Motifs using characters, creatures, and settings from classic
Fairy Tales to represent characters or ideas, for example, a
love interest being equated with a Knight in Shining Armor .
Modern day Cinderella stories commonly mine this fairy tale
trope as well. Many of them are, in fact, Dead Unicorn Tropes .
Dragons, unicorns, fairies, and knights are in fact exceedingly
rare in fairy tales. For tropes actually found in fairy tales,
see Fairy Tale Tropes Fairytale Motifs are used to add romance
to a story, especially one set mainly in the grim and gritty
real world. The fact that most people have read the fairy tales
means that the symbolism isn't likely to be lost. Fairytale
Motifs differ slightly from Mythological Motifs. While the
former features specific fairy tale characters — such as
Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty — it also includes general,
archetypal examples, usually a "species" rather than one
particular person/animal. The latter tends to use specific
characters belonging to a recognizable mythology. Fo