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[[File:Tiana_rags_to_riches_3205.png|link=The Princess and Thethe Frog (Disney)|frame|In her case, everyone glosses over the frog phase.]]
 
 
A classic of [[Literature]], this [[Changeling Fantasy]] is as simple as it is sublime: the [[Beauty Equals Goodness|beautiful]], [[Cinderella Circumstances|hard working]], [[The Pollyanna|put upon]] commoner girl who never loses her hope will be a princess or queen by stories end. That much is certain, what varies is ''how'' she goes from Rags to Royalty.
 
* '''[[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|Cinderella]] Style:''' A commoner by birth, or with only minor ties to [[Blue Blood|nobility]]. Nonetheless, through hard work, perseverance, and the help of musical mice, she'll swoop into the ball and make the prince her "husband".
** Other classics of this type: ''[[Beauty and Thethe Beast (Film1946 film)|Beauty and The Beast]]'', ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''
* '''[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Literaturenovel)|Snow White]] Style:''' [[Royal Blood|Legitimately royalty]], but [[Noble Fugitive|forced into hiding]] to escape those who plot against her or because [[King Incognito|she can not act as she needs to as long as she is seen as royal]]. Usually part of a [[Fish Out of Water]] plot as she tries to hide her royalty and fake being a commoner. May have to prove birthright with bizarre tests or special trinkets only the legitimate Princess would have.
** Other classics of this type: "[[The Princess and The Pea (Literature)|The Princess and Thethe Pea]]".
* '''[[Sleeping Beauty]] Style:''' Like the Snow White, she's royalty and forced into hiding for protection. Unlike the Snow White, she has no idea she has a [[Secret Legacy]]. Of course, her [[Genre Blind]] guardians [[Poor Communication Kills|feel she's safer]] [[Locked Out of the Loop|not knowing]] her ancestry ''or'' that there are evil forces seeking to harm her, or possibly they don't know either. You can guess how that ends. (''Note: Named after the Disney version of the story only.'')
** The classic [[Gender Flip]] version is, of course, [[King Arthur]].
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Epidemic in the [[Fairy Tale]], it often reappears in retellings of fairy tales. This is a common reason why kings who have promised the [[Standard Hero Reward]] [[Dude, Where's My Respect?|decide instead]] to assign another [[Engagement Challenge]], and then [[Impossible Task|another]]. And another. . . (This is usually very unwise in the long run.)
 
[[The Seven Basic Plots|Christopher Booker]] takes the [[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|Cinderella]] version for his second plot, ''Rags to Riches''. According to his scheme, the hero seems to get everything he wants [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|very early]], only to lose it through a serious character flaw, which leads to the darkest moment for the hero (e.g., in the original ''[[Aladdin (Literaturenovel)|Aladdin]]'', when the villain had stolen both the lamp ''and'' the princess). Then, of course, the hero manages to face his flaws and gets an even better prize than the one he would have been content with early on.
 
May combine with [[She Cleans Up Nicely]] and [[Lineage Comes From the Father]].
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* {{spoiler|Asuna}} and {{spoiler|Negi}} of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' are both Sleeping Beauty types, turning out to both be members of the royal family of the Vespertatia Kingdom in the [[Magic World]]. It subverts the [[Genre Blind]] guardian bit, as they were probably both safer before they started getting involved with their legacies.
* Somewhat special case in ''Mei-chan no Shitsuji'' as Shinonome Mei whose family is described as 'just getting by' finds out she's actually the heir to the very rich Houga family after her parents are killed in an accident, and her friend and classmate Shibata Kento comes from a family of butlers that serve her family.
* [[Project a KoA-ko|C-ko]] is a long-lost alien princess. Sixteen years earlier, [[Human Aliens|her people]] lost her, and she ended up crashing down to Earth. They do eventually find her, leading to this discovery (and invoking this trope).
* Youko Nakijima from ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'' started out the series as an [[Ordinary High School Student]], became [[Trapped in Another World]] and then discovered that she was actually the appointed ruler of one of the series' titular countries. Unlike many [[Rags to Royalty]] stories, this one doesn't end with her getting the throne--she has to fight wars, consolidate her power and deal with the treacherous nobles and officials who plot to overthrow her.
* '[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]' uses this trope in the form of a "Tippetarius Style". Sawada Tsunayoshi is a normal highschooler until the hitman tutor shows up at his doorstep and tells him he's a candidate for the tenth generation boss of a mafia. Hilarity ensues.
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* The title character of ''[[Naruto]]'' is a mix between the cinderella type and the sleeping beauty type. First starts as an [[All the Other Reindeer|outcast]] orphan who was regarded as a no good troblemaker without a future. Slowly grows up into a respectable and eventually idolized figure as his achievements grow. Then {{spoiler|it is revealed that not only is his father the late Fourth Hokage, but that his mother's family was also related to the Senju, making him also related to the First, Second AND Fifth Hokage. In layman's terms, he has the blood of FOUR of the ninja equivalent of kings in his veins.}} But [[Butt Monkey|of course]], none of this is actually adressed by anyone in the manga....for the time being anyways.
** Though to be honest, his relation to {{spoiler|the Senju clan is incredibly distant.}} It isn't as distant as his mother's connection was, {{spoiler|considering Mito Uzumaki married the 1st Hokage and is Tsunade's grandmother.}}
* There are three in ''[[Rose of Versailles (Manga)|Rose of Versailles]]'':
** {{spoiler|Jeanne de la Motte/Valois}}, a Cinderella type (in the [[Historical Villain Upgrade|very fictionalized manga/anime]] and [[wikipedia:Jeanne Valois de la Motte|Real Life]]). {{spoiler|And the most twisted Cinderella ''ever''. A beautiful peasant girl raised by the seamstress Nicole Lamorliere, she claims to be a long lost Valois princess and manages to get an old noblewoman to listen to her plight, then kills her benefactor to inherit her riches. [[It Gets Worse]], [[wikipedia:Affair of the Diamond Necklace|and worse, and worse]]... }}
** {{spoiler|Jeanne's stepsister Rosalie Lamorliere}}, a Sleeping Beauty. {{spoiler|Her mother gave Rosalie up to a poor family (apparently her ex servants) when she was a teenage girl and Rosa was a baby, thus Rosalie has no idea of how her biological mom has gone [[Rags to Riches]] in the meantime and considers herself the daughter of Nicole Lamorliere for a long while.}}
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* [[Gender Flip]] Cinderellas, Cinderlad or Askeladden, win princesses in such tales as "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/princessglasshill.html The Princess on the Glass Hill]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hopomythumb/stories/bootstroll.html Boots and the Troll]", and "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/sevenfoals.html The Seven Foals]".
* "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hanselgretel/stories/molly.html Molly Whuppie]" does not only win the king's son for herself, but his older brothers for her older sisters.
* In "[[East of the Sun Andand West of The Moon (Literature)|East of the Sun And West of The Moon]]", the woodcutter's youngest daughter marries a [[Talking Animal|bear]] who proves to be a prince.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/crane/dancingwater.html The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird]" and "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/96threelittlebirds.html The Three Little Birds]", the king's [[Wonder Child|children]] are abandoned and grow up in ignorance of their birth, until a magic bird informs the king and children of the truth.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/english/fishring.html The Fish and the Ring]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/russian/russianwondertales/vasiliiunlucky.html Vasilii the Unlucky]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/29devilgoldhairs.html The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs]", "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/260.htm The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate]", and many other fairy tales, a rich child is [[Self Fulfilling Prophecies|doomed]] to marry a poor child, and the poor child always succeeds.
* In "[[Brother and Sister (Literature)|Brother and Sister]]", when the king find Sister in the woods, with her transformed brother, he marries her.
* A central portion of the "Persecuted Heroine" fairy tale type.
** [[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|Cinderella]] variants, such as "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/hearthcat.html The Hearth Cat]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/maidenfish.html The Maiden and The Fish]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/sheep.html The Sharp Grey Sheep]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/tattercoats.html Tattercoats]", and "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/birch.html The Wonderful Birch]".
** Variants which follow [[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Literaturenovel)|Snow White]], such as "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/catskin.html Catskin]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/katie.html Katie Woodencloak]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/rashin.html Rashin-Coatie]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/bear.html The Bear]", [[The Brothers Grimm (Creator)|Grimms']] "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/allfur.html All-Kinds-Of-Fur]", "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/kingdaughter.html The King Who Wished Marry To His Daughter]", and "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/caporushes.html Cap O' Rushes]".
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/maidmaleen/index.html Maid Maleen]", after the princess falls in love with a prince [[Parental Marriage Veto|her father does not approve of]], the father imprisons her in a tower. Then he loses his kingdom and is unable to get her out. She and her maid burrow out and live in appalling poverty until she can find her way to the prince's kingdom and win him back.
{{quote| ''Oh, nettle-plant,<br />
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* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/blackcow.html The Story of The Black Cow]", the hero ends up marrying a princess because of his gold hair.
* In "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/crane/storycatherine.html Catherine and Her Fate]", Catherine, having chosen to be miserable in youth and happy in old age rather than the other way round, ends up as a [[Scullery Maid]] -- except that her Fate, being an [[Anthropomorphic Personification]], is always showing up and wrecking her position for seven years. Finally, however, her Fate gives her a [[MacGuffin]], and when the king needs it, he decides to give her its weight in gold. It takes his whole treasury, he demands the story, and when she is done, he decides to marry her.
* In "[[AdalminasAdalmina's Pearl (Literature)|Adalminas Pearl]]", the cruel princess loses her [[MacGuffin|enchanted pearl]] and becomes a plain, dumb peasant girl. Thanks to a back up enchantment, her heart however turns good now, and stays that even after she gets the pearl back.
* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/075.htm The Grateful Prince]'', the prince goes to rescue [[Damsel in Distress|a peasant girl who was captive to an ogre]] because his father had promised him to the ogre, and substituted to the girl. After he does, he marries her.
 
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== Film ==
* ''[[Star Wars]]''
* ''[[PansPan's Labyrinth]]'' has Ophelia as a Sleeping Beauty; she's the reincarnation of a fairy princess, but must pass many tests to prove she is still more royalty than human, and hasn't been corrupted by living among us.
** That's assuming the Faun is telling the truth, and is neither lying nor a product of Ophelia's imagination. [[Your Mileage May Vary]].
** [[Word of God]] is it's all true.
* The eponymous ''[[King Ralph]]'' is a male Cinderella, though he's not exactly sweeping princesses off their feet. Rather, he comes by his office by accident of birth, after every other member of the royal family dies in an explosion.
* The fantasy film ''Quest Of The Delta Knights,'' which may be best remembered as having been shown on ''[[MST3KMystery Science Theater 3000]]'', had a [[Sleeping Beauty]] character. The two young heroes, Tee and Leonardo da Vinci, rescue a prostitute named Thena from having to spend the night with evil Lord Vultare. The trio are captured by a group of warriors from a neighboring country, the leader of whom takes Thena aside for a private interview. She tells him a short form of her life story, and he comes to the (in this troper's opinion, rather incomprehensible) conclusion that she is none other than his own long-lost younger sister, Princess Athena.
* The 1987 Ally Sheedy vehicle ''Maid To Order'' offers a modern King Thrushbeard in the story of a wild spendthrift heiress who is magically banished into the working class to learn humility, compassion and the value of a buck, thanks to her Fairy Godmother.
** ''Overboard'' had a similar plot, only it was a case of accidental amnesia and the scheme of a lower class workman (that the spoiled heiress had earlier insulted) that sent her to live the life of a poor housewife. {{spoiler|She regains her memory and wealth at the end of the story, and marries the poor workman after dumping the loathsome husband she'd had before the accident.}}
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* In the film [[Working Girl]], Tess McGill starts as an overworked and unappreciated secretary living in Staten Island with a deadbeat boyfriend. By the movie's ending, she pulled off a major business merger, gained a new job and a Wall Street analyst lover.
** Her first boyfriend wasn't a deadbeat, he had a perfectly good blue-collar job and before the movie ended had achieved his aim of owning his own boat. However he had no sympathy with her white-collar aspirations and he cheated on her.
* In ''[[In the Name of The King]]: A [[Dungeon Siege]] Tale'', [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Farmer]] is a simple [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|farmer]] with no aspirations other than to grow crops and be a good husband and father. When his son is killed and his wife captured by the [[Evil Sorcerer]] [[Big Bad]], he goes to try to get her back and avenge his son. Meanwhile, the kingdom of Ehb is under seige from the sorcerer's mindless horde of creatures called the Krug. [[Burt Reynolds|King Konreid]] meets Farmer and is told by his wizard that Farmer is his long-lost son. Farmer neither believes him nor does he care. During the first battle with the Krug, the king is betrayed and mortally wounded by {{spoiler|his nephew Duke Fallow}}. On his deathbed, he convinces Farmer that the latter is his son. Farmer becomes King Camden Konreid.
 
 
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* The ''[[Belgariad]]'' had Garion, a male Sleeping Beauty.
* The original ''[[Deltora Quest]]'' series.
* Emberella in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' starts out as a parody of [[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|Cinderella]], but turns out to be a more-or-less straight Sleeping Beauty.
* Sergeant Nimashet Despreaux in [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Prince Roger]]/March Upcountry'' series, who subverts the trope by recognizing that it is not a good idea for a bodyguard to be attracted to the person she's guarding. Also, since she is from a hick planet, she doesn't want to get anywhere near the [[Deadly Decadent Court]]. She actually has to be ORDERED by her CO to have a relationship with the prince because they need to get him out of a depressed funk. Later on, when he becomes heir to the throne, she gets cold feet. She then has to be ORDERED by her CO to marry him so that she can serve as his moderating influence and conscience.
* In the children's novel ''Just Ella,'' by Margaret Haddix, the trope is subverted. Having gotten to the ball by her own devices, she is dogged by rumors it was really a fairy godmother. She finds that court life is stifling, the poor are horribly downtrodden, and Prince Charming is stupid and unfeeling.
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** In ''A Fighting Man of Mars'', the hero meets a slave girl Tavia; only at the end it is revealed that she is a princess by blood. (Even she didn't know.)
** ''The Cave Girl'' was a ship-wrecked child of Spanish nobility.
** In ''[[The Monster Men (Literature)|The Monster Men]]'', the hero is revealed to be amnesiac, and an upper-class American.
** In ''The Chessman of Mars'', the hero, a prince, disguises himself as a poor mercenary because he had given the heroine a bad first impression as a prince.
* [[Mercedes Lackey]] adores this trope. Granted, half of Misty's work is retelling of fairy tales, but she really does get a kick out of this particular type of tale.
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** Sleeping Beauty: Marina of ''Gates of Sleep''.
** Show Whites: Maya Witherspoon of ''Serpent's Shadow'' and ''Phoenix and Ashes'' and Winterhart of the ''Mage Wars'' trilogy.
* In John Barnes's ''[[One for Thethe Morning Glory]]'', Calliope is secretly the princess of a neighboring country, smuggled to safety. {{spoiler|She ends up [[Rightful King Returns|getting herself crowned]] and then marrying Prince Amatus and being queen, although at one point she does wish that she could marry Amatus as just the nobleman's daughter she passes herself off as; as a princess, the political aspects are a little obvious.}}
* Greek Mythology goes a step beyond with the Legend of Eros and Psyche. Although Psyche is actually a princess by right, she goes one scale higher, to get married by the God of Love himself in disguise. Then Zeus makes her immortal.
* Ceddy, AKA Cedrik Errol, of [[Little Lord Fauntleroy]], is another example of the 'rags to riches' and 'hidden nobility' part of this trope. His father was the son of a very rich and anti-American Lord, his mother was the orphaned and much abused lady-in-waiting of a [[Rich Bitch]], they got together despite the [[Parental Marriage Veto]], after the dad was disinherited they lived a middle-to-poor-class but happy life with little Cedric, and it's only after the father's death that Cedric learns his origins and then goes to England to meet his paternal family.
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* In many [[Chivalric Romance|chivalric romances]] such as ''Vitae Duorum Offarum'', ''Emare'', ''Mai and Beaflor'', and ''La Belle Helene de Constantinople'', the heroine escapes her [[Parental Incest|father threatening marriage]] and wins the heart of a king. After she has a child, she is slandered and driven out again, only reuniting with her husband after much tribulation. (See "The Girl Without Hands" under [[Fairy Tales]].)
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''Sir Amadas'', Amadas wins the hand of the princess with the aid of a mysterious White Knight, who proves to be [[Our Ghosts Are Different|a dead man whose burial he had secured]].
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''King Horn'', Horn, [[Moses in Thethe Bulrushes|after being cast adrift in a boat as a boy]], returned to his father's kingdom to reclaim it.
** Similarly with Havelock in ''Havelock the Dane''.
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''Roswall and Lillian'', the hero is attacked by his own servant and must promise to never reveal the attack to save his own life. He wins the princess in a tournament with the aid of magical helpers who give him armor and weapons.
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* {{spoiler|Octavian}} in the [[Codex Alera]] series is a male in the Sleeping Beauty style, and {{spoiler|his mother Isana}} was a Cinderella in the backstory and is a Goose Girl during the events of the main plot. {{spoiler|Octavian}} only reveals his birthright after he has proven himself a brilliant military commander.
* Jame, the heroine of P.C. Hodgell's [[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]] series, is a [[Sleeping Beauty]] type; she believes herself the outcast, ragtag daughter of a minor Lord, but she turns out to be the sister of the Highlord of the Kencyrath -- a situation that doesn't make her all that happy, because she chafes under (and eventually rejects) the restrictions of the role.
* In [[CSC. LewisS. (Creator)Lewis|CS Lewis]]' [[The Horse and His Boy]]: {{spoiler|Shasta is Prince Cor, heir to the Archenland throne. He's a Sleeping Beauty type as he didn't know about that until the end, and only escaped because neither he nor Bree wanted to be [[Made a Slave]]. At the end, Cor grows into [[The Wise Prince]] and a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] as King cor of Archenland.}}
** Likewise, {{spoiler|Aravis was a Snow White: she ran away from her noble home because she didn't want an [[Arranged Marriage]] with a [[Smug Snake]], which arranged by her [[Wicked Stepmother]]. She becomes Cor's wife and, with time, the Queen Consort of Archenland.}}
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s "The Scarlet Citadel" [[Conan the Barbarian]] is proud of his going through this as a [[Self-Made Man]].
* In [[Josepha Sherman]]'s ''[[The Shining Falcon]]'', Maria is reduced to a peasant's life before gaining Finist's love.
* In ''[[Beowulf (Literature)|Beowulf]]'', Hrothgar's queen is described as queenly and wearing gold, but her name is "Wealhtheow," which means "[[Made a Slave|foreign slave]]."
* In ''[[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]'', [[Guile Hero|Esther]] is chosen to be [[The High Queen|queen]] (to replace Queen Vashti after her husband Ahasuerus/Xerxes banished her from the empire). Esther is an ordinary young girl, and at that one of the Jews living in exile in Babylon, but she is chosen by the king himself out of an entire harem on account of [[The Beautiful Elite|her beauty]].
* Princess Jenna from the ''[[Septimus Heap (Literature)|Septimus Heap]]'' series grew up in a poor Wizard family before being called to become Princess at her tenth birthday.
* In Fred Saberhagen's ''[[Books of Swords]]'' trilogy, or rather, its backstory, Yambu, the Silver Queen, was the rightful ruler of...Yambu, after her parents, the previous king and queen, were killed. Unfortunately, the people who killed them had somehow gotten the idea that they should be in charge now, so Yambu had to go on the run as a [[Noble Fugitive|fugitive]], where she was helped by a mysterious stranger who called himself the Emperor. Despite appearing to be a clown, he turned out to be a great warrior and a powerful wizard, and saved her repeatedly and became her lover, and ultimately led a successful military-diplomatic campaign to put her back on the throne. It was at that moment that he asked her to marry him, [[Face Heel Turn|but]]....
** Subverted with Yambu's daughter (by the Emperor), Ariane. Yambu, fearing her as a rival to her power, sells her into slavery. She is rescued from slavery by Baron Doon and his companions before anything really bad happens to her, but she is never put on the throne, and never returns to a state of royalty.
** Played straight, though, with Mark: he grows up as a peasant, but becomes Prince Consort of Tasavalta after he marries Princess Kristin.
* Bria in ''[[The Last Dove (Literature)|The Last Dove]]'' is the Sleeping Beauty Style.
 
 
== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* Guinevere does it Cinderella style on ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' going from serving girl to Queen of Camelot in becoming Arthur's wife.
 
 
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== Theater ==
* [[William Shakespeare]]. Some of these are dukes rather than kings or princes -- but sovereign ones.
** ''[[As You Like It (Theatre)|As You Like It]]'': The duke is forced into exile in the [[Backstory]], and in the play, Rosalind his daughter has to follow him. They are restored at the end.
** ''[[Cymbeline (Theatre)|Cymbeline]]'': The young princes are raised as shepherds but identified at the end.
** ''[[Measure for Measure (Theatre)|Measure for Measure]]'': Isabella marries the duke at the end
** ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Theatre)|Pericles Prince of Tyre]]'': The prince is shipwreaked and only restored at the end.
** ''[[The Tempest]]'': Prospero's deposition means both he and Miranda are this.
** ''[[Twelfth Night]]'': Viola ends marrying the duke.
** ''[[The Winter's Tale (Theatre)|The Winters Tale]]'': Perdita is raised as a shepherdess, although a princess.
 
 
== Video Games ==
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' had a version of the Snow White. {{spoiler|Princess Zelda is concealed among the Sheikah people to hide her from Ganon for seven years.}} <!-- No references to Sheik's biological sex, please. -->
** Tetra of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: theThe Wind Waker (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'' follows the Sleeping Beauty version of this trope, {{spoiler|though in a partial subversion, she doesn't get to really return to her status as royalty because the entire Kingdom of Hyrule pulls an Atlantis and stays forever sealed at the bottom of the Great Sea. This doesn't really bother her much, though, because she hates being called Princess Zelda anyway.}}
** {{spoiler|Midna}} in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' is another Snow White example.
** And of course, the Zelda in ''[[Zelda II: theThe Adventure of Link (Video Game)|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' is a rather literal [[Sleeping Beauty]].
* Subverted in the second [[Sly Cooper]] game, where one of the villains is a tiger crimelord named Rajan, who [[Rags to Riches|climbed up from poverty]] through a life of crime . While presenting himself as royalty (via the self imposed title "Lord of the Hills" and his "newly purchased "ancestral palace""), he's basically a thug in king's clothing with no real title or royal blood.
{{quote| '''Sly''' While (Rajan) goes to great lengths to convince others of his royalty, he's really trying to convince himself.}}
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* [[Fire Emblem]] 10 gives us a mixed Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in {{spoiler|Micaiah, who goes from a fortuneteller on the streets to leader of [[La Résistance]] to general to Queen of Daein, in the meantime learning that she is in fact the rightful heir to the empire of Begnion... which she does not end up ruling, and her little sister Sanaki remains as Empress.}}.
** It also both subverts and averts the Sleeping Beauty type with {{spoiler|Pelleas and Soren. Pelleas, a poor orphan who got the the power of charming spirits, suddenly found himself the lost prince of Daein and became king - but it turned out to be a mistake, and he wasn't royal at all - not to mention, in his case, being thought of as the Prince ''[[Break the Cutie|completely destroyed his life]]'' [[Kill the Cutie|and caused his death]]. (Unless you gather the requirements to recruit him into your group, that is.) Soren, the true prince, never learned of his heritage and remained a commoner. And considering how things went with Pelleas (not to mention [[Archnemesis Dad|who his father is]], then it was ''much'' better he remained this way.}}
* ''[[Fable II (Video Game)|Fable II]]'' gives us an interesting example. [[The Hero]] is a pauper as a child, but then his/her [[Secret Legacy]] is discovered, which is that he/she is descended from a badass master of strength, marksmanship/litheness, and magic. After the tragic death of his/her sister at the hands of the [[Big Bad]], he/she grows up, masters the aforementioned skills, and defeats the [[Big Bad]]. However, rather than marry into royalty, he/she forms his/her '''own''' monarchy, and because he/she is a Hero (master of said skills), he/she and his/her children, the main characters of ''[[Fable III (Video Game)|Fable III]]'', are referred to as nobility, and having royal blood.
** Which comes back to bite said family in the ass in the ''[[Fable III (Video Game)|Fable III]]'' DLC "Traitor's Keep", when a general who was imprisoned by the Hero's despotic son stages a coup, and argues that the royal family is tyrannical and unnecessary, with no real claim to rule Albion besides its magic powers.
* [http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/talara.shtml "The Mystery of Princess Talara"] from the [[Elder Scrolls]] universe features a magnificent subversion of the [[Sleeping Beauty]] type; the plot even has ties to the main conflict of ''Arena''.
* It's strongly implied that [[Hello, Insert Name Here|the main character]] in ''[[Suikoden]] [[Suikoden IV|IV]]'' may, in fact, be {{spoiler|Prince of the Kingdom of Obel}}. This isn't a straight example, though, because said main character comes into his own independantly of royal lineage. (In fact, assuming the title would've been a ''drop'' in status by the time it comes up.) It does cast the fight with {{spoiler|King Lino}} in a [[Fridge Brilliance|new light]], though, doesn't it?
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** He's not the only one who gets this landing on his plate. Graham was a Cinderella style - son of a minor knight who worked his way up the ranks, returned the kingdom's lost treasures, and was given the crown by the childless King Edward. Edgar in the forth and seventh game was under a situation closer to Gwydion's. Cassima was put into a Goose Girl situation in the fifth game by Mordak. [[Fanon]] speculates the Cinderella route comes full circle with Connor after the eighth game. Of course, that depends [[Contested Sequel|on whether or not]] you want to [[Fanon Discontinuity|acknowledge the game even exists]].
* ''[[Dragon Age Origins|Dragon Age: Origins]]'' has {{spoiler|Alistair, bastard son of the late King Maric}} as a Snow White type. He doesn't give a damn about his [[Royal Blood]], and even when the plot demands the [[Rightful King Returns]], he'll only do it kicking and screaming unless the player talks him into some [[Character Development]] earlier in the game.
* A bizarre one from [[Bio WareBioWare|the same family]] goes the Sleeping Beauty route. Turns out the [[Knights of the Old Republic|Jedi Council]] was pulling a massive amount of [[From a Certain Point of View]] in regards to your [[Player Character]]...
* [[Total War]] has version of this: Peasent commander can be adopted into royal family if he is good enough, possibly becoming heir to the crown, becoming leader of the faction and so on and so on... Untill he is Emperor of the pretty much known world.!
* [[Lost Odyssey]] has Jansen as a Cinderella type where he was a commoner until the end of the game where {{spoiler|he marries Ming and became king of Numara.}}
* ''[[Dragon Quest V (Video Game)|Dragon Quest V]]'''s protagonist. [[Kid Hero|Common kid]] --> [[Made a Slave|slave]] --> [[Walk the Earth|wanderer]] ---> [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|King of Gotha]]. It's just that he doesn't know it until he reaches his hometown. [[All Just a Dream|Not that we]] [[Or Was It a Dream?|don't see this coming.]]
 
 
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** Though this trope is somewhat subverted in that Anya/Anastasia goes from Royalty to Rags to Royalty Again to {{spoiler|Not Really Royalty, Seeing As She Was In Love With A Non-Royal And There Is Of Course The Whole Matter Of Joseph Stalin Being In Charge, But Presumably Happy And Comfortable}}
* ''[[Shrek]]'': Princess Fiona is a Snow White, kept in a tower until her curse is reversed.
* Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
* Rapunzel and {{spoiler|Flynn}} in ''[[Tangled]]''. Rapunzel is a Tippetarius Style, kidnapped as a baby so Mother Gothel can make use of her magic hair, while {{spoiler|Flynn}} is a {{spoiler|Cinderella Style, as he is an orphan and a thief who marries a princess (though he didn't know that she was royalty when he fell in love with her).}}
* Disney later subverts this with ''[[The Princess and Thethe Frog]]''. Tiana marries Prince Naveen officially becomes a princess by marriage. But she dosen't get the royal treatment, but instead opens up her own restaurant with Naveen.
 
 
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