History Main / BestServedCold

* ''Fanfic/MariaCampbellOfTheAstralClocktower'': Sophia grew up an albino in a world where people take AlbinosAreFreaks to an extreme, typically assuming they're all just reincarnations of Seath the Scaleless, an evil albino dragon. She was completely friendless until she met Katarina as a teenager, and she managed to grow up as a happy, mostly well-adjusted woman. Then she becomes a founding partner of Nightflower Factory, the first fireworks factory in the country, where she is making lots of money from this new fad. She takes manic glee in charging all her old bullies (and everyone else, but especially the bullies) an obscene amount of money. She's especially amused at how quickly the court whispers about her turn from calling her "that scaleless freak" to "that ethereal beauty."

* Gus Fring in ''Series/BreakingBad'' builds up a sizable drug empire over 20 years purely with the intention of taking revenge on Don Eladio and his supporters for murdering his lover. In spite of being a fantastically rich kingpin, he spends none of his wealth on himself and instead maintains a low profile to better position himself for his ultimate revenge. The prequel series ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' portrays how he works his way up the cartel hierarchy, amassing the power he needs to achieve his goal.

--->'''Justice''' (to Young Afro): It's unfortunate you had to see this, boy. This moment'll always haunt you. You will be consumed by hatred for me. Challenge me, when you're ready to duel a god!

* ''Anime/AfroSamurai'' has spent his life since childhood on a quest for revenge on the man that killed his father for the number one headband.
** The villain even lampshades this trope.

* Much of the plot of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' revolves around the protagonist seeking revenge on his dear old daddy the Emperor for refusing to save his mother's life and his sister from being crippled by an attack inside the castle, displaying apathy when he requests that vengeance be exacted (worse still: punishing him and his sister for being "weak"), abandoning him and his [[MoralityPet crippled sister]] in Japan, and then invading the country and leaving them for dead.

* In ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', Tenzen has a grudge against both the Koga and Iga clans, as his mother was a member of the Iga who was killed by a member of the Koga (Tenzen's father). Tenzen was raised among the Koga but defected the Iga as an adult, and plotted for a long time (being immortal, [[OlderThanHeLooks while he looks about 40, he's actually over 200)]] to fan the flames of hatred between the clans in order to cause the deaths of everyone else in both groups. [[spoiler: He succeeds.]]

* ''Manga/ThusSpokeKishibeRohan'': In one of the episodes, the main character Rohan Kishibe accidentally sits in the priest's place at a confessional and gets to listen to a man confessing to him. The man talks about angering [[VengefulGhost a spirit of a homeless beggar whom he refused to help]] and the spirit vows to take revenge only once he's the happiest in life. [[spoiler:Several years passed by and now, the man is a rich businessman with a family a man could only dream of. His realization of how great his life is summons the angered spirit that swore to torment his soul years ago. Angered spirit kills him, but [[MisplacedRetribution it turns out it wasn't the man he wished to take vengeance on.]] The man at the confessional confesses that he sacrificed one of his naive servants to save his own skin, and now not only he is haunted by a deadly spirit of a homeless beggar, but also one of his poor servants.]]

* ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' had Conan searching for Thulsa Doom, who killed his family and put him in slavery (and turned innocent young Conan into Arnold Schwarzenegger).

* ''Fanfic/BestServedColdNyame: Laurel spends five years dating, marrying and [[spoiler:seemingly]] having a child with Malcolm for the sole purpose of gathering enough evidence to turn on him and ruin his life for sinking the ''Gambit'' and killing Sara and Oliver.

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': After learning that her son Kiritaka [[NeverSuicide did not commit suicide]] and [[BullyBrutality was indirectly sent to his death by bullies]], [[KnightTemplarParent Mari]] spends two years plotting revenge against the perpetrators, and finally makes the first move by becoming the [[SchoolNurse nurse]] at their school.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The Dressrosa arc is the culmination of Trafalgar Law's ''thirteen-year grudge'' against Donquixote Doflamingo for [[spoiler:murdering Corazon (aka Donquixote Rocinante, Doflamingo's younger brother), Law's savior and idol]].