History Main / FairytaleMotifs

* ''Anime/Bucchigiri'' is heavily inspired by the original [[Literature/Aladdin Aladdin story]], such as the main protagonist having a name similar to the titular character who finds a genie [[OurGeniesOurDifferent or Honki Person]] who "helps him" on his quest to conquer the heart of a princess themed love interest. The main setting along with the background of the Honki People take multiple references to the ''1001 Nights'' collection.

** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEdaClawthorne Eda Clawthorne]]'s famed exceptional power, penchant for fire magic, solitary living space, seemingly advanced age, and small collection of magical servants might bring to mind Baba Yaga, a powerful witch of Slavic folklore. When her house comes to life and walks on a pair of bird legs, the comparison is even more appropriate, as Baba Yaga's hut famously walks on a pair of chicken legs.

* Being a ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fanfic, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12783735/25/RWBY-A-Grimm-fate RWBY: A Grimm Fate]]'' continues the fairy tale motif for its main character: Fenrir Lupus. The author directly stated that he was based on TheBigBadWolf. He was originally an [[AnimalisticAbomination Alpha]] [[SavageWolf Beowolf]] before being converted [[HumanityEnsues into a wolf Faunus]], his Semblance is the ability to unleash [[AnIcePerson freezing]] [[MightyRoar roars in the form of sound waves]], and the chapter he unlocks his Semblance is also titled "Huff and Puff", a reference to "The Three Little Pigs". He's also paired with Ruby Rose, thus directly playing into TheBigBadWolf connection with Little Red Riding Hood.

* In ''Literature/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', the alien White Queen is told about Literature/AliceInWonderland, and- much to the storyteller's surprise- identifies with the titular character. Although Alice was human and vulnerable, in contrast to the White Queen's alien strength, both saw themselves as just normal people in a strange land.

* The ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' episode "Malice In Wonderland" had demons exploiting ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' to corrupt innocents. One demon disguised herself as a white rabbit, luring teens with Alice-like names (Alistair, Alexis etc.) underground and driving them mad. When Billie gets sucked in, she's chased by an army of playing cards and put on trial.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': Vanny/Vanessa is heavily associated with princess imagery, most notably in the "Princess Quest" minigames seen in ''[[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysVRHelpWanted Help Wanted]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach Security Breach]]''. Said minigames are implied to be her [[FightingFromTheInside attempting to fight off Glitchtrap's influence]], told through a dungeon crawler featuring a princess player character fleeing from (and later fighting) shadowy rabbit monsters inside a sprawling castle. Said imagery both emphasizes [[CorruptTheCutie the innate tragedy]] of [[BrainwashedAndCrazy her situation]] as well as plays [[NothingNiceAboutSugarAndSpice a direct contrast against her villainous actions]].

* ''VideoGame/TheNightOfTheRabbit'': The game premise, a kid who follows a rabbit into a magical world, is reminiscent of Literature/AliceInWonderland.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' In [=SBurb=], all players are given a particular class and aspect that determines their powers. The classes are themed around typical HighFantasy character types such as 'prince', 'witch', and 'knight'. Then there's the kingdoms of Derse and Prospit who double up this trope with ChessMotifs, as well as the fact that all Sburb players are considered to be princes or princesses of one or the other. Then there's Terezi loving dragons and Tavros liking fairies (and since god tier trolls possess wings, they're sort of fairies as well) and Feferi being an actual princess. Of course, all the fantasy elements are mixed with a good deal of [[ScienceFantasy science fiction and technology]] as well.

* ''Anime/{{Ponyo|On The Cliff By The Sea}}'' was inspired by "Little Mermaid". It's shown a lot with the whole 'true love' theme...and Ponyo being, ya know, a fish girl turned human.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'': While the original movie is an adaptation of ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', the sequel reveals the backstory of Elsa and Anna's parents, Agnarr and Iduna, which is strikingly similar to the ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''. A free-spirited girl (the mermaid/Iduna) from one realm rescues the prince of a realm foreign/antagonistic to her own and falls in love with him.

* ''Webcomic/WhaleStarTheGyeongseongMermaid'': After Su-a compares herself to a fish, content so long as she has basic necessities provided for her, Uihyeon compares her instead to the title character of Literature/TheLittleMermaid. The story itself is a broad retelling, since Su-a falls in love with him but loses her voice.

* Being a ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fanfic, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12783735/25/RWBY-A-Grimm-fate RWBY: A Grimm Fate]]'' continues the fairy tale motif for its main character: Fenrir Lupus. The author directly stated that he was based on TheBigBadWolf. He was originally an [[AnimalisticAbomination Alpha]] [[SavageWolf Beowolf]] before being converted [[HumanityEnsues into a wolf Faunus]], his Semblance is the ability to unleash [[AnIcePerson freezing]] [[MakeMeWannaShout roars in the form of sound waves]], and the chapter he unlocks his Semblance is also titled "Huff and Puff", a reference to "The Three Little Pigs". He's also paired with Ruby Rose, thus directly playing into TheBigBadWolf connection with Little Red Riding Hood.

* In ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', the alien White Queen is told about Literature/AliceInWonderland, and- much to the storyteller's surprise- identifies with the titular character. Although Alice was human and vulnerable, in contrast to the White Queen's alien strength, both saw themselves as just normal people in a strange land.

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' uses a Fairytale Motif (the romance fairytale of the Prince as male love interest saving the Princess) for major drama. Gender roles in fairy tales are throughly played with, explored, subverted and deconstructed, sometimes in the most ''brutal'' ways imaginable.
* ''Manga/SkipBeat'' 's Kyouko seems to believes that fairies are real, and very often acts following Literature/{{Cinderella}}-like {{Fairy Tale}}s tropes, seeing the (mostly villainous) characters she interprets as princesses under a curse. There is not {{Wrong Genre Savvy}}ness, just a girl whose life has been so horrible she just prefer to believe she could be rescued and become a [[PrincessClassic Real Princess]], even if she ''knows'' it isn't. Pity nobody had informed her how TheFairFolk and the Old Fairy Tales truly are...

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' uses a fairy tale (or several) to foreshadow the antagonist's modus operandi.
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' uses the tale of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Taro Urashima Taro]] as a constant recurring motif and theme, with most of the characters having connections to it, most literally [[spoiler:Faye]].
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* ''Manga/{{Pretear}}'', plain and simple. Although, considering it's based on "Literature/SnowWhite", maybe that's not really surprising.
* ''Anime/CyberTeamInAkihabara'' invokes many fairy tales motifs, but the main one is the wish of 13 year old protagonist Hibari for meeting and falling in love with a fairy tale prince and live HappilyEverAfter with him. Her CharacterDevelopment is essentially to get rid of that mindset, usually via BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.
* ''Manga/{{Arago}}'' uses a great many motifs from fairy tales and mythology in general, and it tends to go with the older versions of the stories.
* ''Gaba Kawa'' actually follows the theme/basic plot of "Literature/TheLittleMermaid", becoming more obvious about it in the final two chapters.

* ''Anime/{{Penguindrum}}'' has had allusions to various fairytales involving apples, but so far the most prominent motif seems to be the resemblance of the siblings' lives to an in-universe fairytale about a man named [[GenderBlenderName Mary]] and his three little lambs offending a goddess.
* Alice from ''VisualNovel/WitchOnTheHolyNight'' possesses magic which revolves around fairy tales.
* The manga ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'' is based on the tale of "Snow White". (The title literally means "Red-haired Snow White".) The first chapter in particular has a lot of tributes to the original story.
* ''Anime/{{Ponyo|On The Cliff By The Sea}}'' was inspired by "Little Mermaid". It's shown a lot with the whole 'true love' theme...and Ponyo being, ya know, a fish girl turned human.

* ''Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls'', as expected from the title, has a whole lot of Cinderella imagery. There's lines about becoming princesses, glass slippers, clocks striking midnight, and episode titles that reference aspects of the fairy tale are everywhere. It keeps with the theme of unknowns becoming famous.
* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' draws a lot of elements from ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter''. Most major characters' names and personalities are derived from characters from the original story, though a few are named for the subjects of Princess Kaguya's {{Impossible Task}}s. For example, Yu Ishigami is named for one of Princess Kaguya's suitors, while his LoveInterest Tsubame Koyasu is named after the swallow's cowry shell that Kaguya tasked him with retrieving; one chapter of the manga even has Kaguya Shinomiya tell Ishigami "Make Tsubame Koyasu yours", to which he responds "What kind of impossible task is that?!"
* Aya Tsuji from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' has the Stand named Cinderella, which is named after the hair metal band [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_(band) Cinderella]] (as is the series tradition of MusicalThemeNaming), but also evokes the fairy tale as well: her powers involve altering someone's appearance so that they can attain better luck and love life, albeit only for a limited time. The in-universe explanation is that her powers are born from her desire to be like the FairyGodmother of the aforementioned story.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Klara wears a red cape like Little Red Riding Hood, is married to TheBluebeard, and summons thickets of thorns to defend herself a la ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''. She even has her own Prince Charming... or rather, Princess Powerful.

* Based on the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' series below, the ''Fanfic/VariousVytalVentures'' fanfic expands upon many established Fairytale Motifs, particularly with the inclusion of GrannyClassic grandma Amber Rose, the grandmother of Ruby who makes appearances in two separate chapters.

* In the crossover ''Fanfic/BlackSky'':
** Dorea and Xanxus are frequently compared to a princess and a dragon, with the twist that Dorea is the kind to ''marry'' the dragon rather than seek to escape him.
** Terrence Higgs pledges himself to Dorea, becoming her devoted Knight. After dyeing his hair green, he gains the nickname "Green Knight" as the Arthurian figure.
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/5320397/chapters/18743981 A Northern Dragoness]]'' gives us the classical pattern of the fair princess - Daena Targaryen - locked away in a tower by a cruel dragon - her brother Baelor - and saved from this fate by a good-hearted man from noble birth - Jonnel Stark. It does subvert a little bit the habitual motif as Jonnel does not fight Baelor for Daena's hand but relies on a promise made to his father by the previous monarch to give a royal princess as a bride to the Stark heir.
* As indicated by the title, ''Fanfic/TheChangelingSequence'' makes use of ChangelingTale. When Bruce Wayne is introduced to his biological son Damian, he immediately compares him to a cuckoo in a robin's nest, referring to the fact a changeling is a child who doesn't belong in the family because of his fey origins.
* ''Fanfic/SeventhEndmostVision'' uses these for chapter titles, and also as recurring motifs in-story. Tifa is compared to ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' while recovering from her fall from the Plate, and then to AndroclesLion when she chooses to defend the doctor who helped her recover, [[AdaptationalHeroism Sephiroth]].
* ''Fanfic/ToHellAndBackArrowverse'' gives a rather subtle yet strong Arthurian motif to the Merlyn family.
** Just like King Arthur's kingdom was doomed by his bastard son Mordred, Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking is ruined by his illegitimate and adulterous child: [[spoiler:Oliver Queen]]. [[spoiler:An older retelling of the legend also claims Arthur tried to kill a young Mordred by putting him on a ship rigged to sink, just like Malcolm almost killed Oliver by blowin up the ''Queen's Gambit'']].
** The Merlyn men also suffer from letting themselves love someone else, like Merlin the wizard suffered for loving his pupil Vivian. For Malcolm and Tommy, falling in love then losing the woman they love leads them to become LoveMakesYouEvil than LoveMakesYouDumb, however.

* The Chilean arthouse stop-motion film ''WesternAnimation/TheWolfHouse'' takes many elements from the fairytale ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'' (Such as a symbolic BigBadWolf stalking the main characters from outside their house) and puts a more sinister twist on them.

%%* The first ''Film/SexAndTheCity'' film had a general Cinderella theme to it.

%%* ''Film/MirrorMask''

%%* ''Film/TheFall''
* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' features a quest to rescue someone before the clock strikes twelve - as well as goblins, trolls and fairies. Sarah also gets to briefly [[Literature/{{Cinderella}} go to a ball]] with a PimpedOutDress. Jareth also warns Hoggle that if Sarah kisses him, he'll turn him into a prince (which is apparently AFateWorseThanDeath in this universe). Since Sarah is a lover of fairy tales (her first scene has her essentially LARP-ing in a park), this is pretty justified.
* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'' has lots of fairy tale motifs, including fairies, elves and trolls.
* ''Film/EdwardScissorHands'' uses lots of elements of ''Beauty & the Beast'', putting the story from the Beast's perspective.
%%* Many of the works of JanSvankmajer offer examples of this.
* ''Film/TheCityOfLostChildren'' is a CyberPunk story where a bunch of children are kidnapped in obvious parallels to Hansel and Gretel, and the village idiot must save them.
%%* ''Film/{{Willow}}''
%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''
%%Needs more context to differentiate from ShoutOut* ''Film/TheMatrix'' draws on [[Literature/AliceInWonderland a modern fairy tale]]: "You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
%%* Film/HomeMovie.
* ''Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet'':
** The Gardener grew a magical rose that puts ladies into sleep -- probably for a hundred years -- if they get hurt by its thorn. From ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''. However, a kiss did not wake them up, and the rose was actually used to invoke the coma.
** The Gardener managed to grow fast-sprouting beans and he used their stalks to carry him up to windows of New York apartments which he robbed. From ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk''.
* ''Film/MaidInManhattan'' is an obvious Cinderella story. The protagonist is a maid in a hotel, also of an ethnic minority. There's a degree of classism between her and her love interest - who is a rich white senator. Yes there is also a ball where she isn't recognised by anyone - and she has to leave before midnight.
* Rachel in ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' has been mockingly referred to as Cinderella, seeing how she was able to date Singapore's most eligible bachelor. Her "fairy godmothers" are Peik Lin and Oliver who dressed her up for the wedding ceremony. Also after [[spoiler: running away from the wedding reception]], there was a shot of her bare feet, as if she had lost her heels (she was simply holding them).

* ''Film/AnotherCinderellaStory'': Mary is in a CinderellaPlot with her as Cinderella, Dominique as the WickedStepmother, Britt and Bree as the stepsisters, and Joey as PrinceCharming. Tami is the FairyGodmother. She has her family help clean up Mary's house and provides her with a dress for the ball. Tami's vehicle that she drives Mary to the ball in is orange and resembles a pumpkin, aka the pumpkin carriage. Tami even calls it The Great Pumpkin.
* ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'' with ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'', the film even directly references it. Robot child David sets on a quest to BecomeARealBoy, looking for the Blue Fairy who will grant him his wish, alongside him comes supertoy Teddy acting as a Jimminy Cricket-esque voice of conscience.
* ''Film/HocusPocus'' has some to ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'', with the boy's parents sending him out of the house with his sister which leads to them visiting the witches' house. The witches attempt to eat one child and lock two others in cages and the heroes attempt to finish them off by burning them in a furnace. The original script would have even had the witches using candy to entice children to come to their home.
* ''Film/{{Hanna}}'' features numerous references, despite the fact that it is also a spy thriller. Hanna is the young girl raised by her father in the woods, whose mother died at a young age. The antagonist has shades of both the BigBadWolf and an EvilStepmother.

* Creator/JacquelineWilson's ''Midnight'' involves an idealistic young girl obsessed with the fairy characters of her favourite author. The fantasy and idealism represented by the fairies are her escape from a world of cynical, self-obsessed people.
%%* In ''The Power of the Shade'' by Jacqueline Wilson, an early and largely-forgotten novel, about a girl who becomes fixated on the idea of having magical powers.
* It seems that the entire ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms 500 Kingdoms]]'' series by Creator/MercedesLackey was created so she could play with every fairy tale trope ever created, from fairy godmothers to the dragon and the princess.
%%* Creator/GeorgeMacDonald, in nearly all his fantasy stories.
%%* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia:'' Used as a prominent part of the FantasyKitchenSink.

* ''Literature/TalesoftheBigBadWolf'' uses Red Riding Hood and The Wild Swans as a guide to establishing characters and themes for two separate volumes, "Tales of the Big Bad Wolf" and "Queen of Swans."

%%* ''Series/OnceUponATime's'' entire shtick.
* ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' and ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' mix in fairytale elements with its other magical themes. For example, TheMentor is a WinterRoyalLady, the SixthRanger is a KnightInShiningArmor who was introduced as a {{Bewitched Amphibian|s}}, and TheDragon is a [[TheBigBadWolf Big Bad Wolf]]-themed BlackKnight.
%%* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' is all about this.

* The ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' episode "Malice In Wonderland" had demons exploiting ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' to corrupt innocents. One demon disguised herself as a white rabbit, luring teens with Alice-like names (Alistair, Alexis etc.) underground and driving them mad. When Billie gets sucked in, she's chased by an army of playing cards and put on trial.
* Two episodes of ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'':
** "The Tale of the Final Wish" - the protagonist is a fairy tale lover and is constantly teased for it. She makes a wish that everyone would leave her alone - and everyone ends up in an enchanted sleep. Also includes a couple of Shout Outs to ''Alice In Wonderland'' and ''Snow White''.
** "The Tale of the Pinball Wizard" - the protagonist gets sucked into a pinball game with a fairy tale theme. He must fight a WickedWitch and help a PrincessClassic regain her throne. However despite this, [[spoiler: it's infamous for having a massive DownerEnding]].

* ''Series/KamenRiderDen-O'' uses this for the Imagin-Momotaros is ''Literature/{{Momotaro}}'', Urataros is Urashima Taro, Kintaros is Kintaro the Golden Boy, Ryutaros is Taro, the Dragon Boy, Sieg is Swan Lake, Deneb (and by extension his master Yuto Sakurai and his fiance Airi Nogami) is ''UsefulNotes/{{Tanabata}}''.
* In ''Series/HotelDelLuna'', main protagonists Man-wol and Chan-sung have a "Beauty and the Beast" dynamic but with the genders swapped. Man-wol is the "beast" who is a great beauty but she possesses a rough, often cruel personality developed over time. Chan-sung is the "beauty" who is handsome and compassionate and he is the one to help Man-wol heal.
* ''Series/CinderellaAndTheFourKnights'': Ha-won tries to disabuse some children of the Cinderella story in the opening, claiming that princes aren't real and you have to make your own way in the world. She herself is a young woman abused by her WickedStepmother who becomes proximal to wealth after she falls in with the absurdly wealthy Kang family.

%%[[folder:Music]]
%%* Music/JonathanCoulton's "The Princess Who Saved Herself"
%%[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/TheNightOfTheRabbit'': The game premise, a kid who follows a rabbit into a magical world, is reminiscent of Literature/AliceInWonderland.

* The ''VideoGame/DarkParables'' series effectively runs on this trope. It references and intertwines literally dozens of classic fairy tales, and even those which have not been actively present in the series thus far often appear in a passive form such as illustration.
* Link and Zelda of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' are always different characters in different circumstances with each incarnation, but at their core, Link is a knight saving Princess Zelda from the monster (who's usually Ganon(dorf), but not always).
* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' 2 villains run by this. For example, the one whose motif is ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'' is AnIcePerson.
* Handsome Jack in ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' incorporates a bit of WickedStepmother (keeping [[spoiler: his own daughter locked in a tower/KillSat]]) and VainSorceress (goes to disturbing ends to keep himself looking young and handsome) into his design. In one DLC based on Tina's RPG sessions, the antagonistic "Handsome Sorcerer" is clearly modeled on Jack.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': Vanny/Vanessa is heavily associated with princess imagery, most notably in the "Princess Quest" minigames seen in ''[[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysVRHelpWanted Help Wanted]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach Security Breach]]''. Said minigames are implied to be her [[FightingFromTheInside attempting to fight off Glitchtrap's influence]], told through a dungeon crawler featuring a princess player character fleeing from (and later fighting) shadowy rabbit monsters inside a sprawling castle. Said imagery both emphasizes [[CorruptTheCutie the innate tragedy]] of [[BrainwashedAndCrazy her situation]] as well as plays [[NothingNiceAboutSugarAndSpice a direct contrast against her villainous actions]].
* ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara 4'' has Kyogoku Maria, Azai Nagamasa's older sister, who pays nod to The Evil Queen from ''Literature/SnowWhite'' (being a VainSorceress and disharminizing a [[RavenHairIvorySkin black-haired, pale-skinned]] non-relative like Oichi) and Morgan le Fay from the [[Myth/ArthurianLegend King Arthur]] legend (being a sorceress and a sister to a [[KnightInShiningArmor knightly character]]).
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Celesteela from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is an Ultra Beast based on the character of Princess Kaguya, from ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter''. Its Japanese name is "Tekkaguya", it has rockets as limbs that resemble cut bamboos (mirroring how Kaguya was first discovered inside a cut bamboo), its body overall resembles space shuttles and it came from Ultra Space (alluding to Kaguya herself belonging to a race of Moon people), and it's exclusive to ''Pokémon Moon'' and ''Ultra Moon''.
** The Hatterene line from ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' takes inspiration from popular depictions of princesses and witches, with their Fairy-type, their magical power over hair, and their conical hats resembling both the stereotypical [[RobeAndWizardHat pointy witch hat]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hennin hennin]] (medieval princess headwear). Gigantamax Hatterene in particular is a distillation of the Literature/{{Rapunzel}} fairy tale, with its body peering out and the multiple gaps in the hair making it look like a [[GirlInTheTower girl in a tower]], her hat-like silhouette resembling the conical roof of a tower, and its long strands of hair invoking the hair let down by Rapunzel. With the witch theme on top, Gigantamax Hatterene represents Rapunzel, her hair, the tower she was held in, and the witch who captured her all in one.
** In contrast, the Hatterene line's counterpart, the Grimmsnarl line, is based on [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]], [[OurOgresAreHungrier ogres]], and [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]], with similar powers over hair. Their English names even invoke Creator/TheBrothersGrimm.

* The ''[=TaishoXAlice=]'' series of visual novels does a different take on fairy tales, folktales, and their female protagonists... by [[GenderFlip turning them all into men]]. Even [[AliceAllusion Alice]] and the Big Bad Wolf are included.

* Fairies: The more popular versions of the fairy are carefree, innocent creatures, usually associated with little girls. May indicate a CloudCuckooLander, since "away with the fairies" is another way to say "constantly daydreaming" or "slightly crazy." The fairies taken from older traditions, such as Myth/CelticMythology, aren't quite so cutesy -- in fact they're [[TheFairFolk downright malevolent]] at times. Modern literature increasingly employs this version of the fairy-folk, usually as [[TheTrickster tricksters]].

* Unicorn: The mythological "horse with a horn," although many different descriptions of them exist. Usually pure, gentle and noble, but there are exceptions. Being able to draw a unicorn's attention is generally a VirginPower because they are strongly associated with chastity, and often a motif for young girls.
* Wolves: Initially they were [[SavageWolves savage monsters that attack travelers and devour live stock]] and while the wolf's image has been getting better in modern times, increasingly being seen as a "[[NobleWolf spirit of the wild]]," people can't quite get over TheBigBadWolf. While the wolf is an [[AnimalMotifs animal motif]] at the same time, the wolf as a threat to young girls/ sexual predator seems to have its roots in the fairy tale.
** In Germanic countries, the wolf is (or was historically) the equivalent of the Devil - they even have an expression about them that's interchangable with "SpeakOfTheDevil".

** For a deliberate inversion, Grace's narration in Chapter 10 of the original emphasises how Kyril ''isn't'' a KnightInShiningArmour in the fairy tales. Later chapters have Kyril internally expressing the same sentiment.

* The ''"Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On" arc'' of ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' has both general fairy tale motifs and more specifically Swan Lake allusions in it's dream sequences to symbolically communicate information to the main character (Jareth)[[note]]Things like: "Your love interest is replaced by an impostor", "Your parents are messing with you again" etc.[[/note]]. The fair folk don't do simple.

* ''Film/TheMatrix'' draws on [[Literature/AliceInWonderland a modern fairy tale]]: "You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'': While the original movie is an adaptation of ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', the sequel reveals the backstory of Elsa and Anna's parents, Agnarr and Iduna, which is strikingly similar to the ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''. A free-spirited girl (the mermaid/Iduna) from one realm rescues the prince of a realm foreign/antagonistic to her own, falls in love with him, and leaves her own world behind forever to be with him.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'': While the original movie is an adaptation of ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', the sequel reveals the backstory of Elsa and Anna's parents, Agnarr and Iduna, which is strikingly similar to the ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''. A free-spirited girl (the mermaid/Induna) from a foreign, somewhat ancient realm (undersea kingdom/Northuldra) rescues the prince of a realm foreign/antagonistic to her own, falls in love with him, and leaves her own world behind forever to be with him.

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'':
** The story gives Chloe Cerise a motif based on ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood''. She dreamed of wearing a red cloak to meet up with some ghastly monsters and even starts reciting her own version with her as the titular character. Her AnimalMotif is the wolf -- befitting the fairy tale -- and she is granted her own red cloak by Olmec that looks like a wolf and gives her the ability to transform into one. Moreover, she's associated with the color red, fitting the association with Little Red even more.
** The Prisoner in the Fog Car compares himself to ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'' as he's been chained up in a dungeon and being fed by his warden, Walter.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon''':

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] reddish-brown roots resemble a crown, mirroring her upper-class family, her popularity among the students at Hexside, and her status as a talented witch-in-training.