Hero's Muse

Heroes on quests are common. Sometimes, The Hero's motivation for pursuing the quest derives from his regard for some sort of idealized woman. Not uncommonly, this lady is the hero's love interest, and he is striving in order to be able to marry her. His love for her is pure and strong and overcomes all temptations that are thrown into his path.

The lady herself often occupies an exalted role: she is a goddess, a saint, a queen, a princess, or something similar. Generally, she is very pure, sometimes to the point of seeming unapproachable. If she is unmarried, she is chaste. She is also often a Proper Lady.

The lady can be the one who gives the hero his quest; he then departs to complete it before returning to her. Alternatively, she flits in and out of the hero's path, reminding him of her presence but staying out of reach. Occasionally, she is at his side all along, serving as a reminder of what he is striving for and inspiring him to persevere. In all situations, she often dispenses advice to the hero, although that advice can be rather cryptic.

This trope is particularly common in works from the medieval and renaissance period, as it ties closely to the ideas of the Courtly Love tradition. In older works, it often takes the form of a knight errant and his lady love.

Compare to The Obi-Wan, The Lost Lenore, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and Men Act, Women Are. Called "Meeting With The Goddess" in Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

Examples of Hero's Muse include:

Anime and Manga

Kisara, the vessel of the White Dragon in Yu-Gi-Oh!: She provides an almost literal light to balance Priest Seto's inner darkness, and her Heroic Sacrifice and death in his arms provides the inspiration for his reign.
Rem in Trigun inspired and guided the main character, Vash. She's the reason he never kills anyone, no matter how much they deserve it. She took Vash and Knives in as her own children when the crew found them, and acted as their surrogate mother. She is extremely kind and idealistic, and Vash treats her lessons and worldviews as sacred.
Miu in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. She's the granddaughter of the World's Strongest Man, and she's always been a better martial artist than Kenichi, who makes it his goal to be strong enough to protect her.

Film

The soldiers in Mulan discuss this trope in the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For".

Literature

Dante of the Divine Comedy is sent on his quest for redemption through the afterlife by Beatrice, who enlists the help of the poet Virgil to guide him through Hell and Purgatory, and guides Dante through Heaven herself.
In the first book of the The Faerie Queene, The Redcrosse Knight is guided and inspired by his love, Una, who is the personification of the "true church".
In The Lord of the Rings, Arwen functions in this role for Aragorn: the driving force behind his striving to regain his crown is his love for Arwen and the fact that he can only marry her once he is king.
In Don Quixote, the eponymous hero fights for his lady love, whom he refers to as Dulcinea. In his mind, he elevates her to a princess and the most beautiful woman in the world, although she is in reality a peasant girl named Aldonza.
In The Golden Ass, the protagonist, Lucius, after searching long and hard for a way to reverse his transformation into a donkey, is finally inspired by the Egyptian goddess Isis. She reveals herself to him in a vision and teaches him the steps to change back into a human. Having fulfilled his tasks, he joins the Cult of Isis and devotes himself to her.
Subverted in "Eutopia" by Poul Anderson: the protagonist is on the run and only keeps going due to his dreams of his lover Nik, who turns out to be a boy.
Stationery Voyagers
- After Rhodney meets Melanie, only his religious convictions matter more to him than she does. He rapidly begins losing all interest in being a Voyager, or even in the war. It offers him as little joy as his meaningless daredevil life did; because he realizes that all along, it was a family that he truly wanted.
- Neone would like to be this for Marlack, but he feels her past makes the "pure" part near-impossible. She does, however, become his Morality Chain; giving him something to live for other than proving his worth to his grandfather and avenging his sister's honor. Towards the end, as the two grow more in love, she becomes his Living Emotional Crutch.
In Deryni Checkmate, (then) Countess Richenda of Marley is this to Alaric Morgan from the first time he sees her. He dreams of her for months afterward, and is finally introduced to her by Kelson during preparations for the Torenthi campaign in High Deryni. She lampshades this trope just after they share a Mind Link: "Then I have given you that much more to fight for." After their marriage, she also inspires him to fill the gaps in his arcane education, passing on much of her own Eastern-influenced training to him.

Tabletop Games

In Chaosium's Pendragon, knights are expected to form this kind of relationship (called Courtly Love) with an appropriate lady.
Warhammer Fantasy Battle: The Bretonnian knights, being Arthurian knights in France, follow the cult of the Lady, a mystical figure who gives visions and quests, leading to drinking from the Grail. Warhammer being the cheerful and happy place it is, the Lady may or may not be an elaborate hoax pulled off by the Wood Elves to protect their lands.

Theatre

In Spamalot, the ethereal, white-clad Lady of the Lake fulfills this role (romantic interest and all) for Arthur. Although, Monty Python being Monty Python, she's a bit less passive and pure than is usual, especially once she decides she's not getting enough screen time.

Video Games

Bioware games tend to have one good female character as a romantic option for the Player Character, and they tend to get upset with you if you do something For the Evulz. Obviously, these are Bioware games, so this trope can just as easily be Played Straight, Averted, Subverted (you Corrupt the Cutie), Inverted (the player character could be the inspirer), etc.
- Knights of the Old Republic had Bastilla Shan.
- Dragon Age Origins had Leliana.
- Mass Effect had Ashley Williams.

Web Comics

Gender Flipped in the Ciem Webcomic Series: Before Erin's death, Candi held Donte on a ridiculously high pedestal. After Donte was captured and presumed dead and Erin was Killed Off for Real, Candi made a good portion of her goal in life being to find a suitable replacement for Donte. When that Replacement Love Interest was Killed Off for Real, she got to have Donte back. And then every self-control-related problem she had after that stemmed from her urge to marry and possess Donte. Alas, her beloved was never quite the same after having been captured. So she determined to make do, even with a fallen muse.

Web Original

Gender Flipped in Greek Ninja, where Hashimoto Daichi ends up being the muse of the heroine, Sasha.

Western Animation

Princess Yue, of Avatar: The Last Airbender: She is a princess who sacrifices her mortal life to become the moon spirit. In the episode "The Awakening", she provides encouragement and help to Aang at a time when he desperately needs it.

Real Life

Any time a woman is on the British throne, expect her to be invoked as this. All the way from Boadicea to Queen Victoria (this was especially prevalent in Queen Victoria's time), and even the current Queen.