Basic Trope: A person is used to lure someone else into a situation.
- Straight: Princess Daphne is kidnapped to lure Dirk the Daring to the evil castle.
- Exaggerated: Princess Daphne, the entire royal family, and Dirk's entire family and all held hostage to lure Dirk the Daring to the evil castle.
- Downplayed: A Mook is tied up in the evil castle. Dirk the Daring may or may not show up.
- Justified: Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne are engaged. Daphne is kidnapped on their wedding day.
- Inverted: Dirk the Daring is kidnapped to lure Princess Daphne to the evil castle.
- Subverted: Princess Daphne is kidnapped. As Dirk the Daring readies to free her from the evil castle, the neighboring kingdom invades! Daphne and the evil warlock join forces to combat the new menace.
- Double Subverted: Princess Daphne is kidnapped. As Dirk the Daring readies to free her from the evil castle, the neighboring kingdom invades! Daphne and the evil warlock join forces to combat the new menace. The evil warlock finds out the invading King is Daphne's brother so he holds her hostage anyhow.
- Parodied: By the time Dirk the Daring has arrived, Princess Daphne has annoyed everyone to their wits end. She has run the entire evil castle staff ragged with her Princess-ly demands, the evil warlock has headaches at the sound of her voice, and Dirk is met at the front door by the warlock's begging to take her, he'll pay Dirk the ransom to get rid of her, he's listing the evil castle on Craigslist and moving to Albuquerque.
- Zig Zagged: Princess Daphne is kidnapped, but the carriage that transports her is waylaid by bandits on the way to the evil castle. All aboard are killed, except Daphne who is left for dead. She awakens with amnesia and wanders off eventually becoming a seamstress. Dirk the Daring searches far and wide, eventually marrying a princess from another kingdom.
- Averted: Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne get married and live happily ever after.
- Enforced: The studio's contract requires that Princess Daphne is kidnapped to lure Dirk the Daring to the evil castle once each season or they lose the rights to Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne.
- Implied: The story begins with the wonderful wedding of Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne. The King mentions that he wasn't sure this day would happen but it can now that the evil warlock is dead.
- Lampshaded: "Kidnapping the princess on our wedding day and holding her in the evil castle...well isn't that original!"
- Invoked: Dirk the Daring has a degree in Evil Castle Architecture specifically so he can know the best way to save princesses.
- Exploited: Princess Daphne orders her dressmaker to sew GPS tracking devices into all of her clothing, studies lockpicking, martial arts, and survival techniques since all of that study time is well worth it given how often they'll be useful.
- Defied: The King recognizes the evil warlock's minions as they approach his castle to kidnap the princess and has his guards attack them.
- Discussed: "This is why you live in a fortified castle, my dear." says the King. "These walls and these troops will always keep you from harm!"
- Conversed: "Guards? Check. Fortified walls? Check. Moat? Check. That evil warlock will have to figure out some other way of getting leverage on the King then kidnapping the princess!"
- Deconstructed: Princess Daphne's kidnapping is used to examine the ways we raise our daughters and what training we provide them for handling danger. Dirk the Daring's journey to the evil castle is used to examine how we raise our sons and the impact this has on society.
- Reconstructed: Dirk the Daring alerts the police who surround the evil castle and arrest everyone involved in the kidnapping.
- Played For Laughs: Dirk the Daring arrives at the evil castle to find the Great Hall littered with 100 beaten Mooks, several dead dragons, the evil warlock bound and chained, and Princess Daphne waiting for her ride home. As she walks past Dirk, he points at the carnage saying "Hey...".
- Played For Drama: The evil warlock is dying of a terrible disease and needs the help of both Dirk and Daphne to try to find a cure.
Go back to The Bait, since you don't really have a choice, do you?
