History Main / DragonsPreferPrincesses

* ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'': As the books are based on traditional myths and fairy tales, most evil dragons find themselves forced to capture a maiden, preferably a princess, at some point. This forms a major plot point in the second book, ''One Good Knight'', which is 1/3 the myth of Andromeda, 1/3 George and the Dragon [[spoiler:(although the dragon didn't actually have much choice in the matter, being under a compulsion at the time)]], and 1/3 trying very hard NOT to have the endings of either of those legends happen.

In medieval stories, this often goes hand in hand with DragonsVersusKnights, as the knight must defeat the dragon to save the princess.

This trope is often a setup for the StandardHeroReward to whoever saves the princess.

* In ''[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/More_English_Fairy_Tales/The_Little_Bull-Calf The Little Bull-Calf]]'', a boy runs away from his wicked stepfather with the calf, because his father gave it to him, and with its advice succeeds in killing the dragon.

* Deconstructed in the Creator/TamoraPierce short story "Plain Magic". Not only is the young girl part nonsense (dragons simply see a staked girl as easy prey), but human flesh makes them ill and start flaming. Nearly half the valley gets burned down thanks to the villages giving it their daughters, and it's only stopped when a passing peddler who actually knows what she's doing manages to capture the dragon herself, saving the would-be sacrifice in the process.

* ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'': Played with. While dragons do traditionally kidnap princesses, Cimorene fled to the dragons in ''Dealing with Dragons'' to escape traditional life as a princess and forge her own path. Most of the princesses are in fact captives and rather silly. A later book in the series also establishes that the stereotype of dragons eating princesses is untrue (which makes sense, given that the first book explains that there aren't enough princesses to go around). The first book also lampshades the StandardHeroReward aspect with one character speculating that it's surprising that more princesses aren't voluntarily working for dragons, since it pretty much guarantees a good marriage, although another surmises that part of the reason most don't is that their life expectancy drops significantly if the dragon happens to lose its temper.

* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/swanmaiden/stories/lang.html The Nine Pea-Hens and the Golden Apples]]'', the prince rescues a princess from a dragon. When it chases after them, their horses talk, and the dragon's horse is persuaded to throw and kill it.
%%* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/7merchant1911.html The Merchant]]'', a merchant's son saves the princess.%%From what?

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/173479/rescue Rescue]]'': Hilariously subverted: the knight has to save the dragon''ess'' from the princess she's holding captive... and this somehow winds up with them becoming two of [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Discord]]'s grandparents.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' deserves an honorable mention, even though Bowser isn't [[OurDragonsAreDifferent a typical kind of dragon]].

Related to SaveThePrincess, DamselInDistress, IHaveYouNowMyPretty, MonsterMisogyny, occasionally to VirginSacrifice.

* Part of the backstory revealed in ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' was that the dragon Draco had loved the queen (played by Creator/JulieChristie) back when she was princess, and so later donated part of his heart to save her son, leading to tragic consequences for her.

* In ''Zog'' by Julia Donaldson, kidnapping princesses is an essential part of dragon education. The dragon of the title, who has failed everything so far and been bandaged up by a RebelliousPrincess who wants to be a doctor, becomes her [[DragonRider flying ambulance]] instead.

* ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'': As the books are based on traditional myths and fairy tales, most evil dragons find themselves forced to capture a maiden, preferably a princess, at some point. This forms a major plot point in the second book, ''One Good Knight'', which is 1/3 the myth of Andromeda, 1/3 George and the Dragon [[spoiler:(although the dragon didn't actually have much choice in the matter, being under a compulsion at the time)]] and 1/3 trying very hard NOT to have the endings of either of those legends happen.

* The speculative-science book ''The Flight of Dragons'' by Peter Dickinson (quite different from, though related to, the film of that name) offers an explanation of ''why'' Dragons Prefer Princesses: it's the diamonds. The real-world dragons he theorizes used hydrogen gas for lift, which they got by breaking down large quantities of limestone in special acidic stomachs. To break the limestone into chunks for easier digestion, they had a crop like a bird's, but where birds have gravel in their crops to grind their food, the dragons needed something harder: yep, diamonds. When humans tried offering them tribute to get them to stop raiding their towns, they figured out that a pretty girl bedecked in diamonds was the ticket. Too bad they didn't figure out they could have offered the diamonds without the girl. (This also explains the dragon's hoard of gold: it's the discards, after the diamonds have been pried out.)

* The ''Literature/InCryptid'' series takes this in a new direction. The women found around dragon lairs, commonly known as Dragon Princesses, are a species of Cryptid that happen to look human, and have a symbiotic relationship with dragons. Both require gold to maintain their health for unknown reasons, so the princesses gather the gold, [[DragonHoard and the dragons protect it]]. Later investigations reveal that [[spoiler:the dragon princesses are actually [[BizarreSexualDimorphism female dragons]]]].

* This is apparently OlderThanDirt: in Myth/MesopotamianMythology, a dragon named Kur kidnaps the beautiful goddess Ereshkigal and takes her to the Netherworld, forcing her to become the queen of the plane for eternity. In a twist, although the dragon is defeated by Enki and she later gains some sympathetic moments in her interactions with Nergal, she is technically never rescued from her prison. Though given that she has turned it into a full fledged kingdom, it's easy to guess why she doesn't want to go anymore.

** A genderflipped version exists in the myth of Sybaris, a she-dragon terrorising the countryside around Delphi. When the people asked Apollo how to get rid of the dragon, the god told them to sacrifice a young man to the beast. Handsome Alkyoneus was chosen by lot and as he was led to the dragon's cave to be sacrificed, a brave young man happened to cross their path who fell in love with Alkyoneus and demanded to be sacrificed in his stead.

* Inverted in Chinese Mythology, where dragons are more likely to rape ''middle aged men''. No, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_Chinese_mythology#Supernatural_encounters seriously]].
** Since dragons are often viewed as divine beings or kind guardians, there are also a number of happily married dragon/human couples. For example, a legend about Amur river(Heilong Jiang in Chinese, means black dragon river) has a human-dragon hybrid protagonist whose mother is a human. He can transfer into a black dragon when needed. With some help from the villagers, He defeated a evil white dragon lived in the Amur river, who frequently floods the local areas. The river was called black dragon river ever since. Interestingly, the dragon hybrid used to get bullied when he was little. His tail was cut off by his human uncle, who threw a kitchen knife at him when angered, and earned him the nickname "bald tail Li". He then left the village (maybe to live with his dad?) and only returned when he was fully grown, and heard the village was in trouble. Similar folklores (without the cutting tail bit) can be found all over China, starring many human-dragon relationships. Both male and female dragons can be found. Some of them have tragic endings, often feature the dragon or human turns into stone, or their tears become a river, to make a story for the local geology.

* ''My Dragon Life, My Dragon Wife'': Soul wants a beautiful maiden for her lair, because she's lonely and wants someone to [[CuddleBug cuddle]], which her "hostage" is happy to oblige.

In medieval stories, this often goes hand in hand with DragonsVersusKnights.

** Since dragons are often viewed as divine beings or kind guardians, there are also a number of happily married dragon/human couples. For example, a legend about Amur river(Heilong Jiang in Chinese, means black dragon river) has a human-dragon hybrid protagonist whose mother is a human. He can transfer into a black dragon when needed. With some help from the villagers, He defeated a evil white dragon lived in the Amur river, who frequently floods the local areas. The river was called black dragon river ever since. Interestingly, the dragon hybrid used to get bullied when he was little. His tail was cut off by his human uncle, who threw a kitchen knife at him when angered, and earned him the nickname "bald tail Li". He then left the village (maybe to live with his dad?) and only returned when he was fully grown, and heard the village was in trouble. Similar folklores (without the cutting tail bit) can be found all over China, starring many human-dragon relationships. Some of them have tragic endings, often feature the dragon or human turns into stone, or their tears become a river, to make a story for the local geology.

** Since dragons are often viewed as divine beings or kind guardians, there are also a number of happily married dragon/human couples. For example, a legend about Amur river(Heilong Jiang in Chinese, means black dragon river) has a human-dragon hybrid protagonist whose mother is a human. He can transfer into a black dragon when needed. With some help from the villagers, He defeated a evil white dragon lived in the Amur river, who frequently floods the local areas. The river was called black dragon river ever since. Interestingly, the dragon hybrid used to get bullied when he was little. His tail was cut off by his human uncle, who threw a kitchen knife at him when angered, and earned him the nickname "bald tail Li". He then left the village (maybe to live with his dad?) and only returned when he was fully grown, and heard the village was in trouble. Similar folklores (without the cutting tail bit) can be found all over China, starring many human-dragon relationships. Some of them have tragic endings, often feature the dragon or human turn into stone, or their tears become a river, to make a story for the local geology.

** Since dragons are often viewed as Devine beings or kind guardians, there are also a number of happily married dragon/human couples. For example, a legend about Amur river(Heilong Jiang in Chinese, means black dragon river) has a human-dragon hybrid protagonist whose mother is a human. He can transfer into a black dragon when needed. With some help from the villagers, He defeated a evil white dragon lived in the Amur river, who frequently floods the local areas. The river was called black dragon river ever since. Interestingly, the dragon hybrid used to get bullied when he was little. His tail was cut off by his human uncle, who threw a kitchen knife at him when angered, and earned him the nickname "bald tail Li". He then left the village (maybe to live with his dad?) and only returned when he was fully grown, and heard the village was in trouble. Similar folklores (without the cutting tail bit) can be found all over China, starring many human-dragon relationships.

This is one of the older tropes. Everyone knows how the typical Dragon myth goes. Either a dragon steals a princess or a princess is given to that dragon as an offering. Where the story goes from there is not always so clear, but the beginning is where the trope lies.

* [[http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22849 Metal styles explained through dragon/princess story]]

->''"Cimorene left in disgust and went out to the castle garden. She was very discouraged. It looked as if she were going to marry the prince of Sathem-by-the-Mountains whether she wanted to or not.\\
'I'd rather be eaten by a dragon,' she muttered.\\
'That can be arranged,' said a voice from beside her left slipper."''
-->-- '''Creator/PatriciaCWrede''', ''[[Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles Dealing with Dragons]]''

* Characters/DisneyDucksComicUniverse: In one story, there's a school play about a princess who was captured by a dragon. Several accidents with the scenery force the students to rewrite the story so that a whirlwind carries the princess to the dragon's lair.