Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Minor tweak — both lines start with 'term'
Changed line(s) 12,13 (click to see context) from:
A term for when a loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward.
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for literally storing a dead body in household furniture/appliances.
to:
Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box.HumanPopsicle. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for literally storing a dead body in household furniture/appliances.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* BodyInABreadbox: A dead body is found in a highly unusual place.
to:
* BodyInABreadbox: A dead body is found in a highly unusual place.place (such as a fridge).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 12,13 (click to see context) from:
A FanSpeak term for when a loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward.
to:
A FanSpeak term for when a loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 12,13 (click to see context) from:
A loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward.
to:
A FanSpeak term for when a loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character or move their plot forward.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 6 (click to see context) from:
[[quoteright:300:[[Franchise/GreenLantern https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GreenLantern_02_300_8430.png]]]]
to:
Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
-->-- '''Franchise/{{Batman}}''', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''
to:
-->-- '''Franchise/{{Batman}}''', '''Batman''', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 6 (click to see context) :
[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1626308763021845600 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* BodyInABreadbox: A dead body is found in a highly unusual place.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 15,16 (click to see context) from:
The term (sometimes referred to as "fridging") was popularized by comic book writer Creator/GailSimone through her website "Website/WomenInRefrigerators." On that site, Simone compiled a list of instances of female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device. It is named for a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. (It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.)
to:
The term (sometimes referred to as "fridging") was popularized by comic book writer Creator/GailSimone through her website "Website/WomenInRefrigerators." On that site, Simone compiled a list of instances of female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device. It is named for a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', ''ComicBook/GreenLanternANewDawn'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. (It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.)
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
->''"...If my enemies knew I had someone special, they wouldn't rest until they had gotten to me through'' her."
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 35 (click to see context) from:
to:
* YouKilledMyFather: The hero's family member(s) (usually father) are killed and their deaths are the main reason to getting revenge.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:300:"Well, there goes my appetite."]]
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TargetedToHurtTheHero: A character who is hurt or killed off to torment another character who cares about them.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* FriendlyTarget: The hero's closest loved ones are most at risk for being targeted.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Per TRS
Changed line(s) 13,29 (click to see context) from:
A character is killed off in a particularly gruesome manner and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay left to be found]] just to offend or insult someone, or to cause someone serious anguish. The usual victims are those [[FriendlyTarget who matter to the hero]], specifically [[HeterosexualLifePartners best buddies]], love interests, and {{sidekick}}s. In some cases, the doomed character may be killed by natural forces or by a character who doesn't have the intent to cause someone else angst -- in this case, the intent comes solely from the writer, who wants to rouse strong emotions in another character. If the said character was killed by a villain, this guarantees to become a motivation for a {{Revenge}} plot or an immediate RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
The name of the trope comes from a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.
The term (sometimes formed as "fridging") was popularized by comic book writer Creator/GailSimone through her website "Website/WomenInRefrigerators." On that site, Simone compiled a list of instances of female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device. The term came to be used more broadly, over time, to refer to any character who is targeted by an antagonist who has them [[KilledOffForReal killed off]], {{rape|AsDrama}}d and/or otherwise brutalized, incapacitated, {{depower}}ed, or [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] for the sole purpose of affecting another character, motivating them to take action.
While it is strictly true that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this one, especially as a catchphrase, is often given a very negative connotation as it is all too often a hallmark of supremely lazy writing -- using the death of a character as "cheap anger" for the protagonist, and devaluing the life of that character in the process, instead of giving the villain something actually interesting to do that can involve all three characters and more emotions than simple anger and angst.
This trope appears in many media. The ThrowAwayCountry is an extreme example, and the DoomedHometown is in many ways the RPG VideoGame equivalent. See also DisposableWoman, ILetGwenStacyDie, and FingerInTheMail. Compare WhatMeasureIsAMook If it happens to multiple love interests of the same character, said character likely suffers from the CartwrightCurse. The intended effect is very much akin to CheapHeat.
Compare CollateralAngst, a more general case where bad things happening to Character A are primarily important for their effect on Character B. Also compare DeathByOriginStory. Depending on how useful/interesting the character is, and whether their death was pointless or not, can overlap with DroppedABridgeOnHim. Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for other types of storing a dead body. Also compare TheMurderAfter, when the corpse is discovered in bed.
If the love interest who gets Stuffed Into the Fridge remains relevant to the ongoing story, continuing to be loved and missed by living characters, sometimes to the point of appearing in flashbacks and dream sequences, and is the standard by which any subsequent love interests are measured by, she "graduates" to being a [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] -- in quotation marks as the trope still needs to be handled with care to avoid being tasteless. The aforementioned scenario also guarantees to have the survivor becoming a CrusadingWidower. Related to MenAreTheExpendableGender as that trope is part of the reason this trope applies more to women.
It should be noted that while the term most commonly applies to a male character's female love interest, it can actually be used in numerous different scenarios of all genders and different relations from romantic, platonic and familial. The core part is that one character is killed (or at least, has something ''very'' bad happen to them) for the sake of causing emotional trauma for the target, with said victim often acting as a plot device more than a real character in the worst-case scenarios. As such, while this trope is usually AlwaysFemale as some would think, male examples do exist.
!Please do not add examples to work pages, this merely [[Administrivia/DefinitionOnlyPages defines the term]].
The name of the trope comes from a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.
The term (sometimes formed as "fridging") was popularized by comic book writer Creator/GailSimone through her website "Website/WomenInRefrigerators." On that site, Simone compiled a list of instances of female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device. The term came to be used more broadly, over time, to refer to any character who is targeted by an antagonist who has them [[KilledOffForReal killed off]], {{rape|AsDrama}}d and/or otherwise brutalized, incapacitated, {{depower}}ed, or [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] for the sole purpose of affecting another character, motivating them to take action.
While it is strictly true that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this one, especially as a catchphrase, is often given a very negative connotation as it is all too often a hallmark of supremely lazy writing -- using the death of a character as "cheap anger" for the protagonist, and devaluing the life of that character in the process, instead of giving the villain something actually interesting to do that can involve all three characters and more emotions than simple anger and angst.
This trope appears in many media. The ThrowAwayCountry is an extreme example, and the DoomedHometown is in many ways the RPG VideoGame equivalent. See also DisposableWoman, ILetGwenStacyDie, and FingerInTheMail. Compare WhatMeasureIsAMook If it happens to multiple love interests of the same character, said character likely suffers from the CartwrightCurse. The intended effect is very much akin to CheapHeat.
Compare CollateralAngst, a more general case where bad things happening to Character A are primarily important for their effect on Character B. Also compare DeathByOriginStory. Depending on how useful/interesting the character is, and whether their death was pointless or not, can overlap with DroppedABridgeOnHim. Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for other types of storing a dead body. Also compare TheMurderAfter, when the corpse is discovered in bed.
If the love interest who gets Stuffed Into the Fridge remains relevant to the ongoing story, continuing to be loved and missed by living characters, sometimes to the point of appearing in flashbacks and dream sequences, and is the standard by which any subsequent love interests are measured by, she "graduates" to being a [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] -- in quotation marks as the trope still needs to be handled with care to avoid being tasteless. The aforementioned scenario also guarantees to have the survivor becoming a CrusadingWidower. Related to MenAreTheExpendableGender as that trope is part of the reason this trope applies more to women.
It should be noted that while the term most commonly applies to a male character's female love interest, it can actually be used in numerous different scenarios of all genders and different relations from romantic, platonic and familial. The core part is that one character is killed (or at least, has something ''very'' bad happen to them) for the sake of causing emotional trauma for the target, with said victim often acting as a plot device more than a real character in the worst-case scenarios. As such, while this trope is usually AlwaysFemale as some would think, male examples do exist.
!Please do not add examples to work pages, this merely [[Administrivia/DefinitionOnlyPages defines the term]].
to:
A loved one is hurt, killed, maimed, assaulted, or otherwise traumatized in order to motivate another character is killed off in a particularly gruesome manner and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay left to be found]] just to offend or insult someone, or to cause someone serious anguish. The usual victims are those [[FriendlyTarget who matter to the hero]], specifically [[HeterosexualLifePartners best buddies]], love interests, and {{sidekick}}s. In some cases, the doomed character may be killed by natural forces or by a character who doesn't have the intent to cause someone else angst -- in this case, the intent comes solely from the writer, who wants to rouse strong emotions in another character. If the said character was killed by a villain, this guarantees to become a motivation for a {{Revenge}} move their plot or an immediate RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
The name of the trope comes from a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.
forward.
The term (sometimesformed referred to as "fridging") was popularized by comic book writer Creator/GailSimone through her website "Website/WomenInRefrigerators." On that site, Simone compiled a list of instances of female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device. It is named for a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. (It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.)
The term came to be used more broadly, over time, to refer to any character who is targeted by an antagonist who has them[[KilledOffForReal [[CharacterDeath killed off]], {{rape|AsDrama}}d and/or otherwise brutalized, incapacitated, {{depower}}ed, or [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] for the sole purpose of affecting another character, motivating them to take action.
While it is strictly true that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this one, especially as a catchphrase,action.
"Fridging" is often given a very negative connotation as it is all too often a hallmark of supremely lazy writing --using the death of a quickly hurting or killing an established character as "cheap anger" for the protagonist, and devaluing the life of that character in the process, instead of giving the villain something actually interesting to do that can involve all three characters and more emotions than simple anger and angst.
This trope appears in many media. The ThrowAwayCountry is an extreme example, and the DoomedHometown is in many ways the RPG VideoGame equivalent. See also DisposableWoman, ILetGwenStacyDie, and FingerInTheMail. Compare WhatMeasureIsAMook If it happens to multiple love interests of the same character, said character likely suffers from the CartwrightCurse. The intended effect is very much akin to CheapHeat.
Compare CollateralAngst, a more general case where bad things happening to Character A are primarily important for their effect on Character B. Also compare DeathByOriginStory. Depending on how useful/interesting the character is, and whether their death was pointless or not, can overlap with DroppedABridgeOnHim. Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for other types of storing a dead body. Also compare TheMurderAfter, when the corpse is discovered in bed.
If the love interest who gets Stuffed Into the Fridge remains relevant to the ongoing story, continuing to be loved and missed by living characters, sometimes to the point of appearing in flashbacks and dream sequences, and is the standard by which any subsequent love interests are measured by, she "graduates" to being a [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] -- in quotation marks as the trope still needs to be handled with care to avoid being tasteless. The aforementioned scenario also guarantees to have the survivor becoming a CrusadingWidower. Related to MenAreTheExpendableGender as that trope is part of the reason this trope applies more to women.
It should be noted that while the term most commonly applies to a male character's female love interest, it can actually be used in numerous different scenarios of all genders and different relations from romantic, platonic and familial. The core part is that one character is killed (or at least, has something ''very'' bad happen to them) for the sake of causing emotional trauma for the target, with said victim often acting as a plot device more than a real character in the worst-case scenarios. As such, while this trope
Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman isusually AlwaysFemale as some would think, male examples do exist.
stored inside a literal box. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for literally storing a dead body in household furniture/appliances.
!Please do not add examples to work pages, this merely [[Administrivia/DefinitionOnlyPages defines the term]]. Put applicable examples in the following tropes instead:
----
* CollateralAngst: A person is hurt; the focus is on their loved one's reaction.
* CynicismCatalyst: A loved one's death makes the hero a grimmer and more cynical person.
* DisposableWoman: A minor female loved one is killed early on to motivate the hero to go do heroic things; she has little relevance afterwards.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: The hero feels responsible for a loved one's death.
* TheLostLenore: A love interest dies prior to the story or very early on, and their death remains relevant to their lover and the story.
* RevengeByProxy: Retaliating against someone by targeting someone close to them.
The name of the trope comes from a storyline in ''Franchise/GreenLantern'', in which the villain Major Force leaves the corpse of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra [=DeWitt=], literally stuffed into a refrigerator for him to find. Years later, Major Force repeated the gimmick with Kyle's mother in an oven. It was just a trick with a mannequin that time, though.
The term (sometimes
The term came to be used more broadly, over time, to refer to any character who is targeted by an antagonist who has them
While it is strictly true that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this one, especially as a catchphrase,
"Fridging" is often given a very negative connotation as it is all too often a hallmark of supremely lazy writing --
Compare CollateralAngst, a more general case where bad things happening to Character A are primarily important for their effect on Character B. Also compare DeathByOriginStory. Depending on how useful/interesting the character is, and whether their death was pointless or not, can overlap with DroppedABridgeOnHim. Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is stored inside a literal box. Also not related to FridgeLogic, FridgeHorror, or FridgeBrilliance. Also don't confuse with LockedInAFreezer or ItCameFromTheFridge. See BodyInABreadbox and DeadMansChest for other types of storing a dead body. Also compare TheMurderAfter, when the corpse is discovered in bed.
If the love interest who gets Stuffed Into the Fridge remains relevant to the ongoing story, continuing to be loved and missed by living characters, sometimes to the point of appearing in flashbacks and dream sequences, and is the standard by which any subsequent love interests are measured by, she "graduates" to being a [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] -- in quotation marks as the trope still needs to be handled with care to avoid being tasteless. The aforementioned scenario also guarantees to have the survivor becoming a CrusadingWidower. Related to MenAreTheExpendableGender as that trope is part of the reason this trope applies more to women.
Not to be confused with being PutOnABus as a HumanPopsicle, or GirlInABox where a living (usually) unconscious woman is
!Please do not add examples to work pages, this merely [[Administrivia/DefinitionOnlyPages defines the term]]. Put applicable examples in the following tropes instead:
----
* CollateralAngst: A person is hurt; the focus is on their loved one's reaction.
* CynicismCatalyst: A loved one's death makes the hero a grimmer and more cynical person.
* DisposableWoman: A minor female loved one is killed early on to motivate the hero to go do heroic things; she has little relevance afterwards.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: The hero feels responsible for a loved one's death.
* TheLostLenore: A love interest dies prior to the story or very early on, and their death remains relevant to their lover and the story.
* RevengeByProxy: Retaliating against someone by targeting someone close to them.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
TRS banner
Added DiffLines:
[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1626308763021845600 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 28,229 (click to see context) from:
Since this is a death trope, '''SPOILERS AHEAD!!!'''
[[noreallife]]
----
!!Examples:
[[index]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/ComicBooks
* [[StuffedIntoTheFridge/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/LiveActionTV
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/VideoGames
[[/index]]
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Aika in ''Manga/BlastOfTempest'' was killed off [[PosthumousCharacter before the series begins]] to spur Mahiro onto his RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Sort of a {{deconstruction}}; he goes to ridiculous lengths to find her killer, and is compared to Theatre/{{Hamlet}} in terms of insane, violent determination. He eventually gives up on vengeance when he learns that [[spoiler:she killed herself, even though it was partly Hakaze's fault for telling Aika about it and accidentally making her decide to set up a StableTimeLoop via suicide]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[BigBad Sosuke Aizen]] planned to ''specifically'' invoke this, killing Ichigo's friends and leaving the corpses for Ichigo to discover. [[spoiler:Ichigo appeared in BigDamnHeroes fashion and forcibly moved Aizen out of town.]]
* Mao in ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' attempts a ''layered'' version of this -- he goes after Shirley and Nunnally to get at Lelouch, and he's only going after Lelouch to get at C.C. (making it an example of going after a male character to get at a female character). Subverted in that he fails on all accounts, but his mind-reading powers end up revealing a rather intense secret about a ''different'' character Lelouch cares for a lot (also male), making it a lot more emotionally resonant.
** [[spoiler: Rolo's]] killing of [[spoiler: Shirley]], at least from a plot point of view serves primarily to distress [[spoiler: Lelouch, and drive him to work towards eliminating the Geass altogether.]]
* Happens at least ''three'' times in ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool Danganronpa 3]].''
** In the first episode, [[spoiler: [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Chisa Yukizome]]]] is the first victim of the killing game which is meant to fuel [[spoiler: her boyfriend [[GoodIsNotSoft Munakata's]] grudge against Naegi and the Remnants as a way of pitting them against each other]].
** Next would be [[spoiler: [[TheSmartGirl Kyoko Kirigiri]] who allows herself to be killed via poison so that [[TheGenericGuy Naegi]] wouldn't die for her. It's her death that motivates the boy to face off against Munakata to resolve their conflict. It's somewhat subverted as the final episode shows that Kirigiri was resurrected off-screen thanks to a special medicine]].
** And finally, we have [[spoiler: [[GamerChick Chiaki Nanami]] from Side:Despair. Her death was organized by [[UlimateEvil Junko Enoshima]] in order to mentally break her classmates and push them into becoming the future Remnants of Despair. Additionally, it's through her death that [[TheDreaded Izuku Kamakura]] is moved to tears and decides to betray Enoshima to carry out Nanami's will]].
* From ''Manga/DarkerThanBlack'': Towards the end of the second season, [[spoiler:Yoko, TheTeamNormal for the QuirkyMinibossSquad,]] is found horribly murdered, prompting [[spoiler:her girlfriend [[PsychoLesbian Mina Hazuki]]]] to make an ItsPersonal-induced attempt on the life of the person they believed responsible. [[spoiler:Thing is? She thought it was [[AntiHero Hei]]. She was wrong.]]
* May have happened in the movie of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. After all, Shinji emerging from the ruins of NERV HQ and seeing the brutally gored and eviscerated remains of Unit 02 is part of what pushed him over the DespairEventHorizon to start Third Impact.
* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'': ''Stand Alone Complex'', a killer appears who skins women alive while recording it. This was actually a case of [[spoiler:the trope being weaponized. The killer was a soldier who had been mentally conditioned and trained to go behind enemy lines and commit these atrocities to break the enemy's will to fight. Unfortunately, the mental damage was so great he never stopped]].
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' tend to use this into varying degrees. But again, Administrivia/TropesAreTools and Creator/YoshiyukiTomino had a CreatorBreakdown while working on several of the series he's in charge of. A very bad example which is ''not'' directed by Tomino is ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' where [[spoiler:Yurin's death]] in the hands of Desil Galette caused Flit into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Unknown Enemy/Vagan for the next generations.
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has a rare male example with [[spoiler:Pip Bernadotte, who dies after Zorin Blitz stabs him while he's trying to carry a blind and mutilated Seras to safety.]] Seras breaks down in tears, and is pushed over the edge when Zorin mocks [[spoiler:Pip]]'s death, calling him 'a mere insect'. [[spoiler:Seras responds by drinking his blood and becoming a fully-fledged vampire, and going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, culminating in her painting the wall with Zorin's face.]]
* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. [[spoiler: After Rena beats Rina/Ritsuko to death with a metal pipe in self-defense, she's seen stuffing Rina's body into a refrigerator in the junkyard. It's subverted in that Rina's boyfriend/partner in crime Teppei never discovers her; Rena lures him out to the junkyard and hacks him to death with her billhook before that can happen.]]
* ''Manga/KamuiDen'': The rape and subsequent death for the peasant girl Mine early in the first series becomes an inciting incident for two of the major male characters to fight the oppressive powers of their feudal domain.
* ''Manga/MayonakaNoXGiten'' Kamiya finds [[spoiler: his sister, murdered in his bed by someone who was borrowing his body.]] In a twist, he's the one who stuffs her body in a fridge as a way to hide the corpse.
* In the manga ''Manga/MPDPsycho'', Amamiya Kazuhiko's multiple personality disorder is triggered when the serial killer he's tracking mutilates his girlfriend and delivers her limbless but barely alive body to the police station in an ice [[BlackComedy chest]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** [[TheDragon Pain]] attempted to invoke this trope [[spoiler:by killing [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] in order to anger Naruto, but it was {{subverted|Trope}} when Hinata survived (and even if she hadn't, everyone killed during the arc was revived several chapters later anyway).]]
** [[spoiler:Rin's death]] is what would directly motivate [[spoiler: Obito]] into becoming the masked man known as [[BigBad Tobi]]. Her capture is what would inevitably lead to his "death" and land him into the clutches of Madara. Made even worse with TheReveal that the trope was deliberately invoked by [[spoiler:Madara. He was the real mastermind behind Rin's capture and death (Kakashi being the one to actually finish her off was a bonus). The sole reason he targeted Rin was so he could drive Obito into despair and make him his pawn.]]
* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'':
** Shinya Kougami's StartOfDarkness and demotion to Enforcer started when he found the corpse of his Enforcer partner, Mitsuru Sasayama, dismembered and arranged in the most gruesome way.
** After making a short cameo in Season 1, Unit 2 Inspector Risa Aoyonagi seemed to be a prominent character for Season 2. being an ActionGirl and having a SugarAndIcePersonality most especially when she's with Ginoza. [[spoiler:Then, she's brutally killed in Episode 4 by her own Enforcer, Teppei Sugo, who unknowningly shot her with the Assault Dominator. Her death caused Sugo to feel guilty for shooting his boss and Ginoza refuses to talk to him afterwards. But the problem is that she's only mentioned as an afterthought in the second half]].
* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Kaoru is [[spoiler: stabbed through the heart by Enishi and has an X-shaped scar carved onto her left cheek just as Kenshin's, and is left nailed to the dojo wall, slumped in a pool of her own blood. The gruesome display was meant to send Kenshin [[DespairEventHorizon over the edge with grief]], knowing that he [[ILetGwenStacyDie failed to save his second love]]. [[HeroicBSOD It works really well]]. [[DisneyDeath She ain't dead after all]].]]
* In ''Manga/SilentMobius'', Ganossa Maximillian takes an interest in Katsumi Liqueur, the daughter of his former master Gigelf. So he puts her and her lover Roy through hell by siccing the Lucifer Hawk Damia on Roy. Against all odds, the lovers prevail against their inhuman foe. They celebrate [[GladToBeAliveSex by making love]] the next morning. [[spoiler:While Katsumi is taking a shower, Ganossa suddenly appears and disembowels Roy in an instant. Katsumi returns too late to save Roy who spends his last moments holding her hand. Through it all, Ganossa [[EvilLaugh laughs]] and urges her to [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred hate him with all her might]].]] Cue massive explosion.
* The Gung-Ho guns of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' are usually finished by one of their own after Vash claims a (usually circumstantial) victory. For example, this occurs in episode 16 where E.G. Mine nails two of his defeated former comrades atop a building, which Vash only notices once the blood drips onto the back of his head while walking. Mine then proceeds to refer to them as "decorations", making it obvious they were put there to set as examples for the Gung-Ho Guns' intolerance for failure.
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', [[spoiler: Rize]], whose existence has no purpose other than this, as the circumstances of their disappearance [[spoiler: ''sets off the entire plot'']] and their return does nothing more than give Kaneki a necessary moment of closure which allows him to justify his pursuit of power.
* Subverted by [[spoiler:Shoko]] in ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'' who survives. PlayedStraight with [[spoiler:Aina]].
* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' has Kotori killed or beheaded (in the manga) by her own brother, Fuuma, who became a member of the Dragons of Earth after Kamui made his choice to join the Dragons of Heaven. This caused Kamui to go into HeroicBSOD until Subaru comforts him and as Kakyou and Hinoto predicted that no matter what happens, Kotori is destined to die by the time Kamui decided the fate of the world.
* There are several instances of fridging in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', but one notable case is when, in a battle against [[TheDragon Shinobu Sensui]], [[spoiler:Yusuke deliberately provokes Sensui into killing him while Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama watch on helplessly, with the intention that his death will cause his friends enough rage that they will be able to defeat Sensui. Later on, Yusuke is resurrected in an exponentially more powerful form.]] This scenario also falls under the CameBackStrong and UnstoppableRage tropes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* Samantha from ''AudioPlay/WereAlive'' is killed on the floor of the Arena by a sadistic zombie who "likes to play with his food." We never actually [[GoryDiscretionShot hear her dying]] but can only imagine how gruesome it was and it leaves Datu scarred from then on.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''FanFic/AGrowingAffection'': [[spoiler: Itachi's wife is killed by Madara, who leaves her out for Itachi to see, claiming she was an intruder. Both of them know that is not true and the real reason Madara killed her.]]
* In ''[[http://www.baseportal.de/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/honeycakehorse/Circles_of_Power Circles of Power]]'', a Franchise/HarryPotter fanfic, Draco defects to the light side. In retaliation, the Death Eaters kill Draco's good friend Pansy and then break into the house where Draco has been taken in by Harry and his friends for protection, just to leave Pansy's mutilated body on Draco's bed.
* It's kind of a {{Memetic Mutation}} in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fandom to have [[spoiler: [[MasterSwordsman Lon'qu]]]] fridged via being [[spoiler:shot with arrows]], in fanworks related to [[spoiler: the BadFuture]]. This is because of the ''massive'' popularity of the [[spoiler: Lon'qu x Lissa]] pairing, how in their supports [[spoiler: Lon'qu ''does'' get (non-fatally) shot to protect her]], ''and'' the canon fact that [[spoiler: Lissa's husband canonly died protecting their kid Owain from arrows.]] [[http://feanons.dreamwidth.org/992.html?thread=504544#cmt504544 Discussed here.]]
* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'':
** Alleged to happen with [[spoiler:Narcissa Malfoy]]. According to Draco, [[spoiler:Dumbledore burned her alive as a warning to the rest of the Voldemort-supporting Malfoy family]]. UnreliableNarrator is in full force here.
** Happened more directly with [[spoiler:Hermione Granger]], leading to complaints of anti-feminism on fan sites. And the narrator is reliable this time.
* In keeping with many canon films, the ''James Bond'' FanFilm "[[WebVideo/DiamondsCut Property of a Lady]]" had this happen to Bond's girlfriend as she is specifically targeted to have an effect on him. However, Bond is wise enough to call an ambulance and it’s implied she survives.
* A rare male example in the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Symbiosis}};'' [[OriginalCharacter Atsushi]] and her young apprentice Brittany are killed when they get mind-controlled by a Rocket psychic to destroy Saffron. Sabrina (Atsushi's lover) swears revenge on the psychic that did this to her.
* In ''[[FanFic/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'', [[spoiler:Rick Sheridan's friend Cyrus is DrivenToSuicide after he suffers a brutal MindRape at the hands of the demon Cobweb. What makes this even worse is that it becomes a twofer, as Sleepwalker is eventually forced to kill his brother N'ogskak as a result of the same plot.]]
* In ''Fanfic/StraightEdge'', [[Literature/{{Worm}} Jack Slash]] killed [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Kiritsugu's]] wife just to get a reaction out of him during the Holy Grail War.
* See the "[[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost3656-motivlifeui6.jpg Ode]] to [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aeris]]." Also [[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost3656-motivaeriswj8.jpg known as]] "PatronSaint of wannabe girlfriends that get dumped The Hard Way."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In the ninth ''Literature/AlexRider'' book, ''Scorpia Rising'' -- which, when it was written, was intended to be the last book in the series -- Alex and Jack are both captured by the BigBad, Razim, a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] ex-terrorist who has become a member of the series' recurring NebulousEvilOrganisation Scorpia. Razim is fascinated by pain, and conducts extensive experiments in the hope of developing a precise measurement for it. To this end, he subjects Alex and Jack to such an experiment: [[spoiler:he gives Jack a stage-managed opportunity to escape that actually leads her into a deathtrap whilst Alex is forced to watch.]] It has nothing to do with his EvilPlan at all, he simply wants to see how much it hurts Alex.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** The first book has a rare example of the sexes being switched for this one -- [[spoiler:Khal Drogo's fatal injury and subsequent death are all to motivate Daenerys to [[TookALevelInBadass take her next level in badass]].]]
** Later on, [[spoiler:Lady Hornwood was married to Ramsay Bolton for politics, then promptly shut in a tower and left to die. She was found with her own fingers gnawed off in hunger and desperation. Her cousin Wyman Manderley was not pleased and is now plotting his revenge against House Bolton.]] Manderley is also taking revenge against House Frey, who had allied with House Bolton, to take down the Starks, the banner-lords for Houses Bolton and Manderley. Also, [[spoiler:Wyman's son Wendel was killed at The Red Wedding.]]
** Both [[spoiler: Eddard and Septa Mordane's heads are displayed on the Red Keep's walls by Joffrey]] to traumatize Sansa.
** In Tyrion's backstory, Tysha is an example of this, especially after [[spoiler: he finds out she really did love him.]] [[spoiler: Shae]] is also an example, except instead of her being killed to cause Tyrion angst, [[spoiler: Tyrion kills her]] to show that he's fallen off the deep end.
* The entire plot of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is Edmond Dantes doing this to the people who betrayed him and had him imprisoned, culminating in an {{Aesop}} about how revenge ultimately corrupts one's soul. He only stops because a murder happened he hadn't planned for, and that one of the people he'd sworn to protect as they'd kept faith in him fell in love with one of the people whose death he did plan, and only finds out at the last minute.
* John Connolly's books:
** In ''Every Dead Thing'', Charlie Parker's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer and left in the kitchen of his house for him to find.
* In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
* In ''The Killing Kind'', Charlie Parker's ex-girlfriend is found killed and he is hired to find out what happened. He is later effectively fired but ultimately chooses to continue the job so he can bring some justice to Grace Peltier and the rest of the Aroostok Baptists.
* In Leon Uris' ''Exodus'', a story about the founding of Israel, the lover of a main character is kidnapped, raped dozens of times, and dumped in pieces near her home.
* In ''{{Literature/Firestarter}}'', Vicky is murdered and stuffed behind the ironing board.
* A rare "heroic" example occurs in the ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series. The heroes adopt the habit of mutilating the bodies of slavers they kill in humiliating ways, then leaving them for other slavers to find as a warning. There's also the backstory about Barons Nerahan and Arondael during the Holtun-Bieme war: Nerahan captured Arondael's son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren during his siege of Arondael's castle, had them all gang-raped by his soldiers in sight of the castle, then catapulted them over the walls one at a time, in a failed effort to goad Arondael's garrison into a suicidal sortie against the much larger besieging force. Due to the general amnesty that ended the war, [[KarmaHoudini Nerahan is still alive]] and ruling his barony years later; Emperor Karl reflects that he'd ''love'' an excuse to depose and execute the baron, but that Nerahan is too canny ever to give him one.
* In Creator/LeoTolstoy's novelette ''Literature/HadjiMurat'', the reader is first aware of the death of [[spoiler:Hadji Murat]] when someone shows off [[spoiler:his head in a sack]]. This rather brilliantly makes a death that for the history savvy reader is [[DoomedByCanon inevitable]] something rather shocking and horrifying, just as it is to the characters in the story, who do not have the benefit of hindsight.
* Tim Rackley's young daughter, Ginny, is raped and cut up, leading to the Deputy Sheriff to go on a mad rampage in Gregg Hurwitz's ''The Kill Clause''.
* Quite early on in the first book of ''Literature/TheLastWerewolf'' trilogy, the title character [[spoiler:finds his long-time human companion's severed head in a bag in the boot of his car.]]
* In ''Literature/TheLiesOfLockeLamora'', [[spoiler:Capa Barsavi's daughter was killed by the Grey King and sent back to him in a barrel of horse urine.]]
* In the climax of ''Literature/LordOfTheClans'', [[spoiler:Blackmoore hurls the head of Thrall's human surrogate sister at his feet when the Orcs besiege his castle, trying to break his spirit. Unfortunately for him, Orcs do not work that way.]]
* In Creator/VinceFlynn's Mitch Rapp series about an elite counterterrorism agent, the protagonist's backstory includes a tale of his high school sweetheart dying in a terrorist bombing as the impetus for his career. Aside from a couple of prequel books, her character is rarely mentioned outside her death and the role it played in enlisting the protagonist into the murky world of espionage and black ops.
* In ''Literature/{{Masques}}'', there is a little girl [[spoiler: the ''only'' little girl who is named, the other kids are all boys]] whose sole purpose in the narrative is to do something so incredibly stupid that it is not even believable considering that she's little more than a toddler, [[spoiler: and, as direct result, get slaughtered by the monsters]] just so that the protagonist can ride after her, endanger herself, and [[spoiler: be taken prisoner by the bad guys]].
* In the web novel ''Ricochet', the title protagonist's romantic partner, Shyft, gets murdered by the villain Hexecutioner purely to spite Ricochet. Just to rub it in, a quick visit to an alternate universe makes it clear that Ricochet and Shyft are soul mates who were destined to be together.
* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'':
** In the backstory, this happens to Zedd's wife. She's viciously beaten and raped by D'Haran soldiers, and just to twist the knife in further, she's left for Zedd to find. Zedd, being a Wizard of the First Order, naturally attempts to heal her, only to find that doing so sets off a trap spell designed to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill her painfully]] in response to any magical healing. Ouch.
** Richard finds Kahlan like this. People stop him from healing her for that reason. It takes her months to get better.
** Richard does this with Brother Narev for Jagang to find, and then later has this done with all of the Fellowship
* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', James attempted this trope, videotaping him torturing and killing Bella to make Edward seek revenge and start a "game" with him. Lucky for Bella, Edward was fast enough to avert it.
* In ''Villains Inc.'' (sequel to ''Literature/WearingTheCape''), this is played with. Early on, Astra is presented with a superhuman murder where the victim was reduced to soup-in-a-box. Then she learns that Blackstone, one of her teammates and mentors, was killed in the same fashion in a potential future. The threat is very motivating.
* In ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', Pamela escaped from a gang of drug traffickers/pimps and becomes Kelly's girlfriend. Her brutal [[CruelAndUnusualDeath rape/torture/murder]] when she is recaptured inspires Kelly to use his SEAL training to coldly murder the entire gang over the course of the novel.
* In a rare example from ''Literature/CouncilWars'', Dionys [=McCanock=] decides against slitting Daneh's throat post-rape, just so she can go tell Edmund what was done to her.
* [[GenderFlip Gender-Flipped]] in ''Literature/{{Frostbite}}''. Mason Ashford suffers a NeckSnap from Isaiah the Strigoi, sending Rose into a HeroicBSOD.
* Cover art for a reprint of Creator/RichardBrautigan's noir fantasy ''Dreaming Of Babylon'' has detective C. Card discovering a refrigerator from which a woman's shapely foot is protruding.
* Deconstructed and parodied in ''The Refrigerator Monologues'' by Creator/CatherynneMValente, which focuses on the afterlife of six women who were (thinly disguised) famous female characters from superhero comics who have all suffered in gender-stereotypical ways. (Paige Embry is [[ComicBook/{{Spiderman}} Gwen Stacy]], etc.) The final story directly deals with this trope, parodying the trope-naming Alexandra De Witt example from ''Green Lantern''.
* Midway through ''the Great Hunt'', book two of ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime the Wheel of Time]]'', Dena is introduced, a female aspiring gleeman and love interest for returning character Thom. Soon afterwards she's found dead in their shared bed to spur Thom onto a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. She only appeared alive in a single chapter.
* Controversial Male example in the book ''Literature/HaloNewBlood'' [[spoiler: which has the Rookie]] killed near the end of the novel seemingly just to build up Buck's character.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* Music writer Tom Ewing accused Kenny Rogers's "Coward of the County" of this.
* The traditional folk song and [[Literature/ChildBallads child ballad]] "Lamkin" or Long Lankin".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* In the Literature/BookOfJob, this happened to Job's first family, who were killed off as part of Job's suffering.
* Enkidu was killed by the gods in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' in order to punish Gilgamesh, making this trope OlderThanDirt.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Literalized at ''Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} Hour of Power 7'', April 23, 2017. Merlok, a big piranha character, abandoned his match with Ashley Vox to brutalize her sidekick Jawsolyn, throwing her around garbage cans and finally throwing her into a refrigerator. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Director of Fun]] Mike Quackenbush announced he was cutting the feed, with the match being ruled a no-contest. (Jawsolyn never returned to CHIKARA.) This led to Ashley's RoaringRampageOfRevenge, culminating in her following Obariyon (formerly of The Batiri)'s advice and channeling the darkness within her to become Oceanea, and finally defeating Merlok at the SeasonFinale ''Closing Time'' on December 2nd.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Roleplay]]
* This occurs in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' with the death of [[spoiler:Adam Dodd's girlfriend, Amanda Jones,]] at the hands of Cody Jenson. It was overshadowed by the simultaneous death (and rape) of [[spoiler: Madelaine Shirohara]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Aleena the Cleric's fate[[note]]Aleena appeared in a solo get-acquainted adventure in the player's guide and was murdered with a magic missile by Bargle the wizard, giving the player a reason to seek revenge.[[/note]] in the "red box" version was some 1980s gamers' first introduction to fridge-stuffing.
** This is [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is merely the latest reincarnation of Strahd's LostLenore Tatyana. All of her previous reincarnations have ended with a premature tragic death designed to torment Strahd in his SelfInflictedHell. Also subverted in that [[RejectionAffection the feelings are VERY one-sided]] as Ireena ''[[NoYay never]]'' loved [[AbhorrentAdmirer Strahd]], her previous reincarnations' deaths were his fault, and that an OptionalPartyMember, Ireena herself can actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] this fate [[VideoGameCaringPotential if the players care enough]].
* A character with the Signature Move "Sacrificial Buddy" from ''TabletopGame/HongKongActionTheatre'' has an Extra in every one of their movies who is a friend or relative of the role they play, whose main purpose is to get killed by the bad guys (usually in this fashion) and give the role some serious motivation for revenge.
* Omi Kurita, the daughter of the ruler of the Draconis Combine in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' was assassinated by Kathrine Steiner-Davion, leader of the Federated Commonwealth, specifically because she was the lover of Kathrine's brother Victor and Victor had thwarted one of her political schemes. The revelation that she was dead sent Victor into a deep depression right as he and Kathrine were in the middle of a civil war and nearly cost him the war.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta'' sees several characters dismembered and stuffed into a fridge [[spoiler:with the purpose to preserve them and eating their flesh later]]. This happens to both men and women though, which is less usual for the trope. [[spoiler:When Koji finds the remains of his girlfriend, the player decides how he reacts about it. Neither variant ends in a good way.]]
* In the first chapter of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', [[spoiler:Kaede Akamatsu]] is revealed to be the murderer and then killed off, thus giving [[spoiler:her]] LoveInterest [[spoiler:Shuichi Saihara]] something to angst about for the rest of the game, and catalyze [[spoiler:his]] CharacterDevelopment. In fact, [[spoiler:it's revealed toward the end of the game that since Danganronpa is an in-universe TV show with real people being brainwashed into fictional characters (and dying ''real'' deaths), that those responsible deliberately made Kaede and Shuichi fall in love, thereby invoking this trope]].
* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[SatelliteCharacter Peko]] [[TheLostLenore Pekoyama]] exists to kickstart [[spoiler: Fuyuhiko's]] CharacterDevelopment upon her death - half the reason [[spoiler: he was even made into a survivor over Hiyoko]] is because the developers realised that if he died, her sacrifice would be completely pointless.
* In ''VisualNovel/YourTurnToDie'', [[spoiler:Sara's best friend Joe is marked as the Sacrifice in the first round of the DeadlyGame, and subsequently put through a CruelAndUnusualDeath, causing Sara to hallucinate in grief]]. In this case, a male supporting character is killed off to traumatise a female protagonist.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/BrokenSaints'', Shandala's [[spoiler:mother, then later, pet cat]] are fridged by Lear as part of his plan to drive her across the DespairEventHorizon so she can [[spoiler:become a living component of his KillSat weapon system.]] This is an interesting case in that it involves the planning of two identically similar deaths, done several years apart, with the second death providing the victim with final push towards [[GoMadFromTheRevelation insanity]].
* Subverted in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. [[spoiler:Cinder attempts to spite Jaune when he gets a lucky hit on her by impaling Weiss in a similar manner to how she had previously killed Pyrrha. However, doing so gave Jaune [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening the necessary trauma]] to unlock [[SuperEmpowering his Semblance]], which allowed him to heal Weiss' injuries.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/BlurTheLines'' {{subvert|edTrope}}s this trope. [[http://www.blur-the-lines.com/?p=110]]
* ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic'': Mopey pulls this to provide encouragement to Biff [[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/index.php?cid=157 here]].
* [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/02/03/episode-1090-not-sunny-d/ One humorous scene]] from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater:''
-->'''Ranger:''' Honey, I'm home. Apparently. Hmm, a note... covered in blood, hair, and brain.\\
"Dinner is in the fridge. Your Wife."\\
'''Ranger:''' How strange that she would not use her name or handwriting. Oh well! ''[looks in the fridge]'' [[BreadEggsMilkSquick O.J., '''purple stuff''', my brutally murdered wife...]]\\
''[a hail of arrows sprays from the fridge, turning Ranger into a [[PinkMist fine mist]]]''\\
'''Sarda:''' [[BondOneLiner He went home. Forever.]]
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': Padme dies at the end of episode 3 in order to provide angst for Anakin, turned Darth Vader. This of course is exactly the same as [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith the source material]], and like in the original, it gets away with it due to the fact that we knew it was coming the entire time. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that Palpatine failed to save Anakin on the banks of the lava river, and instead revived Padme (with an infusion of midi-chlorians to give her Force powers) to act as Darth Vader instead]].
-->'''Luke:''' You killed Padmé, the woman you loved. My mother!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' No.\\
'''Luke:''' You are my father!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' [[spoiler:No, Luke. I am your ''[[WhamLine mother]]'']].
* [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20101123.html This]] ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'' comic combines this trope with ''Goldilocks'', when their boss (an anthropomorphic bear) is royally pissed with the protagonists' [[HeroInsurance latest screwup]].
* Lampshaded in the superhero-{{deconstruction}} ''[[http://www.heroes-inc.net/ Heroes.inc]]'', when a retired superhero tells his wife who was just attacked to stay 'home', because he thinks the attack was meant to get at him. His wife furiously replies that she won't be his private "Woman in the fridge".
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has several EnsembleDarkHorse characters killed off rather suddenly to show the stakes of Sburb, as well as a few just plain DroppedABridgeOnHim deaths to clear out the massive CastHerd. Hussie has lampshaded both. One lampshade hanging involves Gamzee keeping the bodies of [[spoiler:Vriska and Tavros]] stuffed inside Jane's fridge. He then [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses the bodies to prototype her sprite]], which brings them back [[CameBackWrong horribly wrong]]. [[spoiler:Gamzee himself then ends up literally stuffed in a fridge (though alive) for years during [[FinalBattle Collide]].]]
* In the ''[[Webcomic/RoomiesItsWalkyJoyceAndWalky Joyce and Walky]]'' finale [[spoiler:Rachel]] was revealed to be a robot double possessed by the Head Alien. David Willis, however, realized he had done this trope (by specifically doing it to give ''Joe'' pathos, and not to finish their character arc like he had to [[spoiler:Ruth and Dina]]) and wrote a storyline in ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' specifically to avert this trope by revealing [[spoiler: Rachel had been trapped in an alternate dimension.]]
-->[[http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/40848152188/so-i-figure-i-can-finally-talk-about-how-this-big Don’t fridge your characters, folks. Sometimes you can get a pretty good story out of not doing it.]]
* ''Webcomic/OctopusPie'' heavily exaggerates this, [[spoiler: although non-canonically]] in their 2010 Halloween story arc:[[spoiler: Greg]] is cut apart and his body parts [[DeadPersonConversation self-reportedly]] stuffed into multiple cupboards throughout the house. [[spoiler: Hannah]] eventually comes across this sight, and has such a violent physical reaction to it she ends up dying as well... [[BlackComedy It's a comedy arc.]] [[http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-11-17/415-ghost-canteen/ Link]]
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] twice in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''.
** First there was when Horribus killed [[spoiler:Alt-Zoe]]. Torg is all geared up to strike Horribus down, but in the end chooses to pass on revenge in order to SaveTheWorld instead.
** Then there was when Dr. Schlock ordered [[spoiler:Feng]]'s death. Everyone expected Oasis to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after that, not stopping until she killed Doc Schlock and everyone who worked for him. Instead she [[DissonantSerenity giggles and runs off to get married]]. Oasis is [[TheMentallyDisturbed not a well person]].
* Completely subverted, with a {{lampshade|Hanging}} and ShoutOut to the trope-namer thrown in for good measure in [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/filler-comics-2007-pt-4/ this]] ''Webcomic/SuperStupor'' strip.
* Happens to Socks (who by the way was promoted to KidHero from AdorableEvilMinion for this reason) in the ''Kings War'' arc of ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}''. His death served the narrative purpose of motivating James to end a war (in one way or another). This even got a person shaped lampshade in the form of the representation of the narrative, who arranged this. The thing was literally made out of an IronicNurseryRhyme when it guided the spear that killed the kid.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/AshAndCinders'' Cinder and Azoc's mother was killed before the story even starts. As if being orphaned wasn't bad enough, Cinder later discovers her mother, a Nymph, ''was going to be used for firewood''. Her death breeds animosity between Cinder/Azoc and their WickedStepmother Phira.
* The Hangman does this to Aelia, Gaven's guide, during the Third Night of ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheExile'' by yanking her up a building and strangling her while Gaven is speaking to her, solely to spook Gaven into running into a trap set by Despair.
* This fueled the creation of Website/WomenInRefrigerators, a protest site by comic-fan-turned-writer Creator/GailSimone, who pointed out that these roles are not only [[DisposableWoman almost always applied to female characters]] but to ''lead'' characters who happen to be female. A healthy amount of debate has risen up about whether the list is good evidence or not, but the meme, at least, lives on. By the way, if you an opinion on the topic, please keep it to the discussion page.
* In the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' tale ''[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/senescence-consumption-persecution Senescence, Consumption, Persecution]]'', which is set in the [[KillEmAll Rat’s Nest]] canon, [[spoiler: SCP-590]] is killed by the Chaos Insurgency to strike a personal wound against [[spoiler: Dr. Bright,]] who becomes a member of the O5 Council in this timeline. [[spoiler: He disappears and is [[DrivenToSuicide implied to commit suicide]] shortly after this happens. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Not that it would mean much to him anyways]].]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Videos]]
* In ''WebVideo/DemoReel'', the two main women are Rebecca Stone (who has a RapeAsBackstory that she's dealing with) and the memory of Elissa Hoffman (Donnie's mom [[spoiler: who committed suicide]]). "The Review Must Go On" {{ass pull}}s that Demo Reel was a purgatory punishment for WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, and all the characters were never-alive-to-begin-with constructs to help him along.
%%* [[http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/10017129.html?thread=318617193 This]] on LJ fanficrants.
* In ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', Penny dies to fulfill Dr. Horrible's quest to kill someone to join the Evil League of Evil, despite taking away his hope in the process. Her disposable status is even lampshaded by the news coverage of the death of "Captain Hammer's girlfriend, Whats-Her-Name". She's also the only genuinely good character in the show, sealing the crap firmly into the CrapsackWorld that Dr. Horrible will now rule over.
* Anita Sarkeesian discusses this trope in the ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'' video ''[[https://youtu.be/DInYaHVSLr8 Women in Refrigerators]]''. She also mentions its overwhelming use in video games as well, in her "Tropes vs Women -- Damsel-in-Distress" series, along with it being combined with DistressedDamsel in "The Damsel in the Refrigerator".
-->"Writers are using the Women in Refrigerators trope to literally trade the female characters' life for the benefit of a male hero's story arc. They are making clear that women, even powerful female superheroes, are basically disposable."
* {{Parodied}} in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's Dark Nella Saga. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Nella]] captures Chick in parts 1 and 2 and stuffs her (alive) in a conveniently empty fridge. She gets out both times. It helps that said fridge is BiggerOnTheInside. Creator/MaraWilson also quite casually mentions that she'd been planning to kill Chick to make WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic suffer before he [[spoiler:died in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'']].
* In ''WebVideo/{{Vigilant}}'', [[spoiler: Rita]], a fully-fleshed character with a plot line, is (presumably) killed to cause [[spoiler: Wayne]] anguish (and promote character growth). [[spoiler: We're not sure she's dead yet, though.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Near the end of season three, Nikolai Jackov, (former) head of the KGB and one of the candidates for Archer's father, is brutally murdered by Barry Dillon to spite Archer. The method -- being blown up by a crude time bomb -- was to deliberately leave as little DNA for a paternity test. On learning of his death, Archer kind of frowns, then seemingly forgets Jackov ever existed as he is not mentioned once in any subsequent episodes, not even when Barry reappears two episodes later, or again in season four or in season six. The only character to mention him at all is Cheryl, when she admits to the FBI it was her fault for leading Barry to the safe house, in the ContinuityCavalcade in the season five premiere.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' has what is either a parody or a G-Rated version of this trope. In the episode "A Fistful of Felt", Arnold Wesker (AKA The Ventriloquist) has been seemingly cured of his criminal ways. As part of his treatment, Wesker has been given a new puppet: Mister Snoots. One day, Wesker returns to his apartment, only to find the refridgerator door has been left ajar. When Wesker opens the fridge, he finds Mister Snoots inside! With [[EyeScream an eye missing!]]
* Exaggerated and parodied 3 times in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode "It's Goin Down". [[Series/TwentyFour Jack]] [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Flowers's]] 3 successive girlfriends are decapitated, pushed off a skyscraper and then ''exploded in midair'', and tied to and fired from a cross-town rocket then blown up. All three are lampshaded, ending with "what kind of fucked up, ''WesternAnimation/{{Wile E Coyote|and the Roadrunner}}'' shit is that?".
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'' exaggerates it: [[spoiler:Most of the superheroes that the [[LongRunners 14-film]] series has spent amassing are [[CharactersDroppingLikeFlies mercilessly]] [[BackForTheDead massacred]] within the first half an hour or so of the 90-minute runtime, to establish the desperation of the handful that remain to try to take on Darkseid.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'':
** In an episode, assassin robots destroy several villages and kill their inhabitants (surprisingly unsettling, considering the only onscreen victims are robots) solely to draw the title character to them. Probably the [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence horrific brutality]] with which it's done, which had they been human would have bumped up the rating two or three notches.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler:Ashi]] dies as one last punch to the gut for Jack to remind him that even after [[spoiler:defeating Aku, he couldn't get everything he wanted. [[WidowedAtTheWedding Bonus points for it happening at their wedding.]]]] She possibly returns as [[AnimalMotifs a ladybug]] as a final reminder of her.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' Karai has attempted to invoke this trope several times in her attempts to hurt Splinter (whom she believes killed her mother) by targeting the guys, and hurt the guys by targeting April.
* This has happened at least twice in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', first to Ratchet--while Arcee didn't actually die, having your memory completely wiped is still pretty bad. Next episode we find out that Optimus' friend (and Sentinel's implied girlfriend) Elita was eaten alive by giant spiders. [[spoiler: Or so they thought. But as Blackarachnia, she fared little better, being a FauxActionGirl who wound up the DamselInDistress every time she appeared.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' special "Goultard the Barbarian", the villain Katar kidnapped and murdered Goultard's wife and children just to piss him off. [[spoiler:Katar wanted to make Goultard look like a more appetizing host for the parasitic rage eating demon inside him. It worked, but Katar only got to enjoy a few seconds of freedom before Goultard finished him off.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has been doing this after a five-year TimeSkip.
** [[Comicbook/TeenTitans Beast Boy]] is now on the Young Justice team after getting his superhero origin last season. But the episode "Earthlings" reveals through flashbacks and dialogue that his mother, who shared his original spotlight episode, was killed in an accident that was really orchestrated by supervillains. This traumatized Beast Boy deeply. But he ''is'' [[DeathByOriginStory an orphan in the comics]], so his mom was sadly DoomedByCanon. Also, Beast Boy wasn't even the hero Queen Bee was getting revenge on. That would be Miss Martian, who grew up idolizing Beast Boy's mother on her short-lived television show and wormed her way out of being blackmailed by Queen Bee. Queen Bee tells Marie Logan point-blank that she's only killing her for revenge, and the time stamp shows it was less than a month after the first season ended. So Marie is both murdered to hurt Miss Martian and DeathByOriginStory to enable her son to become a superhero.
** Aqualad has gone through a FaceHeelTurn after being driven mad by the death of his former girlfriend, Tula. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a ruse to that Aqualad could infiltrate the enemy's cadre. Tula certainly is dead though.]]
** Defied by the Light in "Home Fires", which features a get together/playdate involving the partners and children of the Justice League. The Light is well aware that they could easily go after the Justice League's families to hurt them, but doing so is the 'nuclear option' that would make the League come after them with a vengeance. Lady Shiva even [[spoiler: offs Ocean-Master for trying to attack the playdate]].
[[/folder]]
[[noreallife]]
----
!!Examples:
[[index]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/ComicBooks
* [[StuffedIntoTheFridge/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/LiveActionTV
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/VideoGames
[[/index]]
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Aika in ''Manga/BlastOfTempest'' was killed off [[PosthumousCharacter before the series begins]] to spur Mahiro onto his RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Sort of a {{deconstruction}}; he goes to ridiculous lengths to find her killer, and is compared to Theatre/{{Hamlet}} in terms of insane, violent determination. He eventually gives up on vengeance when he learns that [[spoiler:she killed herself, even though it was partly Hakaze's fault for telling Aika about it and accidentally making her decide to set up a StableTimeLoop via suicide]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[BigBad Sosuke Aizen]] planned to ''specifically'' invoke this, killing Ichigo's friends and leaving the corpses for Ichigo to discover. [[spoiler:Ichigo appeared in BigDamnHeroes fashion and forcibly moved Aizen out of town.]]
* Mao in ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' attempts a ''layered'' version of this -- he goes after Shirley and Nunnally to get at Lelouch, and he's only going after Lelouch to get at C.C. (making it an example of going after a male character to get at a female character). Subverted in that he fails on all accounts, but his mind-reading powers end up revealing a rather intense secret about a ''different'' character Lelouch cares for a lot (also male), making it a lot more emotionally resonant.
** [[spoiler: Rolo's]] killing of [[spoiler: Shirley]], at least from a plot point of view serves primarily to distress [[spoiler: Lelouch, and drive him to work towards eliminating the Geass altogether.]]
* Happens at least ''three'' times in ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool Danganronpa 3]].''
** In the first episode, [[spoiler: [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Chisa Yukizome]]]] is the first victim of the killing game which is meant to fuel [[spoiler: her boyfriend [[GoodIsNotSoft Munakata's]] grudge against Naegi and the Remnants as a way of pitting them against each other]].
** Next would be [[spoiler: [[TheSmartGirl Kyoko Kirigiri]] who allows herself to be killed via poison so that [[TheGenericGuy Naegi]] wouldn't die for her. It's her death that motivates the boy to face off against Munakata to resolve their conflict. It's somewhat subverted as the final episode shows that Kirigiri was resurrected off-screen thanks to a special medicine]].
** And finally, we have [[spoiler: [[GamerChick Chiaki Nanami]] from Side:Despair. Her death was organized by [[UlimateEvil Junko Enoshima]] in order to mentally break her classmates and push them into becoming the future Remnants of Despair. Additionally, it's through her death that [[TheDreaded Izuku Kamakura]] is moved to tears and decides to betray Enoshima to carry out Nanami's will]].
* From ''Manga/DarkerThanBlack'': Towards the end of the second season, [[spoiler:Yoko, TheTeamNormal for the QuirkyMinibossSquad,]] is found horribly murdered, prompting [[spoiler:her girlfriend [[PsychoLesbian Mina Hazuki]]]] to make an ItsPersonal-induced attempt on the life of the person they believed responsible. [[spoiler:Thing is? She thought it was [[AntiHero Hei]]. She was wrong.]]
* May have happened in the movie of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. After all, Shinji emerging from the ruins of NERV HQ and seeing the brutally gored and eviscerated remains of Unit 02 is part of what pushed him over the DespairEventHorizon to start Third Impact.
* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'': ''Stand Alone Complex'', a killer appears who skins women alive while recording it. This was actually a case of [[spoiler:the trope being weaponized. The killer was a soldier who had been mentally conditioned and trained to go behind enemy lines and commit these atrocities to break the enemy's will to fight. Unfortunately, the mental damage was so great he never stopped]].
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' tend to use this into varying degrees. But again, Administrivia/TropesAreTools and Creator/YoshiyukiTomino had a CreatorBreakdown while working on several of the series he's in charge of. A very bad example which is ''not'' directed by Tomino is ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' where [[spoiler:Yurin's death]] in the hands of Desil Galette caused Flit into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Unknown Enemy/Vagan for the next generations.
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has a rare male example with [[spoiler:Pip Bernadotte, who dies after Zorin Blitz stabs him while he's trying to carry a blind and mutilated Seras to safety.]] Seras breaks down in tears, and is pushed over the edge when Zorin mocks [[spoiler:Pip]]'s death, calling him 'a mere insect'. [[spoiler:Seras responds by drinking his blood and becoming a fully-fledged vampire, and going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, culminating in her painting the wall with Zorin's face.]]
* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. [[spoiler: After Rena beats Rina/Ritsuko to death with a metal pipe in self-defense, she's seen stuffing Rina's body into a refrigerator in the junkyard. It's subverted in that Rina's boyfriend/partner in crime Teppei never discovers her; Rena lures him out to the junkyard and hacks him to death with her billhook before that can happen.]]
* ''Manga/KamuiDen'': The rape and subsequent death for the peasant girl Mine early in the first series becomes an inciting incident for two of the major male characters to fight the oppressive powers of their feudal domain.
* ''Manga/MayonakaNoXGiten'' Kamiya finds [[spoiler: his sister, murdered in his bed by someone who was borrowing his body.]] In a twist, he's the one who stuffs her body in a fridge as a way to hide the corpse.
* In the manga ''Manga/MPDPsycho'', Amamiya Kazuhiko's multiple personality disorder is triggered when the serial killer he's tracking mutilates his girlfriend and delivers her limbless but barely alive body to the police station in an ice [[BlackComedy chest]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** [[TheDragon Pain]] attempted to invoke this trope [[spoiler:by killing [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] in order to anger Naruto, but it was {{subverted|Trope}} when Hinata survived (and even if she hadn't, everyone killed during the arc was revived several chapters later anyway).]]
** [[spoiler:Rin's death]] is what would directly motivate [[spoiler: Obito]] into becoming the masked man known as [[BigBad Tobi]]. Her capture is what would inevitably lead to his "death" and land him into the clutches of Madara. Made even worse with TheReveal that the trope was deliberately invoked by [[spoiler:Madara. He was the real mastermind behind Rin's capture and death (Kakashi being the one to actually finish her off was a bonus). The sole reason he targeted Rin was so he could drive Obito into despair and make him his pawn.]]
* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'':
** Shinya Kougami's StartOfDarkness and demotion to Enforcer started when he found the corpse of his Enforcer partner, Mitsuru Sasayama, dismembered and arranged in the most gruesome way.
** After making a short cameo in Season 1, Unit 2 Inspector Risa Aoyonagi seemed to be a prominent character for Season 2. being an ActionGirl and having a SugarAndIcePersonality most especially when she's with Ginoza. [[spoiler:Then, she's brutally killed in Episode 4 by her own Enforcer, Teppei Sugo, who unknowningly shot her with the Assault Dominator. Her death caused Sugo to feel guilty for shooting his boss and Ginoza refuses to talk to him afterwards. But the problem is that she's only mentioned as an afterthought in the second half]].
* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Kaoru is [[spoiler: stabbed through the heart by Enishi and has an X-shaped scar carved onto her left cheek just as Kenshin's, and is left nailed to the dojo wall, slumped in a pool of her own blood. The gruesome display was meant to send Kenshin [[DespairEventHorizon over the edge with grief]], knowing that he [[ILetGwenStacyDie failed to save his second love]]. [[HeroicBSOD It works really well]]. [[DisneyDeath She ain't dead after all]].]]
* In ''Manga/SilentMobius'', Ganossa Maximillian takes an interest in Katsumi Liqueur, the daughter of his former master Gigelf. So he puts her and her lover Roy through hell by siccing the Lucifer Hawk Damia on Roy. Against all odds, the lovers prevail against their inhuman foe. They celebrate [[GladToBeAliveSex by making love]] the next morning. [[spoiler:While Katsumi is taking a shower, Ganossa suddenly appears and disembowels Roy in an instant. Katsumi returns too late to save Roy who spends his last moments holding her hand. Through it all, Ganossa [[EvilLaugh laughs]] and urges her to [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred hate him with all her might]].]] Cue massive explosion.
* The Gung-Ho guns of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' are usually finished by one of their own after Vash claims a (usually circumstantial) victory. For example, this occurs in episode 16 where E.G. Mine nails two of his defeated former comrades atop a building, which Vash only notices once the blood drips onto the back of his head while walking. Mine then proceeds to refer to them as "decorations", making it obvious they were put there to set as examples for the Gung-Ho Guns' intolerance for failure.
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', [[spoiler: Rize]], whose existence has no purpose other than this, as the circumstances of their disappearance [[spoiler: ''sets off the entire plot'']] and their return does nothing more than give Kaneki a necessary moment of closure which allows him to justify his pursuit of power.
* Subverted by [[spoiler:Shoko]] in ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'' who survives. PlayedStraight with [[spoiler:Aina]].
* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' has Kotori killed or beheaded (in the manga) by her own brother, Fuuma, who became a member of the Dragons of Earth after Kamui made his choice to join the Dragons of Heaven. This caused Kamui to go into HeroicBSOD until Subaru comforts him and as Kakyou and Hinoto predicted that no matter what happens, Kotori is destined to die by the time Kamui decided the fate of the world.
* There are several instances of fridging in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', but one notable case is when, in a battle against [[TheDragon Shinobu Sensui]], [[spoiler:Yusuke deliberately provokes Sensui into killing him while Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama watch on helplessly, with the intention that his death will cause his friends enough rage that they will be able to defeat Sensui. Later on, Yusuke is resurrected in an exponentially more powerful form.]] This scenario also falls under the CameBackStrong and UnstoppableRage tropes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* Samantha from ''AudioPlay/WereAlive'' is killed on the floor of the Arena by a sadistic zombie who "likes to play with his food." We never actually [[GoryDiscretionShot hear her dying]] but can only imagine how gruesome it was and it leaves Datu scarred from then on.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''FanFic/AGrowingAffection'': [[spoiler: Itachi's wife is killed by Madara, who leaves her out for Itachi to see, claiming she was an intruder. Both of them know that is not true and the real reason Madara killed her.]]
* In ''[[http://www.baseportal.de/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/honeycakehorse/Circles_of_Power Circles of Power]]'', a Franchise/HarryPotter fanfic, Draco defects to the light side. In retaliation, the Death Eaters kill Draco's good friend Pansy and then break into the house where Draco has been taken in by Harry and his friends for protection, just to leave Pansy's mutilated body on Draco's bed.
* It's kind of a {{Memetic Mutation}} in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fandom to have [[spoiler: [[MasterSwordsman Lon'qu]]]] fridged via being [[spoiler:shot with arrows]], in fanworks related to [[spoiler: the BadFuture]]. This is because of the ''massive'' popularity of the [[spoiler: Lon'qu x Lissa]] pairing, how in their supports [[spoiler: Lon'qu ''does'' get (non-fatally) shot to protect her]], ''and'' the canon fact that [[spoiler: Lissa's husband canonly died protecting their kid Owain from arrows.]] [[http://feanons.dreamwidth.org/992.html?thread=504544#cmt504544 Discussed here.]]
* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'':
** Alleged to happen with [[spoiler:Narcissa Malfoy]]. According to Draco, [[spoiler:Dumbledore burned her alive as a warning to the rest of the Voldemort-supporting Malfoy family]]. UnreliableNarrator is in full force here.
** Happened more directly with [[spoiler:Hermione Granger]], leading to complaints of anti-feminism on fan sites. And the narrator is reliable this time.
* In keeping with many canon films, the ''James Bond'' FanFilm "[[WebVideo/DiamondsCut Property of a Lady]]" had this happen to Bond's girlfriend as she is specifically targeted to have an effect on him. However, Bond is wise enough to call an ambulance and it’s implied she survives.
* A rare male example in the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Symbiosis}};'' [[OriginalCharacter Atsushi]] and her young apprentice Brittany are killed when they get mind-controlled by a Rocket psychic to destroy Saffron. Sabrina (Atsushi's lover) swears revenge on the psychic that did this to her.
* In ''[[FanFic/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'', [[spoiler:Rick Sheridan's friend Cyrus is DrivenToSuicide after he suffers a brutal MindRape at the hands of the demon Cobweb. What makes this even worse is that it becomes a twofer, as Sleepwalker is eventually forced to kill his brother N'ogskak as a result of the same plot.]]
* In ''Fanfic/StraightEdge'', [[Literature/{{Worm}} Jack Slash]] killed [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Kiritsugu's]] wife just to get a reaction out of him during the Holy Grail War.
* See the "[[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost3656-motivlifeui6.jpg Ode]] to [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aeris]]." Also [[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost3656-motivaeriswj8.jpg known as]] "PatronSaint of wannabe girlfriends that get dumped The Hard Way."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In the ninth ''Literature/AlexRider'' book, ''Scorpia Rising'' -- which, when it was written, was intended to be the last book in the series -- Alex and Jack are both captured by the BigBad, Razim, a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] ex-terrorist who has become a member of the series' recurring NebulousEvilOrganisation Scorpia. Razim is fascinated by pain, and conducts extensive experiments in the hope of developing a precise measurement for it. To this end, he subjects Alex and Jack to such an experiment: [[spoiler:he gives Jack a stage-managed opportunity to escape that actually leads her into a deathtrap whilst Alex is forced to watch.]] It has nothing to do with his EvilPlan at all, he simply wants to see how much it hurts Alex.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** The first book has a rare example of the sexes being switched for this one -- [[spoiler:Khal Drogo's fatal injury and subsequent death are all to motivate Daenerys to [[TookALevelInBadass take her next level in badass]].]]
** Later on, [[spoiler:Lady Hornwood was married to Ramsay Bolton for politics, then promptly shut in a tower and left to die. She was found with her own fingers gnawed off in hunger and desperation. Her cousin Wyman Manderley was not pleased and is now plotting his revenge against House Bolton.]] Manderley is also taking revenge against House Frey, who had allied with House Bolton, to take down the Starks, the banner-lords for Houses Bolton and Manderley. Also, [[spoiler:Wyman's son Wendel was killed at The Red Wedding.]]
** Both [[spoiler: Eddard and Septa Mordane's heads are displayed on the Red Keep's walls by Joffrey]] to traumatize Sansa.
** In Tyrion's backstory, Tysha is an example of this, especially after [[spoiler: he finds out she really did love him.]] [[spoiler: Shae]] is also an example, except instead of her being killed to cause Tyrion angst, [[spoiler: Tyrion kills her]] to show that he's fallen off the deep end.
* The entire plot of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is Edmond Dantes doing this to the people who betrayed him and had him imprisoned, culminating in an {{Aesop}} about how revenge ultimately corrupts one's soul. He only stops because a murder happened he hadn't planned for, and that one of the people he'd sworn to protect as they'd kept faith in him fell in love with one of the people whose death he did plan, and only finds out at the last minute.
* John Connolly's books:
** In ''Every Dead Thing'', Charlie Parker's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer and left in the kitchen of his house for him to find.
* In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
* In ''The Killing Kind'', Charlie Parker's ex-girlfriend is found killed and he is hired to find out what happened. He is later effectively fired but ultimately chooses to continue the job so he can bring some justice to Grace Peltier and the rest of the Aroostok Baptists.
* In Leon Uris' ''Exodus'', a story about the founding of Israel, the lover of a main character is kidnapped, raped dozens of times, and dumped in pieces near her home.
* In ''{{Literature/Firestarter}}'', Vicky is murdered and stuffed behind the ironing board.
* A rare "heroic" example occurs in the ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series. The heroes adopt the habit of mutilating the bodies of slavers they kill in humiliating ways, then leaving them for other slavers to find as a warning. There's also the backstory about Barons Nerahan and Arondael during the Holtun-Bieme war: Nerahan captured Arondael's son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren during his siege of Arondael's castle, had them all gang-raped by his soldiers in sight of the castle, then catapulted them over the walls one at a time, in a failed effort to goad Arondael's garrison into a suicidal sortie against the much larger besieging force. Due to the general amnesty that ended the war, [[KarmaHoudini Nerahan is still alive]] and ruling his barony years later; Emperor Karl reflects that he'd ''love'' an excuse to depose and execute the baron, but that Nerahan is too canny ever to give him one.
* In Creator/LeoTolstoy's novelette ''Literature/HadjiMurat'', the reader is first aware of the death of [[spoiler:Hadji Murat]] when someone shows off [[spoiler:his head in a sack]]. This rather brilliantly makes a death that for the history savvy reader is [[DoomedByCanon inevitable]] something rather shocking and horrifying, just as it is to the characters in the story, who do not have the benefit of hindsight.
* Tim Rackley's young daughter, Ginny, is raped and cut up, leading to the Deputy Sheriff to go on a mad rampage in Gregg Hurwitz's ''The Kill Clause''.
* Quite early on in the first book of ''Literature/TheLastWerewolf'' trilogy, the title character [[spoiler:finds his long-time human companion's severed head in a bag in the boot of his car.]]
* In ''Literature/TheLiesOfLockeLamora'', [[spoiler:Capa Barsavi's daughter was killed by the Grey King and sent back to him in a barrel of horse urine.]]
* In the climax of ''Literature/LordOfTheClans'', [[spoiler:Blackmoore hurls the head of Thrall's human surrogate sister at his feet when the Orcs besiege his castle, trying to break his spirit. Unfortunately for him, Orcs do not work that way.]]
* In Creator/VinceFlynn's Mitch Rapp series about an elite counterterrorism agent, the protagonist's backstory includes a tale of his high school sweetheart dying in a terrorist bombing as the impetus for his career. Aside from a couple of prequel books, her character is rarely mentioned outside her death and the role it played in enlisting the protagonist into the murky world of espionage and black ops.
* In ''Literature/{{Masques}}'', there is a little girl [[spoiler: the ''only'' little girl who is named, the other kids are all boys]] whose sole purpose in the narrative is to do something so incredibly stupid that it is not even believable considering that she's little more than a toddler, [[spoiler: and, as direct result, get slaughtered by the monsters]] just so that the protagonist can ride after her, endanger herself, and [[spoiler: be taken prisoner by the bad guys]].
* In the web novel ''Ricochet', the title protagonist's romantic partner, Shyft, gets murdered by the villain Hexecutioner purely to spite Ricochet. Just to rub it in, a quick visit to an alternate universe makes it clear that Ricochet and Shyft are soul mates who were destined to be together.
* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'':
** In the backstory, this happens to Zedd's wife. She's viciously beaten and raped by D'Haran soldiers, and just to twist the knife in further, she's left for Zedd to find. Zedd, being a Wizard of the First Order, naturally attempts to heal her, only to find that doing so sets off a trap spell designed to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill her painfully]] in response to any magical healing. Ouch.
** Richard finds Kahlan like this. People stop him from healing her for that reason. It takes her months to get better.
** Richard does this with Brother Narev for Jagang to find, and then later has this done with all of the Fellowship
* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', James attempted this trope, videotaping him torturing and killing Bella to make Edward seek revenge and start a "game" with him. Lucky for Bella, Edward was fast enough to avert it.
* In ''Villains Inc.'' (sequel to ''Literature/WearingTheCape''), this is played with. Early on, Astra is presented with a superhuman murder where the victim was reduced to soup-in-a-box. Then she learns that Blackstone, one of her teammates and mentors, was killed in the same fashion in a potential future. The threat is very motivating.
* In ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', Pamela escaped from a gang of drug traffickers/pimps and becomes Kelly's girlfriend. Her brutal [[CruelAndUnusualDeath rape/torture/murder]] when she is recaptured inspires Kelly to use his SEAL training to coldly murder the entire gang over the course of the novel.
* In a rare example from ''Literature/CouncilWars'', Dionys [=McCanock=] decides against slitting Daneh's throat post-rape, just so she can go tell Edmund what was done to her.
* [[GenderFlip Gender-Flipped]] in ''Literature/{{Frostbite}}''. Mason Ashford suffers a NeckSnap from Isaiah the Strigoi, sending Rose into a HeroicBSOD.
* Cover art for a reprint of Creator/RichardBrautigan's noir fantasy ''Dreaming Of Babylon'' has detective C. Card discovering a refrigerator from which a woman's shapely foot is protruding.
* Deconstructed and parodied in ''The Refrigerator Monologues'' by Creator/CatherynneMValente, which focuses on the afterlife of six women who were (thinly disguised) famous female characters from superhero comics who have all suffered in gender-stereotypical ways. (Paige Embry is [[ComicBook/{{Spiderman}} Gwen Stacy]], etc.) The final story directly deals with this trope, parodying the trope-naming Alexandra De Witt example from ''Green Lantern''.
* Midway through ''the Great Hunt'', book two of ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime the Wheel of Time]]'', Dena is introduced, a female aspiring gleeman and love interest for returning character Thom. Soon afterwards she's found dead in their shared bed to spur Thom onto a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. She only appeared alive in a single chapter.
* Controversial Male example in the book ''Literature/HaloNewBlood'' [[spoiler: which has the Rookie]] killed near the end of the novel seemingly just to build up Buck's character.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* Music writer Tom Ewing accused Kenny Rogers's "Coward of the County" of this.
* The traditional folk song and [[Literature/ChildBallads child ballad]] "Lamkin" or Long Lankin".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* In the Literature/BookOfJob, this happened to Job's first family, who were killed off as part of Job's suffering.
* Enkidu was killed by the gods in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' in order to punish Gilgamesh, making this trope OlderThanDirt.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Literalized at ''Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} Hour of Power 7'', April 23, 2017. Merlok, a big piranha character, abandoned his match with Ashley Vox to brutalize her sidekick Jawsolyn, throwing her around garbage cans and finally throwing her into a refrigerator. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Director of Fun]] Mike Quackenbush announced he was cutting the feed, with the match being ruled a no-contest. (Jawsolyn never returned to CHIKARA.) This led to Ashley's RoaringRampageOfRevenge, culminating in her following Obariyon (formerly of The Batiri)'s advice and channeling the darkness within her to become Oceanea, and finally defeating Merlok at the SeasonFinale ''Closing Time'' on December 2nd.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Roleplay]]
* This occurs in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' with the death of [[spoiler:Adam Dodd's girlfriend, Amanda Jones,]] at the hands of Cody Jenson. It was overshadowed by the simultaneous death (and rape) of [[spoiler: Madelaine Shirohara]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Aleena the Cleric's fate[[note]]Aleena appeared in a solo get-acquainted adventure in the player's guide and was murdered with a magic missile by Bargle the wizard, giving the player a reason to seek revenge.[[/note]] in the "red box" version was some 1980s gamers' first introduction to fridge-stuffing.
** This is [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is merely the latest reincarnation of Strahd's LostLenore Tatyana. All of her previous reincarnations have ended with a premature tragic death designed to torment Strahd in his SelfInflictedHell. Also subverted in that [[RejectionAffection the feelings are VERY one-sided]] as Ireena ''[[NoYay never]]'' loved [[AbhorrentAdmirer Strahd]], her previous reincarnations' deaths were his fault, and that an OptionalPartyMember, Ireena herself can actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] this fate [[VideoGameCaringPotential if the players care enough]].
* A character with the Signature Move "Sacrificial Buddy" from ''TabletopGame/HongKongActionTheatre'' has an Extra in every one of their movies who is a friend or relative of the role they play, whose main purpose is to get killed by the bad guys (usually in this fashion) and give the role some serious motivation for revenge.
* Omi Kurita, the daughter of the ruler of the Draconis Combine in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' was assassinated by Kathrine Steiner-Davion, leader of the Federated Commonwealth, specifically because she was the lover of Kathrine's brother Victor and Victor had thwarted one of her political schemes. The revelation that she was dead sent Victor into a deep depression right as he and Kathrine were in the middle of a civil war and nearly cost him the war.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta'' sees several characters dismembered and stuffed into a fridge [[spoiler:with the purpose to preserve them and eating their flesh later]]. This happens to both men and women though, which is less usual for the trope. [[spoiler:When Koji finds the remains of his girlfriend, the player decides how he reacts about it. Neither variant ends in a good way.]]
* In the first chapter of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', [[spoiler:Kaede Akamatsu]] is revealed to be the murderer and then killed off, thus giving [[spoiler:her]] LoveInterest [[spoiler:Shuichi Saihara]] something to angst about for the rest of the game, and catalyze [[spoiler:his]] CharacterDevelopment. In fact, [[spoiler:it's revealed toward the end of the game that since Danganronpa is an in-universe TV show with real people being brainwashed into fictional characters (and dying ''real'' deaths), that those responsible deliberately made Kaede and Shuichi fall in love, thereby invoking this trope]].
* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[SatelliteCharacter Peko]] [[TheLostLenore Pekoyama]] exists to kickstart [[spoiler: Fuyuhiko's]] CharacterDevelopment upon her death - half the reason [[spoiler: he was even made into a survivor over Hiyoko]] is because the developers realised that if he died, her sacrifice would be completely pointless.
* In ''VisualNovel/YourTurnToDie'', [[spoiler:Sara's best friend Joe is marked as the Sacrifice in the first round of the DeadlyGame, and subsequently put through a CruelAndUnusualDeath, causing Sara to hallucinate in grief]]. In this case, a male supporting character is killed off to traumatise a female protagonist.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/BrokenSaints'', Shandala's [[spoiler:mother, then later, pet cat]] are fridged by Lear as part of his plan to drive her across the DespairEventHorizon so she can [[spoiler:become a living component of his KillSat weapon system.]] This is an interesting case in that it involves the planning of two identically similar deaths, done several years apart, with the second death providing the victim with final push towards [[GoMadFromTheRevelation insanity]].
* Subverted in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. [[spoiler:Cinder attempts to spite Jaune when he gets a lucky hit on her by impaling Weiss in a similar manner to how she had previously killed Pyrrha. However, doing so gave Jaune [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening the necessary trauma]] to unlock [[SuperEmpowering his Semblance]], which allowed him to heal Weiss' injuries.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/BlurTheLines'' {{subvert|edTrope}}s this trope. [[http://www.blur-the-lines.com/?p=110]]
* ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic'': Mopey pulls this to provide encouragement to Biff [[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/index.php?cid=157 here]].
* [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/02/03/episode-1090-not-sunny-d/ One humorous scene]] from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater:''
-->'''Ranger:''' Honey, I'm home. Apparently. Hmm, a note... covered in blood, hair, and brain.\\
"Dinner is in the fridge. Your Wife."\\
'''Ranger:''' How strange that she would not use her name or handwriting. Oh well! ''[looks in the fridge]'' [[BreadEggsMilkSquick O.J., '''purple stuff''', my brutally murdered wife...]]\\
''[a hail of arrows sprays from the fridge, turning Ranger into a [[PinkMist fine mist]]]''\\
'''Sarda:''' [[BondOneLiner He went home. Forever.]]
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': Padme dies at the end of episode 3 in order to provide angst for Anakin, turned Darth Vader. This of course is exactly the same as [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith the source material]], and like in the original, it gets away with it due to the fact that we knew it was coming the entire time. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that Palpatine failed to save Anakin on the banks of the lava river, and instead revived Padme (with an infusion of midi-chlorians to give her Force powers) to act as Darth Vader instead]].
-->'''Luke:''' You killed Padmé, the woman you loved. My mother!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' No.\\
'''Luke:''' You are my father!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' [[spoiler:No, Luke. I am your ''[[WhamLine mother]]'']].
* [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20101123.html This]] ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'' comic combines this trope with ''Goldilocks'', when their boss (an anthropomorphic bear) is royally pissed with the protagonists' [[HeroInsurance latest screwup]].
* Lampshaded in the superhero-{{deconstruction}} ''[[http://www.heroes-inc.net/ Heroes.inc]]'', when a retired superhero tells his wife who was just attacked to stay 'home', because he thinks the attack was meant to get at him. His wife furiously replies that she won't be his private "Woman in the fridge".
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has several EnsembleDarkHorse characters killed off rather suddenly to show the stakes of Sburb, as well as a few just plain DroppedABridgeOnHim deaths to clear out the massive CastHerd. Hussie has lampshaded both. One lampshade hanging involves Gamzee keeping the bodies of [[spoiler:Vriska and Tavros]] stuffed inside Jane's fridge. He then [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses the bodies to prototype her sprite]], which brings them back [[CameBackWrong horribly wrong]]. [[spoiler:Gamzee himself then ends up literally stuffed in a fridge (though alive) for years during [[FinalBattle Collide]].]]
* In the ''[[Webcomic/RoomiesItsWalkyJoyceAndWalky Joyce and Walky]]'' finale [[spoiler:Rachel]] was revealed to be a robot double possessed by the Head Alien. David Willis, however, realized he had done this trope (by specifically doing it to give ''Joe'' pathos, and not to finish their character arc like he had to [[spoiler:Ruth and Dina]]) and wrote a storyline in ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' specifically to avert this trope by revealing [[spoiler: Rachel had been trapped in an alternate dimension.]]
-->[[http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/40848152188/so-i-figure-i-can-finally-talk-about-how-this-big Don’t fridge your characters, folks. Sometimes you can get a pretty good story out of not doing it.]]
* ''Webcomic/OctopusPie'' heavily exaggerates this, [[spoiler: although non-canonically]] in their 2010 Halloween story arc:[[spoiler: Greg]] is cut apart and his body parts [[DeadPersonConversation self-reportedly]] stuffed into multiple cupboards throughout the house. [[spoiler: Hannah]] eventually comes across this sight, and has such a violent physical reaction to it she ends up dying as well... [[BlackComedy It's a comedy arc.]] [[http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-11-17/415-ghost-canteen/ Link]]
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] twice in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''.
** First there was when Horribus killed [[spoiler:Alt-Zoe]]. Torg is all geared up to strike Horribus down, but in the end chooses to pass on revenge in order to SaveTheWorld instead.
** Then there was when Dr. Schlock ordered [[spoiler:Feng]]'s death. Everyone expected Oasis to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after that, not stopping until she killed Doc Schlock and everyone who worked for him. Instead she [[DissonantSerenity giggles and runs off to get married]]. Oasis is [[TheMentallyDisturbed not a well person]].
* Completely subverted, with a {{lampshade|Hanging}} and ShoutOut to the trope-namer thrown in for good measure in [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/filler-comics-2007-pt-4/ this]] ''Webcomic/SuperStupor'' strip.
* Happens to Socks (who by the way was promoted to KidHero from AdorableEvilMinion for this reason) in the ''Kings War'' arc of ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}''. His death served the narrative purpose of motivating James to end a war (in one way or another). This even got a person shaped lampshade in the form of the representation of the narrative, who arranged this. The thing was literally made out of an IronicNurseryRhyme when it guided the spear that killed the kid.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/AshAndCinders'' Cinder and Azoc's mother was killed before the story even starts. As if being orphaned wasn't bad enough, Cinder later discovers her mother, a Nymph, ''was going to be used for firewood''. Her death breeds animosity between Cinder/Azoc and their WickedStepmother Phira.
* The Hangman does this to Aelia, Gaven's guide, during the Third Night of ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheExile'' by yanking her up a building and strangling her while Gaven is speaking to her, solely to spook Gaven into running into a trap set by Despair.
* This fueled the creation of Website/WomenInRefrigerators, a protest site by comic-fan-turned-writer Creator/GailSimone, who pointed out that these roles are not only [[DisposableWoman almost always applied to female characters]] but to ''lead'' characters who happen to be female. A healthy amount of debate has risen up about whether the list is good evidence or not, but the meme, at least, lives on. By the way, if you an opinion on the topic, please keep it to the discussion page.
* In the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' tale ''[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/senescence-consumption-persecution Senescence, Consumption, Persecution]]'', which is set in the [[KillEmAll Rat’s Nest]] canon, [[spoiler: SCP-590]] is killed by the Chaos Insurgency to strike a personal wound against [[spoiler: Dr. Bright,]] who becomes a member of the O5 Council in this timeline. [[spoiler: He disappears and is [[DrivenToSuicide implied to commit suicide]] shortly after this happens. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Not that it would mean much to him anyways]].]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Videos]]
* In ''WebVideo/DemoReel'', the two main women are Rebecca Stone (who has a RapeAsBackstory that she's dealing with) and the memory of Elissa Hoffman (Donnie's mom [[spoiler: who committed suicide]]). "The Review Must Go On" {{ass pull}}s that Demo Reel was a purgatory punishment for WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, and all the characters were never-alive-to-begin-with constructs to help him along.
%%* [[http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/10017129.html?thread=318617193 This]] on LJ fanficrants.
* In ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', Penny dies to fulfill Dr. Horrible's quest to kill someone to join the Evil League of Evil, despite taking away his hope in the process. Her disposable status is even lampshaded by the news coverage of the death of "Captain Hammer's girlfriend, Whats-Her-Name". She's also the only genuinely good character in the show, sealing the crap firmly into the CrapsackWorld that Dr. Horrible will now rule over.
* Anita Sarkeesian discusses this trope in the ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'' video ''[[https://youtu.be/DInYaHVSLr8 Women in Refrigerators]]''. She also mentions its overwhelming use in video games as well, in her "Tropes vs Women -- Damsel-in-Distress" series, along with it being combined with DistressedDamsel in "The Damsel in the Refrigerator".
-->"Writers are using the Women in Refrigerators trope to literally trade the female characters' life for the benefit of a male hero's story arc. They are making clear that women, even powerful female superheroes, are basically disposable."
* {{Parodied}} in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's Dark Nella Saga. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Nella]] captures Chick in parts 1 and 2 and stuffs her (alive) in a conveniently empty fridge. She gets out both times. It helps that said fridge is BiggerOnTheInside. Creator/MaraWilson also quite casually mentions that she'd been planning to kill Chick to make WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic suffer before he [[spoiler:died in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'']].
* In ''WebVideo/{{Vigilant}}'', [[spoiler: Rita]], a fully-fleshed character with a plot line, is (presumably) killed to cause [[spoiler: Wayne]] anguish (and promote character growth). [[spoiler: We're not sure she's dead yet, though.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Near the end of season three, Nikolai Jackov, (former) head of the KGB and one of the candidates for Archer's father, is brutally murdered by Barry Dillon to spite Archer. The method -- being blown up by a crude time bomb -- was to deliberately leave as little DNA for a paternity test. On learning of his death, Archer kind of frowns, then seemingly forgets Jackov ever existed as he is not mentioned once in any subsequent episodes, not even when Barry reappears two episodes later, or again in season four or in season six. The only character to mention him at all is Cheryl, when she admits to the FBI it was her fault for leading Barry to the safe house, in the ContinuityCavalcade in the season five premiere.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' has what is either a parody or a G-Rated version of this trope. In the episode "A Fistful of Felt", Arnold Wesker (AKA The Ventriloquist) has been seemingly cured of his criminal ways. As part of his treatment, Wesker has been given a new puppet: Mister Snoots. One day, Wesker returns to his apartment, only to find the refridgerator door has been left ajar. When Wesker opens the fridge, he finds Mister Snoots inside! With [[EyeScream an eye missing!]]
* Exaggerated and parodied 3 times in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode "It's Goin Down". [[Series/TwentyFour Jack]] [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Flowers's]] 3 successive girlfriends are decapitated, pushed off a skyscraper and then ''exploded in midair'', and tied to and fired from a cross-town rocket then blown up. All three are lampshaded, ending with "what kind of fucked up, ''WesternAnimation/{{Wile E Coyote|and the Roadrunner}}'' shit is that?".
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'' exaggerates it: [[spoiler:Most of the superheroes that the [[LongRunners 14-film]] series has spent amassing are [[CharactersDroppingLikeFlies mercilessly]] [[BackForTheDead massacred]] within the first half an hour or so of the 90-minute runtime, to establish the desperation of the handful that remain to try to take on Darkseid.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'':
** In an episode, assassin robots destroy several villages and kill their inhabitants (surprisingly unsettling, considering the only onscreen victims are robots) solely to draw the title character to them. Probably the [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence horrific brutality]] with which it's done, which had they been human would have bumped up the rating two or three notches.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler:Ashi]] dies as one last punch to the gut for Jack to remind him that even after [[spoiler:defeating Aku, he couldn't get everything he wanted. [[WidowedAtTheWedding Bonus points for it happening at their wedding.]]]] She possibly returns as [[AnimalMotifs a ladybug]] as a final reminder of her.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' Karai has attempted to invoke this trope several times in her attempts to hurt Splinter (whom she believes killed her mother) by targeting the guys, and hurt the guys by targeting April.
* This has happened at least twice in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', first to Ratchet--while Arcee didn't actually die, having your memory completely wiped is still pretty bad. Next episode we find out that Optimus' friend (and Sentinel's implied girlfriend) Elita was eaten alive by giant spiders. [[spoiler: Or so they thought. But as Blackarachnia, she fared little better, being a FauxActionGirl who wound up the DamselInDistress every time she appeared.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' special "Goultard the Barbarian", the villain Katar kidnapped and murdered Goultard's wife and children just to piss him off. [[spoiler:Katar wanted to make Goultard look like a more appetizing host for the parasitic rage eating demon inside him. It worked, but Katar only got to enjoy a few seconds of freedom before Goultard finished him off.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has been doing this after a five-year TimeSkip.
** [[Comicbook/TeenTitans Beast Boy]] is now on the Young Justice team after getting his superhero origin last season. But the episode "Earthlings" reveals through flashbacks and dialogue that his mother, who shared his original spotlight episode, was killed in an accident that was really orchestrated by supervillains. This traumatized Beast Boy deeply. But he ''is'' [[DeathByOriginStory an orphan in the comics]], so his mom was sadly DoomedByCanon. Also, Beast Boy wasn't even the hero Queen Bee was getting revenge on. That would be Miss Martian, who grew up idolizing Beast Boy's mother on her short-lived television show and wormed her way out of being blackmailed by Queen Bee. Queen Bee tells Marie Logan point-blank that she's only killing her for revenge, and the time stamp shows it was less than a month after the first season ended. So Marie is both murdered to hurt Miss Martian and DeathByOriginStory to enable her son to become a superhero.
** Aqualad has gone through a FaceHeelTurn after being driven mad by the death of his former girlfriend, Tula. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a ruse to that Aqualad could infiltrate the enemy's cadre. Tula certainly is dead though.]]
** Defied by the Light in "Home Fires", which features a get together/playdate involving the partners and children of the Justice League. The Light is well aware that they could easily go after the Justice League's families to hurt them, but doing so is the 'nuclear option' that would make the League come after them with a vengeance. Lady Shiva even [[spoiler: offs Ocean-Master for trying to attack the playdate]].
[[/folder]]
to:
[[noreallife]]
----
!!Examples:
[[index]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/ComicBooks
* [[StuffedIntoTheFridge/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/LiveActionTV
* StuffedIntoTheFridge/VideoGames
[[/index]]
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Aika in ''Manga/BlastOfTempest'' was killed off [[PosthumousCharacter before the series begins]] to spur Mahiro onto his RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Sort of a {{deconstruction}}; he goes to ridiculous lengths to find her killer, and is compared to Theatre/{{Hamlet}} in terms of insane, violent determination. He eventually gives up on vengeance when he learns that [[spoiler:she killed herself, even though it was partly Hakaze's fault for telling Aika about it and accidentally making her decide to set up a StableTimeLoop via suicide]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[BigBad Sosuke Aizen]] planned to ''specifically'' invoke this, killing Ichigo's friends and leaving the corpses for Ichigo to discover. [[spoiler:Ichigo appeared in BigDamnHeroes fashion and forcibly moved Aizen out of town.]]
* Mao in ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' attempts a ''layered'' version of this -- he goes after Shirley and Nunnally to get at Lelouch, and he's only going after Lelouch to get at C.C. (making it an example of going after a male character to get at a female character). Subverted in that he fails on all accounts, but his mind-reading powers end up revealing a rather intense secret about a ''different'' character Lelouch cares for a lot (also male), making it a lot more emotionally resonant.
** [[spoiler: Rolo's]] killing of [[spoiler: Shirley]], at least from a plot point of view serves primarily to distress [[spoiler: Lelouch, and drive him to work towards eliminating the Geass altogether.]]
* Happens at least ''three'' times in ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool Danganronpa 3]].''
** In the first episode, [[spoiler: [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Chisa Yukizome]]]] is the first victim of the killing game which is meant to fuel [[spoiler: her boyfriend [[GoodIsNotSoft Munakata's]] grudge against Naegi and the Remnants as a way of pitting them against each other]].
** Next would be [[spoiler: [[TheSmartGirl Kyoko Kirigiri]] who allows herself to be killed via poison so that [[TheGenericGuy Naegi]] wouldn't die for her. It's her death that motivates the boy to face off against Munakata to resolve their conflict. It's somewhat subverted as the final episode shows that Kirigiri was resurrected off-screen thanks to a special medicine]].
** And finally, we have [[spoiler: [[GamerChick Chiaki Nanami]] from Side:Despair. Her death was organized by [[UlimateEvil Junko Enoshima]] in order to mentally break her classmates and push them into becoming the future Remnants of Despair. Additionally, it's through her death that [[TheDreaded Izuku Kamakura]] is moved to tears and decides to betray Enoshima to carry out Nanami's will]].
* From ''Manga/DarkerThanBlack'': Towards the end of the second season, [[spoiler:Yoko, TheTeamNormal for the QuirkyMinibossSquad,]] is found horribly murdered, prompting [[spoiler:her girlfriend [[PsychoLesbian Mina Hazuki]]]] to make an ItsPersonal-induced attempt on the life of the person they believed responsible. [[spoiler:Thing is? She thought it was [[AntiHero Hei]]. She was wrong.]]
* May have happened in the movie of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. After all, Shinji emerging from the ruins of NERV HQ and seeing the brutally gored and eviscerated remains of Unit 02 is part of what pushed him over the DespairEventHorizon to start Third Impact.
* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'': ''Stand Alone Complex'', a killer appears who skins women alive while recording it. This was actually a case of [[spoiler:the trope being weaponized. The killer was a soldier who had been mentally conditioned and trained to go behind enemy lines and commit these atrocities to break the enemy's will to fight. Unfortunately, the mental damage was so great he never stopped]].
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' tend to use this into varying degrees. But again, Administrivia/TropesAreTools and Creator/YoshiyukiTomino had a CreatorBreakdown while working on several of the series he's in charge of. A very bad example which is ''not'' directed by Tomino is ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' where [[spoiler:Yurin's death]] in the hands of Desil Galette caused Flit into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Unknown Enemy/Vagan for the next generations.
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has a rare male example with [[spoiler:Pip Bernadotte, who dies after Zorin Blitz stabs him while he's trying to carry a blind and mutilated Seras to safety.]] Seras breaks down in tears, and is pushed over the edge when Zorin mocks [[spoiler:Pip]]'s death, calling him 'a mere insect'. [[spoiler:Seras responds by drinking his blood and becoming a fully-fledged vampire, and going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, culminating in her painting the wall with Zorin's face.]]
* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. [[spoiler: After Rena beats Rina/Ritsuko to death with a metal pipe in self-defense, she's seen stuffing Rina's body into a refrigerator in the junkyard. It's subverted in that Rina's boyfriend/partner in crime Teppei never discovers her; Rena lures him out to the junkyard and hacks him to death with her billhook before that can happen.]]
* ''Manga/KamuiDen'': The rape and subsequent death for the peasant girl Mine early in the first series becomes an inciting incident for two of the major male characters to fight the oppressive powers of their feudal domain.
* ''Manga/MayonakaNoXGiten'' Kamiya finds [[spoiler: his sister, murdered in his bed by someone who was borrowing his body.]] In a twist, he's the one who stuffs her body in a fridge as a way to hide the corpse.
* In the manga ''Manga/MPDPsycho'', Amamiya Kazuhiko's multiple personality disorder is triggered when the serial killer he's tracking mutilates his girlfriend and delivers her limbless but barely alive body to the police station in an ice [[BlackComedy chest]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** [[TheDragon Pain]] attempted to invoke this trope [[spoiler:by killing [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]] in order to anger Naruto, but it was {{subverted|Trope}} when Hinata survived (and even if she hadn't, everyone killed during the arc was revived several chapters later anyway).]]
** [[spoiler:Rin's death]] is what would directly motivate [[spoiler: Obito]] into becoming the masked man known as [[BigBad Tobi]]. Her capture is what would inevitably lead to his "death" and land him into the clutches of Madara. Made even worse with TheReveal that the trope was deliberately invoked by [[spoiler:Madara. He was the real mastermind behind Rin's capture and death (Kakashi being the one to actually finish her off was a bonus). The sole reason he targeted Rin was so he could drive Obito into despair and make him his pawn.]]
* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'':
** Shinya Kougami's StartOfDarkness and demotion to Enforcer started when he found the corpse of his Enforcer partner, Mitsuru Sasayama, dismembered and arranged in the most gruesome way.
** After making a short cameo in Season 1, Unit 2 Inspector Risa Aoyonagi seemed to be a prominent character for Season 2. being an ActionGirl and having a SugarAndIcePersonality most especially when she's with Ginoza. [[spoiler:Then, she's brutally killed in Episode 4 by her own Enforcer, Teppei Sugo, who unknowningly shot her with the Assault Dominator. Her death caused Sugo to feel guilty for shooting his boss and Ginoza refuses to talk to him afterwards. But the problem is that she's only mentioned as an afterthought in the second half]].
* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Kaoru is [[spoiler: stabbed through the heart by Enishi and has an X-shaped scar carved onto her left cheek just as Kenshin's, and is left nailed to the dojo wall, slumped in a pool of her own blood. The gruesome display was meant to send Kenshin [[DespairEventHorizon over the edge with grief]], knowing that he [[ILetGwenStacyDie failed to save his second love]]. [[HeroicBSOD It works really well]]. [[DisneyDeath She ain't dead after all]].]]
* In ''Manga/SilentMobius'', Ganossa Maximillian takes an interest in Katsumi Liqueur, the daughter of his former master Gigelf. So he puts her and her lover Roy through hell by siccing the Lucifer Hawk Damia on Roy. Against all odds, the lovers prevail against their inhuman foe. They celebrate [[GladToBeAliveSex by making love]] the next morning. [[spoiler:While Katsumi is taking a shower, Ganossa suddenly appears and disembowels Roy in an instant. Katsumi returns too late to save Roy who spends his last moments holding her hand. Through it all, Ganossa [[EvilLaugh laughs]] and urges her to [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred hate him with all her might]].]] Cue massive explosion.
* The Gung-Ho guns of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' are usually finished by one of their own after Vash claims a (usually circumstantial) victory. For example, this occurs in episode 16 where E.G. Mine nails two of his defeated former comrades atop a building, which Vash only notices once the blood drips onto the back of his head while walking. Mine then proceeds to refer to them as "decorations", making it obvious they were put there to set as
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', [[spoiler: Rize]], whose existence has no purpose other than this, as the circumstances of their disappearance [[spoiler: ''sets off the entire plot'']] and their return does nothing more than give Kaneki a necessary moment of closure which allows him
* Subverted by [[spoiler:Shoko]] in ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'' who survives. PlayedStraight with [[spoiler:Aina]].
* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' has Kotori killed or beheaded (in the manga) by her own brother, Fuuma, who became a member of the Dragons of Earth after Kamui made his choice to join the Dragons of Heaven. This caused Kamui to go into HeroicBSOD until Subaru comforts him and as Kakyou and Hinoto predicted that no matter what happens, Kotori is destined to die by the time Kamui decided the fate of the world.
* There are several instances of fridging in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', but one notable case is when, in a battle against [[TheDragon Shinobu Sensui]], [[spoiler:Yusuke deliberately provokes Sensui into killing him while Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama watch on helplessly, with the intention that his death will cause his friends enough rage that they will be able to defeat Sensui. Later on, Yusuke is resurrected in an exponentially more powerful form.]] This scenario also falls under the CameBackStrong and UnstoppableRage tropes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* Samantha from ''AudioPlay/WereAlive'' is killed on the floor of the Arena by a sadistic zombie who "likes to play with his food." We never actually [[GoryDiscretionShot hear her dying]] but can only imagine how gruesome it was and it leaves Datu scarred from then on.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''FanFic/AGrowingAffection'': [[spoiler: Itachi's wife is killed by Madara, who leaves her out for Itachi to see, claiming she was an intruder. Both of them know that is not true and the real reason Madara killed her.]]
* In ''[[http://www.baseportal.de/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/honeycakehorse/Circles_of_Power Circles of Power]]'', a Franchise/HarryPotter fanfic, Draco defects to the light side. In retaliation, the Death Eaters kill Draco's good friend Pansy and then break into the house where Draco has been taken in by Harry and his friends for protection, just to leave Pansy's mutilated body on Draco's bed.
* It's kind of a {{Memetic Mutation}} in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fandom to have [[spoiler: [[MasterSwordsman Lon'qu]]]] fridged via being [[spoiler:shot with arrows]], in fanworks related to [[spoiler: the BadFuture]]. This is because of the ''massive'' popularity of the [[spoiler: Lon'qu x Lissa]] pairing, how in their supports [[spoiler: Lon'qu ''does'' get (non-fatally) shot to protect her]], ''and'' the canon fact that [[spoiler: Lissa's husband canonly died protecting their kid Owain from arrows.]] [[http://feanons.dreamwidth.org/992.html?thread=504544#cmt504544 Discussed here.]]
* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'':
** Alleged to happen with [[spoiler:Narcissa Malfoy]]. According to Draco, [[spoiler:Dumbledore burned her alive as a warning to the rest of the Voldemort-supporting Malfoy family]]. UnreliableNarrator is in full force here.
** Happened more directly with [[spoiler:Hermione Granger]], leading to complaints of anti-feminism on fan sites. And the narrator is reliable
* In keeping with many canon films, the ''James Bond'' FanFilm "[[WebVideo/DiamondsCut Property of a Lady]]" had this happen to Bond's girlfriend as she is specifically targeted to have an effect on him. However, Bond is wise enough to call an ambulance and it’s implied she survives.
* A rare male example in the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Symbiosis}};'' [[OriginalCharacter Atsushi]] and her young apprentice Brittany are killed when they get mind-controlled by a Rocket psychic to destroy Saffron. Sabrina (Atsushi's lover) swears revenge on the psychic that did this to her.
* In ''[[FanFic/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'', [[spoiler:Rick Sheridan's friend Cyrus is DrivenToSuicide after he suffers a brutal MindRape at the hands of the demon Cobweb. What makes this even worse is that it becomes a twofer, as Sleepwalker is eventually forced to kill his brother N'ogskak as a result of the same plot.]]
* In ''Fanfic/StraightEdge'', [[Literature/{{Worm}} Jack Slash]] killed [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Kiritsugu's]] wife just to get a reaction out of him during the Holy Grail War.
* See the "[[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost3656-motivlifeui6.jpg Ode]] to [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aeris]]." Also [[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost3656-motivaeriswj8.jpg known as]] "PatronSaint of wannabe girlfriends that get dumped The Hard Way."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In the ninth ''Literature/AlexRider'' book, ''Scorpia Rising'' -- which, when it was written, was intended to be the last book in the series -- Alex and Jack are both captured by the BigBad, Razim, a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] ex-terrorist who has become a member of the series' recurring NebulousEvilOrganisation Scorpia. Razim is fascinated by pain, and conducts extensive experiments in the hope of developing a precise measurement for it. To this end, he subjects Alex and Jack to such an experiment: [[spoiler:he gives Jack a stage-managed opportunity to escape that actually leads her into a deathtrap whilst Alex is forced to watch.]] It has nothing to do with his EvilPlan at all, he simply wants to see how much it hurts Alex.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** The first book has a rare example of the sexes being switched for this one -- [[spoiler:Khal Drogo's fatal injury and subsequent death are all to motivate Daenerys to [[TookALevelInBadass take her next level in badass]].]]
** Later on, [[spoiler:Lady Hornwood was married to Ramsay Bolton for politics, then promptly shut in a tower and left to die. She was found with her own fingers gnawed off in hunger and desperation. Her cousin Wyman Manderley was not pleased and is now plotting his revenge against House Bolton.]] Manderley is also taking revenge against House Frey, who had allied with House Bolton, to take down the Starks, the banner-lords for Houses Bolton and Manderley. Also, [[spoiler:Wyman's son Wendel was killed at The Red Wedding.]]
** Both [[spoiler: Eddard and Septa Mordane's heads are displayed on the Red Keep's walls by Joffrey]] to traumatize Sansa.
** In Tyrion's backstory, Tysha is an example of this, especially after [[spoiler: he finds out she really did love him.]] [[spoiler: Shae]] is also an example, except instead of her being killed to cause Tyrion angst, [[spoiler: Tyrion kills her]] to show that he's fallen off the deep end.
* The entire plot of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is Edmond Dantes doing this to the people who betrayed him and had him imprisoned, culminating in an {{Aesop}} about how revenge ultimately corrupts one's soul. He only stops because a murder happened he hadn't planned for, and that one of the people he'd sworn to protect as they'd kept faith in him fell in love with one of the people whose death he did plan, and only finds out at the last minute.
* John Connolly's books:
** In ''Every Dead Thing'', Charlie Parker's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer and left in the kitchen of his house for him to find.
* In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
* In ''The Killing Kind'', Charlie Parker's ex-girlfriend is found killed and he is hired to find out what happened. He is later effectively fired but ultimately chooses to continue the job so he can bring some justice to Grace Peltier and the rest of the Aroostok Baptists.
* In Leon Uris' ''Exodus'', a story about the founding of Israel, the lover of a main character is kidnapped, raped dozens of times, and dumped in pieces near her home.
* In ''{{Literature/Firestarter}}'', Vicky is murdered and stuffed behind the ironing board.
* A rare "heroic" example occurs in the ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series. The heroes adopt the habit of mutilating the bodies of slavers they kill in humiliating ways, then leaving them for other slavers to find as a warning. There's also the backstory about Barons Nerahan and Arondael during the Holtun-Bieme war: Nerahan captured Arondael's son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren during his siege of Arondael's castle, had them all gang-raped by his soldiers in sight of the castle, then catapulted them over the walls one at a time, in a failed effort to goad Arondael's garrison into a suicidal sortie against the much larger besieging force. Due to the general amnesty that ended the war, [[KarmaHoudini Nerahan is still alive]] and ruling his barony years later; Emperor Karl reflects that he'd ''love'' an excuse to depose and execute the baron, but that Nerahan is too canny ever to give him one.
* In Creator/LeoTolstoy's novelette ''Literature/HadjiMurat'', the reader is first aware of the death of [[spoiler:Hadji Murat]] when someone shows off [[spoiler:his head in a sack]]. This rather brilliantly makes a death that for the history savvy reader is [[DoomedByCanon inevitable]] something rather shocking and horrifying, just as it is to the characters in the story, who do not have the benefit of hindsight.
* Tim Rackley's young daughter, Ginny, is raped and cut up, leading to the Deputy Sheriff to go on a mad rampage in Gregg Hurwitz's ''The Kill Clause''.
* Quite early on in the first book of ''Literature/TheLastWerewolf'' trilogy, the title character [[spoiler:finds his long-time human companion's severed head in a bag in the boot of his car.]]
* In ''Literature/TheLiesOfLockeLamora'', [[spoiler:Capa Barsavi's daughter was killed by the Grey King and sent back to him in a barrel of horse urine.]]
* In the climax of ''Literature/LordOfTheClans'', [[spoiler:Blackmoore hurls the head of Thrall's human surrogate sister at his feet when the Orcs besiege his castle, trying to break his spirit. Unfortunately for him, Orcs do not work that way.]]
* In Creator/VinceFlynn's Mitch Rapp series about an elite counterterrorism agent, the protagonist's backstory includes a tale of his high school sweetheart dying in a terrorist bombing as the impetus for his career. Aside from a couple of prequel books, her character is rarely mentioned outside her death and the role it played in enlisting the protagonist into the murky world of espionage and black ops.
* In ''Literature/{{Masques}}'', there is a little girl [[spoiler: the ''only'' little girl who is named, the other kids are all boys]] whose sole purpose in the narrative is to do something so incredibly stupid that it is not even believable considering that she's little more than a toddler, [[spoiler: and, as direct result, get slaughtered by the monsters]] just so that the protagonist can ride after her, endanger herself, and [[spoiler: be taken prisoner by the bad guys]].
* In the web novel ''Ricochet', the title protagonist's romantic partner, Shyft, gets murdered by the villain Hexecutioner purely to spite Ricochet. Just to rub it in, a quick visit to an alternate universe makes it clear that Ricochet and Shyft are soul mates who were destined to be together.
* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'':
** In the backstory, this happens to Zedd's wife. She's viciously beaten and raped by D'Haran soldiers, and just to twist the knife in further, she's left for Zedd to find. Zedd, being a Wizard of the First Order, naturally attempts to heal her, only to find that doing so sets off a trap spell designed to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill her painfully]] in response to any magical healing. Ouch.
** Richard finds Kahlan like this. People stop him from healing her for that reason. It takes her months to get better.
** Richard does this with Brother Narev for Jagang to find, and then later has this done with all of the Fellowship
* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', James attempted this trope, videotaping him torturing and killing Bella to make Edward seek revenge and start a "game" with him. Lucky for Bella, Edward was fast enough to avert it.
* In ''Villains Inc.'' (sequel to ''Literature/WearingTheCape''), this is played with. Early on, Astra is presented with a superhuman murder where the victim was reduced to soup-in-a-box. Then she learns that Blackstone, one of her teammates and mentors, was killed in the same fashion in a potential future. The threat is very motivating.
* In ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', Pamela escaped from a gang of drug traffickers/pimps and becomes Kelly's girlfriend. Her brutal [[CruelAndUnusualDeath rape/torture/murder]] when she is recaptured inspires Kelly to use his SEAL training to coldly murder the entire gang over the course of the novel.
* In a rare example from ''Literature/CouncilWars'', Dionys [=McCanock=] decides against slitting Daneh's throat post-rape, just so she can go tell Edmund what was done to her.
* [[GenderFlip Gender-Flipped]] in ''Literature/{{Frostbite}}''. Mason Ashford suffers a NeckSnap from Isaiah the Strigoi, sending Rose into a HeroicBSOD.
* Cover art for a reprint of Creator/RichardBrautigan's noir fantasy ''Dreaming Of Babylon'' has detective C. Card discovering a refrigerator from which a woman's shapely foot is protruding.
* Deconstructed and parodied in ''The Refrigerator Monologues'' by Creator/CatherynneMValente, which focuses on the afterlife of six women who were (thinly disguised) famous female characters from superhero comics who have all suffered in gender-stereotypical ways. (Paige Embry is [[ComicBook/{{Spiderman}} Gwen Stacy]], etc.) The final story directly deals with this trope, parodying the trope-naming Alexandra De Witt example from ''Green Lantern''.
* Midway through ''the Great Hunt'', book two of ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime the Wheel of Time]]'', Dena is introduced, a female aspiring gleeman and love interest for returning character Thom. Soon afterwards she's found dead in their shared bed to spur Thom onto a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. She only appeared alive in a single chapter.
* Controversial Male example in the book ''Literature/HaloNewBlood'' [[spoiler: which has the Rookie]] killed near the end of the novel seemingly just to build up Buck's character.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* Music writer Tom Ewing accused Kenny Rogers's "Coward of the County" of this.
* The traditional folk song and [[Literature/ChildBallads child ballad]] "Lamkin" or Long Lankin".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* In the Literature/BookOfJob, this happened to Job's first family, who were killed off as part of Job's suffering.
* Enkidu was killed by the gods in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' in order to punish Gilgamesh, making this trope OlderThanDirt.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Literalized at ''Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} Hour of Power 7'', April 23, 2017. Merlok, a big piranha character, abandoned his match with Ashley Vox to brutalize her sidekick Jawsolyn, throwing her around garbage cans and finally throwing her into a refrigerator. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Director of Fun]] Mike Quackenbush announced he was cutting the feed, with the match being ruled a no-contest. (Jawsolyn never returned to CHIKARA.) This led to Ashley's RoaringRampageOfRevenge, culminating in her following Obariyon (formerly of The Batiri)'s advice and channeling the darkness within her to become Oceanea, and finally defeating Merlok at the SeasonFinale ''Closing Time'' on December 2nd.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Roleplay]]
* This occurs in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' with the death of [[spoiler:Adam Dodd's girlfriend, Amanda Jones,]] at the hands of Cody Jenson. It was overshadowed by the simultaneous death (and rape) of [[spoiler: Madelaine Shirohara]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Aleena the Cleric's fate[[note]]Aleena appeared in a solo get-acquainted adventure in the player's guide and was murdered with a magic missile by Bargle the wizard, giving the player a reason to seek revenge.[[/note]] in the "red box" version was some 1980s gamers' first introduction to fridge-stuffing.
** This is [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is
* A character with the Signature Move "Sacrificial Buddy" from ''TabletopGame/HongKongActionTheatre'' has an Extra in every one of their movies who is a friend or relative of the role they play, whose main purpose is to get killed by the bad guys (usually in this fashion) and give the role some serious motivation for revenge.
* Omi Kurita, the daughter of the ruler of the Draconis Combine in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' was assassinated by Kathrine Steiner-Davion, leader of the Federated Commonwealth, specifically because she was the lover of Kathrine's brother Victor and Victor had thwarted one of her political schemes. The revelation that she was dead sent Victor into a deep depression right as he and Kathrine were in the middle of a civil war and nearly cost him the war.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta'' sees several characters dismembered and stuffed into a fridge [[spoiler:with the purpose to preserve them and eating their flesh later]]. This happens to both men and women though, which is less usual for the trope. [[spoiler:When Koji finds the remains of his girlfriend, the player decides how he reacts about it. Neither variant ends in a good way.]]
* In the first chapter of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', [[spoiler:Kaede Akamatsu]] is revealed to be the murderer and then killed off, thus giving [[spoiler:her]] LoveInterest [[spoiler:Shuichi Saihara]] something to angst about for the rest of the game, and catalyze [[spoiler:his]] CharacterDevelopment. In fact, [[spoiler:it's revealed toward the end of the game that since Danganronpa is an in-universe TV show with real people being brainwashed into fictional characters (and dying ''real'' deaths), that those responsible deliberately made Kaede and Shuichi fall in love, thereby invoking this trope]].
* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[SatelliteCharacter Peko]] [[TheLostLenore Pekoyama]] exists to kickstart [[spoiler: Fuyuhiko's]] CharacterDevelopment upon her death - half the reason [[spoiler: he was even made into a survivor over Hiyoko]] is because the developers realised that if he died, her sacrifice would be completely pointless.
* In ''VisualNovel/YourTurnToDie'', [[spoiler:Sara's best friend Joe is marked as the Sacrifice in the first round of the DeadlyGame, and subsequently put through a CruelAndUnusualDeath, causing Sara to hallucinate in grief]]. In this case, a male supporting character is killed off to traumatise a female protagonist.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/BrokenSaints'', Shandala's [[spoiler:mother, then later, pet cat]] are fridged by Lear as part of his plan to drive her across the DespairEventHorizon so she can [[spoiler:become a living component of his KillSat weapon system.]] This is an interesting case in that it involves the planning of two identically similar deaths, done several years apart, with the second death providing the victim with final push towards [[GoMadFromTheRevelation insanity]].
* Subverted in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. [[spoiler:Cinder attempts to spite Jaune when he gets a lucky hit on her by impaling Weiss in a similar manner to how she had previously killed Pyrrha. However, doing so gave Jaune [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening the necessary trauma]] to unlock [[SuperEmpowering his Semblance]], which allowed him to heal Weiss' injuries.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/BlurTheLines'' {{subvert|edTrope}}s this trope. [[http://www.blur-the-lines.com/?p=110]]
* ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic'': Mopey pulls this to provide encouragement to Biff [[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/index.php?cid=157 here]].
* [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/02/03/episode-1090-not-sunny-d/ One humorous scene]] from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater:''
-->'''Ranger:''' Honey, I'm home. Apparently. Hmm, a note... covered in blood, hair, and brain.\\
"Dinner is in the fridge. Your Wife."\\
'''Ranger:''' How strange that she would not use her name or handwriting. Oh well! ''[looks in the fridge]'' [[BreadEggsMilkSquick O.J., '''purple stuff''', my brutally murdered wife...]]\\
''[a hail of arrows sprays from the fridge, turning Ranger into a [[PinkMist fine mist]]]''\\
'''Sarda:''' [[BondOneLiner He went home. Forever.]]
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': Padme dies at the end of episode 3 in order to provide angst for Anakin, turned Darth Vader. This of course is exactly the same as [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith the source material]], and like in the original, it gets away with it due to the fact that we knew it was coming the entire time. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that Palpatine failed to save Anakin on the banks of the lava river, and instead revived Padme (with an infusion of midi-chlorians to give her Force powers) to act as Darth Vader instead]].
-->'''Luke:''' You killed Padmé, the woman you loved. My mother!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' No.\\
'''Luke:''' You are my father!\\
'''Darth Vader:''' [[spoiler:No, Luke. I am your ''[[WhamLine mother]]'']].
* [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20101123.html This]] ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'' comic combines this trope with ''Goldilocks'', when their boss (an anthropomorphic bear) is royally pissed with the protagonists' [[HeroInsurance latest screwup]].
* Lampshaded in the superhero-{{deconstruction}} ''[[http://www.heroes-inc.net/ Heroes.inc]]'', when a retired superhero tells his wife who was just attacked to stay 'home', because he thinks the attack was meant to get at him. His wife furiously replies that she won't be his private "Woman in the fridge".
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has several EnsembleDarkHorse characters killed off rather suddenly to show the stakes of Sburb, as well as a few just plain DroppedABridgeOnHim deaths to clear out the massive CastHerd. Hussie has lampshaded both. One lampshade hanging involves Gamzee keeping the bodies of [[spoiler:Vriska and Tavros]] stuffed inside Jane's fridge. He then [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses the bodies to prototype her sprite]], which brings them back [[CameBackWrong horribly wrong]]. [[spoiler:Gamzee himself then ends up literally stuffed in a fridge (though alive) for years during [[FinalBattle Collide]].]]
* In the ''[[Webcomic/RoomiesItsWalkyJoyceAndWalky Joyce and Walky]]'' finale [[spoiler:Rachel]] was revealed to be a robot double possessed by the Head Alien. David Willis, however, realized he had done this trope (by specifically doing it to give ''Joe'' pathos, and not to finish their character arc like he had to [[spoiler:Ruth and Dina]]) and wrote a storyline in ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' specifically to avert this trope by revealing [[spoiler: Rachel had been trapped in an alternate dimension.]]
-->[[http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/40848152188/so-i-figure-i-can-finally-talk-about-how-this-big Don’t fridge your characters, folks. Sometimes you can get a pretty good story out of not doing it.]]
* ''Webcomic/OctopusPie'' heavily exaggerates this, [[spoiler: although non-canonically]] in their 2010 Halloween story arc:[[spoiler: Greg]] is cut apart and his body parts [[DeadPersonConversation self-reportedly]] stuffed into multiple cupboards throughout the house. [[spoiler: Hannah]] eventually comes across this sight, and has such a violent physical reaction to it she ends up dying as well... [[BlackComedy It's a comedy arc.]] [[http://www.octopuspie.com/2010-11-17/415-ghost-canteen/ Link]]
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] twice in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''.
** First there was when Horribus killed [[spoiler:Alt-Zoe]]. Torg is all geared up to strike Horribus down, but in the end chooses to pass on revenge in order to SaveTheWorld instead.
** Then there was when Dr. Schlock ordered [[spoiler:Feng]]'s death. Everyone expected Oasis to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after that, not stopping until she killed Doc Schlock and everyone who worked for him. Instead she [[DissonantSerenity giggles and runs off to get married]]. Oasis is [[TheMentallyDisturbed not a well person]].
* Completely subverted, with a {{lampshade|Hanging}} and ShoutOut to the trope-namer thrown in for good measure in [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/filler-comics-2007-pt-4/ this]] ''Webcomic/SuperStupor'' strip.
* Happens to Socks (who by the way was promoted to KidHero from AdorableEvilMinion for this reason) in the ''Kings War'' arc of ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}''. His death served the narrative purpose of motivating James to end a war (in one way or another). This even got a person shaped lampshade in the form of the representation of the narrative, who arranged this. The thing was literally made out of an IronicNurseryRhyme when it guided the spear that killed the kid.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/AshAndCinders'' Cinder and Azoc's mother was killed before the story even starts. As if being orphaned wasn't bad enough, Cinder later discovers her mother, a Nymph, ''was going to be used for firewood''. Her death breeds animosity between Cinder/Azoc and their WickedStepmother Phira.
* The Hangman does this to Aelia, Gaven's guide, during the Third Night of ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheExile'' by yanking her up a building and strangling her while Gaven is speaking to her, solely to spook Gaven into running into a trap set by Despair.
* This fueled the creation of Website/WomenInRefrigerators, a protest site by comic-fan-turned-writer Creator/GailSimone, who pointed out that these roles are not only [[DisposableWoman almost always applied to female characters]] but to ''lead'' characters who happen to be female. A healthy amount of debate has risen up about whether the list is good evidence or not, but the meme, at least, lives on. By the way, if you an opinion on the topic, please keep it to the discussion page.
* In the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' tale ''[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/senescence-consumption-persecution Senescence, Consumption, Persecution]]'', which is set in the [[KillEmAll Rat’s Nest]] canon, [[spoiler: SCP-590]] is killed by the Chaos Insurgency to strike a personal wound against [[spoiler: Dr. Bright,]] who becomes a member of the O5 Council in this timeline. [[spoiler: He disappears and is [[DrivenToSuicide implied to commit suicide]] shortly after this happens. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Not that it would mean much to him anyways]].]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Videos]]
* In ''WebVideo/DemoReel'', the two main women are Rebecca Stone (who has a RapeAsBackstory that she's dealing with) and the memory of Elissa Hoffman (Donnie's mom [[spoiler: who committed suicide]]). "The Review Must Go On" {{ass pull}}s that Demo Reel was a purgatory punishment for WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, and all the characters were never-alive-to-begin-with constructs to help him along.
%%* [[http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/10017129.html?thread=318617193 This]] on LJ fanficrants.
* In ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', Penny dies to fulfill Dr. Horrible's quest to kill someone to join the Evil League of Evil, despite taking away his hope in the process. Her disposable status is even lampshaded by the news coverage of the death of "Captain Hammer's girlfriend, Whats-Her-Name". She's also the only genuinely good character in the show, sealing the crap firmly into the CrapsackWorld that Dr. Horrible will now rule over.
* Anita Sarkeesian discusses this trope in the ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'' video ''[[https://youtu.be/DInYaHVSLr8 Women in Refrigerators]]''. She also mentions its overwhelming use in video games as well, in her "Tropes vs Women -- Damsel-in-Distress" series, along with it being combined with DistressedDamsel in "The Damsel in the Refrigerator".
-->"Writers are using the Women in Refrigerators trope to literally trade the female characters' life for the benefit of a male hero's story arc. They are making clear that women, even powerful female superheroes, are basically disposable."
* {{Parodied}} in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's Dark Nella Saga. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Nella]] captures Chick in parts 1 and 2 and stuffs her (alive) in a conveniently empty fridge. She gets out both times. It helps that said fridge is BiggerOnTheInside. Creator/MaraWilson also quite casually mentions that she'd been planning to kill Chick to make WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic suffer before he [[spoiler:died in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'']].
* In ''WebVideo/{{Vigilant}}'', [[spoiler: Rita]], a fully-fleshed character with a plot line, is (presumably) killed to cause [[spoiler: Wayne]] anguish (and promote character growth). [[spoiler: We're not sure she's dead yet, though.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Near the end of season three, Nikolai Jackov, (former) head of the KGB and one of the candidates for Archer's father, is brutally murdered by Barry Dillon to spite Archer. The method -- being blown up by a crude time bomb -- was to deliberately leave as little DNA for a paternity test. On learning of his death, Archer kind of frowns, then seemingly forgets Jackov ever existed as he is not mentioned once in any subsequent episodes, not even when Barry reappears two episodes later, or again in season four or in season six. The only character to mention him at all is Cheryl, when she admits to the FBI it was her fault for leading Barry to the safe house, in the ContinuityCavalcade in the season five premiere.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' has what is either a parody or a G-Rated version of this trope. In the episode "A Fistful of Felt", Arnold Wesker (AKA The Ventriloquist) has been seemingly cured of his criminal ways. As part of his treatment, Wesker has been given a new puppet: Mister Snoots. One day, Wesker returns to his apartment, only to find the refridgerator door has been left ajar. When Wesker opens the fridge, he finds Mister Snoots inside! With [[EyeScream an eye missing!]]
* Exaggerated and parodied 3 times in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode "It's Goin Down". [[Series/TwentyFour Jack]] [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Flowers's]] 3 successive girlfriends are decapitated, pushed off a skyscraper and then ''exploded in midair'', and tied to and fired from a cross-town rocket then blown up. All three are lampshaded, ending with "what kind of fucked up, ''WesternAnimation/{{Wile E Coyote|and the Roadrunner}}'' shit is that?".
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'' exaggerates it: [[spoiler:Most of the superheroes that the [[LongRunners 14-film]] series has spent amassing are [[CharactersDroppingLikeFlies mercilessly]] [[BackForTheDead massacred]] within the first half an hour or so of the 90-minute runtime, to establish the desperation of the handful that remain to try to take on Darkseid.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'':
** In an episode, assassin robots destroy several villages and kill their inhabitants (surprisingly unsettling, considering the only onscreen victims are robots) solely to draw the title character to them. Probably the [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence horrific brutality]] with which it's done, which had they been human would have bumped up the rating two or three notches.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler:Ashi]] dies as one last punch to the gut for Jack to remind him that even after [[spoiler:defeating Aku, he couldn't get everything he wanted. [[WidowedAtTheWedding Bonus points for it happening at their wedding.]]]] She possibly returns as [[AnimalMotifs a ladybug]] as a final reminder of her.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' Karai has attempted to invoke this trope several times in her attempts to hurt Splinter (whom she believes killed her mother) by targeting the guys, and hurt the guys by targeting April.
* This has happened at least twice in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', first to Ratchet--while Arcee didn't actually die, having your memory completely wiped is still pretty bad. Next episode we find out that Optimus' friend (and Sentinel's implied girlfriend) Elita was eaten alive by giant spiders. [[spoiler: Or so they thought. But as Blackarachnia, she fared little better, being a FauxActionGirl who wound up the DamselInDistress every time she appeared.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' special "Goultard the Barbarian", the villain Katar kidnapped and murdered Goultard's wife and children just to piss him off. [[spoiler:Katar wanted to make Goultard look like a more appetizing host for the parasitic rage eating demon inside him. It worked, but Katar only got to enjoy a few seconds of freedom before Goultard finished him off.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has been doing this after a five-year TimeSkip.
** [[Comicbook/TeenTitans Beast Boy]] is now on the Young Justice team after getting his superhero origin last season. But the episode "Earthlings" reveals through flashbacks and dialogue that his mother, who shared his original spotlight episode, was killed in an accident that was really orchestrated by supervillains. This traumatized Beast Boy deeply. But he ''is'' [[DeathByOriginStory an orphan in the comics]], so his mom was sadly DoomedByCanon. Also, Beast Boy wasn't even the hero Queen Bee was getting revenge on. That would be Miss Martian, who grew up idolizing Beast Boy's mother on her short-lived television show and wormed her way out of being blackmailed by Queen Bee. Queen Bee tells Marie Logan point-blank that she's only killing her for revenge, and the time stamp shows it was less than a month after the first season ended. So Marie is both murdered to hurt Miss Martian and DeathByOriginStory to enable her son to become a superhero.
** Aqualad has gone through a FaceHeelTurn after being driven mad by the death of his former girlfriend, Tula. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a ruse to that Aqualad could infiltrate the enemy's cadre. Tula certainly is dead though.]]
** Defied by the Light in "Home Fires", which features a get together/playdate involving the partners and children of the Justice League. The Light is well aware that they could easily go after the Justice League's families to hurt them, but doing so is the 'nuclear option' that would make the League come after them with a vengeance. Lady Shiva even [[spoiler: offs Ocean-Master for trying to attack the playdate]].
[[/folder]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 26,27 (click to see context) from:
It should be noted that while the term most commonly applies to a male character's female love interest, it can actually be used in numerous different scenarios of both sexes and different relations from romantic, platonic and familial. The core part is that one character is killed (or at least, has something ''very'' bad happen to them) for the sake of causing emotional trauma for the target, with said victim often acting as a plot device more than a real character in the worst-case scenarios. As such, while this trope is usually AlwaysFemale as some would think, male examples do exist.
to:
It should be noted that while the term most commonly applies to a male character's female love interest, it can actually be used in numerous different scenarios of both sexes all genders and different relations from romantic, platonic and familial. The core part is that one character is killed (or at least, has something ''very'' bad happen to them) for the sake of causing emotional trauma for the target, with said victim often acting as a plot device more than a real character in the worst-case scenarios. As such, while this trope is usually AlwaysFemale as some would think, male examples do exist.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* In the web novel ''Ricochet', the title protagonist's romantic partner, Shyft, gets murdered by the villain Hexecutioner purely to spite Ricochet. Just to rub it in, a quick visit to an alternate universe makes it clear that Ricochet and Shyft are soul mates who were destined to be together.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
2nd example from Code Geass doesn't count bc it doesn't meet most of the criteria/conditions (wasn't brutal, wasn't intended to torment anyone / motivate them into action). It's best described by "The Plot Reaper" trope.
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
* Aika in ''Manga/BlastOfTempest'': killed off [[PosthumousCharacter before the series begins]] to spur Mahiro onto his RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Sort of a {{deconstruction}}; he goes to ridiculous lengths to find her killer, and is compared to Theatre/{{Hamlet}} in terms of insane, violent determination. He eventually gives up on vengeance when he learns that [[spoiler:she killed herself, even though it was partly Hakaze's fault for telling Aika about it and accidentally making her decide to set up a StableTimeLoop via suicide]].
to:
* Aika in ''Manga/BlastOfTempest'': ''Manga/BlastOfTempest'' was killed off [[PosthumousCharacter before the series begins]] to spur Mahiro onto his RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Sort of a {{deconstruction}}; he goes to ridiculous lengths to find her killer, and is compared to Theatre/{{Hamlet}} in terms of insane, violent determination. He eventually gives up on vengeance when he learns that [[spoiler:she killed herself, even though it was partly Hakaze's fault for telling Aika about it and accidentally making her decide to set up a StableTimeLoop via suicide]].
Deleted line(s) 47 (click to see context) :
** [[spoiler: Euphemia]]'s death at the hands of [[spoiler: Zero/''Lelouch'']] looks like this from Suzaku's point of view, with an extra layer of ''betrayal'' on top. In case you were wondering why he's so upset in season two. [[spoiler: Again, this show is better than that and the truth is a lot more complicated.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 228 (click to see context) from:
** Defied by the Light in "Home Fires", which features a playdate among the children of the Justice League. The Light is well aware that they could easily go after the Justice League's families to hurt them, but doing so is the 'nuclear option' that would make the League come after them with a vengeance. Lady Shiva even [[spoiler: offs Ocean-Master for trying to attack the playdate]].
to:
** Defied by the Light in "Home Fires", which features a playdate among get together/playdate involving the partners and children of the Justice League. The Light is well aware that they could easily go after the Justice League's families to hurt them, but doing so is the 'nuclear option' that would make the League come after them with a vengeance. Lady Shiva even [[spoiler: offs Ocean-Master for trying to attack the playdate]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Deleted line(s) 88 (click to see context) :
*** Subverted in that instance, in that the effect on the protagonist is quite different from that intended by the killer: instead of vowing revenge and turning Dark in pursuit of it, he doubles down on his opposition to pain and death by vowing to find a way of bringing his murdered friend back to life.
Changed line(s) 104,106 (click to see context) from:
* Charlie Parker's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer and left in the kitchen of his house for him to find in John Connolly's ''Every Dead Thing''.
** Connolly tends to use women like that. In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
** In ''The Killing Kind'', Charlie Parker's ex-girlfriend is found killed and he is hired to find out what happened. He is later effectively fired but ultimately chooses to continue the job so he can bring some justice to Grace Peltier and the rest of the Aroostok Baptists.
** Connolly tends to use women like that. In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
** In ''The Killing Kind'', Charlie Parker's ex-girlfriend is found killed and he is hired to find out what happened. He is later effectively fired but ultimately chooses to continue the job so he can bring some justice to Grace Peltier and the rest of the Aroostok Baptists.
to:
* John Connolly's books:
** In ''Every Dead Thing'', Charlie Parker's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer and left in the kitchen of his house for him tofind in John Connolly's ''Every Dead Thing''.
** Connolly tends to use women like that.find.
* In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
** * In ''The Killing Kind'', Charlie Parker's ex-girlfriend is found killed and he is hired to find out what happened. He is later effectively fired but ultimately chooses to continue the job so he can bring some justice to Grace Peltier and the rest of the Aroostok Baptists.
** In ''Every Dead Thing'', Charlie Parker's wife and child are murdered by a serial killer and left in the kitchen of his house for him to
** Connolly tends to use women like that.
* In ''Dark Hollow'', Charlie Parker is motivated by the gory death of Billy Purdue's wife and son.
Changed line(s) 109,110 (click to see context) from:
* A rare "heroic" example occurs in the ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series. The heroes adopt the habit of mutilating the bodies of slavers they kill in humiliating ways, then leaving them for other slavers to find as a warning.
** There's also the backstory about Barons Nerahan and Arondael during the Holtun-Bieme war: Nerahan captured Arondael's son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren during his siege of Arondael's castle, had them all gang-raped by his soldiers in sight of the castle, then catapulted them over the walls one at a time, in a failed effort to goad Arondael's garrison into a suicidal sortie against the much larger besieging force. Due to the general amnesty that ended the war, [[KarmaHoudini Nerahan is still alive]] and ruling his barony years later; Emperor Karl reflects that he'd ''love'' an excuse to depose and execute the baron, but that Nerahan is too canny ever to give him one.
** There's also the backstory about Barons Nerahan and Arondael during the Holtun-Bieme war: Nerahan captured Arondael's son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren during his siege of Arondael's castle, had them all gang-raped by his soldiers in sight of the castle, then catapulted them over the walls one at a time, in a failed effort to goad Arondael's garrison into a suicidal sortie against the much larger besieging force. Due to the general amnesty that ended the war, [[KarmaHoudini Nerahan is still alive]] and ruling his barony years later; Emperor Karl reflects that he'd ''love'' an excuse to depose and execute the baron, but that Nerahan is too canny ever to give him one.
to:
* A rare "heroic" example occurs in the ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series. The heroes adopt the habit of mutilating the bodies of slavers they kill in humiliating ways, then leaving them for other slavers to find as a warning.
**warning. There's also the backstory about Barons Nerahan and Arondael during the Holtun-Bieme war: Nerahan captured Arondael's son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren during his siege of Arondael's castle, had them all gang-raped by his soldiers in sight of the castle, then catapulted them over the walls one at a time, in a failed effort to goad Arondael's garrison into a suicidal sortie against the much larger besieging force. Due to the general amnesty that ended the war, [[KarmaHoudini Nerahan is still alive]] and ruling his barony years later; Emperor Karl reflects that he'd ''love'' an excuse to depose and execute the baron, but that Nerahan is too canny ever to give him one.
**
Changed line(s) 118 (click to see context) from:
* In the backstory of ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'', this happens to Zedd's wife. She's viciously beaten and raped by D'Haran soldiers, and just to twist the knife in further, she's left for Zedd to find. Zedd, being a Wizard of the First Order, naturally attempts to heal her, only to find that doing so sets off a trap spell designed to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill her painfully]] in response to any magical healing. Ouch.
to:
* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'':
** In thebackstory of ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'', backstory, this happens to Zedd's wife. She's viciously beaten and raped by D'Haran soldiers, and just to twist the knife in further, she's left for Zedd to find. Zedd, being a Wizard of the First Order, naturally attempts to heal her, only to find that doing so sets off a trap spell designed to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath kill her painfully]] in response to any magical healing. Ouch.
** In the
Changed line(s) 151,152 (click to see context) from:
* Aleena the Cleric's fate[[note]]Aleena appeared in a solo get-acquainted adventure in the player's guide and was murdered with a magic missile by Bargle the wizard, giving the player a reason to seek revenge.[[/note]] in the "red box" version of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' was some 1980s gamers' first introduction to fridge-stuffing.
** Cruelly [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is merely the latest reincarnation of Strahd's LostLenore Tatyana. All of her previous reincarnations have ended with a premature tragic death designed to torment Strahd in his SelfInflictedHell. Also subverted in that [[RejectionAffection the feelings are VERY one-sided]] as Ireena ''[[NoYay never]]'' loved [[AbhorrentAdmirer Strahd]], her previous reincarnations' deaths were his fault, and that an OptionalPartyMember, Ireena herself can actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] this fate [[VideoGameCaringPotential if the players care enough]].
** Cruelly [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is merely the latest reincarnation of Strahd's LostLenore Tatyana. All of her previous reincarnations have ended with a premature tragic death designed to torment Strahd in his SelfInflictedHell. Also subverted in that [[RejectionAffection the feelings are VERY one-sided]] as Ireena ''[[NoYay never]]'' loved [[AbhorrentAdmirer Strahd]], her previous reincarnations' deaths were his fault, and that an OptionalPartyMember, Ireena herself can actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] this fate [[VideoGameCaringPotential if the players care enough]].
to:
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Aleena the Cleric's fate[[note]]Aleena appeared in a solo get-acquainted adventure in the player's guide and was murdered with a magic missile by Bargle the wizard, giving the player a reason to seek revenge.[[/note]] in the "red box" versionof ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' was some 1980s gamers' first introduction to fridge-stuffing.
**Cruelly This is [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is merely the latest reincarnation of Strahd's LostLenore Tatyana. All of her previous reincarnations have ended with a premature tragic death designed to torment Strahd in his SelfInflictedHell. Also subverted in that [[RejectionAffection the feelings are VERY one-sided]] as Ireena ''[[NoYay never]]'' loved [[AbhorrentAdmirer Strahd]], her previous reincarnations' deaths were his fault, and that an OptionalPartyMember, Ireena herself can actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] this fate [[VideoGameCaringPotential if the players care enough]].
** Aleena the Cleric's fate[[note]]Aleena appeared in a solo get-acquainted adventure in the player's guide and was murdered with a magic missile by Bargle the wizard, giving the player a reason to seek revenge.[[/note]] in the "red box" version
**
Changed line(s) 160 (click to see context) from:
** [[SatelliteCharacter Peko]] [[TheLostLenore Pekoyama]] in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' basically exists to kickstart [[spoiler: Fuyuhiko's]] CharacterDevelopment upon her death - half the reason [[spoiler: he was even made into a survivor over Hiyoko]] is because the developers realised that if he died, her sacrifice would be completely pointless.
to:
Changed line(s) 185,186 (click to see context) from:
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has several EnsembleDarkHorse characters killed off rather suddenly to show the stakes of Sburb, as well as a few just plain DroppedABridgeOnHim deaths to clear out the massive CastHerd. Hussie has lampshaded both.
** One lampshade hanging involves Gamzee keeping the bodies of [[spoiler:Vriska and Tavros]] stuffed inside Jane's fridge. He then [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses the bodies to prototype her sprite]], which brings them back [[CameBackWrong horribly wrong]]. [[spoiler:Gamzee himself then ends up literally stuffed in a fridge (though alive) for years during [[FinalBattle Collide]].]]
** One lampshade hanging involves Gamzee keeping the bodies of [[spoiler:Vriska and Tavros]] stuffed inside Jane's fridge. He then [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses the bodies to prototype her sprite]], which brings them back [[CameBackWrong horribly wrong]]. [[spoiler:Gamzee himself then ends up literally stuffed in a fridge (though alive) for years during [[FinalBattle Collide]].]]
to:
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has several EnsembleDarkHorse characters killed off rather suddenly to show the stakes of Sburb, as well as a few just plain DroppedABridgeOnHim deaths to clear out the massive CastHerd. Hussie has lampshaded both.
**both. One lampshade hanging involves Gamzee keeping the bodies of [[spoiler:Vriska and Tavros]] stuffed inside Jane's fridge. He then [[CrossesTheLineTwice uses the bodies to prototype her sprite]], which brings them back [[CameBackWrong horribly wrong]]. [[spoiler:Gamzee himself then ends up literally stuffed in a fridge (though alive) for years during [[FinalBattle Collide]].]]
**
Changed line(s) 219 (click to see context) from:
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' assassin robots destroy several villages and kill their inhabitants (surprisingly unsettling, considering the only onscreen victims are robots) solely to draw the title character to them. Probably the [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence horrific brutality]] with which it's done, which had they been human would have bumped up the rating two or three notches.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'':
** In anepisode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' episode, assassin robots destroy several villages and kill their inhabitants (surprisingly unsettling, considering the only onscreen victims are robots) solely to draw the title character to them. Probably the [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence horrific brutality]] with which it's done, which had they been human would have bumped up the rating two or three notches.
** In an
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Added Irena to Tabletop
Added DiffLines:
** Cruelly [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] In-Universe with the ''Curse of Strahd'' gameplay module, where the unfortunate [[SpiritedYoungLady Ireena Kolyana]] is merely the latest reincarnation of Strahd's LostLenore Tatyana. All of her previous reincarnations have ended with a premature tragic death designed to torment Strahd in his SelfInflictedHell. Also subverted in that [[RejectionAffection the feelings are VERY one-sided]] as Ireena ''[[NoYay never]]'' loved [[AbhorrentAdmirer Strahd]], her previous reincarnations' deaths were his fault, and that an OptionalPartyMember, Ireena herself can actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] this fate [[VideoGameCaringPotential if the players care enough]].
