History Main / RunawayFiance

* In the very beginning (first episode/volume) of [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]], it initially looks like Ranma Saotome might become this to Akane Tendo, given that he's expressed no interest in her and openly stated that he considers finding a cure far more important than getting a girlfriend. Of course, his (currently her) plans to leave are curtailed when Akane knocks him/her out cold with a table for insulting Akane's (lack of) figure compared to his/her cursed form. When Ranma comes around, he first gets enrolled in school, then caught up in the chaos, so he forgets all about it. One {{Alternate Character Interpretation}} of Shampoo could place her as this, using chasing the Saotomes as an excuse to get away from Mousse (though he isn't actually engaged to her and she has no interest in him). By the end of the manga, Ryoga Hibiki is something of an unwilling version of this trope- he wants to be around his newfound (and borderline {{Relationship Sue}}) love interest Akari, but his lack of direction means he can rarely even find her.

* Clarice in ''{{Lupin III}} Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'' bailed when the guards left her room to allow her to change into her wedding dress (presumably to rehearse the ceremony). But in spite of Lupin's efforts, she was recaptured, and this time imprisoned in a tall tower. One that could only be entered via a retracting bridge or a hatch on the roof. Other features included grenade-proof glass.

* Just before the ceremony is to start in the movie ''{{Film/Arthur}}'', the title character and his lover Linda go to his fiancee Susan to tell her the wedding's off. Susan's father tries to kill the lovers and is only stopped by Arthur's grandmother - but he does beat Arthur up enough that he's black and blue when he explains to the guests what's happened and then passes out on the altar.

* Talia, the main character of the original ''{{Heralds of Valdemar}}'' trilogy, does this, although she left before being assigned a specific bridegroom. She was thirteen at the time.

** ''BathTangle'' actually has a subversion, of sorts: the hero's unwanted fiancée runs away from ''him''...and then is persuaded to go back by the heroine, who argues that a loveless but comfortable marriage to the hero (who isn't nearly as horrible as he seems) is much better than a hasty elopement with the hero's poorer nephew.

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* Millay of ''{{Suikoden IV}}'' fled Middleport when Schtoltenheim Reinbach II planned to make her marry his [[UpperClassTwit son]]. Her parents approved the marriage; ''she'' didn't, so she made a break for it. [[HeroicMime Your hero]] happens to meet her just as Reinbach II's goons track her down -- ironically enough, this is also the first time Schtoltenheim Reinbach ''III'' meets her, and he's blissfully unaware of the situation until ''after'' they've [[BigDamnHeroes helped her out]]. Then he's completely ''horrified'' at his father's terrible deeds, and apologizes profusely.

* In ''{{Webcomic/No Rest For The Wicked}}'', November left on TheQuest the day before [[StandardHeroReward her wedding]].
* Hilgya's backstory in ''OrderOfTheStick'' is one of these, though she's more of a runaway wife than fiancee. The catch? Her husband was kind, loving, and supportive, but Hilgya acted as though he was oppressing and belittling her.

* Jasmine in ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', although she's not threatened with a specific groom, just an obligation to get married.

* When the ArrangedMarriage between Nabu and Layla was made in ''{{Winx Club}}'', Nabu ran away from home in order to learn what Layla was really like.

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'''Examples:'''

* Subverted in ''{{Shabanu}}'', where the titular character tries to run away from an arranged marriage to someone old enough to be her ''[[{{Squick}} grandfather]]''. [[spoiler: She gets ([[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown severely]]?) beaten up by her parents, and marries the guy anyway.]]

* Frederica Vernon of JaneAusten's ''LadySusan'' runs away from BoardingSchool when she finds out her mother, the titular Lady Susan, intends to force her to marry {{the ditz}}y Sir James Morton against her will. She gets caught on the road.

* In ''RomeoAndJuliet'', Juliet tries this. It doesn't work so well.
* It works out much better for Hermia in ''AMidsummerNightsDream''.

* In ''{{Titanic}}'' Rose [=DeWitt=] Bukater fakes her death in the Titanic disaster and changes her name to escape her engagement.

* Aravis in CSLewis's ''[[{{Narnia}} The Horse and His Boy]]'' does this.

* The song "Golden Hair Surprise" by America has a groom who doesn't show up for a wedding that day because he isn't "ready for the altar"

* When the ArrangedMarriage between Nabu and Layla was made in ''{{Winx Club}}'', Nabu ran away from home in order to learn what Layla was really like.

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* Subverted in ''{{Shabanu}}'', where the titular character tries to run away from an arranged marriage to someone old enough to be her ''[[{{Squick}} grandfather]]''. [[spoiler: She gets the beating of her lifetime from her parents, and marries the guy anyway.

* Subverted in ''{{Shabanu}}'', where the titular character tries to run away from an arranged marriage to someone old enough to be her ''[[{{Squick}} grandfather]]''. [[spoiler: She gets the beating of her lifetime from her parents, and marries the guy anyway. Oh, did I tell you guys that she's ''[[{{Lolicon}} thirteen]]'' when this happens?]]

* ''Fanfan la Tulipe'' in the 2003 French movie of the same name. He is a 18th century libertine and doesn't want to be involved in a relationship of any kind. He is caught up ''teaching a lesson'' to a young woman inside a haystack and [[ShotgunWedding her father forces him]] to marry her. He escapes the wedding ceremony by engaging in the French army.

* ''Fanfan la Tulipe'' in the 2003 French movie of the same name. He is a 18th century womanizer and doesn't want to be involved in a relationship of any kind. He is caught up ''teaching a lesson'' to a young woman inside a haystack and [[ShotgunWedding her father forces him]] to marry her. He escapes the wedding ceremony by engaging in the French army.

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* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', it is eventually revealed that James of Team Rocket ran away from home to escape marriage to the insane and sadistic Jessiebelle. While he ''did'' have feelings for her at one point, he loved his Growlie (his pet Growlithe) even more, and her attempt to get the dog out of the equation was the breaking point.

* Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy's character) in ''Coming to America'' convinced his father to send him to America as a sort of extended bachelor party, when in reality, he was looking to escape his arranged marriage and find true love.
* Just before the ceremony is to start in the movie ''Arthur'', the title character and his lover Linda go to his fiancee Susan to tell her the wedding's off. Susan's father tries to kill the lovers and is only stopped by Arthur's grandmother - but he does beat Arthur up enough that he's black and blue when he explains to the guests what's happened and then passes out on the altar.

* In the live-action Disney film ''The Sword and the Rose'', Princess Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII) unsuccessfully attempts to run away with Charles Brandon rather than be married to the aging King of France. It should be noted that the film is historically inaccurate; the real Princess Mary did in fact elope with Brandon, but not until after she had married King Louis and nursed him through his final illness.

** ''The Corinthian'' has Pen running away from marriage to her cousin, and then helping another girl run away from a proposed marriage to ''[[AttractiveBentGender her]]''.
** ''Bath Tangle'' actually has a subversion, of sorts: the hero's unwanted fiancée runs away from ''him''...and then is persuaded to go back by the heroine, who argues that a loveless but comfortable marriage to the hero (who isn't nearly as horrible as he seems) is much better than a hasty elopement with the hero's poorer nephew.
** Kitty in ''Cotillion'' is a slight variation - her guardian is forcing her to marry one of his many nephews (but it's her choice which), so she runs away. And then subverted, in that she meets one of the nephews in the local inn five minutes later and [[OperationJealousy comes up with a better plan]].
* In ''The Frog Princess'' by E.D. Baker, Emma runs to the swamp when she finds out she's to be engaged to an empty-headed and vain prince. She didn't intend to stay for long, but she ended up turning into a frog. Yeah, another fairy-tale universe.
* Subverted in ''Shabanu'', where the titular character tries to run away from an arranged marriage to someone old enough to be her ''[[{{Squick}} grandfather]]''. [[spoiler: She gets the beating of her lifetime from her parents, and marries the guy anyway. Oh, did I tell you guys that she's ''[[{{Lolicon}} thirteen]]'' when this happens?]]

* In ''[[Anime/{{Ptitlei015gc004kw4}} Pokémon]]'', it is eventually revealed that James of Team Rocket ran away from home to escape marriage to the insane and sadistic Jessiebelle. While he ''did'' have feelings for her at one point, he loved his Growlie (his pet Growlithe) even more, and her attempt to get the dog out of the equation was the breaking point.

* Clarice in ''{{Lupin III}} TheCastleOfCagliostro'' bailed when the guards left her room to allow her to change into her wedding dress (presumably to rehearse the ceremony). But in spite of Lupin's efforts, she was recaptured, and this time imprisoned in a tall tower. One that could only be entered via a retracting bridge or a hatch on the roof. Other features included grenade-proof glass.

* In the anime ''Cosmic Baton Girl Comet San'', the main character considers running away from a party where a prince will be betrothed either to her or her rival, only to find that the prince beat her to it by running away himself.

* In the 1991 film version of ''RobinHood'', Maid Marion (Uma Thurman) runs away to Sherwood Forest to escape her arranged marriage to Sir Miles Flaconet (Jürgen Prochnow).

* In ''[[Anime/{{Ptitlei015gc004kw4}} Pokémon]]'', it is eventually revealed that James of Team Rocket ran away from home to escape marriage to the insane and sadistic Jessiebelle.

* Did we forget ''{{Spaceballs}}''? The princess running away from her wedding is the event that put the whole movie in motion.
** Running away during the wedding makes her a RunawayBride.

** [[TheBible Jezebel?]]
*** No, Jessiebelle (or Jessebelle). A bit of a play on "Jezebel," to be sure, but more of a play on "Jessie" (the dub's name for Musashi--the female half of Team Rocket, James's partner--who Jessiebelle has "[[IdenticalStranger the exact same face]]" as) and "Southern Belle," which was what Jessiebelle was portrayed as. If the spelling "Jessebelle" is canon (no one knows) it may also be a reference to the two-male-names-might-mean-a-girl type of Southern naming (like "Bobby-Joe," et al.)

*** No, Jessiebelle (or Jessebelle). A bit of a play on "Jezebel," to be sure, but more of a play on "Jessie" (the dub's name for Musashi--the female half of Team Rocket, James's partner--who Jessiebelle has "[[IdenticalStranger the exact same face]]" as) and "Southern Belle," which was what Jessiebelle was portrayed as. If the spelling "Jessebelle" is canon (no one knows) it may also be a reference to the two-male-names-might-mean-a-girl type of Southern naming (like "Bobby-Joe," et al.)

* In ''{{Titanic}}'' Rose DeWitt Bukater fakes her death in the Titanic disaster and changes her name to escape her engagement.

* In ''[[Anime/Ptitlei015gc004kw4 Pokémon]]'', it is eventually revealed that James ran away from home to escape marriage to the insane and sadistic Jessiebelle.