Barrier Maiden: Difference between revisions

Sometimes the [[Distressed Damsel]] isn't just a pretty and helpless love interest in need of rescuing; sometimes [[Load Bearing Hero|she's also a vital support beam]] for the continuing existence of a safe and happy world. Kinda makes dating awkward.

Of course, this makes them the target of so many [[The Presidents Daughter|kidnapping plots]] even the ''parodies'' have become a [[Dead Horse Trope]]. Note that ''[[Mundane Solution|just plain killing]]'' the Barrier Maiden is rarely an option -- either the villain becomes infatuated with her or he wants to [[Break the Cutie]] to [[The Dark Side]] and turn her into an [[Apocalypse Maiden]], or there's a complex [[Black Magic]] ritual needed before he can destroy or steal her power. Simply killing will just make her [[Reincarnation|reincarnate]] elsewhere...the list goes on and on.

The life of a poor Barrier Maiden is pretty sucky to boot [[Superpowerful Genetics|(even more so than for a superhero's kid)]]. She's usually treated as a [[MacGuffin]] [[The Presidents Daughter|instead of a person]]<ref>(Which might be technically true if she used to be an inanimate [[MacGuffin]] that was turned into a [[MacGuffin Girl]])</ref>, is expected to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] if victory is on the line, and is usually chained to a temple or altar as part of her duties. As a job, maintaining the [[Containment Field]] or being a [[Cosmic Keystone]] usually isn't pleasant either: if the evil is becoming stronger or the [[Eldritch Abomination]] is weakening reality, she might end up dying either holding up the roof or when the barrier breaks.

{{examples|Examples}}

** Unusual in that it's not any magical power she has that makes saving her critical, but that allowing the next in line (her cousin and suspected [[Brother Sister Incest|half-brother]]) to take the throne would give the villains enough cash to buy leadership of the church and turn it into a [[Church of Evil]].

* The Eternals from ''[[Fablehaven (Literature)|Fablehaven]]'' are a group of immortal Barrier People (not all maidens) who serve as {{spoiler|the second lock to opening the demon prison Zyzyx}}. Immortality has ''not'' [[Who Wants to Live Forever|been kind to them]], such that it is not actually all that difficult for them to be convinced to take their own lives. {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]]'s [[Ironic Hell]] is to become one of them.}}

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' does it again with {{spoiler|Zelda, revealed to be the mortal reincarnation of the goddess Hylia. After you beat the sixth dungeon and meet up with her in the past, she reveals her identity and puts herself to sleep in the Sealed Temple to keep the seal on [[Big Bad|Demise]] intact. [[The End of the World As We Know It|That's why if you manage to let The Imprisoned reach the temple even once...]]}}

** The PSP portable version adds {{spoiler|a female protagonist. Despite how she and the male MC aren't exactly the same characterization-wise, she fulfills the same role in-story -- and it includes becoming the local [[Barrier Maiden]], too. For better or worse, she can ''fall in love with the Appriser of Nyx'', Ryouji Mochizuki, which adds a [[Star Crossed Lovers]] element here. And here we have three possible companions that could potentially survive until the day she's released: Aigis, Elizabeth, ''and'' Elizabeth's younger brother Theodore.}}

* Shana, from ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'', is an evil example. At first, you think of her just as ''[[The Chick]]'' and ''[[The Medic]]'', but then you discover she is the Moon Child, the only being able of resurrecting the [[Dragon in Chief|Virage Embryo]], last boss of the game. Until she is used by [[Big Bad|Melbu Frahma]] for this purpose, no one, not even her, is aware of her real identity.