Damsel in Distress Narrator

Basic Trope: A female character is kidnapped (or otherwise endangered) and in need of rescue. Straight: Princess Alice is kidnapped by the Big Bad and must be rescued by Bob. Exaggerated: Princess Alice spends more time in dungeons than in her own rooms. Princess Alice gets targeted more than everyone else. Princess Alice is a Damsel Scrappy. (potentially) Downplayed: Princess Alice would happily kick the asses of her captors and take names afterwards, if she wasn't greatly outnumbered by her kidnappers, who are all heavily armed and have her imprisoned within an inescapable prison. Therefore, she figures it's better to wait for rescue rather than try to break herself out. Princess Alice is one of many hostages, both male and female, but she is considered the most important one. Justified: Princess Alice is wheelchair-bound, so she's disadvantaged against a physical attack. Princess Alice is physically overpowered not due to weakness on her part, but because her captors have her outnumbered and/or outgunned. Princess Alice lived a sheltered life, and doesn't have the skills to defend herself or escape without guards. Princess Alice's agricultural studies, on work vital to the kingdom, absorb so much of her time that she couldn't train herself to a level of dealing with specifically trained kidnappers, and worse, make her a particularly valued target, both to deprive the kingdom of her skills and to try to force her to use them elsewhere. Princess Alice, a civilian not trained to fight, was trapped by an enemy attack and gave up her chance to escape to get some more children away from the enemy. Princess Alice was blinded by a surprise attack and kidnapped; she hasn't been trained to work blind. Princess Alice is too lazy to rescue herself. Princess Alice is a child, so her needing rescuing is simply Surprisingly Realistic Outcome. Princess Alice is a professional damsel in distress, whose job is to judge whether an aspiring hero is trained in crisis management and lifesaving techniques. Inverted: Alice is the Action Girl who saves anyone in danger. Alice is the one who kidnaps others or put them in danger. Princess Alice gets kidnapped and Bob comes to save her, but when Bob is nearly killed trying to save her, Alice breaks free from her confinement and decimates her way through the evil forces to rescue Bob, and absolutely succeeds in doing so with little more than her bare hands and her beautiful pink dress. Gender Inverted: Bob is a Distressed Dude. Subverted: Bob goes to rescue Alice, but she proves perfectly capable of rescuing herself. Alice is working for the Big Bad, or she IS the Big Bad. Alice is a Deliberately Distressed Damsel. Bob rushes towards the cell where Alice was being held in, only to find that she has perished. Bob finds Alice's grave. She was dead all along. Double Subverted: Despite showing some traits that make her look like a fighter, Alice ends up proving to be a Faux Action Girl and is recaptured. Alice fights off her initial captors, but before she can waltz away from her victory, ends up being overpowered by a second wave of superior forces. Except Emperor Evulz double crossed Alice to save his troubles, Alice then becomes a genuine damsel in distress. (Continued from Deliberately Distressed Damsel) However, actual harm towards Alice was not in the contract, so naturally she would want to defect. Alice is physically strong enough to fight off any man who tries to attack her...unfortunately Big Brother Is Watching and decides to draft her against her will as a result. It was a Disney Death; Bob rescues her from a critical health condition instead of a cell. The grave was empty or held a Body Double. The real Alice is in being held in another castle. Parodied: Alice is a incompetent Royal Brat, and Bob is a bored Punch-Clock Hero tired of rescuing her. Alice is so used to being held captive that she's capable of predicting everything her captors will do, and responds to the situation with weary, resigned sarcasm. Princess Alice, whom everyone nicknames "Damsel", is in a city called "Distress". Zig Zagged: Alice gets herself into a situation where she needs to be rescued. She not only rescues herself, but also her rescuers. Then she pulls a Heroic Sacrifice so they can escape a bigger threat. An attempt is made to kidnap Alice, but her Body Double, Alicia, gets scooped up instead. The kingdom is still functional with Alice on the throne and her guards on high alert, but the Body Double is still a loyal guard in her own right and Alice is willing to pay the heroes handsomely to go and rescue her. The Big Bad has a similar epiphany and decides to keep Alicia for ransom in the meantime; she might not be as valuable a captive as Alice herself, but it's still worthwhile to hold onto her (as opposed to having her executed). Averted: Nobody bothers trying to kidnap Princess Alice, because it's not in their best interests to do so. Either it would take too many resources to subdue her, or the effort isn't worth it. Enforced: "The Big Bad needs to be established as such. He has to Kick the Dog in a way that will affect Bob on a personal level and give him a justification to chase after him. Let's have the Big Bad kidnap his girlfriend!" Lampshaded: "I hope Bob arrives soon. I don't like being locked up in here." Invoked: "We need a hostage worth good money. Princess Alice is in no position to defend herself; capture her." There are professional Damsels in Distress who act as judges on aspiring heroes trying to get their license. Exploited: Princess Alice deliberately goes down to the crime-ridden docks to be captured, thus giving the king's men an excuse to break into the house of the high-ranking noble who is the head of the kidnappers' guild. Princess Alice goes into bandit territory to haggle with the bandit chief, knowing he is treacherous — and that her capture will sort out The So-Called Coward and Miles Gloriosus among her suitors. Defied: Princess Alice has been trained in self-defense, so she dispatches those sent to capture her. the Big Bad refuses to have anything to do with Alice, so he leaves her alone. To prevent kidnapping from happening, King Allard has a devoted regiment of bodyguards with Princess Alice at all times. Discussed: "You can't expect Princess Alice to save herself... she's badly outnumbered and she's had no weapons training." Conversed: "By using the damsel in distress plot, the producers can appeal to their target audience; role players." Deconstructed: Princess Alice is kidnapped, and while Bob saves her, the incident has scarred her. She feels helpless and blame herself. After being kidnapped, Alice is abused by her captors in one way or another while they wait for the ransom. Alice has been kidnapped or her mentality was put in distress... and nobody saves her, despite her pleas because of one obstacle or another. Alice is rescued by Anti-Hero Bob, who only rescues her because he wants a reward. Reconstructed: Princess Alice is kidnapped and goes through a Heroic BSoD because her inability to rescue herself put her friends/bodyguards in danger, but she but pulls herself together when her diplomatic skills are needed to avert a war. Bob reminds her that, even though she has to be rescued from physical danger sometimes, she's been the one to get the rest of the party out of political danger just as many times. Princess Alice is kidnapped by a thug who fancies himself a gentleman and is aware that beating her up for shits and giggles is not going to increase the ransom he's getting. The situation is terrifying for her, but she is not abused. After a long while of nobody answering, finally there comes Bob the Selfless Hero arrives on the scene and takes it upon himself to save her from distress. No ransom lasts forever: Alice is eventually freed by her captors...or frees herself. Alice is rescued by Anti-Hero Bob, who only rescues her because he wants a reward. This reward is the position of her bodyguard so he is never out of work and enjoying the palace. He might become fond of her over time. Emperor Evulz absolutely forbids all forms of torture or violence against the princess... dead hostages have no value. Princess Alice is a legitimate Action Girl, but she gets captured anyway, however this isn't treated as a failure and more of a reality of war - POWs are a thing after all. She gets thrown in a prison alongside several other captured fighters. She and the other POWs are rescued not out of romantic ideals but simply out of necessity. Played For Laughs: Princess Alice getting kidnapped is an Excuse Plot to get the story going, and happens every week, like clockwork. Princess Alice is resigned to this, and greets each kidnapping with a sigh, whiling away her hours in the dungeons. Played For Drama: Princess Alice being kidnapped is a devastating experience for her, Bob (her rescuer and lover), and the people of her kingdom. Each time it happens, Bob goes through much angst over allowing her to be taken again, and Princess Alice gets progressively more insecure in her own power each time she allows herself to be taken, which impedes her abilities as a ruler. Intended Audience Reaction: Considering how often Princess Alice gets kidnapped, the fanbase eventually see her as The Load... which is what the author/producer intended from the very beginning, in order to get the point across that if you have everyone else save you from the harsh things in life, you won't be able to fend for yourself later on in life. This is reflected in the show as one of the morals.

MEDIA EXAMPLES

Gender-flipped in Attack on Titan where Eren gets kidnapped three times in three different story arcs. Also subverted. Although she is also kidnapped, Historia (who is technically a princess) is the one to escape and also free Eren from captivity. Kajitsu is one in the manga version of Battle Spirits Shonen Gekiha Dan, getting kidnapped regularly, including once from her kidnappers. Subverted in Battle Spirits Sword Eyes with Grenada. The show starts out with the premise that Tsurugi has to rescue her but as it turns out, she was on the side of the villains willingly. This is later twisted again when it's revealed that she was a mole working with the Red Army. Played completely straight in the manga, however, where she remains imprisoned until the conclusion. Rukia Kuchiki gets to be the Damsel in Distress in the Soul Society arc, despite the fact that she could fight in previous episodes (and after her rescue).She agreed to go because she knew she'd be executed for giving her powers to a human... and Rukia wanted to die in the first place. Despite her Quickly-Demoted Woman status, it could be argued that Rukia was actually just a Badass in Distress... for a really long time. In the Arrancar and Hueco Mundo arcs, Orihime Inoue. She went with Sosuke Aizen (kinda) willingly to protect her friends right after they got their asses kicked by the Arrancar (had she not gone, they would've been killed and Karakura would've been destroyed right on the spot)... The story arc is NOT shy about showing the tremendous emotional and physical strain it brings on her, especially since she is an Actual Pacifist who can't even bear seeing the people trying to kill her get hurt, to the extreme of causing her a Heroic BSoD that almost made her cross the Despair Event Horizon; sure, Ichigo and Ishida manage to reach for her, but things go wrong immediately afterwards, and before that she was throughly abused by Loly, Menoly, Nnoitora, and Ulquiorra, among others. It takes Orihime almost a year to fully get over the horrible effects of her imprisonment. In Brave10, Isanami is continuously being pursued and kidnapped. Get her distressed at your own peril, though. In A Bride's Story, Mr. Smith's refusal to marry Talas out of pity meets bewilderment: Saving her is what a man does, right? Both in Burst Angel's anime and manga, this is the official duty of Meg. And invariably Jo goes tilt every time the thing happens. Casca plays all three tropes: Damsel in Distress, Action Heroine and then sadly Faux Actiongirl. It also doesn't help the majority of villains who capture her also want to get in her pants (even in her childhood Egh). Guts is the man who saves the most often and his first rescue of her is the reason why she fell in love with him since no man had ever shed so much blood for her before. Casca is still given plenty of badass moments and even brings down Adon but after the Eclipse where all her friends are killed and she is raped by the man she once loved and her baby with Guts is corrupted. Casca becomes completely helpless and needs to be protected by Guts constantly, hell the whole Conviction arc was nothing but a Rescue Arc, and even the Beast of Darkness in Guts tries to get him to kill Casca or let her die. But Guts simply cannot forgo his love and will throw himself after her, Casca is not completely gone as her old self still lives in subconscious and will activate when she is sexually attacked. Casca is on the mend now as the elf king (queen) Hanafubuku explores Casca's mind along with Farnese and Schierke. Farnese is a frequent one, justified in her introduction as while she leads the Holy Chain Knights she no training and was never expected to fight. Though it still embarrassing how helpless she is even needing to be saved by Guts (the man who held her hostage) and her half bother Serpico. She later gets some magical witch power ups from Schierke and would seem to be elevated to Action Girl status but still gets into danger anyway and while she's protecting Casca and is actually disappointed when Guts is more focused on protecting Casca than her. Little girls like Jill and Schierke, saved by Guts in Papa Wolf fashion. Most women in general in Berserk have to be rescued from the men & Monsters who usually have less than pure intentions for them. Casca in youth was saved from a rapey nobleman by Griffith (horribly ironic later). Village girl Jill and little witch Schierke were protected by Guts and both of them became Daddy's Girl(s) towards him. Griffith's medium Sonia was saved by in almost the same way as Casca (but with more slavery) and is also in danger from the monster warriors that make up Griffith's army. Though Sonia is unbearably cheerful, worshiping Griffith as the messiah (when he is anything but) so her actually dying would be no big loss. In The Castle of Cagliostro, Clarisse is pursued by the Count and one of Lupin's priorities in this story is protecting/rescuing her. Chobits: Played with. Every time Chi is kidnapped or assaulted, she (or, more precisely, Freya) has already stomped their asses by the time Hideki is close to finding her; but when Hideki shows up at the scene, Chi falls into his arms, thanks him for rescuing her, and faints. In the anime of Chrono Crusade, Rosette takes on this role towards the end in the series. In the manga, Azmaria tends to play this role the entire time. Many a story arc in City Hunter makes use of this to show how desperate the situation is, justifying Ryo's service and forcing him to act. Kaori, being Ryo's partner, is the most frequent target of this, though it can happen to Ryo's (female) client and/or some girl around said client as well. In Code Geass R2, when Kallen is captured and becomes a hostage for 1/3 of the season, Lelouch is swearing to rescue her. She is then put in a plexi-glass cage and given a frilly, cleavage heavy dress. Kallen is by far the show's number one female warrior, Lelouch's personal bodyguard and one of the deadliest pilots in the CG universe, thus she re-affirms all three facts within moments of being rescued. Instead of a Rescue Arc, Kallen's time as a Prisoner Of War is used as Character Development. She not only interacts with Nunnally and sees a different side of Lelouch through her, but also gets to punch Suzaku while wearing said frilly, cleavage heavy dress, which makes Suzaku realize he is Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. She ends up in a mini-Trauma Conga Line version of this as not long after the battle over Tokyo comes to its disastrous conclusion, during which she was finally freed from her imprisonment, she ends up back in distress again, as she tries to defend Lelouch, who she has been used to bait into a betrayal from her fellow Black Knights. Her comrades accuse her of being under Lelouch's geass. When he realizes Schneizel is behind this, it takes Lelouch shooing her off with a fake admission to using them all in order to save her. Maeda in Cromartie High School is a text book example despite being male. Very commonly plots are kicked off because he gets kidnapped by a rival high school prompting the students of Cromartie to go rescue him. Though, being a comedy show, it's played for laughs and he rarely gets rescued since the protagonists will usually get lost or caught up in something else. In Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Maia is kidnapped on numerous occasions, but it's justified on grounds that Rena doesn't give her any combat or weapons training before sending her into dangerous situations. This is because her role for most of the series is basically to be live bait to lure out the bad guys, and Rena simply trusts her team to be able to rescue Maia whenever it's necessary. Jasmine though she started off as a subversion saving Lief and Barda from the Wennbar and annoyingly bragging about how they'd helpless without her afterwards. Jasmine still gets in plenty of trouble and needs the Lief, Barda or Doom her dad to pull her out of trouble. She gets plenty of kick ass moments and even wins the Rithmere games (though her opponent let her win) is competent for the most part. But this winning streak does not hold up for most of the series as she is quickly overpowered by the stronger monsters and is even used a Human Shield by a Ol against Lief. It's fair to point out in the books she is captured far less. Neridah often act helpless to fool lovesick boys (like Lief) into her trap but then actually gets captured for real later on and angry screams that the heroes aren't so eager to help her. Many fans wish she had died like in the books. Parodied in The Devil King Is Bored when the titular Devil King kidnaps a kingdom's princess because he's, well, bored, and thinks that fighting some heroes would be fun. He even places a portal to hell in the middle of a populated town. With a sign above it that says "Portal to Hell." Yoko more than once. Kasumi Haruno in Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidou Kyuukyuu Keisatsu. Being The Hero's love interest, she winds up as victim-of-the-week three times. However, the third time she does help with the rescue. Once again in the movie, rescuing her becomes a major plot point when she becomes trapped inside the body of the Big Bad. Sasagawa also needs rescuing four times, but it is not nearly as glaring in her case, given that she appears much more frequently than Kasumi and usually avoids trouble. It's also done half the time as an excuse for Karigari to be heroic.