Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Tomboy Princess

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daisystrikersj_1.png
Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I won't fight dirty!"

A Princess who is a Tomboy, instead of, or perhaps in addition to, the more typical traits of a princess.

There are many reasons for this trope. A very unfortunate one is that Tomboys are depicted as "better" than Girly Girls. This might be because Most Writers Are Male, or because female writers project their issues with femininity on their writing, or because there's a need for role models, or because Real Women Don't Wear Dresses, but either way it seems to be a way of saying, "See, our Princess is a role model for modern girls! She's not girly like the stupid and shallow princesses from the past, she's better!" Expect there to be several girly traditional Princesses for contrast. Occasionally both the Tomboy and the Girly Princess might learn to appreciate each other in spite of their differences. In these types of uses, the Tomboy Princess is used to tell An Aesop about gender roles. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn't overwhelm the character and story.

A more moderate approach is to use the "Tomboy Princess" as a way to combine Tomboy and Girly Girl and Tomboy with a Girly Streak into one character. Who says tomboys can't be girly? Who says girly girls can't be tomboys? This has the advantage of appealing to a lot of girls who both want to play with the boys, but also like wearing tiaras and fancy dresses (also showing that She Cleans Up Nicely). Maybe she considers a Pimped-Out Dress to be the princess version of the Ermine Cape Effect, and her style of everyday Modest Royalty happens to appear quite boyish (if only by comparison).

These Tomboy Princesses are usually too busy being awesome to bother with trying to teach Aesops. Although occasionally they'll have a Very Special Episode to teach one. The most common pitfall for a writer with this type of Tomboy Princess is having her become too awesome.

These are the most common forms of the Tomboy Princess, but there are other uses. For example, a Princess might be made a Tomboy so as to make her more down-to-earth than the rest of the nobles. In this case, the focus is more on class roles rather than gender roles.

Because she doesn't care as much about keeping up a feminine and demure appearance, she might not be a Pretty Princess Powerhouse even if she's a fighter. There also may be some overlap with Rebellious Princess, depending on the character and the narrative.

Contrast Princess Classic.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • The New 52 Wonder Woman is a proud warrior with an (initially) rough and violent personality in addition to being a Rebellious Princess who wants to protect and help humanity. Even Zod is impressed by how fiery she is.
  • Adrienne Ashe from Princeless is sarcastic, direct, easily annoyed; doesn't wear pink clothes, clads herself in armor, begins sword-fighting, and questions her supposed role as a Princess Classic.
  • Princess Ulga of Princess Ugg loves fighting and is more of a rough barbarian compared to her much more feminine princeless classmates.
  • Starfire from Teen Titans is a warrior princess.
  • X-Wing Rogue Squadron has Plourr Illo◊. She's the last survivor of her planet's royal family, and an extraordinarily Boisterous Bruiser.
    "Plourr, try to remember that we're supposed to keep a low profile."
    "I'm not exactly little miss wallflower, Wes, but I'll make you a deal. I won't beat on any of the resident scum unless they hit me first—or they pick on my friends—or I feel like it!"

    Fan Works 

    Film — Animated 
  • In Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, of the titular princesses Delia and Edeline excel at sports, Blair is an accomplished equestrian who is unperturbed at getting mud on her dress, and Janessa has a passion for finding and collecting bugs.
  • Disney movies, especially during or around The '90s, tended to noticeably have these.
    • The Black Cauldron: Princess Eilowny. Although heavily watered down from her original characterization, which fits this more.
    • Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989). Very feisty, active and adventurous, and can hold her own against a shark—the start of a Renaissance-era tradition involving the Disney Princesses. Her daughter Melody in the sequel fits as well.
    • The Lion King (1994): Nala (although she's never called a princess), as seen when she play-wrestles with Simba on her way to an elephant graveyard with him. That far into the movie, they're just friends (and they don't take seriously the idea that they'd grow up to be more than friends) and you could almost forget they're opposite genders if not for the voices. The Lion King has its protagonist and princess more similar to each other than most Disney movies do. Her rebellious, boisterous young daughter Kiara is another example, especially as Nala matures and becomes more regal. It helps that both characters are lionesses, who hunt and fight by nature.
    • Pocahontas has the titular character, who is athletic, scales mountains, climbs trees, jumps off cliffs, and steers her canoe into turbulent waters. After Merida, she's probably one of the most tomboyish Princesses.
    • The eponymous character of Mulan is not a princess, but she is part of the official Disney Princess lineup, and she's tomboyish to the extent of pretending to be a man to join the army.
    • Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Princess Kida, which seems to be part and parcel of her being The Chief's Daughter, right up to the point where they actually show her climbing up a large rock structure while wearing a long, flowing dress at the end of the film!
    • Princess Merida from the Pixar film Brave. This is the root of the conflict with her mother; she hates the courtly education Elinor gives her and doesn't want to marry. She just wants to ride horses and practice archery.
    • Downplayed with Princess Anna from Frozen. She stuffs her face with food, is Not a Morning Person and wakes up with an outrageous case of bedhead, is generally clumsy and graceless, rides bikes indoors, and is impulsive and eager to jump into physical action, whether it be attempting to climb a mountain, throwing a snowball at an angry snow golem, or punching out a prince. However, she also has a prominent Girly Streak, since she is very naive, romantic to the point of eagerly believing in Love at First Sight, favors feminine clothing (albeit of the Modest Royalty variety), and is highly compassionate.
    • Downplayed with Moana, who is athletic, acrobatic and would prefer to sail the ocean and explore. At the same time, she also partakes in her culture's tribal dancing and is learning the skills to be a good chief under her father's tutelage.
    • Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph, a spunky and tomboyish little kart racer, is revealed to be a princess at the end of the movie, although she gives up that title to become a President instead.
  • My Little Pony: A New Generation: Zipp Storm is the princess of Zephyr Heights, but unlike her twin Pipp Petals, she hates the pampered life, is shown to have an interest in athletics, and is much more tomboyish and rebellious.
  • In the first Shrek movie, Fiona displays traits such as being willing to burp even before she turns into an ogre.
  • Strange Magic: Princess Marianne who used to be more of a Princess Classic. After finding out her fiancee was cheating on her the day of her wedding, becomes a pants-wearing, sword-wielding Action Girl. Interestingly, as part of her transformation, she also starts wearing blue eyeliner, making her a Tomboy with a Girly Streak.
  • In The Swan Princess, Odette is one as a little girl. When she's introduced to Prince Derek, she instantly puts up her fists; later she's seen fighting him with a wooden sword, and later still wears boys' clothes and tries to be One of the Boys with Derek and Bromley. She becomes more of a girly girl when she grows up, but stays badass as well.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • The Hidden Fortress has Princess Yuki, who tries to talk like Toshiro Mifune and enjoys riding and hitting people with a stick.
  • In Onmyōji II, Himiko wears unusually masculine clothes and performs archery, to the chagrin of her father and handmaidens.
  • The Princess: The princess prefers to train for combat out in the woods with Linh, her instructor, and wants to become a knight rather than marry a prince.
  • The Star Wars series. Princess Leia Organa, of course, volunteers for commando missions, eventually being promoted to the rank of General of the Army of the Galactic Republic, and also of the Rebellion that helped restore it and works alongside it against the First Order. She's also not averse to more feminine garb or activities either though, wearing beautiful gowns and being a professional diplomat.

    Literature 

By Author:

By Title:

  • Bridge to Terabithia has Leslie, the only girl wearing cut-offs and a t-shirt, who wants to run with the boys and finds a space outside that can be the land of Terabithia. She will be its queen and her friend will be its king. She's an imaginary tomboy queen, but still.
  • In A Brother's Price, all the princesses, by default. This is a world where gentleness, needlework, and beautiful walking robes are for men; the princesses go and chase bandits.
  • The Chronicles of Narnia, The Horse and His Boy has Aravis Tharkeena, who upgrades from a Tomboy Noblewoman to a Tomboy Princess when she marries Shasta aka Crown Prince Cor. Lucy The Valiant is a Tomboy Queen with some traces of girliness who is good at archery and acts like a Cool Big Sis to Aravis when they meet. The femininity and reluctance to openly fight unless it's truly needed are for her older, wiser, quieter sister, Queen Susan the Gentle.
  • While Sorcha in Daughter of the Forest is traditionally Feminine in the sense of being "caring and motherly" rather than "ferocious and warlike" in nature, she prefers wandering in the woods with her brothers to being dressed up like a doll and knows such things as surviving in a forest, identifying herbs, building fires, and how to avoid offending guess who.
  • In Walter Jon Williams' Drake Maijstral series, Roberta, the Duchess of Benn, is a top-ranked amateur racer and can hold her own in a fight. She's also the owner of the famous Eltdown Shard, and a fan of Drake—despite the fact that she's fairly sure he plans to steal the Shard.
  • Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, who tries to learn such unfeminine and un-princesslike things as magic and fencing. When her parents still try to force her into a proper marriage, she runs away to go live with a dragon… where, ironically, her duties consist largely of cooking and cleaning. On the other hand, it does promote her to the status of Royals Who Actually Do Something.
  • In My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Catarina Claes is a confirmed Tomboy Noblewoman, who loves to climb trees, practices swordfighting (though she's not very good at it), works a small crop field (ostensibly as an exercise to hone her earth magic), and keeps her fiancé on his toes by throwing an imitation snake at him. She's also extremely friendly, caring, and down to earth, which have caused several of her peers (of both genders) to fall in love with her. Catarina is actually a reincarnated otome-game otaku who knows from past experience that she's destined to become the only villain in the game to get no happy endings, and most of her behavior is part of an elaborate Batman Gambit to avoid the titular "doom routes" - the events that will trigger the bad endings - or, failing that, at least help her survive the worst possibilities. The original Catarina was very much a haughty Alpha Bitch.
  • Of Fire and Stars: Mare is a firm tomboy, much preferring to wear shirts and breeches while training the horses rather than doing anything traditionally feminine. Her family despairs of her as a result. She will only put gowns on when it's absolutely demanded with formal occasions. As a result of this, Dennaleia (a much more feminine princess) initially mistakes her for just a servant, as she's introduced taking care of the horses and has to be corrected.
  • The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye. Princess Amy is plain and tomboyish after she was cursed at birth to be "ordinary".
  • Princess Dzhavakha: Princess Nina Dzhavakha is a headstrong girl who loves riding far into the mountains and excels at trick riding as well. When her scandalized grandmother compares her to a Proud Warrior Race Guy, Nina takes it as a compliment.
  • Of the seven Princess Fairies from Rainbow Magic, Elisa is the most boyish of them all, being the Adventure Fairy and the only one of them to not wear a dress.
  • The Queen of Ieflaria: Esofi and Adale are both tomboy princesses to some degree. While both have a feminine style, Esofi is a very skilled warrior with a sword that she conjures and battle spells. Adale enjoys hunting frequently and also often defies the expectations put on her as a princess.
  • The Royal Diaries has a couple. Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess would rather climb trees than dance while in Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles Archduchess Antonia's favorite activity is horse riding astride through the mud.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire Arya Stark is a tomboy from the start, and a princess after her brother Robb is acclaimed king. The main advantage of this trope is shown when she has to go on the run during a Civil War, often posing as a commoner (usually a boy).
  • Split Heirs: Arbol, due to being raised as a boy, is very tomboyish and flatly rejects being more feminine after learning her gender. She continues to be a very skilled sword fighter, while unsubtly threatening people who object to her stance and removing a dress that her mother had her wear at the earliest opportunity.
  • A Taste of Honey: As the daughter of the Blessèd Femysade, Lucretia is a princess but spends any free minute she can outside hunting or at her father's Menagerie, and her witch powers are also of the more hands-on nature, like moving big stones through telekinesis whenever needed for construction purposes.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Downton Abbey: Sybil is a Tomboy Aristocrat, as she rebels against corsets, wears bloomers instead of dresses, trains as a nurse, and prefers hanging out in the garage with the chauffeur than attending fancy parties. Edith also develops this in Season 2 as she learns to drive and helps with farmwork.
  • Game of Thrones: Lyanna was the daughter of one of the most powerful lords of Westeros, she loved horseback riding and she's shown to be savvy enough to give Hodor advices about how to spar with Benjen. She definitely was this.
  • House of the Dragon: Princess Rhaenyra likes dragon riding, violent combat and longs for adventure.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Elrond characterizes Galadriel, commander of the Northern Armies and warrior of the Wastelands as someone who would rather arrive in Lindon covered in grime and mud.
  • Merlin:
    • Princess Elena, as a side effect of the Sidhe that has been possessing her all her life. Once it's gone, she becomes a Princess Classic.
    • Princess Mithian is exactly half this trope. On the one hand, she enjoys outdoor pursuits, especially hunting. She's also pretty damn good at burping. On the other hand, she is always immaculately groomed and dressed. Tomboy Princess in spirit + Proper Lady in conduct and appearance = Tomboy with a Girly Streak.
  • In the Belgian children's show Prinsessia, Princess Linde is a Fiery Redhead Passionate Sports Girl who is far more tomboyish than her Princess Classic roommates at the Royal School.
  • Vagrant Queen: Elida is quite the tomboy, being an action girl with a fairly masculine attitude and style, although still a princess through blood. We see that even growing up in the royal palace as a girl she didn't like putting on long dresses for ceremonies (though she didn't come off as very tomboyish then).
  • Willow: Kit, in a nutshell. She has Boyish Short Hair, a distaste for dresses, wears quite boyish clothing, is better at swordsmanship than social graces and also has a very irreverent attitude to everything around her.

    Myths & Religion 
  • In Classical Mythology, Artemis and Athena (are you going to say a goddess is not a princess?) both have a bit of tomboy in them but Artemis is the goddess of the wilderness and Athena is the goddess of civilization.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons. Princess Alusair Nacacia Obarskyr (daughter of King Azoun in the Forgotten Realms setting) who became a fighter and an adventurer. She was also a Rebellious Princess because she took off without her father's permission.
  • Lace & Steel. Linette Vulpiniere, the example character used to illustrate the rules throughout the book, is of genteel birth but rejects the in-universe notions of the proper lady behavior and instead goes for mostly combat-oriented skills.

    Theatre 
  • Once Upon a Mattress's main character, Princess Winnifred, for starters, rather than wait for the drawbridge to be lowered, swims the moat herself. Furthermore, "Fred" happens to be her preferred nickname.

    Video Games 
  • Marle of Chrono Trigger is a princess, sheltered by an over-protective father and encouraged to be a Proper Lady… who runs away from home to have fun, wields a crossbow (and later, magic), and breaks every rule of lady-like etiquette generally. Her tomboyish actions even make her the talk of the Millennial Fair.
  • Sarna of Chronus Arc, who wields a spear in battle, whose battle sprite shows her wearing the most armor, and even her character portrait makes her look like she's striking a martial arts pose.
  • Cookie Run: Princess Cookie, true to her name, is the royal princess of Hollyberry kingdom. While she isn't a complete tomboy, she's adventurous, passionate and protective of her kingdom, and is barefoot underneath her dress.
  • Dishonored 2 allows the player to take control of Emily, the daughter of the previous empress and the previous player character. She clearly prefers sneaking around the city's rooftops over ruling its citizens.
  • Alena in Dragon Quest IV would rather participate in martial tournaments and beat up monsters than live life as a tsarevna, to her father's dismay.
  • Final Fantasy V has Faris. This is because she spent the latter part of her childhood among pirates.
  • Fire Emblem:
    • In The Blazing Blade, Lyndis aka Lyn is this and The Chief's Daughter since her mom was a Lycian princess and her dad was the chieftain of the Lorca tribe.
    • Same goes for Sue, a Horse Archer and the princess of the Kutolah tribe in The Binding Blade (who may be Lyn's daughter, if you paired her up with Sue's dad Rath in the prequel). Double if she falls for Roy and marries him since their common ending mentions how the Lycian nobles look at Sue kinda weirdly for being a tomboyish and free-spirited Duchess of Pherae.
    • Averted by Eirika from The Sacred Stones, who is quite proactive but still a Lady of War. Her best friend Tana plays it a little straighter.
    • The original Fire Emblem heroine, Princess Shiida/Caeda of Talys, is also a bit of an aversion. She's very feminine, but her preference to take on the battlefield like a Lady of War is why she's called a tomboy. She even lampshades this in Fire Emblem Heroes.
    • Princesses Ayra of Isaach, Lachesis of Nordion and Tailtiu of Friege from Genealogy of the Holy War play this straight as well. Also Bridget of Jungby, but that's because she also spent her childhood as a Pirate Girl. Ayra's daughter Lakche and Altenna from Thracia are this too.
    • Miranda of Alster and Mareeta of Rivough from Thracia 776, in a Fallen Princess way.
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening has Chrom's teenage sister, Princess Lissa of Ylisse, as well as Chrom's prospect daughter(s) Cynthia or Kjelle (Lucina is more of a Tomboy with a Girly Streak). Princess Say'ri of Chon'sin is in the fence, as she is rather straightforward but very much a Lady of War. Morgan can also be this if the Avatar marries Say'ri or Lucina, and probably Lissa as well.
    • Fire Emblem Fates has Princess Hinoka of Hoshido, a tomboyish Amazonian Beauty and Pegasus Warrior who is the most outwardly tomboyish of the princesses in the game.
  • Kairi in Kingdom Hearts, albeit her "Princess" title being based around her heart rather than true royal lineage.
  • The Legend of Zelda. The titular Princess Zelda in some incarnations:
    • Ocarina of Time: A Gossip Stone claims that she's one, which is something that, if kept in mind, makes a certain reveal later on less surprising. There's also Princess Ruto, who has a tomboyish attitude towards Link when he tries to rescue her, but in the future, she behaves in a more affectionate way.
    • The Wind Waker, because she is the alter ego of pirate captain Tetra.
    • Spirit Tracks. Zelda acts a little girly sometimes but is a lot more assertive and Hot-Blooded after taking over a Phantom for the first time. She's more than willing to help Link on his quest.
    • Breath of the Wild. She is an aspiring Adventurer Archaeologist researching the Lost Technology of ancient Hyrule who is more commonly shown wearing a Modest Royalty outfit with pants than a dress and isn't afraid to get dirty handling things in the wilderness, to the point of excitedly picking up a frog and trying to get Link to eat it.
  • Magical Pop'n: The princess who serves as the game's hero can easily qualify with her energy. When the Demon King unleashes his soldiers, she steps up to defend the world she loves.
  • The Mega Man Battle Network series has Pride, the operator of Knightman, princess of Creamland.
  • Kumatora from Mother 3 has short red hair and a Lad-ette attitude and hates when she has to wear a dress and grow her hair out to disguise herself as a waitress, although she isn't really a princess; that's just a title.
  • Criosa in the Neverwinter Nights mod series The Aielund Saga is a princess and the heir to the throne of Aielund and is also a wizard/rogue of a level on par with your character and runs around in pants with a sword more often than not.
  • Depending on how you raise your girl in the Princess Maker games, she may grow up to be any kind of tomboyish swordswoman or sorceress who works part-time lumberjacking or keeping the dead down in the local graveyard. Whether she actually becomes a princess is a different issue.
  • Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale: It's implied that Charme the Thief of all people is the heir to the throne of a fallen kingdom known for its booze.
  • The Super Mario Bros. series' very own Princess Daisy (who also provides the trope image and quote) ditches the Damsel in Distress trope after her debut in Super Mario Land, becoming a tomboy princess beginning with her appearance in Mario Tennis. So much, in fact, that her only Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy is part of the Mario Strikers Charged series (which also includes Mario and a Kritter, who have trophies of their normal versions). She does have a sticker depicting her usual attire, but it is shared with Peach, so it is not a solo sticker. Later portrayals of Daisy, however, tend to downplay this, giving her more feminine mannerisms and making her more of a Tomboy with a Girly Streak. Daisy has a total of four trophies in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U's two versions: the Wii U version has one of Daisy in her usual dress, one of Daisy in her athletic two-piece outfit as seen in Mario Superstar Baseball and its sequel, and one of her baby version; while the 3DS version only has a trophy of her in her sports minidress from Mario Tennis Open. Her appearance as Peach's Echo Fighter in Ultimate has her doing Dainty Combat in an identical manner to Peach, while Daisy's usual dress is the only outfit she's ever depicted wearing in that game. She even briefly returns to the damsel-in-distress role, but only for the mobile game Super Mario Run which is also notable for her first ever playable appearance in an official Mario platformer if Run is treated as a mainline game.
  • Street Fighter III has Elena, an African princess of a Kick Chick with a tomboyish theme tune.
  • Yes, Your Grace: Asalia, the Player Character's middle daughter. She's dismissive of most typical princess activities and prefers learning how to use swords and a bow. Her possible girlfriend Maya, who's a full-on Action Girl, qualifies as well, depending on the extent to which her father is considered a King (he holds the title, but it's not quite official).

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • Adventures of the Gummi Bears has Princess Calla. She dislikes having to act prim and proper and would rather take part in governing and defending her kingdom. She's skilled in the use of weapons, and the episode "Girls Knight Out" has her secretly entering and winning the tournament that was to determine who would be her royal protector. Even better, when King Gregor, her father, learns the truth, he is deeply impressed at what a powerful warrior his child has become.
  • Adventure Time: Depending on the episode, Princess Bubblegum. It's especially seen in the comics tie-ins, like Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens, where she actually leaves Finn to rule the Candy Kingdom in her stead to accompany Marceline as she's touring.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Princess Azula of the Fire Nation is an aggressive and ruthless young warrior and high ranking military leader of her nation's army. She wears battle armour, is very cunning and brutal in both personality and fight style, and despite having her servants pamper her up and placing a lot of stock in her appearance, she is otherwise generally not very feminine. She even rejected a doll her mother gave her as a child and instead expressed a desire to recieve a weapon as a gift like her brother Zuko. In The Search comics, she stated she had a tendency to decapitate her dolls to fulfill her sadistic streak.
  • Disenchantment has Princess Tiabeanie, or Bean for short. She's rebellious, doesn't mind getting her hands dirty at times, and loves to fight and drink.
  • In the Rankin Bass adaptation of The Emperor's New Clothes, the titular Emperor has one for a daughter, who serves as the love interest of one of the tailors (who in this version are given a dose of Adaptational Heroism). The short plays it for parody; she deludes herself into thinking that he is the hero who can save her from her father's Evil Chancellor, when she is clearly the tougher of the two, and she is right about that first part.
  • The Legend of Zelda (1989) animated series. Princess Zelda, much more so than her video game counterpart, which generally causes Well, Excuse Me, Princess! situations.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • There is Princess Ember from the episode "Gauntlet of Fire", daughter of the Dragon Lord Torch and an Action Girl who takes part in the titular Gauntlet of Fire to prove to her father and the other dragons that she is not a weak little princess. In the end, she becomes the new Dragon Lord.
    • While she's only slightly tomboyish, Twilight Sparkle's focus on her studies is, relatively speaking, not quite as conventionally feminine as Rarity's fashion design, Fluttershy's animal care, or Pinkie Pie's catering, making her more tomboyish than average, at least as far as the Mane Six go. She's certainly the most tomboyish of the princesses; Celestia and Cadance are each clearly shown to be acting according to the in-universe traditions of the lands they have authority over, and Luna thinks she is.
  • Mysticons has Zarya who keeps her tomboyish personality even after learning that she's a princess.
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power has a wide variety of princesses, all of them portrayed positively (even the villainous ones, generally), meaning that naturally some would fall under this. Adora may qualify on a technicality, since she's considered a princess despite being an orphan from another world raised by a military dictatorship as a soldier, but Mermista (who insists that instead of being represented in a battle plan by lipstick, they should use a knife), Frosta (a twelve-year-old who turns out to love beating the crap out of Horde robots), and Netossa (a tough fighter whose preferred outfit includes multiple armour plates) could all qualify.
  • Sofia the First: Sofia herself qualifies as one. She is adventurous, isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and even joins the all-male flying horse derby races as well as other sports.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Princess Sally, who despite her title actually has several roles, many of which are stereotypically associated with males, such as that of battle strategist, engineering technician, and of course, as a fighter. No major female character in the show conforms entirely to female stereotypes, but Sally is especially divergent from them.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Star Butterfly is a boy-crazy teenage girl who loves rainbows and unicorns. She also loves zapping monsters with her magic wand, when she's not beating them down with her bare hands. This is probably not all that odd, between her Boisterous Bruiser father and Mewni's history of warrior queens.

    Real Life 
  • Elizabeth II seems to have had elements of this when she insisted on joining the Army during World War II and became a mechanic and truck driver. As it is, she was the only remaining head of state who was a vet of that war in the decades preceding her death in 2022. The Queen eventually became much more of a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak over the years.
    • Her daughter Princess Anne was an Olympic-level equestrian in her youth. Anne's daughter Zara Phillips has taken up riding as well, participating in the London Olympic Games.
  • Several Medieval European noblewomen had this characteristic to some degree. Someone had to take care of the castle while all the knights were busy killing each other, including its armed defense when necessary. At least one Arab visitor commented on how forward Western women were.
  • Christina, Queen of Sweden, who took up traditionally-masculine hobbies and interests (like fencing, shooting, and alchemy), dressed and behaved like one of the guys — and associated with them in a manner considered inappropriate for her time, and, of course, was suspected to have both male and female lovers, but never married. Invoked by her father, Gustavus Adolphus, who ordered that his sole heir be raised as a prince, and possibly complicated by the allegations of Ambiguous Gender raised at her birth.
  • Khutulun, daughter of Kublai Khan's cousin Qaidu. One of the great warriors of eastern Asia, as well as a great leader and politician. When her family demanded she marry, she promised to marry the first man who could beat her at wrestling, and that she would take one hundred horses from any man who lost such a challenge. After winning ten thousand horses and gaining no husband, her family backed off. She eventually did marry, though her husband's identity isn't clear.

Alternative Title(s): Tomboy Princesses

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top