Unstructured Archetypes: The One True Love

She is Maid Marian. She is Penelope. She is Princess Buttercup.

The One True Love is invariably a woman. The nearest archetypal equivalent is Prince Charming.

The One True Love is virginal. Only the Hero can consummate her love.

She may be a low-born woman but she can never, ever be a Fallen Woman.

She does not crave sex. She is more than happy to provide sex to the Hero (once he has Proven Himself and only within the Proper Context), but sex isn’t her goal.

She does not have sex on-screen (or on the page). It is assumed that she has orgasms but that is not to be spoken of.

She is decidedly not kinky. It can be assumed that the One True Love prefers the One True Position.

Although she usually experiences Love at First Sight upon seeing the Hero, her love must, never the less, be won through adversity and peril.

She is vulnerable. She can be killed. If she is killed, she will be avenged. Avenging her will always be the Hero’s first priority.

The Hero will always be faithful to her (in heart if not in body) unless she Lapses and becomes a Sinful Woman, in which case he will have the option of finding his Other One True Love.

The Villain will often crave her. If he does, his goal will be to Ravish her. If the Villain succeeds, the ravishment will be fatal so that the Hero can avenge her. No One True Love ever survives being ravished.

If she survives and the Hero Puts Down his Sword, she will birth him at least one son. This is an implicit part of living Happily Ever After.

The One True Love is never barren.

If she has children, she will become a Good Mother. This does not negate her status as the One True Love.

The Villain may imprison her. If this happens, she will need to be Rescued. Only the Hero can Rescue her. He must do so before she is ravished.

If she falls ill – usually because she has been cursed or poisoned – the Hero will need to take up a Quest to Find a Remedy. She will always be cured of her illness, but only in the Nick of Time.

If the hero has Loved Another, she will fulfill the role of the Other One True Love. She will not question the Hero’s love for her, nor attempted to denigrate his previous love. Regardless, she, herself, may never take another lover without become a Sinful Woman, even if the Hero chooses to leave her.

The Hero's love for The Other One True Love will never be as deep as for the One True Love, but it will be strong enough.

Her only defense against harm is her virtue. If she remains virtuous, she may be protected from Evil (or may not, in which case the Hero has to avenge her); however, if her virtue lapses, she is invariably doomed to suffer and probably die.

If her virtue lapses, her only hope is to Repent of Her Sinfulness. If she repents, she may be saved but she will never again be the One True Love.

She believes in God and is a godly woman.

Beer Activated Girl

With a title like Beer Activated Girl, you'd think that this parody of Coin Activated Boy would be utterly misogynistic but it actually manages to be rather sweet in an odd sort of way. Bonus points for using a cute, plus-sized model.

A Cold Cryptography

Her whispers were
A cold cryptography

The mist from her mouth
Laden with hieroglyphs
And secret spirals

I breathed deep her breath

But my lungs
Would not decipher

Her frigid mysteries

The Wind as a Mistress to the Seasons

Her first romance is with Spring,
And it is an affair that is full
Of all the passions and joys
The only belong to youngest love.
She frolicks across the grass with him,
Sending kites high into the air
And ruffling the hair of passing children.
They dance among the clouds,
Unconciously crying to all the world
To bear witness to their selfless beauty.

By the time she takes Summer’s hand
Her innocence has long since past
Replaced by something torrid and sexual.
Her breath is hot, and often moist,
With the humidity of intertwining lust.
Many days she does little more
Than to lie motionlessly beneath him,
Soaking his heat into her body;
Sometimes the flames of their desire
Last long through the night.

When Autumn finally finds her
She is a woman ready for a change of mood.
Putting away the exuberance of youth,
She becomes a lady of sophistication.
When she walks down the street,
It is with cool and collected grace.
She dons the elegant dresses of tan and gold
That her paramour has made for her,
Always aware that all eyes are upon her,
And that she has gained a reputation
That she must now and always live up to.
People wonder why she sometimes weeps.

At last she marries Winter.
He forgives her those past indiscretions,
And gifts her with a wedding gown of white.
He is a good man, but so terribly old;
His ancient breath sends shivers through her skin.
It is no wonder that it is not a happy marriage.
On the best of days, it is cold,
And when she rages, as happens too often,
One can only wonder if this ragged, regal woman
Was the same girl who ran across
The verdant grasses so very long ago.