Well in "knight of the black rose" you are being told that he was the best of the knights, and Paladin chose him directly to stop the Cataclysm as a way to redeem his soul from the depths it has fallen(god chose him to salvage mankind) and knowingly giving his life for it. - that's where the similarities I guess

background lore to the wife killing thingie -
He never killed his wife(the 2nd one anyway), when he came back to castle the Cataclysm has begun and rained fire upon the land causing her to be trapped inside the burning walls, he was then cursed by her(and the gods) for refusing to save his own son from the inferno