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To put it simply, a man carries a woman (usually a Damsel in Distress or other non combat females) in his arms—one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back like a groom carrying his bride. Usually denotes or foreshadows a romantic relationship between the characters or a major difference in their physical strength. Often both.
Variations of this trope are common and include:
- Switching the roles of the carrier and the carry-ee (i.e. the Damsel in Distress carrying The Hero in this fashion). May be an Effortless Amazonian Lift.
- Making the carry-ee just a bit too heavy for the carrier to handle.
- Having the carry-ee complain about the treatment.
- Having the carry-ee bang their head against the doorframe when the couple try this while walking through a door.
When the participants aren't romantically involved, expect fans to cite this as "proof" that they really are.
The Hero must be very careful when treating an Action Girl like this, especially if they're not involved. If asked properly, she may accept if she's indeed too hurt to walk. Other than that, she's likely to refuse. No matter what, The Hero shouldn't force it on her, else he may incur a less than grateful reaction.
This type of carry can also be used in place of the aforementioned Over The Shoulder Carry to kidnap Distressed Damsels, they will usually be visually stunned while in the arms of someone who is trying to relocate them against their will. Sometimes when the (usually female) victim in this situation is "protected" expect to see her visually struggle and protest compared to a usual do nothing damsel... this rarely works though. Very rarely will the one being carried physically hit their kidnapper despite their free arms being in range of the face of the one carrying them.
This type of carry tends to tick multiple boxes that appeal to many different demographics, romantics tend to see it as confirmation of the carry-er and carry-ee's feelings for each other and it could even be subltle fanservice as the pose somewhat emphasizes the hips and figure of the area around the hips of the one being carried especially if they are female.
In real life males tend to be taller than females due to more growth time allotted to them via a longer puberty cycle. Combining this with the female body having to allocate much more of it's energy to a more complex reproduction system and with the effects of testosterone making the male upper bodies stronger than females this is a popular way for men to carry women. Women tend to have their center of gravity at their hips making her weight more evenly distributed to the man carrying her like this making it somewhat easier than it appears when done to a female. Though as always there are exceptions.
(Slinging them over the shoulder in a Fireman Carry will manage to avoid this.)
If a guy carries another guy like this, expect the shippers to go nuts.
If the person being held is injured, dead or dying, it may cross over into Pietà Plagiarism. Usually coexists with rescue tropes like Rescue Romance and Embarrassing Rescue. See also Hold Me and Security Cling. Contrast Over-the-Shoulder Carry.
Not to be confused with Tribal Carry.
Anime and Manga[]
- Guts in Berserk does this to Casca after her successful taking of a fortress, much to her surprise. She's the only female character who got this treatment from Guts.
- Bleach: Yoruichi does this to Soifon in the third movie and in the anime, after her fight with Suzumebachi.
- Happens in the manga too, with Shinji and Hiyori. The former saved the latter after Gin had cut her in half. He's carrying her top part, at least.
- In the TYBW anime, an additional scene has Momo Hinamori doing her best to do this for a severely beaten Shinji, despite the size gap.
- Domon Kasshu carries his girlfriend Rain like this at the end of G Gundam. Specifically, right after the Sekiha Love Love Tenkyoken There's also an Official Art or two floating around of the robots doing it [dead link] (not counting the Pietà Plagiarism bit just after the Mid-Season Upgrade).
- Katou carried Iwaki across the threshold in the Boys Love series Haru wo Daiteita, with just a little staggering and sweat on his face.
- In the Boys Love anime Junjou Romantica, after Misaki sprains his ankle while escaping from captivity, Usami carries him away this way, in front of his brother and their servants. Later, he's carrying Misaki piggyback, and Misaki complains it feels silly, prompting Usami to ask "would you rather be carried like a princess?"
- Katekyo Hitman Reborn: Gamma to Uni at the end of episode 192.
- Black Butler loves to have this happen whenever Sebastian, in all of his demonic butler glory, rescues his young master, Ciel from imminent danger.
- Kyo Kara Maoh
- There are a few times in which Yuri was carried and/or caught from falling a long distance like this. Probably because he's usually a male Damsel in Distress when he's not in Maoh-mode.
- And he gets to carry Wolfram this way one time during that one episode in the snowstorm.
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
- A Les Yay version in the aftermath of Nanoha and Fate's final battle in the first season, with Nanoha carrying the beaten Fate in this manner.
- The light novel version of the first season does it again, only this time, it's a picture of Fate carrying the beaten Nanoha as they gaze into each other's eyes.
- Nanoha does this to Vita in Chapter 19.5 of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, as Vita had fallen asleep in the car while Nanoha was driving to Hayate's house for dinner. After waking up, a deeply embarrassed Vita screams "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" at the top of her lungs, while Nanoha tells her that she tried to wake her up but failed.
- Mahou Sensei Negima
- Setsuna does this all the time with Konoka, including on most promotional artwork.
- The cover of Volume 14 features a magically aged-up Negi carrying Ako like this, but it's a rather tragic subversion, as Ako falls in love with Negi's aged-up form, while Negi is completely unaware that he's inadvertently leading her on. It doesn't end well.
- In chapter 345 Negi does this to Ayaka.
- In Nabari no Ou, Raikou catches and carries Gau like this once, leading to a slew of hilarious fanmade avatars like this one link.
- Naruto
- In the beginning of the third Shippuden movie, Naruto does this to an injured Sai after going back to help him.
- In chapter 498 of the manga we see a young Minato carrying a blushing Kushina like this after rescuing her from being kidnapped.
- We also see Naruto catch Sakura in this manner when he saves her from nearly being killed by Sasuke when she tried to stab him.
- And in chapter 234 Kakashi does this to an injured Naruto at the Valley Of The End.
- And in the Naruto the Last movie, Naruto does this to Hinata.
- Kanou does this to Ayase twice in the Boys Love series Okane ga Nai; once when Ayase is drunk and once when he is drugged. In both cases Kanou takes advantage of the half-unconscious Ayase.
- Psyren
- Ageha has done this to Amamiya a couple of times.
- In the Invasion arc, Kabuto does this to Future!Fredrica.
- Ranma from Ranma ½ carries people in this manner on occasion, most commonly Akane.
- Rurouni Kenshin (a.k.a. Samurai X)
- In the first episode, Kenshin sweeps in to save Kaoru from a fake Battosai, and ends up sweeping her off her feet in this manner.
- Later in the Kyoto Arc, Yumi (Shishio's mistress) objects to being carried by Sano over his shoulder, so he asks sarcastically if she'd prefer to be carried bridal-style, using a straw dummy to demonstrate. (She doesn't.)
- In the first opening to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, it briefly shows Nozomu holding Matoi like this. It means nothing, though.
- Harima from School Rumble does this to Yakumo when he (mistakenly) tries to steal her away from a wedding, which is really a photoshoot.
- Sarutobi Sasuke does this three times in the Sengoku Basara anime: once in his Embarrassing Rescue of Kasuga (who gets so flustered that she ends up falling out of a tree trying to get away), again saving Yukimura from an explosion, and thirdly rescuing Oichi's body from the castle before it's destroyed.
- In Skip Beat!, Ren does this to Kyoko because she sprained her ankle. The villain of the day, Ruri, is quite angry about it. So is Kyoko.
"The turtle who did not go to the hospital." |
- Slayers
- Early in the 1st season, Gourry carries Lina to a town after she was injured in a fight. Much to to latter's dismay.
- Later in Slayers Try, Xellos picks up Filia this way to rescue her from a rock slide, only to then drop her directly on top of the villain.
- Sailor Moon
- Tuxedo Mask holds Sailor Moon this way many, many times, especially in the manga.
- Interestingly enough, Sailor Moon herself will invert this trope sometimes, one example being Sailor Moon rescuing Chibiusa in this fashion from an enemy attack in the second season.
- In the final episode of Eureka Seven, Renton carries Eureka this way in space when they kissed each other for the 2nd time. After a year, they officially became husband and wife in the Thurston family register.
- In episode 9 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Big Damn Hero Homura carries Madoka like so.
- In Rozen Maiden, Shinku insists that Jun carry her like this even though he considers him her servant. Turns out he's technically her master.
- In episode 2 of Steel Angel Kurumi 2, Kurumi carries Nako like this on the way to school. And in the last episode as well.
- In Tiger and Bunny, Barnaby has a habit of carrying those he rescues (usually Kotetsu, but others as well) in this fashion. This does not go uncommented upon.
Barnaby: It's been awhile since I carried you like this. Have you gained weight? |
- Horribly used in Detective Conan, when Ran, Conan, Sonoko, Sonoko's sister Ayako and Ayako's friends see a mysterious bandaged man carry a kidnapped girl away in his arms, right before the girl 's mutilated body is found. It was a stage trick with a doll, piano wire ... and the woman's already decapitated head.
- Shinichi once played it completely straight, though, carrying Ran like this after they both confront the Killer of the Week and save him from falling to his death, then she collapses due to a fever.
- In Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru, Mizuho does this for Shion after the latter passes out from illness, and carries her to the nurses room.
- Infinite Stratos
- Ichika does this to Houki to help her get into the IS suit. Houki becomes quite happy when he does this for her.
- He does this again with Houki at the end of episode 12, after sharing an Almost Kiss with her, right before being chased by the other four girls in the harem, who are very angry that she's way ahead of them with Ichika.
- Occurs during one of the many Ho Yay moments between Satoshi and Daisuke in D.N.Angel. Daisuke fell ill at school and Satoshi carried him bridal-style to the infirmary. And Dark generally does this to the girls that he rescues.
- Togainu no Chi: Nano carries an unconscious Akira like this in Episode 10. Akira then carries Keisuke in the same way at the end of the same episode.
- Also happens to Akira on Shiki's route in the game. It's not quite as sweet, though, considering the carrier had just claimed the carried as his property.
- Luka sometimes does this to Yuki in Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru.
- At the end of chapter 47 of part 2 of Rosario + Vampire, Miu Sai-Lung does this to Routier.
- Axis Powers Hetalia: A bonus strip for Christmas has America complimenting Lithuania on his stripping skills and then carrying him bridal style to Poland's house.
- Fanart for Hungary also include a gender reversal: namely her carrying Austria away bridal-style. Sometimes with Austria wearing the dress.
- In Special A, Kei does this to Hikari frequently, referring to it as the "Princess Lift." He quite obviously does it as a sign of affection, which she completely misses. She's also a bit oblivious as to why this flusters her so much (except when she's sick, and she asks for it... completely forgetting that she did so afterwards).
- In Fairy Tail, Natsu carries Erza this way after saving her from the exploding Tower of Heaven. In a later arc, Elfman and Evergreen get gravely injured in a battle, and Elfman bridal carries the unconscious Evergreen back to the camp.
- Averted in the first season of Digimon Adventure as Angewomon didn't have to carry Kari like this due to how small she was but when she was older in 02 Angewomon has to carry Kari like this.
- The first time that Bell has to rescue Hestia from a monster in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, he ends up carrying her this way while running at full speed. Despite the circumstances, this makes her happy.
- Pokémon saw Brock catch Misty this way when Ash dropped her from a long height. He fell down almost immediately afterwards however.
- In the Pokemon Adventures manga, Crystal was carried like this by her own Hitmonchan nicknamed "Monlee" while she was unconscious.
- Inuyasha Aside from Kagura, expect any female associated with a male to be held like this by said male at least one point. Even non-romantic relationships such as when Sesshomaru held Rin like this (with one arm mind you). Kagome has been held this way by multiple males aside from Inuyasha himself.
- The Rin example stopped being an exception as of Yashahime.
- Krillin does this to Android 18 in Dragon Ball Z. It is a sight to behold due to their height differences.
- Android 18 (the only woman of her team) finds herself like this quite often during during the Tournament of Power arc of Dragon Ball Super, being held like this by both Krillin and Goku a number of times.
- Kale and Caulifla have done this to each other in the same series.
- Chi Chi does it to Gohan when she carries him back to the doctor when he tries running away.
- Fittingly done to Chi Chi by Goku, as she is in fact his bride.
- Vegeta has caught his daughter Bulla like this in GT.
- Combat Saiyans often have both done this and received from other fighters who are allies, Goku has caught Vegeta and his son Gohan (while he was an adult) like this, Vegeta similar to Goku.
- Whis has done this to Vegeta so safely bring him to the floor after he knocked Vegeta out.
- Kibito also does this to Gohan.
- Gohan returns the favor in a way to his mother as he carried her in this fashion when both went to Bulma's place while they were flying when they didn't know where Goku was.
- Yamcha picks up Gohan like this after Gohan's battle with Cell.
- Bulma does this to Gohan during the Namek saga.
- Goku does this to adult Gohan in Super after Goku used Kaioken alongside his Super Saiyan Blue state to defeat Gohan in his mystic form, catching him before he lands from a high altitude.
Comic Books[]
- In The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck 8C: Hearts of the Yukon, Scrooge is about to rescue a fainted Goldie from a burning building... when a chunk of ice from a frozen fire hose knocks him out cold. So Goldie "comes to" and saves him instead.
- Empowered
- Empowered with a traumatized Ninjette. ThugBoy thinks we shouldn't read too much into it. The Caged Demonwolf thinks differently.
- Also, sometimes ThugBoy with Emp, and (in a dream/Imagine Spot) ThugBoy with Sistah Spooky.
- Hulkling sometimes carries Wiccan like this in Young Avengers. Not often, since Wiccan can fly, but occasionally.
- Appropriately enough, when Peter Parker and MJ Watson came back from their honeymoon, he carried her across the threshold in one arm while balancing their suitcases in the other. MJ's reaction: "I always dreamed of being carried across the threshold, but one hand? That's class!"
Fan Works[]
- In the Harry Potter fic "Little Miss Mary", Snape is often seen carrying a heavily wimpified Harry like this.
- Some Voltron: Legendary Defender fanartists who ship Allura/Lance or Keith/Shiro like to draw Allura carrying Lance this way to show off her Altean super-strength, or Keith carrying Shiro as an extension of his Galra side's strength.
Films — Animated[]
- Double subverted in the second Shrek film, where Shrek bashes Fiona into the doorframe, breaking right through the wall.
- Delightfully spoofed via Gender-Inverted Trope in Monsters vs. Aliens. A cheerleader type is trying to seduce an athletic jock in a car when the alien robot crashes nearby, and we have a great shot of the girl running holding her boyfriend in her arms.
- Not exactly "carrying", but Peter Pan catches Wendy a couple of times like this. Later, he does the same with Wendy's daughter Jane in the sequel Return to Neverland.
- There are several examples in Robot Carnival: Starlight Angel has a flying scene with a robot and a girl; Deprive has a cyborg and a girl, etc., etc.
- Monster House manages to combine both funny with heartwarming when Constance Nebbercracker does this to her husband Horace. She was excited about their new house, even though technically speaking the house wasn't finished yet. Constance happens to be a lot stronger (and bigger) than her husband is.
- Toy Story 3 does this between Spanish Buzz and Jessie. He was saving her from falling trash.
- Let's not forget Minion carrying Megamind into the office threshold style.
Films — Live-Action[]
- In the film An Education, David does this to Jenny.
- An Officer and a Gentleman is the Trope Codifier. Cue the Joe Cocker song. "Love lift us up where we belong, where the eagles fly on a mountain high..."
- The Man With Two Brains. Twice. The first time, Dr. Hfuhruhurr waits hours in the pose for the photos to be developed before letting his new bride down, and then, in the finale, had problems carrying her through since, well, Anne had an eating problem when she had her own body. Hilarity Ensues, but it's a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming because Hfuhruhurr doesn't care about her weight.
- Edward likes to carry Bella around like this a lot in Twilight, apparently because he thinks she's incapable of walking without hurting herself.
- In Shallow Hal, Hal tries this with Rosemary, but she's too heavy for him. She carries him instead.
- Willoughby carries Marianne home like this after she sprains her ankle in Sense and Sensibility.
- The Glenn Miller Story: James Stewart and June Allyson's characters do this of the bride & groom variety.
- In the 1998 X-Files movie Fight the Future, Mulder carries Scully towards the exit of the giant spaceship they're on in this way.
- Friday Night Lights had Tim do this with his newly-paralyzed friend Jason, just so Jason could be out of his wheelchair for a little while. Jason comments that maybe he should just have Tim carry him everywhere from then on.
- After Rocky marries Adrian in Rocky II he carries her all the way home from the church like this. When she tells him it's unnecessary, he says its good for the arms.
- Batman does this to Rachel in Batman Begins. The scene was also the basis for one of the film posters, in which it was not clear if Rachel was dying or merely unconscious.
- Done (with two guys, obviously) on the poster for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Bonus points for Kevin James wearing a fireman's hat.
- Played for Laughs in the Chris Columbus film Nine Months, wherein Hugh Grant's character very nearly wrecks out his back carrying his very pregnant bride across the threshold.
Literature[]
- Anita Blake is shaken up by doing some "major magic" with a werewolf and drops her machismo long enough to let Jean-Claude carry her this way. Both think it's kind of romantic until Anita notices... something... about Jason's pants....
- In L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero Lost, Astreus carries Miranda — "like a bride."
- In Everworld, Christopher does this to his injured Love Interest Etain as they escape from the battle. His narration notes that it must have looked like a scene from a corny romance novel.
- Possibly inverted by Link and Zelda in the Choose Your Adventure book The Crystal Trap. The text in one of the game over endings implies Zelda was able to pick up Link like this though she couldn't run fast enough while carrying Link which lead to them getting hit by Octorocks.
- In Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Monster Men, Number One carries Virginia off like this. Number Thirteen rescues her, and knowing no better, carries her in the same manner.
Now that he had won her, what was he to do with her? He was but an adult child, with the brain and brawn of a man, and the ignorance and inexperience of the new-born. And so he acted as a child acts, in imitation of what it has seen others do. The brute had been carrying the lovely creature, therefore that must be the thing for him to do, and so he stooped and gathered Virginia Maxon in his great arms. |
- In The Scarlet Pimpernal, Sir Percy carries Marguerite like this to get to the boat.
And his arms, still vigorous in spite of fatigue and suffering, closed round Marguerite's poor, weary body, and lifted her as gently as if she had been a feather. |
Live-Action TV[]
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Angel carries Buffy like this in "Halloween" (after a spell causes Buffy to act like a Damsel in Distress), while Buffy carries her little sister Dawn to escape Glory in "Spiral". Justified as both characters have Super Strength.
- Benny Hill used it in a sketch. His character marries a girl who gains a lot of weight as soon as they get past the ceremony, and he can barely carry her over the threshold afterward.
- Friends
- In the episode "The One After Vegas", Monica and Chandler have decided they aren't ready to get married, but keep seeing "signs" that they should. At one point, Monica's hurt her leg, so Chandler gathers her up and carries her into her appartment, before they realise what they're doing.
- Another episode had Ross and Rachel parodying An Officer and a Gentleman: Rachel kept having to go back for stuff, so in the end Ross just dumped her on the couch.
- In "The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS", Chandler carries Monica into the hallway, but bangs her head against the doorframe.
- Played with in an episode of Home Improvement when Jill insists that Tim carry her like this, unaware that he'd pulled a groin muscle earlier. It doesn't end well.
- An episode of Scrubs from Dr Kelso's perspective had two parodies of An Officer and a Gentleman with Kelso's Asian Baby Mama gathering him up in her arms while "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" plays in Vietnamese.
- Used in the Prequel season 6 of Kaamelott. Guenièvre insists that Arthur carry her that way after their marriage "because it's romantic." Not just to go through a treshold, mind you, but as long as possible. After some long, agonizing minutes, Arthur finally drops her like a sack of potatoes as he gets exhausted and his back gives up.
- When Anna of Chuck falls over and is in danger of being trampled during a store evacuation, Morgan runs heroically to her and carries her out of the shop in this manner, to cries of "What are you doing, Morgan? Put me down!" He has no answer when a fellow employee asks why he carried her out when she could have just walked.
- Clark does this a lot to people in Smallville.
- In Mock the Week: Unlikely Letters for an Agony Aunt. "Dear Diedre: Can that giant man lift me up like a baby?"
- In the Korean Drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal, when Sun Joon rescues Yoon Hee after she falls into the river.
- A non-romantic Doctor Who example: the Fourth Doctor carried everyone in his arms, since at 6'3 he was almost always bigger than them.
- Dean does this to Jo in Supernatural after she is attacked by a hellhound.
- In The Borgias, Cesare carries a sleeping Lucrezia to her bed after she passes out during her wedding reception. The catch? He's her brother.
- When Elizabeth Weir unexpectedly collapses on Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard carries her to the infirmary this way. Surprise surprise, they're the series' Official Couple.
- During the Stargate Universe episode where the Destiny is invaded by the Lucian Alliance, Eli has to carry a wounded Chloe this way. He jokes that this kind of exercises could easily get him to lose some weight and that they should do it more often.
- In Breaking the Magician's Code male stagehands often lift female assistants when needed in this fasion, though it is usually two doing it to one.
- Tommy Oliver in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has done this to some girls such as a characters of the day and more notably Kimberly the pink ranger once. The size difference between each time helped.
Newspaper Comics[]
- Similar to the Shrek example cited above, one The Far Side comic shows Frankenstein's monster carrying his Bride through the door crossways, her head and feet having knocked holes right through the wall.
Professional Wrestling[]
- Kane infamously did this to Lita in their keyfabe wedding. Despite Lita being a genuine risktaker who would fight all female opponents Lita simply just laid on Kane's arms making no attempt to escape, looked at Matt Hardy as much as she could while could while Kane carried her away from him and moved her hair out of her face when it got in the way looking worried the whole time.
- He also did this to AJ Lee
- A pure female example happened with Rhea Ripley picking up her tag team partner Nicki A.S.H. in this manner and tossing Nicki to their opponent Tamina in this exact same fashion. Tamina caught Nicki in said position and tried to swing Nicki's legs towards Rhea, Rhea dodged and hit Tamina which caused Tamina to drop Nicki. It is worth noting once Nicki was in Tamina's arms she didn't struggle or attempt to help Rhea until she was dropped.
- In NXT WWE uploaded a video pretty much just of this of Dexter Lumis doing this to Indi Hartwell after a match she was in. Later he does it to her more fittingly when they got married.
- This was expanded to Dexter doing it to Indi multiple times afterwards, it even became the symbol for their team name. Indi's NXT tenure ended after the 2023 draft to the main roster and after she questioned how she was going to get out the ring Dexter Lummis arrived to carry her out of NXT this way.
- Undertaker has done this to Stephanie McMahon.
- Cesaro has caught Natalya in this manner but almost immediately dropped her afterwards.
- In a 2 person carrying one situation (and all female) Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair caught Becky Lynch in this fasihon when Becky went for a missile divekick.
- Scott Steiner did this to Stacy Keibler multiple times during their feud with Test.
- In the 2022 Royal Rumble match Reggie caught Dana Brooke like this to save her from elimination.
- During an NXT match Trick Williams caught Rhea Ripley like this though just supporting one leg. Rhea for reference is the closest to an Action Girl in this WWE era that men can't retaliate against women in any way.
- In a Smackdown match between Rey Mysterio and Mark Henry after Mark caught Rey's flying crossbody attempt he held Rey in a 1 armed version of this.
- Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss did a Hefty trash bag ad where Braun held Alexa in his arms like this while she held a box of said product. As a side note their tag team name was "Team Little Big", you can guess which was which.
- George "The Animal" Steele did this to Miss Elizabeth multiple times. She put up nonexistent resistance each instance.
Periodicals[]
- Dave Berg of Mad Magazine once made a strip about this trope. The bride asks the groom whether he'll carry her, and he replies that this is an obsolete custom from the time when men used to steal their brides. The bride thinks about it and then remembers that she actually "stole" him from "some tramp", and the strip ends with her carrying him.
Theater[]
- In Paint Your Wagon, Ben, having married Elizabeth, tries to carry her over the threshold, but proves too drunk to pull it off.
Video Games[]
- Assassin's Creed. In the second game, Ezio has to carry Rosa to safety after she finally collapses from an arrow wound to her leg. After running and fighting with an arrow sticking out of her leg for quite a distance, mind you.
- Beat rescues Rhyme in this manner in the opening cinematic of The World Ends With You.
- In the first Dragon Quest, after rescuing the princess, the hero carries her back home in this fashion. The whole way back.
- Final Fantasy
- Infamously done in Final Fantasy VII, when Cloud leaves his friend Aerith's lifeless body in the Lifestream.
- At one point in Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent saves Yuffie from Nero's attack and takes her to a safe place by carying her in this way.
- Final Fantasy IX has Princess Garnet carried this way by Zidane and Steiner multiple times. At one point the player even controls Zidane while he is carrying the unconscious princess this way. Zidane also catches Eiko this way at one point.
- In The Force Unleashed, Starkiller carries Juno out of The Empirical this way.
- In Kingdom Hearts, Riku carries Kairi during Neverland, as she has become an Empty Shell having lost her heart.
- Fire Emblem enjoys this trope:
- In Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade, the ending CG for Eliwood and Ninian has him carrying her this way. He does it earlier, too, after saving her from the Black Fang in chapter 7.
- A platonic example is the Masked Knight aka Prince Conrad catching his lady-of liege Celica (actually, his younger sister Anthiese) this way in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
- In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Raphael Kirsten picks up the female Avatar this way in the CG accompanying their S support.
- In Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, a whole level is devoted to Sonic running and carrying the (human) Damsel in Distress in this way.
- Ken's Street Fighter II ending has a literal example with him and his now wife, Eliza. Pictured above is its rendition in Ken's SFII route arcade ending, from Street Fighter V.
- Rose has been like this unconscious in the arms of M. Bison and Guy in the same timespan and even Chun-Li once was carried like this by Guile as part of a rescue attempt.
- Cammy does this to her "sister" (actually her clone) Decapre.
- In the Japanese only "Capcom Secret Files" number 10, there is an article stating Ibuki saved a mother and daughter from traffic, with a picture showing Ibuki holding a young girl in a variation of this carry.
- Chun-Li pays the favor forward in the fifth game when she carries her adoptive daughter Li-Fen like this while trying to save her.
- Chun-Li also temporarily assumes a similar pose in most of the main series games temporarily when she gets hit by a sweep. As does Rose funnily enough
- In a possibly gender swapped role and non abduction setting, Street Fighter 6 newcomer Marisa Rosetti is shown to pick up her defeated opponents like this during her victory screen.
- Many artworks of Street Fighter X Darkstalkers have Rikou, the fishman from Darkstalkers holding Laura Matsuda from Street Fighter this way, which is rather notable as before the 6th game she was easily the heaviest among the cast's Action Girl.
- At the end of the Story Mode of Guilty Gear Xrd REVELATOR SIGN, Sol Badguy is seen carrying someone like this. It's Jack-O, the sort-of reincarnation of his once lost love Aria; she has just merged with Justice, Aria's other former self.
- Fiona Belli in Haunting Ground is carried this way by her uncle Riccardo after she faints in a forest, though it isn't at all for a good purpose.
- Super Smash Bros.: Some of Palutena's magical throws make princesses temporarily assume this pose. Princesses, goddesses, and even genuine Action Girl Samus Aran assume this pose while they are being abducted by Boss Galaga.
- Dixie Clemets from Rumble Roses has an attack where she picks up another Rose like this before dropping said Rose's back on her knee.
- Ryu Hayabusa catches Momiji this way in Ninja Gaiden from a long fall and carries her somewhere he knows she will be safe while she is unconscious.
- Super Mario 3D Land sees Mario carry the... Princess (Peach)... like this while he flies using the Tanuki suit.
- Somewhat funnily in Super Princess Peach despite Peach doing the rescuing she ends up in this position again by Mario immediately after she saves him as he does it with one hand to her.
- Gen Fu and later Elliot could do catch their opponents like this while in an airborne juggled state in Dead or Alive. Worth pointing out that the game has a juggle system that depends on the weight value of the character in question and the females on average are much lighter than males in this department making them more vulnerable to the catch for longer. Also looks quite fitting when Elliot does this to Ayane.
- Hayate preferred to carry an unconscious Honoka like this leaving his younger sister Kasumi help his YOUNGEST sister Ayane walk. Worth pointing out as Honoka was smaller and lighter than Ayane (except in one area) and Ayane/Kasumi are similarly sized he could have carried Ayane and let Kasumi do the same to Honoka.
- In the Let's Go series of Pokemon games if the player has a Machamp in front of the party said Machamp will carry the player in this position whether they are male or female. The player still controls movement freely.
- Alisa has done this to Xiaoyu in Tekken. As has Kazuya to Jun Kazama.
- A male on male version happens in the video game of Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? where "Good Guide" Rock Steady when the player figures out where Barren Wasteland is hiding Rock Steady will jump on a boat and due too his cheer mass the boat makes Barren fly in the air then Rock Steady proceeds to catch Barren this way before arresting Barren.
- When Rick finds his son David in Splatterhouse 3 he holds his son this way.
- Leon catches Ashley like this when she has to get down from a height quickly in Resident Evil 4. It wasn't about to be the other way around was it?
- In the remake the player briefly plays as Leon carrying Ashley this way while he is moving around. He isn't doing to well in this part either however.
- Regardless of the player's gender in Fat Princess this is how they grab a princess when they pick her up... at least while she is thin...
- The King of Fighters XIV: Has Xanadu, who picks up his opponent in this position and rocks them back and forward before forcibly folding them in half. Looks quite fitting when done on Yuri (at least initially).
Visual Novels[]
- Bo does it in one scene of Yo-Jin-Bo. Muneshige and Mon-Mon give piggyback rides.
Web Comics[]
- Freefall
- Winston picks up Florence, so she doesn't have to walk on her injured leg.
- An earlier example also has a near instance of Pietà Plagiarism.
- Dangerously Chloe had the "daring escape in the air" scene right in the first chapter, where the succubus protagonist carries above the rooftops her sort-of-boyfriend (to his giddy delight). Which covers both "strength" part (aside of being a demon, it was already established that she can use Power of Love in various ways) and "clumsy head-bonking" part.
Western Animation[]
- South Park: Jimmy carries a prostitute in "Erection Day".
- In the Transformers Generation 1 episode "Auto Berserk", Inferno carries his friend Red Alert out of a burning building in this manner. And holds him like that for the rest of the episode.
- The Simpsons
- Parodied:
Homer: I'm going to the back seat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for TEN MINUTES! |
- Parodied again in a flashback when he tries to carry a very heavily pregnant Marge over the threshold and does his back in.
- An official Simpsons shirt displays Homer holding Marge like this while his daughters stand on his shoulders and Bart is standing nearby.
- Homer also does it to Marge again after he specifically strengthens one arm. He is able to lift her with said arm alone and later uses his other arm solely to support her legs showing very little difficulty carrying her like this.
- Wakfu: Sadlygrove carries Evangelyne this way thrice: on their very first encounter in episode 2, then in Eva's dream in episode 20, and again for real in episode 24 after he saves her from Desherboss.
- Young Justice: Kid Flash rescues Artemis from firing tanks in "Bereft" and carries her like this. She doesn't seem to mind. Then again, the two of them are suffering from Easy Amnesia at this time. Reset button in 3...2...1...
- Looney Tunes: Pepe Le Pew carries Penelope like this when she faints from exhaustion in "Little Beau Pepe".
- Bugs does this to Lola in The Looney Tunes Show when she has an injured foot.
- Gender inverted in the Total Drama World Tour episode "Slap Slap Revolution" where Genki Girl Izzy is seen carrying Noah around in this style after accidentally injuring him in a previous scene. True to his Non-Action Snarker status Noah is perfectly fine with being carried and none of the other contestants comment on the two.
- Kick Buttowski: Brad pulls off a literal version of this in "Bwar and Peace", where he's seen carrying his Viking bride around after their wedding.
Brad: Yeah husband! |
- Gender inverted in a flashback scene in Hey Arnold! when newlyweds Oskar and Suzie are moving into the boarding house, Suzie is the one carrying Oskar.
- Jade from Jackie Chan Adventures is a frequent recipient of them both from friend and foe. In fact due to her constant David Versus Goliath fights against mooks some of them could even do it to her one handed.
- The Legend of Zelda (animation) no surprise for who receives it here. She gets it from Link and foes, in one infamous instance due to her inconsistent ability to defend herself once she fell on a Zola's arms in this position unrestrained she was unable to escape, screamed for help and in fear when a door to Ganon's realm just for her to go through while still held in Zola's arms and couldn't even delay the Zola in any way.
- A notable aversion happens in Sing For The Unicorn. Usually no matter from what height Zelda falls Link will always catch her in this manner while in this episode it was Link falling from a high height Zelda instead of catching him used a cart full of hay.
- She-Ra from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe received one while she was pretending to be unconscious. She was taken to a prison cell but managed to turn the situation on the one who carried her there.
- Space Ghost carried Eclipse Woman like this against her will to save her from her self destructing space ship. She was arrested not long after.
- Superman does this to Roxy Rocket after stopping her in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Knight Time"
- Teen Titans has Robin and Starfire do this to each other multiple times throughout the series
Real Life[]
- Allyson Felix suffered a hamstring injury during a 200m run. Instead of being taken out by stretcher instead her brother Wes carried her out of the track field like this.
- A bit of a Running Gag in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, between the Chinese ice dancer Liu Xinyu and the Japanese ice skater Yuzuru Hanyu.