Basic Trope: A female character is kidnapped (or otherwise endangered) and in need of rescue.
- Straight: Princess Alice is kidnapped by the Big Bad and must be rescued by Bob.
- Exaggerated:
- Princess Alice spends more time in dungeons than in her own rooms.
- Princess Alice gets targeted more than everyone else.
- Princess Alice is a Damsel Scrappy. (potentially)
- Downplayed:
- Princess Alice would happily kick the asses of her captors and take names afterwards, if she wasn't greatly outnumbered by her kidnappers, who are all heavily armed and have her imprisoned within an inescapable prison. Therefore, she figures it's better to wait for rescue rather than try to break herself out.
- Princess Alice is one of many hostages, both male and female, but she is considered the most important one.
- Justified:
- Princess Alice is wheelchair-bound, so she's disadvantaged against a physical attack.
- Princess Alice is physically overpowered not due to weakness on her part, but because her captors have her outnumbered and/or outgunned.
- Princess Alice lived a sheltered life, and doesn't have the skills to defend herself or escape without guards.
- Princess Alice's agricultural studies, on work vital to the kingdom, absorb so much of her time that she couldn't train herself to a level of dealing with specifically trained kidnappers, and worse, make her a particularly valued target, both to deprive the kingdom of her skills and to try to force her to use them elsewhere.
- Princess Alice, a civilian not trained to fight, was trapped by an enemy attack and gave up her chance to escape to get some more children away from the enemy.
- Princess Alice was blinded by a surprise attack and kidnapped; she hasn't been trained to work blind.
- Princess Alice is too lazy to rescue herself.
- Princess Alice is a child, so her needing rescuing is simply Surprisingly Realistic Outcome.
- Princess Alice is a professional damsel in distress, whose job is to judge whether an aspiring hero is trained in crisis management and lifesaving techniques.
- Inverted:
- Alice is the Action Girl who saves anyone in danger.
- Alice is the one who kidnaps others or put them in danger.
- Princess Alice gets kidnapped and Bob comes to save her, but when Bob is nearly killed trying to save her, Alice breaks free from her confinement and decimates her way through the evil forces to rescue Bob, and absolutely succeeds in doing so with little more than her bare hands and her beautiful pink dress.
- Gender Inverted: Bob is a Distressed Dude.
- Subverted:
- Bob goes to rescue Alice, but she proves perfectly capable of rescuing herself.
- Alice is working for the Big Bad, or she IS the Big Bad.
- Alice is a Deliberately Distressed Damsel.
- Bob rushes towards the cell where Alice was being held in, only to find that she has perished.
- Bob finds Alice's grave. She was dead all along.
- Double Subverted:
- Despite showing some traits that make her look like a fighter, Alice ends up proving to be a Faux Action Girl and is recaptured.
- Alice fights off her initial captors, but before she can waltz away from her victory, ends up being overpowered by a second wave of superior forces.
- Except Emperor Evulz double crossed Alice to save his troubles, Alice then becomes a genuine damsel in distress.
- (Continued from Deliberately Distressed Damsel) However, actual harm towards Alice was not in the contract, so naturally she would want to defect.
- Alice is physically strong enough to fight off any man who tries to attack her...unfortunately Big Brother Is Watching and decides to draft her against her will as a result.
- It was a Disney Death; Bob rescues her from a critical health condition instead of a cell.
- The grave was empty or held a Body Double. The real Alice is in being held in another castle.
- Parodied:
- Alice is a incompetent Royal Brat, and Bob is a bored Punch-Clock Hero tired of rescuing her.
- Alice is so used to being held captive that she's capable of predicting everything her captors will do, and responds to the situation with weary, resigned sarcasm.
- Princess Alice, whom everyone nicknames "Damsel", is in a city called "Distress".
- Zig Zagged:
- Alice gets herself into a situation where she needs to be rescued. She not only rescues herself, but also her rescuers. Then she pulls a Heroic Sacrifice so they can escape a bigger threat.
- An attempt is made to kidnap Alice, but her Body Double, Alicia, gets scooped up instead. The kingdom is still functional with Alice on the throne and her guards on high alert, but the Body Double is still a loyal guard in her own right and Alice is willing to pay the heroes handsomely to go and rescue her. The Big Bad has a similar epiphany and decides to keep Alicia for ransom in the meantime; she might not be as valuable a captive as Alice herself, but it's still worthwhile to hold onto her (as opposed to having her executed).
- Averted: Nobody bothers trying to kidnap Princess Alice, because it's not in their best interests to do so. Either it would take too many resources to subdue her, or the effort isn't worth it.
- Enforced: "The Big Bad needs to be established as such. He has to Kick the Dog in a way that will affect Bob on a personal level and give him a justification to chase after him. Let's have the Big Bad kidnap his girlfriend!"
- Lampshaded: "I hope Bob arrives soon. I don't like being locked up in here."
- Invoked:
- "We need a hostage worth good money. Princess Alice is in no position to defend herself; capture her."
- There are professional Damsels in Distress who act as judges on aspiring heroes trying to get their license.
- Exploited:
- Princess Alice deliberately goes down to the crime-ridden docks to be captured, thus giving the king's men an excuse to break into the house of the high-ranking noble who is the head of the kidnappers' guild.
- Princess Alice goes into bandit territory to haggle with the bandit chief, knowing he is treacherous — and that her capture will sort out The So-Called Coward and Miles Gloriosus among her suitors.
- Defied:
- Princess Alice has been trained in self-defense, so she dispatches those sent to capture her.
- the Big Bad refuses to have anything to do with Alice, so he leaves her alone.
- To prevent kidnapping from happening, King Allard has a devoted regiment of bodyguards with Princess Alice at all times.
- Discussed: "You can't expect Princess Alice to save herself... she's badly outnumbered and she's had no weapons training."
- Conversed: "By using the damsel in distress plot, the producers can appeal to their target audience; role players."
- Deconstructed:
- Princess Alice is kidnapped, and while Bob saves her, the incident has scarred her. She feels helpless and blame herself.
- After being kidnapped, Alice is abused by her captors in one way or another while they wait for the ransom.
- Alice has been kidnapped or her mentality was put in distress... and nobody saves her, despite her pleas because of one obstacle or another.
- Alice is rescued by Anti-Hero Bob, who only rescues her because he wants a reward.
- Reconstructed:
- Princess Alice is kidnapped and goes through a Heroic BSoD because her inability to rescue herself put her friends/bodyguards in danger, but she but pulls herself together when her diplomatic skills are needed to avert a war. Bob reminds her that, even though she has to be rescued from physical danger sometimes, she's been the one to get the rest of the party out of political danger just as many times.
- Princess Alice is kidnapped by a thug who fancies himself a gentleman and is aware that beating her up for shits and giggles is not going to increase the ransom he's getting. The situation is terrifying for her, but she is not abused.
- After a long while of nobody answering, finally there comes Bob the Selfless Hero arrives on the scene and takes it upon himself to save her from distress.
- No ransom lasts forever: Alice is eventually freed by her captors...or frees herself.
- Alice is rescued by Anti-Hero Bob, who only rescues her because he wants a reward. This reward is the position of her bodyguard so he is never out of work and enjoying the palace. He might become fond of her over time.
- Emperor Evulz absolutely forbids all forms of torture or violence against the princess... dead hostages have no value.
- Princess Alice is a legitimate Action Girl, but she gets captured anyway, however this isn't treated as a failure and more of a reality of war - POWs are a thing after all. She gets thrown in a prison alongside several other captured fighters. She and the other POWs are rescued not out of romantic ideals but simply out of necessity.
- Played For Laughs: Princess Alice getting kidnapped is an Excuse Plot to get the story going, and happens every week, like clockwork. Princess Alice is resigned to this, and greets each kidnapping with a sigh, whiling away her hours in the dungeons.
- Played For Drama: Princess Alice being kidnapped is a devastating experience for her, Bob (her rescuer and lover), and the people of her kingdom. Each time it happens, Bob goes through much angst over allowing her to be taken again, and Princess Alice gets progressively more insecure in her own power each time she allows herself to be taken, which impedes her abilities as a ruler.
- Intended Audience Reaction: Considering how often Princess Alice gets kidnapped, the fanbase eventually see her as The Load... which is what the author/producer intended from the very beginning, in order to get the point across that if you have everyone else save you from the harsh things in life, you won't be able to fend for yourself later on in life. This is reflected in the show as one of the morals.
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