Black Widow: Difference between revisions

The name "black widow" comes from the official FBI designation for this kind of killer and from the black widow spider, which is so named because of the occasional habit of female black widow spiders (particularly the Australian redback spiders and the southern black widows) to devour their mates after mating. For this reason the trope may be paired with [[Arachnid Appearance and Attire]] to ''really'' drive the spider metaphor home.

 

 

Not to be confused with [[Death by Sex]] or any of the many characters named "The Black Widow", though many of them do fit the trope. Compare [[Yandere]] and [[Comforting the Widow]]. See also [[Widow Woman]] for other widow tropes. See [[The Bluebeard]] for the [[Spear Counterpart]] of this trope. Leads to [[Will]] tropes.

 

{{examples}}

 

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** And when Blaise is revealed to be black, this gives us an amazing [[Stealth Pun]].

* A real-life example is in the non-fiction book 'Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets' (later made into the popular TV drama ''[[Homicide: Life On the Street]]'') which goes into detail on the case of Geraldine Parish, who was murdering her husbands and relatives (using a contract killer) for insurance money. An FBI profile mentions that the typical 'black widow' killer is an older and less attractive woman than the beautiful young fatales of Hollywood stereotype.

* Lady D from ''[[Henry Hatsworth]]'', who hangs around a graveyard swamp and stands on a giant wedding cake/fort, shooting skulls out of a fake groom at anyone who rejects her.

* The talking black widow spider in ''[[King's Quest VI Heir Today Gone Tomorrow|King's Quest VI]]''.

* In ''[[A Vampyre Story]]'', the Baroness, previous owner of the castle in which the protagonist is currently imprisoned, is heavily implied to be one of these; that, or crazy unlucky in marriage. In her old bedroom is a shelf full of funerary urns, each containing the remains of a husband. Whatever the reason, she's spent so little time actually married that she has to resort to black magic in order to have a child, namely the villain of the piece (well, maybe "resort" is the wrong word; she was a witch to begin with).

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', your female character can learn an ability by this name, which allows you to charm and manipulate members of the opposite sex with ease. Also, this perk grants a minor combat damage increase against male characters. ''[[The Bluebeard|Lady Killer]]'' is essentially the same perk for men.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Hilariously she's right on both counts.

* In ''[[American Dad]]'' Stan's mother is set up to be this but subverted because {{spoiler|Stan has been stealing her dates to keep her 'safe'.}}

* In ''[[Code Monkeys]]'', Mr. Larrity is a rare, repeatedly successful male example. How he can keep this success when he profits obscenely off of it and stuffs his wives to keep in his office, we don't know.

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Black Widow]]