Western Animation / The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe

In search of the Golden Feather, a young prince must embark on a dangerous quest to EAGLE MOUNTAIN!

Who's the bravest of them all? (Ivandoe!)
Strong as he is handsome (Prince Ivandoe!)
He laughs at danger, slaps his thigh
Then pulls out his sword
Oh, me! Oh, my!
He's the noblest. charmingest, dashingest prince
He's utterly fearless
PRINCE IVANDOE!

—theme song

The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe is an animated miniseries parody of the British novel, Ivanhoe, created by Eva Lee Wallberg and Christian Bøving-Andersen and co-created by Daniel Lennard for Cartoon Network.

The series follows the adventures of Ivandoe, the young prince of the forest whose father, the Mighty Stag, sends him on a quest for the magical Golden Feather of the fearsome Eagle King.

It premiered in the United States on November 11, 2023.

---

Quest on, tropes!

• Abhorrent Admirer: Boaris von Tusk to Jezebel, who sees him as an obnoxious bore and is more interested in Ivandoe.
• Accidental Misnaming: Ivandoe refers Princess Syllabob as "Silly Blob". He also calls squirrels "squiggles".
• Affably Evil: Grizabella, the Queen of Thieves, is as jovial and upbeat as she is ruthless.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Ivandoe sometimes calls Bert "Bertie".
  • Jezebel playfully calls Ivandoe "Princey".
• Agent Peacock: Cupcake the survivalist is a pink poodle with a rather manly voice and lives a macho lifestyle to compensate for his dog instincts.
• All There in the Manual: The UK mobile game, "Quest On!", states that Ivandoe's parents are named "King Knut" and "Queen Kristine".
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Jezebel's mother, Grizabella the Queen of Thieves, calls her "Jessie Belly", teases her crush on Ivandoe, and casually invades her privacy.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: In "The Prince and the Swoony Swanstress", Ivandoe and Bert come across an amnesiac Princess Svandelyne who additionally becomes a Nice Girl as a result of her memory loss instead of a Foul Waterfowl like the rest of her kind. Sadly, she recovers her memory at the end of the episode and reverts to her natural bitchy self.
• Arc Villain:
  • Journey to Svanland has Ivandoe's Arch-Enemy, Prince Svan, whose ancestor stole the Underwater Kingdom's Trident of Tides.
  • Journey to the Forest of Outlaws has Jezebel the thiefstress, Ivandoe's Love-Interest Traitor who is holding him for ransom.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Throughout "The Prince and the Princenappers", Ivandoe keeps getting ambushed by thieves, who then let him go because he has nothing valuable on him. Ivandoe is deeply insulted at this, and despite Bert's attempts to warn him against it, informs the thieves that he is the prince of the Mighty Stag Kingdom. This always leads to the thieves holding him for ransom until Jezebel intervenes.
  • The following episode, "The Prince and the Playdate", ends with Ivandoe feeling jealous about Jezebel deciding to kidnap his Arch-Enemy, Prince Svan, instead of him because he's richer and futilely demands that she kidnap him again.
• Art Evolution: The original shorts in the UK uses 2D Visuals, 3D Effects similarly to The Amazing World of Gumball and the character designs are notably different. In the series itself, the animation is fully in 2D, and the character designs are more fleshed out.
• Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: In the opening sequence, Prince Ivandoe is introduced in silhouette, seemingly looking like a mighty stag warrior with an impressive set of antlers. Then the lights turn on, revealing a scraggly shrub in the shape of a stag, in front of which is Ivandoe, who is actually a much shorter, stumpier buck.
• Bankruptcy Barrel: In "The Prince and the Princenappers", Ivandoe enters the Forest of Outlaws and encounters a rabbit wearing a barrel after thieves took all his possessions. After Ivandoe leaves, the rabbit gets the barrel stolen.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Prince Svan's squire, Toby, is treated more like a slave by the Foul Waterfowl.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Princess Syllabob may be a speechless nasty-looking creature, but she successfully fends off the swans' kidnapping attempt by Making a Splash.
• Big Eater: In "The Prince and the Boasty Boar", Ivandoe takes part in a tournament for Jezebel's heart. The third challenge is an Eating Contest, where each contestant has to eat a troth full of turnips, which happens to be Ivandoe's favorite food. While Boaris and a disguised Jezebel scarf down the turnips like... well, boars, Ivandoe eats his one at a time with a knife and fork. Four hours later, the boar contestants have barely eaten half of their respective troths and are unable to eat another bite... while Ivandoe has finished all of his turnips with no ill effects and asks the others if he can eat theirs as well.
• Bungling Inventor: Alan the dwarf is an eccentric blacksmith whose shoddy handmade weapons always backfire and replaces Ivandoe's equally shoddy stick sword with a basic wooden sword. He even accepts a fabric button as payment because he's happy that he made his first sale.
• Cavalry Betrayal: After spending the entirety of "The Prince and the Princenappers" saving Ivandoe from her fellow thieves, Jezebel locks him and Bert up in Castle Grizabella, revealing that she only kept rescuing him to hold him for ransom herself on her mother's request.
  Ivandoe: (confused) Release us at once!
  Jezebel: Sorry, prince-y. No can do. You see, we like ransom money, too.
• Chekhov's Skill: In "The Prince and the Squeak of Obedience", Cupcake teaches Ivandoe a fighting move called the "Sleeping Dragon" that Cupcake claims will save his life. Later, as Ivandoe is attacked by Cupcake himself, compelled by his own squeaky toy to obey the Cat Thieves, he performs the move... which turns out to be a series of rubs, strokes, and pats that calm Cupcake down.
• Companion Food: The farmers from "The Prince and the Chicken of Doom" treat their produce like their own children and are devastated when the titular chicken eats them.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the original shorts, Bert had a smaller beak, which pointed downward.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: King Knut the Mighty Stag clearly doesn't believe in Ivandoe's story about the legendary Golden Feather and his wife has to remind him to not discourage their son.
• Feel No Pain: The Centicore is cursed with a giant stone body that makes him unable to physically feel anything. He even puts on a Self-Mutilation Demonstration for Ivandoe and Bert by tossing his axe onto his own head and has to ask if it landed yet. When his curse is lifted and he returns to his original form, a sheep named Jeffrey, he's ecstatic about being able to feel again.
  Bert: (disturbed) Are you sure you didn't feel a tiny, teeny-
  Centicore: Nothing. At. ALL.
• Foul Waterfowl: Every swan is a narcissist who treat others like crap, even each other.
• Free-Range Children: Ivandoe's parents are apparently fine with allowing their young buck journey to Eagle Mountain with only his squire accompanying him despite how obviously incompetent he is, with the only precaution being a home address on their family picture in case he gets lost. Jezebel, who is of similar age, has proven that she can take care of herself without her Brawn Hilda mother.
• Furry Confusion: "The Prince and the Chicken of Doom" features the titular non-anthropomorphic gigantic fire-breathing Chicken of Doom... and an unrelated normal-sized anthropomorphic chicken named Harold.
  Dwight: (vengeful) LET'S GO PLUCK THAT CHICKEN! (Harold glares in offense) (awkwardly) Sorry, Harold.
• Gone Horribly Right: When Ivandoe gets captured by the Chicken of Doom, Bert attempts to rally up the farmers grieving over the loss of their produce by claiming that rescuing Ivandoe will be their legacy. The farmers instead form an angry mob against the chicken.
  Bert: (horrified) Oh, no-no. That's not what I meant at all! It's just a rescue mission, no need to pluck anyone!
  Percy: PLUCK IT!
  Alan: BOIL IT!
  Harold: Then add a dash of paprika to the broth, mmm.
  Dwight: What?
  Bert: Oh, my, Bertram. Whatever have you done?
• "The Hero Sucks" Song: Brian The Bard apparently sings only about his masters' flaws, which is why they all abandoned him and Ivandoe attempts to do the same. Thankfully, a swamp monster named Suzie likes his songs about her ugly appearance, and he decides to stay with her.
  Brian: (distraught) Why does this keep happening to me? Every master I've ever had has either thrown me down a hole, left me in a cage, or destroyed my instruments. All I ever do is sing the truth.
  Bert: Maybe that's the problem.
  Brian: (confused) What do you mean?
  Bert: Have you ever tried focusing on the positives?
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Ivandoe and Bert, best exemplified in "The Prince and the Tears of Triumph", where they choose to stand together as the Centicore decides to turn them into stone. Ivandoe even admits that he thinks of Bert as both a friend and brother (or "frother", as he puts it).
• Hypocritical Humor: Boaris often calls Ivandoe "little", in spite of the fact that he's actually shorter than Ivandoe himself.
• I Am Not Weasel:
  • Because of his plump appearance, Ivandoe is sometimes mistaken by other characters as a cow, goat, pig, etc.
  • Inverted in "The Prince and the Yucky Duckling" with the latter titular character. The Yucky Duckling, ostracized by the other ducklings, believes he will grow into a beautiful swan because a younger Ivandoe told him he would, but neither of them know he's actually a turkey and he became distraught that he turned into the opposite outcome, swearing vengeance against Ivandoe for giving him false hope. When he learns the truth from Bert and taken to a village of turkeys, he finds himself to be very popular amongst his kind.
• I Call It "Vera": Ivandoe calls his wooden sword "Titan's Thunder".
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Similarly to the two preceding series before this one, every episode is titled "The Prince and the [episode subject]".
• Insult Backfire: Jezebel repeatedly dismisses Boaris as a bore and he thanks her every time because he thinks she's calling him a boar, which he is, even when she literally spells it out for him.
• I Owe You My Life: Apparently, it's the stag code of conduct for a victim to owe their life to their savior until the debt is repaid by saving their savior in return. When Ivandoe rescues Brian The Bard (a fellow stag) in "The Prince and the Sing-Songy Stag", the latter insists on pledging his loyalty to him by singing awful songs about the prince. To rid of him, Ivandoe and Bert try to stage rescue attempts, only for all of them to fail... until Suzie the swamp monster attacks Ivandoe and Brian sacrifices himself to save him, repaying the life debt.
• Ironic Echo: After being put through a Training from Hell in "The Prince and the Squeak of Obedience", Ivandoe starts whining about how harshly Cupcake's been treating him. Cupcake responds by giving him a Zen Slap and reprimands him with "Never show weakness! The third and most important rule of the jungle.". After they defeat the Cat Thieves, Cupcake starts to get sentimental about his Tragic Keepsake, only for Ivandoe to give him his own Zen Slap and turn his words around, impressing Cupcake so much that he declares Ivandoe's training to be over and has earned his respect.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Ivandoe can be arrogant and tends to overlook Bert's aid, he genuinely wants to help people and be a true hero.
• Just Like Robin Hood: Rabbit Hood is a Gender Flipped parody of this, robbing Prince Svan and giving his possessions to Ivandoe, mistaking him for a peasant, much to the latter's offense.
• Lady Land: The Forest of Outlaws is ruled by Queen Grizabella, her court consisting of an Amazon Brigade of female boars and second-class males.
• Loving a Shadow: Bert is smitten with Princess Svandelyne, or rather, her innocently amnesiac self and continues longing for her even after she returns to her foul old self, which Ivandoe calls him out on in "The Prince and the Feather Fluffer-Upper".
• Neat Freak: The Sassy Gnomes, to the point where they seek revenge against Ivandoe by Force Feeding him leftover turnip tops just because he kept littering them on their territory after finishing the bulbs. They even prioritize cleaning after their revenge plot backfires, allowing him to escape.
• One-Steve Limit: The two premiere episodes averts this with minor characters Alan the dwarf and a farmer bull named Alan.
• Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles: King Axalotyl can produce air bubbles for terrestrial mammals, as he often forgets they can't breathe underwater.
• Parental Title Characterization: Being a young Upper-Class Twit, Ivandoe refers to his parents as "mama" and "papa".
• Plot Allergy: Ivandoe is allergic to shellfish, which is a problem with his interactions with Princess Syllabob and her father King Axalotyl (who are both part shrimp), especially in "The Prince and the Blobby Princess".
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Ivandoe is prejudiced towards swans, for very good reasons, however.
  Ivandoe: (after being Covered in Mud by a jerkass bystander swan) Swans, Bertie. I'm not sure how much more I can take of these stinky, stuck-up swans.
  Bert: That's certainly a very particular type of bird, sire.
  Ivandoe: (serious) I've tried, Bertie. I really have!
  (Cue flashback montage of swans being jerks to Ivandoe, despite him trying to help or seek help from them)
• Pushover Parents: King Axalotyl is completely subservient to his daughter's whims and desires.
• The Quiet One: Jezebel's squire, Maggie, doesn't speak much, yet no one notices Bert's disguise of her talking more than usual.
• Royal Brat:
  • Downplayed with Princess Syllabob. She does act like a Bratty Teenage Daughter to her father, but she also formed an Odd Friendship with Ivandoe in "The Prince and the Blobby Princess", especially when he saves her life despite being allergic to her.
  • Played Straight with Ivandoe's cousin, Dudley, who thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he's related to royalty and proves to be a bad influence on Ivandoe. However, his uncle, the Mighty Stag, apparently does not approve of his behavior and secretly arranges Ivandoe to accompany him to Posy Pippins's Unruly School.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The premiere episode has a winged serpent steal Ivandoe's map to Eagle Mountain, forcing Ivandoe and Bert to retrieve it. In the end, it turns out that the serpent actually stole Ivandoe's family picture, and the map was in his pocket all along.
  Ivandoe: (awkwardly) Would you look at that, Bertie? All those horrible painful adventures for nothing. Ah, that's funny. (Mirthless Laughter) What shapes...
• Shipper on Deck: Queen Grizabella is very supportive of the idea of Jezebel's relationship with Ivandoe becoming something more (to her daughter's annoyance).
• Small Name, Big Ego: Ivandoe may be a prince, but he's also a Heroic Wannabe who only quests to live up to his family name.
• Sudden Name Change:
  • In the shorts, Jezebel's squire Maggie was named "Poe".
  • In "The Prince and the Chicken of Doom", Bert states his full name as being "Bertram". But in later episodes, he states it as "Berticus".
• Sure, Let's Go with That: In "The Prince and the Tears of Triumph", Ivandoe assumes that Jezebel is sick and that's why she's after the Swiss-Army Tears of the Centicore. At first, she tries to explain that her squire, Maggie, actually needs the tears for hay fever, but decides to play along with it so she can look after Maggie while he and Bert retrieve the tears.
• Thieving Magpie: Jezebel's squire/partner in thievery is a magpie named Maggie.
• Throwing Off the Disability: At the end of "The Prince and the Tears of Triumph", the discarded leftover titular Swiss-Army Tears ends up dripping into a mole hole, and apparently cures a mole of their blindness.
• Tomboy Princess: Ivandoe's Love Interest, Jezebel the thiefstress, is the daughter of the Queen of Thieves and an adventurer on her own right.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Ivandoe is often seen eating turnips. He even has a Long List of turnip recipes.
• Tsundere: Jezebel towards Ivandoe. She is not above stealing from him, tricking him into doing her dirty work, or even kidnapping him for ransom, but has a soft spot for him and returns his feelings for her.
• Undying Loyalty: Ivandoe's squire, Bert, stays by his prince's side, no matter what.
• The Unintelligible:
  • Princess Syllabob only speaks in hissing sounds, in contrast to her coherently speaking father.
  • The royal bodyguard of the swans, Stephane, only speaks in whooping sounds.
• Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: The Wolf Thieves always disguise themselves as sheep, which is made fun of by the other gangs.