History Main / CrusadingWidower

* In the lost ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' webcomic ''Future of Despair'', [[spoiler: Henry]] becomes this after [[spoiler: his wife Panne is accidentally [[WhatanIdiot and stupidly]] killed.]] [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy Not everyone liked that]].

* Fiora's death in ''{{Videogame/Xenoblade}}'' is what inspires Shulk to want to hunt down Metal Face, and by extension, the Mechon. [[spoiler: She turns out to have been NotQuiteDead, though.]]

* {{Series/DoctorWho}} often treats the Doctor's companions as his significant other (the occasional hint of romance does no harm either). Following the death of [[spoiler: Clara Oswald]], the Doctor enters into this mode to seek revenge of those ultimately responsible, threatening to become the ImplacableMan.

* Film/JamesBond goes on a rampage in frantic search for Ernst Stavro Blofeld at the beginning of ''Film/DiamondsAreForever''. His wife Tracy was murdered by Blofeld and his henchwoman Irma Bunt in a [[GanglandDriveBy drive-by]] right at the end of the previous film, ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', though Tracy is not mentioned in ''Diamonds are Forever'' at all, and terminating Blofeld is also Bond's assignment at that moment.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/Persona4''. [[PlayerCharacter Yu]]'s detective uncle Dojima obsessed for years over finding the person responsible for killing his wife in a hit-and-run accident to the point where he became a depressed workaholic and [[ParentalNeglect neglected his young daughter]], Nanako. His Social Link revolves around Yu helping him come to terms with her passing and let go of his need for revenge so he can focus on being a better father to Nanako.

* [[https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/jeanne-de-clisson Jeanne de Clisson]], an otherwise [[ProperLady sweet and proper]] lady by all medieval standards, initiates a reign of terror upon France as a [[PirateGirl pirate queen]] when her husband is unjustly executed by King Philip VI. Entire towns and trade routes would be the victim of her [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge]] over the course of the next decade, never being truly stopped.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariya_Oktyabrskaya Mariya Oktyabrskaya]], a Soviet tank driver who lost her husband when the latter was killed in action near Kiev in 1941. She enlisted and sold all her possessions to raise the 50,000 roubles needed to donate a tank to the army on one condition, they let her drive, the State Defence Committee agreed thinking it'd be good publicity. When she arrived at the battle of Smolensk in 1943 the other soldiers considered her a publicity stunt... until she started fighting, maneuvering her T-34, emblazoned with the words "Fighting Girlfriend", like a veteran. She destroyed many German machine gun and artillery positions and was the first of her brigade to breach the enemy positions. And [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=64071327108 that was only the beginning of her two-year campaign against the Nazis]], which would ultimately gain her the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest award for military bravery offered by the USSR.

In what is possibly the mother of {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s, Officer Bob will find that [[StuffedIntoTheFridge his spouse]], [[FamilyExtermination and/or his children have been killed]]. The cause behind the killing varies, but it is ''always'' connected to a person or group of persons: the trope earns the "crusading" part of it's name from the surviving family member's [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge ensuing quest to hunt down and either apprehend or kill the people responsible]], regardless of how tangentially they are connected to the crime. The lost family member [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible doesn't need to specifically be a spouse]]: the character might have no kids at all and not even be married, but the death of their girlfriend/boyfriend or fiancé(e) will nevertheless motivate them to seek justice or vengeance. In rare cases, the family will die in a horrible but blameless accident. In those cases, he will either [[SurvivorsGuilt blame himself for their deaths]] or [[RageAgainstTheHeavens blame God]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|1942}}'': Paula von Gunther at first appeared to be a loyal Nazi spy, but after the reveal that the Nazis had murdered her husband and kidnapped her daughter to force her to comply and Diana saved her daughter Paula quckly switched to dedicating herself to aiding the Allies and Wonder Woman against the Nazis.

* In the lost ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' webcomic ''Future of Despair'', [[spoiler: Henry]] becomes this after [[spoiler: his wife Panne is accidentally [[WhatanIdiot and stupidly]] killed.]] [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy not everyone liked that]].

[[PayEvilUntoEvil For obvious reasons]], this character is usually on the low end of the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Idealism/Cynicism scale]], tending towards AntiHero, AntiVillain, or {{Villain}}. Very, ''very'' rarely will the Crusading Widower be TheHero. Also, while this trope ''can'' happen to women, [[AlwaysMale it happens much more often to men]].

* Robbie Lewis in ''Series/{{Lewis}}''. He was married in the predecessor series ''Series/{{Inspector Morse}}'' but in between the two series his wife was killed by a hit and run driver.

* In ''Film/TripleThreat'', the villager Jaka pursues a band of mercenaries who slaughtered his village, including his wife.

* ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. Dr. Tolian Soran's family was killed during the Borg assimilation of El-Auria. He spends the movie trying to get into the Nexus so he can be with them again, even though doing so requires destroying a star and killing hundreds of millions of sentient aliens.
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'': Nero, who lost his family and planet in the old timeline, and is out for revenge in the [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble new/different/whatever]] one.
* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'': Khan blamed Kirk for the death of his wife while his people were marooned. He expressed his bitterness enough to make it an overshadowing motivation. Despite his loathing for Kirk and all of Starfleet, he wears a Starfleet badge around his neck - because Marla [=McGivers=] was a former Starfleet officer.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': Paula von Gunther at first appeared to be a loyal Nazi spy, but after the reveal that the Nazis had murdered her husband and kidnapped her daughter to force her to comply and Diana saved her daughter Paula quckly switched to dedicating herself to aiding the Allies and Wonder Woman against the Nazis.

* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'': Sgt. Calhoun being WidowedAtTheWedding is part of her DarkAndTroubledPast to drive her to kill all Cy-bugs.