Damsel in distress

The damsel in distress character portrayed in popular media is to all intents a plot device, most usually a beautiful woman held captive by a villainous character and the hero must go and save her. Princess peach from the Mario series is a classic example of the damsel stereotype. She has the following characteristics that set her up as a damsel: She is of royal descent, most damsels in mythology or folklore tend to be of royal blood, she is captured by the villain (bowser in this case) and taken of to his lair. This sets in motion for the hero (Mario) to go in a quest to save her, Mario must then go through stages until reaching the final boss, the term “your princess is in another castle” used in media to add another problem to the supposed end of the story “derives its name from Super Mario Bros., where all but the final castle level, a rescued toad thanks Mario but tells him “our princess is in another castle.”(6) Also in popular media she is also known as Mario’s girlfriend furthering the hero must save his beloved story arc prevalent in a lot of European fairy tales such as sleeping beauty, Rapunzel and snow white, who are all in “distress” until a dashing prince comes to save them.

(6) tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle?from=Main.OurPrincessIsInAnotherCastle