Top 3 Fictional Castle Escapes (Lizzie)

Everyone loves a daring escape. Here are three (plus a bonus) of my favorite escapes from castles. Warning: There are spoilers in these descriptions.

3. The Fall from The Princess Bride 

I don't like heights, so even if a gentle giant is waiting below my window to catch me, I'm not sure that I wouldn't opt for bed sheets tied end to end. However, when Buttercup smiles confidently down at the giant who'd once kidnapped her and then lets herself be dropped out the castle window, it does make for a good scene, especially with her dress fluttering as she falls. Add to that four white horses for them to gallop away on, and it makes for a great getaway.

It should be noted, however, that fictional women were not the only ones to escape castles. Empress Maud (also called Empress Matilda), during The Anarchy (1100s) in England, was battling for England with her cousin King Stephan when she became trapped in Oxford Castle. On a stormy winter night, she was let down from the castle via a rope and escaped over the snow-covered ground wearing a white cloak to hide her from the surrounding troops.

2. Riding Through the Front Gate: Disney's The Story of Robin Hood and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

After the Sheriff of Nottingham's disreputable deputies try to incriminate Robin Hood and his Merry Men by attacking the Queen dressed in Sherwood green, Robin Hood and his men find and don the defeated soldiers' real clothes and head to Nottingham Castle. There, they rescue Maid Marian and then ride out through the front gate and across the drawbridge to safety. Robin Hood, however, having stayed behind to see the others safely out, has a more dramatic escape--over the quickly closing drawing bridge into the moat with the sheriff on his tale.

With disguises, a bold entrance and exit in plain view of the guards, plus the dramatic rush over the drawbridge, it's a great castle escape. I love the daring of a disguise and open entrance or exit as much as the slyness of a secret removal.

The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, Dr. Syn.

Another great example is from Disney's The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, which tells of a priest (aka, The Scarecrow) in Cornwall who leads his parishioners in a smuggling ring (keeping them safe--they'd get caught if he didn't lead them--and giving money to the poor, of course, to make it right). When some men in his care are thrown into the castle dungeon, the Scarecrow and some trusted friends disguise themselves as a press gang and walk the prisoners out right under the commander's nose. Until realizing who the press gang members were, the prisoners probably preferred the dungeon over the fate of those forced into His Majesty's Navy.

1. Gandalf and the Eagle from LOTR

I admit not liking heights, but Gandalf's escape from Saruman's fortress is breathtaking. He jumps off the top of a tower, seemingly into thin air, and then soars away on the back of a giant eagle. It's a fantastic visual image. Dramatic, unexpected, brilliant.

Bonus: Getting yourself marched out and shot: The Scarlet Pimpernel

Sir Percy Blakeney

I forgot this one until I had already decided on my Top 3, but once I remembered it, I couldn't not mention the climax of the 1982 version of The Scarlet Pimpernell. The agent of the French Revolutionists have discovered that the supposed slow-witted dandy Sir Percy Blakeney is really the Scarlet Pimpernel, the daring leader of a group of young Englishmen who rescue French nobles right from under the guillotine, carrying them away in brilliant and sometimes, terrifying, disguises. Sir Percy and Marguerite are trapped in a castle on the French coast, Percy is marched outside and shot by the revolutionists. Marguerite is distraught ... until Percy walks back in, revealing his men had "persuaded" some of the revolutionists to swap clothes and that it's the revolutionists who are trapped.

There are dozens of fantastic escapes, but these are some of the first that came to my mind. What are some of your favorite escapes?

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron (Lizzie)

Eli Monpress has a bounty on his head, and it's not big enough to suit him. He needs to steal something really big to increase it, but he'll start small and steal something no one will miss. Like a king.

With the help of his partners--a swordsman with a magical sword and a demonseed who can punch through walls--the initial theft goes off without a hitch. But Eli's well-laid plans soon go awry, thanks in part to the straight-laced wizard Miranda, who's out to capture him, as well as to the plots of a villain with a more sinister nature than the charming thief. 

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron is a collection of the first three novels in the series and includes The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion, and The Spirit Eater.

The Legend of Eli Monpress  benefits from amazing world building, engaging characters, an engaging writing style, and a good dose of action. The magic system is different than the Harry Potter-like systems I'm used to. Wizards talk to the spirits of objects and make agreements with them, offering protection in return for the object's help. Except for Eli. He just charms them into doing whatever he wants, like charming a door to come off its hinges so he can escape a prison cell. It also includes Storm Lords, a powerful demon entrapped in a mountain trying to get out by seeding children with splinters of himself, and gods, to further complicate matters. In some ways, this magic system and world is refreshingly different from what I'm used to; however, it can also be a bit uncomfortable, a reminder that what I view as pure imagination and fantasy, can have elements of belief systems some people actually follow. But whether or not you should only read things that clearly agree with your worldview is not the subject of this post.

While entertaining, the collection lacked two essential things in my opinion: novelty in the over-arching plots and character growth. In each book, I found the same struggles in the subplots of Eli's partners--the swordsman and the demonseed. Someone wants to steal the swordsman's magic sword and very nearly kills him for it, and the demonseed (a child who was implanted with a splinter of the demon in an attempt for the demon to grow and then escape) struggles with using the powers the demon gives her without letting it take control of her and escape. It's an interesting struggle, and I want the girl to be free, but by the end of the third book, I'm a bit tired of the repetition and lack of resolution for both her and the swordsman. As for the charming thief Eli, at the end of the collection, he, in many ways, is still the same selfish, childish thief out to spite his disciplinarian father (by becoming the world's greatest thief with the highest bounty) as at the beginning. He does the occasional noble deed but never exhibits any compunction for his crimes or a desire to change. The wizard Miranda, who's out to capture Eli, is honorable and a rule-follower, and is a good balance to Eli, but if you're hoping for a romance between them, you'll be disappointed. I love a good redemption story, but this isn't it. It is, however, an entertaining read.