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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
''The Prisoner of Zenda'' is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of [[Ruritania]] is abducted on the eve of his coronation, and the hero, an [[Mighty Whitey|English gentleman]] on holiday who fortuitously resembles the monarch, is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an attempt to save the situation. ▼
| title = The Prisoner of Zenda
| original title =
| image = Zenda1 Gibson.jpg
| caption = "I Handed Flavia Down the Broad Marble Steps", frontispiece to the 1898 edition
| author = Anthony Hope
| central theme = Duty above all
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Ruritanian romance
| publication date = 1894
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
▲''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'' is an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of [[Ruritania]] is abducted on the eve of his coronation, and the hero, an [[Mighty Whitey|English gentleman]] on holiday who fortuitously resembles the monarch, is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an attempt to save the situation.
A modern reader might sympathize with Black Michael (the King's brother, kidnapper, and attempted usurper of the throne) because the King is introduced as a somewhat irresponsible and flippant individual, and because some quarters of the population prefer Michael to Rudolf. In the book itself, however, Michael is portrayed as cowardly and treacharous, while his supporters among the people are mostly dismissed as being of a "largely criminal" class and King Rudolf is stated to be preferred by other parts of the populace.
The book is responsible for many tropes on this site that are listed below. Likewise, it has been remade into several films, books and episodes of series since.
[[I Read That As|Not to be confused with]] ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''.
{{tropenamer}}
{{tropelist}}
* [[Affably Evil]], [[Enigmatic Minion]], [[Reliable Traitor]], [[Magnificent Bastard]] and [[The Starscream]]: All good descriptors of Rupert of Hentzau.
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Michael
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* [[Lost in Imitation]]
* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: Rupert and Black Michael's other minions, referred to in the story as "The Six".
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: The 1937 Ronald Colman [[The Prisoner of Zenda (
* [[Prisoner of Zenda Exit]]: A namesake trope.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Rudolf, and this trait is associated with the royal family of Ruritania.
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* [[Royal Blood]]
* [[Royally Screwed-Up]]
* [[Sequel Hook]]: At the end of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'', Rupert of Hentzau has escaped, and the novel closes with Rudolf musing on that loose end, as well as a personal feeling that he might yet have some "part to play" in the world. There was, of course, a sequel titled ''Rupert of Hentzau''.
▲* [[Ruritania]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
▲* [[Sequel Hook]]: At the end of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'', Rupert of Hentzau has escaped, and the novel closes with Rudolf musing on that loose end, as well as a personal feeling that he might yet have some "part to play" in the world. There was, of course, a sequel titled ''Rupert of Hentzau''.
* [[Succession Crisis]]
* ~Sure, Let's Go With That~: At some point, someone becomes aware of the King of Ruritania being imprisoned and this reaches England. Everyone there thinks that Rudolf was jailed for making a pass at Black Michael's mistress and a minor international incident occurs to get him released. When he returns, his family assumes that his more serious attitude is from that situation and he lets them believe that.
* [[Swashbuckler]]
* [[The Usurper]]: What the plot is built on.
* [[Villain
* [[The Wrongful Heir to
* [[You Fight Like a Cow]]: Rudolf and Rupert have several banter-filled duels of the kind [[Affectionate Parody|affectionately parodied]] in ''[[The Princess Bride (
----
{{examples|Adaptations of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' include:}}
== Comic Books ==
* One issue of ''[[Jon Sable Freelance]]'' is a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]''.▼
== Film ==
* The paramount of the adaptations is the straight one made in 1937.
* The 1979 film version is a comic vehicle for [[Loads and Loads of Roles|Peter Sellers]]. It's regarded as one of his weakest films, and when Peter saw it he said to the producers: [[Take That|"I have only one comment to make - my lawyers will be in touch with you."]]
* The [[Doctor Who|Fourth Doctor]] serial ''Androids of Tara'' is a largely faithful adaptation set [[Recycled in Space|in space]].▼
▲* The 1979 film version is a comic vehicle for [[Loads and Loads of Roles|Peter Sellers]]. It's regarded as one of his weakest films, and when Peter saw it he said to the producers: [[Take That|"I have only one comment to make - my lawyers will be in touch with you."]]
* The television series ''Prisoner of Zenda Inc.'' is a corporate-themed adaptation of the work.▼
* The film ''Moon Over Parador''
* The 1993 film ''[[Dave]]'', starring Kevin Kline, where Ruritania is replaced by the United States of America.
* An episode of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', where Iolaus was the king's cousin, although the king, once rescued, actually acknowledged Iolaus was doing a better job and vowed to learn to be like that. ▼
* The [[Robert A. Heinlein]] novel ''[[Double Star]]'' borrowed the "must take the place of the kidnapped leader'' bit as its main plot. <small>IN SPACE</small>.▼
* The second [[Flashman]] novel (''Royal Flash'') is a Zenda homage. Given the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|series' setup]], Flashman claims Hope plagiarized the story from him.▼
* ''[[The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (Film)|The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland]]'' swapped the social satire of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' for this kind of plot.▼
* The ''[[Get Smart (TV)|Get Smart]]'' episode "The King Lives?", with Agent 86 taking the place of the missing King Charles. One of the few episodes to have a sequel ("To Sire, With Love").▼
* The [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] novel ''The Mad King'' draws heavily on ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (although moves the setting to [[World War One]]).▼
* The [[Time Wars]] novel ''The Zenda Vendetta'', in which time-travelling terrorists murder Rudolf Rassendyll, so one of the heroes -- who fortuitously ''also'' resembles the monarch -- has to impersonate him impersonating the King.▼
* Inverted at one point on ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]''. At one point, a [[Time Travel]] incident leads to a historical figure getting killed before the events that made him famous. Since he's not famous yet, what he looks like doesn't really matter, except that he was black and his race was significant. So Captain Sisko ends up taking his place to preserve the timeline. A few seasons later, Nog is looking at a file about Earth history, and [[Call Back|he finds a section on this guy]] with a picture. He remarks how he looks just like Captain Sisko.▼
* The 1965 film ''[[The Great Race]]'' has a sequence in which the villain Professor Fate is taken for the imbecillic Prince Frederick Hapnick; Baron von Stuppe plays the Hentzau part, complete with a bungled [[Prisoner of Zenda Exit]].
* The book was recently condensed for Malaysian secondary schools as part of a program to expose classic English Literature to the public.▼
== Literature ==
▲* One issue of ''[[Jon Sable Freelance]]'' is a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]''.
▲* The [[Robert A. Heinlein]] novel ''[[Double Star]]'' borrowed the "must take the place of the kidnapped leader
* One ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]'' episode is a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to [[The Prisoner of Zenda]].▼
▲* The second ''[[Flashman]]'' novel (''Royal Flash'') is a Zenda homage. Given the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|series' setup]], Flashman claims Hope plagiarized the story from him.
* [[Kim Newman]]'s novel ''[[The Hound of the Durbervilles (Literature)|The Hound of the Durbervilles]]'' borrows several characters and situations from "[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]", especially in "A Shambles in Belgravia", which tosses Irene Adler into the Ruritanian succession debacle.▼
▲* The [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] novel ''The Mad King'' draws heavily on ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (although moves the setting to [[World War
▲* The ''[[Time Wars]]'' novel ''The Zenda Vendetta'', in which time-travelling terrorists murder Rudolf Rassendyll, so one of the heroes -- who fortuitously ''also'' resembles the monarch -- has to impersonate him impersonating the King.
▲* The book was recently{{when}} condensed for Malaysian secondary schools as part of a program to expose classic English Literature to the public.
▲* [[Kim Newman]]'s novel ''[[The Hound of the
== Live-Action TV ==
▲* The [[Doctor Who|Fourth Doctor]] serial ''Androids of Tara'' is a largely faithful adaptation set [[Recycled in Space|in space]].
▲* The television series ''Prisoner of Zenda Inc.'' is a corporate-themed adaptation of the work.
▲* An episode of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', where Iolaus was the king's cousin, although the king, once rescued, actually acknowledged Iolaus was doing a better job and vowed to learn to be like that.
▲* The ''[[
▲* Inverted at one point on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. At one point, a [[Time Travel]] incident leads to a historical figure getting killed before the events that made him famous. Since he's not famous yet, what he looks like doesn't really matter, except that he was black and his race was significant. So Captain Sisko ends up taking his place to preserve the timeline. A few seasons later, Nog is looking at a file about Earth history, and [[Call Back|he finds a section on this guy]] with a picture. He remarks how he looks just like Captain Sisko.
== Radio ==
▲* One ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]'' episode is a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]''.
== Western Animation ==
▲* ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:British Literature]]
[[Category:Literature of the 19th century]]
[[Category:Film Series]]
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