History Main / SaveThePrincess

* In the ''[[MarsAndVenusGenderContrast Mars and Venus]]'' self-help books, a story is told about a knight who saves a princess from a dragon and feels validated for doing so. Then he goes off on an adventure, and she gets attacked by yet another dragon. Only this time, she tells him that the sword won't work and that he'll have to use a noose to slay the dragon. He feels discouraged at the celebratory feast, because he didn't slay the dragon on his own, [[FreudWasRight his own way]]. Then the princess gets attacked by another dragon, and this time, she tells him that he'll have to poison the dragon, which he does...and that causes him to feel even more discouraged. Later, the knight hears more screams...only they're not coming from ''his'' princess, but from ''another'' princess. He goes to rescue her, feels validated because she didn't tell him what to do and he did it by himself, his own way, and ditched the first princess to live HappilyEverAfter with this new princess. What the reader was ''supposed'' to take from this is that it's best not to tell a man how to solve his problems...and that [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop a woman being too outspoken can cause men to reject her or cheat because they feel rejected/discouraged/etc.]] However, this [[{{Glurge}} little parable]] does bring up some FridgeLogic: Namely, if that first princess knows how to slay the dragon, why doesn't ''she'' slay the dragon herself?! (Also, why does she keep getting attacked by one dragon after another in the first place?)

* ''TowerOfTheSorcerer'', an indie puzzle game masquerading as a dungeon-crawl RPG, plays this straight, complete with the opening line [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny "A brave man is walking for to save the princess"]]. The plot from there is actually not too bad, but it's clearly an ExcusePlot, as the princess is hardly mentioned thereafter and seen only once before the endgame. Then the trope is subverted in the game's TwistEnding: [[spoiler:it turns out that it really ''was'' an ExcusePlot. The "princess" is an inanimate statue. The [[BigBad Big Bad's]] real goal was to get a sufficiently-powerful hero to the top of the tower so as to help him AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence.]]
* The first Knightfall game has the protagonist literally [[ThisIsADrill drilling]] his way to Hell to save his princess girlfriend from the Devil.
* The goal in ''{{Castlequest}}'' is to rescue Princess Margarita from Groken Castle.

** This was uncannily anticipated by the ending of ''MonsterParty'': [[spoiler:"But, the princess became a monster. And, more monsters followed her."]] In that case, though, it was AllJustADream...[[OrWasItADream in one country's version, at least]].

* You have to rescue your love interest in ''{{Gish}}''.

[[folder:Anime&Manga]]
* In a SaveTheWorld climax of Anime/MahouSenseiNegima main objective was to free Asuna (revealed at this point as a princess of a fallen magical kingdom). Anya even lampshades that for Negi rescuing her is most important, and saving the world is just a bonus. Through zigzaged in that there seems to be more familial than romantic feelings between them (and he is even related to her)

[[folder:Pinball]]

[[folder:VisualNovel]]

* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', their first level had them directed to go rescue the princess. She needed rescuing rather less than it appeared at first.

* TGChan Presents: [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/tg/res/10458.html Princess, I've Come For You!]] A compilation of what happens when the rescuing knight MEETS the princess. Warning, NSFW (a little).

[[folder:Web Media]]
* WebVideo/ThomasSanders {{subvert|edTrope}}s this in two of his Website/{{Vine}}s. In one, the villain admits that he loves Thomas and not the princess and is carried away by Thomas. In another, another princess knocks Thomas aside and saves the princess, then carries her away while Thomas and the villain watch in appreciation.
[[/folder]]

%%[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_save_princess_puchu_by_kaigetsudo_d54p5we.png]]
%%[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://kaigetsudo.deviantart.com/art/Save-Princess-Puchu-310223390 Image]] by [[http://kaigetsudo.deviantart.com Kaigetsudo]]. Used with permission.]]-]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_save_princess_puchu_by_kaigetsudo_d54p5we.png]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://kaigetsudo.deviantart.com/art/Save-Princess-Puchu-310223390 Image]] by [[http://kaigetsudo.deviantart.com Kaigetsudo]]. Used with permission.]]-]

[[quoteright:256:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princesspeachhostage.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:256:Just another [[HereWeGoAgain typical Wednesday]] for [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]].]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3554 Fuschia reads the damned a story about rescuing the princess from the dragon.]]

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriforceHeroes'' parodies the trope utterly in that, while Princess Styla is in fact safe in her own castle, the peril she has to be saved from is a cursed onesie that she is stuck in. [[DenserAndWackier Yeah...]]

* This is the initial premise of ''{{Eversion}}''. [[spoiler:The endings will make you wish you hadn't saved her.]]

* In the ''[[MarsAndVenusGenderContrast Mars and Venus]]'' self-help books, a story is told about a knight who saves a princess from a dragon and feels validated for doing so. Then he goes off on an adventure, and she gets attacked by yet another dragon. Only this time, she tells him that the sword won't work and that he'll have to use a noose to slay the dragon. He feels discouraged at the celebratory feast, because he didn't slay the dragon on his own, [[FreudWasRight his own way]]. Then the princess gets attacked by another dragon, and this time, she tells him that he'll have to poison the dragon, which he does...and that causes him to feel even more discouraged. Later, the knight hears more screams...only they're not coming from ''his'' princess, but from ''another'' princess. He goes to rescue her, feels validated because she didn't tell him what to do and he did it by himself, his own way, and ditched the first princess to live HappilyEverAfter with this new princess. What the reader was ''supposed'' to take from this is that it's best not to tell a man how to solve his problems...and that [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop a woman being too outspoken can cause men to reject her or cheat because they feel rejected/discouraged/etc.]] However, this {{Glurge}} does bring up some FridgeLogic: Namely, if that first princess knows how to slay the dragon, why doesn't ''she'' slay the dragon herself?! (Also, why does she keep getting attacked by one dragon after another in the first place?)

* "The Prince Gilgamesh wore golden armor and attacked monsters to save Ki in TheTowerOfDruaga." In this case though, Ki (pronounced "Kai") is not actually a "princess" per se, she's a shrine maiden in service to the goddess Ishtar (who lends her name to the game's sequel, "The Return of Ishtar").

* ''PrincessTomatoInTheSaladKingdom''. The princess to be rescued (by a heroic cucumber) is the one in the title.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicCD'', Sonic's mission is to save Amy from Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic. Many feminist writers like Anita Sarkeesian have lumped Amy in with other well-known gaming damsels-in-distress, not realizing (or choosing to ignore) that she actually hasn't needed to be saved in any other games in the series, besides one part of ''VideoGame/SonicRiders: Zero Gravity''. In fact, she's much more often been a playable character, sometimes saving others.

* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' has ThePresidentsDaughter as a hostage of the bad guys who must be rescued.

* The goal of ''[[AntarcticAdventure Penguin Adventure]]'' is to find a golden apple to restore the health of the penguin princess. Because of GuideDangIt, it's easier to get the bad ending in which she dies.

YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle can also be a part of these games.

Occasionally, the damsel [[DecoyDamsel might not be genuinely innocent]]...

Once in a rare while, the villain will decide to HypnotizeThePrincess and [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe marry her]].

** Played with in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', one of the maiden you need to save [[spoiler: [[DecoyDamsel turns out to be the leader of a brigand, Blind The Thief]].]]