History Main / DamselErrant

** Impa fulfills the role in the first and second games, telling Like of Zelda's predicament.

** The Old Man serves one in the beginning of Breath of the Wild, telling Link of what befel Hyrule and sending him to the quest.

Compare and contrast ManicPixieDreamGirl. Related tropes include TheHerald (a more generic questgiver), and LadyAndKnight (which this trope often upgrades into).

** Dame Lynette came to court to fetch a knight to defend her sister, Lady Lyonesse. In [[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Malory]], Sir Gareth married Lady Lyonesse; in [[Literature/IdyllsOfTheKing Tennyson]], Lynette.

The Damsel Errant may WalkTheEarth, often accompanied by a faithful servant, she may head for the StandardRoyalCourt and demand that TheGoodKing send a KnightInShiningArmor to right an injustice in his realm, or she might set up her pavilion near a fountain or other spot where knights are known to pass. She is seldom named or given any kind of background; basically she is a [[{{Herald}} plot device for putting the knight where the action is]]. She rarely becomes a love interest normally leaving the knight once they've run out of adventures, often at or near the spot where he first encountered her. In some cases there are [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane hints]] that the lady is of magical origin.

Compare and contrast ManicPixieDreamGirl.

* Most of the ''Franchise/DarkSouls'' games have a mysterious woman with a title rather than a name, who greets you in the hub area and provides your initial explanation for what this place is and directs you toward the first plot hooks - the [[VideoGame/DemonsSouls Maiden in Black]], [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsII Emerald Herald]], and [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII Fire Keeper]], as well as [[VideoGame/EldenRing Melina]]. Unlike more traditional examples, however, they usually don't vanish, instead remaining available to help you level up (and provide similar guidance to any other passing adventurers), and tend to eventually reveal enough personal history to explain why they care enough to involve you. [[spoiler:Often they have ulterior motives.]]

* Myth/KingArthur legend: The three ladies encountered by Sir Gawain, Sir Ywain and Sir Marhous in the Forest of Arroy are classic examples of the Damsel Errant. They are also evidence that such ladies need not be young, as one was 60 years old! According to Sir Thomas Malory and the Vulgate, Sir Lancelot couldn't move more than a step without tripping over a Damsel Errant, who would then proceed to lead him into deadly peril.
* Dame Lynette came to court to fetch a knight to defend her sister, Lady Lyonesse. In Malory, Sir Gareth married Lady Lyonesse; in Tennyson, Lynette.

* If you go by her words in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]," the TARDIS is this to [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]].

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* Myth/KingArthur legend: The three ladies encountered by Sir Gawain, Sir Ywain and Sir Marhous in the Forest of Arroy are classic examples of the Damsel Errant. They are also evidence that such ladies need not be young, as one was 60 years old!
** According to Sir Thomas Malory and the Vulgate, Sir Lancelot couldn't move more than a step without tripping over a Damsel Errant, who would then proceed to lead him into deadly peril.

* Naturally, Gerald Morris has quite a few in his Arthurian retellings, ''Literature/TheSquiresTales'', although they have a tendency to take on ActionGirl characteristics too. Notable examples include Eileen, Lynette, Ariel, and Lynette's GenerationXerox daughter.
** The Three Questing Ladies play this trope straighter, although in different ways. For example, the eldest of them trains her knights before letting them embark on adventures, and the youngest gets hers killed (by encouraging them to fight other knights until they die valiantly, at which point she latches onto the winning knight, and so on until she returns to the meeting place).

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!!Examples:

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-->'''The Doctor:''' You didn't always take me where I wanted to go.
-->'''Idris:''' No, but I always took you where you needed to go.

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* In Edmund Spenser's ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'', Una fetches Saint George to defend her parents and their kingdom. They ''do'' become a couple.

* Naturally, Gerald Morris has quite a few in his Arthurian retellings, ''TheSquiresTales'', although they have a tendency to take on ActionGirl characteristics too. Notable examples include Eileen, Lynette, Ariel, and Lynette's GenerationXerox daughter.

[[quoteright:350:[[TheFaerieQueene http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DamselErrant_Una_2644.JPG]]]]