History Main / DeliberatelyDistressedDamsel

* In ''[[{{Discworld}} The Light Fantastic]]'', Conan the Barbarian, Rincewind, and Twoflower interrupt a druidic sacrifice, in the process rescuing the maiden who was about to be sacrificed. Said maiden is extremely indignant about the rescue, protesting that if it weren't for them rescuing her she would be "having tea with the Moon Goddess by now" and that they'd just caused "eight years of staying in on Sunday nights" to go "down the drain".

* In ''{{Twilight}},'' Bella discovers that she can [[MindLinkMates psychically connect with her ex-boyfriend]] Edward if she gets an adrenaline rush, and purposefully puts herself in near-death situations to bring them on.
** She actually can't. She just hears his voice in her head but it's not literately him. Which is you know...a good reason to go do deadly shit, because of voices in your head.

* DragonAgeOrigins: Queen Anora pretends to need rescuing to gain the protagonist's sympathy, in order to stay in power, since she realizes her father's days as regent are numbered. If you don't promise to support her at the lands-meet, she'll back-stab you without a second thought.

* Eiko from HajimeteNoAku tries this trope out to gain fame and fortune. She just ends up [[CharlesAtlasSuperPower scaring off]] the people who put her in distress on accident.

Compare ISurrenderSuckers, and ArentYouGoingToRavishMe. Compare and contrast DecoyDamsel.

* In ''[[{{Discworld}} The Light Fantastic]]'', Conan the Barbarian, Rincewind, and Twoflower interrupt a druidic sacrifice, in the process rescuing the maiden who was about to be sacrificed. Said maiden is extremely indignant about the rescue, protesting that if it weren't for them rescuing her she would be "having tea with the Moon Goddess by now" and that they'd just caused "eight years of staying in on Sunday nights" to go "down the drain".

* In ''{{Twilight}},'' Bella discovers that she can [[MindLinkedMates psychically connect with her ex-boyfriend]] Edward if she gets an adrenaline rush, and purposefully puts herself in near-death situations to bring them on.

* In ''{{Twilight}},'' Bella discovers that she can [[MindLinkedMates psychically connect with her ex-boyfriend]] Edward if she gets an adrenaline rush, and purposefully puts herself in near-death situations to bring them on.

** OTOH, it could also be a ''deconstruction''. Unlike most girls that fit this trope, [[spoiler: Elizabeth does this for the sake of her beloved, and not because [[TheDulcineaEffect she simply likes being rescued]]. It also shows that Lizzie actually had to sacrifice a few things in order to maintain Ciel's pride; i.e., keeping her badassery at bay caused her emotional pain since she was deeply scared of being rejected if it ever came out, and not to mention there's the ValuesDissonance coming from VictorianBritain.]]

** OTOH, it could also be a ''deconstruction''. Unlike most girls that fit this trope, [[spoiler: Elizabeth does this for the sake of her beloved, and not because [[TheDulcineaEffect she simply likes being rescued]]. It also shows that Lizzie actually had to sacrifice a few things in order to maintain Ciel's pride; i.e., keeping her badassery at bay caused her emotional pain since she was deeply scared of being rejected if it ever came out, and not to mention there's the ValuesDissonance coming from VictorianBritain.]]
* It's never reinforced in the SuperMarioBros games themselves, but this is common AlternateCharacterInterpretation for why Princess Peach gets captured by Bowser so much.

** OTOH, it could also be a ''deconstruction''. Unlike most girls that fit this trope, [[spoiler: Elizabeth does this for the sake of her beloved, and not because [[TheDulcineaEffect she simply likes being rescued]]. It also shows that Lizzie actually had to sacrifice a few things in order to maintain Ciel's pride; i.e., keeping her badassery at bay caused her emotional pain since she was deeply scared of being rejected if it ever came out, and not to mention there's the ValuesDissonance coming from VictorianBritain.]]

* Surprisingly, [[spoiler: Elizabeth Middleford]] from ''{{Kuroshitsuji}}''. [[spoiler: She's hated by a significant chunk of the fandom who see her as an annoying, [[GenkiGirl genki]] DisposableFiance, but it turns out she [[DeliberatelyCuteChild acts the way she does]] because she was afraid that Ciel would see her as "[[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon uncute]]." (FridgeBrilliance, actually, considering [[ProperLady how women were expected to act back then.]]) She's really a LittleMissBadass.]]

While this character may look like a DamselScrappy at first glance, she's actually ObfuscatingStupidity. Whether she's pulling a WoundedGazelleGambit, playing XanatosRoulette, or just into [[TooKinkyToTorture this]] [[{{Fetish}} sort]] [[BoundAndGagged of]] [[CasualKink thing,]] she doesn't get captured because she's weak, she gets captured because she wants to. She may even [[ActionGirl have the skills]] [[HiddenBadass to get out of the scrape she's in herself]] if she wanted to. If this is the case, expect her to say LetsGetDangerous at some point.

While this character may look like a DamselScrappy at first glance, she's actually ObfuscatingStupidity. Whether she's pulling a WoundedGazelleGambit, playing XanatosRoulette, or just [[ThisIndexIsKinky into]] [[TooKinkyToTorture this]] [[{{Fetish}} sort]] [[BoundAndGagged of]] [[CasualKink thing,]] she doesn't get captured because she's weak, she gets captured because she wants to. She may even [[ActionGirl have the skills]] [[HiddenBadass to get out of the scrape she's in herself]] if she wanted to. If this is the case, expect her to say LetsGetDangerous at some point.

** Desperation level may be related to the size of the object she needs help with. For instance, car parts that need reattached. There might even be a mathematical formula that relates this to amount of {{Yandere}} crossover.

* A very mild version of this is when a woman will drop her handkerchief in hopes that the man in question will pick it up and return it to her, which I've SeenAMillionTimes.

* [[spoiler: Jessica]] in UminekoNoNakuKoroNi. [[spoiler: While she ''id'' asthmatic an IllGirl, she more than once pretends to be more ill than she truly is.]]

* Rukia Kuchiki in the ''Soul Society'' ark in ''{{Bleach}}''. [[spoiler: In this case, however, it's because she's ''suicidal'', and wants to die to [[TheAtoner atone]] for killing her sub-captain and first (unrequited) love in self defence after he was possessed by a hollow. The fact circumstances have prevented her from regaining the power she lost in the first episode don't help.]]

* Happened in ''GGundam'', with Princess Maria Louise of France playing this role.

That Alice! She seems TooDumbToLive. She picks up the DistressBall and, like a true DamselScrappy, scores on her own team with it. And worse, she LooksLikeSheIsEnjoyingIt...Well, in this case, she actually is.

* Rukia Kuchiki in the ''Soul Society'' ark in ''{{Bleach}}''. [[spoiler: In this case, however, it's because she's suicidal, and wants to die to [[TheAtoner atone]] for killing her beloved captain in self defence after he was possessed by a hollow (the fact circumstances have prevented her from regaining the power she lost in the first episode don't help).]]

* A very mild version of this is when a woman will drop her handkerchief in hopes that the man in question will pick it up and return it to her, which I've SeenAMillionTimes.

* Rukia Kuchiki in the ''Soul Society'' ark in ''{{Bleach}}''.