A character, usually female and nubile, is portrayed as
helpless and in danger in order to put the cast in motion. In particular, the cast is unified, putting aside
differences in pursuit of the rescue.
This works if the damsel in distress is a beloved character, but can be very annoying if the audience
wouldn't mind her dead, or sees the helplessness as
Character Derailment. An
Action Girl who
becomes a damsel in distress is likely a
Faux Action Girl, though not always; if they can reclaim their
Action Girl credentials after being freed, they were just experiencing
Badass in Distress after being thrown a
Distress Ball.
Don't expect people to cut her some slack, even if she logically would not have the power or abilities necessary to help. In more recent works the damsel is
more likely to rebel one way or another, which can either help or make things worse. The screaming associated with this trope has largely been replaced with getting angry and telling her captors to put her down, but she will still scream when they throw her off a building.
Sometimes the character gets kidnapped for the sake of her
good looks or
royal blood, but in recent works she's more likely doing something that is a threat to the party that kidnaps her (
reporters are common), which allows her to look smart and independent
before she needs to be saved. Alternatively, she can end up prisoner as a
Heroic Sacrifice; realizing that there is only enough room to get all the children on the transport, or attempting to free other prisoners (which may or may not succeed before her capture) are popular.
Generally expected to give
The Hero a
Smooch of Victory when he rescues her.
Unless he doesn't.
Chained to a Rock is an ancient form;
Girl in the Tower and
Hypnotize the Princess are slightly more recent. A non-endangered form exists in the
Living MacGuffin, who is safe but out of the hero's reach, be it with distance or conditioning love/marriage. Damsels in distress are often
Bound and Gagged, especially where
Author Appeal is concerned.
If the kidnapper in question is particularly nasty, expect an
I Have You Now, My Pretty situation to occur. If the character does not become a
Damsel Scrappy but still is constantly captured, they are a
Designated Victim. A more sexist version is the
Disposable Woman.
For the
Gender Flip, see
Distressed Dude. See also
Distress Ball,
Standard Female Grab Area,
Determined Widow,
I Have Your Wife,
The President's Daughter and
Save the Princess. If the girl is actually
faking this for her own benefits, depending on her purposes she's either a
Deliberately Distressed Damsel or a
Decoy Damsel. If she's got a strong spirit despite her fighting disadvantages, she's a
Badass Damsel.
Not to be confused with the 2012 comedy film
Damsels In Distress.
This item is available in the Trope Co catalog.
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Ballads
- Child Ballad King Estmere
. The king goes wooing on the recommendation of his brother, and arrives to find the lady is being forced to marry. He rescues her.
- Child Ballad The Maid Freed from the Gallows has the heroine about to be hanged if she is not ransomed. Various relatives arrive and declare they are there to see her hanged. Finally, her true love arrives and ransoms her. (Most American versions of this ballad feature a Gender Flip version, of a man about to be hanged, but this is the older variant.)
- In the Child Ballad Sir Aldingar, the queen.
Fan Works
Radio
- The Shadow's companion Margot Lane served the function of designated hostage more often than not...especially if a Mad Scientist needed a "test subject."
- Margot Lane is also an example of Flanderization. In the early episodes with Orson Welles, she was fairly competent and saved The Shadow almost as much as he saved her.
Theatre
