History Main / CrusadingWidower

** It's revealed in the ''Revelation'' route of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' that [[spoiler: CoolOldGuy Gunter]]'s wife and child were murdered by Garon and his army, [[spoiler:[[UpToEleven along with his entire]] [[DoomedHometown hometown]].]]

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' has AntiHero Daniel Shaw undergo a FaceHeelTurn into a type II AntiVillain after finding out that his beloved wife was killed by his current lover, Sarah. After learning this information he defects from the CIA to [[NebulousEvilOrganisation The Ring]] and devotes himself entirely to ensuring that Sarah suffers.

** [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Commander Benjamin Sisko's]] wife was killed by the Borg at Wolf 359, and he channeled his anger into designing a new breed of warship, the ''[[PintSizedPowerhouse Defiant]]''. Unfortunately, with no further contact with the Borg for the next few years, Starfleet shelved the ''Defiant''-class project, which sent Sisko into a bit of a tailspin until he was reassigned to command Deep Space 9 at the start of the series.

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

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_I_of_Portugal Peter I of Portugal]] was deeply in love with noblewoman Inês de Castro while he was still crown prince, whose love affair didn't sit well in the court and resulted in her getting assassinated by other scheming nobles in [[HarmfulToMinors front of their children no less]]. Enranged, Peter found those responsible after ascending to the throne and [[BeatStillMyHeart ripped out their hearts]]. As if that wasn't enough, legends say that [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable he exhumed her body and had her dressed as a queen]] and [[HumiliationConga forced the nobles to kiss her hand]]. It's because of these deeds that he is known as "Peter the Cruel".

** Creator/GarthEnnis took this concept in an interesting direction during the miniseries: "Widowmaker" for the [[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX Marvel MAX imprint]] of the character. In that arc several wives of high-level mafioso Frank Castle had brutally murdered come together to take vengeance on Frank. Unfortunately before Frank can come up against the potentially morally interesting decision of how to deal with them, they are interrupted by another Mafia widow. This widow is thankful to Frank for killing her husband, who she regarded as a diabolically vile monster, and has nothing but contempt for the other widows who cruelly abused her. Thus this apparently exonerates Frank of any blame or responsibility.

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

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In the ''Webcomic/CiemWebcomicSeries'', Candi Levens in the Crusading Widow after Denny dies. (And [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend whenever Donte is threatened]].)

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', due to her husband's [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-07-13 death by werewolf]], [[spoiler: Pandora]] goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge resulting in [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-12-21 the eradication of werewolves worldwide]].

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 its 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]].

* The short film ''WesternAnimation/{{Fuelled}}'' centers on a widow trying to track down the robber that killed her husband, nearly killed her, and burnt their house down. However, her car runs out of fuel before reaching its destination, and her resulting desperation causes tragedy.

** Deacon, one of game's companions, works with the Railroad [[spoiler:because his late wife, Barbara, was a synth. She was killed by an anti-synth gang, the same gang that Deacon ran with in his youth.]] He seeks to atone for her death and the deaths of other innocents he may have caused.
** Another companion, [=MacCready=], is a mercenary in the Commonweath. [[spoiler:His wife, Lucy, died when the family took refuge in a metro station full of feral ghouls; Lucy was caught and torn apart, while [=MacCready=] barely managed to escape with their son, Duncan. Duncan later took ill with a rare disease and was left at the family homestead, too sick to travel with his dad.]] He is riddled with Survivor's Guilt for not being able to save her, and for being forced to leave his son behind as well.

* The titular ''John Doe: Vigilante'' is revealed to be this at the end of his killing spree when his final victim turns out to be the man who raped and murdered his wife and daughter. The viewer then recalls that most of his previous victims have been abusers of women and children.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arthur_and_mera_9.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Death did them part. Now the plot can start.]]

* * The BigBad of Arc One in ''VideoGame/Wizard101'' is Malistaire, who used to be the professor of the Death school of magic before his wife Sylvia, who was the professor of the Life school, passed away from an incurable illness. He was selfless, highly skilled in his school of magic, and deeply admired across the Spiral, but he [[ExcessiveMourning went off the deep end soon after she died]] and went on a mission to bring her back by any means necessary, enacting a plot to steal a book of powerful magic in order to awaken the Dragon Titan, who has the power to resurrect the dead. In the process, he's left multiple worlds across the Spiral in violent chaos, which you'll now have to traverse and repair to eventually get to him and stop his plan, because the Dragon Titan is extremely dangerous and will quickly lay waste to the land again if awoken.