History Literature / PrincessBen

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted. Ben notes that Prince Florian is a handesome young man but his sneer negates it..

* ShoutOut: Murdock must have had a list of fairy tales she wanted to twist to her own prupose.

''Princess Ben'' is the third book by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and was released in 2008. She is not kidding when states this is 'not your typical fairy tale''. It has all the usual elements (princesses, cells in towers, magic, evil stepmothers, balls etc) which are both {{Deconstructed}} and {{Reconstruction}} by the end. Have fun spotting the references to classic tales.

* NotSoDifferent: Several characters note that Ben resembles Sophia when she's serious.

''Princess Ben'' is the third book by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and was released in 2008. She is not kidding when states this is 'not your typical fairy tale''. It has all the usual elements (princesses, cells in towers, magic, evil stepmothers, balls etc) which are both {{Deconstructed}} and {{Reconstructed}} by the end. Have fun spotting the references to classic tales.

* ProperLady: Ben describes her mother as a paragon of what a proper lady should be.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The Drachensbett ambassador gives one about how Ben is no way qualified to run a country and that hers would be far better off with him in charge.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Deconstructed. Getting ready for the winter ball is a painful affair for Ben with [[OfCorsetHurts corsets]] [[TraumaticHaircut wig fitting]] and all manner of Fashion is Pain tropes. She thinks she looks ridiculous. It even has the 'grand entrance on a staircase' but Ben is only happy to reach the bottom without tripping.
** [[spoiler: Her second ball the following autumn is played straight, and for drama.]]

* SoProudOfYou: [[spoiler: "...we must confess, Benevolence, that our esteem of you waxes with each passing day." Aspire as I might to project queenly dignity, I could not restrain a flush of pride.]]

* SpoiledBrat: While she has an excuse at the very beginning (i.e. emotional turmoil over her parrent's deaths) Ben acts entitled and throws an occasional tantrum.

* SwordAndSorcerer: [[spoiler: Ben and Florian in the final act with Florian fighting a dragon with metal weapons and Ben using magic spells.]]

* {{Tsundere}}: Ben is a Type B post Character Development. She's able to maintain her kind and polite lady like demeanor around everyone except Florian.

* AllMythsAreTrue: Legend has it that mages built the Chateau de Montagne. They did.

* BadassGrandpa: Ben's own grandfather, a warrior king and the reason Drachensbett hasn't bothered Montagne for thirty years.

* BerserkButton: Mentioning that Sophia has failed to give birth in her earshot. She lashed Ben for it.

* BigBad: King Renaldo [[spoiler: is not this because he didn't start the plot and was sad for the death of Ben's parents.]] tries to take over Montagne.

* CaptainObvious: The magic mirror in the wizard room can only interact with someone to confirm what they already said. It gets boring being this trope. [[spoiler: Later this rule is bent, as if the mirror is a TricksterMentor trying to make her [[CannotSpitItOut spit out that she is in love with Florian.]]]]

* DeathSeeker: Downplayed but still there when Ben discovers the secret room. She thinks she has nothing to lose even if there's nothing beyond the illusion but a steep drop. "What had I to lose? Woul would miss me should this end in tragedy?"

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: lampshaded by King Renaldo "Would that he never died." wept the king, "But if he must, he should die so nobly.

* [[spoiler: EarnYourHappyEnding: in this case by growing up and being quick witted.]]

* HappilyMarried: Though Ben points out [[spoiler: as an old woman]] that no marriage is "HappilyEverAfter" there are still "moments of bliss" and "long spans of satisfied companionship" and true love.

* HeelRealization: While not a villain Ben realizes that the greatest threat to her country is not a foreign nation but her own immaturity.
* TheHighQueen: [[spoiler: Ben eventually.]] Its downplayed; she never reigns with the full authority of this trope but [[spoiler: she kept her country intact, independent, and happy, which she says is all that matters.]]
* IronLady: Sophia, cold and aggressive and stoic
* KansasCityShuffle: [[spoiler: Ben's plan to kill the dragon. She lures it to her and creates a double for it to eat. This double is made of snow and puts out the belly fire that keeps it alive.]] She tricked her mark into calling her bluff.

* MarryForLove: The only reason Ben decides she would marry. "When very old and in my twenties".
** Later she discovers that Florian has the same ideals
* MeaningfulName: "Benvolence" Averted at first but she grows into it.
* TheMentor: [[spoiler: Sophia]] who teaches Ben important skills and praises her when she steps up to the challenge.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The Drachensbett ambassador gives one about Ben.
* RedBaron: Ben's grandfather is known as 'The Badger'

* RoyalWe: Sophia always speaks like this and drives Ben nuts that the queen thinks she can speak for everyone, especially her.
* IShallTauntYou: Ben does this to [[spoiler: a dragon!]]

** To Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}, Sophia's grandmother is said to have spun straw into gold and made a tapestery that Sophia brings to Montagne

** From Florian's point of of view, Ben's flight from the castle sounds like Literature/SleepingBeauty: A witch casting a sleep spell on a princess before escaping; the princess can only be awakened by a kiss from a prince. In reality the 'sleeping princess' was a magic clone Ben created to hold others attention while she studied, and instead of leading to a happily ever after, Ben fears that her connection to double would fade and it will become the new princess, [[spoiler: leaving her as a kitchen slave.]]

** [[Myth/SaintGeorge Saint George and the Dragon]]
* SlapSlapKiss: [[spoiler: after spending most of their aquiantance hating each other, Florian confesses his love for Ben. A day later, she confesses the same.]]

* SpoiledBrat: While she has an excuse at the very beginning (i.e. emotional turmoil over her parrent's deaths) she acts entitled and throws an occasional tantrum.

* SwordAndSorcerer: [[spoiler: Ben and Florian in the final act.]]

* TrueLovesKiss: Florian thinks this is in cards for him, Sleeping Beauty style. [[spoiler: Actually gender flopped because Ben is the one to save him from dragon poison this way.]]

* WickedStepMother: Sophia's 'noose' on Ben. Let's make a list

* [[spoiler: BadassPrincess: Ben eventually reaches this stage:]] diving on a platoon of archers and throwing fire/wind spells can't be anything but badass.
** and if that's not good enough [[spoiler: She taunts a dragon!]]

* StopHelpingMe: Not quite but the idea is there.
-->-- [[spoiler: ''At'' the dragon" He shouted, "You're supponsed to throw ''at'' the dragon!]]
-->-- [[spoiler: "I'm trying!" I shrieked back.]]

* EnemyChatter: Guards and their debate over the qualifies of different varieties of apples. [[SeriousBusiness Their king takes them as seriously as warfare or politics.]]

* EvilStepMother: Sophia's 'noose' on Ben. Let's make a list
** forbidding her friends from visiting
** keeping her half-starved
** locking her in a tower
** lashing on her hands for speaking out
*** [[spoiler: Ben later realizes that Sophia was treating her like a SpoiledBrat because she was one. When she acts more like a proper princess, Sophia treats her better.]]

** To rumplsktlin, Sophia's grandmother is said to have spun straw into gold and made a tapestery that Sophia brings to Montagne
** Ben briefly considers scaling her cell with Rapunzel's hair before dismissing it as absurd.
** Baron Edwig claims a pea under his mattress bruised him.
** From Florian's point of of view, Ben's flight from the castle sounds like Sleeping Beauty: A witch casting a sleep spell on a princess before escaping; the princess can only be awakened by a kiss from a prince. In reality the 'sleeping princess' was a magic clone Ben created to hold others attention while she studied, and instead of leading to a happily ever after, Ben fears that her connection to double would fade and it will become the new princess, [[spoiler: leaving her as a kitchen slave.]]
** A farm boy thinks Ben's melted glass "gems" are magic beans.
** The Frog Prince, but in this case the princess would rather keep him in a box and poke him with a stick than kiss him.
** Saint George and the Dragon

* SwordandSorcerer: [[spoiler: Ben and Florian in the final act.]]

-->''My gown suited me as well as I could ever hope thought I could not but envy the young ladies who would attract the honest compliments of the night. My bodice did not plunge as dramatically as some, and no man-no man I would ever want to meet surely-could fit his hands around my waist. But the gown had the simple elegance for which Queen Sophia's dressmaker so reknowned, and what I lacked in beauty, I would simply have to earn with charm.''

!!Princess Ben has the following tropes

<<|{{Literature}}|>>

-->''My gown suited me as well as I could ever hopem thought I could not but envy the young ladies who would attract the honest compliments of the night. My bodice did not plunge as dramatically as some, and no man-no man I would ever want to meet surely-could fit his hands around my waist. But the gown had the simple elegance for which Queen Sophia's dressmaker so reknowned, and what I lacked in beauty, I would simply have to earn with charm.''

* SlapSlapKiss: [[spoiler: after spending most of their aquiantance hating each other, Florian confesses his love for Ben. She, for her part, was having dreams of them kissing.]]

* AllMythsAreTrue: Legends has it that mages built the Chateau de Montagne. They did.

* IShallTauntYou: [[spoiler: Ben does this]] to a dragon!

-->Benevolence is not your typical princess and Princess Ben is certainly not your typical fairy tale. With her parents lost to unknown assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia, who is intent on marrying her off to the first available “specimen of imbecilic manhood.” Starved and miserable, locked in the castle’s highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire . . . But Ben’s private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat facing the castle and indeed the entire country. Can Princess Ben save her kingdom from annihilation and herself from permanent enslavement?

-->''Princess Ben'' is the third book by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and was released in 2008. She is not kidding when states this is 'not your typical fairy tale''. It has all the usual elements (princesses, cells in towers, magic, evil stepmothers, balls etc) which are both {{Deconstructed}} and {{Reconstructed}} by the end. Have fun spotting the references to classic tales.

* Happilly Married: Though Ben points out [[spoiler: as an old woman]] that no marriage is "HappilyEverAfter" there are still "moments of bliss" and "long spans of satisfied companionship" and true love.

** Ben's character development is to be more like this and less like a SpoiledBrat.

** he later inverts it by praising "Ben the shepherd" as resembling "Princess Benevolence" but more clever and more interesting.

* Red Baron: Ben's grandfather is known as 'The Badger'

* Royal We: Sophia always speaks like this and drives Ben nuts that the queen thinks she can speak for everyone, especially her.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Deconstructed. Getting ready for the winter ball is a paincful affair for Ben with [[OfCorsetHurts corsets]] [[TraumuaticHaircut wig fitting]] and all manner of Fashion is Pain tropes. She thinks she looks ridiculous. It even has the 'grand entrance on a staircase' for which Ben is only happy to reache the bottom without tripping.
** [[spoiler: Her second ball in the following autumn is played straight, and for drama.]]

** From Florian's point of of view, Ben's flight from the castle sounds like Sleeping Beauty: A witch casting a sleep spell on a princess before escaping; the princess can only be awakened by a kiss from a prince. In reality the 'sleeping princess' was a magic clone Ben created to hold other attention while she studied, and instead of leading to a happil ever after, Ben fears that her connection to double had faded and it will become the new princess, [[spoiler: leaving her as a kitchen slave.]]

* SilkHidingSteel: Invoked but then defied. Ben knows about these kinds of women and wants to emulate them but has no idea how. Later she stumbles upon 'abject passivity' which frustrates Sophia into drinking. [[spoiler: later still, she fulfills the trope.]]
** In fact, a major theme of the story is 'fighting' one's enemies with courtesy and wielding power over them from a weaker position.

* TrueLovesKiss: Florian thinks this is in cards for him, Sleeping Beauty style. [[spoiler: Actually gender flopped because Ben's is the one to save him from dragon poison.]]

* TheHighQueen: [[spoiler: Ben eventually.]] Its downplayed; she never reigns with the full authority of this trope but [[spoiler: she kept her country intact, indepedent, and happy, which she says is all that matters.]]

* CaptainObvious: The magic mirror in the wizard room can only interact with someone to confirm what they already said. It gets boring being this trope. [[spoiler: Later this rule is bent, as if the mirror is a TricksterMentor trying to make [[CannotSpitItOut spit out that she is in love with Florian.]]]]

* DeathSeeker: Downplayed but still there when Ben discovers the secret room. She thinks she has nothing to lose even if there's nothing beyond the illusion but a steep drop. "What had I to lose? Woul would miss m should this end in tragedy?"

* Proper Lady: Ben describes her mother as a paragon of what a proper lady should be.

* {{Yandere}}: Apparently this is the case for [[spoiler: King Renaldo.]] who Ben suspects [[spoiler: was more in love with Montagne's ruler than its lands.]]

* TraumaticHaircuit: Ben's hair is cut short for a ball, abrutly and forcefully by a servant. For extra points, it was so a wig would fit better.