Princess Daphne

This article is about the character. For the emulator, see DAPHNE.

"Please save me! To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!"

—Daphne, Dragon's Lair

Princess Daphne
Gallery
Debut	Dragon's Lair (1983)
Alignment	Good
Gender	Female
Voiced by	Vera Lanpher Pacheco (games) Darcy Harvier (3D) Julie Eisenhower (3D singer) Ellen Gerstell (TV series) Deborah Gatton & Morgan Karam (Movie Pitch)
Equipment	Tiara Crown Amulet*(3D) Comb & Mirror (TV) Sword or Shield (comics)
Alter Ego	The Banshee (Time Warp)

The Princess Daphne is a recurring character and the deuteragonist of the Dragon's Lair series. She is the fair princess of Ethelred's kingdom and is regularly the damsel in distress her beloved Dirk risks his life (often several) to save from major antagonists such as Singe the Dragon and Mordroc. Regardless of her constant perils, she remains faithful to Dirk and exuberantly grateful for his relentless efforts.

She is also the daughter of her unnamed mother, who appeared in Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, and the mother of many children that first appear in the same game.

Daphne is widely known for her captivating appearance in Dragon's Lair, which has been credited as greatly aiding in the commercial success of the arcade game.

In some games, villains with magical abilities have impersonated Daphne’s voice and appearance in order to fool or manipulate Dirk and lure him into traps.

Appearance and Abilities

As the princess in need of rescuing, Princess Daphne is a very beautiful and voluptuous woman. In the video games, Daphne has long golden hair that reaches down to her thighs, circular purple earrings, and a headband with a miniature crown. She wears a loose-knit see-through gown or sheer over a black one-piece swimsuit-like dress, high heels, and a necklace with a matching bracelet.

Princess Daphne in the final scene from Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp

In the final level of Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, Daphne wears a bathing suit-like garment similar to her normal attire, but is covered by a blue nightgown and wears a purple headband; her crown appears inconsistently throughout the game. Her earrings also appear much smaller. Throughout much of the game's darker environments, Daphne's skin appears to have a purple-tine and her hair appears pale white, a possible visualization of her suffering the effects of Mordroc's enchantment spell. In the game's final stage, her mind and bright countenance are fully restored, and she joyfully runs into Dirk's arms.

Outside of the original games, Daphne has been portrayed with diverse character designs and shown to possess various abilities, although her effectiveness is commonly limited by the plot points.

In the television series, Daphne wears more clothing than she does in the video games, drastically toning down her sex appeal. She has a wider crown, golden braces around her biceps and a long dress in purple and pink colors. Her blonde hair is a lighter tone, and she wears less makeup. In many episodes, she wears context-specific outfits such as a squire’s garb, a suit of armor, and various disguises.

In the comics, she wears modest but form-fitting clothing and knee-high boots that befit equestrian skills, although she still wears her iconic leotard (without the sheer) and high-heeled slippers in the privacy of her quarters in the castle. She displays agility in dodging Singe's fiery breath and is strong enough to incapacitate a small dragon by throwing a stone at its head. She is also said to have beheaded countless enemies while aiding Dirk in his battles, suggesting a ruthlessness in battle.

Main Series Appearances

Dragon’s Lair

In the first game, she is taken by the dragon Singe and imprisoned in a crystal orb. According to the manual of the 8-bit version, Singe commanded Ethelred to surrender his kingdom before sunset.

Daphne has brief appearances during the game, seen at the beginning of some sequences carried by a shadowy figure and yells "Save me!". She appears in the final level of the game, informing Dirk that the key to her prison is around the dragon's neck and that he must use the magic sword and slay the dragon. Throughout the battle, Daphne reacts to the many actions Dirk takes until she is finally rescued and the game ends.

Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp

At the start of the game, 10 years have passed after her adventure with Singe. Daphne and Dirk are presumably married and have over a dozen children, living together in a forest cottage near The Castle along with Daphne's overbearing mother. However, Daphne is again kidnapped by the evil wizard Mordroc, who wants to enslave her into a marriage to him with the Death Ring.

Near the end of the arcade game, Mordroc places the Death Ring on Daphne's finger, transforming her into The Banshee a gargantuan monster with a ferocious appetite, but Dirk saves her by removing it from her finger. After incrementally shrinking back to normal size, her monstrous form magically disappears in a flash of light, and Daphne's beautiful form is restored. However, Daphne is left in a coma, from which she awakens after Dirk kisses her. The couple escape from the collapsing dimension and return home to their children and take one last ride on Dirk's time machine into the night sky. In some versions of the game, Dirk can prevent Daphne's transformation by collecting all magical Treasures hidden throughout the stages, which presumably function together to protect her from the corruptive effects of the Death Ring.

Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair

In her first 3D appearance, Princess Daphne has been kidnapped yet again by Mordroc and Singe. Dirk receives an Amulet through which Daphne's voice speaks to him giving him information and tips as he began his journey through the Castle to rescue her. The voice instructs him to collect all the Dragon Essences in order to defeat Mordroc. Her voice provides additional hints and gameplay instructions to the player but may also complain if Dirk spends too much time collecting treasures.

Dirk apparently rescues Daphne from Single's lair, but a nearby mirror soon reveals he has been tricked by Hollow and must continue deeper into the castle to find the real Daphne. Upon reaching Mordroc's dimension through a portal, Dirk learns that the evil wizard had been impersonating Daphne's voice speaking to him through the Amulet all along. After finally defeating Mordroc, Dirk saves the real Daphne. Daphne embraces Dirk for a kiss reminiscent of the their reunion at the end of Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (original animation frames even appear to have been redrawn to fit with the recoded game). Unlike the ending of Time Warp, Mordroc is still alive, and uses his remaining magical energy to zap the backside of the unsuspecting Daphne, who reacts in surprise by biting Dirk's lip. No further dangers befall them, however, and the couple levitates into the sky as fireworks explode and the credits sequence rolls. The credits theme "He's My Guy" is performed by Julie Eisenhower, presumably sung from the perspective of Daphne.

Other Appearances

Dragon's Lair: Escape from Singe's Castle

Before his death, the dragon Singe put a curse on Daphne who falls asleep but Dirk brings her back to life with a kiss, only to see her vanish. The Shapeshifter appears among smoke and thunders, telling him that Singe was only guarding the gold of the wizard they are serving (possibly Mordroc) and Daphne belongs to him. It vanishes among smoke, and Dirk sets off to rescue Daphne.

TV series

In the TV series her character and role are far more developed. She is an adventurous, independent, intelligent and brave character, often eager to abandon her princely pose and joins Dirk, Timothy and Bertram in their adventures. Despite her enthusiasm, her lack of experience, physical strength, and coordination often result in some comical failings, as she is shown to be somewhat clumsy when attempting to aid in Dirk's adventures. However, her petite size proves advantageous on several occasions, such as fitting through small passages or climbing over unstable structures that Dirk might be too large and heavy to navigate. She frequently carries several vanity accessories along with her such as a mirror and a comb concealed in her hair, both of which proved useful to escape traps or defeat villains in creative ways.

In the episode “The Story of Old Alf,” Daphne is chosen as the apprentice of the aged and absent-minded magician Old Alf, who gives her his spell book. For a week, Daphne practices reciting the spells from the book with promising results. She uses a spell to transport Cinge into a large prison cell in Ethelred’s castle. However, after Cinge calls upon the Giddy Goons to steal the spell book for himself, Daphne isn’t able to remember or recite any more spells. Eventually, Dirk recovers the book and returns it to Old Alf. Daphne helps Alf by reading a spell from the book to send Cinge away, on account of Alf having misplaced his glasses.

Dragon's Lair: The Legend

Despite featuring on the game’s cover art, Daphne makes no appearances in the game, save for a text reference in the default high score table. She is referenced in the game’s manual.

According to the manual, Daphne and her maid were in a caravan that carried the mythical Life Stone. A traitor among their ranks informed Mordroc, who sent his barbarian army against them. The evil army slaughtered all the princess’ band, taking Daphne away as a captive for the wizard. Arriving late, Dirk was told what had happened by Daphne's dying maid, who had used her last powers of sorcery to scatter the Life Stone. Dirk embarks on a quest to collect the pieces of the Life Stone so that he can awaken the Dormant Kinght, who can then help him defeat Mordroc and rescue Daphne.

Once Dirk acquires all the pieces and awakens the Knight, the game immediately ends with a text screen that teases a final confrontation which was never incorporated into any released game, thus leaving Daphne’s fate uncertain.

Dragon's Lair III: The Curse of Mordread

Mordread, Mordroc's evil witch sister, imprisons Dirk's homestead into an orb on her staff, her ultimate goal being to imprison Dirk’s family in the Vortex of Eternity. Dirk however was not in the house, so he begins pursuing Mordread to restore his home, and Daphne inside it.

Dragon's Lair comics

In the comics, like in the TV series, Daphne is a very adventurous character, even somewhat violent and bloodthirsty. Dirk mentions that she loves beheading enemies and monsters, like the ferocious Begelsum monsters ravaging the western glade, Gorgons and the moaning fricket. She rides the foal Rustspot.

She rode with Dirk near Taerwan's Lake, when Singe captured her with intent to make her a member of his harem. She is dressed in the iconic bathing suit with sheer gown by the dragon’s harem of maidens and placed inside the Bubble of Helotry; the magic bubble has the power to drain her intelligence, gradually weakening the resolve of feisty princess to resemble the loosely articulate and flirtatious character of the original game.

Prior to the main storyline, Daphne single-handedly foiled Singe’s plot to abduct her from her kingdom by fighting off Princess Vanessa and two Giddy Goons. Though Daphne confidently declares “Tell your master that this is one princess who will never need saving!”, Singe eventually succeeds in abducting Daphne himself and taking her into his treasure room.

Dragon's Lair: The Movie

According to a pre-production concept sketch, Daphne will appear as a 16-year old tomboy with her hair cut short. The state of the movie is by 2017 unknown.

Abandoned Projects

According to surviving storyboard drawings created for the Attract Mode of a cancelled Dragon's Lair IV project, Daphne might have taken a more active role in the game, possibly even riding a horse and fighting off enemies with a sword at some point in the storyline. As the storyboards progressed, however, Daphne once again falls under a spell of a magical ring and is enchanted by a sleeping spell by Mordroc or another similar-looking dark wizard. Dirk and the children chase the wizard out of their cottage and Dirk boards the Time Machine to embark on a new adventure, leaving Daphne’s role uncertain.

Design, Development & Reception

Development of the 1983 arcade game was completed in only seven months, and Bluth’s fledgling studio was paid in weekly installments of paper bags filled with thousands of dollars in cash. Since the studio could not afford to hire any live-action models, animators used photos from Playboy magazines as visual reference for Princess Daphne’s poses and movements. The collection apparently belonged to Gary Goldman, who had been storing the issues in the attic of the studio after removing them from his private residence at the request of his wife.

Princess Daphne’s overtly sexualized character design has received mixed reception across the gaming industry and popular culture. Often cited as one of the most attractive characters in video game history, as well as being one of the most influential figures who established the damsels-in-distress gaming trope, she has also garnered negative reactions and criticism for negative stereotypes of women in gaming. Nevertheless, her original design remains an enduring icon of the franchise, being inseparably linked to the crowd-pleasing appeal of the original game. Bluth himself has stated, "Daphne's elevator didn't go all the way to the top floor, but she served a purpose," a pragmatic justification decried by critics of the game who perceived it to be violent and sexist. In 1983, Joe Mendsky observed in JoyStik, "Daphne may look like the closest thing to a porn star in the annals of the video game, but she's not dumb. She's seen the line of quarters across the floor at the Denver arcade.”

While Bluth readily acknowledged Daphne being a “dumb blonde cliche” designed to appeal to the era’s teenage male gamers, he qualified that he thinks the arcade game versions of both Daphne and Dirk “were as dumb as a bag of hammers.” In developing the character of Kimberly for Space Ace, he made an intentional effort to create a more intelligent and independent-minded heroine. Throughout Bluth’s various efforts to adapt the franchise into a feature film, he pledged to tone down the character’s overtly-sexualized appearance for a mainstream audience, noting the “blonde airhead” depiction was "not the best female characteristic for a hit movie in this day and age."

Physically, Daphne’s beauty remains consistent in each game, never showing any sign of aging. Remarking on her youthful look in Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (despite giving birth to over a dozen children over a period of ten years after the events of the prior game), Bluth stated, “I thought it would be interesting if Daphne looked just as beautiful as ever there’s absolutely no sign that she’s been through anything.”

However, Daphne’s appearance throughout the Dragon's Lair series has featured distinctive alterations. Throughout many of the darker stages of Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, Daphne has an darker color palette for her skin and hair, and her translucent sheer appears darkly shaded but also reminiscent of its appearance in the original game. In other stages, Daphne's skin and hair return to their normally bright color palette, and her sheer appears a vibrant shade of light blue. Daphne's crown and shoes disappear and reappear throughout the game, possibly a result of miscommunication between artists working on different sequences simultaneously. At the beginning of the climatic stage, Daphne is adorned in a black macabre wedding gown which has large shoulder pads and a skirt that is longer and darker than her traditional sheer; after Mordroc slips her the Death Ring and Dirk cradles her in his arms, Daphne begins her transformation into The Banshee begins and her gown's shoulder pads and skirt disappear. In her fully transformed state, The Banshee wears a distinct outfit that fully accommodates her expanded size: a black one-piece bathing suit that lacks any straps for her shoulders or neckline and black high-healed pointy shoes with ribbons that cover her toes completely, contrasting with Daphne's traditional open-toe heels.

Daphne's original voice recordings were described by Earl Green of Classic Gamer Magazine as "a high pitched voice that could cause harm to small pets". Despite some changes in vocal casting since her debut, Vera Lanpher Pacheco’s original high-pitched, breathy performance has remained distinctive to Daphne’s in-game character, and it was intentionally imitated in Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair, where Daphne was again attired in her traditional black bathing suit but lacking her sparkly sheer from earlier games. Reviewing Dragon's Lair 3D in 2002, GameSpot's Ryan Davis wrote Daphne "sounds just as squeaky and ditzy as she did in 1983". Kristan Reed of Eurogamer wrote it "remains as simultaneously amusing and irritating as ever".

Trivia

• The laser disc emulator DAPHNE takes its name from this character.
• Daphne is one of the few characters in the franchise to experience a moral alignment shift due to the effects of a transformation, the other being Commander Borf who shifts from evil into friendly baby due to the effects of the Infanto Ray.
• In the Game Boy Color port of Dragon's Lair, she is the only character that can speak or make any sounds.
• In 2002, AnJon Toys released a wave of four action figures as a tie-in with Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair: Dirk the Daring, Princess Daphne, Mordroc, and Singe. Daphne's figure included a Fire Drake and the Amulet as accessories.
• In 2011, Daphne was commemorated as a statue in Electri Tiki’s line of “Animated Ladies” (Series 1), alongside characters owned by the Walt Disney Company. According the company website, the statue was designed by Tracy Mark Lee, sculpted by Kent Melton, with base sculpted by Brandon Parcinski.
• In 2023, Syndicate Collectibles announced plans to release a 1:10 scale Princess Daphne statue.

Gallery

A full gallery of Princess Daphne can be seen here.