Note:  If you ever have an idea about a fantasy cliché that I should talk about, please tell me in the comments or even DM me.  I am very open to your ideas.  Without you guys, this editorial would never be as popular as it is in the first place!  Also, I would deeply like to thank RENZOE88 for suggesting I go over my opinions on the runaway princess cliché.  They are currently writing a fantasy novel themselves, which I highly recommend you check out for yourself.  Anyway, on to the meat of the potatoes!

  In fiction or real life it is never a good idea to run away from your problems.  Running away from the issue just makes the issue worse.  By running away, your problem will evolve into other problems, until it is a irreversible tangle of chaos.  If you choose to go back by then, it would be too late to even attempt to resolve the conflict.  Confronting your problems head on saves you from more problems down the line later.  Doing so helps you develop as a character, even as an adult. 

  The same can be said towards the cliché of the runaway princess.  In all cases this cliché is used, the princess is fleeing from some type of external conflict.  These conflicts can include the role feminism plays in their kingdom, escaping an arranged marriage, or gaining more responsibility by the crown being passed down to them.  In all three scenarios, the princess has no right to run away from the issue. 

  With the differing ideologies of feminism, the princess could stay in the kingdom in order to fight this battle head on.  Whether this issue is resolved diplomatically or through war, by staying the princess has made a strong prescient on how women should be treated.  Fighting the issue head on is how the women's movement today exists with an ever growing impact on society. 

If an arranged marriage is the issue, speaking up against the marriage is the way to go.  Even if in a certain scenario the princess has no word on whether or not the marriage occurs, she still should try to confront the issue by gathering up a bunch of people who could argue the marriage is not in the kingdom's favor.  Why do you think marriage all around the world today is becoming more and more of a choice than a forced arrangement?  It is not because people fled everything to escape the marriage.  They fought with tooth and claw in order to make the change possible.

  As for the responsibility of gaining more power, the princess must take in the responsibility of becoming queen for the survival of the kingdom.  Without a leader, the kingdom would fall into an age of chaos and even civil war.  With no direction, the citizens themselves will become desperate to survive and will put matters into their own hands.  The princess must become queen in order to keep the kingdom in check and grow as a character.

  The same can be said for a prince running away from their kingdom.  Like the princess, they have to stay in the kingdom to face the problem head on.  Otherwise the issue they are running from will only become worse.

  Take this famous example for instance.  A young prince runs away from their homeland due to their father's untimely death.  Too young to understand the implications of the death, they are tricked by the king's brother that the death was their fault.  The young prince runs away to wild, untamed territory far away from the kingdom and grows up believing they have escaped the problem.  However, an old friend returns to them in order to report that their kingdom in the hands of the former king's brother has fallen into ruin.  Due to a badly made alliance by a rivaling kingdom, the resources of the land have been drained.  The citizens are slowly dying from a combination of starvation and corruption.  At first hesitant, the prince realizes he must return to bring the kingdom back into the right direction.  They confront the king's brother head on, finding out that their father's death was orchestrated by their own kin.  The prince, knowing he must avenge his father's death, fights the brother and afterwards exiles them from the land once victorious in the fight.  This prince then becomes king, slowly but surely bringing the land back to its prosperous roots.  Facing the issue head on, instead of staying away from them, helped resolve the conflict.

  So what wondrous story did I just sum up as proof that the cliché of both the runaway prince and runaway princess makes no sense?  If you grew up on Disney movies, then you might have caught on that I was referencing The Lion King.  The prince was Simba, the kingdom was Pride Rock, the king was Mufasa, the neighboring land were the hyenas, and the king's brother was Scar.  This story, inspired heavily by Shakespeare's famous play Hamlet, proves why the cliché of having next-in-line royalty running away never works.  Facing your problems head on, instead of running away from them is the wiser decision.  This can be said for us as well.  Would you rather the problem grow into a massive destructive black hole or confront it so the conflict stays as relevant as a fly in the room?