Fantaghiro

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True love is never ridiculous.

An Italian live-action film series of the 1990s, of romantic fantasy.

Princess Fantaghirò is the third daughter of a king, who bemoans never having had a son. But Fantaghirò (Alessandra Martines) is as if she were his son, actually: she loves fencing and fighting. In the first film, her kingdom is at war against the nearby country. It's resolved when Fantaghirò and Romualdo, the heir of the other kingdom, fall in love. Then in the next movies, Fantaghirò will fight a black queen, a dark sorcerer and his mother, and the emperor of evil. And sometimes, she has to save/find Romualdo.

Broadcast in several countries (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland etc.), especially near Christmas. The fans think that it was ruined by the fifth film (the ending, in fact) in 1996, even the director Lamberto Bava has said he wishes could shoot another sequel to correct it. Too many years have passed, unfortunately, unless they decide to recast.

Lamberto Bava shoot others TV movies which were also Romantic Fantasy: Desideria, The Princess and the Pauper and Princess Alisea.

Tropes used in Fantaghiro include:

• Absentee Actor: Kim Rossi Stuart (Romualdo) in the last three films (and he's not at all in the fifth film). It was explained by his transformation into a statue, then in an ugly dwarf.
• Action Girl: Fantaghirò. She only wears dresses when she's compelled to.
• Adorkable: Tarabas is completely Socially Inept, especially after the Heel Face Turn. Same thing for Lightning and Bolt.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Dear God, Angelica.
• Aerith and Bob: The three princesses: Caterina, Carolina... Fantaghirò?
• Alliterative Name: Caterina and Carolina. Also Romulado, Cataldo and Ivaldo, his best friends.
• Animated Adaptation: Ressemblance is very lousy.
• The Atoner: Tarabas, after his Heel Face Turn.
• Big Bad:
  • Film 1: The army general.
  • Film 2: The Black Witch.
  • Film 3: The sorceror Tarabas and his mother Xellesia.
  • Film 4: Evil Overlord Darken.
  • Film 5 : The Ogre "No Name" .
• Big Brother Instinct: Tarabas develops one for Smeralda: by the end of the movie god help you if you try to harm that child.
• Big No: The King after the Queen's death.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Carolina, Caterina and Fantaghirò. They're Beauty, Brains, and Brawn, too.
  • Note that Fantaghirò was a brunette as a child, and her red hair becomes dark when it's cut down.
• Black Magic: Subversion - Tarabas can still use his extensive dark powers after his Heel Face Turn, but chooses not to.
• Black Magician Girl: The Dark Witch.
• Brainless Beauty / Dumb Blonde: Carolina, who didn't learn how to read.
  • It's a tradition of the reing that female weren't teach to read or write, and even if they able to, they can't unless told so by a man.
• Brainy Brunette: Caterina. Her intelligence is her main quality, like good looks for Carolina and rebellious temper for Fantaghirò.
• Broken Bird: Xellesia turns out to be one in movie 4.
• Brother-Sister Team: Lightning and Bolt, the Black Witch minions.
• The Chosen One: Fantaghirò in all movies.
  • Smeralda in the third is the child fated to destroy Tarabas' evil reign
  • Tarabas is a dark example. He's not happy.
• Cool Sword
• Dark Is Not Evil: Even when being called the Evil Sorcerer / Evil Overlord of EVIL, Tarabas has a track record of: protesting against his mother killing prisoners and Mooks, trying to earn the trust of children he kidnapped (though conjuring up candy might not have been the best of ideas), saving his adversary several times and falling in love with her in the process, releasing Fantaghirò of her And Now You Must Marry Me promise... ...
• Death by Childbirth: Fantaghirò's mother.
• Denied Food as Punishment: One of Fantaghirò's punishments as a child, toghether with being put into a well. The King, however, looks very heartwarmed when he discovers Carolina and Caterina giving food to their little sister and doesn't say anything.
• Dude in Distress: In every film, at least once.
• Don't Look At Me: Fiodor doesn't even want to look at himself.
• Estrogen Brigade Bait: Kim Rossi Stuart (Romualdo) and Nicholas Rogers (Tarabas). The female viewers were divided between Team Tarabas and Team Romualdo.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Inverted - Xellesia claims not to love Tarabas, but her first thought after being rescued in the fourth movie is to see if her son's all right.
• Evil Is Hammy: The Dark Witch. Ooh, the Dark Witch.
• Evil Laugh: Again, the Dark Witch.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Not only Fantaghirò and her older sisters, but also little princess Smeralda in film 3 and Angelica in film 4 (not to mention princes, like Romualdo).
• Face Heel Turn: Subverted - it seems Prince Parsel was the Evil Sorcerer all along... except he just used him as a "means of travel."
• Fairy Tale
• Fauxreigner: Princess Angelica's kingdom is made to look like Asia. But actors are caucasians.
• Feminist Fantasy
• Friend to All Living Things: Fantaghirò, and she can't learn dark magic because of that.
• The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: Romualdo asks ladies of the kingdom to come, so he can compare their eyes to the eyes of the girl in the forest (the only part of Fantaghirò he has seen).
• Good Hurts Evil: After being forced to commit one act of goodness (via blackmail), the Dark Witch has her Black Magic powers greatly weakened - for instance, instead of turning her minions into worms, she conjures up vases of flowers. Xellesia tries to convince Tarabas that this trope will apply to him as well.
• Heel Face Turn: Tarabas, Lightning and Bolt the moment they realized they actually have a choice.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: The Black Queen. Her power is weaker in films 3 and 4 so she is compelled to follow heroes but she doesn't want to help them, sometimes betrays them, and regrets her power and villainy. Then in film 5 she sentences Fantaghirò to death.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Fantaghirò was Anne d'Autriche, Romualdo played Jesus, The Black Queen was Red Sonja, and Xellesia a James Bond's girl.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The four demons on horses at the beggining of film 4.
• Important Haircut: Fantaghirò did it in the first film in a Joan of Arc style. Later she does it again every time she's going to war. Oddly, her hair is suddenly long again in final scenes, even thought they're not flashforwards.
• Inadequate Inheritor: The King feels his daugthers are this, because they're females.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Tarabas, whenever kissed out of love. A meta version is Romualdo, due to an Absentee Actor.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Smeralda has her parents killed and her kingdom destroyed, while Tarabas was raised without any affection and cursed to shift in an monster if try to kiss his loved ones.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In the end, Angelica and Romualdo end up not having to do it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The King in the first movie.
• Jerkass Facade: Tarabas in movie 3, and he doesn't know: he was raised to be the most evil wizard ever while being a good person all along. He usually Kick the Dog and Pet the Dog at the same time.
• Kiss of Life: What all the women in the kingdom try to do for Romualdo after he turns into a statue and Fantaghirò fails to cure him this way.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight when you realized it's actually Tarabas' kiss to save him.
• Love At First Sight: Romualdo and Fantaghirò. Also BetaCouples Catherina/Cataldo and Carolina/Ivaldo.
• Love Before First Sight: Angelica falls in love with Tarabas based on the books she reads about him - you know, those describing him as the Darkest of Wizards, Ultimate Evil, etc. She purposely tries to have a Meet Cute moment with him, encourages him to use Black Magic whenever possible, wants to be his Dark Mistress and tries to pull a Murder the Hypotenuse when Fantaghirò arrives. She then searches the world for him despite hearing from the man himself that he doesnt love her she gets better). Eventually, she quite happily agrees to wait to be his Second Love.
• Luke, I Am Your Father:
  • At the end of film 2, Fantaghirò realises that under the "Black King" helmet and loud voice, it's her Brainwashed dad.
  • At the end of film 4, Tarabas and Darken are sword duelling, and Darken shows that his younger self looked like Tarabas. Then Xellesia enters and yells the reason: "Don't kill him, he's your father!"
• Magic Contract Romance: What Tarabas hopes to do in movie 3.
• Meet Cute: The White Witch arranges one for Fantaghirò and Romualdo.
• My Beloved Smother: Xellesia to Tarabas, in movie 3.
• Non-Human Sidekick: The horse, the goose, and the stone.
• No Name Given: The film 5 Big Bad.
  • Also the King, the Dark Witch and the White Witch.
• Orcus on His Throne: Subverted in the fact that Tarabas has no interest in decimating the good guys and couldn't care less about them before he hears one of them has sworn vengeance against him for reasons unknown to him. Then he goes off to defy the trope.
• Pair the Spares: Done rather well, actually - Angelica's childish love for Tarabas develops into a genuine desire for him to be happy, even if not with her, while Tarabas learns to distinguish between positive emotions and lets go of his unrequired love for Fantaghirò. We don't see if They Do... but they're on their way.
• Pinocchio Syndrome: No Name in the fifth movie.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Take Our Word for It, Tarabas is evil. Like, really evil.
• Prince Charming: Romualdo.
• Princess Classic: Caterina, Carolina and Angelica.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Angelica.
• Put on a Bus: Smeralda in the fourth movie. The whole freaking cast (except Fantaghirò) in the fifth.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: All mages are said to be old and immortal.
• Rebellious Princess / Badass Princess: Fantaghirò (It's even the title of the first movie). And Smeralda, as well: she often uses a slingshot and wears trousers like Fantaghirò. Both are Tomboy Princess.
• Redemption Equals Death: Xellesia
• Redemption Quest: End of movie 3 for Tarabas.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Lampshaded in the fourth movie: thanks to his training in dark magic Tarabas doesn't even know the difference between friendship and love.
• Sapient Steed: Golden Hair, the talking horse.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A royal child under the age of ten shall defeat Tarabas's evil kingdom.
• Shapeshifting : The white witch (turns into goose, knight, old guy, hot chick, old lady...). And the black witch as well (eagle, roses, cristal, Fantaghirò look alike...). Tarabas turns into an eagle.
• She's Got Legs: The Dark Witch wears outfits specifically designed to show this off.
• Spell My Name with an "S": It's pronounced 'Fantagaro' in french. And the title was Cavern of the golden rose, referring to the begining of film 1.
• Spikes of Villainy: Romualdo's father's ancestral armor looks like the lovechild of a porcupine and a needle cushion. This trope is defied, though - in his very first appearance, Romualdo points out how horribly useless and uncomfortable the armor is.
• Spoiled Brat: Angelica, but she gets better.
• Squishy Wizard: Tarabas has some trouble fighting after renouncing Black Magic. Fantaghirò exaggerates it a bit, though, as he somehow managed to learn a bit of swordfighting in-between movies.
• Stalker with a Crush: Played with. Tarabas tries to find out who Fantaghirò is and accidentally ends up accompanying her and Smeralda for a while. In about a day, it's Love At First Sight for him - but in an inversion, he doesn't want to know her name or see her ever again, partly due to What Is This Thing You Call Love? and knowing that the sentiment won't be returned.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Fantaghirò's father tries.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Tarabas
• Sweet Polly Oliver: The three princesses in the first film, who are going to war as "knights" disguised in full armours.
  • Then Romualdo gets Sweet on Polly Oliver.
  • Fantaghirò continues this in later films, wearing short hair and men's outfits. She's often mistaken for a guy. Surprisingly, children can tell her gender better than adults.
• Talking Animal: They all can, and stones, flowers or food can be very chatty as well.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: How Romualdo falls in love with Fantaghirò.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Lightning and Bolt just disappear in the fourth movie. Also, we never learn the fate of Prince Parsel.
• What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Boy, does Tarabas not get it at all. Friendship? Stop inventing new words! Love is love, right?
• Vain Sorceress: The best way to convince the Dark Witch to cooperate is to bank on this trope.
• Yandere: Angelica comes across as this at first, hoping to become an ascended fangirl of Tarabas.
• Youngest Child Wins: Fantaghirò, the third princess.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: The King to Fantaghirò in the first movie.
• Woman in White: The White Witch.