Damsel in Distress (trope)

> HERCULES: But... aren't you... a damsel in distress?
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> MEGARA: I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day.
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> - Disney's *Hercules*
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>

For the term in general use, see here.

## Related tropes

* Bound and Gagged
* Child in Distress
* Defiant Captive
* Dude in Distress: For male characters in this situation.
* Kidnap Bag
* Save the Princess

## Examples

### Mythology

* The story of Andromeda is likely the first ever recorded example of the Damsel in Distress.
* *Ramayana*: Sita.

### Art

* Defense of a Filipina Woman's Honor (1945) by Fernando Amorsolo: Depicts a Filipino man, bolo at the ready, in a defensive position in front of a young woman with a cloth covering her body. Details in the scene imply he is protecting her from a Japanese soldier.

### Literature

* *Ruslan and Ludmila* by Alexander Pushkin: The latter titular character.

### Music

* "Holding Out For a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler is basically a story of this trope.

### Films

#### IRL films

* *The Dark Knight Rises*: Selina Kyle plays this straight when she is cornered by Bane's henchmen on the rooftop while confronting John Daggett. She also fakes it in the bar shootout, where she guns down two of Bane's henchmen, then begins screaming hysterically when the SWAT team bursts in, only to sober up as soon as they have chased Bane's men out.
* *It* (1990): Bill's wife Audra is taken prisoner by the titular monster and is put in a comatose state, even after the surviving Losers' Club save her she remains motionless and shocked due to seeing the Deadlights. Bill returns his wife to normal by using the the power of his bike Silver.
* *It* (2017): Beverly, just after knocking her father, is taken prisoner by Pennywise and is taken to the sewer ensuring the boys to chase to come to her rescue.
* *King Kong*: The character of Ann Darrow in the 1933 and 2005 films, and Dwan in the 1976 film.
* *Leprechaun 2*: Bridgette is the main target and spends a good chunk of the movie trapped in Leprechaun's lair.

#### Animated films

* *Aladdin*: Jasmine is trapped in an hourglass slowly filling with sand during the final battle and nearly suffocates in it until Aladdin breaks her out.
* *Atlantis: The Lost Empire*: Kida spends the last third of the film crystallized, therefore Milo and his teammates actually have to rescue her and change her back.
* *Despicable Me*: Margo, Edith and Agnes (the third is a Child in Distress) are taken captive by Vector.
	+ *Despicable Me 2*: Lucy is taken prisoner by El Macho.
* *Elemental*: Ember is confined to a small space and needs Wade to rescue her.
* *Hercules*: Discussed, and it's this article's quote.
* *Megamind*: Roxanne Ritchi is a satire of this trope.
* *Quest for Camelot*: Discussed by Kayley and her mother Julianna. Then it happens to Kayley.
* *Robin Hood* (1973): Maid Marian is a lovely Proper Lady but almost completely helpless, even when her love is about to be executed right before her eyes. However, she manages to convince Prince John to spare Robin through The Power of Love (with some help from a knife-wielding Little John), and hits a guard aiming for Robin with a pie, which just goes to show how helpful she can be when she tries.
* *Shrek*: Satirized and deconstructed.
* *Toy Story* & *Toy Story 2*: Andy purposefully makes Bo Peep this trope, so Woody could save her. And she's completely fine with that.
* *Treasure Planet*: Long John Silver the cyborg nabs Captain Amelia and threatens to kill her as an ultimatum if Jim Hawkins refused to open the map after finally retrieving it from the ship.

### Series

#### IRL series

* *Firefly*: It seems that every episode that centers on River has her in serious danger, needing some Big Damn Heroes to save her... except for "Objects in Space", where she hits the villain with a plan.
* *Smallville*: Lana Lang. The whole first season was one big Lana nab-fest. And most of the second.

#### Western animated series

* *Danny Phantom*: Sam Manson is this quite often.
	+ Satirized in the episode "Beauty Marked".
* *Dudley Do-Right*: Nell Fenwick is a satire of this trope.
* *The Casagrandes*: In the episode "Breakfast Bot", Syd is taken captive by the titular character.
* *Total Drama*:
	+ Satirized in the *Action* episode "The Princess Pride".
	+ Played with in Zoey's case.

### Video games

* *Double Dragon*: Marian.
* *Earthbound* (1994): Paula is this a total of three times; kidnapped by the Happy Happyists, kidnapped by zombies, kidnapped by Monotoli. The second time was Ness's fault, though.
* *Kung-Fu Master* (1984): Sylvia.
* *The Legend of Zelda*: The incarnations of Princess Zelda fit the trope, but not in a way that plays the trope completely straight. While finding/rescuing/protecting them is usually the Links' ultimate or major goal in any game where she is present, they almost invariably cooks up some clever ideas whereby they can actively work against the Evil Plan of the Big Bad who makes them their prisoner.
	+ *The Legend of Zelda* (1986): In the original game, she knows she's going to be a captive as part of Ganon's plot, so she fragments the Triforce of Wisdom (which is what he's really after) and hides it in various parts of her kingdom, then enables her most loyal servant to escape to find help while she herself is taken prisoner.
	+ *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time*: For most of the game, she takes a male identity as Sheik. However, it's played painfully straight when she reveals her identity near the end of the game and immediately gets kidnapped.
* *The Fall of Max Payne*: Lampshaded; Mona Sax's first line is "God! I turned out to be such a damsel in distress..."
* *Super Mario Bros*: Princess Peach, where do we begin?

### Fanfictions

#### Red Raptor Productions

* *Inloudibles*: Ronnie Ann.
* *Loud Dalmatians*: Lincoln's sisters (Lily is a Child in Distress) are abducted to be exploited, trafficked and subsequently slaughtered by Matrushka and her cats.
	+ *Dalmatians: Life is Better Loud*: 20 years before *Loud Dalmatians* takes place, Rita was abducted by Matrushka to be sent to space as part of the Soviet program; Lynn Sr (just Lynn at this point) saves her from this predicament.
* *Weirdo Neighborhood*:
	+ Beth is this in Harold's fantasies, where he rescues her from New York-related predicaments.
	+ Bianca Flavia becomes one for real when Scelerito makes her his prisoner.

#### Non-Red Raptor

* *The Nightmare House*: Leni has a nightmare where she's immobilized and dragged away by giant talking spiders.
* *Zoo Coup Riot*: Adelaide is kidnapped by the person who's been leaving threatening notes for Syd in order to force Syd to free the zoo animals.

### Internet originals

#### Wattpad

* *Agent Retriever*: Bridgette is taken captive by the fossas at one point.