrell, her granddaughter. Her brother being a Kingsguard also helped convince Olenna.]]

** In the novel ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', the title character is physically abused by her husband. She first accepts this, because she grew up in a rural community in the '30s when this was socially acceptable, but eventually decides to stand up to him, and eventually kills him when she learns that he's [[ParentalIncest trying to make moves on their eldest daughter]].

* A short story dealt with a man who was a painter and was married to a woman who constantly verbally abused him, constantly belittling and insulting him. [[spoiler:It ends with it being revealed that he has the power to trap anything he paints into the painting -- and he has begun to paint his wife's picture.]]

** In the ''The Broken Code'' arc, [[spoiler:Ashfur]] desperately and pathetically wants to be Squirrelflight's mate, but he's not above hurting her when she doesn't go along with it: throwing her off a ledge in anger when she speaks out against him, and mind-controlling her mate Bramblestar into attacking her.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the protagonist's father is known to have been violent against his wife, as well as their children. It is hinted that, when she began to take mind-altering herbs, he didn't [[MaritalRapeLicense "come to her bed as often"]], which encouraged her to continue the drug-abuse.

** The marriage of King Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister is a particularly hellish and complicated case. Robert overthrew the previous dynasty when its crown prince, Rhaegar, kidnapped (or perhaps secretly eloped with) his beloved fiancee Lyanna. Meanwhile, Cersei had her heart set on Rhaegar. Robert killed Rhaegar in battle and won the crown, but Lyanna died during the war. To ensure the loyalty of her powerful noble family, Robert married Cersei. As you might expect, the marriage of two strangers, one of whom is mourning his true love while the other is resentful of both the fact that her new husband killed her crush and that she had no say in the marriage doesn't go well. When the books start about 15 years into their marriage, they're both regularly cheating on the other, Cersei is a sociopath who verbally abuses Robert at every turn and threatens the lives of his bastard children, and BoisterousBruiser Robert doesn't know any way to respond to Cersei except by either drinking himself unconscious or hitting her. (Robert fully and regretfully admits afterward that being physically abusive isn't right, but honestly has no clue on other ways to deal with Cersei.) He also used to extort to his MaritalRapeLicense once in a while in the early days of their marriage when he was drunk and pretended that 'it was all wine and he doesn't remember it anyway' in the mornings after. (Cersei recalls, however, Robert acting somewhat smug the morning after and suspects he was satisfied he'd ensured his dominance over her and was aware what he was doing.) The happy marriage ends by Robert dying in a HuntingAccident that Cersei and a co-conspirator helped along by [[AlcoholInducedStupidity getting Robert enormously drunk]] right before he tried [[FullBoarAction facing off with a wild boar]].

** Ramsay's father, Roose Bolton, could be one. He has been married twice already, and both women have died. Given the reputation of House Bolton's cruelty, and Roose Bolton being nowhere as open about it as Ramsay is, it is possible, and might not even have been completely physical. However, bizarrely, he is fond of his third wife, Fat Walda Frey. Appearantly, he enjoys how she shudders and moans....
** Joffrey Baratheon had all the hallmarks of becoming one. His treatment of Sansa Stark, a girl he was betrothed to [[spoiler: starts getting bad when he kills her father right in front of her, and forces her to look at his mounted head. He has his Kingsguard beat her whenever her brother scores a victory against his grandfather's forces in a war he started, going so far as to have her stripped naked an beaten before the entire court at one point. Fear of this is what drove Olenna Tyrell to help kill him on the day he marries Margery Tyrell, her granddaughter. Her brother being a Kingsguard also helped convince Olenna.]]

** In the novel ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', the title character is physically abused by her husband. She first accepts this, because she grew up in a rural community in the '30s, when this was socially acceptable, but eventually decides to stand up to him, and eventually kills him when she learns that he's [[ParentalIncest trying to make moves on their eldest daughter]].

** ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'', also by Creator/StephenKing. It's implied that one reason Carrie's mother is so messed up is because her husband abused and raped her.

* In Ben Aaronovitch's ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' (known as ''Midnight Riot'' in the US, getting a warrant for a ghost who murdered his wife and child is complicated by the ghostly magistrate asking whether the woman was a shrew, because no man hits his wife without reason. The quick-thinking narrator tells him that she was a terrible shrew but the baby was innocent, which gets the warrant.

* The film version of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' has Anakin, at the end, choking his wife, though he'd been solicitous to her before. In the {{Novelization}} by Creator/MattStover, it has buildup. Throughout the novel, they're happy to see each other and in love... but when they first meet and Padme tries to tell him she's pregnant, he instantly assumes she has a lover and grabs her hard enough to hurt her. Over the course of the novel she repeatedly tells him he's scaring her, and this starts mattering to him less and less. He even once looks down at her and thinks that he ''likes'' it when she's afraid. Any time she talks about the war or the Senate, he turns on her -- doesn't she understand that she should only talk about ''them'' and the baby? -- and he starts to resent her job and all that time she spends at it away from him, maybe traitorous time. For her part, Padme is largely in denial over this side of him, but realizes at one point that there is one Jedi she ''does'' trust... and it's not him. The realization horrifies her, at least in part because if Anakin knew, he wouldn't be happy with her.

** Bella gets her own turn in ''Eclipse'' and the first part of ''Breaking Dawn'', when she repeatedly tries to force Edward to have sex with her, even though he states repeatedly that he doesn't want to. At one point, she actually tries to rip off his shirt, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale which would be seen as horrifying if a man did it to a woman]], but is PlayedForLaughs in that scene.
* Similarly to ''Twilight'', Patch's interactions with Nora in ''Hush, Hush'' are almost directly lifted from the Abuser's Handbook. He stalks her, he mocks her, he enjoys making her uncomfortable, he humiliates her in front of her Biology class, he repeatedly forces her to engage in activities she's not comfortable doing (riding a wild roller coaster, accepting a lift on his motorcycle, etc), corners her in dark, abandoned places, tells her things like "A guy like me could take advantage of a girl like you", [[spoiler:lures her into a motel room, ''pins her on a bed and kisses her while she screams in protest'',]] etc. We later find out that [[spoiler:he had every intention of murdering her at several points in the story.]] None of this is portrayed as less than romantic.

* In Anna Quindlen's novel ''Black and Blue'', Fran is physically, emotionally and sexually abused by her husband for years. Unable to go to the police for help, given that [[TheBadGuysAreCops her husband is a police officer]], she flees along with her son and attempts to hide from him by getting herself and her son fake identities. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]

* Sara's first foster-father in ''Literature/{{Relativity}}''. He never abused her or her sister, but did beat [[spoiler:and eventually killed]] her foster-mother.

* ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'' depicts two not-very-good spouses in Hell. Robert's Wife is a control freak who forced him into what ''she'' considered success, and Frank Smith emotionally manipulated his wife Sarah using pity. Both of them try their shtick with the Bright Ones, but it doesn't work.

* An emotional version of this happens in ''Literature/LeavingPoppy'', as the titular Poppy controls her mother and sister's lives with her tantrums and aggression, throwing fits and guilt tripping when she doesn't have her way.

* Miranda's relationship with much-older boyfriend in ''Literature/EighteenDaysToGraduation'' counts. He mocks her and makes her feel completely worthless. Luckily, [[spoiler: she breaks up with him at the end.]]

** King Gavilar, loved by his brother, children, and nephews, turns out to be a terrible husband to Navani. He belittles his wife's scholarly pursuits and considers her a GoldDigger who can only leech fame from others. He doesn't even acknowledge the work she does for him; in the prologue to ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'', he expects her to do all the work running a diplomatic feast and party without bothering to consult with her, and mocks her insistence that he show up and do his duty as king as nagging. When he is assassinated at the end of the party, Navani is unable to feel sad, and instead regrets that their last conversation was an argument.
* ''Literature/EleanorAndPark'': Eleanor’s stepfather Richie yells at, throws things and hits her mother Sabrina frequently. Eleanor usually finds herself comforting her siblings regularly when their fights break out, when they're not sleeping through the noise.

* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': Vanora tells Jorian her lover Boso hits her sometimes, though she says it's partly her fault as she deliberately provokes him. Jorian sympathizes with Boso, since she also provoked him (this all just seems pretty... ''[[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming unfortunate]]'' now).

** Emotionally controlling version in the form of Richard Godfrey, Lee's ex-husband. Among other things, he actively tried to obstruct her efforts to get a degree, and was furious when she not only succeeded, she made the dean's list in the process; in ''Cat Caper'', when he finds out she's in some trouble in Warner Pier, he tries to worm his way back into her life via paying her legal bills, but she recognizes this as another attempt to control her and rejects him again. ''Bear Burglary'' reveals that he was actually shocked out of his previous behavior by her blow-up at him, and changes for the better as a result.

* Sybil Jester's husband in Fiona Buckley's ''Queen of Ambition''. Thanks to DeliberateValuesDissonance (it is the late sixteenth century, after all), Sybil (who ran away and got work as a companion) is sacked when her employer finds out that she ran away from her husband.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Shallan's father, which gets explored in ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', was physically and emotionally abusive to everyone in his ''but'' Shallan, and left all of his children with varying degrees of psychological trauma, including Shallan's StepfordSmiler tendencies (which she developed to try and make her brothers feel better); it's also commonly believed that he killed his first wife, Shallan's mother, but got away with it when Shallan refused to testify against him. [[spoiler: He didn't, ''Shallan'' did in self-defense, and he let everyone believe he was responsible to protect her. However, the stress of letting his country and children believe he was a murderer is what drove him to take out his anger on his remaining family, eventually killing his second wife for real, and forcing Shallan to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill him as well]]]].

** King Gavilar, loved by his brother, children, and nephews, turns out to be a terrible husband to Navani. He belittles his wife's scholarly pursuits and considers her a GoldDigger who can only leech fame from others. He doesn't even acknowledge the work she does for him; in the prologue, he expects her to do all the work running a diplomatic feast and party without bothering to consult with her, and mocks her insistence that he show up and do his duty as king as nagging. When he is assassinated at the end of the party, Navani is unable to feel sad, and instead regrets that their last conversation was an argument.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Shallan's father, which gets explored in ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', was physically and emtionally abusive to everyone in his ''but'' Shallan, and left all of his children with varying degrees of psychological trauma, including Shallan's StepfordSmiler tendencies (which she developed to try and make her brothers feel better); it's also commonly believed that he killed his first wife, Shallan's mother, but got away with it when Shallan refused to testify against him. [[spoiler: He didn't, ''Shallan'' did in self-defense, and he let everyone believe he was responsible to protect her. However, the stress of letting his country and children believe he was a murderer is what drove him to take out his anger on his remaining family, eventually killing his second wife for real, and forcing Shallan to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill him as well]]]].

* ''Literature/BigLittleLies'': In both the book and the miniseries, Perry Wright/White is a WolfInSheepsClothing with wife [[StepfordSmiler Celeste]]. From the outside looking in, they have the perfect marriage, perfect family, and the fact that their sex life is so passionate is the envy of many characters. However, even those who've known them for years are unaware of this, [[spoiler: the only exception being Celeste's therapist who first brought this up to her in private]]. The abuse gets gradually worse and worse, but that passionate sex life everyone is jealous of? [[AwfulTruth Is the result of it.]]

* ''Literature/BigLittleLies'': In both the book and the miniseries, Perry Wright/White is a WolfInSheepsClothing with wife [[StepfordSmiler Celeste]]. From the outside looking in, they have the perfect marriage, perfect family, and the fact that their sex life is so passionate is the envy of many characters. However, even those who've known them for years are unaware of this, [[spoiler: the only exception being Celeste's therapist who first brought this up to her in private]]. The abuse gets gradually worse and worse, but that passionate sex life everyone is jealous of? [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Is the result of it.]]

* ''Literature/BigLittleLies'': In both the book and the miniseries, Perry Wright/White is a WolfInSheepsClothing with wife [[StepfordSmiler Celeste]]. From the outside looking in, they have the perfect marriage, perfect family, and the fact that their sex life is so passionate is the envy of many characters. However, even those who've known them for years are unaware of this, [[spoiler: the only exception being Celeste's therapist who first brought this up to her in private]]. The abuse gets gradually worse and worse, but that passionate sex life everyone is jealous of? Is the result of it.

* ''Literature/ThereThere'': Blue suffers from an abusive partner, whom she eventually leaves.

* ''Literature/EleanorAndPark'': Eleanor’s stepfather Richie yells at, throws things and hits her mother Sabrina frequently. Eleanor usually finds herself comforting her siblings regularly when their fights break out, when they're not sleeping through the noise.

* In ''Literature/EleanorAndPark'': Eleanor’s stepfather Richie yells at, throws things and hits her mother Sabrina frequently. Eleanor usually finds herself comforting her siblings regularly when their fights break out, when they're not sleeping through the noise.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Shallan's father, which gets explored in ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', was physically and emtionally abusive to everyone in his ''but'' Shallan, and left all of his children with varying degrees of psychological trauma, including Shallan's StepfordSmiler tendencies (which she developed to try and make her brothers feel better); it's also commonly believed that he killed his first wife, Shallan's mother, but got away with it when Shallan refused to testify against him. [[spoiler: He didn't, ''Shallan'' did in self-defense, and he let everyone believe he was responsible to protect her. However, the stress of letting his country and children believe he was a murderer is what drove him to take out his anger on his remaining family, eventually killing his second wife for real, and forcing Shallan to [[SelfMadeOrphan kill him as well]]]].

* Occurs several times in the ''Literature/ProvostsDog'' trilogy of the Literature/TortallUniverse. Child Beka got her first taste of policing when she tracked down her mother's latest boyfriend, who beat and then robbed her. During her time as a trainee guardswoman[[note]]i.e. a cop[[/note]] she witnesses Yates Noll beating his sister Gemma. Beka also arrests a woman who was threatening her husband [[AbusiveParents and kids]] with a knife; in court, multiple witnesses testify that she beat them regularly. It's treated very seriously, an aversion of DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale.