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| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''Cimorene left in disgust and went out to the castle garden. She was very discouraged. It looked as if she were going to marry the prince of Sathem-by-the-Mountains whether she wanted to or not.\ |
| 11 | "I'd rather be eaten by a dragon," she muttered.\ |
| 12 | "That can be arranged," said a voice from beside her left slipper.'' |
| 13 | -->-- ''[[Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles Dealing with Dragons]]'' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | This is one of the older tropes. Everyone knows how the typical [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon]] myth goes. Either a dragon steals a princess or a princess is given to that dragon as an offering. Where the story goes from there is not always so clear, but the beginning is where the trope lies. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | [[GratuitousPrincess For some reason, dragons just have an attraction to princesses.]] Maybe royal blood tastes better. [[VirginPower Maybe virgins taste better]]. Maybe they want someone to talk to. Maybe it's just a status symbol (in the Indo-European mythologies where this started, the dragon/serpentine monster usually abducts the princess to make her his wife, so the status symbol interpretation is hopefully the more correct one.). Whatever the reason, they tend to show up in each other's company. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In some cases, the sacrifice of princesses to a dragon may be a periodic thing, and several will have been fed to the beast before a hero comes along and saves the latest. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | In medieval stories, this often goes hand in hand with DragonsVersusKnights, as the knight must defeat the dragon to save the princess. This trope is often a setup for the StandardHeroReward to whoever saves the princess. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Nowadays, this trope [[UndeadHorseTrope is about as likely to be played straight as it is to be played with.]] A modern story may GenderFlip the characters, with a female dragon [[DistressedDude abducting a prince]] (the knight or other rescuer then [[ActionGirl might be female]] too). Another common way to [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruct]] this is to have the dragon and the princess get along just fine, sometimes to the point of InterspeciesRomance. In situations like these, the princess may [[HandsOffMyFluffy rebuff or even fight back against any knight or other hero trying to "rescue" her]]. Other times, the dragon is actually the victim of a malicious princess. And occasionally, the dragon and the princess [[CompositeCharacter are the same character]], usually of the CuteMonsterGirl kind, who forms a BeastAndBeauty relationship with the knight. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Related to SaveThePrincess, DamselInDistress, IHaveYouNowMyPretty, MonsterMisogyny, occasionally to VirginSacrifice. For another mythical being with a similar but less destructive taste in human companionship, see UnicornsPreferVirgins. |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | !!Examples: |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 32 | * In ''Manga/FairyTail'' the dragon Zirconis states that men taste horrible when he chooses to disrobe (clothes also taste bad) Lucy so he can eat her. He also listens to Princess Hisui and takes the title she offers him later on. |
| 33 | * ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. When the staff of the Social Welfare Agency are inventing a fairy tale for Angelica, someone suggests introducing a dragon to kidnap the princess and [[DiscussedTrope they argue over whether]] it's a DeadHorseTrope or TropesAreTools. |
| 34 | * ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'': Tohru complains about this stereotype when she first meets Kobayashi. |
| 35 | -->'''Tohru''': Yesh! Don't think that all dragons are lolicons who ask for little girl sacrifices!! Princess moe my ass!! |
| 36 | * Discussed in ''Literature/{{Campione}}''. Earth Goddesses are a type of female goddess which typically manifest as vast serpents or dragons. If slain by a God of Steel, the serpent's power is stolen by the Steel while the goddess is reduced to a Divine Ancestor, a weak maiden beholden to her "savior". This interplay of divine powers originates from the myths which form the gods. When primitive Earth Goddess deities were absorbed into more complex and patriarchal religions, they were recast as a demonic monster "slain" by a hero to "rescue" a maiden figure. |
| 37 | [[/folder]] |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 40 | * ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': In one story, there's a school play about a princess who was captured by a dragon. Several accidents with the scenery force the students to rewrite the story so that a whirlwind carries the princess to the dragon's lair. |
| 41 | [[/folder]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:Fairy Tales]] |
| 44 | * In Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's "Literature/TheTwoBrothers", one brother wins a princess by rescuing her from the dragon. She's the last of a long line of maidens sacrificed, a common element in this sort of story. |
| 45 | * In "Literature/TheNinePeahensAndTheGoldenApples", the prince rescues a princess from a dragon. When it chases after them, their horses talk, and the dragon's horse is persuaded to throw and kill it. |
| 46 | * In ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20191223135256/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/7merchant1911.html The Merchant]]'', a merchant's son saves Princess Menechella from a seven-headed dragon which swallowed one maiden every day. |
| 47 | * In ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/020.htm The Flower Queen's Daughter]]'', a prince enters the service of a three-headed female dragon with the intent of rescuing the princess that she's holding captive. Unlike most fairy tale examples of this trope, the hero does not kill any dragons. Instead, he flees with her on horseback and returns her to her mother the Flower Queen, who helps repel the dragon. |
| 48 | * "Literature/PrinceLindworm": Subverted. The dragon prefers ''maidens'', but not necessarily princesses. Makes a little bit more sense than most versions, considering said dragon is actually a young prince. |
| 49 | * This is the key motif of tale type ATU 300, "The Dragonslayer", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index: the hero is joined by three dogs and kills a dragon which demanded sacrifices once a year/month, the latest lot having fallen on the local princess: |
| 50 | ** In ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/396.htm The Three Dogs]]'', the hero fights a dragon and saves a princess. |
| 51 | * Similarly, this narrative is also present in another tale type of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, ATU 303, "The Twins or Blood Brothers": twins/triplets are born to a poor couple, and one of them strikes out on his own, reaches another kingdom and rescues the local princess who has been given as sacrifice to a dragon: |
| 52 | ** ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/079.htm The Three Princes and Their Beasts]]'' (Lithuania): the oldest prince kills a dragon and saves a princess. |
| 53 | ** ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/192.htm The Twin Brothers]]'' (Greece). |
| 54 | ** ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/257.htm The Knights of the Fish]]'' (Spain). |
| 55 | ** ''[[https://sacred-texts.com/neu/kog/kog15.htm The Twin Brothers]]'' (Czech Republic). |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 59 | * ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/492840/approaching-disaster Approaching Disaster]]'': This is Draco's stated motivation for trying to kidnap Twilight Sparkle. Constellations are, in a very literal sense, stories written in the sky, and act according to the archetypes they embody. Thus, Draco, being the dragon constellation, is the living trope and archetype of dragonhood -- and because the traditional narrative role of dragons is to kidnap princesses, that's what he does as well. |
| 60 | * ''Fanfic/CatalystVerse'': The dragon spirit who watches over the Thornhill royal family is far more attached to [[spoiler:Princess Root]] than anyone else. She's never even spoken to King Harold. |
| 61 | * ''Fanfic/ACertainDrollHivemind'': Misaka Mikoto meets the last [[TheDragonslayer dragonslayer]], and is told that all dragons are extinct. Mikoto, who thinks magic isn't real, notes this is "convenient" (because it makes their existence impossible to prove). Her clone Misaka-11111 and [[HiveMind the Network]] on the other hand, have a different opinion. |
| 62 | -->'''Misaka-11111:''' I agree that it is convenient. Our research has revealed that dragons are large fire-breathing mythological monsters. It would be very inconvenient to have them around. They are said to eat princesses. The original is known as the Electric Princess as one of her alternate titles. We suspect she would object violently if a dragon tried to eat her, but it is possible that we would be mistaken for her. We have not been eaten by a dragon before. We are not enthusiastic about the idea. |
| 63 | * ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Princess Julia is saved from a dragon by [[spoiler:Jadeite]], and wants to be returned there for some reason. |
| 64 | * ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/173479/rescue Rescue]]'': Subverted and played for humor: the knight has to save a dragon''ess'' from the princess she's holding captive... and this somehow winds up with them becoming two of [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Discord]]'s grandparents. |
| 65 | [[/folder]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [[folder:Film -- Animated]] |
| 68 | * ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' has the major quest involve Princess Fiona [[GirlInTheTower locked up in a tower]] that is guarded by a dragon. Of course, since this is ''Shrek'', things aren't quite what they seem, [[spoiler:nor do they end that way: Donkey falls in love with said dragon and has children. Similarly, Shrek and Fiona become a couple]]. |
| 69 | * [[BigBad Maleficent's]] [[OneWingedAngel dragon transformation]] as a last-minute attempt to stop Prince Philip from waking the cursed Princess Aurora at the end of ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' was deliberately meant to invoke this trope. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 73 | * {{Justified|trope}} in ''Film/{{Damsel}}''; the dragon demands that every generation, three Aurean princesses be sacrificed to her [[spoiler:in revenge for the first king of Aurea having murdered her three hatchlings unprovoked]]. However, the royal family have been getting around sacrificing their own daughters by marrying a random girl to one of their princes, performing a ceremony to mingle their blood to trick the dragon into believing these girls are of RoyalBlood and then sacrificing them instead. |
| 74 | * Part of the backstory revealed in ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' was that the dragon Draco had loved the queen (played by Creator/JulieChristie) back when she was princess, and so later donated part of his heart to save her son, leading to tragic consequences for her in the film. |
| 75 | * In ''Film/{{Dragonslayer}}'', a kingdom chooses which virginal young woman will be sacrificed to a dragon by drawing lots. When Princess Elspeth learns that the King has made sure her name is never included in the lottery, she rigs it so that her name is chosen, and voluntarily goes to the dragon. Unfortunately she pays the price for her honesty and is eaten by the dragon's babies. |
| 76 | * ''Series/Merlin1998'': |
| 77 | ** {{Invoked|Trope}} by Queen Mab, who convinces King Vortigern that the only way to keep his tower from collapsing is by sacrificing his hostage Nimue -- who while not ''technically'' a princess, [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible is the daughter of a high-ranking lord]] -- to the Great Dragon. |
| 78 | ** Played with (and arguably subverted) in that, while the dragon certainly seems to ''enjoy'' barbecuing Nimue, the sacrifice itself was merely a ploy to bait Merlin into breaking his oath and use magic - particularly since it's later revealed that the reason behind the tower's inability to stand is purely mundane in nature. |
| 79 | [[/folder]] |
| 80 | |
| 81 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 82 | * In ''Backyard Dragon'' by Betsy Sterman, the generally nice dragon Wyrdryn, who comes from the past, admits that in his time it's simply expected for kings to occasionally offer up their daughters for him to eat. When the protagonist introduces Wyrdryn to his friends he specifically notes that the group's [[TheSmurfettePrinciple one girl]] is ''not'' a princess. |
| 83 | * ''Literature/{{Damsel}}'': In this book by Elana K. Arnold, the Kingdom of Harding has a tradition of the first-born son riding out to conquer a dragon and return with a damsel; a tradition with generations of precedent. The main character, who soon gets the name Ama, is one such damsel who, on top of trying to fit into the royal court, has to deal with [[ProtagonistWithoutAPast her lack of a past]]; a total inability to remember where she came from. [[spoiler:There’s a good reason for this; the damsel ''is'' the dragon, and once she's born a child, the were-dragon won’t be able to turn back]]. |
| 84 | * ''Literature/TheDragonHoard'' has a StoryWithinAStory about a princess who is kidnapped by a dragon. She inadvertently wins her freedom when she tries to mollify it by spinning straw into gold; it turns out the dragon is allergic to gold, and it lets her go before she can do any more damage. |
| 85 | * An inversion in ''Literature/DragonInDistress'': The dragon doesn't want a princess, it's Princess Florinara Tansimasa Qasilava Delagordune who wants the ''dragon''. |
| 86 | * ''Dragon Princess'' by S. Andrew Swann parodies this. It's about a travelling thief named Frank tasked with rescuing Princess Lucille of Lendowyn from a dragon at the request of Court Wizard Elhared; in exchange, [[StandardHeroReward Frank gets to marry the princess and join the royal court]]. But the reason the dragon took the princess is because he had gambling debts to TheFairFolk and decided to hold her for ransom -- which doesn't work too well because the Kingdom of Lendowyn is small and very poor. Also, Elhared secretly planned to cast a FreakyFridayFlip spell to swap with Frank afterward so ''he'' could marry the princess -- but the spell goes wrong and Frank ends up in Lucille's body, the dragon ends up in the wizard's body, and Lucille ends up in the ''dragon's'' body. [[spoiler:And Frank ultimately has to kill Elhared in Frank's original body, leaving everyone stuck like that. Which means that Frank (in the princess's body) and Lucille (in the dragon's body) have to marry each other as they currently are.]] |
| 87 | * ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'': Played with. While dragons do traditionally kidnap princesses, the main protagonist of ''Dealing with Dragons'', Cimorene, is a RebelliousPrincess who fled to the dragons to escape traditional life as a princess and forge her own path. Her relationship to her dragon, Kazul, is friendly and she's more of a live-in cook/housekeeper/librarian/cavemate than a hostage. Most of the princesses are in fact captives and rather silly, and are mostly kept around as status symbols for the dragons. A later book in the series also establishes that the stereotype of dragons eating princesses is untrue (which makes sense, given that the first book explains that there aren't enough princesses to go around). The first book also lampshades the StandardHeroReward aspect, with one character speculating that it's surprising that more princesses aren't voluntarily working for dragons, since it pretty much guarantees a good marriage, although another surmises that part of the reason most don't is that their life expectancy drops significantly if the dragon happens to lose its temper. |
| 88 | * The speculative-science book ''The Flight of Dragons'' by Peter Dickinson (quite different from, though related to, the film of that name) offers an explanation of ''why'' Dragons Prefer Princesses: it's the diamonds. The real-world dragons he theorizes used hydrogen gas for lift, which they got by breaking down large quantities of limestone in special acidic stomachs. To break the limestone into chunks for easier digestion, they had a crop like a bird's, but where birds have gravel in their crops to grind their food, the dragons needed something harder: yep, diamonds. When humans tried offering them tribute to get them to stop raiding their towns, they figured out that a pretty girl bedecked in diamonds was the ticket. Too bad they didn't figure out they could have offered the diamonds without the girl. (This also explains the dragon's hoard of gold: it's the discards after the diamonds have been pried out.) |
| 89 | * In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', it's mentioned that noble dragons prefer to eat people of noble blood because they taste better. It's also implied that it's a dominance ritual; the more important the human sacrifice is, the clearer it is that all humans are subservient. When a noble Dragon takes over the city of Ankh-Morpork, she calls the various civil leaders to a dinner to explain the distinction over dinner. It occurs to them all midway through the conversation that [[FatteningTheVictim the dragon has been serving them all a very large, very fattening meal.]] Since there are no actual ''princesses'' in Ankh-Morpork, the city leaders (to save their own necks) decide the closest is its richest woman, Lady Sybil (who fortunately enough has a lot of meat on her bones already). Unforunately, people who want to offer Lady Sybil to a dragon are [[LadyOfWar not going to have an easy time of it]]. |
| 90 | * In Tarma and Kethry's parts of the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'', this comes up twice. |
| 91 | ** ''A Tale of Heroes'' has a monster, not apparently draconic but certainly very large, very hairy, and very fast, with a marked preference for eating women and children. A local lord offers the StandardHeroReward, marriage to his daughter and charge of part of his lands, to the slayer of the monster, who is lured out with a weekly sacrifice. The lord puts on a show of that sacrifice being his daughter, who's paraded out on a horse, but it is in fact always an unlucky prisoner, which the monster finds acceptable as the prisoners are drugged and chained. |
| 92 | ** ''A Dragon In Distress'' has Tarma and Kethry pass through a portal into another canon's setting, where they come to the aid of a DelightfulDragon who had HappilyAdopted a princess who was stolen from her cave by a prince who wants to marry her. |
| 93 | * The ''Literature/InCryptid'' series takes this in a new direction. The women found around dragon lairs, commonly known as Dragon Princesses, are a species of Cryptid that happen to look human and have a symbiotic relationship with dragons. Both require gold to maintain their health for unknown reasons, so the princesses gather the gold, [[DragonHoard and the dragons protect it]]. Later investigations reveal that [[spoiler:the dragon princesses are actually [[BizarreSexualDimorphism female dragons]]]]. |
| 94 | * In Creator/ErinMorgenstern's ''Literature/TheNightCircus'', one figure on the clock is a princess, a dragon's prisoner -- no sign of the knight yet. |
| 95 | * ''Literature/ThePaperBagPrincess'': Gender-inverted. A dragon carries off Prince Ronald, and Princess Elizabeth sets out to rescue him. |
| 96 | * Deconstructed in the Creator/TamoraPierce short story "Plain Magic", compiled in ''Literature/TortallAndOtherLands''. Not only is the young girl part nonsense (dragons simply see a staked human as easy prey, and don't distinguish between young and old and male and female, let alone virgin and non virgin), but human flesh makes them ill - and they ''only'' flame when ill. Nearly half the valley gets burned down thanks to the villagers [[NiceJobBreakingItHero giving it their daughters]], and it's only stopped when a passing peddler who actually knows what she's doing manages to capture the dragon herself, saving the would-be sacrifice in the process. |
| 97 | * In ''The Practical Princess'' by Jay Williams, the kingdom of Arapathia is threatened by a dragon, who threatens to lay waste to it unless he is given a princess to eat. However, when Princess Bedelia -- who was given the gift of common sense at her christening -- hears about this, she points out that dragons can't tell the difference between princesses and anyone else, and he only asked for her because he's a snob. [[spoiler:Neither, as she proceeds to demonstrate, can he tell the difference between her and a straw dummy in princess robes [[FeedItABomb stuffed with gunpowder]].]] |
| 98 | -->''Bedelia got up, dusting herself off. "Dragons," she said, "are not very bright."'" |
| 99 | * ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'': While the monsters are not explicitly dragons, there is a poem about five Golgafrincham princes who, amongst other things, "[[JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites rescue beautiful monsters from ravening princesses]]". |
| 100 | * In Creator/JohnMoore's ''Slay and Rescue'', dragons capturing princesses is such a common problem that Prince Charming has rescues down to a fine art, even though he's still too young (and too polite) to ask any of the princesses for the reward he'd ''really'' like. |
| 101 | * ''Literature/TalesFromVerania'': The plot of the first book is that a horny dragon has kidnapped the prince, and Sam of Wilds needs to rescue him despite the fact that the prince is an asshole. |
| 102 | * ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'': As the books are based on traditional myths and fairy tales, most evil dragons find themselves forced to capture a maiden, preferably a princess, at some point. This forms a major plot point in the second book, ''One Good Knight'', which is 1/3 the myth of Andromeda, 1/3 George and the Dragon [[spoiler:(although the dragon didn't actually have many choices in the matter, being under compulsion at the time)]], and 1/3 trying very hard NOT to have the endings of either of those legends happen. |
| 103 | * In ''Literature/TheTwoPrincessesOfBamarre'', Princess Addie allows herself to be kidnapped by and kept as a pet/companion by the dragon Vollys, intending to stay long enough to learn a cure for the plague sweeping the land but escape before Vollys decides to eat her. Like with the St. George example below, Vollys doesn't prey exclusively on princesses (the previous humans she kept with her were pretty much anyone she managed to kidnap, starting with a chair maker). Addie just happened to be the latest she caught. |
| 104 | * ''Literature/VainqueurTheDragon'': The number that a dragon possesses is one measure of status among them. But they release them after a time, so the population can be kept up, and find them by an ability literally called in the RPGMechanicsVerse, as Virgin Princess Radar. |
| 105 | * A variation in ''Whispering in the Wind'' by Australian author Creator/AlanMarshall. The protagonist has always wanted to rescue a princess from a dragon, but as he's living in Australia he's told the only one available is being guarded by a [[YowiesAndBunyipsAndDropBearsOhMy bunyip]] instead. |
| 106 | * In Creator/GeneWolfe's ''Literature/WizardKnight'', the dragon Grengarm from Muspel is offered the life of Princess Morgaine by the Aelf from Aelfrice. As per normal Gene Wolfe, the trope's form is utilized but nothing about the circumstances is normal. The dragon has a reason for wanting the princess (access to Mythgarthr), the offerers have a real reason for offering her (favour from their god), and Sir Able has a reason for trying to rescue her (to keep the sword his love has promised him). Morgaine is a very unconventional princess, not in the least virginal or needing protection, and Able is really a boy and not interested in Morgaine. |
| 107 | * In ''Literature/{{Zog}}'' by Julia Donaldson, kidnapping princesses is an essential part of dragon education. The dragon of the title, who has failed everything so far and been bandaged up by a RebelliousPrincess who wants to be a doctor, becomes her [[DragonRider flying ambulance]] instead. |
| 108 | [[/folder]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 111 | * In Music/JonathanCoulton's "The Princess Who Saved Herself", the princess responds by tying the dragon's tail to a tree and giving him a good talking to. |
| 112 | [[/folder]] |
| 113 | |
| 114 | [[folder:Myths and Legends]] |
| 115 | * This is apparently OlderThanDirt: in Myth/MesopotamianMythology, a dragon named Kur kidnaps the beautiful goddess Ereshkigal and takes her to the Netherworld, forcing her to become the queen of the plane for eternity. In a twist, although the dragon is defeated by Enki and she later gains some sympathetic moments in her interactions with Nergal, she is technically never rescued from her prison. Though given that she has turned it into a full-fledged kingdom, it's easy to guess why she doesn't want to go anymore. |
| 116 | * In Myth/GreekMythology: |
| 117 | ** Andromeda was nearly fed to the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent sea dragon]] Cetus to punish her mother, who had bragged that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids. (A bad move, since the god Poseidon was married to one.) Luckily Perseus happened to be passing by and agrees to kill the monster in exchange for Andromeda's hand in marriage. |
| 118 | ** The king of Troy cheated Apollo and Poseidon out of their payment for creating the walls of Troy. They sent a sea dragon to plague him until he sacrificed his daughter Hesione to it, except that Heracles happened by. Alas for the king, he then tried to cheat Heracles, and Heracles sacked Troy for it. |
| 119 | ** A gender-flipped version exists in the myth of Sybaris, a she-dragon terrorising the countryside around Delphi. When the people asked Apollo how to get rid of the dragon, the god told them to sacrifice a young man to the beast. Handsome Alkyoneus was chosen by lot and, as he was led to the dragon's cave to be sacrificed, a brave young man named Eurybatus happened to cross their path who fell in love with Alkyoneus and demanded to be sacrificed in his stead. When Sybaris came out to claim her prize, Eurybatus seized her and threw her off a cliff and to her death. |
| 120 | * In the popular medieval legend of [[Myth/SaintGeorge Saint George and the Dragon]], there is a town the inhabitants of which appease a dragon living in a nearby lake by giving it their sons and daughters as food. St. George, a soldier/knight, comes by just in time to rescue the king's daughter by defeating the dragon. The dragon has no preference for royalty and eats humans or cattle indiscriminately; that the princess is chosen just the day George visits the town is sheer coincidence. |
| 121 | * Myth/JapaneseMythology: Replace dragon with mountain-tall eight-headed mead-drinking hydra and you get the story of {{Orochi}}. |
| 122 | * Inverted in Chinese Mythology, where dragons are more likely to rape ''middle-aged men''. No, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_Chinese_mythology#Supernatural_encounters seriously]]. |
| 123 | ** Since dragons are often viewed as divine beings or kind guardians, there are also a number of happily married dragon/human couples. For example, a legend about Amur river (Heilong Jiang in Chinese, means black dragon river) has a human-dragon hybrid protagonist whose mother is a human. He can transfer into a black dragon when needed. With some help from the villagers, He defeated an evil white dragon that lived in the Amur river, who frequently floods the local areas. The river was called black dragon river ever since. Interestingly, the dragon hybrid used to get bullied when he was little. His tail was cut off by his human uncle, who threw a kitchen knife at him when angered, and earned him the nickname "bald tail Li". He then left the village (maybe to live with his dad?) and only returned when he was fully grown, and heard the village was in trouble. Similar folklores (without the cutting tail bit) can be found all over China, starring many human-dragon relationships. Both male and female dragons can be found. Some of them have tragic endings, often feature the dragon or human turns into stone, or their tears become a river, to make a story for the local geology. |
| 124 | [[/folder]] |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 127 | * The pinball machine ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'' has a ramp devoted to saving various damsels from dragons. The quality of the princesses vary. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 131 | * ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'': The more powerful dragons occasionally do this. However, they're typically after ''entertainment'', not food, and prefer nobility because they tend to be better conversationalists. |
| 132 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 133 | ** There's at least one supplement that mentions a dragon who, using her natural shapeshifting, would disguise herself ''as'' a maiden, either as a trap or to be "rescued" by a knight. This may be inspired by FridgeLogic or the legend of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melusine Melusine]]. |
| 134 | ** Of the five varieties of evil dragons in the game, red dragons are the species most likely to kidnap maidens; like most dragons, they can eat anything, but they claim that female humans and young elves taste best. |
| 135 | ** The 3.5 Edition ''Heroes of Horror'' supplemental rulebook offers options for running horror-themed campaigns and includes a section on using common monster tropes in more frightening ways. One example is to question why dragons are portrayed as kidnapping princess, and offers as explanation that the dragon wants to use them as {{Breeding Slave}}s to produce half-dragon descendants with RoyalBlood. |
| 136 | * ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'': The unofficial supplement ''TabletopGame/DragonTheEmbers'' gives a justification to this trope; in this universe, Dragons draw power from having subordinates worshiping them, which they frequently accomplish by collecting "Maidens" to trap in a life of subservience. With a princess, they could force a lot more people to worship them than they could with just, say, a housemaid. |
| 137 | %%%% More context is necessary. The princess element is missing. |
| 138 | %%%%* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Dragons'' has some material on using sacrifice-survivors as characters. |
| 139 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': One of the later Bestiaries for 1st Edition has a sorta-Slavic three-headed dragon called the Gorynych, who specializes in snatching princesses along with any attractive, young, wealthy human female. They also ''mate'' with them, producing half-dragon offspring, and are [[EvenEvilhasStandards considered to be perverts by other dragons for it]]. |
| 140 | [[/folder]] |
| 141 | |
| 142 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 143 | * ''VideoGame/CastleMaster'': The plot is kicked off when a dragon kidnaps the princess and the knight goes to save her... if you picked the knight as your character. If you pick the princess instead, she gets to save the knight. |
| 144 | * ''VideoGame/ChoiceOfTheDragon'': Played with. One of the choices offered to the player character is whether to be the kind of dragon that kidnaps princesses. Options include "Yes, because it's Traditional" and "In the interests of gender equality, half the time I kidnap princes instead". The game also explores the motives for kidnapping royalty, including "It's all about companionship and good conversation" standing out from the more traditional answers. |
| 145 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'': The hero's first mission is to [[SaveThePrincess rescue the princess]] from the evil dragon that captured her. This is only half the game, though, as you still need to defeat the [[BigBad Dragonlord]]. |
| 146 | * One side-quest in ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'' involves you acting as the representative of TheChurch to slay the dragon solo in an attempt to discourage the worship of a legendary princess who was said to have offered herself to a red dragon to save her kingdom. The FlavorText of the Treasure Art for completing this quest reveals that, after you defeated the dragon [[spoiler:you found the princess' ring among the DragonHorde, which gave evidence of her HeroicSacrifice and unsurprisingly encouraged her followers to worship her even more. The church eventually co-opts this worship by canonizing her as a saint]]. |
| 147 | * Defied in ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'', while the dragon may occasionally kidnap the duchess for a LeaveYourQuestTest, depending on your affinity with the others, it is more often for him to pick anything that moves. |
| 148 | * ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'', of course, has Princess Daphne kidnapped by the evil dragon Singe. You play as Dirk on his way to rescue her. |
| 149 | * In ''VideoGame/GragyrissCaptorOfPrincesses'', one of your main goals as a dragon is to capture princesses [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the title claims.]] Winning enough battles in a specific region will eventually lead to you capturing its princess, and they end up being a helpful captive, willingly giving you buffs or abilities you can use to improve your growth or to battle enemies (including their own people) more efficiently. The ending shows the princesses hanging out with your dragon, so the preference seems mutual in this case. |
| 150 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Hoard}}'', one of the modes is to kidnap more princesses than any rivals. |
| 151 | * In ''VideoGame/KingsBounty The Legend'', Princess Amelie fears that she may be kidnapped by a dragon, as she's a princess, but is sure that the main character will save her. [[spoiler:At the very end, she ''is'' kidnapped and taken hostage by Haas, the BigBad dragon.]] |
| 152 | * In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIIToHeirIsHuman'', the three-headed dragon demands a maiden be sacrificed each year. King Graham decides to leave his daughter, Princess Rosella, tied at the stake to be eaten by the dragon. |
| 153 | * Played with in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''. No dragons straight out capture princesses but the game features a few of both interacting one way or another. For one, Oswald is promised the Valkyrie princess Gwendolyn as his wife for defeating the dragon Wagner. Eventually, all five characters [[spoiler:of royal blood]] have to fight dragons at least once. |
| 154 | * ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'': Invoked in the beta. In order to summon the [[{{Dracolich}} Dragon King]] boss, you need to craft a Decoy Princess in order to attract it. |
| 155 | * ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' deserves an honorable mention, even though Mario is [[AlmightyJanitor far from being a knight]] and Bowser isn't [[OurDragonsAreDifferent a typical kind of dragon]]. |
| 156 | -->'''Bowser''': I will kidnap the princess again and again until I get it right, and nobody can stop me! Losing isn't an option, and neither is giving up! |
| 157 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' visually invokes a more traditional version of this. During his journey to rescue Peach, Mario must stop in the Ruined Kingdom, where he fights the Ruined Dragon, a [[NonStandardCharacterDesign surprisingly realistic-looking]] Western-style dragon. One of the outfits Mario can buy here is a knight's plate armor, which he can wear while fighting the Ruined Dragon. |
| 158 | [[/folder]] |
| 159 | |
| 160 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 161 | * ''Webcomic/{{Nodwick}}'' has it as a recurring joke, including that princesses have a business for renting themselves with a "no dragons" policy. |
| 162 | * ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'' takes it in [[CasualKink a slightly twisted direction]] in [[http://web.archive.org/web/20150428205825/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20080615 one strip]], where the princess critiques the dragon's knot-tying technique and things eventually escalate into a BDSM scene. |
| 163 | * ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'', Isolde reveals that princesses are [[http://ozyandmillie.org/2007/02/09/ozy-and-millie-1822/ bargaining chips for buying off knights]]. |
| 164 | * Played with in [[http://www.portsherry.com/comics/helping-the-princess/ this]] ''Port Sherry'' comic. The dragon abducted the princess [[spoiler: as part of a ruse to set the princess up with an eligible bachelor. Also, the dragon is female too]]. |
| 165 | * ''My Dragon Life, My Dragon Wife'': Soul wants a beautiful maiden for her lair because she's lonely and wants someone to [[CuddleBug cuddle]], which her "hostage" is happy to oblige. |
| 166 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': The Writer's Block [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/2015-07-13 fights a dragon]] with a sword at one point and ends up [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/2015-07-15 saving a princess]], implying that the dragon was holding her hostage. |
| 167 | * ''Webcomic/DungeonsAndDoodlesTalesFromTheTables'': [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/dungeons-doodles-tales-from-the-tables/here-be-dragons-part-1/viewer?title_no=682646&episode_no=12 This]] comic uses the virgin variant for humor when the party is sent to deal with a dragon said to have developed a particular taste for the flesh and blood of innocent virgins, which he can supposedly smell from a mile away. The cleric and rogue aren't especially worried ("Good thing we're all adults, then"). The paladin, who it later turns out doesn't believe in premarital sex, doesn't quite share her friends' confidence. |
| 168 | * Discussed in ''Webcomic/{{Slackwyrm}}'',where Duchess Doris isn't taken captive by Ferragus because she is "only" a Duchess. |
| 169 | * According to Franz Scorchmaw, Dragon of Mechanicsburg, in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', dragon small talk includes "[[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20230127 which kingdoms have the best princesses.]]" |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 173 | * [[http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22849 Metal styles explained through dragon/princess story]]. |
| 174 | * Multiple variants in Orjan Westin's [[https://twitter.com/MicroSFF Micro SF/F Stories]] Twitter feed, mostly (but not always) involving sympathetic dragons and/or gender reversal or queerness. These include the serials "[[http://microsff.com/the-princess-dragons The Princess Dragons]]" and "[[http://microsff.com/the-princess-dragon The Princess' Dragon]]". |
| 175 | * ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions'': In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eXAPwjASEQ Trope Talk: Dragons]], Red discusses dragons' tendency to kidnap and/or eat damsels alongside other traits of dragons in folklore and modern fiction. It got its start in the middle ages, as the usual motivation for dragonslaying -- getting the dragon's gold -- was seen as too base and greedy a motivation for a knight, so rescuing a damsel for the sake of rightness and love was substituted; however, it's also seen in other mythologies with some frequency. Nowadays it's seen as very cliched, so it's usually subverted or otherwise played with. |
| 176 | [[/folder]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 179 | * The villain in the ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' TwoPartEpisode "[=#TheFreshPrincessOfRenFaire=]" is a shapeshifting dragon who only wants to eat a real princess, and she's been starving since princesses aren't exactly common these days. Zee is in costume as a princess, so she becomes the dragon's target, but once she actual gets a taste, she declares Zee is disgusting. Luckily for her, Diana doesn't dress up in fancy gowns, but she is literally the daughter of a queen and heir to the throne of her home nation, i.e. a real princess. |
| 180 | * GenderFlip in ''WesternAnimation/JaneAndTheDragon'', in which the Dragon kidnapped Prince Cuthbert because he believed the prince could translate the runes on his cave wall. |
| 181 | * In ''WesternAnimation/PotatoesAndDragons'', the King keeps calling for knights to kill the dragon that lives near the palace, for fear it might kidnap his daughter; unbeknownst to him, the princess has befriended the dragon and is actively thwarting each attempt on its life. |
| 182 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E6DuncesAndDragons Dunces and Dragons]]", Princess Pearl is kidnapped by the dragon jellyfish. Although Princess Pearl has been held captive by the Main/EvilSorcerer Planktonamor, the dragon jellyfish becomes [[FoodAsBribe dazzled with the taste of a Krabby Patty]]. |
| 183 | * {{Subverted}} in the ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Hero"--the [[spoiler:kidnapping]] part, anyway. [[spoiler:In fact, the princess the dragon has supposedly kidnapped for [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forced-marriage]] purposes is in a happy, consensual relationship with her while the [[DragonsVersusKnights knight]] attempting to SaveThePrincess is simply a failed suitor who's very self-deluded. Basically, [[BeastAndBeauty it's a classic case of the princess preferring the dragon]].]] |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
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