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Add Bringing Back Proof
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Another twist is where the hero is shoved aside -- or even killed -- by a [[FakeUltimateHero pretender who claims to have done the deed]]. They will usually be foiled because the hero is able to prove his or her claim; when the imposter presents the severed heads of the monster, for example, the true hero can show up with their ''tongues''. The princess is usually bullied into silence by the imposter, but will tell the truth when [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan the hero is there to protect her]].
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Another twist is where the hero is shoved aside -- or even killed -- by a [[FakeUltimateHero pretender who claims to have done the deed]]. They will usually be foiled because the hero is [[BringingBackProof able to prove prove]] his or her claim; when the imposter presents the severed heads of the monster, for example, the true hero can show up with their ''tongues''. The princess is usually bullied into silence by the imposter, but will tell the truth when [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan the hero is there to protect her]].
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** Even though Okuninushi was already married to Suseri-hime, he still had to win over her father, the infamously ill-tempered Susano'o. Susano'o tried to get rid of his new son-in-law by making him sleep in a room full of snakes, then a room full of centipedes, and then making him retrieve an arrow in a field and then setting it on fire. Since his father-in-law was clearly trying to kill him, Okuninushi [[CuttingTheKnot simply eloped with Suseri-hime]]. By the time Susano'o caught up with them, he begrudgingly accepted Okuninushi as his son-in-law.
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The Lost Woods has been split between a video game setting of the same name and Enchanted Forest. Cutting non-examples, zero-context potholes and ZCEs.
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* ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': In "The Cobbler's Lot", Tivald goes to the king to ask him for Princess Boglarka's hand. The king initially attempts to dismiss him, but, on seeing that he is serious, he assigns him a task. Tivald must trek through TheLostWoods to the loosestrife pool, and return with a single strand of loosestrife. If he succeeds, he will be permitted to marry the princess.
to:
* ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': In "The Cobbler's Lot", Tivald goes to the king to ask him for Princess Boglarka's hand. The king initially attempts to dismiss him, but, on seeing that he is serious, he assigns him a task. Tivald must trek through TheLostWoods the forest to the loosestrife pool, and return with a single strand of loosestrife. If he succeeds, he will be permitted to marry the princess.
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None
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* Although he's only dating Ramona, this is still the situation ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* Although he's only dating Ramona, this is still the situation ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves. The challenge? Defeat every person Ramona's ever dated in a duel, made extra difficult by most of them having superpowers.
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John Wick example is a regular Impossible Task to get out of the assassin business, not a challenge for a person's hand in marriage
Deleted line(s) 129 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/JohnWick'' alludes to "The ImpossibleTask". When the titular character retired from his life as a hitman for TheMafiya in order to marry, his boss Viggo would only give permission upon completion of an unspecified task. All we know is that John apparently racked up an impressive body count, creating a power vacuum for Viggo to rise - and that he needed help doing it, which becomes a plot point in [[Film/JohnWickChapter2 the sequel]].
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Moved
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* ''Series/FreeSpirit'', a 1989 sit-com, had main character Winnie Goodwin (a witch)'s fiancee (a warlock) show up after a courtship that spans 150 years. He had to cross the Atlantic in a day, and capture a girl's smile without using magic. Modern tech helps him beat most of her father's challenges.
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* ''Series/FreeSpirit'', ''Series/FreeSpirit1989'', a 1989 sit-com, had main character Winnie Goodwin (a witch)'s fiancee (a warlock) show up after a courtship that spans 150 years. He had to cross the Atlantic in a day, and capture a girl's smile without using magic. Modern tech helps him beat most of her father's challenges.
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Sorting
Deleted line(s) 36,40 (click to see context) :
* In ''Manga/FlyMeToTheMoon'' it turns out [[spoiler: this is the real reason Tsukasa married Nasa. After he said yes to her proposal, she revealed that it was only a test, because she's [[Really700YearsOld really 1400 years old]] [[note]]No no- [[InsistentTerminology she's been 16 for 1400 years!]][[/note]] and her goal is getting to the moon to get [[TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter Princess Kaguya]] to reverse her immortality. Nasa actually accepted her challenge but, due to his injuries, [[EasyAmnesia completely forgot everything she said]] about her past.]]
* In ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', [[OldMaster Elder]] tells Kenichi that he would only allow him to propose to [[ActionGirlfriend Miu]] (Elder's granddaughter) if Kenichi beats him in a fight. Elder is known as "the man without enemies". It's even better in Japanese: "man without enemies" is the literal definition of the word "invincible". [[spoiler: Though since in the epilogue he's married and had a daughter who looks like Miu, he's either beaten the elder or the older man has allowed the marriage anyway.]]
* In ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'', a flashback reveals that Kyosuke's grandfather set up something like this for his father. The challenge was to bring snow down from the top of a mountain. As a normal human, Kyosuke's father was unable to complete the challenge... without help from the Esper he was seeking to marry.
* In ''Manga/HoneyHoney'', the princess ''herself'' sets up the quest. She has rich suitors from around the world after her fabulous fortune, and frustrated at her options, she sticks her enormous diamond ring into a cooked fish and throws it outside. The main character's cat eats the fish, swallowing the ring, and runs off. The princess says whoever can retrieve the ring will marry her, setting off the events of the series, which is a wacky chase across Europe for a poor young waitress and her cat.
* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo's father challenges Aoyama to a kendo duel in order to let him continue seeing her. After Ichigo learns that he had been subjected to a similar challenge to continue seeing her mother, she, [[GenerationXerox like her mother before her]], runs in and offers to continue the duel on Aoyama's behalf, convincing her father to accept him.
* In ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', [[OldMaster Elder]] tells Kenichi that he would only allow him to propose to [[ActionGirlfriend Miu]] (Elder's granddaughter) if Kenichi beats him in a fight. Elder is known as "the man without enemies". It's even better in Japanese: "man without enemies" is the literal definition of the word "invincible". [[spoiler: Though since in the epilogue he's married and had a daughter who looks like Miu, he's either beaten the elder or the older man has allowed the marriage anyway.]]
* In ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'', a flashback reveals that Kyosuke's grandfather set up something like this for his father. The challenge was to bring snow down from the top of a mountain. As a normal human, Kyosuke's father was unable to complete the challenge... without help from the Esper he was seeking to marry.
* In ''Manga/HoneyHoney'', the princess ''herself'' sets up the quest. She has rich suitors from around the world after her fabulous fortune, and frustrated at her options, she sticks her enormous diamond ring into a cooked fish and throws it outside. The main character's cat eats the fish, swallowing the ring, and runs off. The princess says whoever can retrieve the ring will marry her, setting off the events of the series, which is a wacky chase across Europe for a poor young waitress and her cat.
* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo's father challenges Aoyama to a kendo duel in order to let him continue seeing her. After Ichigo learns that he had been subjected to a similar challenge to continue seeing her mother, she, [[GenerationXerox like her mother before her]], runs in and offers to continue the duel on Aoyama's behalf, convincing her father to accept him.
Deleted line(s) 42 (click to see context) :
* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', Issei crashes Rias and Raiser's marriage to take Rias back. Sirzechs then appears and tells him that if he wants his sister, he'll have to defeat Raiser. Naturally, Issei complies. [[CrazyPrepared And he brought some stuff with him too.]] The twist is that [[spoiler:Rias wants nothing to do with the marriage and her family are sympathetic but have their hands tied. Sirzechs backhandedly invited Issei to crash the party, and issued the challenge to give Rias a way out.]]
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* In the ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' episode "The Race Around the World" the wealthy Karat Goldminter holds the race around the world with the intention of marrying his daughter, Lovelace, to the winner. Lovelace enters the race herself, hoping to win and not be forced to marry.
* Similarly to the RealLife example, Chi-Chi does this to Goku in ''Franchise/DragonBall'' after the two had grown up - granted, the contest was instead "Beat me and I'll tell you my name", but the engagement followed right on the heels of it.
** Mr. Satan also freaks out when he realizes that Videl is in love with someone, saying that any boy who wants to date her would have to be capable of defeating him in combat (he's a long-running Martial Arts World Champion). Hilariously enough, Videl's boyfriend happens to be Gohan, who is one of the only teenage guys on the planet who could ''easily'' defeat Mr. Satan.
* Similarly to the RealLife example, Chi-Chi does this to Goku in ''Franchise/DragonBall'' after the two had grown up - granted, the contest was instead "Beat me and I'll tell you my name", but the engagement followed right on the heels of it.
** Mr. Satan also freaks out when he realizes that Videl is in love with someone, saying that any boy who wants to date her would have to be capable of defeating him in combat (he's a long-running Martial Arts World Champion). Hilariously enough, Videl's boyfriend happens to be Gohan, who is one of the only teenage guys on the planet who could ''easily'' defeat Mr. Satan.
Changed line(s) 49,51 (click to see context) from:
* ''Manga/TheWorldIsStillBeautiful'' does this twice in regards to Nike and Livius, interestingly enough since it's actually an ArrangedMarriage that ''was'' initially approved by at least Nike's dad who is the leader of the Rain Dukedom:
** To prove herself to the priest of Livi's kingdom, she must retrieve a ring from a deep crypt to prove herself. [[spoiler:It was a trap as there was no ring and the priest had men there ready to detain and kill Nike. Livi saved her and they got around the lack of formal ring with Everythings Better With Rainbows]].
** What gets foisted on Livius by Nike's grandmother [[spoiler:after the plan to hypnotize him into forgetting Nike fails]]. Overlaps with ImpossibleTask, given the ridiculous conditions he has to face -- [[spoiler:finding the key to the tower where Nike is held from a muddy swamp, in the middle of a massive thunderstorm summoned by said grandmother. This means that, if he takes too long looking for the key, there's a chance he might drown due to the rising waters. When he is finally pulled out, he had found the key and put it in his vest so he did not drop it]].
** To prove herself to the priest of Livi's kingdom, she must retrieve a ring from a deep crypt to prove herself. [[spoiler:It was a trap as there was no ring and the priest had men there ready to detain and kill Nike. Livi saved her and they got around the lack of formal ring with Everythings Better With Rainbows]].
** What gets foisted on Livius by Nike's grandmother [[spoiler:after the plan to hypnotize him into forgetting Nike fails]]. Overlaps with ImpossibleTask, given the ridiculous conditions he has to face -- [[spoiler:finding the key to the tower where Nike is held from a muddy swamp, in the middle of a massive thunderstorm summoned by said grandmother. This means that, if he takes too long looking for the key, there's a chance he might drown due to the rising waters. When he is finally pulled out, he had found the key and put it in his vest so he did not drop it]].
to:
* ''Manga/TheWorldIsStillBeautiful'' Similarly to the RealLife example, Chi-Chi does this twice to Goku in regards to Nike ''Franchise/DragonBall'' after the two had grown up - granted, the contest was instead "Beat me and Livius, interestingly enough since it's I'll tell you my name", but the engagement followed right on the heels of it.
** Mr. Satan also freaks out when he realizes that Videl is in love with someone, saying that any boy who wants to date her would have to be capable of defeating him in combat (he's a long-running Martial Arts World Champion). Hilariously enough, Videl's boyfriend happens to be Gohan, who is one of the only teenage guys on the planet who could ''easily'' defeat Mr. Satan.
* In ''Manga/FlyMeToTheMoon'' it turns out [[spoiler: this is the real reason Tsukasa married Nasa. After he said yes to her proposal, she revealed that it was only a test, because she's [[Really700YearsOld really 1400 years old]] [[note]]No no- [[InsistentTerminology she's been 16 for 1400 years!]][[/note]] and her goal is getting to the moon to get [[TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter Princess Kaguya]] to reverse her immortality. Nasa actuallyan ArrangedMarriage accepted her challenge but, due to his injuries, [[EasyAmnesia completely forgot everything she said]] about her past.]]
* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', Issei crashes Rias and Raiser's marriage to take Rias back. Sirzechs then appears and tells him that''was'' initially approved by at least Nike's dad who if he wants his sister, he'll have to defeat Raiser. Naturally, Issei complies. [[CrazyPrepared And he brought some stuff with him too.]] The twist is that [[spoiler:Rias wants nothing to do with the leader of marriage and her family are sympathetic but have their hands tied. Sirzechs backhandedly invited Issei to crash the Rain Dukedom:
** To prove herself toparty, and issued the priest of Livi's kingdom, she must retrieve challenge to give Rias a ring way out.]]
* In ''Manga/HoneyHoney'', the princess ''herself'' sets up the quest. She has rich suitors froma deep crypt to prove herself. [[spoiler:It was a trap as there was no ring and the priest had men there ready to detain and kill Nike. Livi saved her and they got around the lack of formal world after her fabulous fortune, and frustrated at her options, she sticks her enormous diamond ring into a cooked fish and throws it outside. The main character's cat eats the fish, swallowing the ring, and runs off. The princess says whoever can retrieve the ring will marry her, setting off the events of the series, which is a wacky chase across Europe for a poor young waitress and her cat.
* In ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', [[OldMaster Elder]] tells Kenichi that he would only allow him to propose to [[ActionGirlfriend Miu]] (Elder's granddaughter) if Kenichi beats him in a fight. Elder is known as "the man without enemies". It's even better in Japanese: "man without enemies" is the literal definition of the word "invincible". [[spoiler: Though since in the epilogue he's married and had a daughter who looks like Miu, he's either beaten the elder or the older man has allowed the marriage anyway.]]
* In ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'', a flashback reveals that Kyosuke's grandfather set up something like this for his father. The challenge was to bring snow down from the top of a mountain. As a normal human, Kyosuke's father was unable to complete the challenge... without help from the Esper he was seeking to marry.
* Played withEverythings Better With Rainbows]].
** What gets foisted on Livius by Nike's grandmother [[spoiler:afterin the plan to hypnotize him into forgetting Nike fails]]. Overlaps with ImpossibleTask, given the ridiculous conditions he final bonus chapter of ''Manga/{{Ojojojo}}'' where Haru has to face -- [[spoiler:finding the key beat her father in a game of golf to the tower where Nike is held from a muddy swamp, in the middle of a massive thunderstorm summoned by said grandmother. This means that, if he takes too long looking for the key, there's a chance he might drown due be able to the rising waters. When he is finally pulled out, he had found the key and put it in have his vest so blessing to marry Tsurezure. Her father secretly admits to Gramps that he's planning on giving permission even after he did not drop it]]. beats them since he knows that they would just elope otherwise.
** Mr. Satan also freaks out when he realizes that Videl is in love with someone, saying that any boy who wants to date her would have to be capable of defeating him in combat (he's a long-running Martial Arts World Champion). Hilariously enough, Videl's boyfriend happens to be Gohan, who is one of the only teenage guys on the planet who could ''easily'' defeat Mr. Satan.
* In ''Manga/FlyMeToTheMoon'' it turns out [[spoiler: this is the real reason Tsukasa married Nasa. After he said yes to her proposal, she revealed that it was only a test, because she's [[Really700YearsOld really 1400 years old]] [[note]]No no- [[InsistentTerminology she's been 16 for 1400 years!]][[/note]] and her goal is getting to the moon to get [[TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter Princess Kaguya]] to reverse her immortality. Nasa actually
* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', Issei crashes Rias and Raiser's marriage to take Rias back. Sirzechs then appears and tells him that
** To prove herself to
* In ''Manga/HoneyHoney'', the princess ''herself'' sets up the quest. She has rich suitors from
* In ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', [[OldMaster Elder]] tells Kenichi that he would only allow him to propose to [[ActionGirlfriend Miu]] (Elder's granddaughter) if Kenichi beats him in a fight. Elder is known as "the man without enemies". It's even better in Japanese: "man without enemies" is the literal definition of the word "invincible". [[spoiler: Though since in the epilogue he's married and had a daughter who looks like Miu, he's either beaten the elder or the older man has allowed the marriage anyway.]]
* In ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'', a flashback reveals that Kyosuke's grandfather set up something like this for his father. The challenge was to bring snow down from the top of a mountain. As a normal human, Kyosuke's father was unable to complete the challenge... without help from the Esper he was seeking to marry.
* Played with
** What gets foisted on Livius by Nike's grandmother [[spoiler:after
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
* Played with in the final bonus chapter of ''Manga/{{Ojojojo}}'' where Haru has to beat her father in a game of golf to be able to have his blessing to marry Tsurezure. Her father secretly admits to Gramps that he's planning on giving permission even after he beats them since he knows that they would just elope otherwise.
to:
* Played In the ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' episode "The Race Around the World" the wealthy Karat Goldminter holds the race around the world with in the final bonus chapter intention of ''Manga/{{Ojojojo}}'' where Haru has marrying his daughter, Lovelace, to beat the winner. Lovelace enters the race herself, hoping to win and not be forced to marry.
* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo's father challenges Aoyama to a kendo duel in order to let him continue seeing her. After Ichigo learns that he had been subjected to a similar challenge to continue seeing her mother, she, [[GenerationXerox like her mother before her]], runs in and offers to continue the duel on Aoyama's behalf, convincing her fatherin a game of golf to be able to have his blessing to marry Tsurezure. Her father secretly admits to Gramps that he's planning on giving permission even after he beats them since he knows that they would just elope otherwise.accept him.
* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo's father challenges Aoyama to a kendo duel in order to let him continue seeing her. After Ichigo learns that he had been subjected to a similar challenge to continue seeing her mother, she, [[GenerationXerox like her mother before her]], runs in and offers to continue the duel on Aoyama's behalf, convincing her father
* ''Manga/TheWorldIsStillBeautiful'' does this twice in regards to Nike and Livius, interestingly enough since it's actually an ArrangedMarriage that ''was'' initially approved by at least Nike's dad who is the leader of the Rain Dukedom:
** To prove herself to the priest of Livi's kingdom, she must retrieve a ring from a deep crypt to prove herself. [[spoiler:It was a trap as there was no ring and the priest had men there ready to detain and kill Nike. Livi saved her and they got around the lack of formal ring with Everythings Better With Rainbows]].
** What gets foisted on Livius by Nike's grandmother [[spoiler:after the plan to hypnotize him into forgetting Nike fails]]. Overlaps with ImpossibleTask, given the ridiculous conditions he has to face -- [[spoiler:finding the key to the tower where Nike is held from a muddy swamp, in the middle of a massive thunderstorm summoned by said grandmother. This means that, if he takes too long looking for the key, there's a chance he might drown due to the rising waters. When he is finally pulled out, he had found the key and put it in his vest so he did not drop it]].
** To prove herself to the priest of Livi's kingdom, she must retrieve a ring from a deep crypt to prove herself. [[spoiler:It was a trap as there was no ring and the priest had men there ready to detain and kill Nike. Livi saved her and they got around the lack of formal ring with Everythings Better With Rainbows]].
** What gets foisted on Livius by Nike's grandmother [[spoiler:after the plan to hypnotize him into forgetting Nike fails]]. Overlaps with ImpossibleTask, given the ridiculous conditions he has to face -- [[spoiler:finding the key to the tower where Nike is held from a muddy swamp, in the middle of a massive thunderstorm summoned by said grandmother. This means that, if he takes too long looking for the key, there's a chance he might drown due to the rising waters. When he is finally pulled out, he had found the key and put it in his vest so he did not drop it]].
* Although he's only dating Ramona, this is still the situation ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
Deleted line(s) 69 (click to see context) :
* Although he's only dating Ramona, this is still the situation ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* "Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea".
* Also in Creator/HansChristianAndersen's "The Travelling Companion," where the princess, egged on by an evil sorcerer, challenges her suitors to answer three questions. The penalty for failing to answer is death, but she's so beautiful that men keep trying. The titular companion helps the protagonist win by following her to the sorcerer at night and eavesdropping to learn the answers for him.
* Also in Creator/HansChristianAndersen's "The Travelling Companion," where the princess, egged on by an evil sorcerer, challenges her suitors to answer three questions. The penalty for failing to answer is death, but she's so beautiful that men keep trying. The titular companion helps the protagonist win by following her to the sorcerer at night and eavesdropping to learn the answers for him.
to:
* Also in Creator/HansChristianAndersen's "The Travelling Companion," where the princess, egged on by an evil sorcerer, challenges her suitors to answer three questions. The penalty for failing to answer is death, but she's so beautiful that men keep trying. The titular companion helps the protagonist win by following her to the sorcerer at night and eavesdropping to learn the answers for him.
* In the ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic "[[http://shiloh.tvheaven.com/combat1.html "The Right of Combat]]", there's a variation on this, not a challenge of the suitor per se, but of the engagement itself. Dr.Brackett, Johnny, and Chet are cat shifters, and after Chet is infected, he is told he must take a mate because of the People's dangerously intense sex drive. Chet had already been flirting with Brackett's sister and they pledge themselves. But, Brackett doesn't like the idea of Chet, a 'brought in', marrying her because they are members of an old, well-respected family. Brackett demands the Right of Combat and ends up battling her champion, Johnny, to first pin. Johnny wins and Kel must accept the pairing.
* In the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Empath's Honeymoon", Papi Utopi challenges Empath to fight the Utopi Champion so that he could win his right to "marry" Smurfette (despite the fact that Empath and Smurfette were already married before meeting the Utopii), and if he loses, Smurfette will remain with the Utopii forever. Empath is easily defeated by the Champion in the first match, but on the rematch, Empath resorts to ground-pounding the Champion's head repeatedly in order to wear him down so that he could defeat him and win Smurfette.
* In the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Empath's Honeymoon", Papi Utopi challenges Empath to fight the Utopi Champion so that he could win his right to "marry" Smurfette (despite the fact that Empath and Smurfette were already married before meeting the Utopii), and if he loses, Smurfette will remain with the Utopii forever. Empath is easily defeated by the Champion in the first match, but on the rematch, Empath resorts to ground-pounding the Champion's head repeatedly in order to wear him down so that he could defeat him and win Smurfette.
Deleted line(s) 114 (click to see context) :
* In the ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic "[[http://shiloh.tvheaven.com/combat1.html "The Right of Combat]]", there's a variation on this, not a challenge of the suitor per se, but of the engagement itself. Dr.Brackett, Johnny, and Chet are cat shifters, and after Chet is infected, he is told he must take a mate because of the People's dangerously intense sex drive. Chet had already been flirting with Brackett's sister and they pledge themselves. But, Brackett doesn't like the idea of Chet, a 'brought in', marrying her because they are members of an old, well-respected family. Brackett demands the Right of Combat and ends up battling her champion, Johnny, to first pin. Johnny wins and Kel must accept the pairing.
Deleted line(s) 116 (click to see context) :
* In the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Empath's Honeymoon", Papi Utopi challenges Empath to fight the Utopi Champion so that he could win his right to "marry" Smurfette (despite the fact that Empath and Smurfette were already married before meeting the Utopii), and if he loses, Smurfette will remain with the Utopii forever. Empath is easily defeated by the Champion in the first match, but on the rematch, Empath resorts to ground-pounding the Champion's head repeatedly in order to wear him down so that he could defeat him and win Smurfette.
* There's a longstanding tradition in ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}'' where the first-born children of the local clans compete for the princess in a challenge of her choosing. But since Merida has no interest in marrying anyone [[LoopholeAbuse and happens to be her own clan's first-born]], she chooses archery (which she's very good at) and shows up to compete for her freedom. [[spoiler:After quite a bit of arguing, it turns out that none of her would-be suitors are interested in marriage either, so the clans decide to break tradition and let them marry in their own time.]]
Deleted line(s) 122 (click to see context) :
* There's a longstanding tradition in ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}'' where the first-born children of the local clans compete for the princess in a challenge of her choosing. But since Merida has no interest in marrying anyone [[LoopholeAbuse and happens to be her own clan's first-born]], she chooses archery (which she's very good at) and shows up to compete for her freedom. [[spoiler:After quite a bit of arguing, it turns out that none of her would-be suitors are interested in marriage either, so the clans decide to break tradition and let them marry in their own time.]]
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* In ''Film/SwingTime'' (1936), after Lucky fails to show up on time for his wedding, his fiancee's father tells him he'll have to earn $25,000 as proof of his good intentions if he wants another chance.
* A variant in ''Film/LoveAndBasketball'' in which the heroine asks this test of the hero. She assumes that if he wants her he will let her win. [[spoiler:As it happens the hero wins but marries her anyway.]]
* A variant in ''Film/LoveAndBasketball'' in which the heroine asks this test of the hero. She assumes that if he wants her he will let her win. [[spoiler:As it happens the hero wins but marries her anyway.]]
Deleted line(s) 129 (click to see context) :
* ''Film/JohnWick'' alludes to "The ImpossibleTask". When the titular character retired from his life as a hitman for TheMafiya in order to marry, his boss Viggo would only give permission upon completion of an unspecified task. All we know is that John apparently racked up an impressive body count, creating a power vacuum for Viggo to rise - and that he needed help doing it, which becomes a plot point in [[Film/JohnWickChapter2 the sequel]].
* ''Film/JohnWick'' alludes to "The ImpossibleTask". When the titular character retired from his life as a hitman for TheMafiya in order to marry, his boss Viggo would only give permission upon completion of an unspecified task. All we know is that John apparently racked up an impressive body count, creating a power vacuum for Viggo to rise - and that he needed help doing it, which becomes a plot point in [[Film/JohnWickChapter2 the sequel]].
* A variant in ''Film/LoveAndBasketball'' in which the heroine asks this test of the hero. She assumes that if he wants her he will let her win. [[spoiler:As it happens the hero wins but marries her anyway.]]
* In ''Film/SwingTime'' (1936), after Lucky fails to show up on time for his wedding, his fiancee's father tells him he'll have to earn $25,000 as proof of his good intentions if he wants another chance.
* A variant in ''Film/LoveAndBasketball'' in which the heroine asks this test of the hero. She assumes that if he wants her he will let her win. [[spoiler:As it happens the hero wins but marries her anyway.]]
* In ''Film/SwingTime'' (1936), after Lucky fails to show up on time for his wedding, his fiancee's father tells him he'll have to earn $25,000 as proof of his good intentions if he wants another chance.
Deleted line(s) 139,152 (click to see context) :
* [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien's]] ''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Legendarium]]'':
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth]]. This makes Thingol feel pretty guilty over the whole thing.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Elrond will only let his daughter Arwen marry Aragorn if he's King of a reunited Arnor and Gondor and Sauron is gone; quite sensible, as of course Elrond doesn't want his daughter to stay behind on a Middle-earth ruled by Sauron, so he won't let her unless Aragorn helps make it a safer place to live. As Elrond [[ParentalSubstitute raised Aragorn]] as a foster-son, it's pretty strongly implied that he badly wants to make sure that Aragorn fulfills his destiny, so he's also using the useful coincidence fate dealt him to do so. And unlike their mutual ancestors Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen seem okay with the condition set on their marriage. Naturally Aragorn wants to save the world ''anyway'', and the allusion to Beren implies he's lucky it's a relatively easier prospect.
* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', the Duke sets impossible tasks to the princes who want to marry his niece Saralinda.
** In another Thurber tale, the princess herself sets the tasks, giving impossible ones to the two elder princes and an easy one - that turns out not to be ''quite'' so easy - to the youngest prince. Guess which one she really likes.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', the MadScientist regains his wits after [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter his daughter]] and promises his assistant that he can marry her if he rescues; as the assistant is lying and one of the villains of the piece, he does not succeed in the end, where the scientist agrees that the man who has rescued her can certainly court her.
* In Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/PowerOfThree'', the Chief of Otmound says that Gest can only marry his daughter Adara if he completes three tasks first: one, spend an entire day answering riddles the Chief asks him (Adara tells him the answers); two, move a massive stone from the top of Otmound (Gest [[spoiler:gets the Giants to help]]); and three, bring back a Dorig collar, made more complicated by the fact that Adara refuses to marry a man who would kill a Dorig ([[spoiler:luckily, Gest has Dorig friends]]). The Chief wanted Gest to remain on friendly terms with him without actually refusing his suit--hence the challenges. Unfortunately, Gest got help.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''Literature/PrincePrigio'', the king has promised his niece's hand in marriage and the kingdom to whoever brought him the head of a monster. The monster is killed by his rather annoying son Prigio, but the head is brought by a servant. Prigio persuades the king that obeying the letter of his promise would infringe on the right of royalty to say other than what they mean. However, being in love with another woman, he refuses to marry his cousin -- who had been engaged to and in love with his dead brother but finds being refused rather insulting. Fortunately, Prigio revives his younger brothers, and so they agree to let him marry his love and the niece to marry his brother.
* Name-checked in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', wherein Miles Vorkosigan is having trouble courting the lady of his dreams. She discusses him with his former boss, who tells her: "Do you know all those folk tales where the count tries to get rid of his only daughter's unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? ... [[TheDeterminator Don't ever try that with Miles]]. [[GuileHero Just... don't.]]"
* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'': Victoria demands that Tristran bring her a falling star. He finds the star, which turns out to be a MacGuffinTurnedHuman, and falls in love with her instead. (As it turns out, Victoria was just teasing him and was already engaged to someone else.)
** Of course, the movie made both Victoria and her suitor a ''bit'' less honorable than in the book, wherein Victoria thought Tristran dead and was all set to marry her other beau when Tristran returned - and she was willing to honor her promise to him regardless. She was rather distressed, to be quite honest. Not that it was idle characterization, either: the marriage had a rather startling effect on a certain prophecy.
* In ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare The Merchant of Venice]]'', Portia's suitors must solve a puzzle in order to marry her, and if they answer incorrectly they're barred from marrying ''anyone''.
* In ''What is the Name of This Book?'' Raymond Smullyan uses this many times as the framing device for logic problems that the suitor (and the reader) must solve.
* In Creator/RobinHobb's ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Fool's Fate]]'', the princess's family will only let the prince marry her if he can lay the head of the dragon on their mantel. He goes on a quest with some others to kill the dragon and fulfill this, but events transpire such that they realize that they really shouldn't kill the dragon. However, [[spoiler: he fulfills the condition anyway by convincing the dragon to come over and rest its head on the mantel]].
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth]]. This makes Thingol feel pretty guilty over the whole thing.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Elrond will only let his daughter Arwen marry Aragorn if he's King of a reunited Arnor and Gondor and Sauron is gone; quite sensible, as of course Elrond doesn't want his daughter to stay behind on a Middle-earth ruled by Sauron, so he won't let her unless Aragorn helps make it a safer place to live. As Elrond [[ParentalSubstitute raised Aragorn]] as a foster-son, it's pretty strongly implied that he badly wants to make sure that Aragorn fulfills his destiny, so he's also using the useful coincidence fate dealt him to do so. And unlike their mutual ancestors Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen seem okay with the condition set on their marriage. Naturally Aragorn wants to save the world ''anyway'', and the allusion to Beren implies he's lucky it's a relatively easier prospect.
* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', the Duke sets impossible tasks to the princes who want to marry his niece Saralinda.
** In another Thurber tale, the princess herself sets the tasks, giving impossible ones to the two elder princes and an easy one - that turns out not to be ''quite'' so easy - to the youngest prince. Guess which one she really likes.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', the MadScientist regains his wits after [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter his daughter]] and promises his assistant that he can marry her if he rescues; as the assistant is lying and one of the villains of the piece, he does not succeed in the end, where the scientist agrees that the man who has rescued her can certainly court her.
* In Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/PowerOfThree'', the Chief of Otmound says that Gest can only marry his daughter Adara if he completes three tasks first: one, spend an entire day answering riddles the Chief asks him (Adara tells him the answers); two, move a massive stone from the top of Otmound (Gest [[spoiler:gets the Giants to help]]); and three, bring back a Dorig collar, made more complicated by the fact that Adara refuses to marry a man who would kill a Dorig ([[spoiler:luckily, Gest has Dorig friends]]). The Chief wanted Gest to remain on friendly terms with him without actually refusing his suit--hence the challenges. Unfortunately, Gest got help.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''Literature/PrincePrigio'', the king has promised his niece's hand in marriage and the kingdom to whoever brought him the head of a monster. The monster is killed by his rather annoying son Prigio, but the head is brought by a servant. Prigio persuades the king that obeying the letter of his promise would infringe on the right of royalty to say other than what they mean. However, being in love with another woman, he refuses to marry his cousin -- who had been engaged to and in love with his dead brother but finds being refused rather insulting. Fortunately, Prigio revives his younger brothers, and so they agree to let him marry his love and the niece to marry his brother.
* Name-checked in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', wherein Miles Vorkosigan is having trouble courting the lady of his dreams. She discusses him with his former boss, who tells her: "Do you know all those folk tales where the count tries to get rid of his only daughter's unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? ... [[TheDeterminator Don't ever try that with Miles]]. [[GuileHero Just... don't.]]"
* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'': Victoria demands that Tristran bring her a falling star. He finds the star, which turns out to be a MacGuffinTurnedHuman, and falls in love with her instead. (As it turns out, Victoria was just teasing him and was already engaged to someone else.)
** Of course, the movie made both Victoria and her suitor a ''bit'' less honorable than in the book, wherein Victoria thought Tristran dead and was all set to marry her other beau when Tristran returned - and she was willing to honor her promise to him regardless. She was rather distressed, to be quite honest. Not that it was idle characterization, either: the marriage had a rather startling effect on a certain prophecy.
* In ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare The Merchant of Venice]]'', Portia's suitors must solve a puzzle in order to marry her, and if they answer incorrectly they're barred from marrying ''anyone''.
* In ''What is the Name of This Book?'' Raymond Smullyan uses this many times as the framing device for logic problems that the suitor (and the reader) must solve.
* In Creator/RobinHobb's ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Fool's Fate]]'', the princess's family will only let the prince marry her if he can lay the head of the dragon on their mantel. He goes on a quest with some others to kill the dragon and fulfill this, but events transpire such that they realize that they really shouldn't kill the dragon. However, [[spoiler: he fulfills the condition anyway by convincing the dragon to come over and rest its head on the mantel]].
Changed line(s) 154,160 (click to see context) from:
* In Anthony Armstrong's short story "The Warlock's Daughter", a king assigns his daughter's suitors the task of finding water in a desert. The protagonist, having encountered the title character, uses a charm she gave him to summon her and asks her to create a river. She does, but having seen her, the hero decides he'd rather marry ''her''. She's a little surprised but agrees. The princess, who didn't like the whole "Do X and marry my daughter" thing the king came up, orders her suitors to find the hero and capture him in exchange for her hand, then marries a knight she'd had her eye on once they're all out of the kingdom.
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' begins this way. The Prince of Hed (an island principality so small that even the Prince, which is the title of the ruler, is just a farmer) went in secret to challenge a fearsome ghost to a riddle-contest - his life wagered against the ghost king's crown. He won the contest that princes and sages had died in for centuries and went home, unaware that by winning Peven's Crown he had won the right to marry his best friend's sister, Princess Raederle "the second most beautiful woman in the Three portions of An". (Mildly subverted in that Raederle's father Mathom had second sight and knew who would win the game before he made the challenge. And even besides that, everyone who learns about his promise thinks it was literally the most stupid thing Mathom could possibly have done and doesn't hesitate to say so.)
** This is all backstory, mind you. And Morgon, the prince, does not go to collect his princess, which requires her to go searching for him, which in turn drives much of the second book of the trilogy, which she narrates.
* In Creator/BruceCoville's ''Literature/TheDragonslayers'', the king promises that whoever can slay the dragon may marry his daughter. The only person who will go is the ancient squire Elzar. The princess, naturally not liking this at all, pulls a SweetPollyOliver and sets off to slay it herself.
* The basis of the romance subplot in Literature/TheEdge novel ''On The Edge''. Rose has powerful magic but no pedigree, and as such would be treated as a baby-making machine by any noble she married. Declan proves that he's powerful enough to take her by force, and then offers her a deal. "The traditional solution" to their dilemma is three engagement challenges. If he loses any of them, he will leave and never bother her again; if he wins them all, she must come with him and be pleasant and agreeable. Rose accepts. [[spoiler: It develops that Declan came up with this plan on the spot as a reasonable excuse for him to be hanging around the area, where he has a mission to complete. In short order it's more than a cover, however.]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
* Some examples from ''PostModern Fairy Tales'':
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' begins this way. The Prince of Hed (an island principality so small that even the Prince, which is the title of the ruler, is just a farmer) went in secret to challenge a fearsome ghost to a riddle-contest - his life wagered against the ghost king's crown. He won the contest that princes and sages had died in for centuries and went home, unaware that by winning Peven's Crown he had won the right to marry his best friend's sister, Princess Raederle "the second most beautiful woman in the Three portions of An". (Mildly subverted in that Raederle's father Mathom had second sight and knew who would win the game before he made the challenge. And even besides that, everyone who learns about his promise thinks it was literally the most stupid thing Mathom could possibly have done and doesn't hesitate to say so.)
** This is all backstory, mind you. And Morgon, the prince, does not go to collect his princess, which requires her to go searching for him, which in turn drives much of the second book of the trilogy, which she narrates.
* In Creator/BruceCoville's ''Literature/TheDragonslayers'', the king promises that whoever can slay the dragon may marry his daughter. The only person who will go is the ancient squire Elzar. The princess, naturally not liking this at all, pulls a SweetPollyOliver and sets off to slay it herself.
* The basis of the romance subplot in Literature/TheEdge novel ''On The Edge''. Rose has powerful magic but no pedigree, and as such would be treated as a baby-making machine by any noble she married. Declan proves that he's powerful enough to take her by force, and then offers her a deal. "The traditional solution" to their dilemma is three engagement challenges. If he loses any of them, he will leave and never bother her again; if he wins them all, she must come with him and be pleasant and agreeable. Rose accepts. [[spoiler: It develops that Declan came up with this plan on the spot as a reasonable excuse for him to be hanging around the area, where he has a mission to complete. In short order it's more than a cover, however.]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
* Some examples from ''PostModern Fairy Tales'':
to:
* In Anthony Armstrong's short story "The ''The Warlock's Daughter", Daughter'', a king assigns his daughter's suitors the task of finding water in a desert. The protagonist, having encountered the title character, uses a charm she gave him to summon her and asks her to create a river. She does, but having seen her, the hero decides he'd rather marry ''her''. She's a little surprised but agrees. The princess, who didn't like the whole "Do X and marry my daughter" thing the king came up, orders her suitors to find the hero and capture him in exchange for her hand, then marries a knight she'd had her eye on once they're all out of the kingdom.
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' begins this way. The Prince of Hed (an island principality so small that even the Prince, which is the title of the ruler, is just a farmer) went in secret to challenge a fearsome ghost to a riddle-contest - his life wagered against the ghost king's crown. He won the contest that princes and sages had died in for centuries and went home, unaware that by winning Peven's Crown he had won the right to marry his best friend's sister, Princess Raederle "the second most beautiful woman in the Three portions of An". (Mildly subverted in that Raederle's father Mathom had second sight and knew who would win the game before he made the challenge. And even besides that, everyone who learns about his promise thinks it was literally the most stupid thing Mathom could possibly have done and doesn't hesitate to say so.)
** This is all backstory, mind you. And Morgon, the prince, does not go to collect his princess, which requires her to go searching for him, which in turn drives much of the second book of the trilogy, which she narrates.
* In Creator/BruceCoville's ''Literature/TheDragonslayers'', the king promises that whoever can slay the dragon may marry his daughter. The only person who will go is the ancient squire Elzar. The princess, naturally not liking this at all, pulls a SweetPollyOliver and sets off to slay it herself.
* The basis of the romance subplot in Literature/TheEdge novel ''On The Edge''. Rose has powerful magic but no pedigree, and as such would be treated as a baby-making machine by any noble she married. Declan proves that he's powerful enough to take her by force, and then offers her a deal. "The traditional solution" to their dilemma is three engagement challenges. If he loses any of them, he will leave and never bother her again; if he wins them all, she must come with him and be pleasant and agreeable. Rose accepts. [[spoiler: It develops that Declan came up with this plan on the spot as a reasonable excuse for him to be hanging around the area, where he has a mission to complete. In short order it's more than a cover, however.]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
* Some examples from ''PostModern Fairy Tales'': Tales'':
** This is all backstory, mind you. And Morgon, the prince, does not go to collect his princess, which requires her to go searching for him, which in turn drives much of the second book of the trilogy, which she narrates.
* In Creator/BruceCoville's ''Literature/TheDragonslayers'', the king promises that whoever can slay the dragon may marry his daughter. The only person who will go is the ancient squire Elzar. The princess, naturally not liking this at all, pulls a SweetPollyOliver and sets off to slay it herself.
* The basis of the romance subplot in Literature/TheEdge novel ''On The Edge''. Rose has powerful magic but no pedigree, and as such would be treated as a baby-making machine by any noble she married. Declan proves that he's powerful enough to take her by force, and then offers her a deal. "The traditional solution" to their dilemma is three engagement challenges. If he loses any of them, he will leave and never bother her again; if he wins them all, she must come with him and be pleasant and agreeable. Rose accepts. [[spoiler: It develops that Declan came up with this plan on the spot as a reasonable excuse for him to be hanging around the area, where he has a mission to complete. In short order it's more than a cover, however.]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
Deleted line(s) 163,167 (click to see context) :
* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms The Sleeping Beauty]]'', the Princess Rose's hand is the prize of a great tournament that many princes have traveled to compete in. The thing is, the reason the tournament is being held is the princes being there prevents the kingdom from being attacked until it's strong enough to discourage invasions by other means. Furthermore, the challenges are designed to be completely non-lethal and entirely relevant to ruling the kingdom, and the GenreSavvy Princess Rose and her guardian are hoping that narrative causality will make sure that the winner ends up being someone Rose can love, as well as a good king. [[spoiler: It works, with Siegfried solving the final test by ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext hiring dragons]]'' to solve the biggest problem of the kingdom.]]
** In ''The Fairy Godmother'', Prince Alexander and his two brothers head off to a neighbor's kingdom to take part in one of these ... and two of the three (Alexander and Octavian) flunk before they even get there when they're rude to a disguised Godmother Elena.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'' every Marat marriage involves one of these. However, since each individual challenge is set by the Marat woman in question the nature of the challenge can vary wildly based on the abilities of the prospective husband, and whether she wants to marry him or not. Tavi points out that, for example, if a woman from the Horse clan did not want to marry a man from the Wolf clan, she could challenge him to a horse race since he would stand no chance of winning. This way the Marat woman effectively exercises a complete marriage veto if she so chooses. [[spoiler: In the final book Kitai names her challenge to Tavi as killing the Vord Queen. He does, and the final chapter of the series is their wedding.]]
* This trope forms the backbone of ''[[Literature/{{Mabinogion}} How Culhwch Won Olwen]]'', one of the oldest surviving works of Welsh literature. Culhwch is [[{{Curse}} cursed]] by his WickedStepmother that he can [[ParentalMarriageVeto marry no-one]] but the daughter of Ysbaddaden the Giant. Ysbaddaden claims that he cannot prepare for the ceremony until Culhwch hunts the [[FullBoarAction giant boar Twrch Trwyth]] and retrieves a [[PlotCoupon comb, scissors, and razor]] from his hair. But he can only be tracked by a certain hound, and the leash can only be made by a [[LivingMacGuffin certain hero]] [[DismantledMacGuffin and held by another...]] the job ultimately involves over forty different tasks and the aid of no less than Myth/KingArthur and his warband.
** And then, once they've done all that, Ysbaddeden's nephew Goreu [[ShaggyDogStory beheads the giant before the marriage]] in vengeance for the deaths of his brothers.
** In ''The Fairy Godmother'', Prince Alexander and his two brothers head off to a neighbor's kingdom to take part in one of these ... and two of the three (Alexander and Octavian) flunk before they even get there when they're rude to a disguised Godmother Elena.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'' every Marat marriage involves one of these. However, since each individual challenge is set by the Marat woman in question the nature of the challenge can vary wildly based on the abilities of the prospective husband, and whether she wants to marry him or not. Tavi points out that, for example, if a woman from the Horse clan did not want to marry a man from the Wolf clan, she could challenge him to a horse race since he would stand no chance of winning. This way the Marat woman effectively exercises a complete marriage veto if she so chooses. [[spoiler: In the final book Kitai names her challenge to Tavi as killing the Vord Queen. He does, and the final chapter of the series is their wedding.]]
* This trope forms the backbone of ''[[Literature/{{Mabinogion}} How Culhwch Won Olwen]]'', one of the oldest surviving works of Welsh literature. Culhwch is [[{{Curse}} cursed]] by his WickedStepmother that he can [[ParentalMarriageVeto marry no-one]] but the daughter of Ysbaddaden the Giant. Ysbaddaden claims that he cannot prepare for the ceremony until Culhwch hunts the [[FullBoarAction giant boar Twrch Trwyth]] and retrieves a [[PlotCoupon comb, scissors, and razor]] from his hair. But he can only be tracked by a certain hound, and the leash can only be made by a [[LivingMacGuffin certain hero]] [[DismantledMacGuffin and held by another...]] the job ultimately involves over forty different tasks and the aid of no less than Myth/KingArthur and his warband.
** And then, once they've done all that, Ysbaddeden's nephew Goreu [[ShaggyDogStory beheads the giant before the marriage]] in vengeance for the deaths of his brothers.
Deleted line(s) 169,176 (click to see context) :
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheLegendsOfEthshar'' novel ''With a Single Spell'' where the erstwhile dragon-slayers were promised a bag of gold and a princess for defeating the dragon. Upon returning successfully, one of the heroes tries to refuse the princess and take the gold only to find that it's a package deal. There are too many princesses and the gold is her dowry.
* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "The Trials of Tara", a pastiche of Shakespearian tropes, has [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E4TheAndroidsOfTara Queen Strella of Tara]] set tasks for her suitors to avoid marrying any of them since she believes that King Reynart is still alive.
* Parodied in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', in which [[BarbarianHero barbarian heroes]] refuse to try and slay the dragon plaguing Ankh-Morpork unless they get "the king's daughter's hand in marriage and half the kingdom", despite the fact that Ankh-Morpork is a republic and its Patrician is unmarried.
** He's got an aunt though. And a dog. One of the heroes asks what kind of dog before deciding "Nah."
* A double example occurs in the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' - Siegfried will only get her brothers' permission to marry Kriemhild if he helps the eldest, Gunther, to woo Brunhilde. And whoever wants to marry Brunhilde has to defeat her in a three-part athletic contest of throwing a javelin, throwing a boulder, and a long jump or die. Using his ''Tarnhelm'' (helmet of invisibility and shape-changing), Siegfried helps Gunther to win by cheating. It does not end well.
* One springs up unexpectedly in Creator/JohnMoore's ''Literature/HeroicsForBeginners''. When the Ancient Artifact Model Seven is stolen by Lord Voltmeter, it immediately becomes clear to everyone that Princess Rebecca's hand must go to the man who retrieves it. There's no other way. Which is a problem for her boyfriend Prince Kevin, since Prince Logan--and his army--is clearly the most qualified man to retrieve the artifact. Kevin has only his copy of ''The Handbook of Practical Heroics'' on his side. [[spoiler:Due to the Artifact being destroyed in the final battle, the challenge is rendered void and Rebecca is free to marry Kevin (despite Logan being the one to defeat Lord Voltmeter).]]
* In the backstory of Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}'', the heroine's grandfather was highly possessive of his daughter, and set fearsome challenges to her suitors, that no man might take her from him.
* The Creator/TerryPratchett short story "The Prince and the Partridge" featured a challenge to present to the princess a gift that can dance, leap, play tunes, make a beat, carry pails, hiss, swim, lay eggs, can be worn on one hand, sing, cackle, coo, waggle its eyebrows and is good to eat. The titular prince and partridge ultimately work out that the gift doesn't necessarily have to be one item, and so, on the twelfth day of Christmas, Prince Albert presented to his true love [[spoiler:Twelve ladies dancing, eleven lords a-leaping, ten pipers piping, nine drummers drumming, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree]].
* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "The Trials of Tara", a pastiche of Shakespearian tropes, has [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E4TheAndroidsOfTara Queen Strella of Tara]] set tasks for her suitors to avoid marrying any of them since she believes that King Reynart is still alive.
* Parodied in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', in which [[BarbarianHero barbarian heroes]] refuse to try and slay the dragon plaguing Ankh-Morpork unless they get "the king's daughter's hand in marriage and half the kingdom", despite the fact that Ankh-Morpork is a republic and its Patrician is unmarried.
** He's got an aunt though. And a dog. One of the heroes asks what kind of dog before deciding "Nah."
* A double example occurs in the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' - Siegfried will only get her brothers' permission to marry Kriemhild if he helps the eldest, Gunther, to woo Brunhilde. And whoever wants to marry Brunhilde has to defeat her in a three-part athletic contest of throwing a javelin, throwing a boulder, and a long jump or die. Using his ''Tarnhelm'' (helmet of invisibility and shape-changing), Siegfried helps Gunther to win by cheating. It does not end well.
* One springs up unexpectedly in Creator/JohnMoore's ''Literature/HeroicsForBeginners''. When the Ancient Artifact Model Seven is stolen by Lord Voltmeter, it immediately becomes clear to everyone that Princess Rebecca's hand must go to the man who retrieves it. There's no other way. Which is a problem for her boyfriend Prince Kevin, since Prince Logan--and his army--is clearly the most qualified man to retrieve the artifact. Kevin has only his copy of ''The Handbook of Practical Heroics'' on his side. [[spoiler:Due to the Artifact being destroyed in the final battle, the challenge is rendered void and Rebecca is free to marry Kevin (despite Logan being the one to defeat Lord Voltmeter).]]
* In the backstory of Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}'', the heroine's grandfather was highly possessive of his daughter, and set fearsome challenges to her suitors, that no man might take her from him.
* The Creator/TerryPratchett short story "The Prince and the Partridge" featured a challenge to present to the princess a gift that can dance, leap, play tunes, make a beat, carry pails, hiss, swim, lay eggs, can be worn on one hand, sing, cackle, coo, waggle its eyebrows and is good to eat. The titular prince and partridge ultimately work out that the gift doesn't necessarily have to be one item, and so, on the twelfth day of Christmas, Prince Albert presented to his true love [[spoiler:Twelve ladies dancing, eleven lords a-leaping, ten pipers piping, nine drummers drumming, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree]].
Deleted line(s) 180,183 (click to see context) :
* In ''Literature/TheEmpressGame'', Prince Ardin is required to marry whichever princess wins a special gladiatorial tournament (the titular Empress Game). In fact, he's already in love with a perfectly good princess, but she isn't any good at fighting — thus, a scheme is hatched for Kayla to impersonate Isonde in the arena and win them the marriage that they both want anyway.
* In ''Literature/RedQueen'', future queens are decided through Queenstrial, a contest in which eligible noble daughters compete to best show off their superhuman abilities.
* ''Literature/EyrbyggjaSaga'': Styr promises the berserk Halli he will give him his daughter Asdis in marriage if Halli and his brother will do a few difficult work orders for him, which is, to clear a path across a lava field, to build a dyke on the farm boundary, and to build a sheep-shed. However, he already plans to rid himself of Halli and has no intention of actually giving him his daughter.
* In ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'', Prince Vladimir announces that whoever rescues Ludmila will get her hand in marriage.
* In ''Literature/RedQueen'', future queens are decided through Queenstrial, a contest in which eligible noble daughters compete to best show off their superhuman abilities.
* ''Literature/EyrbyggjaSaga'': Styr promises the berserk Halli he will give him his daughter Asdis in marriage if Halli and his brother will do a few difficult work orders for him, which is, to clear a path across a lava field, to build a dyke on the farm boundary, and to build a sheep-shed. However, he already plans to rid himself of Halli and has no intention of actually giving him his daughter.
* In ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'', Prince Vladimir announces that whoever rescues Ludmila will get her hand in marriage.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''Literature/PrincePrigio'', the king has promised his niece's hand in marriage and the kingdom to whoever brought him the head of a monster. The monster is killed by his rather annoying son Prigio, but the head is brought by a servant. Prigio persuades the king that obeying the letter of his promise would infringe on the right of royalty to say other than what they mean. However, being in love with another woman, he refuses to marry his cousin -- who had been engaged to and in love with his dead brother but finds being refused rather insulting. Fortunately, Prigio revives his younger brothers, and so they agree to let him marry his love and the niece to marry his brother.
* In Creator/BruceCoville's ''Literature/TheDragonslayers'', the king promises that whoever can slay the dragon may marry his daughter. The only person who will go is the ancient squire Elzar. The princess, naturally not liking this at all, pulls a SweetPollyOliver and sets off to slay it herself.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'' every Marat marriage involves one of these. However, since each individual challenge is set by the Marat woman in question the nature of the challenge can vary wildly based on the abilities of the prospective husband, and whether she wants to marry him or not. Tavi points out that, for example, if a woman from the Horse clan did not want to marry a man from the Wolf clan, she could challenge him to a horse race since he would stand no chance of winning. This way the Marat woman effectively exercises a complete marriage veto if she so chooses. [[spoiler: In the final book Kitai names her challenge to Tavi as killing the Vord Queen. He does, and the final chapter of the series is their wedding.]]
* In Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/PowerOfThree'', the Chief of Otmound says that Gest can only marry his daughter Adara if he completes three tasks first: one, spend an entire day answering riddles the Chief asks him (Adara tells him the answers); two, move a massive stone from the top of Otmound (Gest [[spoiler:gets the Giants to help]]); and three, bring back a Dorig collar, made more complicated by the fact that Adara refuses to marry a man who would kill a Dorig ([[spoiler:luckily, Gest has Dorig friends]]). The Chief wanted Gest to remain on friendly terms with him without actually refusing his suit--hence the challenges. Unfortunately, Gest got help.
* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "The Trials of Tara", a pastiche of Shakespearian tropes, has [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E4TheAndroidsOfTara Queen Strella of Tara]] set tasks for her suitors to avoid marrying any of them since she believes that King Reynart is still alive.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', the MadScientist regains his wits after [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter his daughter]] and promises his assistant that he can marry her if he rescues; as the assistant is lying and one of the villains of the piece, he does not succeed in the end, where the scientist agrees that the man who has rescued her can certainly court her.
* The basis of the romance subplot in Literature/TheEdge novel ''On The Edge''. Rose has powerful magic but no pedigree, and as such would be treated as a baby-making machine by any noble she married. Declan proves that he's powerful enough to take her by force, and then offers her a deal. "The traditional solution" to their dilemma is three engagement challenges. If he loses any of them, he will leave and never bother her again; if he wins them all, she must come with him and be pleasant and agreeable. Rose accepts. [[spoiler: It develops that Declan came up with this plan on the spot as a reasonable excuse for him to be hanging around the area, where he has a mission to complete. In short order it's more than a cover, however.]]
* In ''Literature/TheEmpressGame'', Prince Ardin is required to marry whichever princess wins a special gladiatorial tournament (the titular Empress Game). In fact, he's already in love with a perfectly good princess, but she isn't any good at fighting — thus, a scheme is hatched for Kayla to impersonate Isonde in the arena and win them the marriage that they both want anyway.
* ''Literature/EyrbyggjaSaga'': Styr promises the berserk Halli he will give him his daughter Asdis in marriage if Halli and his brother will do a few difficult work orders for him, which is, to clear a path across a lava field, to build a dyke on the farm boundary, and to build a sheep-shed. However, he already plans to rid himself of Halli and has no intention of actually giving him his daughter.
* Parodied in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', in which [[BarbarianHero barbarian heroes]] refuse to try and slay the dragon plaguing Ankh-Morpork unless they get "the king's daughter's hand in marriage and half the kingdom", despite the fact that Ankh-Morpork is a republic and its Patrician is unmarried.
** He's got an aunt though. And a dog. One of the heroes asks what kind of dog before deciding "Nah."
* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', the Duke sets impossible tasks to the princes who want to marry his niece Saralinda.
** In another Thurber tale, the princess herself sets the tasks, giving impossible ones to the two elder princes and an easy one - that turns out not to be ''quite'' so easy - to the youngest prince. Guess which one she really likes.
* One springs up unexpectedly in Creator/JohnMoore's ''Literature/HeroicsForBeginners''. When the Ancient Artifact Model Seven is stolen by Lord Voltmeter, it immediately becomes clear to everyone that Princess Rebecca's hand must go to the man who retrieves it. There's no other way. Which is a problem for her boyfriend Prince Kevin, since Prince Logan--and his army--is clearly the most qualified man to retrieve the artifact. Kevin has only his copy of ''The Handbook of Practical Heroics'' on his side. [[spoiler:Due to the Artifact being destroyed in the final battle, the challenge is rendered void and Rebecca is free to marry Kevin (despite Logan being the one to defeat Lord Voltmeter).]]
* [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien's]] ''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Legendarium]]'':
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth]]. This makes Thingol feel pretty guilty over the whole thing.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Elrond will only let his daughter Arwen marry Aragorn if he's King of a reunited Arnor and Gondor and Sauron is gone; quite sensible, as of course Elrond doesn't want his daughter to stay behind on a Middle-earth ruled by Sauron, so he won't let her unless Aragorn helps make it a safer place to live. As Elrond [[ParentalSubstitute raised Aragorn]] as a foster-son, it's pretty strongly implied that he badly wants to make sure that Aragorn fulfills his destiny, so he's also using the useful coincidence fate dealt him to do so. And unlike their mutual ancestors Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen seem okay with the condition set on their marriage. Naturally Aragorn wants to save the world ''anyway'', and the allusion to Beren implies he's lucky it's a relatively easier prospect.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheLegendsOfEthshar'' novel ''With a Single Spell'' where the erstwhile dragon-slayers were promised a bag of gold and a princess for defeating the dragon. Upon returning successfully, one of the heroes tries to refuse the princess and take the gold only to find that it's a package deal. There are too many princesses and the gold is her dowry.
* Name-checked in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', wherein Miles Vorkosigan is having trouble courting the lady of his dreams. She discusses him with his former boss, who tells her: "Do you know all those folk tales where the count tries to get rid of his only daughter's unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? ... [[TheDeterminator Don't ever try that with Miles]]. [[GuileHero Just... don't.]]"
* This trope forms the backbone of ''[[Literature/{{Mabinogion}} How Culhwch Won Olwen]]'', one of the oldest surviving works of Welsh literature. Culhwch is [[{{Curse}} cursed]] by his WickedStepmother that he can [[ParentalMarriageVeto marry no-one]] but the daughter of Ysbaddaden the Giant. Ysbaddaden claims that he cannot prepare for the ceremony until Culhwch hunts the [[FullBoarAction giant boar Twrch Trwyth]] and retrieves a [[PlotCoupon comb, scissors, and razor]] from his hair. But he can only be tracked by a certain hound, and the leash can only be made by a [[LivingMacGuffin certain hero]] [[DismantledMacGuffin and held by another...]] the job ultimately involves over forty different tasks and the aid of no less than Myth/KingArthur and his warband.
** And then, once they've done all that, Ysbaddeden's nephew Goreu [[ShaggyDogStory beheads the giant before the marriage]] in vengeance for the deaths of his brothers.
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
* A double example occurs in the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' - Siegfried will only get her brothers' permission to marry Kriemhild if he helps the eldest, Gunther, to woo Brunhilde. And whoever wants to marry Brunhilde has to defeat her in a three-part athletic contest of throwing a javelin, throwing a boulder, and a long jump or die. Using his ''Tarnhelm'' (helmet of invisibility and shape-changing), Siegfried helps Gunther to win by cheating. It does not end well.
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' begins this way. The Prince of Hed (an island principality so small that even the Prince, which is the title of the ruler, is just a farmer) went in secret to challenge a fearsome ghost to a riddle-contest - his life wagered against the ghost king's crown. He won the contest that princes and sages had died in for centuries and went home, unaware that by winning Peven's Crown he had won the right to marry his best friend's sister, Princess Raederle "the second most beautiful woman in the Three portions of An". (Mildly subverted in that Raederle's father Mathom had second sight and knew who would win the game before he made the challenge. And even besides that, everyone who learns about his promise thinks it was literally the most stupid thing Mathom could possibly have done and doesn't hesitate to say so.)
** This is all backstory, mind you. And Morgon, the prince, does not go to collect his princess, which requires her to go searching for him, which in turn drives much of the second book of the trilogy, which she narrates.
* In ''Literature/RedQueen'', future queens are decided through Queenstrial, a contest in which eligible noble daughters compete to best show off their superhuman abilities.
* In Creator/RobinHobb's ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Fool's Fate]]'', the princess's family will only let the prince marry her if he can lay the head of the dragon on their mantel. He goes on a quest with some others to kill the dragon and fulfill this, but events transpire such that they realize that they really shouldn't kill the dragon. However, [[spoiler: he fulfills the condition anyway by convincing the dragon to come over and rest its head on the mantel]].
* In the backstory of Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}'', the heroine's grandfather was highly possessive of his daughter, and set fearsome challenges to her suitors, that no man might take her from him.
* In ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'', Prince Vladimir announces that whoever rescues Ludmila will get her hand in marriage.
* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'': Victoria demands that Tristran bring her a falling star. He finds the star, which turns out to be a MacGuffinTurnedHuman, and falls in love with her instead. (As it turns out, Victoria was just teasing him and was already engaged to someone else.)
** Of course, the movie made both Victoria and her suitor a ''bit'' less honorable than in the book, wherein Victoria thought Tristran dead and was all set to marry her other beau when Tristran returned - and she was willing to honor her promise to him regardless. She was rather distressed, to be quite honest. Not that it was idle characterization, either: the marriage had a rather startling effect on a certain prophecy.
* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms The Sleeping Beauty]]'', the Princess Rose's hand is the prize of a great tournament that many princes have traveled to compete in. The thing is, the reason the tournament is being held is the princes being there prevents the kingdom from being attacked until it's strong enough to discourage invasions by other means. Furthermore, the challenges are designed to be completely non-lethal and entirely relevant to ruling the kingdom, and the GenreSavvy Princess Rose and her guardian are hoping that narrative causality will make sure that the winner ends up being someone Rose can love, as well as a good king. [[spoiler: It works, with Siegfried solving the final test by ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext hiring dragons]]'' to solve the biggest problem of the kingdom.]]
** In ''The Fairy Godmother'', Prince Alexander and his two brothers head off to a neighbor's kingdom to take part in one of these ... and two of the three (Alexander and Octavian) flunk before they even get there when they're rude to a disguised Godmother Elena.
* The Creator/TerryPratchett short story ''The Prince and the Partridge'' featured a challenge to present to the princess a gift that can dance, leap, play tunes, make a beat, carry pails, hiss, swim, lay eggs, can be worn on one hand, sing, cackle, coo, waggle its eyebrows and is good to eat. The titular prince and partridge ultimately work out that the gift doesn't necessarily have to be one item, and so, on the twelfth day of Christmas, Prince Albert presented to his true love [[spoiler:Twelve ladies dancing, eleven lords a-leaping, ten pipers piping, nine drummers drumming, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree]].
* In ''Literature/WhatIsTheNameOfThisBook'' Raymond Smullyan uses this many times as the framing device for logic problems that the suitor (and the reader) must solve.
* In ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare The Merchant of Venice]]'', Portia's suitors must solve a puzzle in order to marry her, and if they answer incorrectly they're barred from marrying ''anyone''.
* In Creator/BruceCoville's ''Literature/TheDragonslayers'', the king promises that whoever can slay the dragon may marry his daughter. The only person who will go is the ancient squire Elzar. The princess, naturally not liking this at all, pulls a SweetPollyOliver and sets off to slay it herself.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'' every Marat marriage involves one of these. However, since each individual challenge is set by the Marat woman in question the nature of the challenge can vary wildly based on the abilities of the prospective husband, and whether she wants to marry him or not. Tavi points out that, for example, if a woman from the Horse clan did not want to marry a man from the Wolf clan, she could challenge him to a horse race since he would stand no chance of winning. This way the Marat woman effectively exercises a complete marriage veto if she so chooses. [[spoiler: In the final book Kitai names her challenge to Tavi as killing the Vord Queen. He does, and the final chapter of the series is their wedding.]]
* In Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/PowerOfThree'', the Chief of Otmound says that Gest can only marry his daughter Adara if he completes three tasks first: one, spend an entire day answering riddles the Chief asks him (Adara tells him the answers); two, move a massive stone from the top of Otmound (Gest [[spoiler:gets the Giants to help]]); and three, bring back a Dorig collar, made more complicated by the fact that Adara refuses to marry a man who would kill a Dorig ([[spoiler:luckily, Gest has Dorig friends]]). The Chief wanted Gest to remain on friendly terms with him without actually refusing his suit--hence the challenges. Unfortunately, Gest got help.
* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' short story "The Trials of Tara", a pastiche of Shakespearian tropes, has [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E4TheAndroidsOfTara Queen Strella of Tara]] set tasks for her suitors to avoid marrying any of them since she believes that King Reynart is still alive.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', the MadScientist regains his wits after [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter his daughter]] and promises his assistant that he can marry her if he rescues; as the assistant is lying and one of the villains of the piece, he does not succeed in the end, where the scientist agrees that the man who has rescued her can certainly court her.
* The basis of the romance subplot in Literature/TheEdge novel ''On The Edge''. Rose has powerful magic but no pedigree, and as such would be treated as a baby-making machine by any noble she married. Declan proves that he's powerful enough to take her by force, and then offers her a deal. "The traditional solution" to their dilemma is three engagement challenges. If he loses any of them, he will leave and never bother her again; if he wins them all, she must come with him and be pleasant and agreeable. Rose accepts. [[spoiler: It develops that Declan came up with this plan on the spot as a reasonable excuse for him to be hanging around the area, where he has a mission to complete. In short order it's more than a cover, however.]]
* In ''Literature/TheEmpressGame'', Prince Ardin is required to marry whichever princess wins a special gladiatorial tournament (the titular Empress Game). In fact, he's already in love with a perfectly good princess, but she isn't any good at fighting — thus, a scheme is hatched for Kayla to impersonate Isonde in the arena and win them the marriage that they both want anyway.
* ''Literature/EyrbyggjaSaga'': Styr promises the berserk Halli he will give him his daughter Asdis in marriage if Halli and his brother will do a few difficult work orders for him, which is, to clear a path across a lava field, to build a dyke on the farm boundary, and to build a sheep-shed. However, he already plans to rid himself of Halli and has no intention of actually giving him his daughter.
* Parodied in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', in which [[BarbarianHero barbarian heroes]] refuse to try and slay the dragon plaguing Ankh-Morpork unless they get "the king's daughter's hand in marriage and half the kingdom", despite the fact that Ankh-Morpork is a republic and its Patrician is unmarried.
** He's got an aunt though. And a dog. One of the heroes asks what kind of dog before deciding "Nah."
* In Creator/JamesThurber's ''Literature/The13Clocks'', the Duke sets impossible tasks to the princes who want to marry his niece Saralinda.
** In another Thurber tale, the princess herself sets the tasks, giving impossible ones to the two elder princes and an easy one - that turns out not to be ''quite'' so easy - to the youngest prince. Guess which one she really likes.
* One springs up unexpectedly in Creator/JohnMoore's ''Literature/HeroicsForBeginners''. When the Ancient Artifact Model Seven is stolen by Lord Voltmeter, it immediately becomes clear to everyone that Princess Rebecca's hand must go to the man who retrieves it. There's no other way. Which is a problem for her boyfriend Prince Kevin, since Prince Logan--and his army--is clearly the most qualified man to retrieve the artifact. Kevin has only his copy of ''The Handbook of Practical Heroics'' on his side. [[spoiler:Due to the Artifact being destroyed in the final battle, the challenge is rendered void and Rebecca is free to marry Kevin (despite Logan being the one to defeat Lord Voltmeter).]]
* [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien's]] ''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Legendarium]]'':
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth]]. This makes Thingol feel pretty guilty over the whole thing.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Elrond will only let his daughter Arwen marry Aragorn if he's King of a reunited Arnor and Gondor and Sauron is gone; quite sensible, as of course Elrond doesn't want his daughter to stay behind on a Middle-earth ruled by Sauron, so he won't let her unless Aragorn helps make it a safer place to live. As Elrond [[ParentalSubstitute raised Aragorn]] as a foster-son, it's pretty strongly implied that he badly wants to make sure that Aragorn fulfills his destiny, so he's also using the useful coincidence fate dealt him to do so. And unlike their mutual ancestors Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen seem okay with the condition set on their marriage. Naturally Aragorn wants to save the world ''anyway'', and the allusion to Beren implies he's lucky it's a relatively easier prospect.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheLegendsOfEthshar'' novel ''With a Single Spell'' where the erstwhile dragon-slayers were promised a bag of gold and a princess for defeating the dragon. Upon returning successfully, one of the heroes tries to refuse the princess and take the gold only to find that it's a package deal. There are too many princesses and the gold is her dowry.
* Name-checked in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', wherein Miles Vorkosigan is having trouble courting the lady of his dreams. She discusses him with his former boss, who tells her: "Do you know all those folk tales where the count tries to get rid of his only daughter's unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? ... [[TheDeterminator Don't ever try that with Miles]]. [[GuileHero Just... don't.]]"
* This trope forms the backbone of ''[[Literature/{{Mabinogion}} How Culhwch Won Olwen]]'', one of the oldest surviving works of Welsh literature. Culhwch is [[{{Curse}} cursed]] by his WickedStepmother that he can [[ParentalMarriageVeto marry no-one]] but the daughter of Ysbaddaden the Giant. Ysbaddaden claims that he cannot prepare for the ceremony until Culhwch hunts the [[FullBoarAction giant boar Twrch Trwyth]] and retrieves a [[PlotCoupon comb, scissors, and razor]] from his hair. But he can only be tracked by a certain hound, and the leash can only be made by a [[LivingMacGuffin certain hero]] [[DismantledMacGuffin and held by another...]] the job ultimately involves over forty different tasks and the aid of no less than Myth/KingArthur and his warband.
** And then, once they've done all that, Ysbaddeden's nephew Goreu [[ShaggyDogStory beheads the giant before the marriage]] in vengeance for the deaths of his brothers.
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
* A double example occurs in the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' - Siegfried will only get her brothers' permission to marry Kriemhild if he helps the eldest, Gunther, to woo Brunhilde. And whoever wants to marry Brunhilde has to defeat her in a three-part athletic contest of throwing a javelin, throwing a boulder, and a long jump or die. Using his ''Tarnhelm'' (helmet of invisibility and shape-changing), Siegfried helps Gunther to win by cheating. It does not end well.
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' begins this way. The Prince of Hed (an island principality so small that even the Prince, which is the title of the ruler, is just a farmer) went in secret to challenge a fearsome ghost to a riddle-contest - his life wagered against the ghost king's crown. He won the contest that princes and sages had died in for centuries and went home, unaware that by winning Peven's Crown he had won the right to marry his best friend's sister, Princess Raederle "the second most beautiful woman in the Three portions of An". (Mildly subverted in that Raederle's father Mathom had second sight and knew who would win the game before he made the challenge. And even besides that, everyone who learns about his promise thinks it was literally the most stupid thing Mathom could possibly have done and doesn't hesitate to say so.)
** This is all backstory, mind you. And Morgon, the prince, does not go to collect his princess, which requires her to go searching for him, which in turn drives much of the second book of the trilogy, which she narrates.
* In ''Literature/RedQueen'', future queens are decided through Queenstrial, a contest in which eligible noble daughters compete to best show off their superhuman abilities.
* In Creator/RobinHobb's ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Fool's Fate]]'', the princess's family will only let the prince marry her if he can lay the head of the dragon on their mantel. He goes on a quest with some others to kill the dragon and fulfill this, but events transpire such that they realize that they really shouldn't kill the dragon. However, [[spoiler: he fulfills the condition anyway by convincing the dragon to come over and rest its head on the mantel]].
* In the backstory of Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}'', the heroine's grandfather was highly possessive of his daughter, and set fearsome challenges to her suitors, that no man might take her from him.
* In ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'', Prince Vladimir announces that whoever rescues Ludmila will get her hand in marriage.
* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'': Victoria demands that Tristran bring her a falling star. He finds the star, which turns out to be a MacGuffinTurnedHuman, and falls in love with her instead. (As it turns out, Victoria was just teasing him and was already engaged to someone else.)
** Of course, the movie made both Victoria and her suitor a ''bit'' less honorable than in the book, wherein Victoria thought Tristran dead and was all set to marry her other beau when Tristran returned - and she was willing to honor her promise to him regardless. She was rather distressed, to be quite honest. Not that it was idle characterization, either: the marriage had a rather startling effect on a certain prophecy.
* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms The Sleeping Beauty]]'', the Princess Rose's hand is the prize of a great tournament that many princes have traveled to compete in. The thing is, the reason the tournament is being held is the princes being there prevents the kingdom from being attacked until it's strong enough to discourage invasions by other means. Furthermore, the challenges are designed to be completely non-lethal and entirely relevant to ruling the kingdom, and the GenreSavvy Princess Rose and her guardian are hoping that narrative causality will make sure that the winner ends up being someone Rose can love, as well as a good king. [[spoiler: It works, with Siegfried solving the final test by ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext hiring dragons]]'' to solve the biggest problem of the kingdom.]]
** In ''The Fairy Godmother'', Prince Alexander and his two brothers head off to a neighbor's kingdom to take part in one of these ... and two of the three (Alexander and Octavian) flunk before they even get there when they're rude to a disguised Godmother Elena.
* The Creator/TerryPratchett short story ''The Prince and the Partridge'' featured a challenge to present to the princess a gift that can dance, leap, play tunes, make a beat, carry pails, hiss, swim, lay eggs, can be worn on one hand, sing, cackle, coo, waggle its eyebrows and is good to eat. The titular prince and partridge ultimately work out that the gift doesn't necessarily have to be one item, and so, on the twelfth day of Christmas, Prince Albert presented to his true love [[spoiler:Twelve ladies dancing, eleven lords a-leaping, ten pipers piping, nine drummers drumming, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree]].
* In ''Literature/WhatIsTheNameOfThisBook'' Raymond Smullyan uses this many times as the framing device for logic problems that the suitor (and the reader) must solve.
* In ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare The Merchant of Venice]]'', Portia's suitors must solve a puzzle in order to marry her, and if they answer incorrectly they're barred from marrying ''anyone''.
Deleted line(s) 189,191 (click to see context) :
* ''Series/NirvanaInFire'': The tournament set up for Nihuang's suitors. The top ten have to pass the final challenge: beating [[ActionGirl Nihuang]] herself. This effectively gives Nihuang ChildMarriageVeto powers.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' spoofed this with a sketch in which a king keeps telling his daughter's courtiers to go to the tallest tower in the land and hurl themselves off it. If they survive they can marry the princess. All of them do it, not one of them survives, until eventually the queen gets so fed up with this that she makes him stop it. The final courtier's impossible task is to go to the shops and get the king a packet of cigarettes. Ironically, he fails as well; he gets hit by a bus on the way home.
** In an alternate version of the sketch, the prince succeeds, but a better-looking prince shows up and slays a 'dread dragon' (a plastic toy on a string), at which point the king hands him the engagement. This causes the rejected prince to get an evil witch to curse everyone[[note]] including herself, which she realises too late[[/note]] to turn into chickens in revenge. [[ItMakesSenseInContext At which point the kingdom is invaded by chicken prospectors]].
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' spoofed this with a sketch in which a king keeps telling his daughter's courtiers to go to the tallest tower in the land and hurl themselves off it. If they survive they can marry the princess. All of them do it, not one of them survives, until eventually the queen gets so fed up with this that she makes him stop it. The final courtier's impossible task is to go to the shops and get the king a packet of cigarettes. Ironically, he fails as well; he gets hit by a bus on the way home.
** In an alternate version of the sketch, the prince succeeds, but a better-looking prince shows up and slays a 'dread dragon' (a plastic toy on a string), at which point the king hands him the engagement. This causes the rejected prince to get an evil witch to curse everyone[[note]] including herself, which she realises too late[[/note]] to turn into chickens in revenge. [[ItMakesSenseInContext At which point the kingdom is invaded by chicken prospectors]].
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' spoofed this with a sketch in which a king keeps telling his daughter's courtiers to go to the tallest tower in the land and hurl themselves off it. If they survive they can marry the princess. All of them do it, not one of them survives, until eventually the queen gets so fed up with this that she makes him stop it. The final courtier's impossible task is to go to the shops and get the king a packet of cigarettes. Ironically, he fails as well; he gets hit by a bus on the way home.
** In an alternate version of the sketch, the prince succeeds, but a better-looking prince shows up and slays a 'dread dragon' (a plastic toy on a string), at which point the king hands him the engagement. This causes the rejected prince to get an evil witch to curse everyone[[note]] including herself, which she realises too late[[/note]] to turn into chickens in revenge. [[ItMakesSenseInContext At which point the kingdom is invaded by chicken prospectors]].
** In an alternate version of the sketch, the prince succeeds, but a better-looking prince shows up and slays a 'dread dragon' (a plastic toy on a string), at which point the king hands him the engagement. This causes the rejected prince to get an evil witch to curse everyone[[note]] including herself, which she realises too late[[/note]] to turn into chickens in revenge. [[ItMakesSenseInContext At which point the kingdom is invaded by chicken prospectors]].
* ''Series/NirvanaInFire'': The tournament set up for Nihuang's suitors. The top ten have to pass the final challenge: beating [[ActionGirl Nihuang]] herself. This effectively gives Nihuang ChildMarriageVeto powers.
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* Gender-flipped in ''Theatre/OnceUponAMattress'': Queen Aggravaine has declared that nobody in her kingdom can get married until her son Dauntless does. Unfortunately, she keeps setting impossible tests for the Princesses because she believes that nobody is good enough for him.
* In ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'', if one wanted to marry the titular princess he had to correctly answer three questions asked by her; failure resulted in beheading.
* In ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'', if one wanted to marry the titular princess he had to correctly answer three questions asked by her; failure resulted in beheading.
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* In the song "Princess of Pure Delight" from ''Theatre/LadyInTheDark'', a King demands his daughter's suitors answer the riddle, "What word of five letters is always spelled wrong?"
* ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': When Portia's father died, he set up a lottery -- anyone who wants to win Portia's hand must be given the choice of three chests, gold, silver, and lead. If a man chooses the one that contains her picture, he gets to marry her immediately--but if not, not only does he have to leave her forever, he's bound by oath never to marry anyone else. [[spoiler:Portia's father wanted a man who wasn't blinded by the lure of gold and silver; the correct choice is lead.]]
* Played nastily by Shakespeare in ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre'': Antiochus decrees his daughter's suitors must attempt to answer a riddle, and if they fail they will die. Since the solution of the riddle is "Antiochus is in an [[ParentalIncest incestuous]] relationship with his daughter", those who answer it correctly [[MortonsFork will also die]].
* ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': When Portia's father died, he set up a lottery -- anyone who wants to win Portia's hand must be given the choice of three chests, gold, silver, and lead. If a man chooses the one that contains her picture, he gets to marry her immediately--but if not, not only does he have to leave her forever, he's bound by oath never to marry anyone else. [[spoiler:Portia's father wanted a man who wasn't blinded by the lure of gold and silver; the correct choice is lead.]]
* Played nastily by Shakespeare in ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre'': Antiochus decrees his daughter's suitors must attempt to answer a riddle, and if they fail they will die. Since the solution of the riddle is "Antiochus is in an [[ParentalIncest incestuous]] relationship with his daughter", those who answer it correctly [[MortonsFork will also die]].
* In the song "Princess of Pure Delight" from ''Theatre/LadyInTheDark'', a King demands his daughter's suitors answer the riddle, "What word of five letters is always spelled wrong?"
* ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': When Portia's father died, he set up a lottery -- anyone who wants to win Portia's hand must be given the choice of three chests, gold, silver, and lead. If a man chooses the one that contains her picture, he gets to marry her immediately--but if not, not only does he have to leave her forever, he's bound by oath never to marry anyone else. [[spoiler:Portia's father wanted a man who wasn't blinded by the lure of gold and silver; the correct choice is lead.]]
* Gender-flipped in ''Theatre/OnceUponAMattress'': Queen Aggravaine has declared that nobody in her kingdom can get married until her son Dauntless does. Unfortunately, she keeps setting impossible tests for the Princesses because she believes that nobody is good enough for him.
* Played nastily by Shakespeare in ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre'': Antiochus decrees his daughter's suitors must attempt to answer a riddle, and if they fail they will die. Since the solution of the riddle is "Antiochus is in an [[ParentalIncest incestuous]] relationship with his daughter", those who answer it correctly [[MortonsFork will also die]].
* In ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'', if one wanted to marry the titular princess he had to correctly answer three questions asked by her; failure resulted in beheading.
* ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'': When Portia's father died, he set up a lottery -- anyone who wants to win Portia's hand must be given the choice of three chests, gold, silver, and lead. If a man chooses the one that contains her picture, he gets to marry her immediately--but if not, not only does he have to leave her forever, he's bound by oath never to marry anyone else. [[spoiler:Portia's father wanted a man who wasn't blinded by the lure of gold and silver; the correct choice is lead.]]
* Gender-flipped in ''Theatre/OnceUponAMattress'': Queen Aggravaine has declared that nobody in her kingdom can get married until her son Dauntless does. Unfortunately, she keeps setting impossible tests for the Princesses because she believes that nobody is good enough for him.
* Played nastily by Shakespeare in ''Theatre/PericlesPrinceOfTyre'': Antiochus decrees his daughter's suitors must attempt to answer a riddle, and if they fail they will die. Since the solution of the riddle is "Antiochus is in an [[ParentalIncest incestuous]] relationship with his daughter", those who answer it correctly [[MortonsFork will also die]].
* In ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'', if one wanted to marry the titular princess he had to correctly answer three questions asked by her; failure resulted in beheading.
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* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', the King of Loire gives the hand of the mute princess to the man who makes her speak again. However, there is a twist: [[spoiler: she's not really his daughter but a child from a village that he destroyed in search of the village treasure. The King only wants her to speak again so she can tell him where the treasure is.]]
to:
* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', the King of Loire gives H Game ''Monster Girl Quest'', Luka (the main character) ends up having to tag along with a RebelliousPrincess who wants to marry a monster. In order to earn this right, she has to make it through a pyramid and receive permission from the hand of Sphinx. As it happens, the mute princess to the man who Sphinx makes people do this in order to [[MayflyDecemberRomance make them confront the difference between human and monster life spans]]. [[spoiler:The Sphinx is still mourning her speak again. However, there is a twist: [[spoiler: she's not really his daughter but a child from a village that he destroyed in search of the village treasure. The King only wants her lost love, who died centuries before, and hates seeing others have to speak again so she can tell him where the treasure is.go through that.]]
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* Variation in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''. In order to obtain the MacGuffin, Demon Lord Odin requested his former enemy, Oswald the Shadow Knight, to slay a dragon. He offered him a castle as a reward at first, but Oswald wasn't interested until Odin decided to offer his daughter Gwendolyn. Having [[LoveAtFirstSight fallen in love at first sight with her]] earlier, he decided to accept the task, though not without being skeptical at first.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' treats this like a quest. And like any quest in ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', it requires you to collect TwentyBearAsses to earn a Proof of Love. Males have to earn 6 of those Proofs of Love (And have the materials to make the ring), while females have only have to earn 2. That's as far as you can get for free, the actual wedding is going to cost you real money.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' treats this like a quest. And like any quest in ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', it requires you to collect TwentyBearAsses to earn a Proof of Love. Males have to earn 6 of those Proofs of Love (And have the materials to make the ring), while females have only have to earn 2. That's as far as you can get for free, the actual wedding is going to cost you real money.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' plays with the trope in how, during [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Innes and Eirika]]'s [[RelationshipUpgrade A-support]], he tells her that he loves her... but that ''he'' won't officially propose to her until he defeats her twin brother Ephraim, probably to deliberately invoke the trope. Eirika's reaction is pretty much a FlatWhat. [[spoiler: Innes and Eirika's shared ending states that the Innes vs. Ephraim duel ''did'' take place but ended in a draw, and some time later they got married anyway.]]
* Played with in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. After defeating the monster that was making Lord Jabu-Jabu ill, Link is granted the hand of Princess Ruto of the Zoras...which he doesn't want.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' treats this like a quest. And like any quest in ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', it requires you to collect TwentyBearAsses to earn a Proof of Love. Males have to earn 6 of those Proofs of Love (And have the materials to make the ring), while females have only have to earn 2. That's as far as you can get for free, the actual wedding is going to cost you real money.
* Variation in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''. In order to obtain the MacGuffin, Demon Lord Odin requested his former enemy, Oswald the Shadow Knight, to slay a dragon. He offered him a castle as a reward at first, but Oswald wasn't interested until Odin decided to offer his daughter Gwendolyn. Having [[LoveAtFirstSight fallen in love at first sight with her]] earlier, he decided to accept the task, though not without being skeptical at first.
* Played with in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. After defeating the monster that was making Lord Jabu-Jabu ill, Link is granted the hand of Princess Ruto of the Zoras...which he doesn't want.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' treats this like a quest. And like any quest in ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', it requires you to collect TwentyBearAsses to earn a Proof of Love. Males have to earn 6 of those Proofs of Love (And have the materials to make the ring), while females have only have to earn 2. That's as far as you can get for free, the actual wedding is going to cost you real money.
* Variation in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''. In order to obtain the MacGuffin, Demon Lord Odin requested his former enemy, Oswald the Shadow Knight, to slay a dragon. He offered him a castle as a reward at first, but Oswald wasn't interested until Odin decided to offer his daughter Gwendolyn. Having [[LoveAtFirstSight fallen in love at first sight with her]] earlier, he decided to accept the task, though not without being skeptical at first.
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', the Queendom of Falena traditionally chooses the Queen's husband (the Commander of the Queen's Knights) through a tournament. Normally, Falena's nobles use [[GladiatorGames gladiators]] as [[CombatByChampion champions]], but the current Commander Ferid, Queen Arshtat's husband, was a foreigner who won the Sacred Games in an upset. In the tournament for Princess Lymsleia's hand, Lymsleia favors Beowulf, another foreign warrior, but [[spoiler: Gizel Godwin cheats to drug Beowulf before the final match with his champion Childerich, and later launches a coup to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe force Lymsleia to go through with the marriage]]. In the end, the Games are abolished and it's an open question who Lymsleia will marry.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', the King of Loire gives the hand of the mute princess to the man who makes her speak again. However, there is a twist: [[spoiler: she's not really his daughter but a child from a village that he destroyed in search of the village treasure. The King only wants her to speak again so she can tell him where the treasure is.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' puts a spin on the aforementioned Kaguya-hime story from Myth/JapaneseMythology. In this instance, Kaguya Houraisan was giving her would-be suitors {{Impossible Task}}s because she already had all the treasures she sent them to fetch. When a noble from the Fujiwara clan cheated by bringing back a fake treasure, Kaguya humiliated him in front of his peers, leading his daughter Mokou to swear revenge. Mokou ended up stealing Kaguya's gift for the Emperor of Japan, the [[ImmortalityInducer Hourai Elixir]], and used it to become immortal like Kaguya. The two now routinely, pointlessly murder each other in continuation of this 1300-year feud.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', the King of Loire gives the hand of the mute princess to the man who makes her speak again. However, there is a twist: [[spoiler: she's not really his daughter but a child from a village that he destroyed in search of the village treasure. The King only wants her to speak again so she can tell him where the treasure is.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' puts a spin on the aforementioned Kaguya-hime story from Myth/JapaneseMythology. In this instance, Kaguya Houraisan was giving her would-be suitors {{Impossible Task}}s because she already had all the treasures she sent them to fetch. When a noble from the Fujiwara clan cheated by bringing back a fake treasure, Kaguya humiliated him in front of his peers, leading his daughter Mokou to swear revenge. Mokou ended up stealing Kaguya's gift for the Emperor of Japan, the [[ImmortalityInducer Hourai Elixir]], and used it to become immortal like Kaguya. The two now routinely, pointlessly murder each other in continuation of this 1300-year feud.
Deleted line(s) 251,255 (click to see context) :
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' puts a spin on the aforementioned Kaguya-hime story from Myth/JapaneseMythology. In this instance, Kaguya Houraisan was giving her would-be suitors {{Impossible Task}}s because she already had all the treasures she sent them to fetch. When a noble from the Fujiwara clan cheated by bringing back a fake treasure, Kaguya humiliated him in front of his peers, leading his daughter Mokou to swear revenge. Mokou ended up stealing Kaguya's gift for the Emperor of Japan, the [[ImmortalityInducer Hourai Elixir]], and used it to become immortal like Kaguya. The two now routinely, pointlessly murder each other in continuation of this 1300-year feud.
* Played with in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. After defeating the monster that was making Lord Jabu-Jabu ill, Link is granted the hand of Princess Ruto of the Zoras...which he doesn't want.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' plays with the trope in how, during [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Innes and Eirika]]'s [[RelationshipUpgrade A-support]], he tells her that he loves her... but that ''he'' won't officially propose to her until he defeats her twin brother Ephraim, probably to deliberately invoke the trope. Eirika's reaction is pretty much a FlatWhat. [[spoiler: Innes and Eirika's shared ending states that the Innes vs. Ephraim duel ''did'' take place but ended in a draw, and some time later they got married anyway.]]
* In the H Game ''Monster Girl Quest'', Luka (the main character) ends up having to tag along with a RebelliousPrincess who wants to marry a monster. In order to earn this right, she has to make it through a pyramid and receive permission from the Sphinx. As it happens, the Sphinx makes people do this in order to [[MayflyDecemberRomance make them confront the difference between human and monster life spans]]. [[spoiler:The Sphinx is still mourning her lost love, who died centuries before, and hates seeing others have to go through that.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', the Queendom of Falena traditionally chooses the Queen's husband (the Commander of the Queen's Knights) through a tournament. Normally, Falena's nobles use [[GladiatorGames gladiators]] as [[CombatByChampion champions]], but the current Commander Ferid, Queen Arshtat's husband, was a foreigner who won the Sacred Games in an upset. In the tournament for Princess Lymsleia's hand, Lymsleia favors Beowulf, another foreign warrior, but [[spoiler: Gizel Godwin cheats to drug Beowulf before the final match with his champion Childerich, and later launches a coup to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe force Lymsleia to go through with the marriage]]. In the end, the Games are abolished and it's an open question who Lymsleia will marry.]]
* Played with in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. After defeating the monster that was making Lord Jabu-Jabu ill, Link is granted the hand of Princess Ruto of the Zoras...which he doesn't want.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' plays with the trope in how, during [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Innes and Eirika]]'s [[RelationshipUpgrade A-support]], he tells her that he loves her... but that ''he'' won't officially propose to her until he defeats her twin brother Ephraim, probably to deliberately invoke the trope. Eirika's reaction is pretty much a FlatWhat. [[spoiler: Innes and Eirika's shared ending states that the Innes vs. Ephraim duel ''did'' take place but ended in a draw, and some time later they got married anyway.]]
* In the H Game ''Monster Girl Quest'', Luka (the main character) ends up having to tag along with a RebelliousPrincess who wants to marry a monster. In order to earn this right, she has to make it through a pyramid and receive permission from the Sphinx. As it happens, the Sphinx makes people do this in order to [[MayflyDecemberRomance make them confront the difference between human and monster life spans]]. [[spoiler:The Sphinx is still mourning her lost love, who died centuries before, and hates seeing others have to go through that.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', the Queendom of Falena traditionally chooses the Queen's husband (the Commander of the Queen's Knights) through a tournament. Normally, Falena's nobles use [[GladiatorGames gladiators]] as [[CombatByChampion champions]], but the current Commander Ferid, Queen Arshtat's husband, was a foreigner who won the Sacred Games in an upset. In the tournament for Princess Lymsleia's hand, Lymsleia favors Beowulf, another foreign warrior, but [[spoiler: Gizel Godwin cheats to drug Beowulf before the final match with his champion Childerich, and later launches a coup to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe force Lymsleia to go through with the marriage]]. In the end, the Games are abolished and it's an open question who Lymsleia will marry.]]
* In the IntellectualAnimal comic ''Webcomic/FauxPas'' after Dusk ''finally'' gives up on stealing Randy she tells the unmated male foxes in the forest that she'll mate with whichever one wins a series of lengthy challenges, and then her estrus runs out before they're done.
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* In the IntellectualAnimal comic ''Webcomic/FauxPas'' after Dusk ''finally'' gives up on stealing Randy she tells the unmated male foxes in the forest that she'll mate with whichever one wins a series of lengthy challenges, and then her estrus runs out before they're done.
* In ''Webcomic/YourThrone'' Crown Prince Eros has an "Crown Princess Tournament" organized to pick his future wife out of two noblewomen. The two compete in three tasks, and Lady Medea Solon handily wins against her rival - only for Eros to disregard the contest and announce his engagement with the loser, Psyche Callista, instead, claiming he fell in love with her.
* In ''Webcomic/YourThrone'' Crown Prince Eros has an "Crown Princess Tournament" organized to pick his future wife out of two noblewomen. The two compete in three tasks, and Lady Medea Solon handily wins against her rival - only for Eros to disregard the contest and announce his engagement with the loser, Psyche Callista, instead, claiming he fell in love with her.
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* This idea was played with on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when Manjula calls Apu out for being a workaholic and not spending enough time with her. He lays the challenges on ''himself'' in an attempt to make it up to her, which works wonders but also causes a lot of marital problems for all the other guys in town.
* On ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand,'' Mira [[InvokedTrope invokes this]] when she is [[YouHaveWaitedLongEnough suddenly reminded of her]] ArrangedMarriage. She challenges her foppish fiancé to get through [[SpacePolice Space Rangers]] Basic Training, knowing that a pampered blueblood like him could never--[[GilliganCut oh wait]], he winds up becoming [[RuleOfFunny the most decorated cadet in history]]. Fortunately, she eventually gets it called off, and the fiancé decides that he would rather go back to the Rangers than settle down anyway.
* On ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand,'' Mira [[InvokedTrope invokes this]] when she is [[YouHaveWaitedLongEnough suddenly reminded of her]] ArrangedMarriage. She challenges her foppish fiancé to get through [[SpacePolice Space Rangers]] Basic Training, knowing that a pampered blueblood like him could never--[[GilliganCut oh wait]], he winds up becoming [[RuleOfFunny the most decorated cadet in history]]. Fortunately, she eventually gets it called off, and the fiancé decides that he would rather go back to the Rangers than settle down anyway.
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* This idea was played with on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when Manjula calls Apu out for being a workaholic and not spending enough time with her. He lays the challenges on ''himself'' in an attempt to make it up to her, which works wonders but also causes a lot of marital problems for all the other guys in town.
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* Although he's only dating Winona, this is still the situation ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* Although he's only dating Winona, Ramona, this is still the situation ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* In ''Literature/BootsWhoMadeThePrincessSayThatsAStory'', anyone who gets the princess to say that his story is a story can marry her and get half the kingdom as well. Boots succeeds.
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* In ''Literature/BootsWhoMadeThePrincessSayThatsAStory'', anyone who gets tells the princess to say that his story is a story tall tale so outrageous she calls them out on it can marry her and get half the kingdom as well. Boots succeeds.
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* This forms part of one of the longer Creator/MicroSFF stories. The princess has been training with the knights in order to be strong enough to carry her dragon, and when she hears about the challenge, points out that ''she'' is technically a knight and can win her own hand.
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* This forms part of one of the longer Creator/MicroSFF stories. [[https://twitter.com/MicroSFF/status/1155895617509568512 stories]]. The princess has been training with the knights in order to be strong enough to carry her dragon, and when she hears about the challenge, points out that ''she'' is technically a knight knights herself and can win competes for her own hand.
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* This forms part of one of the longer Creator/MicroSFF stories. The princess has been training with the knights in order to be strong enough to carry her dragon, and when she hears about the challenge, points out that ''she'' is technically a knight and can win her own hand.
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** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth]].
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** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth]]. This makes Thingol feel pretty guilty over the whole thing.
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* In ''Literature/TheThreeAunts'', the queen mother retroactively declares that the tasks were proof enough of her domestic skills, and lets her marry the king. Whereupon the three aunts show up again to scuttle the need for her to try the work again.
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* In ''Literature/TheThreeAunts'', "Literature/TheThreeAunts", the queen mother retroactively declares that the tasks were proof enough of her domestic skills, and lets her marry the king. Whereupon the three aunts show up again to scuttle the need for her to try the work again.
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* "Literature/TheDevilWithTheThreeGoldenHairs": Subverted at what it happens after the wedding. The main character must fetch three hairs from the head of the Devil so that his royal father-in-law approves of his marriage to the princess.
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* Although he's only dating Winona, this is still the situation Comic/ScottPilgrim finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* Although he's only dating Winona, this is still the situation Comic/ScottPilgrim ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* Although he's only dating Winona, this is still the situation Comic/ScottPilgrim finds himself in, courtesy of her last boyfriend, Gideon Graves.
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* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero and a borderline [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
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* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''The Brothers' War'', the warlord ruler of the city of Kroog and the surrounding nation of Yotia wants somebody "strong" to carry on his legacy, so he sets up one of these. He puts a giant statue in an arena - far too heavy for any single person to lift - and promises his daughter and kingdom to the man who can carry it to the other side. GadgeteerGenius Urza succeeds by building a {{Magitek}} robot to do it for him, and the king is unusually willing to keep his side of the bargain. Amusingly, Urza, being a ChasteHero and a borderline [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], ChasteHero, is far more interested in the kingdom's supply of magical powerstones than its stunningly beautiful princess; she ends up falling for ''him'' long before he develops feelings for her.
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* Khutulun, the great-grandaughter of Genghis Khan, was a fearsome warrior and wrestler; if any man wanted to marry her, he had to beat her, and if he lost, he had to give her a hundred horses. She ended up with ten thousand horses. And, in fact, she was ''never'' defeated in a wrestling competition--it was political pressure that got her. When rumors started that she didn't want a husband because she was sleeping with her father, she had to call off the challenge and pick a guy to dispel them.
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* Khutulun, the great-grandaughter of Genghis Khan, was a fearsome warrior and wrestler; if any man wanted to marry her, [[BestHerToBedHer he had to beat her, her]], and if he lost, he had to give her a hundred horses. She ended up with ten thousand horses. And, in fact, she was ''never'' defeated in a wrestling competition--it was political pressure that got her. When rumors started that she didn't want a husband because she was sleeping with her father, she had to call off the challenge and pick a guy to dispel them.
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* In early 19th-century Okinawa a woman named Yonamine Chiru insisted that any would-be-suitors had to [[TheRedSonja best her at martial arts]]. She defeated everyone until Bushi Matsumura, one of the founders of modern karate and among the most fearsome fighters in Okinawan history, managed to narrowly defeat her and so won her hand.
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* In early 19th-century Okinawa a woman named Yonamine Chiru insisted that any would-be-suitors had to [[TheRedSonja [[BestHerToBedHer best her at martial arts]]. She defeated everyone until Bushi Matsumura, one of the founders of modern karate and among the most fearsome fighters in Okinawan history, managed to narrowly defeat her and so won her hand.
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Changed line(s) 289 (click to see context) from:
* In early 19th-century Okinawa a woman named Yonamine Chiru insisted that any would-be-suitors had to best her at martial arts. She defeated everyone until Bushi Matsumura, one of the founders of modern karate and among the most fearsome fighters in Okinawan history, managed to narrowly defeat her and so won her hand.
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* In early 19th-century Okinawa a woman named Yonamine Chiru insisted that any would-be-suitors had to [[TheRedSonja best her at martial arts.arts]]. She defeated everyone until Bushi Matsumura, one of the founders of modern karate and among the most fearsome fighters in Okinawan history, managed to narrowly defeat her and so won her hand.
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* In ''Manga/FlyMeToTheMoon'' it turns out [[spoiler: this is the real reason Tsukasa married Nasa. After he said yes to her proposal, she revealed that it was only a test, because she's [[Really700YearsOld really 1400 years old]] [[note]]No no- [[InsistentTerminology she's been 16 for 1400 years!]][[/note]] and her goal is getting to the moon to get [[TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter Princess Kaguya]] to reverse her immortality. Nasa actually accepted her challenge but, due to his injuries, [[EasyAmnesia completely forgot everything she said]] about her past.]]
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* ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter'': [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to return to the Moon.]]
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* ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter'': [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to return to the Moon.]]
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* ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter'':
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*''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter'': [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to return to the Moon.]]
* ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter'':
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* ''Myth/GreekMythology'':
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* ''Myth/GreekMythology'':Myth/GreekMythology:
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* ''Myth/JapaneseMythology'':
** [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to ascend to the Moon and become its Queen.]]
** [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to ascend to the Moon and become its Queen.]]
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* ''Myth/JapaneseMythology'':
** [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to ascend to the Moon and become its Queen.]]Myth/JapaneseMythology:
** [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaguya-hime]] imposes several of those to ''her'' own suitors (one of them being the Emperor of Japan), giving each one [[FailureisTheOnlyOption completely]] {{impossible task}}s [[FailureisTheOnlyOption to follow and fulfill]] if they wanted to marry her. [[spoiler: She does it as a plan [[PleaseDumpMe to discourage them from courting her]] since she's supposed to ascend to the Moon and become its Queen.]]
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Changed line(s) 23,24 (click to see context) from:
These days there are usually complications. Sometimes, the EvilChancellor set up the challenge, tricking the king into getting some naïve hero to collect his {{MacGuffin}}s or kill his enemies. Sometimes the hero befriends the dragon instead of killing him and still gets the girl -- amazing how easy nuptial negotiations are when you have Farg the Firbreather at your side. Sometimes the hero completes the challenge without realizing there's a reward; a case of AccidentalMarriage which can lead to some seriously hurt feelings. The hero might already be engaged or married to someone else. The hero might be a ''heroine''. The [[RebelliousPrincess princess]] might be in position to say that dragon-slaying doesn't qualify anyone to marry her, tradition be damned. And sometimes multiple heroes win and the candidate simply [[MarryThemAll marries them all]]!
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These days there are usually complications. Sometimes, the EvilChancellor set up the challenge, tricking the king into getting some naïve hero to collect his {{MacGuffin}}s or kill his enemies. Sometimes the hero befriends the dragon instead of killing him and still gets the girl -- amazing how easy nuptial negotiations are when you have Farg Fawr the Firbreather Firebreather at your side. Sometimes the hero completes the challenge without realizing there's there ''is'' a reward; a case of AccidentalMarriage which can lead to some seriously hurt feelings.serious (or hilarious) complications. The hero might already be engaged or married to someone else. The hero might be a ''heroine''. The [[RebelliousPrincess princess]] might be in position to say that dragon-slaying doesn't qualify anyone to marry her, tradition be damned. And sometimes multiple heroes win and the candidate simply [[MarryThemAll marries them all]]!
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* The founder of the Tang dynasty won the hand of his bride in an archery contest.
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* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', Monique will upgrade Slick not to a fiancee or even boyfriend, but a "good friend" if he [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2005-06-30 defeats the Devil]], [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2005-07-01 creates world peace, feeds the hungry and treats her like a princess.]] Slick observes that the Devil offers a better deal.
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2007-06-03 He tries again later. No dice.]]
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2007-06-03 He tries again later. No dice.]]
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** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way He also uses ExactWords to pull it off. He was told to return with a Silmarili in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth.
to:
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Elvenking Thingol tries to get rid of his daughter Lúthien's ''human'' suitor Beren by tasking him to get one of the holy Silmarils from the world's {{Satan}}-[[BigBad equivalent]] (who wears it constantly), thinking Beren'll either back off, fail, or die trying. Beren accepts the task, but in a variation on the usual trope, his lover Lúthien is instrumental to the quest; she follows him, repeatedly saves his ass, and vanquishes his much more powerful foes. Not that Beren's a slouch -- he's a badass who accomplishes quite a bit himself along the way way. He also uses ExactWords to pull it off. He off; [[spoiler:he was told to return with a Silmarili Silmaril in his hand, and he did so. Even though the hand was in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth.Carcharoth]].
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* ''Literature/AHerosWar'': Landar's father actually very much wants her to marry Cato, but since the wider clan is dubious about Cato's inability to use magic, Yan suggests that Cato travel with the army going north to fight zombies, and prove himself on the battlefield. Landar isn't keen, and would be content with the alternative option of simply leaving the Iris Clan, but Cato sees it as a minor obstacle if it means keeping their valuable political support.
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Changed line(s) 93 (click to see context) from:
* In [[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/247.htm "Paperarello."]] The king offers his daughter's hand to his goose-boy Paperarello if he can bake enough bread for his army (if not, his head will be cut off). Paperarello manages to complete the task, but the princess refuses to marry a goose-boy. It is not until after Paperarello wins three battles for the king while in disguise and later reveals that he is a king himself that the princess falls in love with him. Unfortunately for her, Paperarello is already married to a fairy, and he politely refuses the princess.
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* In [[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/247.htm "Paperarello."]] The "Paperarello,"]] the king offers his daughter's hand to his goose-boy Paperarello if he can bake enough bread for his army (if not, his head will be cut off). Paperarello manages to complete the task, but the princess refuses to marry a goose-boy. It is not until after Paperarello wins three battles for the king while in disguise and later reveals that he is a king himself that the princess falls in love with him. Unfortunately for her, Paperarello is already married to a fairy, and he politely refuses the princess.
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Changed line(s) 92,95 (click to see context) from:
* Grimm again, with "[[http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/grimm/bl-grimm-how6men.htm How Six Men Went Out Into the World]]"[=/=]"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi3T2abqoU The Six Who Went Far In the World]]", where the suitor must beat the princess herself in a race or be beheaded. Unfortunately, the princess is a dirty cheater.
* In "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/247.htm Paperarello]]". The king offers his daughter's hand to his goose-boy Paperarello if he can bake enough bread for his army (if not, his head will be cut off). Paperarello manages to complete the task, but the princess refuses to marry a goose-boy. It is not until after Paperarello wins three battles for the king while in disguise and later reveals that he is a king himself that the princess falls in love with him. Unfortunately for her, Paperarello is already married to a fairy, and he politely refuses the princess.
* "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]" has a challenge such as this.
* In "[[http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/contents/1300/1305/1305_txt.html Hans, Who Made The Princess Laugh]]", (also known as "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh") the king promises his daughter's hand in marriage to anyone who [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin can make the princess laugh.]] Hans manages to make her laugh when he gets enough people stuck to him, forming a human chain.
* In "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/247.htm Paperarello]]". The king offers his daughter's hand to his goose-boy Paperarello if he can bake enough bread for his army (if not, his head will be cut off). Paperarello manages to complete the task, but the princess refuses to marry a goose-boy. It is not until after Paperarello wins three battles for the king while in disguise and later reveals that he is a king himself that the princess falls in love with him. Unfortunately for her, Paperarello is already married to a fairy, and he politely refuses the princess.
* "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]" has a challenge such as this.
* In "[[http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/contents/1300/1305/1305_txt.html Hans, Who Made The Princess Laugh]]", (also known as "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh") the king promises his daughter's hand in marriage to anyone who [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin can make the princess laugh.]] Hans manages to make her laugh when he gets enough people stuck to him, forming a human chain.
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* Grimm again, with "[[http://classiclit.[[http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/grimm/bl-grimm-how6men.htm How "How Six Men Went Out Into the World]]"[=/=]"[[https://www.World"]]/[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi3T2abqoU The "The Six Who Went Far In the World]]", World,"]] where the suitor must beat the princess herself in a race or be beheaded. Unfortunately, the princess is a dirty cheater.
* In"[[http://www.[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/247.htm Paperarello]]". "Paperarello."]] The king offers his daughter's hand to his goose-boy Paperarello if he can bake enough bread for his army (if not, his head will be cut off). Paperarello manages to complete the task, but the princess refuses to marry a goose-boy. It is not until after Paperarello wins three battles for the king while in disguise and later reveals that he is a king himself that the princess falls in love with him. Unfortunately for her, Paperarello is already married to a fairy, and he politely refuses the princess.
*"[[http://en.[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter The "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]" Cutter"]] has a challenge such as this.
* In"[[http://etc.[[http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/contents/1300/1305/1305_txt.html Hans, "Hans, Who Made The Princess Laugh]]", Laugh,"]] (also known as "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh") the king promises his daughter's hand in marriage to anyone who [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin can make the princess laugh.]] Hans manages to make her laugh when he gets enough people stuck to him, forming a human chain.
* In
*
* In
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* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/norroway.html The Black Bull of Norroway]]'', the heroine washes out the hero's shirt, which is the test for the bride.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''The Violet Fairy Book'', in "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/055.htm The Frog]]", the old woman tells her sons to test their brides with flax.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''The Violet Fairy Book'', in "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/055.htm The Frog]]", the old woman tells her sons to test their brides with flax.
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* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/norroway.html The Black Bull of Norroway]]'', Norroway,]]'' the heroine washes out the hero's shirt, which is the test for the bride.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''The Violet Fairy Book'', in"[[http://www.[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/055.htm The Frog]]", "The Frog,"]] the old woman tells her sons to test their brides with flax.
* In Creator/AndrewLang's ''The Violet Fairy Book'', in
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* In the ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' episode "The Race Around the World" the wealthy Karat Goldminter holds the race around the world with the intention of marrying his daughter, Lovelace, to the winner. Lovelace enters the race herself, hoping to win and not be forced to marry.
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* In "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/11sisters1911.html The Three Sisters]]", the king pledges that any woman who cures his son may marry him; his secret wife cures him. (The prince refuses to marry because he's already married, but the princess reveals herself.)
* In "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/14serpent1911.html The Serpent]]", a [[TalkingAnimal snake]] wants to marry a princess; her father demands three {{Impossible Task}}s, but the snake succeeds, and the king reluctantly gives him the princess's hand. The snake is revealed to actually be a [[BalefulPolymorph prince under a curse]], but when the King [[WhatTheHellHero burns his shed snakeskin]], he is transformed into a dove and forced to flee the kingdom. The king pledges that any woman who cures his son may marry him; the princess reaches the kingdom and cures him.
* The king promised the kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever watched over his "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/sevenfoals.html Seven Foals]]" all day.
* In "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/14serpent1911.html The Serpent]]", a [[TalkingAnimal snake]] wants to marry a princess; her father demands three {{Impossible Task}}s, but the snake succeeds, and the king reluctantly gives him the princess's hand. The snake is revealed to actually be a [[BalefulPolymorph prince under a curse]], but when the King [[WhatTheHellHero burns his shed snakeskin]], he is transformed into a dove and forced to flee the kingdom. The king pledges that any woman who cures his son may marry him; the princess reaches the kingdom and cures him.
* The king promised the kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever watched over his "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/sevenfoals.html Seven Foals]]" all day.
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* In "[[http://www.[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/11sisters1911.html The "The Three Sisters]]", Sisters,"]] the king pledges that any woman who cures his son may marry him; his secret wife cures him. (The prince refuses to marry because he's already married, but the princess reveals herself.)
* In"[[http://www.[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/14serpent1911.html The Serpent]]", "The Serpent,"]] a [[TalkingAnimal snake]] wants to marry a princess; her father demands three {{Impossible Task}}s, but the snake succeeds, and the king reluctantly gives him the princess's hand. The snake is revealed to actually be a [[BalefulPolymorph prince under a curse]], but when the King [[WhatTheHellHero burns his shed snakeskin]], he is transformed into a dove and forced to flee the kingdom. The king pledges that any woman who cures his son may marry him; the princess reaches the kingdom and cures him.
* The king promised the kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever watched over his"[[http://www.[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/sevenfoals.html Seven Foals]]" "Seven Foals"]] all day.
* In
* The king promised the kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever watched over his
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** Similarly in "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/079.htm The Three Princes and their Beasts]]", collected by Creator/AndrewLang, where the prince had gotten tokens from the princess.
* In "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/396.htm The Three Dogs]]", the king made the same promise; the hero killed the dragon and promised to return within a year to marry her, but a coachman made her promise to say that he had killed the dragon. The hero proved himself with his dogs and the teeth of the dragon.
* In "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/7merchant1911.html The Merchant]]", the hero had killed the dragon on this promise. He had to throw the heads far apart to keep them from rejoining the body, but a peasant collected them and claimed to have killed the dragon. The princess recognizes his dog, and he can produce the tongues to prove his claim.
* In "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/396.htm The Three Dogs]]", the king made the same promise; the hero killed the dragon and promised to return within a year to marry her, but a coachman made her promise to say that he had killed the dragon. The hero proved himself with his dogs and the teeth of the dragon.
* In "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/7merchant1911.html The Merchant]]", the hero had killed the dragon on this promise. He had to throw the heads far apart to keep them from rejoining the body, but a peasant collected them and claimed to have killed the dragon. The princess recognizes his dog, and he can produce the tongues to prove his claim.
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** Similarly in "[[http://www.[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/079.htm The "The Three Princes and their Beasts]]", Beasts,"]] collected by Creator/AndrewLang, where the prince had gotten tokens from the princess.
* In"[[http://www.[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/396.htm The "The Three Dogs]]", Dogs,"]] the king made the same promise; the hero killed the dragon and promised to return within a year to marry her, but a coachman made her promise to say that he had killed the dragon. The hero proved himself with his dogs and the teeth of the dragon.
* In"[[http://www.[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/7merchant1911.html The Merchant]]", "The Merchant,"]] the hero had killed the dragon on this promise. He had to throw the heads far apart to keep them from rejoining the body, but a peasant collected them and claimed to have killed the dragon. The princess recognizes his dog, and he can produce the tongues to prove his claim.
* In
* In
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** As they will in [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Grimms']] "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/allfur.html All-Kinds-of-Fur]]", and "[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/kingdaughter.html The King Who Wished Marry To His Daughter]]".
to:
** As they will in [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Grimms']] "[[http://www.[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/allfur.html All-Kinds-of-Fur]]", "All-Kinds-of-Fur,"]] and "[[http://www.[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/kingdaughter.html The "The King Who Wished Marry To His Daughter]]".Daughter."]]
