History DamselInDistress / Literature

* 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.
* 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/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"

* 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/WenSpencer's ''Endless Blue'', 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.]]

** In her "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.]]

* Defied way back in ''1495'' in Matteo Boiardo's epic ''Orlando innamorato''. 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.

%%* Christine in ''Phantom of the Opera''... sorta kinda.
%%** It's complicated, involving a StalkerWithACrush and a ScarpiaUltimatum.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "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/TheHungerGames'': Annie Cresta. [[spoiler:She's captured and held prisoner by the Capitol at the end of ''Catching Fire'', but she is rescued in ''Mockingjay.'']]

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'' book 1, ''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]].

* [[spoiler:Jez]] is kidnapped at the beginning of the second ''Literature/KingdomKeepers'' book, setting the plot in motion.

* ''Literature/MediochreQSmith'': Parodied in ''Literature/TheGoodTheBadAndTheMediochre'', where dragons are noted to have a tendency to kidnap virgin princesses. Just because.

* In Creator/TeresaFrohock's ''Literature/MiserereAnAutumnTale'', Lindsey is in {{Hell}}. Lucian realizes he must open a Gate, which has been forbidden to him, to rescue her.

* In the second ''[[Literature/TheBourneSeries Bourne]]'' 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.

* In Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheBookOfAtrixWolfe'', Saro is trapped in a spell, rendered TheSpeechless, and [[FallenPrincess ends up]] a SculleryMaid.

* In ''Literature/TheTimeBender'', 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.