History ComicStrip / PrinceValiant

*** Rowanne's character development is about putting feeling of jealously and romantic longing aside for the duty to Camelot, the responsibilities of knighthood, and fighting for justice. By choosing Camelot over Michael, her development as a character is completed, symbolized by her knighting.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Arthur, Merlin, Byrant and (sometimes) Gawaine.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Morgana is missing entirely from the last episode.
* WorthyOpponent: Morgana calls Merlin this.

** Hell, it was a Love Pentagon with Prince Michael of Northland around. This one was seriously complicated and not all that consistent. At first it's revealed that Arn and Valiant are both in love with Rowanne, who sees them both as friends. Then it's never mentioned again until Valiant falls for Aleta, whereupon Rowanne becomes jealous. Then, although the events of that episode should mean that a) Valiant knows how Rowanne feels about him and b) she knows how he feels about Aleta, that doesn't stop Rowanne thinking that Valiant is confessing love for HER, or her being surprised that he isn't. Then, whaddaya know, it turns out Rowanne KNOWS that Arn's in love with her, though there's never been any indication of this before. Then she nearly marries Michael... At the end of the series, Val and Aleta are married, and our last information is that Rowanne and Michael are still pining for each other but can't be together because Rowanne's destiny lies in Camelot, while poor old Arn is still in love with Rowanne, but while Rowanne is growing towards Arn back after she is knighted. Complicated stuff.

** Hell, it was a Love Pentagon with Prince Michael of Northland around. This one was seriously complicated and not all that consistent. At first it's revealed that Arn and Valiant are both in love with Rowanne, who sees them both as friends. Then it's never mentioned again until Valiant falls for Aleta, whereupon Rowanne becomes jealous. Then, although the events of that episode should mean that a) Valiant knows how Rowanne feels about him and b) she knows how he feels about Aleta, that doesn't stop Rowanne thinking that Valiant is confessing love for HER, or her being surprised that he isn't. Then, whaddaya know, it turns out Rowanne KNOWS that Arn's in love with her, though there's never been any indication of this before. Then she nearly marries Michael... At the end of the series, Val and Aleta are married, and our last information is that Rowanne and Michael are still pining for each other but can't be together because Rowanne's destiny lies in Camelot, while poor old Arn is still in love with Rowanne. Complicated stuff.

* {{Textplosion}}: What you get when you don't use speech bubbles. [[BetterThanItSounds Not that this is a bad thing.]]

* OfficialCouple: Valiant and Aleta. Given that Valiant/Rowanne was heavily [[ShipTease teased]] before Aleta's introduction, one can only ''imagine'' the ShippingWars that would have ensued had this cartoon existed in the time of internet fandom.

The sweet prince's trademark [[BobHaircut black hair-helmet]] has passed into tonsorial folklore as "the Prince Valiant" (or pageboy) haircut.

* BobHaircut: AKA "The Prince Valiant"

* {{Textplosion}}: What you get when you don't use speech bubbles.
* {{Tsundere}}: Aleta.

* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: In a rather unusual example, one strip of the comic waxed narrative on the lava flow of a [[ConvectionSchmonvection snowy peak]], with a breathtaking image of a river of ''Cadillac-pink'' water.

* PrintLongRunners: The continuous circulation of the strip since "around the time Hitler invaded Poland" is [[TakeThat mocked]] in ''PearlsBeforeSwine''. Unlike many serial stories, Hal Foster wrote, or at least planned out, Prince Valiant's entire story, start to finish, before he drew so much asa single panel.

* PrintLongrunners: The continuous circulation of the strip since "around the time Hitler invaded Poland" is [[TakeThat mocked]] in ''PearlsBeforeSwine''.

* VerySpecialEpisode: The show tackled issues such as racism, sexism, child abuse, environmentalism, and even gun responsibility (though they used crossbows).

* TheArcher: Rowanne

* BlackKnight: In the 1954 film version [[spoiler:Sir Brack (no, really, [[SpaceGhostCoastToCoast that's his name]])]], who is also [[spoiler: TheQuisling]], is disguised as this.

!!Tropes associated with ''PrinceValiant'' the AnimatedAdaptation include:

* HeyItsThatVoice: TimCurry voices Sir Gawain.

* HairOfGold: Aleta.

** Prince Valiant also appeared in an episode of ''WedternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth''.

A live action film version, starring Robert Wagner, was produced in 1954. An AnimatedAdaptation, ''The Legend of Prince Valiant'', with Robbie Benson voicing the title role, aired in 1991. (The {{anime}} film ''Little Norse Prince Valiant'' would seem to be unrelated to Foster's comic.) It also inspired a TabletopRPG more oriented towards storytelling than HackAndSlash ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]''-style roleplay.

* AncestralWeapon: Valiant's "Singing Sword," which will "sing" only when borne by one of the true royal line of Thule.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princevaliant.jpg ''' ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'' ''' is a [[NewspaperComics comic strip]] created by Hal Foster, running [[LongRunner from 1937 to the present]] (Foster's last strip was drawn in 1971), that recounted the adventures of the eponymous Norse prince and his family and friends. The comic came out only in the Sunday paper and featured narration juxtaposed with illustrations rather than the usual thought and speech balloons. During most of Hal Foster's lifetime it occupied one whole page of the Sunday funnies. In the 90s it spun off into a MarvelComics limited series not set in Marvel continuity.

* {{Crossover}}: In 1972, Prince Valiant appeared with other King Features Syndicate stars in the cartoon film, ''TheManWhoHatedLaughter'' (though, to avoid a blatant anachronism, his involvement was limited to appearing as an illusion created by MandrakeTheMagician to frighten one of the villains).

* SwordInTheStone: The Singing Sword, which, as noted above, only a member of the royal family of Thule can make sing.