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[[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]] in literature.
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* ''Literature/{{Archvillain}}'': Maira needs to be rescued at least once per book.
* ''Literature/Area51'': Lisa Duncan is kidnapped by Aspasia's Shadow and has to be rescued by her boyfriend Mike Turcotte along with [[BadassIsraeli Israeli commandos]] in ''Area 51: The Grail''.
%%* ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'': Aouda then shows more than a glimpse of an ActionGirl, though.
* "Literature/TheAuthorsOrdeal": The ScienceFiction outline [[ShowWithinAShow described by]] the [[{{Poetry}} poem]] adds a female character ''explicitly'' to encourage the male heroes to action, revising the number of crew members to include a woman for the men to rescue.
* ''Literature/BenAndMe'': Sophia, a mouse Amos meets during his and Ben's stay in France, was chased from her home at court and separated from her husband and children, the latter of whom are in captivity.
%%* In ''Literature/BlackBeauty'', Lady Anne.
* In ''Literature/TheBookOfAtrixWolfe'', Saro is trapped in a spell, rendered TheSpeechless, and [[FallenPrincess ends up]] a SculleryMaid.
* ''Literature/TheBourneSeries'': In the second novel, the people manipulating Bourne [[IHaveYourWife have kidnapped his wife]] to force him to do their bidding -- only she's not Suzie Homemaker, she's a high-level government official in her own right, accustomed to traveling the world and fighting communism with the power of economics on behalf of the Canadian government. She sows confusion among the enemy, then walks out the front door into the night.
* Christine becomes one in ''Literature/BrideOfTheRatGod'' after she wears an ArtifactOfDeath that is used as a prop in one of her films.
* The cover to ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' features a man carrying a limp woman. Said cover is [[CoversAlwaysLie misleading]]; that scene does happen, when Odelia passes out in a stream after being beaten by attackers and Jerin fishes her out, but the women of that universe, Odelia included, are anything but neutral, and that is really the only case in the book where a woman needs to be rescued. Unless you count the [[spoiler: fact that Jerin helps Cira escape by picking the locks of her handcuffs. She is only in trouble because she tried to rescue him, so it is not a straight example of distressed damsel.]]
%%* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs. To be just, he has a lot of DistressedDude as well, and the damsels have high spirits, courage, and willingness to do what is in their powers, but:
%%** ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'':
%%*** Dejah Thoris in several books, most notably from the beginning of the second to the end of the third.
%%*** Thuvia in ''Warlord Of Mars'' and ''Thuvia Maid of Mars''
%%%%*** Tara in ''Chessmen of Mars''
%%*** Valla Dia in ''The Master Mind of Mars''
%%*** An anonymous group of women in ''The Gods of Mars'', thrown to animals, inspires a GladiatorRevolt.
%%*** Both Sanoma Tora and Tavia in ''A Fighting Man of Mars''. Sanoma loses her spirit entirely, which is evidence enough that she is not, after all the LoveInterest.
%%** ''{{Literature/Tarzan}}'': Jane in the original and Meriem in ''Literature/SonOfTarzan''.
%%** ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'': Virginia Maxon
%%** ''Literature/AtTheEarthsCore'': Dian
%%** ''Literature/TheMadKing'': Emma von der Tann meets Barney Custer when he sees that her horse ran away with her.
%%* ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'':
%%** The queen in "Literature/AWitchShallBeBorn"
%%** Yasmina In "Literature/ThePeopleOfTheBlackCircle"
%%** Sancha in "Literature/ThePoolOfTheBlackOne". ([[MenAreTheExpendableGender The captured male is drowned to show Conan what they are up to]].)
%%** Octavia in "Literature/TheDevilInIron". She escapes slavery on her own account, but she stumbles into worse.
%%** Natala in "Literature/TheSlitheringShadow"
%%** Livia in "Literature/TheValeOfLostWomen"
%%** Muriela in "Literature/JewelsOfGwahlur"
%%** Olivia in "Literature/IronShadowsInTheMoon"
* ''Literature/ConstanceVerity'': Being Connie's MuggleBestFriend, Tia has been involved in a lot of Connie's adventures as more of a LivingMacGuffin before she ultimately decides to become her sidekick. Her wedding was crashed by mobsters, she was kidnapped by swamp monsters, two different types of robots, Satanists, marsupial men, merfolk from {{Atlantis}}, aliens, fire worshippers, pirates (both the normal kind and "the singing kind"), a giant chimpanzee and vampire Al Capone.
* Aura's kidnapping is the [[SaveThePrincess drive]] behind most of volume 2 and 3 of ''Literature/{{Corsair}}'', however, being a PluckyGirl she doesn't act overly distressed about it or her impending execution, [[spoiler:and when Ayace finally shows up to rescue her, her reaction is: "[[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike You're late!]]"]]
* ''Literature/TheCrimsonShadow'': {{Subverted|Trope}}. Luthien goes off to rescue Siobhan from slavery, only to learn she's ''quite'' capable of caring for herself, sneaking out of her master's house regularly.
* Therese in ''Literature/DanceOfTheButterfly''.''Twice''. Even invoked by her as she resists, though the inevitability of it is nailed home to her. She then averts it by not calling for help the second time, though she is [[spoiler:rescued, anyway]].
-->'''Therese:''' Stop turning me into the [[spoiler:[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]]]] damsel in distress.
* In ''Literature/DarkOlympus'' by Katee Robert, Persephone is this. Running away from Zeus' henchmen, she stumbles into Hades' arms and he saves her, by pretending to take her hostage.
%%* In Creator/SarahAHoyt's ''Literature/DarkshipThieves'', Thena in the opening.
* ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'':
** Jasmine is aside from later books is quite a subversion, in her introduction she saved Lief and Barda twice in the first book and slayed [[SnakesAreSinister giant snake Reeah]] in the third book. But in latter part of the first series Jasmine gets her fair share of "Damsel moments" either when fighting [[{{Shapeshifting}} Ols]] or when the Grey Guards come knocking. Hell the first book of the second series was a RescueArc for Jasmine since the [[EvilOverLord Shadow Lord]] had tricked her into traveling to [[{{Mordor}} the Shadow Lands]] with Shadow Lord knowing Lief would drop everything [[AlwaysSavetheGirl to chase after her]]. Jasmine also becomes a helpless when [[SuperDrowningSkills she is put in water]] and when they traveling in a underground ocean this a issue with Lief having to dive in after her when she swept away, the justification is the biggest amount of water Jasmine ever came across was a small stream in Forest of Silence so there was no she was gonna be Olympic swimmer.
** [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Az-zure]] the Dread Gnome-lady, is a subversion and then played straight as [[LongDeadBadass Adin]] is captured by her and men and is about to robbed and executed when a green beast attacks Az-Zure and Adin saves her by putting arrow through it's eye. Az-Zure is shocked and grateful he would save her after nearly killing him and is internally grateful promising to come when Adin gathers [[AvengersAssemble his army together]].
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Creator/TerryPratchett insisted he was unable to write characters like this, however...
** ''Literature/MovingPictures'': Ginger spends her short-lived Holy Wood film career ''playing the role'' of one Distressed Damsel after another.
** ''{{Literature/Hogfather}}'': Susan lampshades Violet Botell's actions by berating her in her mind for her intentionally helpless behaviour.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' series, Laurana becomes this after being captured by her ArchEnemy Kitiara and having her love interest Tanis Half-Elven try to rescue her. Played with in that [[spoiler: Laurana no longer trusts Tanis as he has been DatingCatwoman, refuses his help and ends up breaking free on her own. Though she does end up needing Tanis's help to complete her escape.]]
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** ''Literature/GravePeril'': Susan and Justine both end up taken captive and tortured by the Red Court to be later rescued by Harry, Thomas and Micheal.
** ''Literature/BloodRites'': Harry is hired by Arturo to protect his loved ones and employees when it becomes clear that someone is killing the women in Arturo's life with a nasty entropy curse.
** ''Literature/WhiteNight'': Members of the White Court has been attacking members of the all female group Ordo Lebes, which hires Harry to find the killer and protect them.
* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''Literature/EndlessBlue'', Paige is captured by Mary's Landing and Turk must come to her rescue. [[spoiler:Also, Eraphie did not flee of her own will but was captured by Hardin; Mikhail comes to her rescue as soon as that becomes clear.]]
* Creator/EstherFriesner loves to avert and parody this trope.
** In her ''Literature/{{Majyk}}'' trilogy, we first have Mysti in ''Majyk by Accident'' whose only source of distress is her [[OurElvesAreDifferent Welfin]] relatives and who [[spoiler:bullies Kendar into marrying her so she can leave the "jolly greensward ho" and stop skipping around like an idiot and her only REAL distress is when the curse hits her after Kendar refuses to follow through with a promise he made during the wedding vows.]]
** In the second book, ''Majyk by Hook or Crook'', we have not only Mysti [[spoiler:who has become the swashbuckler with a secret identity, A Blade for Justice (and prefers to be referred to by his/her full name)]], but we also have Anisella, who wears nothing but chain mail, has a black belt in ''helo kiti'' and a green barette in ''po kipsi'', and crumples like a [=McDonalds=] napkin when even barely brushed by [[spoiler:wool... or any other fabric.]]
** The third book in the trilogy, ''Majyk by Design'', gives us a male example in Prince Boffin [[spoiler: who has been turned into a toad]] but also gives us great parody in Kendar's aunts (mercenary swordswomen)and his soon-to-be sister-in-law Dulcetta who, although she is generally the TYPE of girl who would fall into this category, actually [[spoiler:kidnapped the man whom everyone thought kidnapped her and hatched a scheme with him to write romance novels. When the main characters find her she is heard screaming for help with the help of a metric ton of PurpleProse and while she is recounting to them the story of what happened runs off to write when the characters paraphrase her cries as "Help me". She thought it was perfect. It also comes to pass that her mother, who raised her to be a docile, dependent woman, was a barbarian swordswoman herself and only gave it up because she preferred regular bathing.]]
* Dimity Plumleigh-Teinmort in ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries'' often ends in this role due to being AfraidOfBlood and {{Fainting}} tendencies. Despite being in training to become a spy.
* In ''Literature/TheFlyingBoy'', Amy Simpson was kidnapped by Dr. Paigne as bait for Jeremy Floeter.
* In ''Literature/FrostflowerAndThorn'' [[spoiler:Frostflower]] ends up needing rescue after being [[spoiler:hung up for execution, though without fatal injury since the farmer-priest Maldron still hoped she would recant and be his SexSlave.]]
* In the later ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' novels, Kaname turns into an extreme Damsel in Distress. She may have more or less given up for a while after the events of Continuing On My Own, but it's only a temporary thing, and it's not that long before she starts to regain some of her old vigor and determination. [[spoiler:After that she ends up being more or less mind controlled by Sophia aka the First Whispered Ever, but that's a bit of a different matter.]]
* ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' has no shortage of this due to the MarsNeedsWomen nature of goblins. However, the experience is treated as much more traumatizing than most examples, and unfortunately not every damsel is saved.
* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': Bria is about to be married off by force, and Mrrov shipped into slavery in the first book. Their love interests Han and Muuurgh manage to save them. Han also manages to rescue his later girlfriend Salla from a space accident too.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Hermione Granger, (despite JK being a feminist and making intelligent and strong female characters in her series) still has been rescued/cured/protected in every book except the sixth book where everybody was mostly safe [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs till the end]]. The justification is Hermione while she aces almost every subject has trouble with [[TrainingThePEacefulVillagers "Defense Against The Dark Arts"]] which the more battle hungry Harry and Ron are more adept at. Hermione still is best Witch of her year and is more than capable by the end of series so setting aside encounters with Trolls she's done well.
** [[spoiler: Ginny Weasley]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', although no one realizes it until near the end. [[spoiler:And she did attempt to save herself by throwing the diary away first, stealing it back only because she was afraid of being outed]].
** Invoked during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. Each of the contestants had to swim to the bottom of the lake and retrieve the thing they valued the most which the Mer-people allegedly took from them. This turned out to be the person closest to them. These 'captives' were actually asked by the organizers of the Tournament to volunteer for this role.
** "Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows" has Hermione being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. When Harry and Ron try to save her Bellatrix takes her hostage, however Dobby's intervention saves them.
* ''Literature/TheHorribleBagOfTerribleThings'': Zenith's sister Apogee is kidnapped by Shlurp for the purposes of the Great and Holey Wurm--twice, in fact, as she escapes the first time--and Zenith finds it upon himself to save her. She doesn't want to be saved, though, both out of pride, and [[BigSisterInstinct out of fear of Zenith being killed]].
* In ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'', Pelafina writes in her letters that she is this character, and that her son has to save her from being locked up in the mental institution.
* Esmeralda in ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Her mere presence is the catalyst for all the action in the book. Victor Hugo kind of rips into this trope by having Esmeralda pine for her knight in shining armor, who eventually does nothing to save her from execution. Had Esmeralda been a little more proactive about her own fate, maybe things would have worked out better for her.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Annie Cresta. [[spoiler:She's captured and held prisoner by the Capitol at the end of ''Literature/CatchingFire'', but she is rescued in ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}}''.]]
* ''Literature/{{Inkmistress}}'': Asra is rescued by Hal when she's held captive by the Nightswifts for use of [[BloodMagic her blood]].
* ''Literature/{{Jam}}'': All the survivors get in distress at some point but [[CameraFiend Angela]] and [[LovableNerd Deirdre]] are genuine examples of this trope, with [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Travis]] is being legitimately upset when he fails to save them at certain points in the book.
* Literature/JudgeDee's cases often include at least one of these young ladies; ranging from vagabond thieves, to reluctant prostitutes to innocent young ladies of gentle birth. However they are seldom ''quite'' helpless or useless.
* ''Literature/KingArthurAndHisKnightsOfTheRoundTable'': The Sir Gareth story, like the story it is based on, features the Lady Liones, who is held captive in a castle by the Red Knight.
* ''Literature/TheKingdomKeepers'': [[spoiler:Jez]] is kidnapped at the beginning of the second book, setting the plot in motion.
* ''Literature/LafayetteOLeary'': In ''The Time Bender'', Princess Adoreanne is mysteriously kidnapped, and both O'Leary and Count Alain vow to rescue her -- but Alain is convinced that O'Leary is the kidnapper.
* ''Literature/AMagesPower'': Princess Kasile is kidnapped during a joust, but this does not (immediately) provoke a RescueArc. The main characters are mercenaries, and their leader insists that this event doesn't concern them unless they are hired to rescue her. Eric decides to go on his own time, along with his fellow mercenary, Culmus, who is also the princess' [[CourtlyLove secret boyfriend]].
* ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'': Parodied in ''The Good, the Bad and the Mediochre'', in which dragons are noted to have a tendency to kidnap virgin princesses just because.
* Rose ends up in this situation twice in ''Literature/TheMentalState''. Both times, she is attacked by street thugs; firstly by a gang who want to rape her and secondly by a single PsychoKnifeNut who wants to kill her. Zachary/Zack is unable to save her the first time, [[spoiler:but is able to save her the second time]].
* In ''Literature/MiserereAnAutumnTale'', Lindsey is in {{Hell}}. Lucian realizes he must open a Gate, which has been forbidden to him, to rescue her.
* ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'' Meryl has this spades despite being a zombie, she regularly gets captured over the course of the book, it's seems Meryl has always been like this even her death was apparently due to some sort of virgin sacrifice, she even has trouble climbing saying always worry about the boys looking up her skirt back in her village. Jim usually has reluctantly pull her out of trouble, as she one who can patch his zombie body together when he inevitably gets wrecked, though in the last part of the book he realises he does care for Meryl. [[spoiler: But then it's too late as she is deleted from the game, before not talking to Jim and apologizing for being such pain to him, it's her second death that pushes Jim to stop [[MagnificentBastard Barry]] and Simon the "creator" after the game is reset one of the rewards for Jim was reality where he is the hero that saves Meryl from some ritual priests but he refused the life for a more simplistic one with Meryl]].
%%* Agnes and Antonia both get their chance to fill this roll in ''Literature/TheMonk''. One will live to be rescued, one will not.
* In Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/TheBlueCastle'', Valancy foolishly goes to a dance where drunken men start to harrass her. Barney Snaith arrives in time. The main character in ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' is saved by [[spoiler:her future husband]] from a catastrophe resulting from her attempt at impersonating Elaine the Lily of Astolat from Tennyson's poem. HilarityEnsues.
* In ''Literature/TheMoomins'', Snork Maiden, and being so pathetic has made her the least popular character. She often does it on purpose, since she fancies herself as a romantic heroine. She can be quite undistressed when she ''wants'' to.
%% * ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'': Clary Fray
* Late in ''Literature/MrsSmithsSpySchoolForGirlsPowerPlay'', Izumi, Charlotte, and [[spoiler:Veronica]] end up kidnapped by [[BigBad Menace's]] henchmen. [[TheProtagonist Abby]] finds the latter BoundAndGagged in a room in a derelict mansion, and the former [[spoiler:locked in a cage suspended over water that's zero degrees Celsius by Zachary]].
* Creator/AndreNorton:
** In ''Literature/IceCrown'', Roane stumbles on the place where kidnappers bring Princess Ludorica.
** In ''Literature/StormOverWarlock'', Shann leaps to the aid of a Wyvern when she loses control of the forktail.
** In ''Literature/OrdealInOtherwhere'', Charis poses as this, driven mad by the contact with the Wyverns, to infiltrate the Company men.
* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': Princess Oglamar after Bastian explained she was captured by a vicious dragon so that Hero Hynreck can save her, which makes it happen.
* ''Literature/OfFireAndStars'': Mare is kidnapped near the end of the first book, with Dennaleia rescuing her using her magic.
%%* In John Barnes's ''Literature/OneForTheMorningGlory'', Sylvie the goblin's prisoner.
* Defied way back in ''1495'' in Matteo Boiardo's epic ''Literature/OrlandoInnamorato''. Princess Angelica of Cathay (China) is distressed by the Muslim Tartars at the city of Albracca. Riding to her rescue are the French, the Indians, and several other Muslim armies including King [[ChewToy Sacripante]] of Circassia. She thinks all this isn't good enough and escapes to find the missing Christian champion Orlando before returning to be rescued.
* In ''Literature/ThePerilsOfEnhancegirl'', this happens to virtually every female character constantly. As the title may indicate, that's rather an intended aspect of the series.
* ''Literature/PeterPan'': Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell, and Tiger Lily (who is an interesting case, as she is also PrettyPrincessPowerhouse).
%%* Christine in ''Literature/PhantomOfTheOpera''... sorta kinda. It's complicated, involving a StalkerWithACrush and a ScarpiaUltimatum.
* In ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'', Milo's quest rapidly turns into one to rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason from the Castle in the Air. Once Milo reached them, there was a huge group of very pissed off monsters racing towards them, so running was the only option any of them had.
* Buttercup in ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' spends almost the entire story waiting for her true love to come save her. She's in this mess because she gave herself up to save him -- and he ''did'' promise he'd always come for her. Of course, ''The Princess Bride'' is an AffectionateParody of swashbuckling adventure stories.
* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': While the UnscrupulousHero Akira and the SupportingLeader Sheryl are a BrainsAndBrawn couple with Akira being the ActionHero and Sheryl the GuileHero, as the main non-ActionGirl, she ends up getting stuck as this, but it’s PlayedWith some.
** When Sheryl’s relic shop is being robbed, Sheryl [[DefiedTrope realizes something is wrong and runs away just in time]] to foil the robbers planned HostageSituation, getting a BridalCarry out of the area by Akira before he gets to work on them.
** Played straight when TheMole in her gang Selba holds her at gunpoint. Akira pulls a DistractAndDisarm gambit to save her.
** When Sheryl is used as TheBait to get Akira to dismantle an NGOSuperpower gang and held hostage, the info terminal Akira gifted Sheryl due to having impressed him with it serves as a TrackingDevice to find her, and their call over it [[WeNeedADistraction serves as a distraction]] for Akira breaching the room and killing her captors.
* ''Literature/TheSolomonCode'': Freyja Norjavik is this in the second book, though she's very embarrassed by it.
* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': Averted most of the time by Jenna Heap, as she usually manages to get safe by herself. Her being the Princess of the Castle makes her a target for kidnapping a few times.
* ''Literature/ShatterTheSky'': Kaia is taken away by the Aurati seers to join their order, against her will. Maren, her girlfriend, goes to get her back.
* Diana Mayo, heroine of ''Literature/TheSheik''. She's kidnapped by a rival Sheik, forcing the titular character to rescue her, during which he realizes he's fallen in love with her.
* Akiko in ''Literature/ShonenOnmyouji'' gets her moment when a group of demons kidnap her in order to use her blood to heal their master, as well as lead Masahiro into a trap. Of course in the end either Masahiro or Akiko would have been enough to heal their master, but Masahiro has some pretty steller spiritual powers in terms of combat so is more of a threat.
* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'':
** Played straight with both Turin's loves in "The Children of Hurin", Finduilas, killed by the orcs, and Niënor Níniel (when Glaurung wipes her memories). Sadly things end badly for her, as she only realizes who she is after [[BrotherSisterIncest Turin]] has [[SurpriseIncest impregnated her]], at which she kills herself.
** Zigzagged by Lúthien: when imprisoned by her father, she frees herself. Although she is then captured a second time and needs some help to escape, she then proceeds to almost single-handedly free her lover Beren (and a number of other prisoners) from Sauron -- yes, that [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]]. Later in Angband [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] possibly intends to rape her, but she sends him to sleep. When the forces of Angband come after her and Beren, they are saved by eagles.
** Idril, during the Fall of Gondolin, as her treacherous cousin Maeglin, who is in [[KissingCousins love with her]] despite first-cousin marriages being illegal among Elves, tries to take her (it is implied he intends to basically rape her) and murder her son Earendil. However Idril's husband Tuor throws Maeglin off the walls of Gondolin.
** Celebrían, the wife of Elrond, is captured and possibly raped by the orcs. She was rescued by her sons, but left Middle-Earth.
** Played with by Eowyn in "The Lord of the Rings". She shows herself to be very capable, disguising herself as a man and avenging her uncle's death by defeating the Witch-King of Angmar, one of the main villains of the Legendarium. However his breath leaves her dying, and it takes Aragorn to heal her.
* Played with a few times in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.
** The war to save Lyanna Stark was won, but Lyanna died in the process so victory was hollow for the people who wanted to save her. There's hints that the "Damsel" was far less in distress than people who started the war thought.
** Sansa Stark never got rescued by her family and was eventually forced to flee with an amoral man who then groomed and molested her.
** Lady Hornwood was already dead by the time her would-be rescuers arrived.
* Lampshaded in ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'', where it is noted the Corefire has the requisite "reporter girlfriend who always needed rescuing."
* Parodied in ''Literature/SpellsSwordsAndStealth'' with Gabrielle, daughter of the mayor of Maplebark. She has been kidnapped by goblins repeatedly, causing the mayor to send adventurers to her rescue. Turns out, that's exactly what the goblins want as they use this to set up ambushes and rob the adventurers blind. This happens so often that Gabrielle is considered a regular guest and honorary member of the goblin clan. Eric, her childhood friend and the town guard who regularly fails to stop her being kidnapped despite his best efforts, is dismayed to learn of the whole arrangement.
-->'''Eric:''' I once stayed up for thirty hours straight to guard her door because we heard goblins were in the area, and she has her own horse she rides away on.
* Played with in ''Literature/SpiceAndWolf'': Holo isn't a Damsel in Distress (Lawrence usually takes the part of the DistressedDude) but she's GenreSavvy enough to be well aware of the trope. She jokes around with Lawrence about him liking meek women he could comfort, and enthusiastically play-acts the part for him in jest. She even fools Amati into being her KnightInShiningArmor, [[ItAmusedMe largely for kicks]]. When she's genuinely crushed by the revelation that [[spoiler:Yoitsu has been destroyed]], she bitterly accuses Lawrence of hiding it from her because he liked seeing her helpless and ignorant.
* ''Literature/TheStarchildTrilogy'': In ''Rogue Star'', Molly Zaldiver ends up captured by the newly-born rogue star which has absorbed her lover, Cliff Hawk, and somehow ended up with feelings for her it doesn't quite understand. Andy Quamodian, who is also in love with her, spends a large part of the book trying find a way to rescue her from a creature of such unimaginable power.
* In the second arc of ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', Asuna is still trapped in cyberspace in a different game under control of a domineering GameMaster. While said GameMaster has had months to wear her down and use his admin privileges to stop any plot she devises, the contrast between her hardcore persona in the first arc and the helpless damsel in the second was taken poorly by some fans.
* Veesey-koosey, a girl in her early teens with a "Daughter Potential" of 999.999, is intentionally sent on a voyage by SolarSail in Creator/CordwainerSmith's "Think Blue, Count Two" to motivate the crew to perform heroic efforts to rescue her. She's awakened for that purpose in midvoyage. Then things get complicated: [[spoiler:Neither of the crew reacts to her as a "daughter."]]
%%* Constance Bonacieux in ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''.
* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', the Princess Saralinda is kept in her EvilUncle's castle. [[spoiler:In fact, she is [[ChangelingFantasy not his niece]], and he intends to force her to marry him once he is free of a curse.]]
* In the first book of the ''Literature/TimeScout'' series, Margo ends up in a 16th century Portuguese prison. In the third, Birgitta is saved by Skeeter from a beating. In the fourth, Birgitta is saved from gang rape and murder. In the third and fourth, Ianira is in the hands of UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper.
* In ''Literature/{{Tinker}}'', Tinker realizes why this is more common than DistressedDude: there is no ''elegant'' way for a grown woman to lug about an injured man.
* ''Literature/TheTravelersGate'': Alin and Simon spend the entire first book under the belief that their friend Leah (who they both have obvious crushes on) has been kidnapped by Damasca as either a slave or a human sacrifice. [[SubvertedTrope She is actually an Heiress of Damasca]], and when things go sideways she's the one to take the sacrifices to the city. When Simon demands Overlord Malachi free Leah, Malachi ''laughs his ass off'' and tells him he's more than welcome to take her.
* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'': Bella Swan is ineffectual against a group of rapists, and Edward must swoop in to save her. Prior to this, Edward had to save her from a careening truck. Later in the book, she is ineffectual against a vampire, and Edward and his family must swoop in to save her. Subsequent books have the same formula, right down to warring factions -- werewolves and vampires -- putting aside their differences to save Bella. Bella herself is absolutely useless in a fight until she herself gets cool powers. Bella is actually the only human with enough bad luck to attract both werewolves and vampires (and various deadly situations) that are impossible to kill or harm unless by other supernatural creatures. One of the reasons of her insistence to become a vampire (aside from spending eternity with her beloved Edward) is to avert this trope. Like she says in the first book: "I can't always be Lois Lane. I want to be Superman, too."
* ''Literature/VampireAcademy'': Abby Badica, when captured by Strigoi, is a cute, helpless, royal Moroi who breaks down in the face of danger. Every one of her rescuers is tempted to leave the battle and comfort it.
* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': Zig-zagged. Finwick believes that Kaylana is being manipulated and misguided by the villains, possibly being held against her will, and resolves to rescue her. By sending a Dragon to abduct her and hold her hostage, requiring the villains to storm the Dragon's keep and save the damsel from the heroes.
* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': Averted in ''Komarr''. Ekaterin Vorsoisson [[spoiler:destroys the villains' secret weapon]].
* ''Literature/TheWellAtTheWorldsEnd'': Ralph meets his first LoveInterest, the Lady of Abundance, when he rescues her from two men who kidnapped her.
* Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve from the earlier books of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. They have a strange ability to get shielded, tied up and locked away only to be rescued by someone, though they did manage to get themselves away from the Seanchan in Book 2. Plus the time they actually berated Mat for saving them. They do get called on that later on by Birgitte however, who tore each of them a verbal new one and forced them to apologize. They'd also broken themselves out of there when Mat showed up.
* In Creator/AndyHoare's ''Literature/WhiteScars'' novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the Bloodtide tells the White Scars and Raven Guard that Malya is being subjected to being made a new Bloodtide, and begs them to rescue her.
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's "Literature/AWorldCalledMaanerek", Sonna is captured with Torrek. While Torrek is turned back to Wanen by removing his new memories and restoring his old ones, the ship decides to use Sonna as a "tension release" by lobomotizing her and letting the men rape her. [[spoiler:Wanen, his memories not so gone as they thought, rescues her before his own escape.]]
* Creator/WilkieCollins's Victorian novel ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'' (1860) features the character Laura Glyde (nee Fairlie), who is the embodiment of this trope. She's got the emotional strength of a Kleenex. The interesting part is that [[PluckyGirl Marian Halcombe]], her half sister, is an amazingly strong character for a [[VictorianLondon Victorian]] novel. While Laura is the epitome of blushing Victorian beauty and fragility, Marian is described as "ugly", even having a slight mustache on her upper lip. Maybe this is a case of an Ugly TomboyAndGirlyGirl.
* ''Literature/YoungBond'''s ''Literature/BloodFever'': Amy Goodenough is kidnapped by pirates for ransom. She ends being taken from them by the novel's BigBad, who plans to make her his wife.
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