Prince Charmless: Difference between revisions

A [[Sister Trope|variation]] on the [[Romantic False Lead]] -- except—except here the "prince" is clearly the [[Wrong Guy First]]. This may be done to [[Prince Charming]] retroactively by [[Derailing Love Interests]].

* ''[[Code Geass]]'': First Prince Odysseus U Britannia (a nice guy but not very bright for the heir apparent to Britannian throne) almost had an [[Arranged Marriage]] with [[Token Mini MoeLoli]] Tian-Zi, the Empress of China. Obviously, it was not meant to be.

** There's a ''reason'' [[Fan Nickname|fans call him]] "[[Spaceballs (Film)|Prince Valium]]".

* The noble title of Conrad in ''[[Rune Soldier]]'' isn't entirely clear, but he has all the traits of the trope. He's even much more worse at being a hero than Louie, who at least has the spirit to help people and shows some degree of competence, while Conrad is just an [[UpperclassUpper Class Twit]].

** To help clarify, he has a natural ability that makes people instinctively like him, but after a time it no longer has an effect, he managed to charm his way in and get chased out of every royal and noble house in europeEurope when we first see him.

* Prince Valium from ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]''.

* The prince from ''[[Happily N 'Ever After]]'', no wonder Cinderella {{spoiler|married a commoner.}}

* In ''[[Shrek]]'' ''2'', [[Meaningful Name|Prince Charming]] was supposed to marry Fiona, but his personality did not endear him to her. He's not even [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain| all-that competent as a villain]], as the second and third movies show.

* The prince of ''[[The Illusionist (Filmfilm)|The Illusionist]]''.

* Prince Achmed in Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.

* Beast from ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and Thethe Beast]]'' started out this way, largely why the enchantress cursed him.

* Prince Ji-Ki from ''[[Mulan (Disney)|''Mulan II]]'']].

* Humperdinck from ''[[The Princess Bride (Literaturenovel)|The Princess Bride]]''.

* Played with in ''[[The Paper Bag Princess (Literature)|The Paper Bag Princess]]''; Prince Ronald is clearly this, and Princess Elizabeth realizes this at the end, but there's no lower-class equivalent for him. So she dumps him and lives life alone - played as a [[Happy Ending]].

* ''[[Discworld]]'': The Duc in the novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]''. Like Farquaad above, he's not technically a prince but the principle applies. He's in cahoots with evil fairy godmother Lilith, and Magrat is called in (with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg along for the ride) to save Emberella from marrying him.

** And he's {{spoiler|a frog}}.

* Ferencz Nadasdy in ''[[Count and Countess (Literature)|Count and Countess]]''.

{{quote| [[Jerkass|"I was raised to be charming, not sincere."]]}}

** ''[[Dragon Quest V (Video Game)|Dragon Quest V]]'': Prince Harry. When you first meet him, he's a six-year old selfish prankster who only cares about himself, offering you to be his lackey (only to say you're not worthy of being one), and even complains about how long you took when you and your father come to his rescue. {{spoiler|After Pankraz's death and being enslaved by the Order of Zugzwang for ten years}}, [[Character Development|he gets better.]]<br /><br />His son, however, {{spoiler|ends up being a carbon copy of his dad during the spoiled-brat phase,}} even going so far as to {{spoiler|pull the same stunts on the main character's own children}}, though thankfully without any kidnapping occurring.

** ''[[Dragon Quest VI (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VI]]'': Prince Howard of Howcastle, who goofs around with village kids and forever runs from the cave of trials that every heir to the throne has to go through by a certain age. It takes no less than three false starts before the party finally drags him through the trials. However, the experience obviously impresses upon Howard the magnitude of the task, and he buckles down once the quest is completed.

** ''[[Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VIII]]'': Prince Charmles. In the localization, he's called "Prince Charmless" a lot (though he claims [[Its Pronounced Tropay|it's pronounced Charm-lay]]). The term might have been used elsewhere, but he's the [[Trope Namer]] until further notice. As a character, he's a total [[Jerkass]], to cover up his [[Dirty Coward|Dirty Cowardice]]ice.

* ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'' has Dingo Flagrente (AKA Dean LaGrant), a Jerkass Matador existing in the mind of Edgar Teglee who supposedly stole his love Lampita (AKA Lana) from him, according to [[Unreliable Narrator|Unreliable Narrators]]s. When Raz meets the more Reliable Narrators, the story is clarified as [[Jerk Jock|Dean]] stealing [[Alpha Bitch|Lana]] from him.

* In ''[[War CraftWarcraft]]'' Prince Arthas appears to be a classic good and noble hero. He's a ''paladin'' for the Light's sake. However, the game and particularly expanded universe materials reveal not only his slide into darkness, but the fact that really? He was already a bit of a jerk.

* ''[[King's Quest IV]]'': Edgar appears to be this but ends up being quite the subversion. As a deformed, hunchbacked [[The Fair Folk|Fae]], he is too bashful to say much of anything, though he does end up [[Please Spare Him, My Liege|talking Lolotte into sparing Rosella's life]] so Rosella can endure a [[Fetch Quest]] instead. After Lolotte has the treasures, he convinces her again to save Rosella's life via [[Standard Hero Reward]]. Then, he pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] by [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|allowing Rosella a chance to escape]], despite his case of [[Love At First Sight]]. Genesta's reward of {{spoiler|changing him back to his true form}} completes his transformation into a [[Prince Charming]].

** {{spoiler|playPlay your cards right, and they will marry Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters (They're sweet while Cindy's a spoiled brat)}}

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Animatedanimation)|Legend of Zelda]]'': Prince [[Meaningful Name|Facade]] was so excessively concerned with appearances that he was willing to let Zelda get kidnapped instead of risking getting his clothes dirty.

* ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'': Ever since "The Ticketmaster," Rarity had hoped to meet "him," Princess Celestia's distant nephew Prince Blueblood. It is not until "The Best Night Ever" that she finally meets him in-person during the Grand Galloping Gala. Unfortunately, Blueblood turns out to be a vain, stuck-up jerk, and after he ''uses Rarity as a [[Human Shield|pony shield]] against a flying cake'', she finally gets fed up and [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|chews him out for it]].

** And that is after he's ''[[Kick the Dog|turned all the traditional courtesies on their heads]]'' because he's an [[Entitled Bastard]] who thinks [[ItsIt's All About Me|It's All About Prince Blueblood]].

** As the ponies are fleeing the gala, Rarity drops a [[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|glass slipper]]... and when Pinkie Pie points this out, ''smashes it'' out of fear [[The Girl Who Fits This Slipper|he'll use it to find her]].