Princess and dragon is an archetypical premise common to many legends, fairy tales, and chivalric romances. Northrop Frye identified it as a central form of the quest romance.
Andrómeda by Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante (1633–1670), depicting Princess Andromeda of Greek mythology chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the dragon-like sea monster Cetus.
Ruggiero Rescuing Angelica, an illustration for Orlando Furioso by Gustave Doré
Russian civil war propaganda poster from 1919: White Russian knight is fighting the Red Russian dragon
Perseus Freeing Andromeda After Killing Cetus, 1st century AD fresco from the Casa Dei Dioscuri, Pompeii.
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric knight-errant portrayed as having heroic qualities, who goes on a quest. It developed further from the epics as time went on; in particular, "the emphasis on love and courtly manners distinguishes it from the chanson de geste and other kinds of epic, in which masculine military heroism predominates."
Yvain fighting Gawain in order to regain the love of his lady Laudine. Medieval illumination from Chrétien de Troyes's romance, Yvain, le Chevalier au Lion
Holger Danske, or Ogier the Dane, from the Matter of France
A knight rescues a lady from a dragon.
