The Princess Knight

"**The Princess Knight**" is the fifteenth episode of the Disney Channel animated series, *Elena of Avalor*. It premiered on March 18, 2017.

## Plot

Gabe and Elena are fencing each other outside of the castle. Elena soon wins and Francisco compliments on her performance as a fencer. While Elena is putting her things away she notices that Gabe forgot his gloves. As she follows Francisco and Gabe, she hears that Francisco asked Gabe to take it easy on her. She is soon angered by this and learns that her mother was in the fencing competition before and was close to the finals, but broke her wrist and had to forfeit.

Once Francisco leaves, she says she wants to enter the fencing competition. Gabe says she cannot because her grandfather would never allow it. Elena says she will just enter in disguise but Gabe says it will not work because of the hard competitors. Despite his warnings, Elena still wants to be in the competition. So Gabe fences Elena to show what she is like when he is not taking it easy on her. Elena realizes this and asks him to train her. Gabe first warns her she would not like the training, but Elena is willing to do whatever.

At five the following morning, Gabe wakes Elena up and they start training. She fails on most of the tests and complains. Gabe tells her to stop complaining and that she should step up. With every test, Elena gets better and better each day. When she was able to defeat Gabe he tells her she is ready for a sword. He gives her some advice on some strategies but warns her not to do the "Leaping Stag" unless she times it right.

The competition soon begins, and Elena, known as Sir Elezar, faces her first opponent, the Beast. Following Gabe's advice, Elena acts quick in combat to gain the higher advantage, resulting in her first victory. Elena's next opponent was the Viper who was very quick. Gabe tells her she needs to be patient and have quick foot work, but Elena does not listen, resulting in her being struck two times. But, with some more advice from Gabe, she manages to win. Her next opponent is Sir Cassius and will compete against him the next day. Elena's grandparents, not knowing that Sir Elezar is Elena, congratulate her and invite her for tea. Elena grunts "no" but they take it as a yes. Soon, fans of Sir Elezar chase Elena and Gabe and the Princess takes cover inside a tent. While hiding, she overhears Sir Cassius and his father, Lord Elrod, talking about how to beat Sir Elezar. Lord Elrod wants his son to go for her wrist and break it so Sir Elezar will forfeit just like he did to Elena's mother. Sir Cassius does not want to cheat, but his father insists as he does not want his son to be the first in the family to lose. Shocked about what she heard, Elena plans on telling Gabe when they get to the castle.

At tea with her grandparents, they greet themselves and ask Sir Elezar about himself. Gabe covers for Elena by doing all the talking. When Francisco talks about how his daughter, Lucia, trying to win the fencing competition, Elena breaks her cover by speaking much to her grandparents' surprise. Francisco is still concerned about Elena competing in the tournament only for Elena to tell them that Lord Elrod broke Lucia's wrist on purpose. Elena convinces her grandparents to let her compete to stand for herself and her mother. Francisco is still concerned for Elena's safety, but he's also angry about the truth behind his daughter's injury, so he agrees to let his granddaughter compete.

The next day of the competition, Elena and Sir Cassius fence each other. Elena keeps winning and Lord Elrod tells his son to cheat. Elena soon knows what he is about to do and trips gaining a point. Elena notices that her ankle hurts and asks for a one minute break. Gabe looks at it and says it is not broken. Her grandparents come in and say she needs to figure out a way to win, and they give her a picture of her mother for strength. Elena soon gets back in the competition and soon notices she can barely do anything. She soon remembers the move Gabe did and does the "Leaping Stag" resulting in her winning the competition. She takes her helmet off and reveals her true identity to the audience. Sir Cassius gives the trophy to Elena and Luisa angrily threatens to challenge Lord Elrod to a duel for what he did to her daughter. Elena puts the trophy up in the air and whispers that this was for her mother.

## Cast

* Aimee Carrero as Princess Elena
* Jorge Diaz as Gabe
* Bob Joles as Lord Elrod
* Julia Vera as Luisa
* Emiliano Diez as Francisco

## Trivia

* The training scene with Elena running up the steps pays homage to the first *Rocky* movie.
* Elena reminds Gabe that she taught him how to play Olaball, which was the sport in the episode of the same name.
* Fiero's statue makes a cameo appearance at the beginning of this episode.
* Lord Elrod and Sir Cassius hail from Brazendell, which was mentioned in the *Sofia the First* episode "The Tale of the Noble Knight".
* Elena disarming the Viper is similar to how Anakin disarmed Count Dooku in the *Clone Wars* Finale, "Sacrifice".
* Elena posing as a knight is similar to Mulan posing as a man as she takes her father's place in the army.

## Gallery

*The image gallery for **The Princess Knight** may be viewed here.*