Damsels in distress arent off the table, but dont be misogynistic about it.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom did this quite well - while one of your main objectives in both games is to find/save Zelda…
Spoiler
In one game she’s single-handedly holding back Ganon from destroying the world and in another she makes the ultimate sacrifice to become an eternal dragon whose power is essentially limitless.