Editing Princess and dragon

{{Short description|Archetypical concept common to many legends, fairy tales, and chivalric romances}}
[[File:JuanAntonioEscalante-Andromeda-MPrado.jpg|right|thumb|''Andrómeda'' by [[Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante]] (1633–1670), depicting Princess [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]] of Greek mythology chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the dragon-like sea monster [[Cetus (mythology)|Cetus]].]]

'''Princess and dragon''' is an [[Archetype|archetypical]] premise common to many [[legend]]s, [[fairy tale]]s, and [[chivalric romance]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huizinga|first=Johan|author-link=Johan Huizinga|date=1924|title=[[The Autumn of the Middle Ages]]|location=|publisher=|page=83|isbn=0-226-35992-1}}</ref> [[Northrop Frye]] identified it as a central form of the [[quest]] romance.

The story involves an upper-class woman, generally a [[princess]] or similar high-ranking [[nobility]], saved from a [[dragon]], either a literal dragon or a similar danger, by the virtuous hero (see [[damsel in distress]]). She may be the first woman endangered by the peril, or may be the end of a long succession of women who were not of as high birth as she is, nor as fortunate.<ref>{{cite book|last=Frye|first=Northrop|author-link=Northrop Frye|date=1957|title=[[Anatomy of Criticism]]|location=Canada|page=189|isbn=0-691-01298-9}}</ref> Normally the princess ends up married to the [[dragonslayer]].

The motifs of the hero who finds the princess about to be sacrificed to the dragon and saves her, the [[false hero]] who takes his place, and the final revelation of the true hero, are the identifying marks of the [[Aarne–Thompson]] folktale type 300, the Dragon-Slayer. They also appear in type 303, the Two Brothers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Stith|author-link=Stith Thompson|date=1977|title=The Folktale|location=Berkeley; Los Angeles; London|publisher=University of California Press|pages=24–25}}</ref> These two tales have been found, in different variants, in countries all over the world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Stith|author-link=Stith Thompson|date=1977|title=The Folktale|location=Berkeley; Los Angeles; London|publisher=University of California Press|page=27}}</ref>

The "princess and dragon" scenario is given even more weight in popular imagination than it is in the original tales; the stereotypical hero is envisioned as slaying dragons even though, for instance, the [[Brothers Grimm]] had only a few tales of dragon and giant slayers among hundreds of tales.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tatar|first=Maria|author-link=|others=|date=|title=The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales|url=|language=|location=|publisher=|page=282|isbn=0-393-05163-3}}</ref>

==History==
One of the earliest examples of the motif comes from the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] tale of [[Perseus]], who rescued the princess [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]] from [[Cetus (mythology)|Cetus]], a sea monster often described as resembling a serpent or dragon.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jacobs|first=Joseph|date=1916|title=Europa's Fairy Book|location=New York, London|publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons]]|pages=228–230}} (Notes on Tale nr. III).</ref> This was taken up into other [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]], such as [[Heracles]], who rescued the princess [[Hesione]] of [[Troy]] from a similar sea monster. Most ancient versions depicted the dragon as the expression of a god's wrath: in Andromeda's case, because her mother [[Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda)|Queen Cassiopeia]] had compared her beauty to that of the sea [[nymph]]s, and in Hesione's, because her father had reneged on a bargain with [[Poseidon]]. This is less common in fairy tales and other, later versions, where the dragon is frequently acting out of malice. The homosexual variety of the tale is also found in Greek mythology; similar myths existed in [[Crissa]] and [[Thespiae]] of a terrifying beast that ravaged the place unless a young man was sacrificed, [[Alcyoneus (son of Diomos)|Alcyoneus]] in Crisa and [[Cleostratus (mythology)|Cleostratus]] in Thespiae to them. In both cases a man who is in love with the youth ([[Eurybarus]] and [[Menestratus (Thespiae)|Menestratus]] respectively) and steps in to take the youth's place and slay the monster.<ref>{{cite book | last = Celoria | first = Francis | title = The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary | publisher = [[Routledge]] | date = 1992 | isbn = 0-415-06896-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cHt0DwAAQBAJ | location = Canada, USA | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=cHt0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 128–129]}}</ref>

[[File:Susanoo-no-Mikoto-slays-Yamata-no-Orochi-in-Izumo-By-Tsukioka-Yoshitoshi.png|thumb|right|''Susanoo'' slaying the ''Yamata no Orochi'', by [[Yoshitoshi]].]]

The Japanese legend of [[Yamata no Orochi]] also invokes this motif. The god [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto|Susanoo]] encounters two "Earthly Deities" who have been forced to sacrifice their seven daughters to the many-headed monster, and their daughter [[Kushinadahime]] is the next victim. Susanoo is able to kill the dragon after getting it drunk on [[sake]] (rice wine).<ref>Weiss, Michael. "Slaying the Serpent: Comparative Mythological Perspectives on Susanoo's Dragon Fight". In: ''Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University (JAH-Q)''. Volume 3. Spring 2018. pp. 1-20.</ref>

Another variation is from the tale of [[Saint George and the Dragon]]. The tale begins with a dragon making its nest at the [[spring (hydrosphere)|spring]] which provides a [[city-state]] with water. Consequently, the citizens had to temporarily remove the dragon from its nest in order to collect water. To do so, they offered the dragon a daily [[human sacrifice]]. The victim of the day was chosen by drawing lots. Eventually in this [[lottery]], the lot happened to fall to the local princess. The local [[monarch]] is occasionally depicted begging for her life with no result. She is offered to the dragon but at this point a traveling [[Saint George]] arrives. He faces and defeats the dragon and saves the princess; some versions claim that the dragon is not killed in the fight, but pacified once George ties the princess' sash around its neck. The grateful citizens then abandon their ancestral [[paganism]] and convert to [[Christianity]].

A similar tale to St. George's, attributed to Russian sources, is that of ''St. Yegóry, the Brave'': after the kingdoms of Sodom and Komor fall, the kingdom of "Arabia" is menaced by a sea-monster that demanded a sacrifice of a human victim every day. The queenly stepmother sent the Princess Elizabeth, the Fair, as the sacrifice. Yegóry, the Brave rescues Elizabeth and uses her sash to bind the beast. To mark her deliverance, he demands the building of three churches.<ref>Hapgood, Isabel Florence. ''A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections''. New York: Chautauqua Press. 1902. pp. 16-17.</ref>

In a tale from [[Tibet]], a kingdom suffers from drought due to two "serpent-gods" blocking the streams of water at the source. Both dragons also demand the sacrifices of citizens from the kingdom, men and women, to appease them, until prince Schalu and his faithful companion Saran decide to put an end to their existence.<ref>"The Prince with the Golden Mouth". In: Jewett, Eleanore Myers, and Siddhi-kür. Kalmükische märchen. ''Wonder Tales From Tibet''. Boston: Little, Brown, and company, 1922. pp. 112-132. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044019175355&view=1up&seq=148]</ref>

When the tale is not about a dragon but a [[troll]], [[Giant (mythology)|giant]], or [[ogre]], the princess is often a captive rather than about to be eaten, as in ''[[The Three Princesses of Whiteland]]''. These princesses are often a vital source of information to their rescuers, telling them how to perform tasks that the captor sets to them, or how to kill the monster, and when she does not know, as in ''[[The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body]]'', she frequently can pry the information from the giant. Despite the hero's helplessness without this information, the princess is incapable of using the knowledge herself.  
[[File:Illustration at page 25 in Europa's Fairy Book.png|thumb|left|The Marshall (false hero) tells the court how he killed the dragon. Illustration by [[John D. Batten|John Batten]] for [[Joseph Jacobs]]'s ''Europa's Fairy Book'' (1916).]]

Again, if a [[False hero|false claimant]] intimidates her into silence about who actually killed the monster as in the [[fairy tale]] ''[[The Two Brothers]]'', when the hero appears, she will endorse his story, but she will not tell the truth prior to them; she often agrees to marry the false claimant in the hero's absence. The hero has often cut out the tongue of the dragon, so when the false hero cuts off its head, his claim to have killed it is refuted by its lack of a tongue; the hero produces the tongue and so proves his claim to marry the princess.<ref>[[Max Lüthi]], ''Once Upon A Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales'', p 54, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1970</ref> In some tales, however, the princess herself takes steps to ensure that she can identify the hero&mdash;cutting off a piece of his cloak as in ''[[Georgic and Merlin]]'', giving him tokens as in ''[[The Sea-Maiden]]''&mdash;and so separate him from the false hero.
[[File:Orlando Furioso 20.jpg|thumb|right|Ruggiero Rescuing Angelica, an illustration for ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' by [[Gustave Doré]]]]

This dragon-slaying hero appears in [[Romance (heroic literature)|medieval romances]] about [[knight-errant|knights-errant]],<ref>[[Johan Huizinga]], ''[[The Autumn of the Middle Ages]]'' p 84 {{ISBN|0-226-35992-1}}</ref> such as the Russian [[Dobrynya Nikitich]]. In some variants of [[Tristan and Iseult]], [[Tristan]] wins [[Iseult]] for his uncle, King [[Mark of Cornwall]], by killing a dragon that was devastating her father's kingdom; he has to prove his claim when the king's steward claims to be the dragon-slayer.<ref>Anne Wilson, ''Traditional Romance and Tale'', p 46, D.S. Brewer, Rowman & Littlefield, Ipswitch, 1976, {{ISBN|0-87471-905-4}}</ref> [[Ludovico Ariosto]] took the concept up into ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' using it not once but twice: the rescue of [[Angelica (character)|Angelica]] by Ruggiero, and [[Orlando (character)|Orlando]] rescuing Olimpia. The monster that menaced Olimpia reconnected to the Greek myths; although Ariosto described it as a legend to the characters, the story was that the monster sprung from an offense against [[Proteus]]. In neither case did he marry the rescued woman to the rescuer. [[Edmund Spenser]] depicts St. George in ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', but while Una is a princess who seeks aid against a dragon, and her depiction in the opening with a lamb fits the iconography of St. George pageants, the dragon imperils her parents' kingdom, and not her alone. Many tales of dragons, ending with the dragon-slayer marrying a princess, do not precisely fit this cliché because the princess is in no more danger than the rest of the threatened kingdom.

An unusual variant occurs in [[Child ballad]] 34, ''[[Kemp Owyne]]'', where the dragon ''is'' the maiden; the hero, based on [[Ywain]] from Arthurian legend, rescues her from the [[Shapeshifting|transformation]] with three kisses.<ref>[[Francis James Child]], ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 306, Dover Publications, New York 1965</ref>

Mythological comparativist Julien d'Huy ran an analytical study of the antiquity and diffusion of the snake- or dragon-battling mytheme in different cultural traditions.<ref>d'Huy, Julien. (2016). Première reconstruction statistique d'un rituel paléolithique: autour du motif du dragon. Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée / New Comparative Mythology.</ref>

Scholarship suggests a connection between the episode of the dragon-slaying by the hero and the journey on an eagle's back, akin to the Mesopotamian myth of [[Etana]].<ref>Annus, Amar. "Review Article. The Folk-Tales of Iraq and the Literary Traditions of Ancient Mesopotamia". In: ''Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions''. 9 (2009): 91. 10.1163/156921209X449170.</ref>

==Modern versions==
[[File:За единую Россію.jpg|right|thumb|Russian civil war [[propaganda]] poster from 1919: [[White movement|White Russian]] knight is fighting the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Red Russian]] dragon]]

In the 1959 animated film ''[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'', [[Walt Disney]] concluded the tale by having the [[Wicked fairy (Sleeping Beauty)|wicked fairy]] [[Maleficent]] transform herself into a dragon to withstand the prince, converting the fairy tale to one with the princess and dragon theme.<ref>John Grant and John Clute, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', "Sleeping Beauty" p 874 {{ISBN|0-312-19869-8}}</ref>

In [[Ian Fleming]]'s ''[[Dr. No (novel)|Dr. No]]'', both the book and film versions feature a tank in the shape of a dragon that protects [[Julius No|Dr. No]]'s island from superstitious intruders. [[James Bond (literary character)|James Bond]] and [[Honey Ryder|Honeychile Rider]] are menaced by the "dragon", destroy it, have their friend Quarrel killed and are captured by the crew of the Dragon tank. Ann Boyd's 1967 book ''The Devil with James Bond'' explores the theory of the updating of the Princess and dragon genre.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

In modern [[fantasy]] works, the dragon may hold the princess captive instead of eating her. [[Patricia Wrede]] spoofed this concept in ''[[Dealing with Dragons]]''.

A feminist subversion of the concept for young readers is [[Robert Munsch]]'s ''[[The Paper Bag Princess]]'', in which a princess outwits a dragon to save a prince (her betrothed, whom she proceeds ''not'' to marry upon him insulting her makeshift clothing instead of thanking her).

In [[Jay Williams (author)|Jay Williams]]'s tale ''The Practical Princess'', a dragon demands that a king should sacrifice his daughter to him so that he will leave the rest of the kingdom alone. But the princess saves herself by making a "princess dummy" out of straw and filling it with boiling pitch and tar. The princess dresses the [[Straw man (dummy)|straw dummy]] in one of her own gowns, then goes to the dragon's cave where she offers herself as a sacrifice. The unwitting dragon swallows the dummy whole, and the pitch and tar explode inside the dragon's stomach, killing him. Afterwards, the princess observes, "Dragons are not very smart."

In the [[Isaac Asimov]] short story ''Prince Delightful and the Flameless Dragon'', it is revealed that Dragons used to be slain as part of a passage from princehood to adulthood, though after a while, they became a protected species. Contrary to popular myth, they do not eat princesses as they tend to smell of cheap perfume and give indigestion.

In animated television series ''[[Wander Over Yonder]]'' episode, "The Hero", Sir Brad Starlight, the bumbling knight who believes in fairy tales, sets off to rescue the princess from the dragon king. However, it turns out that the princess and the dragon king are in love with each other and are engaged to marriage; as the dragon himself is actually a good guy and the princess herself does not need to be rescued.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bubbleblabber.com/2014/04/review-wander-yonder-hero-birthday-boy/|last=Schwarz|first=John|title=Review: Wander Over Yonder "The Hero; The Birthday Boy"|website=Bubble Blabber|date=April 1, 2014|access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref>

==Interpretations==
In his study on the historical roots of the [[Fairy tale|wondertale]], Russian scholar [[Vladimir Propp]] interpreted the dragonslaying tale (ATU 300) as an ''inversion'' of the ancient ritual of a maiden sacrifice to a river to ensure good crops. Propp speculated that, in regards to this practice, the hero would be seem as a "profaner" of the ritual, but, as time passed, the maiden sacrifice was discarded and the hero was elevated.<ref>Propp, Vladimir. ''Theory and History of Folklore''. Translated by Ariadna Y. Martin and Richard P. Martin and several others. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Anatoly Liberman. Theory and History of Literature, Volume 5. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984. pp. 105-106, 107.</ref>

==Diversions==

In some stories, mostly in more recent literary works, the cliché involving princesses and dragons is somehow twisted to create a more exciting or humorous effect. For example, in ''[[The Paper Bag Princess]]'', the princess came to realize that her prince was even more obnoxious than the dragon, and refused to go with him, preferring to skip off into the setting sun alone instead. In some versions, the princess may also befriend, tame, personally defeat, or even be turned into a dragon herself. Indeed, there are a few examples when a curse or spell transforms a princess into a dragon or similar creature (e.g. an alligator, giant bird, or fictional reptile species). In such stories, the transformed princess usually aids her sweetheart in a battle against a force of evil. In ''[[The Swan Princess]]'', for example, Princess Odette is transformed into a [[swan]], and she helps her lover triumph in a battle against the sorcerer Rothbart, who has the power to transform himself into a hideous beast (a manifestation of a [[lion]], [[wolf]], [[bear]] and [[bat]]).

==Tales with princesses and dragons==
===Mythology===
*[[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]]
*[[Hesione]]
*[[Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr]], rescued from a serpent by [[Ragnar Lodbrok]]
*[[Nikita the Tanner]], Russian [[bogatyr]] who fights [[Zmei (Russian)|Zmey Gorynych]]

===Folk and fairy tales===
*[[Dobrynya Nikitich]], a bogatyr who fights a [[Slavic dragon]]
*''The Dragon with Seven Heads'' in [[Italo Calvino]]'s ''[[Italian Folktales]]''
*[[The Two Brothers]], collected by the [[Brothers Grimm]]
*[[The Twins (Albanian tale)|The Twins]]
*[[The Knights of the Fish]]
*[[The Dragon of the North]]
*[[The Dragon and the Prince]]
*[[The Three Dogs]]
*[[The Three Princes and their Beasts]]
*[[The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples]]
*[[The Sea-Maiden]]
*[[The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin]]
*[[The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life]]
*[[The Little Bull-Calf]]
*[[The Three Enchanted Princes]]
*[[The Merchant (fairy tale)|The Merchant]]
*[[Georgic and Merlin]]
*[[Saint George and the Dragon]]
*''Cesarino di Berni'' (''[[The Facetious Nights of Straparola]]'')<ref>"Cesarino the Dragon Slayer". In: ''The Pleasant Nights''. Volume 2. edited by Beecher Donald, by Straparola Giovan Francesco and Waters W.G., 361-93. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442699533.30.</ref>
*[[Ileana Simziana]]
*[[Ileana Cosânzeana]], rescued by [[Făt-Frumos]] from the [[Zmeu]] ou [[Balaur]]
*[[Kulshedra#Folktales and other stories with Bolla/Kulshedra|Kulshedra]], a creature in [[Albanian folklore]] that sometimes guards the fairy or princess [[E Bukura e Dheut|Beauty of the Earth]]
*[[The Flower Queen's Daughter]]

===Literature===
*''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' by [[Ludovico Ariosto]]
*''[[Guards! Guards!]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]]
*''Dragon-in-Distress'' by E. G. Castle (here, the princess's and the dragon's roles are reversed)
*''When Princesses Are Pawns'' by E. G. Cramer

===Modern media===
====Animated and live-action films====
*''[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' (1959)
*''[[Dragonslayer (1981 film)|Dragonslayer]]'' (1981)
*''[[Conan the Barbarian (1982 film)|Conan the Barbarian]]'' (1982)
*''[[Shrek]]'' (2001)
*''[[Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase]]'' (2001)
*''[[The Legend of Pipi]]'' (2022)
*''[[Damsel (2024 film)|Damsel]]'' (2024)

====Television====
*''[[Adventure Time]]'' – "[[Bonnie and Neddy]]"
*''[[Blazing Dragons]]'' (here, the knight's and the dragon's roles are reversed)
*''[[Merlin (miniseries)|Merlin]]''
*''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' – "[[Dunces and Dragons]]"

====Video games====
*''[[Dragon's Lair (1983 video game)|Dragon's Lair]]'' (1983)
*''[[Dragon Buster]]'' (1984)
*''[[Hydlide]]'' (1984) and its remake, ''[[Virtual Hydlide]]'' (1995)
*''[[Dragon Quest (video game)|Dragon Quest]]'' (1986)
*''[[King's Quest III|King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human]]'' (1986)
*''[[Castle Master]]'' (1990)
*''[[King's Bounty: The Legend]]'' (2008)
*''[[Hoard (video game)|Hoard]]'' (2010)
*''[[Dragon's Dogma]]'' (2012)
*''[[Dragon's Crown]]'' (2013)

==Tales with princesses and similar perils==
===Mythology===
*the ''[[Ramayana]]''

===Folk and fairy tales===
*[[The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body]]
*[[The Red Ettin]]
*[[Soria Moria Castle]]
*[[Snow-White-Fire-Red]]
*[[Shortshanks]]
*[[Tritill, Litill, and the Birds]]
*[[The Death of Koschei the Deathless]]
*[[The Crystal Ball (fairy tale)|The Crystal Ball]]
*[[The Flea (fairy tale)|The Flea]]
*[[Schippeitaro]]
*[[The Three Princesses of Whiteland]]

===Literature===
*''[[Ruslan and Ludmila]]'' by [[Alexander Pushkin]]
*''[[The Castle of Llyr]]'' by [[Lloyd Alexander]]
*''[[The Tale of Despereaux]]'' by [[Kate DiCamillo]]
*''[[Castle in the Air (novel)|Castle in the Air]]'' by [[Diana Wynne Jones]]

===Modern media===
====Animated and live-action films====
*''[[The Princess and the Pirate]]'' (1944)
*''[[Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon]]'' (1972)
*''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars: A New Hope]]'' (1977)
*''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'' (1979)
*''[[Return of the Jedi|Star Wars: Return of the Jedi]]'' (1983)
*''[[Fire and Ice (1983 film)|Fire and Ice]]'' (1983)
*''[[Deathstalker (1983 film)|Deathstalker]]'' (1983)
*''[[Conan the Destroyer]]'' (1984)
*''[[Wizards of the Lost Kingdom]]'' (1985)
*''[[Castle in the Sky]]'' (1986)
*''[[Felix the Cat: The Movie]]'' (1989)
*''[[Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' (1992)
*''[[Son of the Pink Panther]]'' (1993)
*''[[Hercules (1997 film)|Hercules]]'' (1997)
*''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'' (2001)
*''[[Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers]]'' (2004)
*''[[1½ Knights: In Search of the Ravishing Princess Herzelinde]]'' (2008)
*''[[Jack the Giant Slayer]]'' (2013)

====Television====
*''[[Black Mirror]]'' – "[[The National Anthem (Black Mirror)|The National Anthem]]"
*''[[Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle]]''
*''[[El-Hazard]]''

====Video games====
*''[[Wizard and the Princess]]'' (1980)
*''[[Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom]]'' (1984)
*''[[Super Mario]]'' series (1985–present)
*''[[Ghosts 'n Goblins]]'' series (1985–2021)
*''[[King's Quest II|King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne]]'' (1985)
*''[[Pit Pot]]'' (1985)
*''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series (1986–present)
*''[[Kid Niki: Radical Ninja]]'' (1986)
*''[[Final Fantasy (video game)|Final Fantasy]]'' (1987) and its prequel, ''[[Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin]]'' (2022)
*''[[Wizards & Warriors]]'' (1987) and its sequel, ''[[Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear]]'' (1990)
*''[[Dragon Spirit]]'' (1987) and its sequel, ''[[Dragon Spirit: The New Legend]]'' (1990)
*''[[Prince of Persia (1989 video game)|Prince of Persia]]'' (1989)
*''[[The Astyanax|Astyanax]]'' (1989)
*''[[Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]]'' (1990) and its remake, ''[[Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon]]'' (2008)
*''[[Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp]]'' (1990)
*''[[Marvel Land]]'' (1990)
*''[[The Rescue of Princess Blobette]]'' (1990)
*''[[Snow Bros.]]'' (1990) and its sequel, ''[[Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves]]'' (1994)
*''[[Battletoads (1991 video game)|Battletoads]]'' (1991)
*''[[Shining in the Darkness]]'' (1991)
*''[[Xexex]]'' (1991)
*''[[Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru]]'' (1992)
*''[[Rocket Knight Adventures]]'' (1993)
*''[[Bomberman Hero]]'' (1998)
*''[[Shining Soul II]]'' (2003)
*''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' (2006)
*''[[Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light]]'' (2009)
*''[[HarmoKnight]]'' (2012)
*''[[Slay the Princess]]'' (2023)

==Gallery==
===Perseus and Andromeda===
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:Museo Nazionale Napoli Perseus And Andromeda.jpg|''Perseus Freeing Andromeda After Killing Cetus'', 1st century AD fresco from the Casa Dei Dioscuri, Pompeii.
File:Giuseppe Cesari - Perseus and Andromeda, 1592.jpg|''Perseus and Andromeda'', by [[Giuseppe Cesari]], 1592.
File:D'arpino-Andromède.jpg|''Perseus and Andromeda'' by [[Giuseppe Cesari]], 1602.
File:Perseus and Andromeda by Peter Paul Rubens.jpg|''Perseus and Andromeda'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], circa 1620-21.
File:Eugène Delacroix - Andromeda - 85.1 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg|''Andromeda'' by [[Eugène Delacroix]]. 1852.
File:Gustave Doré Andromeda.jpg|''Andromeda'' by [[Gustave Doré]], 1869.
File:Charles Napier Kennedy - Perseus and Andromeda, 1890.jpg|''Perseus and Andromeda'' by [[Charles Napier Kennedy]], 1892
</gallery>
===St. George and the Dragon===
<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:St George and the Dragon Verona ms 1853 26r.jpg|''St. George and the Dragon'', 1270.
File:Saint George and the Dragon by Paolo Uccello (London) 01.jpg|''Saint George and the Dragon'' by [[Paolo Uccello]], 1456.
File:St George and the Dragon-altar wing-NG-Praha.jpg|''St. George and the Dragon, 1470.''
File:Jacopo Tintoretto - St George and the Dragon - WGA22451.jpg|''St. George and the Dragon'' by [[Jacopo Tintoretto]], 1555.
File:Luca Cambiaso - St. George and the Dragon - NMH 1570-1863 - Nationalmuseum.jpg|''St. George and the Dragon'', by [[Luca Cambiaso]], 1570
File:Franz Pforr - St George and the Dragon - WGA17399.jpg|''St. George and the Dragon'' by [[Franz Pforr]], 1807.
File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - The Wedding of St George and Princess Sabra.jpg|''The Wedding of St. George and Princess Sabra'', by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], 1857.
File:Burne Jones Saint George and The Dragon The Princess Tied to the Tree 1866.jpg|''The Princess Tied to the Tree'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1866.
File:The Fight -- St George Kills the Dragon VI (Burne-Jones).jpg|''St. George Kills the Dragon'', by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], 1866.
File:St. George Slaying The Dragon, With Una Praying In Background, 1904 (Detail) (8415582011).jpg|''St. George Slaying the Dragon, with Una Praying in the Background'', by [[Phoebe Anna Traquair]], 1904.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[List of dragons in popular culture]]
*[[List of fictional princesses]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Bauman, R. (1970). "A Sixteenth Century Version of The Dragon-Slayer". In: ''Fabula'' 11 (Jahresband): 137–143, Available From: De Gruyter https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.1970.11.1.137 [Accessed 9 October 2020]
* Hart, Donn V., and Harriett C. Hart. "A Philippine Version of "The Two Brothers and the Dragon Slayer" Tale." In: ''Western Folklore'' 19, no. 4 (1960): 263-75. doi:10.2307/1497353.
* Marjanić, Suzana. (2010). "Dragon and Hero or How to Kill a Dragon – on the Example of the Legends of Međimurje about the Grabancijaš and the Dragon (Zmaj i junak ili kako ubiti zmaja na primjeru međimurskih predaja o grabancijašu i pozoju)". In: ''[[Studia mythologica Slavica]]''. 13. 127. 10.3986/sms.v13i0.1644.
* Rebel, Hermann. "When Women Held the Dragon's Tongue." In: ''When Women Held the Dragon's Tongue: And Other Essays in Historical Anthropology''. pp.&nbsp;131–80. [[Berghahn Books]], 2010. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qcq7b.10.
* Velie, Alan R. "The Dragon Killer, The Wild Man and Hal", Fabula 17, Jahresband (1976): 269–274, doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.1976.17.1.269

{{Stock characters}}
[[Category:ATU 300-399]]
[[Category:Recurrent elements in fairy tales]]
[[Category:Fairy tale stock characters]]
[[Category:Female characters in fairy tales]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Legends]]
[[Category:Fictional princesses| ]]
[[Category:Fictional dragons|*]]
[[Category:Saint George and the Dragon]]
[[Category:Andromeda (mythology)]]
[[Category:Damsels in distress]]