History Main / DamselInDistress

For the GenderFlip, see DistressedDude. See also DistressBall, StandardFemaleGrabArea, DeterminedWidow, IHaveYourWife, SaveThePrincess, HostageMacGuffin. If the girl is actually ''faking'' this for her own benefits, depending on her purposes she's either a DeliberatelyDistressedDamsel or a DecoyDamsel. A damsel who rescues herself is a DamselOutOfDistress who probably used an ImprovisedWeapon. If she has a strong spirit despite captivity then he/she is a DefiantCaptive. If the hero leaves the damsel in distress (for the moment), that's DelayingTheRescue. If the hero tries to rescue them even though they don't need rescuing, then TheVictimMustBeConfused. See also TheCaptivityNarrative for a plot based on this.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Myrna Dearfield gets kidnapped by the Yellow Mask Gang while they're looking to steal her husband's research. She has to be rescued from the gang's {{queenpin}} Tirza by Wonder Woman herself after they get the research from her husbands duplicitous assistant, and is saved from death at the amoral gangsters' hands just in the nick of time.

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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mario-DamselInDistress_2325.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[SaveThePrincess Just another Wednesday for]] [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach.]]]]

The nature of the distress varies. The classic damsel has been kidnapped or captured and is locked away, awaiting rescue and afraid for her life and [[DefiledForever virtue]]. She may also be lost or stranded in a hostile area, trapped, or suffering any number of terrible fates where she needs help to survive. In other cases, the damsel's distress is due to her own husband, in which case she is a MalMariee, and may be rescued by a WifeBasherBasher.

The nature of the distress varies. The classic damsel has been kidnapped or captured and is locked away, awaiting rescue and afraid for her life and [[DefiledForever virtue]]. She may also be lost or stranded in a hostile area, trapped, or suffering any number of terrible fates where she needs help to survive. In other cases, the damsel's distress is due to her own husband, in which case she is a MalMairee, and may be rescued by a WifeBasherBasher.

The nature of the distress varies. The classic damsel has been kidnapped or captured and is locked away, awaiting rescue and afraid for her life and [[DefiledForever virtue]]. She may also be lost or stranded in a hostile area, trapped, or suffering any number of terrible fates where she needs help to survive.

Radical feminists hate these ladies.

* DamselInDistress/WebComics

** ''Disney/PeterPan: Wendy is almost always attacked by Tinker Bell, who almost murdered her, most notably when Tink made the Lost Boys attempt to bludgeon her to death. Then she and her brothers are held hostage by Hook.
** Ariel's daughter Melody becomes this in ''Disney/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'' when she's transformed back into a human and Morgana locks her up in unmeltable ice. Melody's friends Tip & Dash have to save her.
** ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'': Belle is rescued by the Beast from a pack of wolves after leaving his castle, which is what convinces her to return to said castle in order to patch up his injuries.
** ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'': Jasmine is trapped in an hourglass slowly filling with sand during the final battle and nearly drowns in it until Aladdin breaks her out.
** Parodied in Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}''.

** ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}'': Jane is attacked by baboons and rescued from them by Tarzan, due to being an unprepared FishOutOfWater in a wild environment.
** [[spoiler: Kida]] from 2001's ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', who spends the last third of the film crystallized by the villain and her boyfriend and his teammates actually have to rescue her and change her back.

* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} frequently finds herself BoundAndGagged due to the fact that she needs to speak backwards in order to cast her spells. [[https://i.imgur.com/Due6qoT.png Being gagged renders her powerless and at the mercy of her enemies]]. Her rogues gallery seem to be very appear of her AchillesHeel and often place her positions of peril. When Zatanna works with other superheroes, she often plays the role of Damsel in Distress due to this, heightening drama and raising the stakes.

* ComicBook/Zatanna frequently finds herself BoundAndGagged due to the fact that she needs to speak backwards in order to cast her spells. [[https://i.imgur.com/Due6qoT.png Being gagged renders her powerless and at the mercy of her enemies]]. Her rogues gallery seem to be very appear of her AchillesHeel and often place her positions of peril. When Zatanna works with other superheroes, she often plays the role of Damsel in Distress due to this, heightening drama and raising the stakes.

* Subverted with Jadina from [''ComicBook/LesLegendaires''; her typical SpoiledSweet attitude, natural clumsyness and the fact she's a princess seems to make her designed for this role, and [[TheHero Danael]] even mentioned she has been this at least once; however, she never falls into that role, and actually ''is'' the one saving her friends most of the time, sometimes even doing so when weakened. This reaches its paroxysm in Book 14, where [[spoiler:after she got temporary depowered and had her friends saving her, but still saves her friends from the new BigBad Abyss, who none of her friend could even scratch. And all of this while still depowered. Wow.]]

* Nala is this at times in ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures'', most notably when she's kidnapped by Scar and Hago in ''King's Ransom''.
* ''Fanfic/TalesOfTheEmperasque'' has Isha, Eldar fertility and life goddess, kept in prison by Nurgle. Her rescue is the first SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of many.
* In''Fanfic/InfinityCrisis'', Jane Foster is captured by the villains as a hostage (justifiable as half of Thanos’s new allies were Thor’s enemies, so they naturally targeted Thor’s ex for maximum impact).
* In ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'', ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} locks Highfather's daughter D'reema away so she can't ruin his scheme by speaking the Life Equation.

This set-up is plausible if the damsel in distress is a beloved character, but can be very jarring if the audience fails to see what's so valuable about the damsel and why the rest of the cast should drop everything to go to her rescue. Some damsels are so annoying that the audience [[DamselScrappy wouldn't mind seeing them dead]]; others end up in trouble in a way that just screams CharacterDerailment. This is particularly dangerous for the resident ActionHeroine who will seem [[{{Chickification}} suddenly weak and helpless]] if her stint as a damsel isn't properly justified -- if the moment is bad enough, she can be demoted to FauxActionGirl. On the other hand, anyone can have a bad day; perhaps she just had a moment of BadassInDistress after being thrown a DistressBall.

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** ''Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'': Snow White falls into an enchanted sleep after taking a bite from an apple given by the disguised Queen and is awoken with TrueLovesKiss.

* In ''Fil/{{Perfume}}'', the VillainProtagonist sets his murderous sights on Laura Richis, a beautiful, virginal young lady. Her father becomes wary of the danger and does everything in his power to protect his daughter.

The nature of the distress varies. The classic damsel has been kidnapped or captured and is locked away, awaiting rescue and afraid for her life and [[DefiledForever virtue]]. She may also be lost or stranded in a hostile area, trapped, desperately ill, or suffering any number of terrible fates where she needs help to survive.

* Michelle, the little badger from ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'', inhales a poisonous gas and falls ill. Thus, it's up to her friends Edgar, Russel, and Abigail to find the herbs to heal her. Her damsel status stands in a bit of contrast to Abigail, who fights an owl while trying to save her.
* Odette from ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' is under an enchantment by Rothbart that causes her to turn into a swan when moonlight leaves the lake by his castle in the morning and she needs Derek to break the enchantment, but she also turns down Rothbart's marriage proposals without a hint of remorse or fear even though she knows he's a powerful sorcerer and he ''killed'' her father. Also, she doesn't exactly wait for Derek to show up and does everything she can to try and let him know where she is and what he has to do.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': Dawn, being a {{Princess Classic}} is kidnapped by [[EvilOverLord The Bog King]] as a hostage to exchange for a stolen {{love potion}}.

** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'': In the climax, Oberhauser kidnaps Madeline and traps her in a locked room in the old MI6 building, which is set to be demolished and has already been rigged to blow. Bond has to race through the building to save her life.

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* Music/MichaelJackson's "Thriller" video had this twice, in the movie the Michael and his date are watching at the start, then again the date's dream. It's implied that it happens a third time once she wakes up.

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